Terrorist Islamic Republic of Pakistan - July 07, 2009

James B · Post by **James B** » 24 Jul 2009 18:26

Musharraf may face trial for war crimes in London

As if the troubles in Pakistan were not enough for former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf, a leading Pakistani origin politician in the UK announced to move courts against Musharraf over war crimes here in London.

Lord Ahmed said he had been approached by “a number of families” who have suffered at the hands of Musharraf’s policies during his nearly nine-year rule. “These affected families from Fata, Balochistan, Waziristan and Lal Masjid and other parts of Pakistan feel war crimes have been committed against them. They have suffered directly as a result of the policies of the former dictator,” Lord Ahmed told The News yesterday.

There is precedence for such cases

A writ will be issued against Musharraf for the war crimes and human rights abuses in Pakistan, he said, adding some of the legal minds involved in pursuing the case against Musharraf will be those who had experience in preparing charges against Chilean army general Augusto Pinochet and had him arrested.

James B · Post by **James B** » 24 Jul 2009 18:47

IN RETROSPECT: A Fairytale Gone Wrong

Ruttie Jinnah died a heart-broken young woman nearly 80 years ago, and for many Pakistanis, a visit to her graveside still remains elusive primarily because very few know where she is, and that she is buried in an old cemetery in Mumbai. Even fewer have actually visited her final resting place to pay respects to one of the only two women ever publicly associated with the Father of the Nation.

Very little is known of Rattanbai Dinshaw Petit, except that she was a beautiful and intelligent Parsi woman who married a brilliant lawyer, changed her religion for him and suffered as he went about his political business with apparently little time for her child-like adventurism and romantic interludes. With her family ostracised and Jinnah unable to provide attention, she withdrew into the surreal world of the supernatural and the metaphysical.

Within 10 years of her marriage, she was virtually separated from Jinnah, and in 1927, moved into the fabled – and lately in news - Taj Mahal Hotel overlooking the India Gate in Bombay with little more than her personal attendant and beloved cats to keep her company.(This is what happens when you marry a Paki)

Abhi_G · Post by **Abhi_G** » 24 Jul 2009 20:45

Mullen uvacha....
ISI fomenting 'chaotic activity' in Kashmir, Afghan: Mullen
http://www.dailypioneer.com/191318/ISI- ... ullen.html

In a damning indictment, a top US General has said the ISI is fomenting "chaotic activity" in Kashmir and Afghanistan and asked the Pakistani spy agency to change its "strategic thrust".

The US is having "discussions" with the Pakistani leadership on this issue, Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said.

uddu · Post by **uddu** » 24 Jul 2009 20:53

Since Baluchistan is in the Joint statement why not ask the Pakis to give freedom to the Baluchis. The Pakis have given us Baluchistan on a platter. Let's liberate them from the clutches of the fundamentalist Pakis, by providing moral support to Baluch cause.

Rahul Shukla · Post by **Rahul Shukla** » 24 Jul 2009 22:12

Pakistan Looks at Swat and Sees India (Wall Street Journal)

... Gen. Ghani, the commander of the northern half of the valley, turns to the alleged Indian role in the fighting. The Taliban, he explains, is "being directed, commanded and controlled by some of our hostile intelligence agencies being controlled by our neighboring country."

In case you didn't get it, that's code for India. And he doesn't stop there. He calls the town of Matta, a major Taliban stronghold in Swat, the "Benares of terrorism," using the old name of Hinduism's holiest city, Varanasi. To outsiders, such comments are easily dismissed as the unscripted remarks of a conspiracy-minded soldier who has spent a lifetime preparing to fight his country's larger and more powerful rival. But spend enough time in Pakistan, and you'll hear it expressed over and over again by everyone from street-side tea vendors to university students to senior officials. Most who offer up the theory seem to genuinely believe it.

Ironically, Pakistan's blaming India for its problems in Swat may actually, and unintentionally, have served a useful purpose in the broader anti-Taliban push. The idea that fighting the Taliban is tantamount to fighting India appears to have helped drive a massive turnaround in Pakistani public opinion, giving the government and the army the backing it needs to aggressively fight the militants.

Such sentiment, however, also suggests that Pakistan won't lead a full-scale clampdown on all the country's myriad Islamist militant groups, many of which had long been used by Pakistan as proxies in Afghanistan and India's part of Kashmir. It's not all Islamist militants that are the problem, the thinking goes, just those being used by our enemies.

That helps explain why many Pakistanis opposed the Taliban in Pakistan yet at the same time support, to some degree, the Afghan Taliban, which is seen as distinct. It also explains why the Afghan Taliban and its allies still rely on safe havens on the Pakistani side of the border.

AnimeshP · Post by **AnimeshP** » 24 Jul 2009 22:28

Rahul Shukla wrote:Pakistan Looks at Swat and Sees India (Wall Street Journal)

And this is something that needs to be drilled into Indian public endlessly ... For all the BS that our WKKs give about "Both India and Pakistan are victims of terrorism", it needs to be understood by the general public that the average Pakis are so twisted by their hatred of India that the only reason they are fighting the Taliban is because they believe India created the Taliban ... Wish someone would say this during one of the TV shows ..

sum · Post by **sum** » 24 Jul 2009 22:33

He calls the town of Matta, a major Taliban stronghold in Swat, the "Benares of terrorism," using the old name of Hinduism's holiest city, Varanasi.

There is truly no hope for these Pakis...

putnanja · Post by **putnanja** » 24 Jul 2009 22:36

It is not like they don't know the truth. They want to twist it to suit their purpose. If they don't want to fight in Swat, claim that they can't move forces from Indian border. If they do, claim that the taliban are supported by Indians and so need to fight them. They are just moulding the public opinion they way they want to.

..
"We've externalized an internal problem," says a senior Pakistani official who's often been critical of the government's ambiguous relationship with Pakistan's myriad Islamist militant groups.

The official doesn't believe predominately Hindu India is backing one of the world's fiercest Islamist movements, calling the suggestion "nonsense." And he says there's no organized effort to paint the Taliban as India's proxy even though many officials and generals "really believe it."

Still, "it's helped at a time when we really need the help," he says.
...
But anti-India sentiment has clearly played a role in rallying the Pakistani public and, perhaps more important, the deeply nationalistic military to support a broad anti-Taliban offensive.
...

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 24 Jul 2009 22:42

SSridhar wrote:Police sources say the suspect, believed to be an Indian national, has been picked up under section 14 of the Foreign Act for travelling without valid documents.

Let me guess, they checked him for presence of foreskin?

Vivek K · Post by **Vivek K** » 24 Jul 2009 22:43

This guy is as Indian as the Taliban!!

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 24 Jul 2009 22:58

Gerard, Bad taste.

John Snow · Post by **John Snow** » 24 Jul 2009 23:05

In a age when ED ads are being aired during peak time TV watching or in any magazines like RD, the above mentioned is not that offending.
The only problem I have is "alleged Indian" male is truly a male in the first place?

Thanks Rahul I set off googling for that report.

Rahul M · Post by **Rahul M** » 24 Jul 2009 23:12

ramana wrote:Gerard, Bad taste.

ramana sar, I think gerard is referring to the cases where dead taliban were declared to be 'Indians' based on the foreskin test, only later it was found out that they were from the tribal areas and many there don't have this practice at all.

anupmisra · Post by **anupmisra** » 24 Jul 2009 23:26

RajeshA wrote:Can Pakistanis actually kidnap some Indian, who perhaps wouldn't be missed so quickly, take him to Pakistan, and charge him with attempted terrorism?

Any one of those WKKs would do. No one would miss them. Or better still, Aruin Drat-it Roy. How about her?

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 24 Jul 2009 23:29

Rahul M wrote:
ramana wrote:Gerard, Bad taste.
ramana sar, I think gerard is referring to the cases where dead taliban were declared to be 'Indians' based on the foreskin test, only later it was found out that they were from the tribal areas and many there don't have this practice at all.

if i remember that article correctly, the reason was that barbers who normally performed the procedure were kicked out by the taliban for doing un-halal shaving, and then there was no one left to do the snipping

you can't make this stuff up...

anupmisra · Post by **anupmisra** » 24 Jul 2009 23:34

Porkies are now found in 160 countries

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 24 Jul 2009 23:51

Lalmohan wrote: if i remember that article correctly, the reason was that barbers who normally performed the procedure were kicked out by the taliban for doing un-halal shaving, and then there was no one left to do the snipping

you can't make this stuff up...

If the halal-barbers were kicked out, should nt the effect be seen 15 years from now, rather than overnight?!

Bhima · Post by **Bhima** » 24 Jul 2009 23:56

Shielding Taliban? Pak refuses to move troops from Indian border

archan · Post by **archan** » 24 Jul 2009 23:57

Here is the link to that report.

It appears that many in the backward tribal areas of the country like Waziristan don’t undergo the mandatory circumcision that all Muslim males should undergo. The story took a rather comic turn when some of government’s own injured paramilitary soldiers, when examined, were found to be uncircumcised. This was especially true of wounded soldiers of the Frontier Constabulary from Waziristan, engaged in fighting Taliban militants.

Anujan · Post by **Anujan** » 24 Jul 2009 23:58

Stan_Savljevic wrote:If the halal-barbers were kicked out, should nt the effect be seen 15 years from now, rather than overnight?!

Pathans circumcise on the 8th day. Bulk of other Muslims on the 10th to 12th year, some after the boy can recite the Koran completely.

Circumcision is not mentioned in the Koran, but it is in the hadith. It is considered to be a tradition or "sunnah". The Hanafis dont consider obligatory, but consider it as a mark of a refined person.

Bulk of the Mehsuds dont circumcise.

archan · Post by **archan** » 24 Jul 2009 23:59

Bhima wrote:Shielding Taliban? Pak refuses to move troops from Indian border

Wonder why! if the Taliban are Indian agents and they are so good at fighting (which means it is probably Indian Army personnel not in uniform) and they are inflicting heavy damage to Pakistan from the western side while the uniformed Indians are doing nothing on the Eastern side, then why doesn't Pakistan want to move troops to fight those Indians?

Rahul M · Post by **Rahul M** » 25 Jul 2009 00:00

thanks archan. LM, that was a different report.

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 25 Jul 2009 00:41

Rahul M wrote:ramana sar, I think gerard is referring to the cases where dead taliban were declared to be 'Indians' based on the foreskin test, only later it was found out that they were from the tribal areas and many there don't have this practice at all.

Indeed. Hamad and Qureshi have been running reports (with pictures) as proof of Indian involvement in Swat and Balochistan. In fact, this is a Pashtun tribal custom and the Pakis were shocked when their army medics treated many Frontier Corps men and found this.

This explained the photos after the Lahore Police attack where they removed the trousers of the man captured near the scene.

But perhaps we do need to raise the tenor of the forum by avoiding indelicate language? Or with what is broadcast daily in medical ads on the TV, is this being overly sensitive? I dunno.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 25 Jul 2009 01:02

Tariq Ali in London Review of Books

LinK: http://www.lrb.co.uk/v31/n14/ali_01_.html

I left Islamabad on 1 July, a day before the Independence Day party held by the US ambassador, Anne Patterson. Probably the most heavily guarded event in the global social calendar, this is the modern equivalent of the viceroy’s garden parties in old New Delhi. The leaders of the political, military and economic elite jostle with each other and with favoured journalists for the attention of the ambassador. Observers note that Patterson spent more time talking to X from Baluchistan than to Y from Peshawar. Might this mean that the frontline is going to be shifted to Baluchistan? Less important guests peer over heads and shoulders to see who else is present so that they can determine the pecking order of flattery.

Kakkaji · Post by **Kakkaji** » 25 Jul 2009 01:08

Excerpts from retired Paki Civil Servant's memoirs about the events of 1971. From this week's TFT:

Days of malevolence

East Pakistan was already in turmoil. On the day that the national assembly was to be convened and President Yahya was to make a special announcement, we received a message that the President had decided to come to Peshawar. Everyone was wondering why he wanted to visit Peshawar on such a fateful day. President Yahya and his entourage arrived in two helicopters accompanied by, amongst others, the managing director of the Standard Bank. On their arrival the mystery was solved: the President wanted to see the progress of the house he was constructing in the Peshawar Cantonment area.

The situation in East Pakistan began to go from bad to worse. One day news was brought that the martial law authorities had decided to post officers with East Pakistan experience to that Wing, to stem the worsening situation. I thought the proposal simply preposterous and decided to act immediately. I spoke to Musarrat and she was even more vehement about my not having anything to do with such a scheme. I went to see the Chief Secretary, Mr Ejaz Naik, and informed him of my intention to resign from the CSP before the establishment division issued orders transferring me to an immoral administration in East Pakistan. I informed him that I had enjoyed some of my happiest moments with the people there and could not imagine myself as a part of a repressive regime. Mr Naik advised me to wait until the orders were received, although he agreed with my reasoning that it might then be too late and the government might decline to accept my resignation. He took my written resignation, saying that if he did not succeed in stopping my transfer orders he would hand in my resignation, prior to the orders being issued. I was extremely touched by his kindness and concern and his attitude; he was doing this, not as a favour to me, but to ensure that the government did not lose a good officer.

Thereafter Mr Naik apprised the Governor of the situation, urging him to take up the matter with the personal staff officer (PSO) to the President. The governor was rebuffed by the PSO General Peerzada, who told him that the provincial governments were not going to be consulted in this matter. Mr Naik relayed the information to me and I went to see the Governor, General K.M. Azhar, to thank him for his effort and to take his leave prior to my leaving government service. General Azhar was very kind and greatly regretted both my decision and his inability to do anything. A few days later I received a telephone call from General Bachhu Karim of the President’s office, informing me that my name had been taken off the list of officers being considered for posting to East Pakistan. I still wonder what Mr Naik did with my letter of resignation.

An important stage in a CSP officer’s career in those days was the promotion to the scale of joint secretary to the federal government, which was equivalent to the post of the commissioner of a division in the field. I got my promotion orders with my posting as commissioner Karachi in November 1971. It was a brief but eventful posting. Within a fortnight of my arrival in Karachi, Musarrat developed a heart problem while packing our belongings in Peshawar. No sooner had we overcome that crisis and brought Musarrat to Karachi than the war between Pakistan and India broke out. Kunwar Idris was my deputy commissioner and we thought it prudent to involve the elected MNAs and MPAs of Karachi in the war effort. The elected members, who had been cooling their heels for over a year since elections, greatly welcomed the initiative and proved a great source of strength to the Karachi administration in those difficult days.

Karachi was so unprotected and so much at the mercy of the Indian bombers that at times the ‘all clear’ siren could not be sounded for hours at a stretch. This obviously created a lot of panic and there was a great exodus of people from Karachi. In army parlance Karachi had the defense protection of a fortress. I suggested to the local fortress commander that it might be a good idea for an army regiment to do a route march on the main streets of Karachi to restore people’s confidence, since rumours were afoot that Karachi was totally unprotected. The brigadier thought this was a good idea but said he could do this only after a week because just then he had no troops at all.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 25 Jul 2009 01:20

New drones capable to target small insects: US General
WASHINGTON: US General David Daytona has said that drone attacks were successful in Pakistan and Afghanistan while new drone technology can even target small creeping insects on earth. During a press conference here on Thursday, he said using drone attack in better manner is the chief goal of US air force but US officials, on the occasion, avoided responding to questions in regard to US drone strikes on Pakistani soil.

http://www.thepakistaninewspaper.com/ne ... p?id=14184

putnanja · Post by **putnanja** » 25 Jul 2009 01:45

Pakistan terms Tharoor’s remarks unwarranted

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said on Friday that remarks by Union Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor about a purported dossier on the alleged Indian hand in the insurgency in Balochistan were “unwarranted and inconsistent with diplomatic norms.”

Mr. Tharoor had rubbished Pakistani allegations of Indian involvement in its restive province as “preposterous” and said, “deflecting responsibilities for things that are happening in the dysfunctioning of the State to their neighbours who have conducted themselves very differently is [not] a very healthy practice.”

“Inconsistent with diplomatic norms”

The Pakistan foreign office in a statement said that “the insinuations made by Mr. Tharoor were unwarranted and inconsistent with diplomatic norms” and called on “both sides [to] refrain from remarks that detract from the progress made in Sharm-el-Sheikh.”
...
...

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 25 Jul 2009 03:25

Delayed offensive wears at Pakistan's antiterror credibility

"These are mere mock operations in order to convince NATO as well as the United States of America that Pakistan is very serious against the extremists," says Lateef Afridi, a central committee member of the Awami National Party, a coalition partner of the government.
Instead, he says, Pakistani leaders are protecting the militants as proxy fighters in Afghanistan and a lure for Americans to "give them dollars."

"If the Army will be starting a ground offensive, against whom? Against the trees. The livestock," says Said Alam Mehsud, the leader of a new Pashtun nationalist group in Peshawar called the Pashtun Awareness Movement.

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 25 Jul 2009 03:31

Mr. Tharoor had rubbished Pakistani allegations of Indian involvement in its restive province as “preposterous” and said, “deflecting responsibilities for things that are happening in the dysfunctioning of the State to their neighbours who have conducted themselves very differently is [not] a very healthy practice.”

The impeccable English and condescending manner in which he said this must have caused much takleef in Islamabad.

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 25 Jul 2009 04:00

Gilani tells US to stop drone attacks

r_subramanian · Post by **r_subramanian** » 25 Jul 2009 04:40

Pashtun Awareness Movement
This is the first time I am hearing about this movement and its leader Alam Mehsud. Maybe some of the experts in this forum (e.g Sridhar) could throw some light on this movement.
The report below is from this morning's edition of The Australian

Tribe aims to smash Pakistan border
...
The fiery doctor{Alam Mehsud} now leads the Pashtun Awareness Movement, a nationalist group whose ultimate goal is to extinguish the Durand Line dividing Afghanistan and Pakistan.

He advocates the creation of a Pashtunistan that stretches from Afghanistan, through Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas and North West Frontier Province to the Margalla Hills above Islamabad and south through Baluchistan.

The Peshawar-based group, which Mehsud says takes in all levels of Pashtun society, relaunched after a five-year hiatus on to Pakistan's political scene two months ago. It staged a risky public rally through the streets of the North West Frontier Province capital to protest the imposition of terrorism on the Pashtun people and the exploitation of their natural resources by Pakistan's "Punjabi hegemony".
...
A weak central government, a military struggling with wars on several fronts and a terrorised and demoralised, 35 million-strong Pashtun population add up to a potentially nation-splitting conflagration.
...

Tribe aims to smash Pakistan border

pgbhat · Post by **pgbhat** » 25 Jul 2009 05:50

Good news on Balochistan in a few weeks, says minister
Pakis saying everything will be alright in a few weeks.

ISLAMABAD: There could be a ‘good news’ in two to four weeks about Balochistan as a result of secret ‘back-channel’ contacts, a minister told the Senate on Friday while ruling out talks with those seeking independence for the troubled province.

But Interior Minister Rehman Malik, while responding to an opposition member’s concern about a perceived ‘brewing conspiracy’ in the country’s largest but least populated province, ignored a query why Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had not yet convened a promised all-parties conference on Balochistan.

However, he assured the house that ‘all 14 points’ recommended by an earlier parliamentary committee on Balochistan ‘are going to be implemented’.

A young Pakistan Muslim League-Q senator from Punjab, Jamal Khan Leghari, complimented Mr Gilani for handing over to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh what Islamabad calls proofs of Indian involvement in Balochistan through its consulates in some border areas of Afghanistan when the two men met at the Egyptian seaside retreat of Sharm el Sheikh last week on the sidelines of a non-aligned summit.

The senator also voiced his serious concern about what he called a ‘East Pakistan-like situation’ developing in Balochistan where he said non-Balochi settlers, including teachers, were being ‘killed one by one’ and Pakistani flag was not allowed to fly on and national anthem not allowed to be sung in educational institutions in some areas.

Mr Malik, who said he ‘fully’ respected Mr Leghari’s sentiments, did not refer to India, which denies the charges, but told the house that Afghan President Hamid Karzai, whom he met recently, had agreed to the establishment of three bio-metric checkposts on the border to stop movement of militants he said were being trained in training camps in Afghanistan.

The minister acknowledged that the situation in Balochistan, which has witnessed a low-intensity insurgency for the past few yeas, ‘was bad’, but said it was improving and would further improve in the future with the government seeking a consensus of all stakeholders about the future of the province.

‘But there can be no talks with those who talk of independence,’ he said and promised unspecified action against a Baloch nationalist leader, Harbayar Marri, over an allegedly separatist statement made in a recent interview in London for a Pakistani television channel.

‘With some back-channel talks going on, God-willing, problems will be resolved,’ Mr Malik said, and added: ‘Because of efforts to persuade those estranged, it is possible that I give you a still better good news in 2-4 weeks.’

Mr Leghari asked why the government was not seeking deportation of Mr Marri, reported to be a leader of the so-called Balochistan Liberation Army that has claimed many incidents of violence in the province, particularly after the killing of Baloch nationalist leader Akbar Khan Bugti inside a cave hideout in a military operation in August 2006.

The minister called Mr Bugti a ‘martyr’ and said it was a fact that Balochistan had not been given its due rights and that the “distress will remain” until these rights were given to the Baloch people.

He did not respond to Mr Leghari’s demand for the deportation of Mr Marri, a son of the veteran nationalist leader Khair Bkahsh Marri, but said ‘action will be taken’ regarding his statement that he did not recognise Pakistan.

MurthyB · Post by **MurthyB** » 25 Jul 2009 06:01

Rats feel at home on PIA planes

And why shouldn't they

"Miceshidt" --> "Ratshidt"?

LAHORE - PIA seems to be loosing out the passengers and cargo, but has certainly become the favourite airline for rats. On July 21, the passengers on board PK 204, an Airbus 310, coming from Dubai to Lahore, were shocked to see rats roaming in inside the plane during the flight , feeling more at home than the passengers who were frightened by their very presence.

These rats have become a normal phenomenon for PIA, since nothing has been done to secure these aircrafts of rodents, which threaten aircraft safety, sources in the airline disclosed, as third such incident in the month of July has surfaced.

According to details, panic was created in PK 792 when well-fed rats were spotted during the flight. One such rat jumped on a lady, whose screams frightened all other passengers. As a result, most of the passengers refused to consume food because of the rats that were jumping all around.

It is important to note that rodents can nibble the wires that spread across the aircraft thereby threatening short-circuits AoA! Alternative to vaccum-bulb explosion!. These rats are suspected to enter the PIA aircrafts via catering equipment or luggage that are loaded on aircrafts.

It is worth noting that PIA has outsourced both its Flight Kitchen and TGS around three years ago. Instead of an improvement, the incidents of rats being found frequently on PIA flights have become a routine matter. During the last 7 months, it is the 6th incident in the planes still in the air.

Aviation industry experts have said that any other airline facing such influx of rats, would have taken the issue on a priority basis, because of the possible fatal consequences that can be caused by an accident resulting from damage done to wiring by the rats.

In this regard, PIA spokesman was of the view that the national flag carrier did not allow its planes to fly after if rats were found. It would be a violation of safety rules if aircraft was kept on flying even after the rat/rats were spotted.

anupmisra · Post by **anupmisra** » 25 Jul 2009 06:56

Gerard wrote:Delayed offensive wears at Pakistan's antiterror credibility

Others are beginning to question the PA's intentions as well. Many in pukiland are now seeing this army action as an eyewash - a sham (no pun intended)!.

Pakistan's South Waziristan puzzle

What is Pakistan's government up to in South Waziristan?

But unlike the recent operation in the Swat valley, it says it has refrained from going all out against the militants so far.

If this is true, the army appears in a prime position to fulfil its mission to "eliminate" Baitullah Mehsud and his organisation. But it appears in no mood to begin the much-heralded military assault which already has a name - Rah-e-Nijat or Path to Deliverance. "We are waiting for the right time to launch the operation," says Gen Abbas.

But the fact that people have had to wait so long for a serious assault on militants has led to fears, not without precedent, about a possible deal between the army and the Taliban.

One of the allegations concerns correspondence between Baitullah Mehsud and the head of Pakistan's army.

But there are those who feel the army and the Taliban are engaging in battle only because of certain "misunderstandings".

Mr Aziz's most recent project has been to try and "resolve" the stand-off between Baitullah Mehsud and the government. The tribal district of South Waziristan has seen some anti-Taliban assaults In this regard, he is said to have delivered a letter from Baitullah Mehsud to General Ashfaq Kayani, the head of Pakistan's army.

"The government is openly supporting the Baitullah group and allowing it to re-establish itself," he told reporters.

The west has been played to a sucker again. Mo' money!

Gagan · Post by **Gagan** » 25 Jul 2009 09:30

Posting the article in part:
How China Lost Pakistan

July 24, 2009: One of China's major export customers, Pakistan, is being lost to the United States. Not because Pakistan is unhappy with Chinese equipment, but because Pakistan is broke (or more broke than usual), and the U.S. is supplying over a billion dollars a year in military aid. The catch here is that the U.S. always insists that as much of that aid, as possible, be used to buy American weapons and equipment. This is expected to hurt sales of Chinese J10A and JF-17 (co-developed with Pakistan) jet fighters. That's because Pakistan is getting more American F-16s, and upgrades for the F-16s it already has.
...

It was only last year that, for the first time in over four decades, Pakistan released information on its defense spending. Last year's spending was $4.1 billion. That figure explains why this data has been kept secret for so long. That's because Pakistan's arch-enemy, and neighbor, India is increasing its defense budget by nearly 50 percent, to $39 billion, for this year. The difference should be no surprise. India has six times the population (at 1.1 billion) and 7.5 times the GDP ($1.1 trillion compared to $145 billion). India's economy has been booming for over a decade, while Pakistan's largely stagnates. {Ouch}

This military spending disparity has long been suspected, even with the secrecy. The GPD differences were well known, as were the details of how the two forces were equipped. This, of course, is why Pakistan put so much effort into developing nuclear weapons.
...

Pakistan has been spending about 2.8 percent of GDP on defense, while India was long spending two percent (the proposed increase will make it three percent). The global average is about 2.5 percent.

The pakis on deafanddumb are dissing this article because it doesn't have an author.

putnanja · Post by **putnanja** » 25 Jul 2009 09:42

PoK leaders seek India’s help in fight against Pak

WHILE India has been extremely sensitive about being seen to be getting involved in Pakistan’s internal affairs, a number of political groups in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) have now been openly seeking New Delhi’s help in their fight against what they describe as their persecution by Islamabad.

Their argument is simple. Officially, India continues to consider the whole of Kashmir, including the areas under Pakistan control, as its own territory and therefore it becomes its duty to protect them against a foreign aggressor, which is how they describe Pakistan.
...
...
“I am surprised that India has no concern about what is happening in Gilgit and Baltistan. Pakistan has been openly supporting and encouraging militants in Indian Kashmir and New Delhi doesn’t even want to keep contact with areas that are officially still a part of its own territory,” said Abdul Hamid Khan, chairman of Balawaristan National Front, a political party whose objective is to gain independence from Pakistan. Balawaristan is the historic name for Northern Areas.
...
...
Shaukat Kashmiri, leader of the United Kashmir National People’s Party, one of the largest political formations in the region, also spoke about a reunification with India. His party had started out as Jammu and Kashmir National People’s Party in 1985, but changed its name in 1993 to stress the pan-Kashmiri nature of the organisation.

Kashmiri, who has been ‘kidnapped’ twice by the ISI, has been operating out of Switzerland for the past few years.
Though the leaders from PoK complained about the Indian insensitivity to their concerns, it was quite clear that the seminar had the blessings of India’s official establishment.

Prime Minister’s Special Envoy on Climate Change Shyam Saran made the inaugural address at the seminar which was also attended by quite a few former diplomats, Army officials and intellectual community.

sum · Post by **sum** » 25 Jul 2009 10:24

A motley group of these political leaders and intellectuals from areas around Gilgit and Baltistan in PoK, referred to as Northern Areas by Pakistan, assembled in New Delhi to participate in a two-day international seminar on ‘Society, Culture and Politics in the Karakoram Himalayas’ that was dominated by tales of discrimination and persecution of the people in these areas at the hands of Pakistan’s civilian and military establishment.

Wow....holding this conference seems to have been a great achievement by our agencies (mostly RAW), similar to the Sereki conferences RAW was tasked to hold in the 90s.
Wonder why this isn't getting the airtime it deserves?

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 25 Jul 2009 11:43

Sum, Try to get more info and post in the J&K thread.

somnath · Post by **somnath** » 25 Jul 2009 12:30

the realists in the Paki strategic establishment are realising their limits..

http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?pa ... 2009_pg3_4

Here's Ejaz Haidar on the options before Pakistan[/url]..They are already conceding the space...

there is no harm in driving the strategy ahead...

Dilbu · Post by **Dilbu** » 25 Jul 2009 12:37

Regarding ISI meeting with RAW: PVN and J.N.Dixit were wary of such a move. I would take their word on it anyday than that of MMS & Co.