Terrorist Islamic Republic of Pakistan (TSP): Apr. 11, 2010

[putnanja]

Suhasini Haider weighs in ...

Daunting task ahead for Krishna, Qureshi

...
Interestingly the groups they are fighting today were once equally divided. Broadly put, these groups can be categorised as the Taliban (Afghan and Pakistani, including TTP — Tehrik e-Taliban-Pakistan), the Punjabi Taliban (comprising the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Jaish-e-Mohammad, Lashkar-e-Jhangavi and the Sipah-i-Sahiba) and the Kashmiri Jihadis (Hizbul Mujahideen, Harkat-ul Ansar, etc.). In the past decades they have differed on ideology (Deobandi vs Ahl-e-Hadith), and on targets (anti-India vs. anti-U.S. vs. anti-Shi'a). But today, each of them has found ways of linking to each other and up to the larger Sala'fi grid of Al-Qaeda — in terms of training, funding and logistics. Yet the U.S. continues to focus on the Taliban, India on the Kashmiri groups and the LeT, while Pakistan, a state that was the puppet master to these groups is finding itself strangled by the very strings it once wielded — fighting the Pakistani Taliban, but not the Afghan Taliban, and refusing to act in a concerted manner against the Punjabi Taliban.

For India, terror's blind spot has meant a refusal to look for larger players in big attacks: from the IC-814 hijacking of 1999 to Mumbai 26/11 in 2008. In Mumbai, for example, Ajmal Kasab and the others were no doubt members of the LeT, but the choice of some of their targets: the Chabad House, western hotel guests, as well as their access to technology should have pointed our investigators to their Al Qaeda links more closely.
...
...
A decade later, failing to join the dots is just not an option. Lashkar, Taliban, Al-Qaeda-terror's foot soldiers and masterminds are disregarding their differences when it comes to plotting their next attack. It's about time that their targets too — India, Pakistan and the U.S. — see their united colours as they plan to counter them. Perhaps one step will be taken when Home Minister P. Chidambaram heads to Islamabad next month for SAARC and bilateral meetings on tackling terror. Track-2 discussions over the past few months have been counselling that meetings between the intelligence chiefs and the military heads be set up as well. Because unless New Delhi and Islamabad are able to find some common ground on terror, their trust deficit cannot be overcome. In the larger context, they along with Washington will each be left holding two sides of a terror triangle; missing pieces of the deadly puzzle that holds all our futures hostage.

( Suhasini Haidar is Deputy Foreign Editor, CNN-IBN.)

I don't know if she is really naive or pushing someone else's agenda. How can one ignore the TSPA-LeT links? It is still secure and there is no way TSPA will cut off the cord that binds LeT. What she fails to realize is that ISI is playing its own groups against those opposed to ISI/Pak interests.

So, the interest of US, India and Pakistan has never co-incided. US is willing to live with LeT and afghan/pakistan taliban provided US is not the target. Pakistan doesn't want the afghan taliban to emerge successfull, so it won't allow it to survive and it needs the pak taliban to control afghanistan. Pak taliban doesn't like US, so tough luck there. TSPA-LeT is two faces of same coin, so there is no way TSP will control it.

[CRamS]

Towards reducing trust deficit - Chinmaya R. Gharekhan

We must not feel embarrassed or go on the defensive if Pakistan wants to talk Kashmir. We must also not revive the Musharraf deposit about his so-called four-point proposal. We must not leave Pakistan in any doubt that the only solution, which in any case will need endorsement from the Indian Parliament, is to convert the LoC into an international border. If Pakistan does not agree, we will be under no compulsion to offer anything by way of ‘out-of-the-box' proposals. In any case, we must not agree to any ‘confidence-building' measure which would give Pakistan a locus standi, however indirect, in the affairs of the Valley, in a consultative or any kind of mechanism. ‘Trust' must have its limits. We can certainly agree on and encourage more people-to-people contacts, etc.

TSP is not coming to the negotiating table because of weakness. It is coming to cash the LET check, the most recent deposit being the big one in Mumbai on 26/11. The explicit understanding between MMS/TSP/US/UK is that MMS will offer LOC++ (which includes some concessions on water) in return for TSP scaling back LET, first temporarily until India finds a way to surrender (the dialouge process), and then possibly more permanently once India actually signs the surrender document. So unless TSP is forced to, they are not going to simply accept LOC and go home. They are going to demand LOC++. MMS is prepared to offer npt just LOC++, but beyond. But is the rest of India ready? Will LOC++ be spun and Indian people brainwashed into accepting it through US-aided DDM propaganda on LOC++ making India a "global superpower of the 21st century". This is what we need to watch for.

[muraliravi]

Sure Ramana Guru, am only highlighting the mistake made by the writer of the Night Watch piece - this is not a mistake you made.

I guess the intent of the writer was to convey that India has more Muslims than Pakistan - (s)he mistakenly said twice as many.

Even that is wrong, paki muslim numbers have crossed indian muslim numbers about 3-4 yrs back, how long will we keep on saying this dialogue that india has more muslims than pakistan.

[Prem]

The picture worth whole Pakistan

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/daw ... nallink2-6

[Gagan]

U.S. problem in one word: Pakistan (Sacramento Bee)

One grouse I have with this report is that it fails to mention the amount of improvement of the gene pool in pakistan due to inbreeding.
The prevalence of autosomal recessive genetic disorders there is unusually high because people marry their sisters and reproduce like rabbits. The incidence of mental retardation and other deformities is very high.

CNN confirms that individuals and businesses with "Money Courier" services were the primary targets in these raids.

I had mentioned just one or two pages back that there would be possible 'hawala' channels involved here if money for that bomb plot is involved. Point is, that FS brought abbajaan's money into the US legally and declared it. But this visit of his was specifically to wage Jihad on the Kufr (which is why he had left his wifey and kid back in Pakistan).
If he was sponsored by a terror group, that money would have come in via hawala.

Almost seems like someone reads things here on BRF (or that we can predict things based on the level of understanding of Pakistan here).

That sacramento bee article will come in handy to quote malnourishment etc figures to pakis in forums.

[VinodTK]

Pakistan needs chemotherapy, says Obama

US President Barack Obama has said that there is growing recognition among Pakistani leaders that the `cancer’ of terrorism is the primary threat to Pakistan’s sovereignty and not India.

[Rahul Shukla]

Skirmish at Afghan-Pakistan border (Al Jazeera)

Afghan and foreign forces are reported to have crossed into Pakistan in pursuit of undisclosed targets as a military offensive appears to be spilling across the border. The military operation started on Thursday in the Datta Khel region of Pakistan's Waziristan province, Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder said.

Pakistani military officials said the reports were baseless.

[Gagan]

Also notice the flashing red sign here:

The men were planning to visit Pakistan

[Brad Goodman]

If unkil wants to break the back of pakis it really need to tackle paki hawala

Faisal Shahzad used "Hawala" System to Get Money, Sources Say

Law enforcement sources tell CBS News that investigators have determined that Times Square bomb suspect Faisal Shahzad used the "hawala" system in plotting the attack, concealing the movement of money by using couriers and bypassing banks or other financial institutions.

[Brad Goodman]

nice read

Only in President Barack Hussein Obama's PC (Politically Correct) dreams are Muslim Terrorists "loners", separate and apart from the Ummah (the Muslim conglomerate).

In each case where a Muslim Terrorist commits an act of Terror, the PC deniers line up like circus elephants on parade, each holding the others' tail and following the leader.

Muslims of all stripes have one thing in common. They have a myriad of companions, denials notwithstanding. First, from childhood into their adult years, they have the companions of Koranic teaching by Imams and other Islamic clerics. The Koran is their book of instructions that form their mind and is always your companion - even if they never again speak to another person. The same applies to Mohammed's "Hadith" (Oral personal instructions to Muslims).

Then, the so-called "loner" has family who similarly have knowledge of what the Koran wants/demands of its Muslim followers, which is passed on within the family.

The "Loner" has Muslim friends who themselves have been educated, either in a "Madrassa" (strict Islamic school), Mosque or by friends who simply pick up the street talk of what Muslims should do in confronting the world of "Infidels" (non Muslims of any religion). (1)

Within the Muslim/Islamic world all "Infidels" (non-believers) are equal to sub-humans and deserve no space on this planet Earth. No doubt, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Ayatollahs will confirm this, if asked.

Most Islamists accept this view, even if their leaders of the West either don't accept this reality or are willing to try to live with this Islamic ideology.

When we hear PC (Politically Correct) denials flowing first out of the White House and quickly repeated by the circus elephants without thought or, worse yet, shutting down their brains then we have PC at its most slavish.

When Faisal Shahzad was apprehended, he was identified as a Pakistani. (2) Very recently (April 2009) Shahzad became a naturalized American citizen. But, the first declarers claimed that he was "a loner" (meaning his Muslim-Islamic background was irrelevant). Such people as Janet Napolitano, Chief of Homeland Security, Eric Holder, U.S. Attorney-General, Vice President Joe Biden, a host of Democratic Congressmen and women and, of course, the Left Liberal Media and TV anchors - all dutifully following the Lead Elephant to echo: "He was just a poor, sad loner" meaning his Muslim background had absolutely nothing to do with his attempt to kill infidel Americans.

It seems as if this current Obama Administration has a visceral compulsion to never, ever say a Terrorist or Terror Act was done by a Muslim or had any relationship to Islam. They refuse to acknowledge that the Free West civilizations have been forced into a War against Terror. Until they admit what we have to fight against, how can we expect to win and survive?

The Politically Correct decision from the top down is that there was a strong interest in NOT probing or profiling Islam. Muslims allowed into America by the Arabist State Department were to be considered above suspicion as to their purpose or likely decisions to implement their teachings and preachings out of their Koranic law, Hadith law, Sharia laws - all of which contain hostility to Infidels (including Christians, Jews, Hindus, Bahais or any religion or people who were not Muslim).

We are all familiar with the Fort Hood shooting November 5, 2009 by Maj. Dr. Nidal Malik Hasan, who murdered 13 American soldiers, wounding 38. In looking deeper, it was obvious that Hasan had been railing against America in the name of Islam and all his fellow doctors were fearful to report his Islamic ranting for fear that they would be branded Politically Incorrect and a bigot.

This attitude permeated the entire U.S. Military, which was imposed by the Bush family and later in greater force by the Obamas.

Today, May 7th U.S. Gen. David Petraeus, Commander of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, said that Faisal Shahzad was a "lone wolf" - although he acknowledged that Shahzad was inspired by Terrorists in Pakistan but did not have direct contact with them. (3) ??? How did he know that??? Where did Shahzad get his money?

Somehow the words: "State Department" is also something that remains in the shadows as the long term gate-keeper and open funnel through which Muslims poured into America. Should the radical Islamist Terrorist "sleeper cells", now deeply embedded in America, start an "intifada" (uprising) in America, you can be sure that the U.S. State Department will become virtually invisible. Any question or investigation of how State influenced America's 16 Intel Agencies (particularly the FBI) in NOT deeply tracking Islamists or the Mosques where they gathered and will be buried.

Note! A new 15 story Mosque, community center, pool, etc. has just been approved to be built 2 blocks from New York's Ground Zero, where the 19 Muslim Terrorists suicide bombed the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.)

Lots of useless blather is emoting out from TV anchors, speculating as to when radicalization actually began with those so-called "loners". As I said before, Islamic Radicalization (so-called) starts as soon as the Koran enters their minds as children. Islam doesn't NEED radicalization because it is radical already in its basic construction.

So, those so-called "Loners" have lots of support companions as they start planning any act of Terror, receiving the money needed, having a 'safe-house' to hide, gathering materials to make a bomb, crash an airplane or a train, insert chemical or biological gas into a subway or tunnel under the East River in New York, a radioactive Dirty Bomb - or any of dozens 9/11s they can contrive.

Of course, Terror comes in many forms besides blowing up people. Muslims have the patience to penetrate a democratic, open nation's political structure and subvert their host nation from the inside. We used to call such a malicious force a "Fifth Column". We see this rampant in the U.N., the E.U. and, regrettably, in the White House and parts of Congress.

Just remember this, among Muslim-Islamic Terrorists, there are NO LONERS!!! All are part of a tightly woven matrix who share the same values and hatred towards a non-Muslim society.

###

1. "Suspect's Ties To Pakistan Taliban Probed: Islamabad Official Claims Shahzad Received Instructions From Suicide-Bomber Trainer" by Zahid Hussain, Tom Wright and Keith Johnson Wall St. Journal May 6, 2010

2. "Suspect Cites Radical Imam's Writings: Shahzad Says He Was Influenced by Anti-West Exhortations of Cleric Who Communicated With Alleged Fort Hood Shooter" by Yochi J. Dreazen and Evan Perez WALL ST. JOURNAL May 7, 2010

3. "Gen. Petraeus: Times Square Bomber acted alone" by AP in Jerusalem Post May 7, 2010

Muslim Terrorists Are Not Loners

[shiv]

"Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir" (as I understand it) refers to ALL the territories of the princely state of Jammu & Kashmir under the illegal occupation of Pakistan since 1947, including those illegally ceded to the PRC by Pakistan in 1963. That includes a section of western Jammu (Mirpur), a part of the Kashmir valley around Muzaffarabad, and also the the territories known as the "Northern Areas".

On the other hand, what the Pakistanis call "Azad Kashmir" is not equal to what we call POK in terms of territory.

Rudradev - these may be the exact facts, but consider this, A whole chunk of Kashmir was grabbed by Pakistan and retained by Pakistan in 1948 when Nehru went to the UN. That area is PoK

Now Pakistan has divided PoK into administrative/propaganda value segments based on its convenience. Are you saying we should recognize those new Pakistani administrative segments for what they are but give them different names? To me that is a travesty - it is a de facto recognition of Pakistan's rule over that territory.

If you ask me personally - either we give up all claim on PoK or claim it as a whole. Not refer to it piecemeal using renamed Pakistani administrative definitions.

[Gagan]

WRT the JUD's statement asking for terrorist action against the Indus river projects in J&K, and the major political parties in Pakistan signing that document. The parties that have signed this are:

PPP, PML-N, JI and Imran Khan's Tehreek-e-Insaaf. The statement demanded that the mujahideen be given a free hand as PIC could not solve the issue

The government should have two security related measures in place immediately.
1. Increased security and a reassessment of security at the sites of the projects that the JUD / LET keeps harping about. Measures must be in place to thwart any possible terrorist attack. This must be in place not only on the work site, but also in the offices and residential areas.
2. India must have a plan in place to militarily either pre-empt or to inflict reprisals against any such attack by the LET.

LET HQs in muridke, muzaffarabad and other staging areas need IED mubaraks on the double. This should have happened a long time ago.

There is no way that any GoI can allow a terrorist organization to attempt to disrupt a national development and infrastructure project. If GoI doesn't protect and prevent this, and provides strong 'discouragement' to the terrorists, then there will be no investment in any development project in J&K. Any development project in India will be at the mercy of approval of terrorists.

[SSridhar]

Pakistan court acquits men accused of militant attacks (BBC)

Rahul Ji this could mean two things
1) Investigating agencies are completely incompetent and just to waste everyone's time they arrested some one who was not connected with the crime and the courts dismissed them

2) Investigating agencies are either sympathetic or afraid of these jehadis and so decided to arrest scapegoats.

Chose what ever you want but pakis are going to repeat the same tamasha with 26/11 trials in rawalpindi.

There is a third thing which is that the judiciary is mortally afraid of awarding any punishment to jihadists as they have been of Islamists. And, these three things are not mutually exclusive. We have recently seen 'lack of evidence' in the cases of Hafeez Saeed, his deputy Col(r) Nazir Ahmed, the four Marriott case accused and a number of SSP terrorists.

[Gagan]

Has anyone noticed the tenor of the newspapers in Pakistan wrt the negotiations that PM MMS is proposing now, specially in the aftermath of 26/11?
Here is the opening line form this article on the Kishanganga project in The News: Kishanganga Hydropower Project

While Pakistan and India are agreeing to move on to a post-Mumbai negotiation process by developing a new framework for talks, the water dispute places an increasing burden on the leadership of the two countries where water is being used as a collective resource.

Notice in the highlighted portion what pakistan's assessment of the current round of negotiations are for:
1. The jihad waged against India on 26/11 has brought india to its senses and it is now willing for a new framework in its aftermath to come to the table for talks.
2. The killing of innocents is not an issue at all in pakistan. Afterall they were citizens of a kufr land and deserved what they got at the hands of the pious is justified.
3. This attack on india is the template that must be repeated when ever India displays 'intransigence' at the negotiating table to justified pakistani demands.

And these are the cretins that MMS proposes having chai-biskoot with. The entire pakistani negotiating team, every citizen there believes that these premises are true. These are the retards who make a cartoon of a dazed MMS when they launch two xerox-copy missiles, as an H&D boost for them. No wonder they look at 26/11 as a MASSIVE H&D victory, when the kufr were defeated.

[shiv]

Pakistan is one of those countries - and there are more of them than you might think - whose government does absolutely nothing for its people, except require the payment of taxes and bribes. It offers virtually no social services, and the society is so stratified that it falls into a de facto class structure, much like neighboring India, from which Pakistan was born more 60 years ago.

Much like India? I get what he's trying to say but that's statement is just pure conflation especially given the overall context. There is a lot to desire of Indian governing systems but when compared to the Pakilanders our social mobility, freedoms, education and what have you areliterally light years ahead.

You know - its almost no use making such protestations. India, over the last decades of the British empire and in the years after has been used as an "example" of how bad human societies can get.

Because India is full of kafirs/pagans it was convenient (and as this article shows, it is still convenient) to use Indian society as a whipping boy to explain away the worst in human behavior.

So when any educated well informed person wants to say that there is a class system in Pakistan and needs to describe it - he says "Just like India". In doing this and in provoking a response from "Hindutva" groups - the effect is exactly as desired. If Hindutva tries any violence or force in opposing these characterizations - it only serves as "added proof". If they don't protest it is an admission of guilt and the characterizations remain. Heads I win. Tails you lose. Recall that this is the same thing that I spoke about a couple of pages ago with Islamism provoking a response to prove that kafirs are violent. But all that is OT for BR.

[SSridhar]

2. India must have a plan in place to militarily either pre-empt or to inflict reprisals against any such attack by the LET.

Gagan, what you say is what any normal person would say, but GoI is made of different stuff. As I posted before, every time Pakistani terrorists mounted a slap-in-our-face-type audacious attack, we felt that the GoI would have to react more muscularly then. There has only been disappointment.

The signs are tell-tale now. The jihadists are going to attack very soon one of our water works in J&K or even elsewhere (may be Gujarat, for example). Pakistan is building up the scenario politically by accusing India of 'stealing water' and bringing it up as a point for discussion in the composite dialogue. After such an attack, Pakistan will also justify it as its FM did recently about Faisal Shehzad that his was a reaction to the drone attacks. Aman-ki-Asha types will call for 'internationalizing' the Indus system of rivers flowing through India.

[Rahul Shukla]

Pakistan inequality fuelling Taliban support (BBC)

The BBC's Owen Bennett-Jones has travelled to Pakistan for Newsnight to find out why the Taliban gained support in Swat, and examine fears their message of hope to those trapped in rural poverty could see them taking hold of the country's most powerful province, Punjab.

In the town of Mardan I spoke to a typical Taliban recruit - a young man whose family have been trapped in poverty for generations, and for whom the Islamist extremists offered escape: "The Taliban wanted to get the landholders property and to snatch their homes, they wanted to kill the landowners, then everything would be with us. We could have sold the land and got the money, under Islamic law everything would be with us," he said.

The 20-year-old was a Taliban fighter in the remote Swat Valley which the Taliban controlled for about a year before they were cleared out by the 2009 army offensive. He said he had personally beheaded eight people for the Taliban, people he described as "two teachers, DVD shopkeepers, army spies and a police man"... "Their mouths were gagged so they could not talk. I just said 'God is Great' and killed them. They were lying on the floor as if they were sleeping. "After the interview they gave them an injection to make them drowsy and so they would not feel anything. Then they brought them in."

Khalid Aziz, a retired senior official from North West Pakistan, explained why nonetheless the Taliban's message still resonates with some in Pakistan: "The Taliban is a romantic movement. They are groups of Robin Hoods," he said. "Their message is there is a lot of injustice and we will give you land, we will look after you, we will be the empowered future - join us and be part of the future."

There is now speculation that the Taliban might make a concerted effort to win control of the country's most powerful province, Punjab. The Taliban can see opportunities there - Punjab may be the country's richest state, but many Punjabis do not know where their next meal is coming from and in rural areas there is real despair.

While the deprived complain, the wealthy worry. The leading farming families in Pakistan are generally described as feudals. The Taliban denounce the feudals as exploiters of the common man. "The mullahs say 'those big bad feudals, what did they give you, what did they do for you? You are poor and we'll give you land, we'll give you water, and milk and honey will flow through the rivers. You will inherit paradise on earth, and if your kid blows himself up he will go straight to heaven', it is a land grab," Abida Hussain, a member of one of Punjab's feudals, said.

In the Swat Valley, the Taliban told the poor and dispossessed that they would get land. And they did attack leading landholders - some of whom held senior political positions as well. But once the Taliban commanders took over estates in Swat they decided they would hang on to them for their own families. They turned out to be venal as well as violent.

[Guddu]

Watertown Arrest Footage

http://www.boston.com/video/viral_page/ ... 5432424001

Wow!, pakis travel in fancy black cars....

[Guddu]

I thought this is an important video to watch.

"What Girls in pak think about India "

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpbBIdu9 ... re=related

Don't stop half way, watch the whole thing.

Manny

Unfortunately they aren't in any position to challenge the PA.

Two things struck me, 1. The girls gave inflammatory speeches to get points, 2. but at the end it was almost unanimous that the girl(s) did not really mean what they had said. If one now considers that these are not madarassa alumni, but RAPE daughters, very likely their parents also think the same way (ie speak one thing for public consumption...but in reality they all know the hollowness of their positions).

[Singha]

3 Pakistanis arrested in Times Square bomb probe
AP

By MARK PRATT and GLEN JOHNSON, Associated Press Writers Mark Pratt And Glen Johnson, Associated Press Writers – 1 hr 38 mins ago

WATERTOWN, Mass. – Three Pakistani men who authorities say supplied funds to Times Square car bomb suspect Faisal Shahzad were arrested Thursday in a series of raids across the Northeast as the FBI followed the money trail in the failed attack.

Investigators said it was not yet clear whether the three men knew how the money was going to be used.

The men — two seized in the Boston area, one in Maine — were arrested as federal authorities searched homes and businesses in a coordinated series of raids centered in the Boston suburbs, on New York's Long Island and in New Jersey.

They were arrested on immigration violations — administrative, not criminal, charges. They were not charged with any terrorism-related crimes. Their names were not released.

The raids resulted from evidence gathered in the investigation into the Times Square bomb attempt two weeks ago. FBI spokeswoman Gail Marcinkiewicz gave assurances Thursday that there was "no known immediate threat to the public or any active plot against the United States."

In Washington, Attorney General Eric Holder said investigators believe there is evidence that the men were providing Shahzad, a Pakistan-born U.S. citizen, with money, but they have yet to determine whether the men knew the funds might have been intended for a terrorist act.

A top Massachusetts law enforcement official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is still going on, said investigators are not sure whether the two Boston-area men were witting accomplices or simply moving funds, as is common among people from the Middle East and Central Asia who live in the U.S.

"These people might be completely innocent and not know what they were providing money for," the official cautioned, "but it's clear there's a connection."

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said there was "not a direct tie" between the man arrested in South Portland, Maine, and the Times Square car bomb suspect.

Authorities have been investigating whether Shahzad — who authorities say needed only a few thousand dollars to buy the used SUV and the bomb components used in the attempted May 1 attack — was financed from overseas.

A federal law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity regarding the ongoing investigation, said money was passed to Shahzad through the informal transfer networks known as hawalas.

Muslim immigrants for years have used hawalas, which rely on wire transfers, couriers and overnight mail and are cheaper and quicker than banks, to send cash to their families overseas. But since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, authorities have worked to dismantle the system, fearing it allows terrorists to raise and launder money.

Tracking the money to Shahzad through a hawala system will involve interviewing a large number of people and will likely be a more difficult task than would tracing funds through more conventional financial networks, the official said.

Two of the men under arrest overstayed their visas and the third is already in removal proceedings, said another law enforcement official, who was not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Shahzad, 30, has waived his right daily to appear in court since his May 1 arrest on charges he tried to blow up a van packed with a gasoline and propane outside Times Square's busy restaurants and Broadway theaters, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said Thursday. He is continuing to provide investigators with information, Bharara said.

"We are doing exactly what, I think, people want us to do, and that is to make sure we get all the information we can with respect to any associates he may have, and other information that would help us to prevent anything further from happening in the United States," the prosecutor said.

Kifyat Ali, a cousin of Shahzad's father, has called Shahzad's detention "a conspiracy so the (Americans) can bomb more Pashtuns," a reference to a major ethnic group in Peshawar and the nearby tribal areas of Pakistan and southwest Afghanistan. He has insisted that Shahzad "was never linked to any political or religious party" in Pakistan.

Shahzad, a budget analyst who lives in Bridgeport, Conn., returned to the U.S. in February from five months in Pakistan, where authorities say he claims to have received training in making bombs.

A law enforcement official called Thursday's raids "an evidence-gathering operation" and not a search for suspects. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said officials are investigating whether Shahzad got his cash through illegal money transfers.

Authorities raided a home in Watertown and a Mobil gas station and a vehicle in Brookline, another Boston suburb; a condominium in Cherry Hill, N.J.; a print shop in Camden, N.J., and two Long Island homes, law enforcement officials said.

Vinny Lacerra, who lives across the street from the Watertown house, said he was in his living room about 6 a.m. when he heard somebody shout, "FBI! Put your hands up!" and saw 15 to 20 agents with guns drawn surrounding the house.

Ashim Chakraborty, who owns a home raided in Centereach, N.Y., said FBI and police wanted to interview a Pakistani man and an American woman who live in the basement. The woman, who did not identify herself, was still in the basement Thursday afternoon, telling reporters only, "Drop dead. I'm an American."

There was no immediate comment from Pakistan on the raids.

Islamabad has said it was too early to say whether the Pakistani Taliban, which operates from the country's lawless northwest tribal region, was behind the Times Square plot, although the U.S. has said it found a definite link.

Pakistan has detained at least four people with alleged connections to Shahzad.

___

Johnson reported from Boston. Associated Press writers Tom Hays in New York; Samantha Gross in White Plains, N.Y.; Anita Chang in Islamabad; David Sharp in Portland, Maine; and Eileen Sullivan and Pete Yost in Washington contributed to this report.

[MurthyB]

For the piskology afficionados:

Muslims and Westerners: The Psychological Differences

Some of this applies in the Indic-Pak context also.

The locus of control is central to our understanding of problems and their solutions. If we are raised in a culture where we learn that "…I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul," as William Ernest Henley wrote in his famous poem Invictus in 1875; we will, in case of personal problems, look at ourselves and ask: "…What did I do wrong?" and "…What can I do to change the situation?" People who have been taught throughout their entire lives that outer rules and traditions are more important than individual freedom and self reflection, will ask: "Who did this to me?" and "Who has to do something for me?"

The difference in mentality is clearly stated by the old Indian proverb:

You can walk around softly everywhere by putting on a pair of shoes, or you can demand that the whole Earth becomes covered by soft leather.

It is a question of locus of control.

[shiv]

I thought this is an important video to watch.

"What Girls in pak think about India "

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpbBIdu9 ... re=related

Don't stop half way, watch the whole thing.

Manny

Unfortunately they aren't in any position to challenge the PA.

Two things struck me, 1. The girls gave inflammatory speeches to get points, 2. but at the end it was almost unanimous that the girl(s) did not really mean what they had said. If one now considers that these are not madarassa alumni, but RAPE daughters, very likely their parents also think the same way (ie speak one thing for public consumption...but in reality they all know the hollowness of their positions).

The girls have been taught to speak in this manner. As they get older, this is all they will remember and when confronted with conflicting information they will suffer cognitive dissonance and will tend to stick to the knowledge they already have about Indians as shown in the video.

Since these girls appear to be in the 12-14 age range and are likely to be alive 60 years from now, this video shows how Pakistan has created India haters who will be around for more than 60 years. Our old fogey politicians seem too stupid to recognize this. This is pure piskology which no one bothers about. Except religious leaders, to the detriment of all the morons who don't have a clue about how people's minds can be moulded.

The survival of hatred is more important than the guaranteed survival of most humans. If a village is razed and 90% of people killed, the 10% survivors will carry the memories and pass them on as they flee as refugees to other villages. People constantly talk of "razing to the ground" and "carpet bombing" etc. This is stupidity. You cannot kill Pakistani hatred by bombs, but you cannot kill it with love either.

We have to deal with Pakistan by accepting that Pakis will hate us for generations, but they have to be scared of hitting us. That fear comes from retaliation, not love. Let them hate us more - that is OK but they must feel pain as long as they hit us. The question of whether we should reward them for good behavior depends on their behaving well first. If we reward them for not behaving well - we are asking for trouble. The hatred will continue and there will be no fear of reprisals either.

The brain loses 50.000 nerve cells a day after age 45. How old is SM Krishna?

[abhishek_sharma]

Failed Times Square bombing raises U.S.-Pakistan tensions

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts ... n_tensions

[svinayak]

From the above comments

Code: Select all

JOHNBRAGG 1:56 AM ET May 14, 2010 Jihad is a Mental Illness Endemic to Pakistan
And it is time that the US imposed a quarantine. No one from the US travels to Pakistan without a license (just like Cuba), and no foreign national who has been to Pakistan gets issued a US visa.
Homeland Security could pretty much close up shop. No shoe bombers, no "dirty bombers", no underwear bombers, no Times Square bombers.[b][b]
And Lal Qila, I haven't studied the war extensively, but I think that America had something to do with restraining the Indians in 1971 from cutting the main roads from Punjab to Sindh[/b].[/b]

[chetak]

Posted without comment.


http://tribune.com.pk/story/12759/an-am ... -new-york/#

An amateur bomber in New York
By Sami Shah

May 13, 2010


The writer is a standup comedian ([email protected])




I am seriously upset with Faisal Shahzad. His amateurish attempts at terrorism are ruining Pakistan’s image. It wasn’t easy building a reputation as the top exporter of worldclass terrorists. The Middle East had that market cornered for most of the latter half of the last century (with the Venezuelans making a respectable bid for the title in the 70s with Carlos the Jackal). For a very long time, it seemed like the Arabs were the Apple computers of terrorism. They exported both quantity and quality.

When James Cameron finally recognised their efforts by casting generic Arabs as trouble-makers in True Lies, the rest of the world thought the game was over. The gold medal had gone to the Middle East. Then, like Usain Bolt breaking his own record, the Arab world produced Osama Bin Laden. He became an overnight sensation. Soon teens with terrorist aspirations had his posters up on their walls and his audio and video releases topped the charts. The sinister Saudi combined charisma with wealth, CIA training with Afghan tenacity. He turned the whole terrorism industry upside down, transforming it from a bloated bureaucracy rife with nepotism into a 21st century open source meritocracy.

That’s when we Pakistani’s made a legitimate grab for top slot. Aimal Kansi had made a good first impression on the judging committee, combining ingenuity and initiative as far back as 1993. Unfortunately for him, there was no follow up act.

Not this time though. Our terrorists worked hard. They took their jobs seriously and never complained. Long hours, terrible working conditions, constant travel, drone attacks and a Pakistani government that treated them with all the consistency of a schizophrenic with multiple personality disorder. Yet they persevered. Now, in 2010, we could finally say we were the envy of terrorists everywhere. With training institutes that churn out graduates who always make their instructors explode with pride, Celebrity terrorists who can return from the dead and a disregard for civilians that would make American Presidents envious, we had finally arrived. In 2010, if you wanted to be respected as a terrorist, you had better be from Pakistan. Just look at the number of international students our terrorist training institutes receive. Their admissions department must be flooded with applications. Whole teams of frustrated senior suicide-bombers spending hours pouring over personal statements. The Pakistani textile industry may be declining in terms of exports, our IT services may be crippled because of PayPal’s refusal to acknowledge our existence, but dammit, we did terrorism right!

That is, until Faisal bloody Shahzad. You have to be a truly terrible terrorist when the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan refuses to acknowledge you. This is an organisation that is on the verge of claiming responsibility for the Hindenberg disaster and the Apollo 13 problems. They have, of course, since backtracked and claimed to have trained Faisal but even they don’t sound like they believe themselves. It’s more a case of trying to buy some brand presence on a new celebrity. Faisal, for his part, could not have done more damage to the terrorism industry if he visited Mullah Omar, Hakeemullah Mehsud and Osama bin Laden while wearing a tracking device that was pinging his GPRS coordinates to a drone flying directly overhead. His claims of having attended bomb-making classes in South Waziristan are blatantly a case of lying on one’s resume. It’s safe to say, the first lesson taught on the first day of classes in North Waziristan, the Harvard of bomb-making, is “Don’t lock the keys to your getaway car inside the car that’s supposed to blow up.”

Too many people blew themselves up in too many creative ways for this buffoon to so callously ruin it all. We can’t afford to be known as the country that put the ‘error’ in ‘terrorism.’

Published in the Express Tribune, May 13th, 2010.

[svenkat]

Shivji,
You are very harsh on SM krishna.There are no expectations from him,other than that he will not be an embarassment.He is expected to faithfully relay the views of the real foreign policy mandarins and not go further.There is merit in his appointment from the domestic politics view with implications for polity,which is OT.Also he is far better than some criminals who have held top positions in recent past.

[abhishek_sharma]

Charlie Rose's interview with Alissa Rubin, "The New York Times" Kabul bureau chief, from Washington Stephen Biddle of the Council on Foreign Relations, and Karen DeYoung of "The Washington Post."

http://www.charlierose.com/download/transcript/11009

CHARLIE ROSE: What’s the status of the relationship with Pakistan,
Stephen, in terms of getting more and more Pakistani cooperation to do more
and more things?

STEPHEN BIDDLE: The relationship has been improving partly because
we’ve invested an awful lot of effort in trying to build relationships
mostly between senior American military officers and senior Pakistani
military officers. That certainly helped.

But I actually think the biggest change in the U.S.-Pakistani
relationship has been the increasing virulence of Pakistan’s own
insurgency. Arguably the central problem for Pakistan and the Pakistani-
U.S. relationship over the years has been the Pakistanis are concerned at
least as much for the threat from India as they are from any problem from
Al Qaeda or the Taliban or from the insurgency in Afghanistan.

As the insurgency by the Pakistani Taliban and other insurgent groups
against the government in Islamabad has become increasingly violent and
serious, the Pakistanis themselves have come to a conception of their own
threat that’s much closer to the way we see the problem in South Asia, that
these Islamist terrorists and insurgent groups in South Asia and especially
in Pakistan are a potentially lethal threat to the Pakistani government as
well as the Afghan government, and therefore they need to take the kinds of
actions we’ve been pushing them do.

Now that they see it as being in their own self-interest, that I think
has been helpful in getting them to reorient their effort.

Now, they’re still not seeing things exactly the way we do, and I’m
not sure they’re going to. They have substantial uncertainties and some
important differences of interest relative to us that are persistent. But
the scale of all these differences has gone down over time and all that’s
been very helpful.

CHARLIE ROSE: Do they still protect some of the Haqqani interests?

STEPHEN BIDDLE: Yes, they do. And part of the reason they do that
sort of thing is they have no way of knowing how long we are going to
remain committed in either Afghanistan or Pakistan, so they have no choice
except to hedge their bets.

And their primary bet-hedge against the prospect of an American
withdrawal from Afghanistan and a potential collapse of the Karzai
government there is a Taliban that they think they can work with and that
will help protect their interests in this event in an Afghanistan after
Karzai in a way that would prevent Afghanistan from simply becoming a
security vacuum that India could move into and threaten the encirclement of
Pakistan.

CHARLIE ROSE: Karen, you wanted to say?

KAREN DEYOUNG: I was going to say that I think it’s sometimes
difficult for people here to -- we have our own view of what regional
policies are there and the way we interact with regional actors there.

The Pakistanis and the Afghans have their own views of how the region
works. Pakistanis feel like any change in Afghanistan -- for example, if
those members of the Northern Alliance were to take over, if a relationship
between India and the Afghan government got closer, that they would be the
ones that would lose in that relationship. And so, as Steven says, they
are hedging their bets.

[harbans]

An amateur bomber in New York
By Sami Shah

Observe how the Paki psyche now acknowledges that it is an exporter of terror..BUT well if you noticed like me it's 1st terror export was Kansi. No terrorist was exported to India. The reason for this 'self reflection' is the impression that Pukes have abroad and the bad image it sends them there. So it's OK to kill the Indian Kafir while it's terror to kill the White Kufr. But then amongst the pious there will be grand 'intellectual' discussions as happens in healthy democracies whether the Western world are people of the book or not. Indians certainly don't belong to that category. It's completely inherent in the psyche.

Another observation of the Paki RAPE children (saw this video couple of years ago IIRC): Looks like a SDRE reporter in a Paki school. Initially look at how the Class Teacher clpas in glee and looks around with pride on passionate speeches on Porki nukes. The SDRE reporter takes that focus away and questions these girls on their passionate speech on nukes. Thats the turn around point. True they say something and mean something else. But in India children are taught to coincide both. Talk and do what you mean. Else it's a lie. Truth triumphs. Lying is bad etc. While in Pukistan Lying is not one bit of a sin. So most grow up thinking it's Ok to lie. Then coupled with the fact that Taqiya is acceptable, lying becomes established psyche and policy.

Indian politicians and Elite are unable to see this. There are Indians who lie too, but it's not yet the rule for sure. Even in the political establishment. In Pukistan Lying is the norm, whether one calls oneself Indian, Afghan or glorifying complete monsters who raped and murdered their own ancestors.

Pukistan is the only country in the world that has glorified and worshipped people who raped and murdered their ancestors. To accept that one's society must have deep roots in untruth. Any society that eulogizes rapists, murderers and worships them over time leans to the ideals of those adharmics. It clashes with all things Dharmic and remains in a state of denial. All demands emanating each more outrageous than the other is not a desire to solve problems or be friends with the Indian Kufr but frustrate till the day of reckoning, which in the case of Pukes and the masterminds who run the country is the Ghazwa. Timur ordered all Muslims to kill the Kufr when Delhi's citizens were massacred. If any Muslim did not kill a kufr, he would be killed himself. And so it seems that a Mullah who never even harmed a moth went himself and had the heads of a dozen Kufr. Pukes bask in the glory of murderers and looters. India is the first country that they want to satiate their thirst for murder and looting on. This thirst is going to increase a India becomes richer and earns it's rightful place. When some of it's denizens want to do something like that to the Kufr in the West..many RAPE wince.

The core ideology they follow is flawed and glued to making violence acceptable and glorified.

[Satya_anveshi]

Perhaps I drove away folks with my random thoughts yesterday.

But the point is just as Pakistan is creating irrelevant issues and repeating them 000's of times, why don't we too start making and repeating some demands 000's of times - mainly we would like to see pakistan that is tolerent for other religions - this is an easy catch phrase and any justification from Pakistan will make them look bad. Second, develop a constituency that is fed up with pakislam and demand recognition of this segment in pakistan.

Pakistan will either "concede" demands from India (tauba..tauba), or remain/revert to 7th century. What goes of my father eitherway. They aren't going to get 1 inch of lund land.

[arun]

3 Pakistanis arrested in Times Square bomb probe

X Posted weblink and comment on the story of three more Pakistani origin individuals arrested for indulging the national pastime of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan:

The US arrests three more individuals originating from the Islamic Republic of Pakistan for involvement in the failed Times Square car bombing.

3 Pakistanis arrested in Times Square bomb probe

Now if this were a story in the UK media, the headline would no doubt have read “3 Asians arrested in Times Square bomb probe”.

It is good to see that the US media is unambiguous about pinpointing the national origin of Islamic Terrorists unlike the UK which permits those from the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to hide their national predilection for committing acts of Islamic Terrorism around the world by using the term “Asian”.

[abhishek_sharma]

Pak needs to do more on terror: Clinton

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Worl ... 928872.cms

[shiv]

Shivji,
You are very harsh on SM krishna.There are no expectations from him,other than that he will not be an embarassment.He is expected to faithfully relay the views of the real foreign policy mandarins and not go further.There is merit in his appointment from the domestic politics view with implications for polity,which is OT.Also he is far better than some criminals who have held top positions in recent past.

You know - everyone has an alibi. Nobody in India does anything of his own volition. SMK follows the real foreign policy mandarins. The real foreign policy mandarins follow the US. The US follows Pakistan. Pakistan follows Allah.

It can truly be said that what happens happens because Allah makes it happen.

[SSridhar]

Towards reducing trust deficit - Chinmaya R. Gharekhan

From the above,

Pakistan seems to have sold the line that Yusuf Raza Gilani has armed himself with new and enhanced powers under the 18th amendment to Pakistan's Constitution, making him a worthy interlocutor for the serious discussion of all weighty issues. This may be overstating things a bit. Perhaps the ‘official sources' felt the need for this argument to justify to the public as well as sceptics within the ruling coalition the resumption of dialogue. The real question is whether Mr. Gilani has the authority to take decisions that the army, including the ISI, might not approve of or whether he would have to clear all the issues in dealing with India, Afghanistan, Kashmir, etc. first with the military. Mr. Gilani's claim to be the valid interlocutor with Dr. Singh must be taken with a fistful of salt.

None can be under any illusion that a mere Constitution of Pakistan vests power in the civilians. This is a facade, no doubt. GoI has been talking to the PA for over a year now after the iftaar party (or possibly even before) hosted by the Indian High Commissioner at Islamabad in c. 2009, attended by the ISI Chief Lt. Gen. Shuja Pasha. The on-going talks could have been a major factor behind service extensions given to Shuja Pasha & Kiyani. Now, the PA has given the permission to Gilani to claim what he claimed. The GoI has simply played along. The real discussions have gone on elsewhere. The traces left behind in the two Kabul attacks or the 26/11 attack linking back to the PA were not done carelessly, IMHO. They were deliberate to make India talk to the PA. Anyway, the finishing touches have to come from the political parties.

[ramana]

When Chinmaya Gharekhan is warning things are quite bad.He is an establishment figure.

[abhijitm]

Shivji,
You are very harsh on SM krishna.There are no expectations from him,other than that he will not be an embarassment.He is expected to faithfully relay the views of the real foreign policy mandarins and not go further.There is merit in his appointment from the domestic politics view with implications for polity,which is OT.Also he is far better than some criminals who have held top positions in recent past.

You know - everyone has an alibi. Nobody in India does anything of his own volition. SMK follows the real foreign policy mandarins. The real foreign policy mandarins follow the US. The US follows Pakistan. Pakistan follows Allah.

It can truly be said that what happens happens because Allah makes it happen.

well said. we also should consider the background of replacing MK Narayanan with SSM, after which all the cuddling with pakistan has started.

[Prem]

well said. we also should consider the background of replacing MK Narayanan with SSM, after which all the cuddling with pakistan has started

And Mr Saran, who decided to keep his self respect by walking out.

[abhijitm]

I dont understand what US and MMS will gain by talking to pigs? (I am deliberately not saying 'US and India'). I think it is the pig that wants to talk to MMS. Possibly related to india's presence in Afghanistan, role of both the countries after US departure. If MMS and Co just play with the pig then its fine but if they make some serious commitment then India is in big $hit.

We should only concentrate on expanding our influence in Afghanistan in every possible way. This is the only way to avenge 26/11.

[SSridhar]

SUCH GUP from TFT

Short and sharp

However reluctant the khakis may be to go into North Waziristan, we hear there’s going to be a short, sharp operation centered around Mir Ali soon. This is the place that is said to host the core of Al-Qaeda, die-hard Taliban and sectarian terrorists from Punjab. Has Mrs Clinton’s warning done the trick?

[abhijitm]

well said. we also should consider the background of replacing MK Narayanan with SSM, after which all the cuddling with pakistan has started

And Mr Saran, who decided to keep his self respect by walking out.

totally agreed. Since last few months somethings very disturbing are happening. All these changes of diplomats, NSA re pakistan, then aman ka tamasha by a leading newspaper, then some high profile spying, then continuous reporting of radiation at various establishments, now resumption of talks...coincident?

disturbing, very very disturbing. guys keep close watch on next developments.

[putnanja]

None can be under any illusion that a mere Constitution of Pakistan vests power in the civilians. This is a facade, no doubt. GoI has been talking to the PA for over a year now after the iftaar party (or possibly even before) hosted by the Indian High Commissioner at Islamabad in c. 2009, attended by the ISI Chief Lt. Gen. Shuja Pasha. The on-going talks could have been a major factor behind service extensions given to Shuja Pasha & Kiyani. Now, the PA has given the permission to Gilani to claim what he claimed. The GoI has simply played along. The real discussions have gone on elsewhere. The traces left behind in the two Kabul attacks or the 26/11 attack linking back to the PA were not done carelessly, IMHO. They were deliberate to make India talk to the PA. Anyway, the finishing touches have to come from the political parties.

SS, I really doubt if India is talking to PA/ISI for close to an year now. Even as recently as a couple of months now, around the time that SSM took charge, "offical sources" were claiming that they didn't know whom to talk to in Pakistan given the various power centers. And then there were articles on how Pasha said that the armies of India and Pakistan should negotiate with each other, and there were plenty of posts here on how the TSPA assumes things are same in India as in TSP where the army rules the roost. I really have my doubts on whether India is talking to PA or not. Things were different with mushy, as he was an army man.

BTW, MKN was dissed here a lot, and it was only when he left that we heard how he was the lone cop preventing sell out. I still have my doubts on SSM, given his hand in the S-e-S fiasco. Shyam Saran has been pretty consistent oh holding Indian interests, though he too was cursed here during the nuclear deal. However, the presence of Pranab and PC in the CCS does give me some relief that we won't be sold down the river!