Terrorist Islamic Republic of Pakistan (TSP): Sep 03, 2010

Juggi G · Post by **Juggi G** » 15 Oct 2010 12:04

Flood Woes Lead to Talibanisation of Pak Army ?

kmkraoind · Post by **kmkraoind** » 15 Oct 2010 13:16

MQM links killings of workers with Land Reforms Bill

ISLAMABAD: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) on Thursday linked the apparent target killings of its workers in Karachi with the Land Reforms Bill recently moved by the party in the National Assembly.

Speaking at a news conference at the National Press Club, MQM leader Dr Farooq Sattar, also Minister for Overseas Pakistanis, urged President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani to take notice of the target killing and to bring the culprits to justice.

He said that five of his party workers had been killed during the last two days after the party had submitted Land Reforms Bills in the National Assembly, alleging that some senior officials in the Sindh government had supported the criminals involved in the killings.

To a question about the officials, Sattar avoided naming them, saying that everyone knew who they were. He also said that the same group had been involved in the recent kidnappings for ransom, bank dacoities, robberies as well as extorting money from industrialists and traders.

He further said that the killings proved that the government had failed to establish its writ, adding that innocent workers of the party had been victimised.

Giving details of the target killings, Sattar said that bodies of three MQM workers had been recovered from an abandoned vehicle near Karachi’s Malir Halt area on Thursday morning.

He alleged that the law enforcement agencies had not been taking action against criminal groups based in the Lyari area that were spreading terror throughout the city.

The MQM leader said that faces of some criminals had been captured in closed circuit television (CCTV) footages from banks, and the Citizens Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) had information about them, but still they had been roaming around freely. Sattar deplored the fact that not a single culprit involved in the killing of MQM party workers had been arrested so far. “How can they be arrested when they are enjoying the support of influential government figures,” he alleged.

He also circulated the list of the ‘fact finding committee’ of MQM in which the identities of the recently killed workers was given.

The deceased were identified as Khalid Hussain Siddiqui, Shahbaz Ahmed Khan and Sabir Ali who were shot dead after abduction.

He said that to date, at least 200 workers including MPA Raza Hyder had been killed since 2009, adding that the anti-state elements wanted to sabotage peace in the commercial hub of the country.

Seems to be deserved to post in full. It seems MQM is aiming at pakjabiath (land jamindars). Hope pathuns joins the chorus for fertile lands of pakjab.

Johann · Post by **Johann** » 15 Oct 2010 13:35

Juggi G wrote:RAPES & RAPETTES ! Let The Games Begin !

'Rape Not Possible in Marriage'

'Rape Not Possible in Marriage'
IANS
Oct 15, 2010

LONDON : There cannot be rape within marriage, a Muslim cleric in Britain has ruled. A key Muslim leader in the country promptly denounced the views as "misguided "and "inappropriate".

"In Islamic Sharia, Rape is Adultery by Force. So Long as the Woman is his Wife, It Cannot be Termed as Rape," the Independent quoted cleric Sheikh Maulana Abu Sayeed as saying.

Men accused of raping their wives should not be prosecuted as "sex is part of marriage", said Sayeed, president of the Islamic Sharia Council in Britain.

He made the comments to the blog The Samosa — and reiterated them to the The Independent . Sayeed told the website: "Clearly there cannot be any rape within the marriage. Maybe aggression , maybe indecent activity ... Because when they got married , the understanding was that sexual intercourse was part of the marriage, so there cannot be anything against sex in marriage . "Of course, if it happened without her desire, that is no good, that is not desirable."

British law makes rape within marriage illegal.

Sayeed also suggested that women who claim to have been raped by their husbands should not immediately go to the police.

"Not in the beginning, unless we establish that it really happened . Because in most of the cases , wives... have been advised by their solicitors that one of the four reasons for which a wife can get a divorce is rape, so they are encouraged to say things like this."

Asked how men found to have raped their wives were to be punished, he said: "He may be disciplined, and he may be made to ask forgiveness. That should be enough."

Muslims4UK's chairman Inayat Bunglawala said: "Sheikh Sayeed's comments are woefully misguided and entirely inappropriate . Rape – whether within marriage or outside it – is an abominable act and is clearly against the law."

Dave Whatton, spokesman on rape for the Association of Chief Police Officers, told the daily: "We know that the Majority of Rapes do not take place through strangers attacking women late at night but between acquaintances and within marriages and partnerships."

In most traditional Islamic fiqh (i.e. scholarly jurisprudence - the word sharia is a case of modern misuse) the dower paid by the groom to the bride among other things grants *guaranteed* access to a very specific part of her anatomy. A wife simply does not have the right to say no to her husband unless she's having her period, or nursing, etc.

The idea of marital rape takes some getting used to for the traditional. On the other hand now that more and more Muslim women can read, and read Arabic there's all kind of new pressures for changes in interpretation, especially among Muslim women in better off places. This is why reactionary movements like the Taliban make it their first priority to blow up girls schools.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 15 Oct 2010 16:32

chetak wrote:http://www.dailypioneer.com/289564/Not- ... miris.html

While demanding ‘azadi’ for ‘Kashmiris’, the Hurriyat has been remarkably reticent of what is happening in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Surely those demanding ‘azadi’ should be asked whether their espousal of ‘azadi’ also covers the people of Gilgit and Baltistan. The Resolution passed by the European Parliament on May 24, 2007, slams the domination of officials appointed by Islamabad in the affairs of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and notes that the 1974 PoK Constitution “forbids any political activity that is not in accordance with the doctrine of Jammu & Kashmir as part of Pakistan”.

The European Parliament Resolution further notes that while the “Gilgit- Baltistan region enjoys no form of democratic representation whatsoever”, the State of “Jammu & Kashmir (administered by India) enjoys a unique status under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, granting it greater autonomy than other States of the Indian Union”. India needs to drive home these facts aggressively to people in the Kashmir Valley and to the international community, rather than being continually defensive about deliberately engineered violence.

Another fine articulation, as usual, by Mr. G.Parthasarathi. The people of Kashmir Valley would refuse to listen to GoI but India must go on a propaganda offensive against Pakistan. GP says that in the back channel, it was agreed that there will be equal autonomy on either side of the border. However, Pakistan will never give to the PoKites the same set of rights that India has given to Kashmiris. It has not made any move to do so since the time the back channel agreement was clinched. OTOH, it has gone ahead with more of the same way it has been governing PoK. In fact, PoK is not even under civilian federal government's control. PoK is again a puppet and the puppeteers are in Rawalpindi. The agreement in back channel was therefore a ruse to create a perception of equality between the Indian portions of J&K and PoK. India has a solid legal basis to claim title to J&K whereas Pakistan does not have.

In 1974, PoK (excluding Balawaristan) enacted its own farcical Constitution, called Interim Constitution. As GP has stated, Article 4(7)(2) of this so-called Constitution of PoK states: ‘No person or party in Azad Jammu and Kashmir shall be permitted to propagate against, or take part in activities prejudicial or detrimental to, the ideology of the States accession to Pakistan’. Anybody who contests the elections in PoK has to declare his/her loyalty to Pakistan and accession of J&K to Pakistan. This flies directly in the face of Pakistan's oft-repeated slogan that 'Pakistan was a disputed territory and the people of J&K must be allowed self-determination', something which Pakistan is not willing to accept and implement on its held side of J&K. Thus, sixty candidates were debarred from elections in circa 2006 as they were unwilling to sign such a loyalty declaration ! Pakistani Constitution does not include J&K as a province and it cannot do so for legal reasons. The farcical Interim Constitution of PoK delegates such issues as Foreign Affairs, Defence to the Government of Pakistan.

It is an extensive subterfuge that Pakistan resorts to give the impression of 'freedom' to PoK but anyone can clearly see through all this. There is not even independent media within PoK. That was why, the European Union document prepared by Emma Nicholson, was very critical of the political 'freedom' in PoK. PoK is governed by the Ministry of KANA (Kashmir & Northern Areas) which is in turn handled by the PA & the ISI. The Kashmir Council acts as the interface between KANA and the Legislative Assembly of PoK. The Kashmir Council consists of the Prime Minister of Pakistan who is also the Chairman of the Council, President of PoK, Prime Minister of PoK, five Pakistani federal ministers (Ministers for KANA, Interior, Foreign Affairs, Education & Information) and six representatives from the PoK Legislative Assembly. The Kashmir Council's Secretariat is in Islamabad. Article 21 of the 1974 Interim Constitution says that the government of AJK is subordinated to the Azad Jammu & Kashmir Council. The PoK Legislative Assembly is thus subservient to this Kashmir Council which is simply loaded with Pakistani interests. The High Court and Supreme Court Judges can only be appointed by approval of the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs in Islamabad. The Minister of Kashmir Affairs can dismiss the Prime Minister, as can the Chief Secretary – another Islamabad appointee. Thus, the role of paramountcy which lapsed with the exit of the British empire, has been taken over by the federal Government of Pakistan as far as PoK is concerned. The Kashmir Council's decisions are final and cannot be challenged in any court of Law.

Now, how is this so called PoK Legislative Assembly constituted ? It has 49 seats out of which 12 are reserved for the so-called Kashmir refugees, elections for which take place throughout Pakistan. Thus, these 12 seats are 'fixed' by the federal Pakistani government. Eight of these 12 seats fall in the Punjab, thus giving extraordinary power to the Punjabis again to control Pakistan's jugular vein (Shah Rag). The two predominant parties in PoK, namely the Muslim Conference which is the favourite of Nawaz Sharif and Jama'at-e-Islami (JI) and the PPP assume power accordingly using these 12 legislators. These 12 legislators are also used to push the agenda of the PA & the ISI, if need be. The former PoK prime minister Barrister Sultan Mehmood, reportedly said, “It’s necessary to spend six out of seven days of a week in Islamabad to continue as a primer minister of Kashmir.” In the 2006-elections as well as in all the seven previous elections, there has been accusation of widespread rigging and forced voting. Even the then JI leader, the redoubtable Qazi Hussain Ahmed saab, claimed rigging in PoK elections of c. 2006. So much for our ungrateful residents on our side of Kashmir who protest against electoral malpractices and cite it as a reason to merge with Pakistan.

In addition to these 12 seats in the PoK Legislative Assembly, eight more seats are also reserved, five for women and one each for an Islamic scholar, technocrat and overseas Kashmiri. For these reserved seats the 41- members of the assembly indirectly elect the candidates. These eight seats are also manipulated with the help of the 12 'fixed' legislators. Thus, 40% of the PoK's Legislative Assembly are not representatives of the people. The PoK is run with an iron-hand from Islamabad and more so from Rawalpindi, the real puppeteers, in the guise of a farcical democracy.

RajeshA · Post by **RajeshA** » 15 Oct 2010 16:43

SSridhar wrote:In 1974, PoK (excluding Balawaristan) enacted its own farcical Constitution, called Interim Constitution. As GP has stated, Article 4(7)(2) of this so-called Constitution of PoK states: ‘No person or party in Azad Jammu and Kashmir shall be permitted to propagate against, or take part in activities prejudicial or detrimental to, the ideology of the States accession to Pakistan’. Anybody who contests the elections in PoK has to declare his/her loyalty to Pakistan and accession of J&K to Pakistan. This flies directly in the face of Pakistan's oft-repeated slogan that 'Pakistan was a disputed territory and the people of J&K must be allowed self-determination', something which Pakistan is not willing to accept and implement on its held side of J&K. Thus, sixty candidates were debarred from elections in circa 2006 as they were unwilling to sign such a loyalty declaration ! Pakistani Constitution does not include J&K as a province and it cannot do so for legal reasons. The farcical Interim Constitution of PoK delegates such issues as Foreign Affairs, Defence to the Government of Pakistan.

Does that mean those 60 candidates who were debarred, can be people with whom India can do business. Is there any list somewhere of these debarred candidates? Can India give these debarred candidates a lot more publicity, and show that all is not well in the House of Jinnah?!

Just some rhetorical questions!

anupmisra · Post by **anupmisra** » 15 Oct 2010 17:13

Pratyush wrote:Saip,

IIRC, in 1966, the PRC entered into a contract to supply the TSPA with about 900 T55, a regiment of which was destroyed at Longawala(SP). I am not sure bout the AK 47s though.

Wiki does not list a Chinese version of AK-47 unless they bought the '47s from the Soviets and forwarded the same to the packies.

anupmisra · Post by **anupmisra** » 15 Oct 2010 17:18

Defence expo 2010 cancelled

Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani has cancelled the international defence expo 2010 also known as ‘Ideas’.

Bhy, you ask?

the expo was cancelled as a move to save funds following the devastating floods that hit the country. The funds for the expo will be spent on rehabilitation of the flood victims instead

That must be lot of funds saved.

RajeshA · Post by **RajeshA** » 15 Oct 2010 17:31

X-Posting from Baluchistan: The Story of Another Pakistan Military Genocide Thread

Published on Oct 15, 2010
By Anthony Kuhn
Modern-Day 'Great Game' Plays Out In Baluchistan: NPR

Almost since the birth of Pakistan, its government has been battling a low-level insurgency in the southwest region of Baluchistan.

The region accounts for nearly half of Pakistan's territory. Its strategic position and natural resources are attracting the involvement of foreign powers, which are making the insurgency worse.

"To me, the 19th-century 'Great Game' has started in this region again," he observes, "but in different forms and with different players."

The most conspicuous player in Baluchistan right now is China. A government-owned firm is mining gold and copper at Saindak. But Baluchistan National Party Secretary-General Jehanzeb Baluch says the Baluch have been shut out of the profits.

"Every nation has a right to pursue its interest," he concedes. "But the means should be fair. They should make sure that their interests do not collide with the local people's interest."

Baluch nationalists say the Chinese employ few Baluchis in the mines, and the precious metals are taken back to China to be refined.

"Baluchis feel helpless that they are being sandwiched in all these powers and this great game," Jehanzeb Baluch continues. "The Chinese are interested in getting to the Straits of Hormuz, the energy corridor. The main gate of this corridor is Gwadar, Baluchistan."

The Chinese have helped build and run the port of Gwadar, which is located on the Arabian Sea, just 180 nautical miles from the entrance to the Persian Gulf.

A Counterweight To India

China's aim is to bring Middle Eastern oil into Gwadar, through Pakistan and into the adjoining Chinese territory of Xinjiang. This could be done by trucking the oil up the Karakorum highway, which connects the two countries, or by a yet-to-be-constructed rail link. This would bypass India and a strategic choke point at the Straits of Malacca.

University of Karachi international relations expert Farhan Siddiqui explains that China's strategy is to "establish good ties with Pakistan so that Pakistan can be used as a counterweight against India, in the same sense that the Americans are using, or utilizing, India as a counterweight to China."

archan · Post by **archan** » 15 Oct 2010 17:39

So China is basically milking Pakistan for all its worth before it is too late. They will mine the land dry and the pakis will be left feeling "cheated" yet again by another power.

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 15 Oct 2010 18:11

surely, a gwadar-gilgit-xinjiang pipeline must be more costly than a kazakhstan-xinjiang one?

anupmisra · Post by **anupmisra** » 15 Oct 2010 18:17

Pa'astaniyat in UK
Quite sad, really.

UK: Muslim woman dies after being found on fire

Shocked neighbours in the quiet cul-de-sac told BBC News that the dead woman had lived in the street for about a year after moving from Pakistan to live with her in-laws....

"She was a young girl, we thought she was about 17 or 18, and she was pregnant."

anupmisra · Post by **anupmisra** » 15 Oct 2010 18:19

Lalmohan wrote:surely, a gwadar-gilgit-xinjiang pipeline must be more costly than a kazakhstan-xinjiang one?

But the long term gains far supercede the short term costs. Besides, the Chinese will then own Balochistan through proxy.

shravan · Post by **shravan** » 15 Oct 2010 18:56

Missile attacks kill 6 terrorists in N. Waziristan

NORTH WAZIRISTAN: At least six terrorists have been killed in spying missile attacks in Mir Ali Friday.

---

South Waziristan: 5 Security Personnel killed, 2 injured in attack in Sararogha area: Sources

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 15 Oct 2010 19:32

"Pakistan Public Debt: A Brief Overview", by Emma Xiaoqin Fan, Asian Development Bank, April 2007, says:

"Pakistan entered the 21st century with serious financial problems. Public debt exceeded 90% of its GDP, over 600% of its annual revenues, and debt servicing accounted for over half of current revenues. In 2001, Pakistan was the only country in South Asia to be classified as a severely indebted country by the World Bank. Due to the inability to service external debt there were two consecutive rounds of debt rescheduling by Paris Club members and one from the quasi-London Club between 1998 and 2001. Pakistan had to seek exceptional financial arrangments from the International Monetary Fund in January 1999, after facing a severe balance of payments crisis. The outcome was the result of persistent and rising fiscal deficits, stagnant export receipts, declining worker remittances and large current account deficits.

The Pakistan economy has experienced a turnaround since 2000. Growth has accelerated and most macroeconomic indicators have improved. Public debt indicators have also shown significant improvement. ..In fact, FY2005/06 is the fifth successive year that the public debt to GDP ratio has improved. This is also the first time in more than two decades that the ratio has fallen below 60%."

If we think that Musharraf's economy was smoke-and-mirrors then Pakistan returning to its 1998 situation should not be a surprise. The real problem for Pakistan that its period of military rule is not seen as a era of cooked statistics, but one of real growth.

ArmenT · Post by **ArmenT** » 15 Oct 2010 20:38

anupmisra wrote:
Pratyush wrote:Saip,

IIRC, in 1966, the PRC entered into a contract to supply the TSPA with about 900 T55, a regiment of which was destroyed at Longawala(SP). I am not sure bout the AK 47s though.
Wiki does not list a Chinese version of AK-47 unless they bought the '47s from the Soviets and forwarded the same to the packies.

The Chinese made version is called the AK-56 because they started to manufacture their own in (surprise, surprise) 1956. They still manufacture it to this day. True AK-47s are relatively rare. Most of what is called an "AK-47" in the press is usually an AKM or an AK-56 model.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 15 Oct 2010 20:39

Apparently The Chief Minisier of Baluchistan is offering the NATO use of Gwadar to tranship supplies. US analysts are not sure the reasons why and wonder if its PRC not funding the road infrastructure for the hinterland.

shravan · Post by **shravan** » 15 Oct 2010 22:40

Missing weapons

Dawn Editorial
Friday, 15 Oct, 2010

Yesterday, this newspaper carried a report based on an official document that revealed the ways in which weapons including grenades and Kalashnikov submachine guns seized from criminals and terrorists went missing: one, not all the arms seized by the police from individuals and gangs were deposited in the district and provincial malkhanas; two, no less than three million of a bewildering variety of arms deposited in the two categories of malkhanas and arsenals of the official bomb disposal squad disappeared.

One can only guess the modus operandi and motives behind the weapons lost. A large number of the weapons must have been sold to criminals by men who are supposed to guard the arsenal, and many others must have been gifted to terrorist outfits. If this is established, this could well mean the Taliban and a large number of other terrorist militias have sympathisers and activists well-entrenched in the provincial law-enforcement machinery.

The disappearances could also mean that Punjab warehouses are one of the terrorists’ major sources of arms — and not only in Punjab.

Anujan · Post by **Anujan** » 15 Oct 2010 22:43

Kids please leave the room this is adults only.

Pakistan foreign office has put up a explicit display of musharraf kissing. Enjoy http://www.mofa.gov.pk/Press_Releases/2 ... PR_259.htm

Pakistan is surprised and deeply perturbed to learn about the decision of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee to award the Nobel Peace Prize 2010 to Liu Xiaobo. This decision runs contrary to the established principles for the award of the Prize and therefore cannot but be seen to be detracting from the prestige associated with this award.

CRamS · Post by **CRamS** » 15 Oct 2010 23:03

Anujan wrote:Kids please leave the room this is adults only.

Pakistan foreign office has put up a explicit display of musharraf kissing. Enjoy http://www.mofa.gov.pk/Press_Releases/2 ... PR_259.htm

Pakistan is surprised and deeply perturbed to learn about the decision of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee to award the Nobel Peace Prize 2010 to Liu Xiaobo. This decision runs contrary to the established principles for the award of the Prize and therefore cannot but be seen to be detracting from the prestige associated with this award.

I didn't do a scientific poll or anything, but I did talk about this Nobel Prize with a number of my Chinese friends & colleauges, both men & women. I can tell you without a doubt that 99% of Han Chinese dismiss this award with the contempt it deserves in their mind. In fact, many of them just wave it off like a fly swatter. Now thats nationalism to me. (Chinese don't have Pankaj Misras or A'Roys etc etc). No wonder TSP has signed onto the same with alacrity.

shaardula · Post by **shaardula** » 15 Oct 2010 23:50

der spiegel has done a detailed piece on drone-acharya.
four parts:
Part 1: Taking Out the Terrorists by Remote Control
Part 2: How Armed Drones Were Invented
Part 3: The Accountability Vacuum
Part 4: Al-Qaida Strikes Back

bigger version of this pic here.

... two days after the election, when he was still at home in Chicago, Barack Obama was asked to attend a meeting in a downtown office. He was asked to come alone, without advisers, his wife or any other witnesses.

His predecessor George W. Bush, who was still in office, had made it clear to Obama that the meeting was extremely important. It was November 2008, 75 days before Obama's inauguration as US president.

Then-Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell was expecting Obama. McConnell was also alone, and the room in which they met was soundproof, windowless and bugproof. On that Thursday, Obama was told that the US government had a secret program called "Sylvan Magnolia," which involved using unmanned aircraft, or drones, to hunt down terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The program was going well, McConnell said.

The reason it was going so well, he added, was that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had such good sources, courageous men who had the trust of the al-Qaida and Taliban leadership. These wonderful informants would provide the necessary tips, allowing the drones to do their work.

sanjaykumar · Post by **sanjaykumar** » 15 Oct 2010 23:51

Does not surprise me at all.

Nationalism is when you want to improve your society, fascism is when you believe it be improved.

sanjaykumar · Post by **sanjaykumar** » 15 Oct 2010 23:56

Above post in wrong thread.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 15 Oct 2010 23:57

shaardula, maybe that accounts for the numerous misfires of the drones taking out non-Talibans? Its fantasy to claim that there are Taliban sources independent of ISI control. Most likel the targets included those people who were turning difficlut for ISI to control. These were passed on be taken care off. And add a few tribal rivalries.

RajeshA · Post by **RajeshA** » 16 Oct 2010 00:21

Anujan wrote:Kids please leave the room this is adults only.

Pakistan foreign office has put up a explicit display of musharraf kissing. Enjoy http://www.mofa.gov.pk/Press_Releases/2 ... PR_259.htm

Pakistan is surprised and deeply perturbed to learn about the decision of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee to award the Nobel Peace Prize 2010 to Liu Xiaobo. This decision runs contrary to the established principles for the award of the Prize and therefore cannot but be seen to be detracting from the prestige associated with this award.

The pig's lipstick stinks!

hiteshrai · Post by **hiteshrai** » 16 Oct 2010 00:49

I was born close to that area. His village falls in Nawanshahr District (now known as Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar) of Punjab. It's located on Chandigarh/Phagwara Highway. Even though he was born in Khatkar Kalan, he was brought up by his grandfather who lived in Lahore.

This is for any Porki's trolling this page, "Yes he was brought up in Lahore! But he went to an Arya Samaj School in Lahore which influenced him greatly later on his life.."

Prem wrote:AFAIK, Bhagat Singh was from Khatkal Kalan, near Banga/Phagwara which is in Indian Punjab. I think One BRfites Juggi is from that neighborhood.

BijuShet · Post by **BijuShet** » 16 Oct 2010 01:24

Posting in full an opinion piece by Chakwal's PML(N) MP from "The News". This is more of a lament and will make interesting reading during your visit to TSP @ home.

A land beyond the power of miracles

Ayaz Amir
Only a miracle can turn around a situation rooted in 63 years of drift and apathy. Pakistan was taken over by a clutch of lacklustre leaders soon after the British presided over the break-up of the sub-continent and gifted independence to us. We are still in their clutches. Nothing else explains the never-ending circus which passes for the running of national affairs in Islamabad, and its various decrepit institutions.
Only an unbalanced nation would cultivate mass poverty and an extended nuclear programme at one and the same time. To us belongs this distinction and we find no anomaly in it. If the god or goddess called national security had the highest and most shining temple anywhere it would have to be in the wastes of the Islamic Republic.
Ten nuclear devices, unpacked but ready for use, would be enough to guarantee us nuclear security. We have dozens more and are yet unsatisfied. Our national security mindset is about the same as North Korea's.
If the army which we call our pride, its cantonments running in an unbroken string from Peshawar to the sea, is not enough to give us a sense of security not all the toys in the world ever will.
What kind of education is imparted in our military academies, including that biggest white elephant of all, the National Defence University, its rector chosen by the army chief from amongst the 25-35 lieutenant generals whose red tabs adorn the national skyline?
Strategy is a word which should be excised from the national dictionary. At its altar we have produced one disaster after another. Among the steps urgently needed to preserve what remains of national sanity, is an end to strategic studies for at least the next ten years. If our various Afghan jehads are the highest tribute we can pay to strategy we are best off without this encumbrance.
Pakistan needs not a truth and reconciliation commission – there is nothing to reconcile except our various brands of folly – but a cleansing commission. At its bar must be brought all the geniuses who contributed to our Afghan, Kashmir and Kargil miracles. Musharraf's punishment should be a short stay on Kargil's highest peak, on our side of the Line of Control, with army rations to survive on. And no Black Label, please. At least, we won't have to suffer his interviews any more.
Newspapers are becoming a bore. When I picked up my six newspapers this morning there was nothing remotely worthwhile to read in them. The same endless goings-on in the Supreme Court. There is something known as the closing of accounts, a resort to the guillotine – even if I use this word in a metaphorical sense – to bring matters to a close. Obviously, its meaning has yet to dawn on our brightest and most pompous minds.
Talk-shows, the whole lot them, have become another bore. They are attuned to the manufacturing of crises, anchor-persons desperate to look for depth in the most banal of happenings. I think the ones attracting an audience are the ones where the anchors are somewhat more optically-gifted.
There are some persons born for talk-shows. They can always be seen looking very angry, gesticulating and endlessly talking. More power to their voices. The Pakistani revolution when it comes – although trust me, it never will – will have to think seriously about this endless stream of talk.
All the evidence suggests that the first spoon put in the nation's mouth at the time of its founding was dedicated to its vocal chords. It has stayed this way down the years: a republic finding its highest expression in ceaseless babble, its favourite tense the future tense – we will do this, we will do that, we will bring about a revolution – never anything in the present tense.
A day after the outbreak of the Bolshevik Revolution (Nov 7, 1917) when the Congress of Soviet Deputies met, the guard on duty, bored to death by the endless proceedings, marched inside the chamber and said they were tired. That was the first and last time the Congress ever met. Watching the enduring soap-show which passes for national politics, I am tempted to think of similar remedies. Although I know they will never be attempted.
I am no cricketing fan and must not have watched a cricket match in years. But a headline has just caught my eyes: Shoaib Akhtar says he is fit enough to bowl for another four years. Can the nation not be spared any more of this horror story? All our national resources put together are helpless before this sporting hero. The nation as a whole is helpless before the might of the plastic shopping bag, which will clog our water channels and destroy us more effectively than the Taliban. How do we fix bigger problems, how do we restructure the Republic? Fat chance of the last happening.
Reforming the Republic is a hopeless undertaking. We are unfit for it and deserve every bit of the characters who pass as our national leadership class. Looking at Musharraf on television triggers the thought: was this the clown whose antics we had to put up with for close to nine years? Master of all he surveyed, making up for the austerity of his army years by splurging on the good life when he assumed high office. The only thing I envy him are his several mistresses, one or two of whom I have seen protesting too much.{Anyone want to take a guess on who these Motorhams are?}
Whatever the feminist movement, for which I have the greatest admiration, may like to think of itself, for women, except for those with an honoured placed in the hierarchy of virtue, power remains the ultimate aphrodisiac. Otherwise, it stretches the imagination to see anyone honestly seeking the aging commando's company.
Looking at E M Forster, who was gay, Virginia Woolf said the middle age of such people was not to be contemplated without horror. The dictum also fits aging dictators with a taste for the good life. King Farouk of Egypt in Roman exile, gorging himself on endless packets of potato chips and bottles of coke, Musharraf in exile dreaming of a power comeback. These too are horror stories, inviting endless cogitations on the triumph and loss of power.
Churchill could not have survived without his newspaper and book earnings. He wrote all the time to pay for the upkeep of his Sussex estate which he had bought for 5,000 pounds in the early part of the last century. Although a certified aristocrat he inherited nothing from his parents (they conduct these things better in those climes). When he stepped down as prime minister, Attlee wrote newspaper articles to survive. Harold Wilson as a member of the House of Lords would regularly attend its sessions only for the daily allowance which this brought him.
Tell me not about Emperor Aurangzeb stitching caps and copying the Quran to earn his keep. If ever there was an apocryphal story it is this. Aurangzeb was too busy fighting a ceaseless stream of enemies to have much time for such deeds of piety. We Muslims never learnt the art of peaceful succession. At the death of every king there was a war of succession. Aurangzeb had his elder brother Dara Shikoh killed and if Manucci's tale is to believed, sent Dara's head in a covered silver dish to his father, Shahjehan, imprisoned in Agra Fort. And he is revered amongst us as one of our holiest warriors. (Why isn't a missile named after him?)
Why has political stability eluded Pakistan? Does this have something to do with our historic origins? By 1739, barely 30 years after the death of Aurangzeb, the once mighty Mughal empire was weakened so much that the Persian invader, Nadir Shah, could pillage Delhi with ease (and pick the girls of his choice from the Red Fort's extended harem). Ancient warfare had its rewarding aspects. Modern warfare, drones and all, is singularly colourless. And we are caught in a war whose happy ending no one can see.

Email: [email protected]

BijuShet · Post by **BijuShet** » 16 Oct 2010 01:37

Posting in full an opinion piece about a Canadian TSPian from "The News". If you thought that TSP has gotten bad due to Bhutto-Zia policy choices then let me clear the air. The writer says things were no better in 1963. More reading materials during your visits to TSP @ home.
A lost generation of Pakistanis

Dr Muzaffar Iqbal
He walks slowly, but with determined steps as if measuring his movements, just as he meticulously scoops a spoon of sugar from the pot for my cup of green tea and with utmost concentration – but with a little shaking in his hand – lets the spoon down the cup.
"So, that was 1963," he continued his description of his travail in Pakistan, "We went to do something and then they said, no, you cannot, we will not work and we will not let you work. I was on a sabbatical from Concordia University, and after struggling for two years, we decided to return. Since then, I have been here."
"What were you working on?"
"Critical areas of investment, where there was need to invest for megaprojects so that twenty-five years down the road, we would have a solid industrial base in sync with an infrastructure that supports it. It was Ayub Khan's time, the best time for Pakistan, as it turned out, when solid investment was made in developing the country. You know in economics, we call solid investment that investment which yields results for generations."
He has all the characteristics of brilliance which that generation of Pakistanis possessed which saw the partition: highly civilised, educated men and women of keen perception, upright character, and above all, burning with a desire to serve their new-found homeland. Educated at the best institutions of the western world, this generation of Pakistanis is now almost gone; the relic I met in Montreal this past week was probably one of the few remaining.
He had gone to Karachi in 1963 in order to serve "my country", as he said with a certain degree of nostalgia and sadness, but had to return without fulfilling that dream and since then, he has had a broken piece in his heart which he has not been able to mend. This wound, which he never displayed, keeps getting deeper by the day as he sees his country plunge from one darkness of despair to another. But there is not much he can do to get rid of this pestering infection: he cannot discard his ties with the country, the dreamland he and his parents struggled to establish, and cannot return to that land where an under-secretary of the finance department had cut him short with his memos and pestering verbal assaults.
Of course, he has returned to his homeland time and again, but every time he has come back with deeper wounds. In fact, just a month before my visit this past week, he had returned from Pakistan with his "ears still ringing with sounds", as he put it. "Sahib," he said in his cultured manner, "now, you go there and it is a foreign land, more foreign than any land where I have been and I have been to many lands."
No amount of recognition of his intellect, great talent, and accomplishments in Canada could take away the sour experience of helplessness and impotence that he carried. That sojourn of two years in Karachi had permanently damaged something inside the man whose frail body was now sitting in front of me in the same erect position in which it had been sitting for the past one hour. His outer calm was infused with an inner sadness; something he was constantly trying to hide.
"Sahib," he would say before making a point, "what we did was destroyed within the first few months of building. I cannot understand what forces were working against us; we had no idea that we were building castles in the air."
"The Angrez (the Britons) were, of course, not our friends, nor were the Hindus, but I never thought we will be destroyed by our own Muslim brothers, by our rotten eggs who would grab everything and run. Quaid-e-Azam was a great man but no man, however great, can make anything out of rotten eggs."
As the characteristic Montreal colours of an evening in fall loomed outside the window of the sitting room where we sat, as if frozen in time, he really seemed to have emerged from a previous era, talking about a time no one seems to remember now. "But the question is: why did he have only rotten eggs, or khotey sikkey (false coins) in his pocket."
"That is the question," I said calmly, "that needs to be investigated for any understanding of Pakistan's grand loss."
"But no one is even interested in investigating it," that is the sad part of this tragedy. "No one is interested in finding out the root of our cancer and radiating it out of this body."
"What is your opinion about it?"
"Sahib, my opinion does not count, kaya piddy kaya piddi ka shorba. Sahib, but it must have been written in the grand book that the time has passed for any new plant to blossom. That is all I can say. Otherwise, which stone did we leave unturned!"
"So, now what?"
"Nothing. The nation has nothing left now. There is nothing one can do in that country without graft and as you know, a nation where nothing moves without rishwat (bribes) is finished, doomed. There is no hope for such a nation. When I took my car with me, a young man came to me and asked if he should help me in getting it released from the customs and I said no, I have all the papers and I have taken care of every single document. But he came back after a week and smiled and asked, if he should help, I said no, I think it is just moving slow but I will have it soon and then he returned again and again and after two months I said yes, I need your help and he went in and you know what...but when the car was finally released, it had no wiper blades, the window glass had been stolen and the you know the rest. So, that was in 1963. Think of where we stand now!"
He fell silent and the sadness of that fall evening filled the room.

The writer is a freelance columnist. Email: [email protected]

anupmisra · Post by **anupmisra** » 16 Oct 2010 01:55

shravan wrote:Missing weapons

Dawn Editorial
Friday, 15 Oct, 2010

no less than three million of a bewildering variety of arms deposited in the two categories of malkhanas and arsenals of the official bomb disposal squad disappeared.The disappearances could also mean that Punjab warehouses are one of the terrorists’ major sources of arms — and not only in Punjab.

If that doesn't send shivers down your spine, what will? That's enough to arm a million-man & goat army.

Amber G. · Post by **Amber G.** » 16 Oct 2010 04:37

X-post:
http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewto ... ey#p962624
NBC Reports today: (Recently disclosed: Headey's wife told FBI five (three years before26/11) years ago that the scum was L-e-T terrorist)

Johann · Post by **Johann** » 16 Oct 2010 06:28

ramana wrote:Its fantasy to claim that there are Taliban sources independent of ISI control. Most likel the targets included those people who were turning difficlut for ISI to control. These were passed on be taken care off. And add a few tribal rivalries.

Much of yhe Pakiban is most certainly not under ISI control - which is why they're happy to blow up ISI offices, kidnap and execute ISI officers.

From 2002-03 onwards the PA sacrificed the local Islamist groups in order to take pressure off the Afghan ones. Both the Mehsuds of Waziristan and the Punjabi Taliban (former LeJ) hate the PA for its duplicity in betraying jihadis under American bribes and threats.

The Quetta Shura and the Haqqani networks on the other hand are reliable allies of the ISI and the PA.

So the irony here is that Afghan Pashtun Deobandos are working for the PA, while Pakistani Pashtun and Pakjabi Deobandies are rebelling against them.

The PA has been more in consistent in standing by the Afghan Deobandis, but much more fickle with their own. That tells us how much of PA support jihad has been about foreign policy specifically as opposed to any serious ideological commitment for opportunists like Musharraf and Kayani.

On the other hand the Afghan Taliban has also been more pragmatic than the Pakiban after all they too were betrayed by Pakistan in 2001, and lost power thanks to Musharraf's acquiescence to Colin Powell's demands, with colleagues killed or imprisoned. Yet they've gritted their teeth and continued to work with the ISI.

Satya_anveshi · Post by **Satya_anveshi** » 16 Oct 2010 06:55

major employment in NWFP areas are the off-books security workforce AKA what we call Terrorist because their primary use is in covert ops. The reasons are obvious/ and some non-obvious.

That area is not the sole purview of either ISI and/or CIA but together they control majority of the jihadis. Zia specifically made space for Mossad and so they too control some jihadis (I would dare say the 3rd biggest influence in that region and probably most dreaded one). Iran obviously has interests in their immediate neighbourhood and last but not least some short, dark, whose staple food is rice also have some sympathizers there.

Loyalty of jihadis there is as much questionable as the objectives of the above orgs so jihadis think it is fair to switch and do anyone's bidding for the right price. If you want some one to flog a lady bystander for not wearing burkha or may be even underwear they will happily do it. they also behave sometimes cohesively or separately along the objectives of the above orgs.

Remember Zia handpicked Nawaz and Nawaz handpicked Musharraf who handpicked Kayani. Kayani's influence on nukes should be greatest and so that is another perspective.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 16 Oct 2010 07:54

Johann, Did I say Pakiban?

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 16 Oct 2010 11:23

Qari Hussain killed ?

Qari Hussain is aka Ustad-e-Fidayeen. He was the master trainer of the suicide bombers and ran successful schools in FATA.

James B · Post by **James B** » 16 Oct 2010 14:28

Nuggets from TFT

No progress without India

Reported in Jang a seminar concluded that without good relations with India Pakistan could not make economic progress. The main reason was that Pakistan would destroy itself matching the growing Indian military budget.(isn't it already happening) Pakistan should accept Indian offer of aid for flood victims. This was said by General (Retd) Naseer Akhtar.

Stoning to death catching on

Chief Editor daily Jinnah commented that a village in Shujabad in Punjab had witnessed stoning to death (rijm) of a man watering his fields. He was stoned after burying him under ground up to his neck. (This was sequel of ‘rijm’ and cutting of hands by the Taliban in FATA. ‘Rijm’ was also officially done in neighbouring Iran.)

No ‘ghairat’ in Pakistan!

Tracing the history of honour (ghairat) in Muslim history, columnist Prof Muzaffar Mirza wrote in Nawa-e-Waqt that it was the greatest shame that Pakistan had accepted $5 million as alms from India for the flood-stricken people of Pakistan. This aid was coming from a country that was inventing newer and newer means of destroying (naist-o-nabud) Pakistan.

‘Wukla’ person throws shoe at judge

Reported in Aajkal two lawyers in Sheikhupura Additional Sessions Court got out of hand when the judge did not grant bail to their clients. Rauf Gujjar and Raza Gujjar abused the judge after which Raza Gujjar took off his sandal and hit the judge on the face with it, bruising his forehead. On this all judges of the Sheikhupura court complex struck work and protested. The lawyers took out an opposing protest march.

Seventy percent favour martial law

Writing in Jang famous columnist Haroon Rashid noted that after Altaf Hussain appealed to the army to stage a martial law in Pakistan, the media survey revealed that over 70 percent of the people were in favour of it. Troubled by problems of everyday life they were not interested in the refinements of democracy.

TV nationalism during floods

According to Nawa-e-Waqt TV cable operators in some parts of Pakistan were so fired by the nationalism aroused by floods that they switched off all the Indian channels along with the BBC and CNN channels to express their solidarity.

‘I have Obama in my grip!’

Writing in Jang Jabbar Mirza stated that he met the most important wizard-numerologist in Islamabad named Haji Muhammad Ashraf who said he could get anything done by America because the ‘waves’ of President Obama were in his grip (qabu). Haji Sahib is the spiritual guide of Q League leaders Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Pervaiz Elahi; and also President Zardari who was getting his back-ache cured through his arrested ‘waves’. The Haji said that Kalabagh Dam would never be built - after painstakingly poring over his numerology.

James B · Post by **James B** » 16 Oct 2010 14:32

SuchGup from TFT

Heirs apparent

Big Ben’s son and heir has let it be known that he is not immediately interested in jumping into politics. He says he wants to take his time – we saw his independence of mind when he refused to have himself crowned as heir apparent at a PPP meet in Birmingham in August. His middle sister Bakhtawar is a dedicated musician and in the midst of her degree at Edinburgh University. She also does not show signs of an all-consuming interest in politics. Asifa, the youngest, we hear is the most interested in politics and takes a keen interest in all that goes on. Who knows? She might well be the first to take the plunge.

Imagine!

It was reported in a three-line story in a Delhi newspaper that a retired lieutenant general of the Indian army was admitted to hospital recently with a fractured arm. The small print said that the general had been returning to his flat on his bicycle, on his way back from the local market having bought his day’s groceries. Two hooligans went past him on their motorbike and snatched his satchel containing the groceries. As a result of the impact, the general lost his balance and fell from his cycle, fracturing his arm, after which he was taken to hospital by passers-by. The operative words here are “general”, “bicycle”, “flat” and “groceries”. Can we ever imagine a retired Pakistani general traveling by cycle to do his own shopping, let alone imagine such an officer living in a flat?

Inhee logon nay …(Paki doing mujra to the tune of Yindoo money in Londonistan)

A famous Pakistani star was recently in London to perform at a high profile wedding of Indian expats. The young lady performed at a pre-wedding event and brought the house down. She was dressed in a Mughal peshwas, choori dar pajama and diaphanous dupatta. Her accoutrements included the traditional jhoomar and other antique jewels. Her clients had apparently asked for a traditional dance performance in the manner of courtesans of yore. The accompanying music was principally from the great Bollywood hit, “Pakeezah” . Inhee logon nay …

R Vaidya · Post by **R Vaidya** » 16 Oct 2010 16:42

http://www.eurasiareview.com/2010101691 ... +Review%29

New War Rumors: U.S. Plans To Seize Pakistan's Nuclear Arsenal

Two recent news items emanating from the United States have begun to reverberate in Pakistan and give rise to speculation that growing American drone strikes and NATO helicopter attacks in that country may be the harbingers of far broader actions: Nothing less than the expansion of the West's war in Afghanistan into Pakistan with the ultimate goal of seizing the nation's nuclear weapons.

Johann · Post by **Johann** » 16 Oct 2010 16:56

ramana wrote:Johann, Did I say Pakiban?

The Taliban and Pakiban both came out of the same currents within the Pakistani Deobandi movement; its members often studied at the same madrasas.

The sources of the split in behaviour and alliances is something that is still not well understood.

Some of the reports I've seen suggest that there are significant Pakiban-like currents within the Afghan Taliban. Another 2001-style Pakistani betrayal, or decapitation by American drone warfare (especially if current talks with NATO break down irretrievably) could bring those tendencies to the top.

vijayk · Post by **vijayk** » 16 Oct 2010 17:16

http://www.propublica.org/article/mumba ... in-advance
FBI Was Warned Years in Advance of Mumbai Attacker’s Terror Ties

Gilani’s mix of extremism and Pakistani nationalism pushed him toward Lashkar, because of its popularity in Pakistan and its fight against India, anti-terror officials say. Although Lashkar is a longtime al Qaeda ally, it still functions largely unscathed in Pakistan, officials say.

After the September 11 attacks, Gilani told associates that he planned to train with Lashkar as part of a secret mission for the U.S. government, the person close to the case said.

The unusual circumstances of Gilani’s departure for Pakistan reinforce the theory that he may have been working with the government in some capacity at that time. A federal court discharged him from probation in December 2001, well before the scheduled end date in 2004, court records show. Within two months he was training in Pakistan with Lashkar, which had just been designated a terrorist organization by the United States and Pakistan, documents say.

Gilani did five stints in the Lashkar camps over three years, learning about ideology, firearms, combat, counter-surveillance and survival skills, court documents show. He underwent more advanced training than many Western recruits, with one course lasting three months. He reported on his progress at a mountain complex near Muzafarrabad during calls, e-mails and visits to New York and his family home in Lahore, praising the bravery of fellow militants and the medical care he received for an ankle injury, according to the person close to the case.

In December of 2002, Gilani married his girlfriend of eight years in New York. He used return visits to buy ropes, hiking boots and military books and to research prices for night-vision goggles. He also continued to claim he was a paid U.S. informant, the person said.

The court documents that outline his odyssey do not mention the domestic dispute that led his wife to contact authorities in August, 2005. She had demanded a divorce after learning he had a wife and children in Pakistan. They argued at his store and on August 25 she filed an assault complaint alleging that he “struck her several times in the face,” according to officials and a law enforcement document.

On August 26, she phoned a tip line of the Joint Terrorism Task Force in New York, an FBI-led, multi-agency unit with hundreds of investigators. Her tip was assigned an FBI lead number under guidelines developed after the September 11 attacks to improve the response to potential threats. Procedure requires an FBI supervisor to begin an inquiry, decide in 90 days whether it merits a preliminary or full investigation, and report the outcome.

On August 31, New York City police arrested Gilani for alleged misdemeanor assault, according to NYPD officials. He was released on bail and was never prosecuted for reasons that remain unclear, officials say.

Not long after the arrest, task force investigators met three times with his wife. In addition to a detailed account of his activity with Lashkar, she showed them audio cassettes and ideological material and described his e-mails and calls from Pakistan and to individuals whom she thought to be extremists, according to the person close to the case.

It is not known if the investigators ever questioned Headley about his wife’s revelations.

Veteran anti-terror officials described various ways in which the New York task force might have handled the tip.

Investigators could have decided it simply wasn’t worth pursuing, perhaps because Lashkar was seen primarily as a threat to India at that time.

The tip from Gilani’s wife came at a crucial moment: after he had finished training and soon before he met with terrorist bosses in Pakistan and launched into the Mumbai plot, court documents say.

To conceal his Pakistani Muslim background he went to Philadelphia and legally changed his name to David Coleman Headley in February, 2006. Then the ex-convict with the new name traveled to Pakistan, India, Dubai, Europe and elsewhere, documents show.

As the plot took shape in 2008, U.S. anti-terror agencies warned Indian counterparts at least three times about a suspected Lashkar plot to attack Mumbai, according to Indian and U.S. officials.

The first U.S. warning to India came in early 2008 and described general intelligence about Lashkar wanting to strike Mumbai, according to an anti-terror official with knowledge of the warnings. After a scouting trip to Mumbai in April 2008, Headley went to Chicago in May and told his accomplice about an evolving plan for seaborne gunmen to land in front of the Taj Mahal hotel, which he had scouted extensively, court documents show.

Also in May, U.S. officials told their Indian counterparts that Lashkar’s potential targets included the Taj Hotel and nearby sites frequented by foreigners and Americans, according to the anti-terror official. In September, a U.S. warning caused Indian anti-terror officials to meet with officials at the Taj, which beefed up security, according to the official.

And on November 18, U.S. officials advised India about a suspicious vessel related to a potential maritime threat to Mumbai, the official said.

Four days later, the gunmen left Karachi by boat. On Nov. 26, they struck the Taj and Oberoi hotels, a Jewish center, a café and a train station. The gunmen singled out Americans, Britons and Jews. The three-day slaughter caught Indian security forces unprepared despite the warnings.

jamwal · Post by **jamwal** » 16 Oct 2010 18:54

Where is Kakkaji these days ??

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 16 Oct 2010 19:50

Taleban is an ISI supported Pashtun movement in Afghanistan.

Pakiban is a Paki Pashtun movement in TSP which is against Islamabad. It might or might not have ISI support.

The common thing is both have ethnic Pashtuns as the main members.