Pakistan News With Pakistan Ideology

Move on?

admin — Thu, 17 May 2012 05:26:14 +0000

by Ahmed Quraishi

It is impossible to analyse the latest humiliating diplomatic bungle by Pakistan’s political and military leaderships simply because it defies logic. How can a legitimate and normal diplomatic exercise by a country turn into humiliation? Did we block American and Nato war supplies for six months just so we can increase their transportation fees? And why blink now when our decision is beginning to bite the parties concerned and has reached a point of maturity where a win-win is possible?

Resumption of Nato war supplies is not the issue here. That decision would have been acceptable in some ways had some of our important demands been met. And our demands were attainable. So why did government and military fail to achieve them?

The answer: our negotiators did not have the courage of conviction, from the start. How can you extract a better deal when influential lobbies inside the Pakistani government were active immediately after the Salala massacre to accept a compromise?

Just look at the humiliating sermons that our leadership hurled at Pakistanis in the past two days to justify their diplomatic retreat. Almost all the key figures in the government came out lecturing Pakistanis: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani warned us we can’t confront 42 member-states of Nato; Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar warned us we were violating international law [never mind that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about]; Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said we should behave and be an “enabler” and not a “blocker”; and Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira had the audacity to ridicule Pakistanis by suggesting protests against illegal CIA drone attacks were limited to our cities and absent in the tribal belt because our people there were happy to see them.

This is more criticism against Pakistan than anything the United States or Nato officials have said. Is this our negotiating team or Nato’s B-Team in Islamabad?
The most ridiculous comment came from our otherwise graceful foreign minister when she said a majority of Pakistanis support “normal relations with the Western world.” That is absolutely true, but who said our quest for correcting a flawed relationship is equal to cutting off ties with the West?

The truth is Pakistan was not going to go to war with anyone, nor was it going to be isolated diplomatically by negotiating new sets of rules for cooperation with United States in Afghanistan.

We could have remained in robust engagement with the Americans and Nato member-countries to explain our positions and negotiate a better deal, while leaving the blockade intact until we reached a good deal.

What we did not see over the past six months is someone intelligent in our government coming out regularly to tell our friends in Washington and Brussels: We want the best of relationships with you. The interests of both of us must be protected. We are proposing a new set of rules and want to talk about them with you. Military attacks on our soldiers, illegal drone attacks and organised media campaigns against our country and our nuclear programme should cease in the spirit of partnership.

This was also a great opportunity to deflate the American bubble on Al-Qaeda. We could have released our own assessment on the terror group’s near decimation in the Afghan border region. The self-serving American assessments inflate the Al-Qaeda presence and strength. We could have also floated new ideas on reversing the American policy of punishing Afghanistan’s Pakhtun population. In short, these actions on our part would have shown we are committed to a robust working relationship with US and Nato while continuing the blockade pending a deal.

Foreign Minister Khar’s repeated use of the term “move on” in relation to the cold-blooded murder of our soldiers at Salala was insensitive, to say the least. Not even the Americans approached the issue with that kind of choice of words. Ms Khar should remember that the US never “moved on” in the case of Pan AM flight 103 or the 9/11 attacks. Turkey hasn’t “moved on” in the murder of nine of its citizens by Israeli soldiers last year. And, indeed, the Israelis themselves never “moved on” over the murder of their citizens and soldiers.

The writer works for Geo television. Email: aq@paknationalists.com

Source: the News International

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Iran Opens Chabahar Port For NATO Supply

admin — Sun, 06 May 2012 10:30:03 +0000

PKKH Exclusive | by Shaikh Fahad

Afghan officials from Ministry of Chamber & Commerce speaking on condition of anonymity have said that Afghanistan will be allowed to use Iran’s Chabahar port for shipments and trade after the two countries signed an agreement in Kabul last Wednesday. It has also been learned that the Chabahar port has been financed by Indian government to maintain Iranian and Indian influence in Afghanistan after US forces leave Afghanistan in 2014. The second purpose, we believe of investment in this port is to counter Gwadar port of Pakistan.

The agreement was signed by Afghanistan’s Minister of Commerce and Industries Anwar al Haq Ahady and the Iranian Ambassador to Afghanistan Abolfazl Zohrevand.

The endorsement of the pact means Afghan traders including those directly working with American contracting companies will be able to use the southeastern port – Iran’s only port with direct access to the sea – for importing and exporting goods. The news of signing of this agreement comes as relief to US/NATO official since the closure of NATO supplies from Pakistan has caused massive setback in terms of finance to US/NATO.Officials said the Chabahar port will help Afghanistan’s trade-related transit problems and is likely to boost commercial transactions.

Ahady said that, according to the agreement, the first step involves building a hub near the port for Afghan traders to have a base for trading from.

The allocation of land is around 50 hectares and he expects traders would be able to use it within a year, he said.

“Through the efforts of the Afghan and Iranian officials, Chabahar as a transit route for Afghanistan has become a reality,” he added.

A panel of officials from Iran who travelled to Afghanistan for the signing of the agreement said that many countries had applied to Chabahar Port for permission to use it, and Afghanistan with the help of Indian Investment had succeeded.

Ambassador Zohrevand welcomed the agreement saying it would help the economic expansion of Afghanistan as the port would provide greater access to Afghanistan into world markets.

“The outcome of this agreement is not only positive for Afghanistan and Iran relations, we also expect it to help the joint cooperation of Afghan and Iran traders so they can expand through cooperation to the Middle East and Asia,” he said.

The agreement eases the pressure on the US-backed Afghan Government to rely on trade routes through Pakistan, as relations between the two countries have witnessed significant restrains in recent months.

It also signals the warming of relations between Iran and Afghanistan. Only last week the pair endorsed an agreement to allow for the transfer of prisoners sentenced in the other’s country to serve their sentence in their native land.

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ALERT: Shahzain Bugti Admits He Smuggled Military-Grade Weapons From Afghanistan

admin — Tue, 01 May 2012 06:17:32 +0000

Click The Image To Watch Video

A politician smuggles landmines and anti-aircraft guns from Afghanistan. His cousin runs a terror group protected by foreign governments. Are politicians and political parties allowed to do this in a democracy or is it time to correct these flawed practices in Pakistan?

SPECIAL REPORT | PakNationalists.net

A video has surfaced that shows politician Shahzain Bugti telling the police he smuggled sophisticated military-grade weapons into Pakistan hours after misleading the media by saying the weapons were planted in his convoy.

The video was recorded by cellphone at around noon on Dec. 22, 2011. Bugti is shown sitting on a sofa in what appears to be the office of a police official, telling the men in the room he did smuggle the weapons, including anti-aircraft guns and landmines. He also admits he lied to the media, claiming the weapons were planted in his convoy that traveled from the Afghan border to the outskirts of the provincial capital Quetta where Bugti was caught.

The video was filmed a few hours after Bugti was arrested at dawn, around 0430 hours, trying to smuggle lethal weapons in a convoy of sixteen cars. Tipped off by Pakistani intelligence, the Frontier Corp stopped Bugti’s convoy at Quetta’s entrance. The FC, treating Bugti with respect as a politician, negotiated with him for three hours to grant permission to check the convoy. Finally, the police and FC searched the cars and netted a dazzling list of weapons.The weapons included:

50 Sub Machine Guns [SMGs]

4 Light Machine Guns [LMGs]

2 12.7mm Anti-Aircraft guns [See here]

2 14.2 mm Anti-Aircraft guns

1 SPG-9 [See details here]

1 9mm pistol

1 AUG assault rifle [See here]

46,000 rounds of SMG

1,600 rounds of 12.7/14.5

570 rounds of AUG

880 rounds of sniper rifle

39 rounds of 9mm pistol

17 mobile phones

Landmines

Explosives

Anti-personnel landmines

16 vehicles

Shahzain is the son of Tala Bugti, the chairman of the Jamhooro Watan Party, or JWP, and a grandson of Akbar Bugti. Akbar launched an armed rebellion against the state in January 2005, unleashing a private army laced with sophisticated weapons smuggled from Afghanistan. He committed suicide in late 2006 inside a cave to avoid capture by soldiers who came to arrest him. He is known to have worked with the intelligence services of three countries operating in Afghanistan to help break Balochistan away from the rest of the country.

For this purpose, Bugti and his foreign backers revived a terror group called BLA, or Balochistan Liberation Army. The terror outfit was first created by India and the Soviet Union in the 1970s to carry out bombings in Pakistan. The group was re-launched after the United States landed in Afghanistan as a joint operation involving Indians, the CIA and Afghan warlords.

The BLA is led by Brahamdagh Bugti, Akbar’s grandson and Shazain’s cousin, who has been hiding in Kabul for several years, protected by CIA and Afghan intelligence.

Brahamdagh’s cover was blown in early 2009 after his terror group kidnapped a UN official in Quetta who turned out to be a US citizen.

Several local Baloch supporters of Brahamdagh broke away from their boss and cooperated with Pakistani authorities in blowing his cover. [The episode was an embarrassment for CIA and opened the eyes of other parts of US government to what their main spy agency was doing in Afghanistan.]

Instead of handing him over to Pakistani authorities, the CIA negotiated an asylum deal for Brahamdagh in Switzerland, to keep him there as a tool to blackmail Pakistan.

In March 2012, Pakistan has warned Britain and Switzerland over their roles in supporting terror in Pakistan by giving asylum to BLA terror chiefs who orchestrate bombings that kill innocent citizens.

Unfortunately, the Balochistan High Court released Shahzain Bugti in January despite the huge cache of weapons that indicate Shahzain’s intent to wage war against his country and people in cohorts with foreign powers in Afghanistan. But the Supreme Court intervened and cancelled his bail on April 4. Despite this, Shahzain refused to appear before the court. The court waited for him for three weeks before finally issuing his arrest warrant over the weekend.

The case raises serious questions about federal government’s practice of giving tribal chiefs like Shahzain and his family millions of dollars of gas royalties instead of directly spending them on the impoverished people of the province. Tribal chiefs like Shahzain spend the money on building private properties abroad and recruiting and arming private armies that indulge in abduction of businessmen for ransom and killing citizens.

The case also raises questions about the involvement of almost all Pakistani political parties in creating and running private armies, in direct violation of the Political Parties Act and the laws. The State is yet to ban or disarm any of these parties.

Pakistani investigators should probe the role of BLA and its secret supporters like Shahzain Bugti in smuggling advanced weapons from Afghanistan to Karachi, where three armed ‘political parties’ are holding the country’s business hub hostage for years.

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Ghinwa Bhutto: Bush Threatened To Take Us To Stone Age, Zardari Did It

admin — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 05:30:02 +0000

She says PPPP has turned Bush’s threat into reality. Her party strongly opposes the reopening of US, NATO supply line.

SPECIAL REPORT | PakNationalists.net

Ghinwa Bhutto, the chairperson of Pakistan Peoples Party-SB, says Pakistan’s present rulers are a ‘mafia’, and suggested the media won’t provide coverage to her son and daughter, the real heirs of the Bhutto family, or to other new political faces because the media fears the wrath of the government of President Asif Ali Zardari.

In an interview with the online news portal The News Tribe at Zulfiqar Bhutto’s old house in Clifton, Murtaza Bhutto’s widow said most of the new voters will vote for Imran Khan’s PTI in the next elections but she doubted there will be any major change on the political landscape of Pakistan. She accused most of Pakistan’s political parties of being ‘establishment parties’, but she appeared to exclude PTI from this label. She criticized Khan for what she said was his failure to offer land reforms that would challenge the feudal elite. When asked if a hidden ‘force’ was promoting PTI, Bhutto said Pakistanis were flocking to PTI because they want change.

When asked if her son, ZAB Jr., the direct grandson of Pakistan’s former prime minister, would run in the next elections and challenge Zardari’s son, Bilwal, she said: “There is no comparison of Zulfiqar and Fatima with Bilawal, Asifa and Bakhtawar because both sides represent two different classes. My children represent the poor, while they represented the rich.”

Bhutto said she strongly opposed reopening the US, NATO supply line through Pakistan to Afghanistan. “Under the current circumstances, NATO supplies should not be restored. What have the Americans offered to Pakistan? We believe that the conditions of alliance with the Americans are totally unfair for Pakistan. We should not allow them to attack the people of Pakistan and we should demand halt in drone attacks. I think in the current relationship, Pakistanis are treated only as servants,” she said.

She launched a scathing attack on the government of President Asif Ali Zardari.

“What have they performed? They haven’t done anything. We have gone back to the Stone Age. There is no industry, there is no cash, there is no law and order, people have no treatment, they have no hospitals working and they have no schools. George Bush only threatened us of the Stone Age but Pakistan Peoples Party’s government has actually done that,” Bhutto said.

She said her party has some following in Sindh and Balochistan and she wanted to expand the party’s reach to other provinces but that she was holding back because of the bad security situation.

She sent a message to the students of the universities of Sindh, Karachi, Balochistan, Punjab and Peshawar and asked them to enter politics to change the system.

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US Military Aircraft Forced to Land in Pakistan

admin — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 05:15:19 +0000

A US military cargo aircraft was forced to land in Karachi at the Jinnah International Airport on the orders of the Pakistan Air Force, sources said on Wednesday. According to the sources, the Russian-made plane was forced to land in Karachi on the basis of intelligence information provided by the Air Intelligence.

Geo TV reported that the plane is used for Nato supplies. The plane took off from Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan and was flying towards Al-Maktoum Airport in Dubai. The crew of the aircraft was being interrogated till the filing of this report.

Pakistan suspended Nato supplies after a cross border US raid on its check-posts in Mohmand Agency November last year that killed two dozen Pakistani troops.

Islamabad had linked the resumption of Nato supplies with unconditional US public apology over the raid. The unpopular government in Islamabad seems reluctant to reopen Nato supply routes amid anti-American sentiments prevailing in the country ahead of next general election.

In the meantime, President Obama is also facing the same process this November and doesn’t want to tender an apology after he tendered one over the desecration of the Holy Quran at the hands of US soldiers in Afghanistan.

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The Bhoja Tragedy: Turbulence Ahead

admin — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 05:13:56 +0000

Bhoja Air’s aged chief executive has been taken into custody, but defense minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, who has presided over the most aviation accidents in Pakistan’s history, is unlikely to lose his job.

Farooq Bhoja was taken into federal custody on Saturday. The bespectacled and bearded chief executive of Karachi-based budget carrier Bhoja Air is facing multiple murder charges after one of his aircraft crashed near Islamabad on Friday evening killing all 127 on board. The Federal Investigation Agency said Bhoja had not been arrested, but simply detained for questioning. The same day the agency also ransacked his office.

Islamabad’s immediate response to the crash had been measured and compassionate: within an hour of the crash, a swift rescue and recovery operation had been launched; and President Asif Ali Zardari put the national carrier, Pakistan International Airlines, at the disposal of those who lost family on Bhoja Air flight B4213. The latest steps—which essentially declare the airline’s aged chief executive guilty until proven innocent—are unreasonable, irrational, and betray the pressure that the government has come under from a shocked public and overzealous media.The government is offering up Farooq Bhoja in an attempt to quell the outrage over the second commercial aircraft disaster on its watch in as many years and to head off public pressure that would force it into firing loyalists. “It is sheer incompetence,” said a grieving woman whose cousin was killed in the Bhoja crash, “This is the second major accident here in less than two years but the president and prime minister remain unmoved.” Defense minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar still has his job and is unlikely to lose it despite having presided over the most number of aviation accidents in Pakistan’s history than any other official before him. If the government wants to show that it is concerned about air safety, it can start by firing Mukhtar—and keeping him out of power.

Pakistani media consensus faults cost-saving measures at Bhoja Air for the crash but also, and largely, the alleged corruption within the government and the Civil Aviation Authority, the federal organization responsible for ensuring safety standards and which cleared Bhoja Air flight B4213. The government has pinned blame on the private airline. And the airline as well as Pakistani aviation industry insiders point to the weather that fateful Friday evening to explain the crash. As usual, shock and horror over the latest tragedy and the inevitable buck-passing have restricted space for any rational discourse.

At least one independent expert blames Pakistanis for the crash. “The safety of air travel depends on the integrity of the political and professional cultures of the country where you board the plane,” writes Clive Irving, author of Wide-Body: The Triumph of the 747, in the latest issue of Newsweek Pakistan. “In well-regulated safety regimes, a severe storm should not endanger any flight. Hundreds of landings are made around the world every day in similar conditions, and if the storm is a real threat the flights are diverted.” He says countries like Pakistan “are not very fussy about the airplanes and the airlines they allow into their skies.”

Bhoja Air’s flight B4213 crashed in Hussainabad village near Islamabad on Friday at 6:47 p.m., seven minutes after it made last contact with ground control, according to the CAA. “The plane took off from Karachi at 5:05 p.m. and was expected to land at Islamabad airport at 6:50 p.m.,” CAA spokesman Pervez George told Newsweek Pakistan. The flight was Bhoja’s first in 12 years on this route. The airline had been grounded by the CAA in 2000 and restarted domestic operations last month with a fleet of five aircraft, including at least one other Boeing 737-200.

“Bhoja Air deeply regrets this most unfortunate incident and expresses their heartfelt condolences to all the members of the families who have been affected,” the airline said in a brief statement on Friday night. It also released the passenger manifesto the same evening.

Bhoja’s doomed aircraft was 32 years old. “The aircraft was old and second hand but it is not something unusual,” Bhoja Air official Masham Zafar told wire service AFP. “The fleet of state-run PIA also runs old aircraft. Airlines rarely have brand new planes, and this aircraft was also refurbished. There was no technical issue and bad weather is to blame. The plane left with CAA certification after normal check at Karachi airport and it was given clearance by the CAA to land at the Islamabad airport.”

Nadeem Khan Yousafzai, director-general at the CAA, told AFP the plane suddenly dropped from 2,900 feet to 2,000 feet as it made its final approach to land, and vanished from the airport radar. He said another private airliner landed safely from the same approach about 10 minutes afterward and there was no indication from the Bhoja pilot that he was in distress. The flight data recorder has been recovered and will be sent abroad for analysis, said Yousafzai, adding that the crash investigation could take up to a year.

The Bhoja crash comes three months shy of the second anniversary of the Airblue flight 212 tragedy. That Karachi-Islamabad flight crashed into the Margalla Hills in July 2010 killing all 152 on board. The official inquiry report blamed pilot error for that crash.

Source: Newsweek Pakistan

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Discrediting Two Nation Theory

admin — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 18:22:19 +0000

by SM Hali – Opinion-Maker

Professor Stanley Wolpert, an American Indologist, author, and academic, who is considered one of the world’s foremost authorities on the political and intellectual history of modern India and Pakistan and author of the epic biography Jinnah of Pakistan states that “Few individuals significantly alter the course of history, Fewer still modify the map of the world. Hardly anyone can be credited with creating a nation-state. Mohammed Ali Jinnah did all three.

” Wolpert has also penned the biographies of Gandhi and Nehru but his eulogy for the Quaid surpasses any other leader of the freedom movement. It is a fact of history that the creation of Pakistan was an epoch-making event and a significant achievement of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and his indomitable team of political workers having the tenacity and steadfastness to face any challenges in their efforts to achieve their objective of creation of a separate home land for the Muslim of the subcontinent. Hindus opposed the partition of the Indian Sub-Continent tooth and nail and considered it to be the desecration of “Mother India”.

The Quaid, initially a proponent of Hindu-Muslim Unity, soon realized that the Hindus wanted to avenge themselves from the Muslims of the Sub-Continent for hundreds of years of subjugation under the Moghuls and other Muslim rulers of India. After the departure of the British from India, for the Muslims it would only be a change of rulers as being in the majority and economically more powerful, Hindus would enslave the down trodden Muslims; whose only salvation lay in a separate homeland. Thus it was the consideration of a different religion rather than culture, language, ethnicity or customs and more that was the raison d’être for the creation of Pakistan.Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, a die-hard leader of the Indian Congress was strongly opposed to the partition of India. In his famous book India Wins Freedom, he claims: “It (creation of Pakistan) is one of the greatest frauds on the people to suggest that religious affinity can unite areas which are geographically, economically and culturally different”. Similarly, Muslim religious organizations of the sub-continent—Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind, Majlis-i-Ahrar-i-Islam and Jamat-i-Islami—were politically very active during the struggle for Pakistan but all of them vehemently opposed the creation of a separate homeland for the Muslims on the plea that Pakistan was essentially a territorial concept and thus alien to the philosophy of Islamic brotherhood, which was universal in character. Nationalism was an un-Islamic concept for them but at the same time they supported the Congress Party’s idea of Indian nationalism which the Muslim political leadership considered as accepting perpetual domination of Hindu majority. Likewise, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, the recipient of the 1985 Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award, strongly opposed the Muslim League’s demand for the partition of India. When the Indian National Congress accepted the partition plan, he told them “You have thrown us to the wolves.”

The Quaid’s prescience and foresight proved his worst fears to be correct. The plight of the Muslims in India today is worse than even the low caste Dalits and other minorities, a fact verified by the 2005 Justice Sachar Committee’s report to ascertain the latest social, economic and educational condition of the Muslim community of India. In fact the venomous writings of extremist Hindu Maha Sabha President Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, and the founder of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Dr. Keshav Baliram Hedgewar’s pronouncement that “… the Muslims are not Indians but foreigners or temporary guests—without any loyalty to the country or its cultural heritage—and should be driven out of the country or convert to Hinduism…” is still being propagated today and leads to the , Maharashtra and elsewhere.

Unfortunately, Pakistan’s detractors found solace in the dismemberment of Pakistan and Indira Gandhi went on to claim that the Quaid’s Two Nation Theory had been “sunk in the Bay of Bengal.” But Pakistan survived and thrived, while Bangladesh has also taken up its rightful place in the comity of nations. Today Pakistan has again become the target of machinations to destabilize it and is being subjected to propaganda and intrigues, exploiting the current genocide of the Indian Muslims in Kashmir political instability, economic meltdown and ethnic/social division among different segments of Pakistani society to pollute the minds of its youth that its salvation lies in reuniting with India and the two-nation theory became defunct after 1947. Pseudo attempts like “Aman ki Asha” are a case in point for discrediting the two nation theory, which must be counteracted with logic.

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Contractors Beginning To See End of Afghan Mission

admin — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 13:33:48 +0000

As American and NATO forces prepare to withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of 2014, the Pentagon is looking at ways to trim the size of its materiel commitment. The U.S. Marine Corps and Army recently signed $31 million worth of logistics contracts with Honeywell to start refitting and shipping equipment back to the United States from several large bases in Afghanistan.

Source: defensenews.com

The Corps’ Pre positioning & Marine Corps Logistics Services (P&MCLS) effort entered into $24 million worth of agreements with the company to provide maritime pre positioning and logistics services to Camp Dwyer and Camp Leatherneck in Afghanistan.

A Honeywell spokesman described the deal as involving “offloading various types of equipment from the Marines’ pre positioning ships, repairing those vehicles, repackaging and refreshing supplies such as medical, food, ammunition, spare parts, etc., and reloading that equipment on the ship for it to return to its propositioned location in-theater.”

The Army’s 401st Integrated Logistics Support Services group also has contracted with Honeywell for a $7 million increase to an existing contract to supply labor and supervise Theater Provided Equipment Planner personnel, “as well as asset visibility services to the U.S. Forces Afghanistan J4 Supply and Services, Redistribution, Retrograde, Redeployment, Reset and Disposition organization,” according to a company statement.

The work on both contracts began April 1 and will run through September.

While not yet a major retrograde or refit action, the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan is declining from its current level of 90,000 troops to 68,000 by October. The draw down will bring troop levels back to what they were prior to the 2010 surge of 23,000 troops ordered by President Barack Obama.

The overall plan for the transition of security to Afghan forces is still being developed and is expected to be unveiled in May at the NATO summit in Chicago. But virtually all 130,000 U.S and NATO combat troops are expected to be out of the country by the end of 2014. A force of trainers, advisers and special forces likely will remain.

Honeywell’s logistics team “has been an integral part of the P & MCLS program for 25 years,” Carey Smith, president of Honeywell Technical Solutions, said in a statement. He added that the company is providing the Army with a “detailed analysis of equipment data, whether by geographic location or operational condition.”

The massive draw down is hardly unprecedented. In Iraq, U.S. forces moved 3 million pieces of equipment out of the country between September 2010 and last December, and handed over another 4 million pieces of equipment to the Iraqis.

As the draw down begins in earnest, Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak and Interior Minister Bismillah Khan Mohammadi are in Washington this week for meetings with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and other defense officials.

Earlier in the week, U.S. and Afghan officials signed an agreement that puts Afghans in charge of the controversial night raids conducted by U.S. and Afghan special forces, although it contains provisions that will allow U.S. forces to conduct raids while obtaining warrants from Afghan officials retroactively, according to Pentagon spokesmen.

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Beneath the Ice, the last ‘Salam’

admin — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 05:14:14 +0000

Tabish Qayyum | PKKH Exclusive

It’s been few days, already. No sign of survivors, No indication of life, not a single body, not a single voice. Hundreds of soldier’s frantically search for their lost fighters buried deep down in worlds highest battle ground ever heard in the history of Mankind. The worst enemy, weather continues to threaten what could be the most miraculous survival for any of Pakistan’s 6th Northern Light infantry valiant soldier, if he eventually makes it. Apparently, it’s becoming a futile effort on top of the ground, and to add insult to the injury the weather dims the hope with each passing moment.

I was wondering, what these soldiers mean to us, away from home in places we would not even think of in wildest of imaginations, these men defend us. I had been involved in many of the past relief efforts in natural calamities that we as a nation have gone through; Earth quakes of 2005 or Floods in 2010-11, our men in uniform were there, digging people out from debris and cutting the beams to pull them out of fallen roofs in Balakot, perhaps providing shelters and food to families stranded on mountain tops.

They were among the first ones who held the hands of those drowning in flood water, In short, these sons never gave us a reason to complain when they were called or looked upon.

Today, they remain hidden beneath layers and layers of Snow and Ice, some already departed and some still fighting their way out in areas where none of us can reach. The way they sprang to our help when we needed them, we are unable to even take a single step in their direction. Let’s for a second, try to dig few feets of this 80ft snow with bare hands and have a look at the adversity that struck them.

It was 5 Am when the avalanche struck, most of them would already be on their praying mats, some of them on guard and many of them still in their sleeping bags. A sudden impact and ground shaking sound would have alerted few only for few seconds before the actual tragedy unfolded. Having no idea of the technicalities of the speed and gravity of an avalanche in such conditions, I can only assume that it wouldn’t be less than, any mountain falling directly over head.Beneath the snow when it was them and their lord, many stories of courage and determination will also remain unheard. Virtually making the barracks a large grave covered with tons of snow, many of these men would have instantly given up on their breath and only few might have been allowed a little room to add few hours or may be days before they will finally succumb to harshness of their trial. Some of them would have made an effort for a while and some might still be fighting their way out.

As I write these lines, in the comfort of my room, I am unable to represent the true agony, in fact no one can describe what these men embraced. Given one second, minute, hour, day or perhaps weak by the remaining life, what would these, once father, brothers, sons be thinking?

Faces of their loved ones would be popping in their minds the most, the lovely tricks children play when they used to return home from duty, how passionately siblings loved and took pride in them telling their friends about how metal-hard their brother was; how shockingly parents used to hear their tales of courage and they would be thinking how their wives looked at them with shyness and innocent complains in their eyes, for being so late at home. Yes, all of this would have spinned their brave minds.

Then, they would have looked upon their lives, how they were inspired by the courage of 1965 and how hurt they were on the events on 1971, how enthusiastic they were for Kashmir and how immensely they loved – Pakistan; first day at Military academy, first day they wore uniform and the first day they held the gun with an oath to protect the land carved in the name of Islam.

One can only assume the mesmerizing communication that would have taken place between them and their lord, the one the loved the most in the freezing night, the one they trusted the most, the one who never left them alone when they were literally cut off from the place called World. They would have been compassionate for their job was near done. They proved true to their oath, honest to their commitment and dedicated to their desire of martyrdom that would have been inches away.

When thinking about their visions and dreams, they would have certainly tried to raise their hands or at least positioned them in a way a supplication is made, they would have prayed for our prosperity and security and they would have hoped that their fallen guns will be picked up, and the enemy will not dare to cross an inch from where they stood guarding the dreams of Pakistan. They wouldn’t have regretted the loss of their lives; in fact they would be only yearning for the defense of Pakistan, for which they were buried alive. When they will meet their Lord on the Day of Judgment, they will request him to be allowed to return and die again in his way. Yes, these will be the martyrs with an unending resolve.

I could not possibly hold back my mind from flashing these painful last moments, as tear roll down, I feel worthless when my defenders lay undefended. What worries me is not the coldness that surrounds them, instead it’s the coldness of our hearts that fears me, fashion shows never stopped, no mourning and national unity witnessed, no patriotic atmosphere seen.

It’s just like another day for us, I ask myself, were these normal lives that went away? No life is less valuable, but these sons were priceless. How many of us have raised hands once since this news broke? Let’s be honest, if anyone of us has had the opportunity to read a will of martyrs, do see it. Most of them write a famous line at the end, “Hamari Shahadat ki Qabooliat ki dua kijeay ga…” – Pray for the acceptance of our Martrydom.

In the most testing and closing moments of their lives, beneath the Ice, a moment would have come when seconds away from freezing to death they would have said their last ‘Salam Sar Zameen e Pakistan’ – I wish, we learn what Pakistan, meant for them.

Walaikum assalam, my 135 brothers, we owe you nothing less than our lives.

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John Allen And The Worsening US-Pakistan Ties

admin — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 08:46:18 +0000

Our army headquarters hosted last Wednesday an American general who cannot talk straight. Isaf’s American commander in Afghanistan Gen John Allen accompanied US Central Command chief Gen James Mattis to meet our commanders. It is not clear if Allen, the Isaf chief, was able to look our commanders in the eye after what he did in November. Allen was inside the GHQ on the night of 26/11 to brief our side about Nato’s future operations. However, he conveniently forgot to mention anything about an operation named Sayaqa that was to be launched a few hours later, using massive power to kill 24 Pakistani soldiers on an isolated mountain ridge.

by Ahmed Quraishi

Two days before Wednesday’s meeting in Rawalpindi, Gen Allen tried to sabotage the Obama-Gilani meeting in Seoul on the sidelines of the nuclear security summit. As the Pakistani prime minister and the American president prepared to meet, Allen issued statements at a Washington think tank repeating accusations that the Haqqanis “are an actual arm” of the ISI.

The only reason 26/11 did not blow up into a limited war is apparently because of a Pakistani decision not to be dragged into such a war. The Pakistanis had to exercise a lot of restraint knowing that the Salala attack on 26/11 was premeditated murder, spread over two hours using disproportionate force, enough to rule out any possibility that this was an accident.Provoking a limited war with Pakistan suits Gen Allen’s forces and the CIA’s special teams in Afghanistan. They are locked in a battle of wits with Obama’s White House over military budget reductions and withdrawal from Afghanistan. The Pentagon and the CIA loathe the reductions and the withdrawal. A limited armed conflict with Pakistan would worsen the situation just enough to keep the budget dollars coming and the boots intact on the ground in Afghanistan. All while pointing to Pakistan for Afghan failures.

This is the environment in which our Parliament is reviewing ties with the US. Sadly, some pro-US Pakistani voices are counseling our government and military to accept US terms for reengagement. One example of these terms is the fascinating logic President Obama used in Seoul, offering the theory that Pakistani sovereignty is fine as long as it did not stand in the way of US national security.

The Pakistani government and military need to step forward and delegitimise the premise that says America’s security faces a threat from Pakistan. This American theory is based on US assessments of Al-Qaeda’s presence on the Afghan border regions. The American assessment is exaggerated and self-serving. It is calculated to justify a long term American meddling in Afghanistan and Pakistan. We need to bring forward the actual situation where Al-Qaeda has been decimated for all practical purposes.

Also, there are no terrorists being exported from the Afghan-Pakistan border region to America. In fact, all recent real or imagined terror plots in the US and Europe have involved US or EU citizens breaching American and European security measures to travel and allegedly train with terrorists on the Afghan-Pakistan border. Their countries should bear responsibility for allowing these American and European citizens to use western ports of entry and exit and travel through US-controlled Afghanistan to liaise with terrorists.

Reopening US military’s supply line through Pakistan would have been fine if it did not mean feeding those who are determined to work against Pakistani interests while claiming to be our allies.

If we go along with the US strategy, then we should accept a hostile Afghanistan, accept India as a regional hegemon, and accept the scaling down of our military and intelligence capabilities. This may or may not be the American agenda for Pakistan but it is the crux of what Washington is doing in our neighborhood.

If the US military can’t guarantee it won’t violate Pakistani sovereignty, should we help transport the weapons it intends to use for future violations?

The scare scenarios about a confrontation with the US if we stand up for our interests are exaggerated. Let’s have good relations with the US without appeasement.

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Pak-US Relations: The Role of Parliament

admin — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 04:52:21 +0000

Nadeem Malik – AAJ News Anchor

NYT: Raza Rabbani, a senior government lawmaker, responded that the parliamentary committee’s recommendations on American policy were “broad policy guidelines” and not a final decision. In Islamabad, Parliament was supposed to start a long-awaited debate that would pave the way toward re-engaging diplomatically with the United States. But the opposition stalled the debate, with some lawmakers expressing fury at news reports that the go…vernment had already promised to reopen the NATO supply lines. Ayaz Amir, an influential lawmaker with the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-N party, questioned why Pakistan even bothered blocking the supply routes if it was assumed they would start right back up again. “We are fooling ourselves, and we are also fooling the Pakistani people,” he said.

The most scathing criticism came from Maulana Fazalur Rehman, an influential religious politician, who warned that if the government failed to win broad political backing for its review of American ties, he would take his protests onto the streets. “We will not let such a decision to be implemented in the field,” he said. Mr. Rehman asserted that given urgent efforts by the Americans to start negotiations with the Taliban in Afghanistan, American weapons transported through NATO supply lines could ultimately be turned back on Pakistan, earning loud applause from fellow lawmakers. And he asked how the government intended to bring covert American operations in Pakistan under the law of the land. The session was adjourned until Wednesday evening, when the formal debate is due to begin. Meanwhile, outside Parliament, a newly formed alliance of religious parties and extremist groups, the Defense of Pakistan Council, held a large street rally against the reopening of the supply routes. “If Parliament compromises on the security and sovereignty of the country, then we cannot guarantee the security of the lawmakers,” said Maulana Sami ul-Haq, head of the alliance, as hundreds of protesters chanted anti-American slogans

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The Mumbai Siege: Judicial Circus And The Missing Links

admin — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 05:52:39 +0000

PKKH Exclusive | Salman Javed

The Mumbai attacks not only shook Mumbai and India, but also sent shockwaves across the world, and were instantly labelled as India’s ‘9-11′.

On that day, 10 gunmen stormed the streets of this happening city, killed over 160 people, injured about 300 people and sowed the seeds of terror in the heart of India and around the world. It appeared as another ‘barbaric’ attack on ‘innocent and peaceful civlians’ – an assault on Indians in particular and on humanity in general.

Soon after the attack, the Indian media declared that the attack was orchestrated and handled by a Kashmir based militant organization called ‘Lashkar-e-Tayba’ (LeT), which has links with a charity organization called the Jama’at ud Dawa (JuD) in Pakistan. JuD’s founder Hafiz Mohammad Saeed has been on top India’s most wanted list for years. It was also ‘established’ during the three day attack that, the ‘mass murderers’ were being directed by Pakistani handlers and that all the communication through sophisticated communication systems originated and was controlled from Pakistan. This is what the Indian media propagated since the day of Mumbai attacks and the international community followed suit thanks to the massive propaganda machinery of the Indians and their western masters. The governments of India and Western world joined the cause soon after.The senseless official story being propagated is that 11 Pakistani men crossed 506 nautical miles in a boat undetected by the Indian navy – which is on the move in these waters 24/7 (hundreds of fisherman are caught and released every month for accidentally crossing into Indian . These 10 men are then said to have split up in groups and held an entire city hostage.

It took three days for the thousands of Indian army soldiers, Black cat commandos, special forces, as well as elite fighting units from South Africa and Israel, to end this siege and kill the gunmen.

The details of attack, attackers and their suspected ‘handlers’ are already available on the media. What is interesting though, is the proceedings of the case brought against the only attacker caught alive, by the name of ‘Ajmal Kassab’. Despite the fact that the newly formed agency NIA (National Investigation Agency) declared initial investigations flawed and incomplete, Pakistan folded under international pressure from its allies and has been detaining seven Pakistani citizens to this day without any solid evidence or proof of their involvement in these attacks. On the other hand, the lone surviver Kassab is facing a death penalty in India – his plea is pending at Supreme Court. Indian turned the tide very cleverly in its favour in the initial phases of the investigation, due to smart media management and diplomacy.

The twist in the story can be seen now when the judicial commission from Pakistan is currently on a visit to India and Indian officials rejected outright their request of cross examining magistrate who took Kassab’s confession, potentially the star witness against the men Pakistan continues to detain – as well as other witnesses. This is because there are a lot of blundres in the statement itself. One such example is that magistrate wrote in the statement that Kassab is from Pakistan, who only had an education upto 4th or 5th grade, but at the same time she is also writing that he is an expert of writing, reading and speaking of Hindi language. Does that make sound in anyway??

The Pakistani commission will only now take statements from the magistrate, doctors and some other witnesses (excluding Kassab) and will return to proceed on the case in Pakistan on the basis of these statements.

What is even more interesting in this background is the Indian complicity in the case. There are many missing links which can potentiallly help solve the case and which may lead towards a more specific trial of accused ‘masterminds’ of this attack.

For starters we have to do an autopsy of the arrests that took place in India. The cases of Tauseef Rehman, Mukhtar Ahmed, Fahim Ansari and Sabaudin are the most important. Let’s have a look at the case of Mukhtar Ahmed, one of the missing links.

It surfaced on the media after his arrest that he was an under-cover agent of Indian-Occupied Kashmir Police department, and belonged to the counterinsurgency section. According to his department, he joined the ranks of police after his brother was killed by militants. This ‘under-cover agent’ was arrested on suspicion of buying mobile phone cards used by the gunmen – provided to him by Tausif ur Rehman; a clerk of eastern city of Kolkata.

Mukhtar Ahmed on his arrest told the same story of his under-cover duty to the officials of Calcutta Police, for whom he was a big catch. At the same time it was considered a big blow for the intelligence agency for whom Mukhtar was a high-value-asset. His exposition puts his family and other assets at risk. Mukhtar Ahmed was later released by the courts of India, and his name was absent from the dossiers provided to Pakistan. Remarkably, like other Indian assets, Mukhtar Ahmad has now disappeared from the case investigation.

It can be concluded by studying Mukhtar’s case that Indian intelligence agencies, or rogue agents either penetrated a militant cell or directed the attack, made to look like an attack by the LeT militants – killing and maiming hundreds in the process – and use it as an opportunity to target Pakistan and ISI and have them declared sponsors of terror at the global

It should be noted that over recent years, serving Indian military and Intelligence officers have been found involved in a number of Terror attacks accross India, killing hundreds of innocent citizens, in terror attacks that were also initially blamed on the LeT and ISI. The man investigating many of these attacks in which extremist Hindu terrorist outfits infiltrated and successfully used Indian security forces personnel to bomb innocent civilians, was none other than the chief of Maharashtra state’s , Hemant Karkare, killed within the first hour after the MumbaiAnti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) siege commenced.

The book ‘Who Killed Karkare’ by the former Inspector General of Maharashtra state police, S.M. Mushrif, makes a fascinating read and lifts the lid on the horrifying facts allied to the mindset of Hindutva terror.

The role of Mukhtar and other suspects is very shadowy in this entire episode which seems to have been orchestrated to malign Pakistan internationally as well as clear India of threats that could stand up against the Hindutva doctrine. Hindutva terrorists have struck ruthlessly and massacred innocent civilians in bombings in Malegaon, Hyderabad, Ajmer, as well as the Samjhauta Express train bombing in which around 70 Pakistanis were burnt alive on Indian soil as they travelled on a cross border train back to their homeland.

There are many questions that remain unanswered even after 4 years of these attacks. Where is Mukhtar Ahmad, the under-cover agent? Why has the Pakistani judicial commission not been allowed to cross-examin him? Where is Ajmal Kassab? Does he exist? Is he alive? If so, why are there no recent photos of him since his arrest? Why is this prime witness being kept hidden from the Pakistani judicial commission? On what evidence does Pakistan continue to hold the 7 Pakistanis when the prime witness, as far as Pakistani judicial commission is concerned, is unable to testify to them?

What good will be the ’statements’ of the magistrate, doctors and others in holding the 7 detainees? Who killed Karkare? To what extent do the tentacles of Hindutva terror reach within India’s security forces and Intelligence agencies?

The above questions seem simple enough but are extremely important in the context of this case and particularly for the 7 Pakistani citizens held indefinitely without substantiated proof. It is the duty of Pakistan’s foreign office as well as the few patriotic elements within our media to ensure that the sovereignty of Pakistan is protected at all times against the heinous plans of India and its allies.

It is imperative to investigate and raise questions on international fora about Indian complicity in the Mumbai attacks and the twisting of evidence and facts, as well as the missing links which have mysteriously vanished from the case.

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The Rise & Rebirth Of Pakistani Nationalism

admin — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 09:52:38 +0000

23 March: The Rise And Rebirth Of Pakistani Nationalism

“We recognize that an informed Pakistani citizen is the most potent weapon in our effort to bring change to the Pakistani political system.” PakNationalists Forum

PRESS RELEASE | 23 March 2012 | PakNationalists Forum
PakNationalists.com

Today is the 72nd anniversary of Pakistan Resolution. It is an occasion to remind ourselves what Pakistan and Pakistani Nationalism are, and why it is important for us to remember. Pakistan is the modern incarnation of ten centuries of Muslim dynastic rule in Central and South Asia. Our nation has given birth to a distinct culture, language and race, drawn from Turkic, Persian, Arab and Aryan heritages and races.

The Muslim imperial rule ended in 1857 at the hands of European colonialism. Soon after our forefathers led an independence movement for ninety years that culminated in the rise of Pakistan on the morning of 14 August 1947.

Pakistan was destined to happen sooner rather than later. But it was the inspirational leadership of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah that made Pakistan happen in 1947. Hundreds of thousands of young Pakistanis joined him at the time to make Pakistan a reality. It was a cause that was fought through creativity, passion and patience.

Pakistan encompasses many Pakistani identities and Pakistani languages. All of the Pakistani identities and languages are interrelated culturally and ethnically. All Pakistani languages use the Arabic alphabet for writing. This makes the languages of Turkey, Iran and Pakistan the only three non-Arabic languages to use the Arabic script.

Pakistan is a modern Muslim nation, where Pakistani Christians were active participants in the Pakistan Independence Movement.Today, on the borders of Pakistan, in the fighter jets flying our airspace, and on our battle ships, you can find Pakistani Sikhs, Hindus and Christians standing alongside Pakistani Muslims in defending the motherland. The Pakistan Independence Movement was enriched by Pakistanis from all backgrounds without discrimination as to race, language or sect, from Bengal to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and from Sindh to Kashmir.

PAKISTANI NATIONALISM

Pakistani Nationalism has remained an obscure idea for the most part of the twentieth century. But now it is rising again, thanks to the 4th and 5th generations of Pakistanis.

This younger generation of Pakistanis is more integrated than their fathers and grandfathers. This generation speaks more than one Pakistani language. It has traveled throughout the country in more ways than its elders. And this generation is also the most intermarried generation of Pakistanis. The result is that today’s younger Pakistanis are more ‘Pakistani’ than their ancestors in many ways.

The reason that Pakistani Nationalism did not take off after 1947 is because of the failures of Pakistan’s ruling elites. Failed and divisive politics practiced by our ruling elite focused on dividing Pakistanis, not uniting them.

Pakistani politicians, intellectuals, writers, novelists and military rulers failed to transform the magic and the passion of Pakistan Independence Movement into Pakistani nationalism.

Pakistani Nationalism defines our people, nation and history. But it was neglected because our politicians were mediocre, our intellectuals were confused, and our military rulers were distracted by crises.

As we entered the 21st century, the government galvanized younger Pakistanis with the slogan Pakistan First. This nationalistic mobilization came out in the open after the Kashmir earthquake in 2005, when Pakistanis impressively came out to Kashmiris’ help; and in 2007 when Pakistanis did not wait for a weak government and mobilized themselves against the blunt demonization campaign and the anti-Pakistanism of the American and British media in that year.

More recently, as Pakistan faces a failed political system and corrupt politicians, Pakistanis and especially the younger generation have reacted by committing themselves to the cause of Pakistan, just like their grandfathers did in the Pakistan Independence Movement between 1857 and 1947, and on 23 March 1940.

In Pakistan, 14th August 1947 marks the day when Pakistanis successfully led an independence movement against British occupation and formalized their centuries-long history of successive empires in Central-South Asia. This history is credited at its peak with producing art and culture in three languages, Persian, Turkish and Arabic, and producing wonders such as the Taj Mahal, located in what is known today as India.
Our challenge is to channel this energy into political will to transform Pakistan into a prosperous, strong and proud nation in the 21st century.

Our ruling elites have already wasted the first decade of the new century. It should be our resolve to prevent them from wasting away our future. If they can’t govern properly, they should step aside and let better Pakistanis take charge to introduce change.

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23 March: Challenges and Response

admin — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 19:36:37 +0000

By General Mirza Aslam Beg

It is a day of reckoning for us, to recollect the failings of the past, and to carve-out a new destiny for the nation. No doubt Pakistan has faced serious challenges to its security, mainly due to foreign aggression in the region and our collusion with them. Having come full circle now, Pakistan is moving on the corrective course. Symptoms are encouraging:

One. The Parliament is laying down the ‘New Rules of Engagement’ establishing the correct level of working relationship with the United States and other countries. Two. The judiciary is handling with discreet care, some very sensitive issues, such as, President’s immunity; the NRO cases; scandals and corruption cases of institutions and agencies. An independent judiciary is the hope for justice and rule of law to be established in lawless Pakistan, where even the President of Pakistan eulogizes the Prime Minister for his defiance of the judiciary.

Three. The Armed Forces of Pakistan, now honour the oath, which has been so blatantly violated by General Ayub, Yahya, Zia and Musharraf. The oath demands: “To uphold the Constitution of Pakistan, which embodies the will of the people, and not to engage in politics.”

This oath has been honoured twice at critical junctures of our history, during the last six decades. First, on 17th August 1988, when the three services chiefs namely, Admiral Saeed Ahmed Khan, Air Chief Marshal Hakimullah and myself, assisted by DG ISI Lieutenant General Hamid Gul and Judge Advocate General of Army, Brigadier Aziz Muhammad Khan, restored the Constitution and handed over power to the people, within three hours of General Zia’s death – an unprecedented act of correcting the course of democracy. Secondly , on 18th October 2008, when General Ashfaq Pervez Kiani said ‘NO’ to General Musharraf’s plan of rigging the elections using military intelligence – a repeat of elections 2002. Thus General Kiani, corrected the course of democracy, to the great disappointment of the ‘Capitol Hill’, USA. Arnoud de Borchgrave, the editor of Washington Times and United Press, commenting on the elections results, lamented in his column, titled “Pak-Forces Align Against USA”:

“Washington’s Pakistan kibitzers will soon rue the day, they squeezed President Pervez Musharraf to restore democracy. “Democracy” is what has now emerged, or an unholy alliance of long-time American haters. Acting as behind-the-scenes catalysts are two prominent American-haters, Gen Aslam Beg, former COAS (1988-91) and Gen Hamid Gul. Both Beg and Gul are strongly opposed to military action, encouraged by the United States, against Taliban and Al-Qaeda safe heavens in the tribal areas along the Afghan border. What the United States and Britain describe as Taliban “terrorists”, according to the two generals, are the “freedom fighters” of a “Muslim world facing unprecedented oppression and injustice.” The new behind-the-scenes god-father of this broad-based anti-US coalition is Nawaz Sharif, chief of the Pakistan Muslim League. This also puts Kiani in a quandary, Musharraf has handed over his military powers, along with a Rubik’s Cube.”

In fact, the military high command decisions of 17th August 1988 and 18th October 2008, defeated the plans of the ‘Nexus’ – a combination of America, Army, Judiciary and the ever compliant politicians – to bring about Regime Change in Pakistan. No doubt the Nexus is defeated, but the powers behind the Nexus, are active and alive, trying to reverse the process, are targeting the judiciary, the armed forces, the national intelligence agencies and the political parties, who say ‘NO’ to their machinations.
General elections are likely to be held soon, and a new parliament would be in place to tackle the challenges, which are serious, particularly those that threaten the core of national existence, such as:

One. Indian ‘water hegemony plans’ seriously threaten Pakistan’s economy and agriculture. On 27 February 2012, the Indian Supreme Court ordered the government to implement the 2002 project to link major rivers in India, ‘in a time-bound manner’. The over $100 billion project will link around 30 rivers. The project is split into the Himalayan component, with 14 linkages and the peninsular component, with 16 linkages. It is the Himalayan component which will dry-up the rivers flowing into Pakistan. India, continues building 300 small and major dams, linking the rivers to contain Pakistan’s water share, has allocated $212 billion for turning the water courses of Chenab, Jhelum and Indus from North to South. These include 24 projects on River Chenab, 52 on River Jhelum and 18on River Indus. Thus India will deprive Pakistan of its share of water and establish Indian water hegemony – an all-encompassing strategy to ruin Pakistan’s agriculture affecting seven million acres of fertile land. According to articles 3, 4 and 7 of Indus Water Treaty, India could not construct water reservoirs, over western rivers of Chenab, Jhelum and Sindh nor it could divert the catchment areas of tributary canals of these rivers. New Delhi is also bound to notify Pakistan in advance about the water schemes but so far it has failed to do so.

Two. The Pakistani nations’ ‘ideological base’ is badly tarnished, weakening the ‘National Purpose’ as enshrined in the Constitution of Pakistan, i.e. to ‘strive for a democratic order, based on the principles of Quran and Sunnah.’ The ‘component of democracy’ is protected by the parliament, the judiciary, the Armed Forces and the civil society, but the ‘ideological component’ has been relegated and subordinated to the political authority and expediency. For example the government at the centre, and governments in the three provinces, enjoys secular orientations – just one step away declaring Pakistan a secular state, once the Muslim League government in Punjab is pulled down.

The threat to National Purpose, thus has become endemic, because United States has succeeded in achieving ‘Media Management goals’, and now is aiming at ‘Perception Management’ of the Pakistani nation. For this purpose, a huge sum of US$ 1.4 billion has been allocated by the US Congress, to be spent in Pakistan for ‘Institutional Support’; Support to the Civil Society and for ‘Perception Management.’ Therefore, protecting and safeguarding Pakistani nations ‘ideological base’, is the most serious challenge. If the parliament doesn’t take this matter seriously, then the impacting ideological forces of Afghanistan and Iranian revolutions and the Islamic surge within Pakistan, would gain overpowering influence over the masses, and cause violent change. Change is inevitable, but must be induced through the democratic dispensation.

Source: Opinion Maker

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Difference Between Memogate and Mehrangate

admin — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 05:10:49 +0000

by Maria Sultan

There is sea difference between the two cases which have recently taken Pakistan by storm, or shall we say which took Pakistani media by storm in the recent weeks. With all fairness, the common Pakistanis are not much bothered by these two, yet they are the two topics which are boiling right now.

It’s quite telling how President Zardari has produced yet another pigeon out of his hat and cajoling the judiciary and media with the movement of his eyebrows through pawns like Younus Habib and Advocate Yousuf. More characters will appear gradually as the case progresses in the Supreme Court to support both sides. In retaliation, PML-N has used its strings to activate characters to expose other cash-showers in recent and distant past.We all know that nobody had the guts or intention to say No to ISI in the past. PML-N and PPP were major players and both knew that other would say amen to the cash if they would say No. After charter of democracy, things changed and it seemed that Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif had learned the lessons, but Benazir Bhutto again struck deal with Musharraf but then she regretted and backed off and paid the price with her life. Nawaz Sharif stood his ground against establishment and still doing so and paying the price too. Nobody including MQM, JUIF-F, ANP, JI, journalists and judges and generals is clear, but there is no use in boiling this stale curry.

Memogate was the real one. It was total treason. With full responsibility I can tell you that Husain Haqqani assured the US administration that he and his boss were willing to freeze the nuclear assets only if American would save them from coup and ensure another term, and a sustainable economic package to avoid the default. Americans didn’t trust Zardari and Mansoor Ijaz exploited the issue and then ISI and military and Supreme Court and PML-N also jumped into the fray, but out of nowhere efforts emerged to hush the matters. In his revenge, Zardari has come out with the mehrangate and Younus Habib to malign PML-N, ISI and some journalists.

Source: The Pakistani Spectator

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The American War Machine Fueled by Freedom Disparages Islamic Values

admin — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 20:43:01 +0000

By Abid Mustafa

“It is unfathomable how American military personnel in Afghanistan could decide to burn copies of the Qur-an. Muslims consider destruction of the holy book blasphemous. A decade after the United States intervened in Afghanistan; all American forces should know that.”—New York Time Editorial.

The callous burning of the Quran by bigots in the American military has spawned numerous protests across Afghanistan that hitherto has left 29 people dead and scores wounded. Obama’s half-hearted apology has only added fuel to the incessant outrage expressed by ordinary Afghans who widely perceive America’s occupation of their country as a wholesale onslaught on Islamic values. Only few weeks ago, US troops were caught on camera smiling and urinating on dead Afghans. The vilification of Afghans and their Islamic values is not limited to these incidents alone. Mutilation of dead bodies, horrific abuse of prisoners in Bagram, rape of young girls, mindless civilian massacres have become the hallmark of America’s malicious crusade in Afghanistan. No matter how hard America tries to downplay this vitriolic incident, the latest episode is a vivid reminder to the rest of the world that barbarism and not emancipation from tyranny is a hallmark of America’s war machine.

One would have thought that having spent over a decade fighting wars in the Muslim world, US soldiers would at the very least, be accustomed to the cultural sensitivities of Muslims. But no, we find the complete opposite. Wherever the American military intervenes, it leaves behind a trail of death and destruction with rancorous behaviour unworthy of a leading nation that also prides itself on tolerance. Look for instance, the indiscriminate killings of unarmed civilians by US drones and Special Forces in Pakistan, or the immunity granted to Raymond Davis for his cold blooded murder of Pakistanis in broad daylight. This clearly undermines America’s penchant for disregarding human rights it so evangelically preaches to the rest of the world. Take America’s war in Iraq as another example: the cruel humiliation of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib and the senseless killings of unarmed civilians in Haditha are portent reminders about the fruits America’s Iraqi occupation. Yet despite such uncivilized acts perpetrated by America’s military, its soldiers are lavished with praise and their crimes against humanity are overlooked. At the end of last year, US President Obama told troops coming home from Iraq: “As your commander in chief, and on behalf of a grateful nation, I’m proud to finally say these two words.”Worse still, there are no serious efforts by America’s political establishment or senior officers to change the uncivilized conduct of US troops. Wherever US troops are stationed, the Pentagon immediately seeks immunity from prosecution as a mandatory condition in exchange for security pacts, or military aid. In other words, there are no repercussions for the evil acts committed by US soldiers against indigenous populations. If by chance a US soldier is found guilty, sham trials are convened by the US military (the conclusion of Haditha massacre trial early this year) to ensure that punishment does not fit the crime. The US military goes to great length to instill savagery within its personnel by making certain that barbarism is institutionalized. The recent National Defense Authorization Act passed by the US senate epitomizes such measures, which legalizes sex with animals and permits sodomy. As the US military is committed to preserving its barbarian code and despicable values, one can only imagine what type of training the US military imparts to nations around the globe. So what is the root cause behind such reckless behaviour that defies human logic? The explanation that ‘a few rotten apples’ are to blame, is no longer plausible and does not merit a discussion. Nor can America’s military culture be held solely responsible for nurturing a generation of young men and women who show scant respect for foreign cultures and people. On the contrary, the military culture is based on the very foundations that the rest of American society is built.

The sole driver for such behaviour is freedom, which is the bedrock of America’s cherished ideals and responsible for shaping popular culture, corporate culture, social values and ethics. It is on this very basis that the military in Western countries, especially in America is responsible for moulding the attitudes of its military personnel. Men and women, fed from a young age on a diet of freedom enlist in the army as defenders of freedom, undergo weapons training and are eventually deployed overseas.. Here, they find themselves in a different environment; laws and restrictions of the home country no longer impinge on what one can say and do and the weapons in their possessions makes them feel that they can finally say and do whatever they desire. Naturally, the indigenous populations’ beliefs, values, property, life and dignity are quickly trounced upon—all in the name of freedom.

Freedom is a fanciful idea and always leads to disputes and violence. The West claims that individuals are free to do whatever they choose and indoctrinates within its populace the desire to be free. But in practice this leads to unending conflicts amongst people, as the views expressed by a few, or behaviour exhibited by some, can be interpreted as offensive and insulting to others. Hence, Western governments are persistently intervening in disputes and resort to severity of the law to protect the freedoms of some people by depriving others of their freedom to express thoughts and behave in a certain way. Often, the real benefactors of freedom are those individuals or groups whose views or conduct coincides with the interests of the government, or the powerful capitalists who possess the ability to exert influence over the government. That is why so many institutions including the military establishments in the West are given free rein to attack Islam because their fiery rhetoric and discriminatory policies are in full harmony with West’s unfinished war on Islam. However, if the Western media, or its numerous institutions, were to insult Jews or the Zionist state of Israel, Western governments would swiftly adopt stern measures to restrict their insults.

On foreign policy matters, Western governments manipulate freedom to either pry open societies closed to Western values, or totally ignore freedom when it does not concur with their interests. In the case of the Arab uprising and the continued massacre of Muslims at the bloody hands of Western agents like Bashaar Al Asad, the West has chosen to water down its response, as the protestors are avid supporters of Islam and not democracy. Such hypocrisy only serves to underscore the perception amongst Muslims that the America and Europe are solely interested in the utter destruction of Islamic values and practices.
Islam does not believe in the whimsical idea of freedom, where a handful of men decide which thoughts and behaviours are legally beyond censure, and which thoughts and practices are subject to criticism and can be tried in a court of law. Islam stipulates that life, honor, blood, property, belief, race and the mind are to be protected by the Islamic State. All the citizens of the Caliphate are guaranteed these rights, irrespective of whether they are Muslim or non-Muslims. Islam also protects the rights of non-Muslims to worship without any fear of retribution, or vilification of their beliefs. The Messenger (saw) of Allah said: “One who hurts a dhimmi (non-Muslim citizen of the Caliphate), he hurts me and the one who hurts me, hurts Allah”

Therefore, it is prohibited for a Muslim to insult the beliefs of a non-Muslim, spill their blood, harm their places of worship and desecrate their property.

The Islamic history is unrivalled in its capacity to guarantee the religious rights of non-Muslims under the shade of the Caliphate. At the time of Omar bin Al Khattab(R.A), the Islamic army conquered Syria, but quickly returned the Kharaj collected from Homs a town inhabited by Christians and Jews. The Muslims reasoned with the non-Muslims that they were returning the money as they were unable to protect their life, blood, honour and property from the regrouping Roman army. So impressed were the non-Muslims that they said, “We like your rule and justice far better than the state of oppression and tyranny in which we were. The army of Heraclius we shall indeed, with your ‘Amil’s’ help, repulse from the citv.” The Jews rose and said, “We swear by the Torah, no governor of Heraclius shall enter the city of Homs unless we are first vanquished and exhausted!” Saving this, they closed the gates of the city and guarded them. The inhabitants of the other cities – Christian and Jew – that had capitulated to the Muslims, did the same, saying, “If Heraclius and his followers win over the Muslims we would return to our previous condition, otherwise we shall retain our present state so long as numbers are with the Muslims.” (Kitab Futuh al-Buldha of Ahmad ibn-Jabir al-Baladhuri, trans. by P. K. Hitti and F. C. Murgotten, Studies in History, Economics and Public Law, LXVIII (New York, Columbia University Press,1916 and 1924). The protection of non-Muslims under the Caliphate continued for centuries, and Christians and Jews lived under the protection of state, once their lands were opened to Islam. During the rule of Sultan Muhammed the Conqueror, the sultan pledged to protect the Christians and Franscisan monastery in Fojinica after the conquest of Bosnia and Herzegovina in May 28 1463. This pledge was stated in the official firman as:” No one shall disturb or give harm to these people and their churches! They shall live in peace in my state. These people, who have become emigrants, shall have security and liberty. They may return to their monasteries which are located in the borders of my state. No one from my empire notable, viziers, clerks or my maids will break their honour or give any harm to them! No one shall insult, put in danger or attack these lives, properties, and churches of these people! Also, what and those these people have brought from their own countries have the same rights…” (Light Millennium: A Culture of Peaceful Coexistence: The Ottoman Turkish Example by Prof. Dr. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu).

The only way to prevent the West and her surrogates from attacking Islam and humiliating Muslims is to re-establish the Caliphate. The rights of the Muslims were protected, until the very last days of the Caliphate. During the rule of Sultan Abdul Hamid II, Britain decided to stage a play, which depicted the life of the messenger (saw) of Allah in a derogatory manner. On hearing this Sultan Abdul Hamid complained to the British government to stop the play. The British government defended its decision to hold the play citing free speech. But when Sultan Abdul Hamid threatened Britain with military action Britain immediately relented.

Abid Mustafa is a political commentator who specialises in Muslim issues and global affairs.

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Baloch Youth Council Announces to Move ICJ Against Herbyar Mari

admin — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 05:12:51 +0000

Chairman Baloch Youth Council, Mir Hazar Khan Baloch has said Baloch separatist leader Herbyar Mari is involved in the killing of innocent and poor Balochis and Punjabis. Is a statement issued here on Tuesday, he announced that the Council would move the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against the separatist leader against the bloodshed.

He said that Baloch Sardars were fond of telling lies but they could not continue with it, adding that the Sardars were rubbing salt into the wounds of Baloch people.

Mr Baloch said that Khair Bux Mari, father of Herbyar Mari, ended his self exile in Nawaz Sharif government and returned to Balochistan via a military aircraft. He said Mari, upon his arrival purchased expensive vehicles and exploited Baloch nation.

Mir Hazar Khan advised Herbyar Mari to bring change first in his own family as his elder brother was a leader of Muslim League and other was a friend of PPP chief. He claimed that Herbyar Mari’s third brother was a member of a gay group.“How come they bring change as they all are usurpers,” he remarked. He said that The Baloch nation was aware of Sardars character. The Baloch Youth Council chairman said that Sardar Akhtar Mengal’s group Laskhar-e-Balochistan was involved in the killing of innocent people in Khuzdar district and looting of buses on national higway.

Speaking about an active separatist leader Dr Allah Nazr, he claimed that Nazr was working for a non- Muslim Zikri group.

He noted that Baloch loved Islam and Pakistan and never forgot killing of 20 thousands innconet people during a personal clash of Attaullah Mengal and a Bugti Sardar.

Source: The News Tribe

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3/11 – ‘Afghans’ Will Never Forget

admin — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 05:07:45 +0000

“This is an assassination, an intentional killing of innocent civilians and cannot be forgiven,” Karzai

Anar Gul gestures to the body of her grandchild, who was allegedly killed by a U.S. service member in Panjwai, Kandahar province south of Kabul. / By Allauddin Khan, AP
PKKH Exclusive| Tabish Qayyum

Here comes the defining moment in Afghanistan’s infamous war ; 11 deadly years of violence that has jeopardized the entire region seems closer to a reverse-tide as US face a deadly situation post recent ‘Massacre’ by its rogue staff sergeant at the pre-dawn of 11th March. Sixteen Afghan Civilians including 9 children and women along with older men were killed being shot in the face at point-blank range; corpses were later burnt allegedly by some highly inflammable chemical. This crater for US forms very close to an already dark abyss where US policies fell last month after the burning of Holy Qur’an, resulting in deadly reprisals and anti-American sentiment taking strong hold in every nook and corner of Afghanistan.

The ‘rogue terrorist’ belonged to Lewis Mc-Chord which is considered as one of the largest American military installation in US with a horrendous reputation of violence, “The most troubled US base ever” as a military site “stars and stripes” calls it. Few of the soldiers deputed by this facility were involved in civilian killings in Afghanistan back in 2010. Four to Five soldiers were convicted of one of the most brutal charges where one of the convicted staff sergeant acknowledged cutting out fingers and tooth of the victim to keep them as war trophies. Suicide rates due to post-traumatic stress disorder are also high at this base which has largely been involved in violence both domestic and in war-theaters outside US. Recently 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division of this base sent about 2,500 soldiers to Afghanistan in December for a yearlong deployment. The brigade had deployed to Iraq three times since 2003; this is its first deployment to Afghanistan.The alleged assassin was deputed with special-forces in Kandahar along Navy-Seals or Green Beret units for village stability missions for first time after his three ventures in Iraq as revealed by a US official on condition of anonymity to some media outlets. His precision in firing on the fore-heads of children flattens the assertions of ‘being drunk’ or having ‘mental ailments’ as no soldier is recruited after routine medical check-ups. As reported he later returned to the base and is being held by fellow authorities.

This brutality was carried out at the Alokozai village, in the Zangawat area of Panjwayi district near 3:00 AM when an alleged group of US Special force was out for the bloodiest of murders ever in the history of Afghanistan. According to live accounts and eye witnesses multiple weapon sounds were heard, including pistols and machine gun bursts simultaneously. The houses attacked are at least 2 miles apart and it becomes literally impossible for a single gunman to kill and burn people in one house and then run few kilometers to do the same thing again twice. Eleven dead belonged to a same family and nine of the victims were children, including infants found soaked in blood close to the bodies of their mothers. Afghan sources in Pajwayi claim to have photographs of half-burnt bodies of women and children as blood-spattered walls and floors have already been aired in the media.

Some local villagers have reported seeing two groups of soldiers. The Afghan defense ministry also believes in its initial assessment that there is a possibility of one or more soldiers being involved.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai also believes in the possibilities of more than one soldier as he quotes in his statement a 15-year old survivor ‘Rafiullah’ as telling him in a phone call that ‘soldiers’ raided the house and woke up his family members before shooting at them.
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“This is an assassination, an intentional killing of innocent civilians and cannot be forgiven,” Karzai said despite calls of condolences and shock from Obama, Pannetta and Jhon Allen.

Everything seems to be falling apart for US strategists as they claimed to have made significant progress in negotiations for a strategic Partnership Agreement allowing US Special Forces and advisers to stay in Afghanistan for an indefinite period in order to protect the region from falling into chaos once the combat foreign forces leave in 2014. The agreement has apparently been delayed after this attack which saw a detention center being handed over to Afghan authorities as its first phase or achievement.

“This could delay the signing of the Strategic Partnership Agreement,” an Afghan government official told Reuters.

The purpose less and unending war has turned the ‘pampered soldiers’ into humiliated zombies fighting for a respectable exit in a lost war which becomes impossible to achieve after this single incident. Each day of Afghan war theater draws near a dramatic and unimaginable end for US and her allies that ransacked an already war-torn country, in fact a nation deliberately left in chaos post soviet war in 80’s by the same ‘Super-power’ that once claimed to be friends of Afghans.

Afghans have rendered enough sacrifices during the past decades, especially this last one. Their land was occupied, marriages were bombed by B-52’s; their men were brutally killed and taken to prisons around the world. Millions of Afghans have already lost their lives and loved ones at the hands of invaders who not only killed them, but disrespected their culture, heritage and values and above all their religion by desecrating the Holy Qur’an. As if death was not satisfying for the ego of the aggressors, there have been incidents where bodies were mutilated, urinated and devil-danced upon by ‘exceptional forces’ as Obama calls them.

Latest, was an episode of unmatched abhorrence and disregard to poor Afghans who have always stood strong at the helm of tyranny. No word in dictionary can define, No word can repent this bloody night imposed on innocent Afghans sleeping peacefully only to be disturbed for few minutes of bloody nightmare; back to eternal sleep. One wonders what’s coming next for US and its forces as the hatred and vengeance has not only infused in ordinary Afghans, but apparently their own stooges in the government and trained army are uttering words of fire, blood and vendetta.

Heart wrenching stories continue to flow out of Kandahar explaining accounts of this gruesome and unforeseen bloody rampage, shaking the core foundations of humanity and leaving no doubts in the mind of world about the psychological condition as a result of legitimate Afghan resistance against occupation forces in Afghanistan.

Presidential statement from Karzai’s office has termed this incident as “unforgivable”, Taliban as expected have vowed for decisive response and termed the US forces as, “Sick Savages” liable to be killed wherever found and the already boiling blood of ordinary Afghan’s on the issue of burning Qur’an has now turned into a volcano whose ashes are easy visible from the balconies of white-house. A republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said in an interview to the “Fox News” that it was time for U.S. troops to leave Afghanistan. He considered the mission in Afghanistan as “undoable”.

“It’s very likely that we have lost — tragically lost the lives and suffered injuries to a considerable number of young Americans on a mission that we’re going to discover is not doable,” he said, adding in an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that the U.S. doesn’t have the “willpower” or the “capacity” to “fundamentally change the region.

US along with its coalition entered Afghanistan on the pretext of 9/11; it’s yet to be seen if 3/11 would be a pretext for an immediate evacuation which if delayed will only make the world see an evacuation of flag-wrapped coffins in thousands for an already in-sane, traumatized, humiliated and defeated military of USA.

Analysts, Security Advisers, Governments are now rightly knocking some sense to US for immediate contingency arrangements. The US embassy in Kabul has already seized movement of their servicemen in south Afghanistan as the streets, villages and mountains of Afghanistan grief in pain and agony of the victims and blood-shot eyes of Afghanistan are surely terrifying Obama administration for the drastic consequences.
Tragedy of Kandahar (a city considered as the heart of Taliban) will always be remembered as the most brutal face of oppression and Afghan’s will once again write another gory narrative of prices paid for freedom and sovereignty. US forces have long taken motivation from their ‘9/11 we will never forget’ phrase; it’s time for Afghans to let them know what 3/11 means to them.

About the Writer – Tabish Qayyum is a writer, an educational consultant and the founding editor of Monthly Fortress magazine. He can be reached at tq.fortress@gmail.com and @tabesch

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Check Propaganda: Balochistan Was Never Victimized

admin — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 22:22:48 +0000

Check The Propaganda: Pakistani Baloch Were Never Victimized

Pakistani journalists and commentators are unknowingly repeating lies which anti-Pakistan elements use for propaganda. Our media must remember two points: how resources are equally distributed and that the economic mess is the work of politicians and terrorists in the province.

SPECIAL REPORT | PakNationalists.net

Pakistani media and commentators are repeating a mistake and accepting it as truth. That mistake is the myth of victimization of our Pakistani Baloch in their homeland, Pakistan.

Unfortunately, our media promotes these lies and our enemies in two foreign countries then use it to weaken us and mislead our young Pakistani Baloch. To start, the myth revolves around the idea that Pakistani Baloch are or were deprived of state resources and were not allowed to manage their affairs.

Exactly how Pakistani Balochis received an unfair deal is never spelled out in any detail. But the accusation is leveled with confidence as if it’s true.

It is time to break this myth.FACT ONE: Balochistan receives more share in state resources. With less than five per cent of Pakistan's population, the southwestern province receives nine per cent of the total federal funds allocation. How can this be a raw deal?

FACT TWO: Balochistan resources are used in the same way that resources of all other provinces are used. The rules for this are laid down in the Constitution and are same for all the provinces, as they should be. If the provincial government of Balochistan or local politicians feel the rules are not fair, they can approach the Supreme Court with relevant proof for redress. This is an option that was never exercised because there’s no case.

FACT THREE: Balochistan province lags behind in the areas of security, education, healthcare and jobs. But all of these subjects fall under the purview of the provincial government, which has always been in the hands of Baloch politicians. If blame is to be assigned it should be laid mostly, if not completely, on persons that have ruled the province as representatives of the Pakistani Baloch. These rulers of the province include those terrorists who are today working with United States and India to spread terror in southwest Pakistan.

FACT FOUR: Terrorists working with foreign powers have destroyed Balochistan’s economy. By resorting to terrorism in collaboration with foreign powers, the few traitors acting in the name of Baloch people have killed or scared away most of the teachers, doctors and professional Pakistanis in the province. Both Baloch and non-Baloch professional Pakistanis avoid the province thanks to these terrorists. No sane person is going to even think of making an investment in the province in the conditions that these terrorists have created. Thousands of jobs have been lost because of schools, hospitals and business closures and prospects for the future rendered dim. This is not the work of the federal government or any of the other Pakistani provinces. This mess is the creation of these terrorists who also happen to be sons of two or three tribal chiefs.

The great Pakistani Baloch must realize that the people who have created the present situation are not their friends and do not have their best interest at heart. Most of them have sold their souls to foreign governments or, at best, are in it for themselves. The rest are too gullible or ill-informed and have fallen prey to a false sense of injustice which is not helping the cause of Balochistan province or of Pakistan.

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Pakistan Successfully Test fires Hatf II (Abdali) Ballistic Missile: ISPR

admin — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 09:38:58 +0000

Pakistan has successfully test fired ballistic missile Hatf II, According to a statement issued by Inter Services Public relations (ISPR), Pakistan had successfully test fired a short-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile capable of carrying atomic warheads.

The Hatf II (Abdali) has a range of 180 kilometres (113 miles) and carries nuclear as well as conventional warheads with “high accuracy”, the military said in a statement. “It provides an operational level capability to Pakistan’s strategic forces, additional to the strategic and tactical level capability which Pakistan already possesses,” the statement said.

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Baluchistan: CIA Carving Out New Role

admin — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 05:23:23 +0000

by Farrukh Saleem

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), led by David Petraeus the former Commander, US Forces Afghanistan (USFOR-A), has a strategic, multidimensional interest in Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province. In March 2011, The Peninsula, Qatar’s leading English language daily, revealed that the “CIA is indulging in heavy recruitment of local people as agents (each being paid $500 a month) in Balochistan to locate members of the Quetta Shura, a term used by the Americans for Mullah Omar-led Taliban commanders.”

Over the long term, the CIA has an interest in keeping the strategically important Port of Gwadar out of China’s influence. Over the short to medium term, the CIA also has an interest in supporting Jundallah, also known as People’s Resistance Movement of Iran (PRMI), a violent organization that claims to be “fighting for the rights of Sunni Muslims in Iran.”

David Petraeus is now bent upon carving out an additional role for the CIA-one that of becoming a mediator between the Baloch Ajoee Lashkar, the Baloch Liberation Front, the Baloch Awami Azadi Mahaiz, the Baloch Republican Army (BRA) and the Balochistan Liberation United Front all on one side and the Pakistan Army on the other. If the CIA is successful in capturing the mediator’s role in the Balochistan conflict, the CIA will gain additional leverage over the ISI and thus an upper hand in the Afghan endgame.As things stand right now Baloch belligerents are not even willing to sit across the table and negotiate a ceasefire. What the CIA has going in its favor is the massive and growing-trust deficit between Baloch militants and the generals of the Pakistan Army. The eventual settlement would have to be negotiated on the negotiating table but the CIA is hopping that they will have a role to play as a mediator-cum-guarantor.

Disintegration of a state is a rare phenomenon. Disintegration of Pakistan is neither in the interest of international powers nor are they really capable of affecting a split at this stage. Bangladesh isn’t a parallel because Balochistan is a contagious province and Balochistan on its own will not be an economically feasible entity. Time, however, is of essence. India is playing spoiler and things are getting from bad to worse.

Source: The News

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America, Not NATO, Is Officially Anti-Muslim

admin — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 17:22:08 +0000

America, Not NATO, Is Officially Anti-Muslim

The idea is to create an enemy, unify America and justify CIA’s free-run in Afghanistan.

SPECIAL REPORT | Afghanistan Analysis Team
PakNationalists.net

There is evidence that American soldiers who burned copies of Quran in Afghanistan didn’t do it by mistake. This suggests that hate toward Islam and Muslims is part of undeclared US policy.

Please note: anti-Islamism is not part of NATO’s policy, so you don’t see European soldiers burning Qurans. American soldiers do it because they are trained to hate Muslims. A US Colonel and Major shot in the head inside the heavily fortified Afghan interior ministry on Feb. 25 were killed after they repeatedly insulted the Quran in front of an Afghan intelligence officer as they watched riots on TV. The Afghan couldn’t take it and turned his weapon on his American trainers.

Why American soldiers burn Qurans and pee on dead bodies even after ten years of living with the Afghans? After all, you learn to show courtesy in a day or two, let alone a decade. It is because anti-Islamism is part of America’s unstated policy where US government departments encourage hate toward Islam and Muslims. The idea is to create an enemy, unify America and justify a large war machine.

American government departments nurture this hate through the media and training academies for policemen and the military. Departments like the Pentagon and CIA and some civilian hate groups believe that pitching the United States against Muslims serves strategic interests. This overlaps with the agendas of lobbies in Washington promoting Indian and Israeli interests. Governments in these two countries actively encourage American journalists and government officials to adopt an anti-Islamist attitude.

All of this leads to a pattern: Breed anti-Muslim hate to continue the war on terror and achieve several side goals.

If you were a Muslim, you would never throw a Bible into a garbage pit. Most Muslims are trained since childhood to respect the Bible and the Torah as holy books equivalent to the Quran. The only situation where a Muslim would commit the blasphemy of throwing a Bible in a garbage pit is if he or she were trained to hate Christians.

American soldiers and their commanders could have issued instructions to properly dispose of the copies of the Quran in their possession. But they didn’t. It was their deliberate choice to give the Muslim holy book a humiliating treatment.

The case of the US Army Colonel and Major killed with bullets in the head is an example of this.

Also, one can look at the reckless statements from US politicians, especially Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin. Both criticized Obama for his apology on Quran burning. Imagine the reaction of Afghans reading this the next morning before going out for more protests? Will they not kill another American just to spite Newt and Sarah?

Gingrich and Palin probably led to more American deaths in Afghanistan.

Recently, authorities in New York City added anti-Muslim films to the training course at New York police department. And Norway’s mass murderer, Anders Breivik, who killed nearly 80 innocent Norwegians last summer, has told investigators he was inspired by extremist American evangelists.

According to an American study, hate groups in America have multiplied since 2000. And one American think tank has accused people in US government of organizing and fomenting anti-Muslim hate.

A year ago, an American extremist almost assassinated a Jewish congresswoman. She barely survived but had to end her political career. And she’s Jewish, supposedly America’s most privileged minority.

So in many ways, the US is officially anti-Muslim.

Americans are good people. They should push for recognizing and containing hate in America as a first step to address the problem. Punishing US soldiers who burned the Quran can be a good step forward. That’s what the UN has suggested but American officials continue to stonewall.

American president Obama delivered a message of friendship to the Muslim World in Cairo in June 2009. The US soldiers buried it forever with one matchstick at Bagram base, Afghanistan.

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Pakistani Prisoner Dr. Aafia Siddiqui’s Voice Reaches South Africa, Endorsed By Mandela

admin — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 05:05:24 +0000

Pakistani Prisoner Dr. Aafia Siddiqui’s Voice Reaches South Africa, Endorsed By Nelson Mandela

AZHAR VADI | PakNationalists.net

The story of US imprisoned Pakistani doctor, Aafia Siddiqui, is reaching the ears and hearts of the broader South African population. Her sister, Dr. Fowzia Siddiqui and human rights activist, Altaf Shakoor, are currently on a tour of the country to create awareness about the plight of Aafia who languishes in the Carswell Detention Centre in Texas, USA.

Dr. Fowzia has been the guest of satellite radio broadcaster, Channel Islam International (Cii), and received a thunderous welcome from South African Muslims over the last five days.The vibrancy of the community has spurred other media in the country to take notice of Dr. Fowzia’s presence and have repeatedly requested the opportunity to hear and transmit Aafia’s story.

On Tuesday, Dr. Fowzia appeared for a one hour talk show on SA FM, South Africa’s largest English medium public broadcasting radio station with a listenership of about 500 000.

Fowzia once again narrated the story of Dr. Aafia highlighting the injustice perpetrated against her and pointed out the complicity and role of politicians like former Pakistani president, Perves Musharraf and the United States.Callers to the radio station program expressed solidarity with Dr. Fowzia and her campaign and thanked her for bringing to the for information about US abuses against innocent people. For Full Story Click Here

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What Quran Riots Next Door Mean For PakistanWhat Quran Riots Next Door Mean For Pakistan

admin — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 05:00:36 +0000

Burn The Quran, Unite The Afghans

For the first time since 2001, Afghan Taliban, police, army, Shia, Pashtun, Uzbek and Turkmen are united against American occupation. What does this mean for us in Pakistan?

AHMED QURAISHI | PakNationalists.net

Pakistanis are too busy in their messy domestic politics to notice a major development in Afghanistan: the country might finally be slipping out of American hands. Until now the Afghan Taliban and other resistance groups were fighting American occupation. But now new segments of Afghan population join the fight: Afghan police, soldiers and ordinary Afghans whether Shia in Herat, Pashtun in the south and east, or Uzbek and Turkmen in the north.

Afghans are united for the first time since 2001.

Bagram, the largest American military base in Afghanistan, is under siege by angry Afghans for the past five days on the outskirts of Kabul. They are trying to storm the fortified complex to drag US commanders out. Smaller US bases elsewhere face a similar situation. This is the first time US bases across Afghanistan are besieged simultaneously.

The most stunning part is that US-trained Afghan army and police has joined the fight … against the Americans.

Just today morning, two US military officers were shot dead point blank inside Afghan Interior Ministry, the most heavily secured building in Kabul. The killer, an Afghan soldier, remains free. No Afghan army or police officer is ready to arrest the killer. This shows wide support for the murder.

More and more Afghan policemen and army soldiers are turning their guns against US soldiers who trained them in the first place. Yesterday, the Afghanistan Analysis Team at PakNationalists.com made an excellent observation. It said that NATO and US soldiers don’t know whether they will be killed by Afghan Taliban or Afghan police and army [See our team’s excellent report, NATO Soldiers Don’t Want To Work With Americans].

And it’s not just the Afghans turning against US soldiers. NATO’s other armies are doing the same. The French are incensed that French soldiers were killed by Afghan soldiers last month because American soldiers peed on dead Afghan bodies. Why should French or Spanish soldiers die for American actions? The death of so many brave Afghans as they protest the latest American blunder has saddened Pakistanis. But US troubles in Afghanistan are good news for us in Pakistan. Why is that so? Well, for starters, United States turned Afghanistan into an anti-Pakistan outpost, inviting India and others to create problems for us in our western regions, including Balochistan. The CIA and other allied spy services are known to provide indirect help to TTP and BLA terrorist groups, which they helped create in the first place to keep Pakistani military engaged and punish Pakistanis for not toeing US line in the region.

Now American troubles in Afghanistan should help us and our Afghan partners enhance our bargaining positions vis-à-vis American plans for our region.

We need to highlight:

1. How US army does not understand or respect the Afghans even after a decade of occupying the country.
2. How US soldiers are trained and indoctrinated to be anti-Muslim, hence the repeated incidents such as burning the Quran at Bagram or flushing them in toilets at Gitmo. Even American policemen are trained to profile Muslims negatively. Among the worrying indications: the emergence of several hatemongering American preachers and the lone Norway attacker in July 2011 who said he was influenced by American religious hate speech.
3. The American military and intelligence presence in Afghanistan is destabilizing that country and the region.

The Pakistani foreign office condemned burning copies of the holy book by US soldiers. But that is not enough. Pakistani government should have the guts to go beyond condemnation to ask the Americans to take this incident as a sign they are not meant to stay here as occupiers and should leave. If nothing else, we in Pakistan know that terror groups such as TTP and BLA will die a natural death once the Americans are out of Afghanistan.

Mr. Quraishi is a director at PakNationalists Forum and a senior fellow at Project For Pakistan In 21st Century.

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Balochistan In Historical Perspective

admin — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 19:56:07 +0000

By Naveed Tajammal – Opinion-Maker

Now a days, the basic problem is that people are not aware of history, everyone goes by what the media feeds them and media is Zionist dominated. What the media is telling are what the Zionists want to achieve therefore they engineer the facts; in most cases the facts are removed or replaced by the people in between so that no linkages can be established.

Since past sometime, United States, the United Kingdom and one silent participant Australia are busy distorting the facts and presenting stories out of context. In this game, as admitted by Manmohan Singh, the Indian Prime Minister in a meeting with Yousaf Raza Gillani at Sharmal Shaikh that India has linkages with Baloch insurgency and dissidents. The role of Zionist Israel cannot be ruled out since it’s behind everything that’s happening in the world but more so in the Muslim World. In case of Pakistan Zino-Hindutwa axis are very strong.

Our educationists and sociologists have failed to impart the education of history in its true perspective that is precisely the reason that today we are a lost nation. Everyone tends to believe what the West says and they go by it. Politicians are not aware of the history as most people in the assemblies consists of those who either are not aware of their own history or are in the process of taking new identities to delink from their past. With this sort of people in the parliaments, one can never expect anything good but what suits them the best.

In 1910, a Scottish-American, Andrew Carnegie, who had made, his fortune in 'Steel Industry', left a $10 million Endowment for international peace-which is the fore-runner of other Carnegie related ventures, however, what his intentions had been, and what the endowment has created are two different aspects. The Carnegie Journalist program, was launched in 1974, though with an outward image to anticipate, 'Near-Horizon' problems, in reality it was to induct journalists from world over, to create a hype, to keep a check on, the soviets (USSR) global moves. The journalists went for superficial, which an average reader could co-relate with. So, started the 'Awareness of the Baluchistan issue.'

An insurgency was very much so on ground, however no one bothered to find the reason why? The British legacy had left their created Sardars, who while retaining their feudalistic powers, wanted to gain, the political legitimacy as well. They followed the policy of what is mine is mine, and what is yours (of the people of their tribes) is also mine!

The royalties taken on concessions, were technically for the welfare of the people, within the tribal setups, but spent by the Sardars as their own bounty, while the poor people, had no recourse but move in an exodus, from the regions, as is seen, in the last over 100 years, to seek a living elsewhere. The tribes of the Sindh valley over the past 1600 years or so have been constantly on the move; as one studies and discovers, natural calamities, plagues, and wars all took their toll. The transformation from one major tribal setup to another, had been a question of survival or escape from the domination of the strong and the cruel.

Our Social mores, are based on an egalitarian society, and people of the area have always hated the feudal system to the core of their hearts, and hence the refuge in the wilderness or the remote valleys, But the intruders have from time to time imposed on us their lackeys or the willing amongst us who sold their souls, for a gain.

The geographic boundaries, which Pakistan was thrust with were legacy of our past rulers, though with reference to region under study its bulk area came, affiliated with either old Alor or Multan, Administrative, boundaries, Even in the Jam Nizam ud din Nandah period, (1461-1508) In the west, Till Bolan, inclusive of the Kaachi plains, was the part of, throne of Sindh. As were the Tal-chotiali, chacha, and barkhan regions, regions, wherein comes the present Mari and Bugti areas. It was in Akbar's time that Kandahar provinces, limits were extended till Duki. Rest being part of Multan Suba, as was Bolan and Kaachi areas, too.

The areas were well populated, and fertile, with Saraiki speaking people, when Naseer khan Barrohi, was given these areas,1740, for the services rendered, he pushed out the old people and transplanted them, with people of his own confederacy, the Eastern passes, of the Rohe Suleiman Range had been gateways of Trade, since Ancient Times, In the Mughal era with opening of Khyber pass, majority of Trade routes suffered, the cause, being the Movements, of Bayazids Ansari, heretics, and expansion of Safavid's in the east.

Now coming to the most pertinent question, which being, is the present head of Bugti tribe and its Sept's (clans), Actually Balochi???

For that a study of the Notes on the Balochi, Barrohi, and the Sindhi tribes, should suffice. Immediately after the creation of Baluchistan entity by the British, the Government ordered, that the data be made of the Ethnic composition of various tribes of the region and inter-related ones, all the Mukhtiars and Mahaska’s, in the revenue departments, in the districts concerned were ordered, The reports compiled, from, communications, histories, manuscripts and the popular oral accounts, which also covered, profession of, various, tribes, matrimonial, and other related customs, were submitted to Drum. Daudpota, member, Sindh public service commission, and published in 1901.

The excerpts of the report state (p-26/27), covering the Bugti tribe, In January 1890,on the recommendation of Robert Sandmen, Shahbaz khan, was conferred with the tittle of a Nawab, he was also later given a large tract of land on the Jamrau canal, for rendering assistance, during the outbreak of the ,HUR, in 1896/1897.Here without going in the details of the 24 Sept or clans of Bugti Confederacy, the report states, that, The chief of the tribe is Nawab Shahbaz Khan, Rahejo Bugti, son of Ghulam Murtaza Khan rahejo Bugti, A popular account says that Rahejo or more commonly called, Rahuja, are from the Major Sindhi tribal set up of the 'Samma', to which the great ancestor of the present Bugti chief belonged, and that by Association with the Balochi's and settlement in the old Bugti hills and streams, his descendants became Bugti Baloch, and if we study the Samma, tribal Sept's/clans which number in all 766,we find Raheja, very much so part of their entity (pages-44 to 53,and for more details in minor off shoots, pages 89 to 97)

If one follows the Baloch population, one would more Baloch living in the Punjab alone than what are living in Balochistan; then there is a strong Baloch population in Sindh as well. All these Baloch shifted out from Balochistan for various reasons and one of them was the treatment meted out to these people by the Sardars therefore they took a refuge away from their ancestral places.
These Sardars have always demanded money for their loyalties but never spent a penny on the welfare of their people. When one meets the tribesmen, they show resentment and unhappiness with these Sardars and their system.

Makran Coast is a different ethnic and cultural background. It was under the occupation of Sultanate of Oman. In 1956, Feroze Khan Noon, then the Prime Minister of Pakistan had bought it by paying cash to Oman. Therefore it does not form part of Balochistan, also the Pathan population of Balochistan is over 50% and then there are settlers and Brohis also. Thus the entire land does not belong to the Baloch.

Have people and media men in particular forgotten that on the 1973 constitution even the Baloch Sardars had their signatures to approve it unanimously now how can they claim that Pakistan has occupied their lands forcefully.

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ISI Officials: Adiala 11 are Hardcore Terrorists

admin — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 13:20:52 +0000

PKKH

A security official while responding to the issue of Adiala jail detainees said that sympathizers of terrorists have forgotten the miseries of those 28 innocent families, who suffered the loss of their loved ones in Hamza Camp attack in which these 11 detainees were arrested.Media should reach out to those families of victims who embraced shahadat at the hands of these Adiala Jail detainees, the security official added.

He said the 11 suspects: Dr Niaz Ahmed Saqib, Mazhar ul Haq, Shafique ur Rehman, Abdul Basit, Abdul Saboor, Abdul Majid, Muhammad Amir Khan Khan, Muhammad Shafiq aka Maaz, Tehseen ullah, Saeed Arab aka Tariq Gul, Roze Khan aka Farman are hardcore terrorists, who were involved in planning, facilitating and executing suicide attacks on bus near Hamza Camp, on November 24 2007 and Kamra Air Base missile attack on January 15, 2008.

According to sources, on November 24, 2007 Rawalpindi experienced twin suicide attacks on security forces, which killed nearly 30 people and injured dozens more. The first vehicle-borne suicide attack took place at 0749 hours when a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden car into a 72-seater bus parked in front of ISI’s Hamza Camp (Previously known as Ojhri Camp) on the Murree Road.

According to eyewitnesses, the bus which was carrying ISI officials to their work place was completely burnt. The 28 victims inside the 72-seat bus were burnt beyond recognition and only skeletons were left lying on the seats before any rescue operation could be started.The Security Official said 11 suspects of Adiala Jail who were detained legally by security agencies are all hard core terrorists who planned and executed Hamza Camp bus attack and GHQ Gate attack on November 24, 2007 and also Kamra missile attack on January 2008.

The Security Official said Dr Niaz Ahmed Saqib was the mastermind of Hamza Camp and GHQ attack on November 24, 2011. Trail of this attack which revealed during investigation is nothing less than a suspense movie. Dr Niaz was apprehended at Mardan on December 7,2007. He is a resident of Allama Iqbal Colony Rawalpindi. He is an educated man, who has done Masters in Political Science from Punjab University and also qualified himself in homeopathic medicines.

During custody, he admitted that in August 2007, he along with Umar Farooq (Nephew of Ghazi brothers), Mazhar, Nafees and Khalid decided to avenge Lal Masjid operation. Dr Niaz also financially assisted Ghazi brothers before security forces lanunched operation in 2007.

To this end Umar Farooq arranged their visit to Wana, South Wazirastan Agency where they met one Aslam who assured them of their full cooperation. On instructions of Aslam they carried out reconnaissance and made movies all targets which included Ojri camp, ISI HQ, Attock Oil Company, Chaklala Cantt, officers colonies. Mazhar took this video to Wana to show it to Yasin aka Aslam. In Mid October Dr Niaz with the help of Mazhar arranged two vehicles for targeting GHQ and Hamza Camp. Umer Farooq arranged these vehicles with the help of Abdul Majid, Abdul Basit and Abdul Saboor (3 borthers).

Then Shafiq ur Rehman transported explosive, anti personnel mines, 70 rounds of mortar, detonator by a Baleno car which was owned by Dr Niaz in two trips. All the equipment which was to be used for attack on GHQ and Hamza Camp was received at Misrial road and dumped at newly constructed house of Dr Niaz at Dhok Mustaqeem.

Dr Niaz, Mazhar and Khalid prepared both vehicles for suicide attacks at the same house. 45 mortars were placed inside Suzuki Van along with three mines. Similarly 35 mortar rounds alongwith three mines were fitted in Baleno car for the assigned mission. On November 21, Shafiq ur Rehman brought two suicide bombers from Wana to Rawalpindi. On November 22, Dr Niaz asked Noor Muhammad to bring both suicide bombers to Choor Chowk. Dr Niaz in his silver Sunny Car drove both the suicide bombers for orientation of the target.

They again went for orientation on November 23, and finalized their programme for next morning. On November 24, 2007 Noor Muhammad handed over one suicide bomber nominated for GHQ with Dr Niaz and took other one by taxi for handing over to Mazhar for Hamza Camp. At 0740 hours Dr Niaz was informed by Khalid who was at Kachehri Chowk that a two star had just passed.

Hearing this Dr Niaz handed over the Baleno car which was fully charged to a suicide bomber and took a taxi himself and left for Islamabad. He heard a blast enroute to Islamabad. The other suicide bomber who was with Mazhar reached in a Suzuki Van and parked it near PSO Petrol pump on Murree Road and started waiting for ISI bus. After handing over vehicle to a suicide bomber Mazhar also left for I-9 Markaz where Dr Niaz was waiting for him. Enroute Islamabad he heard a huge blast.

Another suspect Mazhar ul Haq is resident of I-9 Islamabad and was into rent a car business with the name of ‘Aman Rent a Car’. He joined an extremist group in 1996 and got training at Khalid Bin Waleed Camp. He also worked in Publicity Section of a banned outfit and there he got in contact with Dr Niaz. During Lal Masjid episode he helped Umer Farooq (nephew of Ghazi brothers) in transportation of ammunition from Darra. Dr Niaz alongwith Mazhar ul Haq and Khalid and Nafees used to visit Lal Masjid and helped in preparation of petrol bombs. He got weapon training from Ustad Mavia at Wana. After completing his training Ustad Mavia asked to carry out photography of targets at Rawalpindi and gave him money for purchase of a camera. After photography of targets he alongwith Niaz went to Wana and handed over the film to Ustad Mavia.

Mazhar was throughout helping Dr Niaz and party in carrying out preparation for attack on Hamza Camp. He was apprehended on March 28, 2008. Security Official disclosed that another suspect Shafique ur Rehman was apprehended on November 24, 2007. He is a resident of Mardan.

In 1999 Shafique got terrorist training and later joined a terrorist group. In November 2007 he met Baitullah Mehsud who dispatched two suicide bombers with him to Rawalpindi.

These suicide bombers were used in attack on Hamza camp and GHQ on November 24. He arrived at Rawalpindi from SWA alongwith two suicide bombers and stayed at a Baithak in Chishtian Abad from November 21 to 24, 2011. These suicide bombers were Mehsood by tribe. One Latif, 27 was tasked to target GHQ while Adnan 20 was to target Hamza Camp. Before he left Wana Baitullah Mehsood also gave him Rs 8000 for expenditure on suicidal attack. Shafique remained engaged till last and assisted in reconnaissance of targets by suicidal and later their transportation to sites.

Security Official said that Muhammad Aamir Khan is resident of Rawalpindi. In year 2000 he received training in weapon handling and firing at Resh Khor HUJI training camp Afghanistan.

After training he fought at Mazare Sharif, Afghanistan where he was apprehended by troops of Rasheed Dostam and shifted to Shabarghan jail where he spent three years. After three years he was handed over to Pakistan authorities and shifted to Peshawar and later Adiala

Jail. He was released on April 4, 2005. He started visiting Lal Masjid and established contacts with Ghazi brothers, Dr Niaz and Mazhar and also met Umer Farooq and Abdul Basit. He was apprehended on May 1, 2007 at Rawalpindi while supplying arms, explosive and other material for use in Lal Mosque. He was kept in detention for 3 months and released on bail on August 25, 2007. Immediately after his

release he met Mazhar and Dr Niaz and told them that he is expert in explosive handling and wants to avenge Lal Masjid Operation.

He physically participated in preparation of vehicles used for terrorism on GHQ attack 2007 and Hamza Camp ISI vehicle attack. He was apprehended by police in Quetta in 2008. Abdul Majid,Abdul Basit and Abdul Saboor three brothers are resident of Lahore Ichhra. Originally they belong to Togh Bala, Kohat. They had contacts with people in Lal Masjid and were involved in all activities of Lal Masjid. Beside their involvement in other extremist activities they were involved in GHQ attack and Hamza Camp.

They helped main accused of the suicide attack Mazhar in purchase of Suzuki van and Baleno car from Lahore which was later used in Hamza Camp and GHQ attack where 30 people were burnt alive. They were apprehended from Lahore on November 27 and 29, 2007. Later Abdul Saboor died in Lady Reading Hospital due to ailment. Abdul Majid has been receiving treatment for his ailment. He is suffering from Urinal Tract infection, anxiety, depression, infected scabies. He was admitted to LRH on January 27, 2012.

Muhammad Shafique was a hard core terrorist who was apprehended on January 20, 2008 for his involvement in Kamra Complex missile attack.
Since January 2007 he had been studying in Haqqania Madrassa, Akora Khattak. In September 2007 he went to Miranshah for training. After training he went to Paktia, Afghanistan and stayed there for 50 days. On return he became active member of a terrorist group. He was involved in all stages of Kamra Complex missile attack on January 14, 2008 for which 10 missiles were brought from Mohmand agency.

Another suspect of Kamra Complex Gul Roze Khan aka Farman. He was apprehended on January 21, 2008 at Chhota Lahore, Swabi. He is a resident of villabge Nabi, Chhota Lahore, Swabi. He was student of Madrassa Akora Khattak. In early 2006 he went to wana and received terrorist training in weapon handling and grenade throwing. He used to spent his vacation in SWA. He helped in transportation of missiles from Mohmand agency and was physically involved in Kamra Complex attack.

The Official disclosed that Saeed Arab Hussain was another suspect of Kamra complex. He was arrested on January 21, 2008 at Chhota Lahore Swabi. He completed his studies at Madrassa Akora Khattak. He also underwent terrorist training at Miranshah. All explosive material used in Kamra complex was stored at his place and he is the main harbor and facilitator of Kamra attack. At the time of his arrest 1 vehicle, 1 kk rifle, 1 pistol and 1 hand grenade were also recovered from his possession. He also handed over 16 bags of potassium nitrate to Qasim which were used in making explosive material for attack on Kamra.

Tehseen Ullah another suspect of Kamra missile attack was apprehended on January 15, 2008 from Jehangira Swabi road. He is a resident of Armour colony, Nowshera and a student of 7th grade Jamia Haqqania, Akora Khattak since 2000. He was actively involved in missile attack of Kamra Complex and many other terrorists activities.

It is important to remember that the Supreme court of Pakistan released these hardcore terrorists on technicalities and lack of circumstantial evidence. Despite Pakistan being a victim of countless terror attacks killing and injuring hundreds of thousands of people, Pakistan’s courts have failed to convict and hang (as per the death penalty applicable in terror cases) a single terrorist in Pakistan in the last decade.

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ISPR Rejects Human Rights Watch Report

admin — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 04:53:13 +0000

Human Rights Watch (HRW) Report on
Judicial Commission on Saleem Shehzad Murder Case Not Correct

A spokesman of ISPR said that the press release issued by HRW New York on January 30th, 2012 has been found to be extremely derogatory, biased and contradictory in terms. In one stroke Mr Brad Adams has discredited the Judicial Commission that investigated Saleem Shehzad’s alleged murder, demonized the ISI and castigated the Government of Pakistan, going on to suggest a darker destination of evidence if pursued again. It is unclear where Mr Adams forms opinions like these from but one thing is evident that his thought process and ability to logically analyze a given situation suffers from serious bias.

The spokesman added that the Judicial Commission in question was headed by a very honourable Judge of the same Supreme Court of Pakistan which is highly respected for its integrity and courage of conviction. It is not without reason that the Supreme Court of Pakistan is the guarantor of the rule of law and the architect of constitutional future of our country. To expect the Judicial Commission probing Saleem Shehzad’s alleged murder headed by Honourable Justice Saqib Nisar, to spare or shy away form the so called ‘culpable ISI’ is not only disrespectful but also out of character of the Honourable Court. HRW should visit the Supreme Court website to see what kind of historic and hitherto unheard of court actions have been initiated by the apex court regarding ISI / intelligence agencies and the unprecedented obedience / compliance they have readily commanded.

Spokesman further said that Brad Adams may have his head buried deep in sand and HRW may be choking under heaps of bias but it is quite apparent that such diatribe is exceptionally disparaging despite an ‘ extensive examination ——-‘ by the Commission, to quote HRW press release. It raises serious questions on the partisan nature of HRW and Brad Adam’s objectivity.

Spokesman said we would seriously urge HRW to read the Report of the Commission of Enquiry into the incident and see facts as they are. Some relevant reference can be found in the statement of Saleem Shehzad’s very close friend Mr Zafar Mehmood Sheikh (CW 12) on pages 30 to 35, Judicial Commission’s remarks about ISI’s compliance and detailed testimony on pages 58, 59 and 66 (Admiral Adnan Nazir’s, testimony before the Commission), regarding none of the witnesses / documents being able to ‘point a finger towards anyone’ on page 86 and about the unsubstantiated accusations of heavy handedness against journalists and the Commission’s remarks on page 89.

Any involvement of ISI in Mr Saleem Sehzad’s alleged murder is categorically denied. It is maintained that:-

a. The allegations levelled against ISI are baseless ab-initio. They are untenable both by evidence and logic.

b. Judicial Commission probing murder case had complete freedom of action and ISI spared no effort to cooperate
and comply with all their requirements.

c. The press release in question is part of a well orchestrated and sinister media campaign, in which,
HRW and the likes of Brad Adams and Ali Dayan Hassan may have been unwittingly drawn into.

d. With this press release, HRW appears to have seriously jeopardized the bipartisan and objective nature of its work.

It will be in fitness of things to expect HRW to withdraw this biased statement, Spokesman concluded.

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General Kayani Slams Media Lies on Pakistan Army Budget Share

admin — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 17:11:29 +0000

Pakistan’s army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani has said that 18 percent of country’s total budget is allocated for armed forces while wrong facts and figures are quoted in TV talk shows in this regard. The figure often quoted in the media is around 60-70%, peddled by talk show hosts and journalists known for their anti-armed forces and extreme liberal views.

Speaking at the Shahbaz Airbase during a ceremony on Monday, the army chief said that out of 18 percent Pakistan Army actually recieves only 8 to 9 per cent budget.

This figure, taking into consideration the security situation in Pakistan as well as in its neighbourhood and the ongoing operations and military actions, is the bare minimum required to keep the armed forces functioning as a competent force.

Kayani also said that the army had not yet received Rs 1.5 billion owed to it in account of Coalition Support Fund which has been stopped for some time. Additionally, the Army has provided funds and support to the Frontier Constabulary (FC) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from its own coffers after the local administration’s refusal.

It is understood that the Pakistani military’s welfare foundations run various businesses worth tens of billions of dollars, ranging from street-corner petrol pumps to sprawling industrial plants. The shortfall of funds in army’s undisclosed budget is met by the profit these businesses turn over.

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In Defense of the Pak Army!

admin — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 04:59:55 +0000

NOTES FROM A SOCIAL SCIENTIST

By Dr. Haider Mehdi

“Two wrongs do not make a right.” An old proverb

In my article “Re-inventing the Role” ( The Nation December 12, 2007), I advocated a new strategic-management doctrine for civil-military relations in a democratic Pakistan. At the time, it was hailed by many prominent progressive political personalities as the most important policy-orientated document on the subject. The overall explicit dimension in this piece, based on ten major points, was advice to the incumbent COAS to take unilateral conceptual and operational initiatives to make sure that Pakistan does not slide into another military rule: “The incumbent COAS has to reinvent his role… to give new direction to the armed force’s place in the future democratic structure of the nation.”

In summary, the eleven-point proposal was as follows:1) A fixed term of office for three years for the COAS.

2) Each new COAS appointment to be confirmed by a parliamentary committee subject to an oath by the designated officer to uphold the elected democratic administration of the state.

3) The President or the Prime Minister will not have the power to nominate any candidate other than the senior-most officer as the COAS – the parliamentary committee may or may not confirm such an appointment.

4) There will be no future role of retired generals and other armed forces personnel in political governance of the country.

5) Pakistan’s armed forces will not take part in any military operation in which citizens of Pakistan or the civilian population is targeted.

6) Pakistan’s armed forces will be a purely defensive force.

7) Pakistan’s defenses will be strengthened by political means and on the deterrence doctrine of its nuclear capability. There will be a strengthening of military relations with China and Russia and the armed forces will fully support the civilian administration’s decisions on defense pacts and diplomatic initiatives.

There will be absolute restrictions on the army’s intelligence agencies from conducting intelligence and political activities within the country.

9) Military intelligence agencies will be completely and strictly barred from arresting, interrogating, or handing over a Pakistani citizen to any foreign country.

10) Armed forces officers will not be eligible for ambassadorial and top corporate sector appointments.

Viewed from the vantage point of existing ground realities, it is quite clear that Pakistan army top managers have not acted in earnest on any of the aspects of the above-mentioned proposal. The fact of the matter is that initiating such an agenda would have most certainly helped the country to usher in a new era of a much-desired and long-awaited civilian-military relationship. But that has not happened and it seems that it is not likely to happen in the near future either. But let us call a spade and spade: in absolute fairness to the army establishment, let us acknowledge the fact that initiating a process of transformation in civilian-military relations, the onus falls squarely on the shoulders of the incumbent civilian regime. So the question is: Why has the Zardari-Gilani regime not taken steps in making effective policy changes to enact a fresh legitimate and conducive civilian-military alliance in the governance of the country.

The answer to this question of fundamental importance is in the dubious so-called democratic practices of the incumbent government: for example, consider the 3-year job extension to the COAS and another extension given to the Director-General of the ISI. This questionable conduct, portrayed as an act of benevolence to the COAS and DG, was in fact a cover-up for the vested political interests and a political premium earned by the PPP leadership in paying back the favor for US-Britain NRO patronage. Quite frankly, it seems that the Zardari-Gilani perception was that the COAS and DG ISI would continue to tow the US-NATO line on the so-called “war on terror” and an extension in their services would oblige them and other future aspiring military generals to do their bidding for at least the tenure of PPP office.

Hence, in the altering domestic political scenarios in the country and changing geo-political realities (the US-India alliance and the unfolding unstable Afghan situation), discord between the civilian rulers and the top incumbent military commanders have come to the surface. Of vital importance here, in the context of worsening civilian-military relations, is that the international media has voiced the impression that Zardari-Haqqani were aware of the Abbottabad US raid and had, in fact, approved it. Understandably, the military leadership must have gone berserk – daggers drawn, effective communication shut down – irrespective of the truth of the matter.

It is notable that the Zardari-Gilani regime prefers confrontational politics over the conciliatory process. It seems reasonable to assume that Zardari, in his habitual political conduct of fear-retaliation-manipulation, went full gear in reverse instead of going forward to resolve the issue in the national interest. Hence, Memogate and the rest of the fallouts (President’s Dubai visit, etc.) are the stories discussed over and over again – and Memogate is now in the Supreme Court under investigation.

In the meantime, the questions for the Pakistani nation and its top military commanders that beg resolute answers are: How long can the Pak Army fail in is constitutional and legitimate role to protect the nations’ territorial integrity? How long can the Army tolerate drone attacks against the country and its people? How long can the Army continue to support the so-called “war on terrorism”? Will the Army cave in to the American perception of a “free reign” in Afghanistan? Can the Army stay completely “out of the loop” for input on American-Indian alliance against the containment of China and its implicit geo-political threats to the sovereignty of Pakistan?

Only a competent, efficient, visionary and nationalist democratic government in Pakistan can provide practical policy-orientated resolutions to the nation’s problematics and the predicaments faced in decision-making at present by the armed forces as a vital national institution. Visionary guidance and an appropriate policy-orientated democratic approach in civilian-military relations has been totally absent during the Zardari-Gilani administration: the Army’s constitutional transgressions have been tolerated because the political leadership has been weak, inefficient, manipulative, incompetent and unable to address vital public concerns while serving the vested interest of Pakistan’s traditional ruling elite.

It is true that had there not been Pervais Musharraf, Zia-ul-Haq and Ayub Khan, this country would have been a much better place. But then the civilian administrations have not done much better except in creating chaos, national disarray, corruption, instability, violence, subjecting Pakistan to US-centric foreign policy (we now have open American interference in the Balochistan quagmire) and working tirelessly for their own vested self-interests.

Be mindful, I am not supporting past or future military dictatorships. My question is: Why has the elected democratic government not implemented my proposal of December 12th, 2007 or a similar policy process to rein in military transgressions?
Two wrongs do not make a right: Instead of army bashing, why doesn’t the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly constitute a Truth and Reconciliation Commission for the army leadership to confess all their sins, past and present, before the public and apologize for the recent abduction of prisoners from Adiala Jail – and face the music in a court of law. Rhetoric is easy; to act is the test of political morality!

They won’t do it – because “is hammam men sab nange hain” (everyone is involved equally in sins and evils here)!

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Who Rules Pakistan

admin — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 04:46:37 +0000

“Where is Pakistan going?” asked a lady of me in Karachi recently. “When do you think the government is going to change? Who will form the next government?”

“To arrive at honest answers,” I said, “We must first detach ourselves from emotion and ask the most basic of questions and then face the answers bravely, for they are unpleasant but undeniable truths.”

By Humayun Gauhar – Opinion Maker

First: “Who is supposed to rule Pakistan?” Answer: “The people are the true rulers of Pakistan, or should be, because they are the vicegerents of God. They are His vicegerents or Khalifa because they are the greatest of His creations, ashraf ul Makhlooqat. He has, therefore, given them free will and devolved on them that quantum of His sovereignty, as they need to run their affairs according to His tenets. It is a conditional and limited devolution, for the moment they lose sight of His tenets they lose His devolved sovereignty. God enjoins us in the Holy Quran that in times of distress, “Hold on to the rope of God and the rope of the People” – hablum min Allah wa hablum min an naas. The ‘rope’ symbolizes Man’s Covenant with God and the people. It is not literally a rope that God is talking about. Rope is just symbolic, akin to an umbilical cord that attaches us to our Creator and humanity. ‘The People’ is not a horde or mob but humanity in all God’s glory, humankind, Mankind – naas.

One of God’s most important tenets is:
Choose your leaders, which implies a democratic choice.
Choose from amongst yourselves, and;
Choose from amongst the best. We have lost sight of this tenet completely.

We have adopted an electoral system that functions in such a way that it causes people to automatically and unwittingly elect their oppressors as their representatives and leaders. What could be worse than the oppressed choosing their oppressors as their representatives?

Because the choices that people are presented with are largely from amongst the worst they perforce choose from amongst the worst.

‘Worser’, as Alice would say, we have been electing or appointing to public office those who are not solely from amongst us but also those who owe allegiance to another country. “From amongst you” means from the Muslim ummah or nation at a time when there were no states made along modern western lines with demarcated boundaries, citizenship acts, passports and visas. The moment that came into play just over 200 years ago “from amongst you” has to mean citizens of your state and none other. Nationality, citizenship, patriotism and loyalty are not divisible.

Thus we have done the opposite of what God enjoined us to do. We don’t really ‘choose’ our rulers but mostly vote for them like zombies; we don’t always choose from amongst ourselves and we most certainly do not choose from amongst the best, a few exceptions notwithstanding. What chance do such a people have to either be ruled well or to determine their destiny? What chance do such a people have of retaining their God-given sovereignty and not losing it to someone else? So under our present system what difference would a change of government make, however it is done? The people will continue to be poor; the country will remain bankrupt, we will remain dependent while the few that benefit from this corrupt system and the iniquitous status quo that it begets will remain rich and get richer and more powerful. And God’s tenet will continue to be violated wantonly. So, my dear lady, how the government changes, when it changes, what will replace it is of no consequence for things will remain the same or get worse. Frankly my dear, you shouldn’t give a damn. Instead, you should concentrate not on change of government but on change of this man-eating system to one which helps Mankind and in which we can regain our lost sovereignty that the Almighty devolved on us.

Which brings me to the next question, “Who rules Pakistan?” If you answer it honestly you will have a better idea of what is going to happen. Sorry to say, for it is painful, but if you have eyes, ears and a thinking brain, the undeniable truth is obvious: we have lost our sovereignty to America and it is America that rules Pakistan – not the army as you would like to hear nor the ‘elected’ government comprising the parliament-legislature, the executive and the judiciary. These institutions are but instruments of the real ruler, just as our la de da class was an instrument of the British ruler before America. So it is America that will determine when this government goes and what the next one will be. Got it?

The majority of people are simple. A rally here, a demonstrative judge there, a loquacious lawyer elsewhere and a shrill media everywhere and they think that deliverance is finally at hand, the messiah has arrived, not realizing that there is a messiah in each one of us if only we would let him out.

People are simple because they are vulnerable. They don’t know who their friends really are or their enemies. In their simplicity they tend to go for simplistic solutions. That leads them to treating symptoms rather than the malaise. They don’t recognize the malaise because, like the messiah, it also lies within, not without. No wonder well meaning but simple people’s prescriptions are simplistic. Most Pakistanis think that doing away with corruption will sort out everything. Others imagine that if you provide real justice all will be well. Yet others believe that the answer is strict, ongoing accountability. They don’t realize that our deep malaise is a collective colonized mentality that has fostered a constitution that begets an alien, unworkable political system that causes the oppressed to elect their oppressors and protect an anti-people status quo. The kafuffles that your see everywhere – army versus executive, judiciary versus executive, judiciary versus parliament, everyone versus the media – are battles amongst the beneficiaries of the status quo to protect their benefits or increase them. It has nothing to do with the people – poor, oppressed, hungry, illiterate, jobless. They are not even on the radar screen. They only appear as an inconvenient blip during an election in which the battle is between their oppressors – who can fool how many with hollow oratory and false promises into voting for them.

Where is Pakistan going? It is confused, alienated from itself, in search of identity, lost in a maze of alien political and economic constructs. In its confusion it stumbles from crisis to crunch, catastrophe to calamity, predicament to pusillanimity and lurches from ‘saviour’ to ‘saviour’ while remaining in a state of perpetual mental colonization.

We don’t understand that what America means by alliance is actually hegemony. America’s overarching doctrine is to cast the world in the image that works for it. The world must be reconfigured to enhance America’s wealth and hegemony and we must all go along happily, as if great favours are being done to us. If we don’t break free of such a sinful relationship we will never become self-reliant and rediscover our lost sovereignty. America’s god is money; our God is God – or should be.

The lesson: never break a universal principle or tenet of God. Never go against human instinct, which is to be free for man is born free by God’s Will. Don’t side with occupiers and oppressors no matter what the imagined short-term ‘benefits’. Better to suffer temporary harm, for in the end you will come out on top. That is God’s promise.

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Indian Role in Afghanistan Spells Danger For Pakistan

admin — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 08:37:51 +0000

Afghanistan continues to be an overt or proxy ‘playing ground’ for diverse outside powers, both near (Russia) and far (US, West). The decade old US meddling after the failure of Russian invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 has yielded more familiar results i.e. exacerbated ethnic and cultural tensions, warlordism, drug-trafficking and rampant corruption. It is not that these traits did not exist in the Afghan society before US invaded Afghanistan but US invasion provided a surge in these attributes.

Afghanistan is a fault line where many outside powers are jostling for both influence and position. Some of this jostling remains overt, as in the case of US and its allies, and some of it is not, as in the case of Indian proxy war on Pakistan through Afghanistan. The Indian activities in Balochistan and Fata got a boost when US homed on to it for replicating its mandate in Afghanistan and preserve its interests post withdrawal. After intense interaction between the respective national security advisors, India agreed to fit into American boots. By doing so India would be benefited on two counts one; by safeguarding US interests in Afghanistan it can accrue more American favors ranging from military to nuclear technology and two; it will expand its anti-Pakistan network in Afghanistan and continue sponsoring terrorist activities across borders into Pakistan. As a first step to place India in Afghanistan, US helped India sign an accord with Karzai titled ‘Strategic Partnership Agreement’ that would allow India exploit its provisions to cement its involvement in Afghan military and civil affairs.Taking the lead from the ‘Agreement’, India is now geared up to impart extensive training to the fledgling Afghan National Army at training institutions across the country. Three areas have been identified under the ‘Agreement’ so far. One; increase in number of Afghan trainee officers, two; specialized training to already serving mid and higher-level officers in ANA and three: training Afghan soldiers in counter insurgency and counter terrorist operations. The Indian military institutions earmarked for the purpose comprise the Commando School in Belgaum in south India, the Counter-Insurgency and Jungle Warfare (CIJW) School in Mizoram in the north East and the High Altitude Warfare School in Sonamarg, Indian Occupied Kashmir.

While America would expect more from India and subject it to ‘do more’ pressures on Afghanistan, Pakistan has had enough of its bitter rival’s already expanded role in Afghanistan post Taliban regime. There are active negotiations taking place between the US and India to replace US trainers in Afghanistan for providing continuity in training of Afghan security forces once US withdraws from Afghanistan. Whenever and wherever the US trainers have been adjusted they always facilitated CIA and other intelligence agencies carry out their covert activities. Indians replicating the role of US trainers in Afghanistan spells danger for Pakistan. The placement of Indian trainers may create more rifts in the already volatile bilateral relationship between India and Pakistan. Some of the opinion makers even go to the extent to term it on par with Kashmir.

The regional security dynamics in South Asia are driven by the conflict between India and Pakistan. Pakistan fears strategic encirclement by India if the Afghan government leans too much towards India, while India is afraid of Pakistan using Afghanistan as a convenient strategic staging area and a back door. Giving a military role to Indians in Afghanistan will simmer the existing tensions between the two countries on various issues while America wraps up its Afghan venture. With the added dimension of nuclear-armed India – Pakistan rivalry combined with likely strife taking place between the warlords and the central government in Kabul and a perpetual conflict between the warlords and the Taliban may create a civil war that no one would like to happen. It will be in the interest of the region if the US reconciles with the India-Pakistan milieu in the Afghan context and leave Afghanistan to the Afghans to decide their own fate.

Source: The News Pakistan

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The Missing Persons Imbroglio

admin — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:08:40 +0000

Pakistan's Missing Persons Imbroglio

The case of the missing persons in Pakistan has become a sensitive one, which needs to be resolved at an early date. The angst of the relatives of the missing persons is evident from their agitation in the federal and provincial capitals. The Supreme Court has taken cognizance of their mental anguish and sought redress. The Apex Court has observed that Article 9 of the constitution is being violated in the missing persons’ cases and the law enforcement agencies including the ISI have been named. Unfortunately, there is more to it than meets the eye and these cases have more twists and turns than a John le Carré spy novel.

By S. M. Hali

Pakistan has been involved in the war against terror since October 2001, when the US-led alliance struck Afghanistan in retaliation to the 9/11 attacks on US. What the world has remained oblivious to is the fact that Pakistan has suffered the most along with the people of Afghanistan in being subjected to terror attacks. According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal and Institute for Conflict Management’s findings and compiled up to 29 January 2012, Pakistan has lost 39, 209 lives due to terror attacks out of which the toll for security forces losing their lives is over 5,000. The harbingers of death, doom and gloom in the shape of terror mongers have struck Pakistan by attacking its security installations, schools, colleges, shopping centers, hospitals, mosques and religious congregations. Even highly secure places like the GHQ, Naval Headquarters, PN Base Mehran and Pakistan Aeronautical Complex Kamra have been targeted.

A sizable number of civilians and military personnel had been killed as a result of the attacks. The security forces managed to detain suspects involved in these brazen and heinous attacks. Eleven suspects were apprehended and after their involvement in these atrocious acts was established, they were produced before the court of law. The security agencies also managed to recover a large cache of weapons, mines and other destructive material from their possession and handed over the same to the police as evidence for prosecution. Unfortunately justice is blind and the suspects got acquitted from the anti terrorism courts despite sufficient evidence. However, they continued to be detained under Section 16 of the MPO.

On 28 May 2010, the Rawalpindi Bench of the Lahore High Court declared their detention illegal and ordered their release. As soon as they left the premises of the jail, the collaborators of the terrorists, disguised as intelligence agencies, got hold of them and transported them to their safe havens in FATA. Fooled by the ploy, the families of the accused submitted a writ petition to the Supreme Court of Pakistan, declaring them to be “missing persons” and blaming the intelligence agencies for their abduction.
Under direction of the Supreme Court, intelligence agencies and Law Enforcement Agencies worked relentlessly to trace the suspects and apprehended 20 suspects including the former 11 and on 9 December 2010, the Supreme Court was apprised of their detention.

The Apex Court ordered for their Field General Court Martial proceedings and arrangement for them to meet their families. It has been established that during the period of their remaining underground and at times under pathetic hygienic conditions, the suspects contracted diseases and their health continued to deteriorate. Suitable treatment was provided to them at the CMH and Lady Reading Hospital at Peshawar but despite best treatment efforts, four of the accused succumbed to their illness on varying dates. Their mortal remains were handed over to their dependants in accordance with Islamic rituals and requested for permission for autopsy but their families declined.

According to the death certificates issued by the respective hospitals, the death of all these accused occurred due to natural causes and not torture or duress, as being alleged. In view of the linkages of suspects with terrorist groups in FATA, the detainees were interned under “Action in Aid of Civil Power Regulation 2011 for FATA/PATA but the media campaign by vested interests against the intelligence agencies continues unabated.

Whereas there should be compassion for genuine missing persons, the media should also respect the survivors of the innocent civilians and security forces brutally slaughtered by the terrorists. The scourge of terrorism can only be eradicated if the Law enforcement agencies of Pakistan are not unnecessarily embroiled in civil lawsuits but permitted to operate albeit under the aegis of the law to unearth terrorist networks and save the nation from further heinous attacks and targeting of civilians.

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I’ll Get ‘Nuked’ For Revealing Afghan Failures, Admits US Army Colonel

admin — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:03:03 +0000

Whistleblower challenges Pentagon’s official reports of peacekeeping mission in Taliban territory.

Hear it from the US Defence Department or the White House, and the war in Afghanistan is a success story allowing America to cease combat operations there a year early. Listen, however, to Lieutenant-Colonel Daniel Davis, veteran of two tours on the Afghan frontlines, and the 11-year conflict is a failure bordering a disaster that those in power have deliberately concealed from Congress and the American people.

For the past month, Lt-Col Davis has been conducting an unusual one-man whistleblowing campaign, complete with two reports – one classified – to his superiors at the Pentagon and private briefings for lawmakers.

Now he has gone public, first in an article for a respected independent journal on military affairs, and then yesterday in an interview with The New York Times. It comes barely a week after Leon Panetta, the Defence Secretary, revealed plans for the last US combat troops to be out of Afghanistan by late 2013, compared with President Barack Obama’s previous target of 2014.

“I’m going to get nuked,” the 48-year-old officer told the newspaper, speaking of the reaction he expects to the accusations he is levelling at the Pentagon high command, and luminaries like General David Petraeus, who oversaw Mr Obama’s troop surge in Afghanistan.

Lt-Col Davis likens himself to a latterday equivalent of James Stewart in Mr Smith Goes to Washington, the 1939 film about a senatorial innocent risking his career and reputation to take on a corrupt governing establishment.

In reality, he has a track record of dissent that goes back some years. But his current views stem from his experience in Afghanistan, where he travelled 9,000 miles across eight provinces last year, speaking with 250 soldiers across the ranks, and many Afghan security officials and civilians, before returning home in October last year. His judgement is that official reports of progress in the war are wildly overblown. The Taliban’s strength, he contends, is undiminished, while the Afghan security forces have in many cases made their own deals with the rebels. “You can spin all kinds of stuff, but you can’t spin the fact that more men are getting blown up every year.”

Not surprisingly, the Pentagon rejects the charges, insisting it is a “values-based organisation”, committed to “the integrity of what we publish and what we say”. But, thus far at least, it has not moved to punish Lt-Col Davis – perhaps because he has drawn a degree of support on Capitol Hill.

In fact this is not the first time official public assessments of the war have been challenged. In December 2010, two classified intelligence reports warned that success was unlikely without a crackdown by Pakistan on insurgents in that country. And only last week, Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, spoke of the “disparity” between public pronouncements on the war, and the “sobering” conclusions of a National Intelligence Estimate – representing the combined wisdom of the US intelligence agencies – drawn up a month before.

Source: Independent UK

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Pakistan: Frenzy Of Adiala Eleven

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:49:48 +0000

By Air Commodore (R) Khalid Iqbal

The narrative and counter narrative about Ex-Adiala eleven is turning rather mysterious. They certainly were not the members of a squad that had won some sports world cup for Pakistan They were hardened terrorists playing ‘catch me if you can’ with our judicial system.’ They were involved in high profile terrorist act like attacks on General Headquarters (GHQ), Hamza Camp, Minhas air base etc. They were undergoing a court martial under the Army Act on the charges of attacking the military establishments.

Bringing even ordinary criminals to justice is an uphill task in our country; systems and structures are inclined to support the criminal. Under these circumstances, convicting and sentencing an indicted terrorist is an almost impossible task. Contributory reasons are many; some of these are lack of appropriately equipped forensic laboratories, unsatisfactory protection for prosecution witnesses and judges and the prevalent corrupt culture in our investigating agencies. Prosecution often fails to make a worthwhile case against the accused.

Even under these circumstances, extra-judicial killing is not an option nor would any sane person support that. Supreme Court has done a commendable job by taking notice of the four deaths. Hence, for the time being, it is not logical to presume that the four criminals did not die of natural causes. Hopefully, a judicial probe would ascertain the facts. Probably, the four dead bodies would be exhumed for forensic focused autopsies. Therefore, frenzy of extra judicial killing is premature and uncalled for.

Though charges of extrajudicial killings levelled by the heirs of dead terrorists while they were undergoing a trial appear grave on the face of it, a deeper scrutiny indicates that those who want to make the process of trial controversial to save the remaining terrorists from punishment have fabricated the story.

Investigating agencies have already informed the Supreme Court that four out of 11 prisoners who disappeared from Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi, and later apprehended from tribal area had died in custody, but of natural causes. Keeping in view the history of these prisoners, it would be a grave security risk to produce them before the court in line with any specified schedule. Moreover, four other prisoners are in a critical health condition and are under treatment in the LRH; travelling may aggravate their illness. As an alternative, the court may consider appointing its representative to visit the places of internment to ascertain the personal safety of the prisoners.

Supreme Court is hearing a petition by Rohaifa, the mother of three out of the eleven accused. She has pleaded that her sons, Abdus Saboor, Syed Abdul Basit and Syed Abdul Majid and the eight other people had been kept in illegal confinement by intelligence agencies. Her son Saboor, aged 29, was one of the four who died in custody. She has requested the court to determine whether the deceased and surviving detainees, including her sons, who are civilian, were subject to the Army Act. Though the question of applicability of the Army Act in this specific case would be adjudged by the court, Army & Air Force Acts and the Naval Ordinance do have provisions whereby civilians can by tired by a court martial, if they commit an offence against these forces.

Mothers narrative is bound to be emotional, her stance is: “If they are subject to the Army Act then the court should declare that their arrest and detention and the proceedings of trial have not been done in a lawful manner and, therefore, they should be set free in the interest of justice.” She has petitioned the court for provision of ‘due process of law’ to her three sons Syed Abdus Saboor, Syed Abdul Basit and Syed Abdul Majid. However, keeping in view the gravity of the offenses, undue swaying towards a typical mother’s narrative, whose one son has died and other two are on the edge, would not be in the interest of public safety. Sanity demands that let the process of law take its due course.

If the four prisoners were murdered, then this is a grave issue. The matter is of public importance. This raises apprehension about the remaining detainees as well. It must be found out how the four youngsters died. However, until then speculative narratives should not mislead the public. Speculation also has it that the custodians of the dead prisoners left their bodies on the roadside after the LRH refused to accept them one after the other. If true, this represents a sad state of affairs. However, the document issued by the LHR does not corroborate this stance.

Alternative narrative has it that during 2007-08, these terrorists had attacked GHQ, Hamza Camp and Mihas air Base. Eleven suspects were apprehended after establishing their involvement. During the process of apprehension, lethal weapons, mines and explosives were recovered from their possession. They were acquitted by ATC Rawalpindi. Later, they were interned under section 16 of the MPO. However, Rawalpindi Bench of Lahore HC declared their detention illegal and ordered their release.

On the day of release from jail, the accomplices of these terrorist (under the guise of intelligence agencies) took them to the safe heavens in FATA. To cover up this, families of these people submitted a writ petition to the SC of Pakistan declaring them as missing persons. Under direction of the SC, intelligence agencies and law enforcement agencies apprehended 20 suspects including these eleven. During their stay in FATA, these prisoners fell ill. They were treated in CMH and LRH Peshawar.

Despite best medi-care, four of them died on different dates in the LRH Peshawar. Hospital officials handed over their bodies to the families with full respect according to Islamic rites. Each family’s permission was sought for autopsy, all four families declined.
While the case is subjudice at the highest level, and the true narrative would emerge in due course, media ethics demand that speculative trial of the Army and the ISI on this issue must be put on hold. The campaign against these national institutions, which have rendered tremendous services in eradicating the menace of terrorism, neither is in the national interests nor is supportive to the maintenance of high morale of those who put their life in line to protect the public safety.

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Pakistan Army, Air Force, Special Ops In Action Near India Border

admin — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 04:50:02 +0000

Amid domestic political turmoil, PakMilitary keeps a region-wide watch.

SPECIAL REPORT | PakNationalists.com

In the never-ending theatrics of Pakistani politics, a key point is easily overlooked: that the country’s military has an eye on domestic stability while simultaneously dealing with United States and India on the western and eastern borders, respectively. In fact, this is a big story. Pakistan’s military – Army, Navy and Air Force — are busy maneuvering to improve the country’s geo-strategic position, which deteriorated considerably ever since Islamabad joined the US-led coalition that occupies Afghanistan since 2001.

In this view, Pakistani military is coping and adapting to tremendous pressures.

India is a major concern. It invaded Pakistan unprovoked in 1971, exploiting chaos after a Pakistani election. Recent confessions by collaborators of the invading Indian army indicate a high degree of malice in Indian intentions. So this is a real threat that cannot be overlooked. The country’s Armed Forces continue to quietly focus on military preparedness despite an unstable domestic political situation that often pulls the military into the mess even when the institution is least interested.

So on Tuesday, Jan. 31, while news headlines from Pakistan focused on the treasonous anti-Pakistan memo and the escape of its author from the country, few paid attention to formation-level military exercises on India’s border. The exercise was focused on the part of Indian border where Indian army invaded the country in 1965 and 1971. The drills involved Pakistan Army, Air Force and special-ops units. In a brief press release, the military media office, the ISPR, said the training focused on desert combat and counterinsurgency.

There are three benefits that Pakistani soldiers gain from training in Bahawalpur, a region located between the two provinces of Sindh and Punjab, touching India to the east. The first is to train for peacekeeping operations in places like Darfur in Sudan and in other parts of Africa where Pakistani soldiers enforce peace under United Nations umbrella. The second benefit is to get familiar with the terrain in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states where Pakistani military trainers are deputed on long tours of duty. The third and most important benefit is to keep the Indians in check in the shared desert border regions.

Interestingly, just a few weeks after the Pakistani exercises, United States and India will launch their wargames on the Pakistan border in March 2012, codenamed ‘Yudh Abhyas’ in Sanskrit.

[Click here to see video from Pakistani war games.]

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How Pakistan Protects Treason

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:33:24 +0000

We released a traitor back in 1969 despite strong evidence. Two years later he led an insurgency in support of an Indian invasion of Pakistan. Today we have released another traitor with a proven track record of working to blackmail Pakistan. I'd like every patriotic Pakistani to remember three things:

AHMED QURAISHI | The Insider Column
PakNationalists.net

1. How our political parties, politicians and judiciary have worked together, passively, to protect and free a traitor. It’s as if the country’s security is the concern of ISI or the military and not the collective responsibility of politicians and others.

2. How the US worked overtime to get Husain Haqqani released, an American asset beyond a shadow of doubt. The way the US government issued a statement welcoming his escape from Pakistan is a telltale sign.

3. How a sitting Member of Parliament, Farahnaz Isphahani, and Haqqani’s spouse, landed in Washington to lobby against Pakistan, its military and its intelligence community. She privately told a British newspaper she escaped Pakistan because she was afraid the country’s military would kidnap her. Bad for her, the British journalist published this off-the-record comment, forcing her to issue a clarification. The statement shows deep malice against the country’s national security institutions. It proves how Haqqani and his boss, President Zardari, is every bit guilty of the contents of The Memo. [If you haven’t seen this brief, point-by-point reading into The Memo, please do. It is not every day that one sees a first-class evidence of what treason looks like. For Urdu version, click here.] Last, the reluctance of our military establishment to take a decisive stand on this case and preferring instead to avoid a confrontation with the pro-US government is understandable but disturbing.

This attitude is part of the general ailment that afflicts our failed political system. It is not difficult to see how this country will get out of anyone’s control down the road. A big and drastic change is required. [Wait for new ideas in this regard, expected to be floated next month in a special ceremony in Islamabad. The event will use the platform of Project For Pakistan In 21st Century, an independent Islamabad-based think tank.]

Regarding The Memo, I will spare our military harsher criticism because I understand that it is busy trying to limit the damage of the 2002-2011 years. Good luck guys doing that. But remember: our homeland is beyond correction through installments. The state can be restructured top down. It requires good Pakistanis, civilians and uniformed, men and women of will more than anything else.

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ISI Nabbed Traitors In 1967 And 2011, But Pakistan Lost

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:41:10 +0000

43 Years Ago, Pakistani Politicians Defended Treason, They Do It Again

We ignored Agartala conspiracy, released the traitors who broke up the country two years later. We are doing it again in The Memo case.

SPECIAL REPORT | PakNationalists.net

The coincidence is unnerving. Forty-three years ago, Pakistan’s politicians and courts acquitted a traitor accused of helping a foreign country invade Pakistan. The evidence of treason was strong. But the politicians ganged up and generated enough disinformation against the military and ISI and to cover up for the traitor.

The traitor was released.

The case was dropped.

Two years later, the traitor led a revolt in support of the invading army of India.

Today, Pakistani politicians and courts repeat history: they have almost buried a case of treason, The Memo case.

This is a case where a group of Pakistanis attempted to conspire with another foreign power, the United States, to neutralize Pakistan’s military and nuclear weapons. Had this Memo happened when George W. Bush was president, there would have been many takers in Washington. Unluckily for President Zardari, Husain Haqqani and their other unnamed accomplices, there were no takers this time although many people in Washington continue to spew venom against Pakistan and its military every chance they get.

The Memo case is a breathtaking incident of treason in Pakistan. [For full details of the treachery, see a brief report at this link: http://bit.ly/wpCNso ]

The Agartala conspiracy case of 1969 bears many similarities to The Memo case of 2011, where the main accused, former envoy to Washington Husain Haqqani, was ordered released by the Supreme Court today.

Even during the trial, he and his spouse Farahanaz Isphahani, a Member of Parliament and a presidential aide, were allowed to manage a media campaign against the country’s military in foreign press, spreading disinformation about possible assassination if the trial went ahead. Haqqani’s counsel issued statements accusing the military of a range of crimes, and the government’s media machine bluntly threatened a key witness and planted stories to paint the case as a ploy by the military against failed politicians. WHAT HAPPENED AT AGARTALA?

A brave Pakistani intelligence officer, Lt. Col. Shamsul Alam, the commander of the East Pakistan Detachment of Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, uncovered the conspiracy through first-class intelligence work.

The facts were straightforward. A politician, Sheikh Mujeeb, and an accomplice, Mohammad Ali Reza, traveled to eastern Indian city of Agartala and held meetings with Indian intelligence officers to convince them to back his plan to break away East Pakistan from the federation and establish an independent pro-India state.

Pakistani spies, including very able native Bengali officers, pursued the secret meetings and contacts throughout 1967. Mujeeb and his gang was nailed by the end of the year.

In January 1968, a sedition case, State vs. Mujeebur Rehman and others was launched. A total of 35 key conspirators were arrested, both civilian Pakistanis and military officers.

The Indian agents were so rattled they planned to assassinate the ISI officer who collected the evidence against them. This would have eliminated an adversary and intimidated junior intelligence officers into abandoning the case.

A Pakistani officer from East Bengal Regiment was recruited to kill Lt. Col. Alam. But Alam was a brave officer. He not only resisted the attackers but chased them and exposed them. For this he was awarded Pakistan’s highest medal of bravery in peace times, the Sitara-e-Basalat, or the Citation of Bravery.

The process of compromises and cover-ups began soon afterward.

Some 1,500 Pakistanis were arrested. There were 227 witnesses and 7 approvers. The trial dragged throughout 1968 and until January 1969. The number of accused facing trial fell dramatically for political expediency.

The traitors gained public sympathy because of disinformation by politicians and media and delay of justice by judiciary. This helped politicians portray the traitors as victims of military highhandedness. They were released early 1969 and the case was dropped.

WERE THERE TRAITORS IN AGARTALA CASE?

Forty years later, some of the accused admitted that the charges against them were true. Deputy Speaker of Parliament in Bangladesh, Shawkat Ali, who was a conspirator on trial in 1968, admitted during open house proceedings that all treason charges against them were true and that they conspired with India to break up of Pakistan.

Another Bangladeshi legislator, Tofael Ahmed, said had ISI not uncovered the conspiracy, the secession of East Pakistan would have happened ‘peacefully’, with help from Pakistanis recruited by India.

These admissions were made in public in Bangladesh in 2010 and 2011. But they came forty years late. Thanks to the conspiracy of silence by Pakistan’s political parties, government, judiciary and the courts, the traitors succeeded in helping India launch an unprovoked invasion of Pakistan in 1971.

In The Memo case, former civilian officials, some retired military officers, and senior officials in the Zardari government planned to decapitate Pakistani military. The case is being buried now for political expediency.

Let’s hope Pakistan and Pakistanis do not pay a bigger price for this a few years down the road.

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Haqqani’s Memo And Boabdil’s Memo

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 08:37:06 +0000

If it is forgiven today, wait for the Indus River to turn red with Pakistani blood. If the government can violate the constitution so audaciously to destroy the country, why can’t our military do the same to save Pakistan?

This is a guest column by Zaid Hamid

In 1487, Abu Abdallah Mohammad was the 22nd sultan of the great city of Alhambra. Known to the Spaniards as Boabdil, his tiny physique also won him the nickname el chico.

In that year, he sought foreign help against his father and uncle.

He wrote a memo to Ferdinand and Isabelle, the most powerful sovereigns in the region, to seek help and promised assistance in helping them take over Spain.

He offered to make his emirate a tributary kingdom under Ferdinand and Isabella.

His wish was granted. But within five years, in 1492, Ferdinand and Isabella turned to Alhambra and forced Abu Abdallah, or Boabdil, to surrender and leave for exile.

Boabdil was the author of the treacherous memo. The name of his prime minister was Yusuf.

Under another Yusuf, a memo was written last year to a foreign power, seeking help to weaken Pakistan’s military and intelligence. In exchange, a promise was made to make Pakistan a denuclearized vassal of that foreign power.

Five hundred years after Boabdil’s memo, history is being repeated. Another memo has been written on identical terms.

The only difference is that the Pakistani memo has been exposed.But even then the courts and opinion makers are playing games, while the Pakistani military watches.

A compromise or a deal on the Memo would fatally damage Pakistan. There is no turning back now. The ghosts of Agartala still haunt us after 40 years.

Treason-democracy-elections-rebellion-civil war-invasion-defeat-dismemberment-humiliation! Memo is today’s Agartala. If it is forgiven today, the dreaded sequence would turn Indus River red with Pakistani blood. The war would annihilate us as it did in 1971. Pakistani media must wake up and see how history is repeating itself.

The Pakistani nation must clearly understand that a sinister web of treachery is being woven against Pakistan and ISI by the government and its allies in political parties and media. The Memo case has almost been killed. Now the Asghar Khan/Mehran Bank case has been revived. The authors of The Memo wanted this case revived to divert attention away from The Memo and to take revenge from the military.

The links and timings between memo case and the Mehran Bank case are stunningly clear. Also, the missing person's case is also being used as a tool to settle scores against ISI. The traitors, snakes and idiots have all joined hands to attack, humiliate and destroy the last defense wall of Pakistan. Memo is a reality just as the Agartala conspiracy was. But back then, too, the political parties joined hands against our military and protected the main accused, the Husain Haqqani of that time, Sheikh Mujeeb.

The result was elections and war and breakup.

History is being repeated today. Political parties and media are ignoring The Memo, attacking ISI and demanding elections when Pakistan is encircled for war.

Shame on our politicians, media, judges and the ulema of this nation who have willingly decided to ignore and bury The Memo. Those who compromise their honor, freedom and faith deserve to be invaded.

For God sake, wake up.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan has already declared NRO unconstitutional. The court has also declared voting lists as bogus. These were the voting lists that brought this government to power in 2008.

What is the moral standing of a government that has come to power through unconstitutional and bogus means?

If the government can violate the constitution so audaciously to destroy the country, why can’t our military do the same to save Pakistan? Overthrowing the government is no more a legal or constitutional issue. It is a national duty and patriotism.

This article, edited by PakNationalists.net, is based on series of text messages and Facebook status updates by Zaid Hamid, a Pakistani analyst.

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The Reprehensible Drone Attacks

admin — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 18:32:13 +0000

The reprehensible drone attacks in Pakistan commenced in 2004, nearly three years after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan. They have been conducted by the Special Activities Division of CIA. The question of the drone attacks targeting terrorists in Pakistan’s Wild West, the tribal areas is rather complex. To date 285 drone attacks have been carried out, which have taken a toll of 2,692 lives. It is not clear how many were actually terrorists and what number of collateral damage was suffered. The role of the government of Pakistan has been rather duplicitous.

S.M. Hali – Opinion Maker

Pakistan covertly permitted the drones to operate from two of its air bases, Jacobabad and Shamsi but publicly condemned the drone attacks. When public outcry over the drone attacks reached a crescendo, on 4 October 2008 “The Washington Post” reported that there was a secret deal between the US and Pakistan allowing these drone attack, while US Senator Dianne Feinstein disclosed in February 2009, that the drones were being operated from Shamsi Airfield, 310 km southwest of Quetta and 48 km from the Afghan border. This disclosure created a furor in Pakistan and initially the government denied it but in December 2009, Pakistan’s Minister for Defence, Ahmad Mukhtar admitted that the Americans were using Shamsi Airfield.

The year 2010 was the deadliest in terms of drone attacks in Pakistan. A total of 118 attacks were launched, taking a toll of 993 lives. Since February 2011, when CIA operative Raymond Davis was apprehended in Lahore after slaying two Pakistanis in cold blood, relations between Pakistan and the US, especially their intelligence agencies ISI and CIA were terribly strained. They hit rock bottom with the May 2nd US Seals operation to take out Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.

The straw that broke the camel’s back was the November 26, 2011 NATO attack on Pakistani military check-post at Salala, in which 25 Pakistan Army personnel including two officers were killed. Pakistan’s parliament took the harsh decision of having the US vacate the Shamsi Airfield. There was a 55 days’ lull in the drone attacks but on January 11 and 12 this year, two attacks have targeted alleged miscreants in Miran Shah and Dogga area of North Waziristan. Pakistani parliament is in the process of reviewing its terms of engagement with the US but the Parliamentary Committee on National Security has recommended that Pakistan should never permit drone attacks to be operated from Pakistani soil again.

The drone attacks raise several moral and legal questions. The UN regime on targeted killing is quite clear; the parent country, where the attack is to take place must provide permission for the attack. There is widespread disagreement about whether suspected terrorists have rendered themselves morally and legally liable to lethal attack. Analysts opine that the widespread use of this modern technique of asymmetrical warfare raises troubling questions in just war theory, public international law, international humanitarian law, criminal law, human rights law, and legal philosophy.

On 25 March 2010 US State Department legal advisor Harold Koh stated that the drone strikes were legal because of the right to self-defense. Some US politicians and academics have condemned the drone strikes. US Congressman Dennis Kucinich asserted that the United States was violating international law by carrying out strikes against a country that never attacked the United States. Georgetown University professor Gary D. Solis asserts that since the drone operators at the CIA are civilians directly engaged in armed conflict, this makes them "unlawful combatants" and possibly subject to prosecution.

A number of lawsuits have been filed against the reprehensible drone attacks both within the US and outside. The most famous is the legal case filed by journalist Karim Khan in December 2010, naming Jonathan Banks (his cover name)—the CIA Station Chief in Islamabad, to be responsible for the deaths of his close relatives. Resultantly, Banks was hastily pulled from the country. On 27 October 2009 UNHRC investigator Philip Alston concluded that the CIA is running a program that is killing significant numbers of people and there is absolutely no accountability in terms of the relevant international laws.

Brookings Institution has concluded that although accurate data on the results of drone strikes is difficult to obtain, it seemed that ten civilians had died in the drone attacks for every militant killed, which would represent a civilian to combatant casualty ratio of 10:1, which is unacceptable. With Pakistan’s Army Chief issuing a directive to shoot down US drones, it is high time the US revisited the use of drone attacks in Pakistan.

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Arrested German Spies Ordered Pakistan Army Uniforms

admin — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 17:40:54 +0000

Sources Thursday revealed that a trio of German nationals, apprehended on Jan 21 in Peshawar, was about to receive a number of Pakistan Army uniforms for which they had placed an order in the local market some days back, Geo News reported.

Moreover, the some traditional ladies’ full-length outer garments (burqas) have also been recovered from their residence.

The alleged German spies namely Rolf Schmidt, Kristen Wild, and Lorenz had been living in Peshawar since 1981 and shifted to a bungalow at Parklane a year ago. Police also found receipt of uniform order as well.

According to sources the foreigners had conveyed negative reports about Pakistan to Bonn Conference held in Germany last year to discuss future of Afghanistan after Nato pullout.

Intelligence agencies copped them in a raid at their house on Jan 21, they have been sent to German embassy as they could not provide any documents mandatory for staying in Pakistan.

Source: The News

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Difa-e-Pakistan Council to Sit in if Nato Supplies Resumes

admin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:58:48 +0000

Difa-e-Pakistan Council leadership warned the government that if Nato supply line restored, they would stage a sit-in from Peshawar to Chaman, demaning closure of the supplies to Nato on permanent basis. Jamaat-i-Islami Ameer Syed Munawar Hassan, Jamat-ut-Dawa Ameer Hafiz Saeed, Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan leader Sahibzada Abul Khair Zubair and other leaders addressed the conference at Liaquat Bagh Rawalpindi here on Sunday. They demanded the government to expel Hussain Haqani from the Prime Minister House declaring him a central actor plotting against the Pak Army and nuclear capability of Pakistan.

Source: The Nation

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The Haqqani Memo: A New Height For Treason In Pakistan

admin — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 05:45:32 +0000

A new pro-US team of ex-military and civilian Pakistanis was ready to take over. Who are they?

SPECIAL REPORT | PakNationalists.com

Between the denials of Husain Haqqani, threats to a key witness to stay away from testimony, and American efforts to save the incompetent government of President Asif Ali Zardari, the fact remains that ‘The Memo’ is a new height for treason in Pakistan.
There can be no higher treason for a serving elected government than to secretly invite a foreign country to decapitate the country’s military leadership, compromise the nation’s strategic weapons arsenal, and voluntarily surrender policy on vital strategic interests.

The Memo did all three. And there is little doubt that Mr. Haqqani, a confidante to President of Pakistan, was involved in this conspiracy.

There is also little doubt he was not alone. Apart from his American partners, a list of Pakistani partners exists. This potentially includes individuals, serving and retired, inside and outside government, who helped in writing The Memo, whose copy was first revealed by a blog on the American Foreign Policy magazine’s website.

Pakistani citizens, conscientious politicians (if any), and the country’s national security managers, cannot take lightly this action against Pakistan by a group of powerful Pakistanis whose only interest was to serve a powerful foreign government, the United States, and its military and intelligence.

One day maybe The Memo would be taught in schools for how high treason looks like in action.

But for now, the following paragraph-by-paragraph analysis of The Memo serves as a reminder to Pakistanis why cases of treason should never be brushed under the carpet. TREASON

1. The writer(s) of The Memo sought to create national division in Pakistan by dividing the government between ‘civilians’ and ‘military’. This deliberate division was meant to incite warfare among Pakistanis, and mislead foreign governments. The rift sought to weaken Pakistan when a war rages on our borders. [Paragraph One of The Memo]

2. The writer(s) of The Memo attempted to create a false impression of a military coup where none existed. [Paragraph One + Two]

3. The writer(s) of The Memo conspired against Pakistan Armed Forces using a misleading phrase, i.e. ‘correcting civil-military relations’. Any such relations are an internal Pakistani matter. It can never justify inviting foreign intervention as the Haqqani Memo does.

4. The writer(s) of The Memo accuse ISI of outing the name of CIA station chief in Islamabad, clearly adopting the position of US government.

5. The writer(s) of The Memo accuse Pakistan of being home to al-Qaeda. [Paragraph Two.]

6. The writer(s) of The Memo blackmail Pakistan using the term ‘1971 moment’. They propose to US government to threaten Pakistan of breakup [like 1971 after an unprovoked Indian invasion] if the Zardari government is held accountable for allowing illegal CIA penetration into the country. [Paragraph Three.]

7. Bluntly ‘requests direct intervention’ by another country in Pakistan. [Para Three]

8. Promises to replace Pakistan’s military leadership with “trusted advisers that include ex-military and civilian leaders favorably viewed by Washington.” [Para Three.]

9. Promises that the new pro-US Pakistani national security team-in-waiting consists of Pakistanis “each of whom have long and historical ties” to US military and intelligence. [Para Three.]

10. Promises that the name of the new pro-US team to run Pakistan’s military and intelligence are provided verbally through the person delivering The Memo. [Para Three.]

11. Promises six tangible actions in Islamabad in favor of US interests:

11.1 To put Pakistan on trial for “harboring” Al-Qaeda terror chief OBL, and constitute a Pakistani panel for the investigation where US government can screen and nominate members. [Bullet One]

11.2 Bullet Two in The Memo affirms official Pakistani government, military and intelligence complicity in harboring OBL.

11.3 Bullet Three confirms — without evidence — that Al-Qaeda terror group leaders are harbored by Pakistan and will be handed over to US once the new pro-US military and civilian Pakistani national security team is in charge. Also, an offer is extended to allow US military and intelligence to conduct operations on Pakistani soil.

11.4 Bullet Three confirms that these offers have been discussed and approved at the highest levels of the Zardari-Gilani government.

11.5 Promises Washington to implement “an acceptable framework … for Pakistan’s nuclear program.” Any interpretation of this sentence would mean some form of American supervision of Pakistan’s nuclear program. The writer(s) of The Memo suggest that currently Pakistani nuclear weapons are not secure. [Bullet Four]

11.6 Promises to eliminate Section S of ISI that the writer(s) of The Memo claim maintains links to Afghan Taliban. This directly infringes on Pakistan’s legitimate right to deal with players in the region as suited to Pakistani interests. The Haqqani Memo assumes here that Pakistan should follow policy guidelines coming from Washington. [Bullet Five]

11.7 Promises to force Pakistan to submit to the demands of Indian government, suggests Pakistani guilt in 2008 Mumbai attacks, and promises to hand over anyone to India if New Delhi demands. [Bullet Six]

Paragraph Eleven: Promises US government that Zardari government’s interests are the same as Washington’s in aligning Pakistan with India “AND” Afghanistan [capital letters used by the writer(s) of The Memo].

The last line in The Memo reveals the extent of the conspiracy from the Pakistani side. It shows that an entire pro-US team of ex-military and civilian Pakistanis participated in writing this memo. The names of these Pakistanis were verbally conveyed to Admiral Mike Mullen, then US Chairman Joint Chiefs.

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Prime Minister Gillani in the Docks: Aljazeera Report

admin — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:49:42 +0000

Immunity clause 248 was not part of this case; Yousaf Raza Gillani has brought it in; if the court rules out immunity, Zardari and Gillani both would be struck.

By Raja G Mujtaba

National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) has become the undetected cancer growth that has emerged when it was fully blown up and ready to kill. For this I was live on Aljazeera TV to offer my views. At that particular moment, the audio linkage with the studios at Doha was not at its best but I did manage to pick the question and gave my views.

The Five-Member Judicial Bench has given its verdict, where they have declared Yousaf Raza Gillani as dishonest and corrupt. The contention of Gillani that the submissions of General Kayani, the Army Chief and Lt Gen Pasha, the ISI head have been a violation and breech of the channel has also been denied by the Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq in his statement that the affidavits were forwarded to the court under his signature so no violation took place.

Prime Minister Gillani who till now had been defying the Supreme Court by not writing the letter to the Swiss Courts finally had to give in and eat a humble pie when the Supreme Court summoned him to the courts for contempt. Gillani tried to make it a big event for himself but his each step taken him deeper into the quagmire. Gillani wanted to stand in the shoes of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who addressed the court personally that trapped him which lead him to the gallows, likewise Gillani also as most opine has sealed his fate by defending his defiance of the court.

The way he appeared in the apex court with a big entourage of courtiers, ministers and parliamentarians etc. was a show of force to intimidate the honourable judges. Has this exercise not cost the exchequer a huge amount? But who cares. He should have come like a common man following the traditions of Omar, the second caliph of Islam. Even in the West in such a situation, the people in power appear before the courts in their personal capacity.

People are questioning the performance of Aitizaz Ahsan by encouraging the Prime Minister to defend his action for not writing a letter to the Swiss Courts on the grounds that Asif Ali Zardari enjoyed immunity under article 248 of the constitution. Immunity clause 248 was not part of this case; Yousaf Raza Gillani has brought it in to defend his defiance; if the court rules out immunity, Zardari and Gillani both would be struck.

Had Mr. Gillani simply apologized before the honourable court, the issue would have been over but he would have had to give the assurance that the letter to the Swiss Court would be written. Now that during his arguments Gillani took the plea that since Asif Ali Zardari enjoyed the immunity therefore letter could not be written has dragged Zardari into the courts.

Now the immunity issue has become the main subject to be debated which most legal minds feel that cannot stand since the crimes committed were before Zardari was elected President. Moreover it is never a blanket immunity that the party and the Zardari cahoots are trying to blow loud.

Why Aitezaz Ahsan who till now had taken a stand that the letter to the Swiss Courts has to be written suddenly took a U-Turn from his stated stand? Some say that Aitezaz has lived to his reputation and did what suits his personal interests best; he is killing two birds with one stone by eliminating Asif Zardari and Yousaf Gillani from the scene so that he can become the next party head and raise his stakes to the coveted office of the Prime Minister.

It has become an open discussion that through this move, Aitezaz Ahsan is aspiring to take over the party after both Zardari and Gillani are sacked. How true this opinion maybe, only the time would tell. On appearance in the Supreme Court he was greeted by a hostile group of lawyers who were adverse to his role in the Judiciary Movement when he suddenly changed stance and did not allow ‘dharna’ (sit-in) in front of the parliament house. Going back, his role in delivering the lists of Khalistan Movement activists to Indian government has also hit the memories.

Yousaf Raza Gillani has become very arrogant in many ways; his involvement in corruption is coming out with new dimensions every day. Memogate that has become the biggest security breach by any sitting President or Prime Minister is being defended in most obnoxious manner. The best course would have been to assist and facilitate the Judicial Commission investigating it, or even prior to that both Zardari and Gillani should have resigned from their offices but they are making all efforts to block the progress of the commission.

Mansoor Ijaz who leaked the scandal through his article in Financial Times of London is the central figure, his evidence is critical and most desired to decide the issue is being threatened and humiliated by no less a person than PM Gillani himself. Why Gillani is hiding Husain Haqqani in Prime Minister House is further confirming the complicity of Haqqani, Zardari and possibly of Gillani also.

Rahman Malik, who has many shades to his character, is making statements that are not only irresponsible but a laughing stock. All this needs to be taken cognizance of so that all those involved in this scandal are caught and punished for treason against the state.

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Pakistan: Ice has begun to Melt

admin — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 18:44:07 +0000

By Brig Asif Haroon Raja – Opinion Maker

Pakistan may be the only country in the world where persons involved in heinous crimes including treason not only get away unpunished but also hold top appointments. Whatever little sting the law courts and accountability courts had has been smudged by this government. There is no accountability of the corrupt and criminals since the rulers themselves are NRO cleansed. Those wanting accountability of the wrongdoers are scoffed at, threatened and suppressed. Crossing all limits, the PPP leadership is averse to an open and fair probe on a highly sensitive matter of memo having grave implications for national security and integrity. Likewise, it has flouted Supreme Court’s (SC) ruling given on 16 December 2009 making NRO null and void. It continues to maintain a stubborn stance of defiance even after the SC rejected the review petition on NRO and directed the government to implement its order by 10 January 2012. Countdown will terminate on 16 January and the nation is keeping its fingers crossed.

The government is employing all conceivable tricks and techniques under the sun to wriggle out of memo scandal and to prevent reopening of cases pending against President Zardari in foreign courts. It is creating umpteen hurdles in the way of three-member commission investigating memo case and the bench pursuing implementation of NRO. The PPP is past master in delaying tactics and in playing the theme of victimization. The top guns of the PPP involved in massive corruption managed to prevent law courts from delivering judgments for eleven years. Their tactics couldn’t have succeeded without the connivance of weak-willed and purchasable judges and prosecutors. The culture of higher courts under chief justice Iftikhar has undergone a radical change. The apex courts have ultimately realized that the judiciary in Pakistan has earned a very bad name and people have lost faith in judicial system. For too long the judiciary had played into the hands of military and civilian dictators. The higher judiciary had a big role in validating wrongful acts of the rulers and in validating military rules under the miscued doctrine of necessity. The judges having gone through a prolonged ordeal of two years under a military dictator Gen Musharraf have decided to restore the image and reputation of the judiciary. They appreciate that without the public pressure the sacked judges could not have been restored in March 2009. They know that the people deprived of justice were overjoyed over their reinstatement and hold high hopes in the liberated judiciary. They want to live up to the high expectations of the people by delivering justice based on fairness and without caring for the high status of the accused. The culture of uprightness, honesty and evenhandedness is however alien to the PPP leaders who believe only in cheating, chicanery, looting, delinquency, nepotism and cronyism. They prefer self over national interests; they neither believe in rule of law nor in system of accountability. PCO judges suited them the most and they had tried very hard to retain Dogar as chief justice but failed.

The law makers and upholders of rule of law and constitution are themselves the biggest violators of law. They keep raising the slogan that parliament is supreme but their personal conduct displayed in the last four years of their rule has been deplorable. Not only they have been bending and breaking laws of the land at will, they have been contemptuously defying the apex court with impunity. Never before any government in Pakistan has defied and insulted the Supreme Court so brazenly. Zardari-Gilani duo has been promoting cronyism and favoritism and destroying public corporate enterprises. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has been made impotent to enable them to shield, protect and promote corrupt and inept officials holding key appointments and to disregard merit. Even those involved in mega scams and convicted by the courts are pardoned by Zardari and reinstated or given better jobs. Adnan Khwaja and Riaz Shiekh are two recent examples. The duo and their loyalists give preference to loyalty to the political party over the state and the constitution. Appointments of Husain Haqqani and Wajid Shams as ambassadors and Rahman Malik as interior minister simply to please Washington give an insight of the outlook of rulers.

Babar Awan with a fake doctor’s degree held the important post of law minister for a long period merely because he maintained a bellicose posture against Sharif brothers. He openly bribed members of Bar Council and lawyers to buy their loyalties and spent millions from exchequer. He has been in the lead to deride and defy the SC. While he mistakenly thinks that his clownish acrobats are cheered by the people, in reality they consider him no more than a court jester pleasing his boss in Presidency. He is principally responsible for putting the ruling party in a blind alley. In his greed to become Punjab Governor or Senate Chairman, he has gone too far and made himself highly vulnerable. The SC sword can fall upon him anytime.

PM Gilani as executive head instead of feeling most concerned about memo affair is least concerned and wants it to be hushed up. He still is of the view that removal of Haqqani from his post should have ended the matter. He got so perturbed over Gen Kayani and Lt Gen Pasha submitting their affidavits to the Supreme Court different to the one submitted by the government that he is not reconciling with it. He had lost his cool on 26 December since he was fed with false intelligence that Gen Kayani was set to overthrow his government. But he cooled down after Gen Kayani issued a statement that he had no intention of launching a coup and toppling a democratic government. He however hastened to add a meaningful sentence in his rejoinder that there will be no compromise on national security.

Seeing that the memo case was taking a dangerous turn and that the two generals were not prepared to take back their affidavits in which it was categorically stated that memo was a reality and must be probed, the PM once again got off balanced on 9 January while giving an interview to Chinese Daily. Fearing that the Army had developed an understanding with the SC, he outlandishly dubbed the depositions of Kayani and Pasha as illegal and unconstitutional on the basis that they had not taken his consent or permission of the Defence Ministry. He thus reignited the fire which had almost died down. His stance was negated by the Attorney General who cleared the mist by saying that replies submitted were very much in accordance with legal procedure.

The five-member SC bench in its sitting on 10 January pronounced President Zardari, PM Gilani, Law Minister Maula Bux Chandio, Babar Awan, Law Secretary Masood Chishti and NAB chief retired Admiral Fasih Bokhari as chief delinquents. It stated that they have consistently been showing naked defiance and apathy towards SC and could be proceeded against on charges of contempt of court. Axes had been honed and raised above shoulders, and heads of the five put on the chopping block, but before bringing down the axes, the accused were given last chance to save their necks from getting chopped. Showing unprecedented restraint in the face of extreme provocation, the SC has dished out six loaded options. The leading option is to disqualify both Zardari and Gilani. However knowing that Jayalas have an old habit of making too much fuss and complaining that they have been indicted unheard, milder options include letting Zardari to appear before the court to plead for immunity; or the PM to resign and hold early elections. The government has to choose one of the options till the next hearing scheduled on 16 January.

As if his harmful interview was not enough, Gilani further upped the ante by sacking Secretary Defence retired Lt Gen Lodhi on charges of misconduct and creating misunderstanding between institutions and gave additional charge of Secretary Defence to his blue eyed Secretary Nargis Sethi. His only fault was that the Personal Secretary of PM had called him in his office and asked him on behalf of PM to sign the affidavit concerning memo case prepared by the government, but he regretted to do so. Lodhi has decided to approach the court and plead his case that he has been unjustly removed from service without giving him show cause notice or carrying out any inquiry.

It was speculated that Gilani’s offensive move had been made to pave the way to sack Army chief and DG ISI. The Army launched a quick riposte in the form of a terse rejoinder which not only clarified that routing of affidavits were strictly in line with laid down legal procedure but also gave a veiled warning that indigestible insinuations would have serious repercussions. Gen Kayani called a conference of his PSOs and corps commanders next morning. Adding to it was the newspapers story about newly posted brigade commander of notorious 111 Brigade. It gave a loud message that the Army would not take the insults lying down.

Despite assurances given by Army Chief that he respects democracy and the Chief Justice who said that the door to martial law has been shut forever, Zardari, Gilani and his confidantes continue to suffer from hallucinations of a military coup. Puppet Gilani whose strings are in the hands of Zardari has become so confused that he is taking somersaults repeatedly and eating his words. There must be something to hide that Haqqani and his guardians are feeling so disturbed and are feeling so edgy. Wittingly or unwittingly, the corrupt and inept government is opening the door for the Army to step in so that it could become a political martyr, but Kayani has no such intentions and would like a change taking place through democratic process.

Finding itself stuck in a blind alley, Gilani in consultation with Zardari called an emergent session on 12th January in his bid to seek vote of confidence and then declare war against the judiciary and Army’s top leadership. But his effort backfired because of lukewarm response of allied parties who didn’t favor policy of confrontation. Seeing that Gilani was heading towards a head on suicidal clash with the judiciary as well as the Army, the three allied parties of PPP got nervy and firmly advised its leadership to avoid collision at all costs and opt for reconciliation.

Nawaz and Imran have warned of launching country wide protest movement if the government tries to defy SC ruling on 16th and doesn’t hold early elections. PML-N is actively contemplating en-block resignations from Assemblies. These fast forward events have taken the wind out of the sails of jingoistic PPP leadership and it is quite likely that from now onwards there will be a visible change in its attitude and things would get back to normal. Holding of Defence Committee meeting on 14 January chaired by PM and attended by CJSC and three services chiefs has been viewed as a positive sign and it seems that ice has begun to melt.

Irrespective of the apparent thaw, one thing is clear that government-Army relations will not be as cordial as they were prior to 2 May. The Army will not support the government in its confrontation with the judiciary. The government will avoid fighting political war on two fronts. In the face of twin threat, Zardari will make concerted efforts to regain confidence of the Army chief. One way is that he uses his discretionary powers to reinstate sacked Secretary Defence. He will also advise Gilani that rather than he getting disqualified, he should voluntarily resign so as to pacify SC and thus ease pressure of judiciary on him and the government. This move will enable the government to buy time, hold Senate elections and be in a stronger position to make preparations for elections by October and also to take some corrective measures to improve its image.

Saner elements however disfavor early elections arguing that no single party will be able to gain simple majority to form a government. A hung parliament with the same lot of politicians in their view will be unable to steer the country out of the mess created by current government. They opine that chief justice backed by Army should be mandated to form a care taker regime for about two years, which should select honest and efficient technocrats capable of clearing the mess. In my view, Imran Khan should head this regime. Once the economy comes out of the woods, institutions become healthy, fresh electoral rolls are prepared by independent Election Commission, fair and free elections could then be held. Or else, people may be asked at the termination of caretaker regime’s tenure whether they would prefer the government of technocrats or parliamentary system. There is lot of weight in this suggestion and may be pondered over.

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U.S. Costs Soar For New War Supply Routes

admin — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 13:48:04 +0000

The U.S. is paying six times as much to send war supplies to troops in Afghanistan through alternate routes after Pakistan’s punitive decision in November to close border crossings to NATO convoys, the Associated Press has learned. Islamabad shut down two key Pakistan border crossings after a U.S. airstrike killed two dozen Pakistani soldiers in late November, and it is unclear when the crossings might reopen.

Pentagon figures provided to the AP show it is now costing about $104 million per month to send the supplies through a longer northern route. That is $87 million more per month than when the cargo moved through Pakistan. While U.S. officials have acknowledged that using alternate transportation routes for Afghan war supplies is more expensive and takes longer, the total costs had not been revealed until now. The Pentagon provided the cost figures to the AP on Thursday.

U.S. officials said Thursday the elevated costs are likely to continue for some time, as U.S.-Pakistan tensions remain high and Pakistan has not yet offered to restore the transport arrangement or to begin negotiations on the matter. Until the closure, the U.S. had relied on Pakistani routes to move about one-third of all war supplies for Afghanistan.The U.S. has given Pakistan more than $20 billion in aid since 9/11, including civilian and military assistance. But over the past year, relations with Islamabad have been strained by a series of incidents, including the U.S. assault in Pakistan last May that killed Osama bin Laden.

Pakistani leaders have also complained about repeated U.S. drone strikes into their country. The strikes, largely by the CIA, target militants hiding along Pakistan’s border who launch attacks against NATO troops in Afghanistan.

The final straw, however, was the Nov. 26 cross-border attack, which hit two Pakistani border posts, enraging the Pakistani government and further eroding already shaky relations.

The U.S. blamed the errant airstrikes on a series of communications and coordination errors on both sides. American officials expressed regret but have not apologized for the incident, insisting that Pakistan fired first. Pakistan denies that and has called it an unprovoked attack.

In addition to closing the border crossings, Pakistan ordered the U.S. to vacate Shamsi air base, which the U.S. was using to launch drone strikes at al-Qaida and Taliban militants.

Over the past year or so, the U.S. military has been shrinking its reliance on the Pakistani routes, which are used to transport fuel and other non-lethal supplies. U.S. officials say they could manage indefinitely without that access if Pakistan either makes the closure permanent or offers to reopen it under unacceptable conditions.

Officials said that moves by Pakistan to briefly close the supply routes on two previous occasions after disputes with the U.S. prompted the Pentagon to begin shifting more to the northern crossings. Officials also believe that even if Pakistan eventually opens the supply routes, that there will be additional fees charged, so the alternate routes would help avoid those extra costs.

On the other hand, sending NATO convoys through Pakistan is seen by Washington as a significant piece of the overall U.S.-Pakistani partnership. Failure to reinstate those routes would signal a more severe diplomatic breach between the two countries at a critical time in the Afghan war and the ongoing battle against insurgents who seek sanctuary on the Pakistan side of the border.

According to U.S. officials, 85 percent of fuel supplies for the war effort in Afghanistan are now going through the northern supply routes, along with 30 percent of the supplies that had routinely come through Pakistan.

The northern routes connect Baltic and Caspian Sea ports with Afghanistan through Russia and Central Asia and the Caucases. And they combine sea, rail and truck transport.

There may be, however, some movement by Pakistan to allow certain civilian Afghan supplies through the closed routes.

Dependent on Pakistan for its imports, landlocked Afghanistan has asked authorities in Pakistan to release hundreds of vehicles stacked with goods and fuel that are being held up along with NATO supplies.

Pakistani officials say they are sorting through the thousands of stranded vehicles to push through supplies for Afghans. So far, the Pakistanis have given no indication of when they will open the border for NATO supplies to Afghanistan.

There has been limited contact between top U.S. and Pakistani officials.

Last week, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, talked by phone with his Pakistani counterpart, Army Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, their first contact since Dec. 21. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has not spoken to Pakistani leaders since the incident.

Source: Associated Press

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‘Let Us Not Stand Between A US Soldier And His Diaper!’ Dr. Mazari Appeals To Pakistan Government

admin — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 10:14:05 +0000

Following reports that Washington has quietly asked Islamabad to release ‘military diapers’ used by US soldiers in Afghanistan, Dr. Shireen Mazari, a longtime critic of US policies in the region, has issued a passionate appeal to the Pakistani government.

Her take is simple: United States has killed scores of Pakistanis through drone attacks and embezzled funds it owes Pakistan for war effort as per agreements, but we should look humanely at the latest predicament of US combat forces in Afghanistan.

This is her statement as received by PakNationalists.net: Special Report

“As I a wife and a mother, I appeal to the government of the United States to please wean their soldiers off pampers in Afghanistan as soon as possible so that they are able to fight like adults on behalf of US military. Clearly the diaper usage is hindering their soldiering despite the hi-tech weapons they are equipped with. It is obvious the diaper is their Achilles heel! Of course the need for diapers also reflects the terror that strikes these soldiers when they confront or even search out the enemy!

I appeal to the Pakistan government on humanitarian grounds to retrieve the pampers from NATO containers and send them to US forces in Afghanistan. Or perhaps humanitarian NGOs in Pakistan especially those receiving US funding can purchase pampers locally and gift them to US forces. This would also be a small boost to our economy!

The US has embezzled us of money owed to the Coalition Support Fund. It has imprisoned innocent Pakistanis in Guantanamo Bay. Its citizens have used violence against innocent Pakistanis in the US. It has murdered our innocent tribesmen and women in drone attacks. The list goes on. But before US assets, now settled in Pakistan, accuse us of depriving a US soldier of his basic human rights, and purely on humanitarian grounds, let us not stand in the way of an American US soldier and his diaper.” It is not clear if Dr. Mazari made a genuine plea or was simply making a statement in jest. US diplomats under former ambassador Anne W. Patterson had lobbied hard and successfully to block her decade-long weekly column in Pakistani newspapers.

US government and military are embarrassed at the difficulties caused by a shortage of diapers for US soldiers in Afghanistan. American spokespersons are finding it hard to discuss the issue publicly.

The story was first released by ace Pakistani investigative journalist Ansar Abbasi of The News International.

Initially an American diplomat, Mark Stoth, denied knowledge of the diaper issue saying ‘I am not a soldier’ and so could not guess military requirements in a war zone.

But a day later both Stoth and an American NATO spokesman in Afghanistan came out with a statement claiming the story was a ‘complete fabrication.’

Independent analysts said modified diapers might be useful to US soldiers who can't leave their tanks or armored vehicles in combat situations.

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Big Guns called to Bust Memo Shell

admin — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 07:54:15 +0000

The Nation PK

The judicial commission tasked with investigating the memo controversy on Wednesday issued notices to President Asif Ali Zardari, Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and PML-N President Mian Nawaz Sharif to appear in person to record their statements.

President’s spokesperson Farhatullah Babar was not available to confirm the receipt of the notice, but a close aide said the president had received the notice. ISPR Director General General Athar Abbas did not respond to calls made on his cell to confirm whether the Army chief had received the notice or not.

On the other hand, complying with the directions of judicial commission, the government officially approached Research In Motion (RIM), a Canadian Company, on Tuesday requesting a copy of BBM record of contacts between former ambassador Husain Haqqani and Mansoor Ijaz, two main characters of the memogate scandal.

The commission, in its very first meeting held on 1st January in the premises of Islamabad High Court, issued notices to DG Inter-Services Intelligence Shuja Pasha, Mansoor Ijaz, Husain Haqqani, General James Jones and other main respondents in the case to appear before the judicial body on January 9.

Sources say the PML-N president has received the notice and is expected to appear before the three-member commission on January 9.

All respondents including the Army chief, the ISI Chief, the PML-N president and Husain Haqqani had submitted their statements in the Supreme Court last month.

However, President Zardari has yet to file his statement.

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Mehsud’s Deputy Confirms Receiving Payment From India to Kill Colonel Imam

admin — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 05:50:27 +0000

Afghan Taliban and Pakistani militants have held a series of meetings aimed at containing what could soon be open warfare between the two most powerful Pakistani Taliban leaders, militant sources have said. Hakimullah Mehsud, the head of the Pakistani Taliban, also known as the Tehreek-i-Taliban (TTP), and his deputy, Waliur Rehman, were at each other’s throats, the sources said.

“You will soon hear that one of them has eliminated the other, though hectic efforts are going on by other commanders and common friends to resolve differences between the two,” one TTP commander said.

Any division within the TTP could hinder the Afghan Taliban and al Qaeda’s struggle in Afghanistan against the United States and its allies, making it more difficult to recruit young fighters and disrupting safe havens in Pakistan used by the Afghan militants.

Despite multiple reports of the Rehman-Mehsud split, Rehman told Reuters on Tuesday there was no problem between the two. “There are no differences between us,” Rehman said.

The TTP, formed in 2007, is an umbrella group of various Pakistani militant factions operating in Pakistan’s unruly northwestern tribal areas along the porous border with Afghanistan. It has long struggled with its choice of targets. Some factions are at war with the Pakistani state while others concentrate on the fight against the United States and its allies in Afghanistan.There has been a noticeable decrease in militant attacks in Pakistan, but there continue to be random acts of violence across the country. Al Qaeda and Afghan Taliban commanders are asking the TTP to provide more men for the fight in Afghanistan and are looking to smooth over the dispute between Mehsud and Rehman.

Long-standing feuds

Taliban sources said Rehman had ordered his fighters to kill Mehsud because of his increasing closeness with al Qaeda and its Arab contingent. Mehsud’s former deputy has also confirmed that the TTP chief received money from Pakistan’s arch-rival, India, to kill former ISI official Colonel Imam, who was acting as a mediator between the Pakistani Taliban, Afghan insurgents and the Pakistani government.

The reported enmity between Mehsud and Rehman is not the only conflict within the TTP ranks. Mehsud has a long-standing feud with militant commanders Maulvi Nazeer in South Waziristan and Hafiz Gul Bahadur in North Waziristan, both of whom have non-aggression agreements with the Pakistani military.

Mehsud’s men have also fought with the militia under the control of Fazal Saeed Haqqani, the former TTP head in the Kurram tribal region. He has accused Mehsud of killing his commanders and innocent people and kidnapping for ransom. Haqqani, who is close to the militant Afghan Haqqani network, broke away from the TTP last year.

A pamphlet distributed by militants in North Waziristan this week announced the formation of a council to try to resolve the conflicts.
“All jihadi forces have jointly, on the recommendation of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, formed a five-member commission which will be known as the Shura Muraqba,” the pamphlet said, using the term by which the Afghan Taliban describe themselves.

“The Shura Muraqba will be working to resolve differences and problems between mujahideen.” It said that any “mujahideen” found to have committed an “unlawful” killing or kidnapping would be punished under Islamic law. It is likely any attack on a fellow “mujahideen” commander would be considered “unlawful”.

“All mujahideen should respect the decisions of the council that has been set up,” a senior commander of the Haqqani faction in Kurram said.

“If people continue to do as they like, the situation will not improve. Things will instead get much worse.”

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Supreme Court gives Last Chance to Govt for Implementation of NRO Verdict

admin — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 08:37:46 +0000

Nation.com.pk

A five-member bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday resumed hearing into NRO implementation case. Justice Asif Saeed Khosa was heading the bench. Meanwhile, the court summoned Chairman of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on January 10. The bench ordered investigations against former OGDCL chief Adnan Khwaja. ‘How were Adnan Khwaja and Ahmed Riaz appointed,’ Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa asked. The judge said that how come a matriculation pass and convicted person was appointed as MD. He said that the court was giving last chance to concerning department to implement the NRO verdict of the SC. “If court order was not implement, the court will not issue any order instead it will take action,” he ruled.

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Pakistan: Political Hub of the Few Dead People

admin — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 17:17:55 +0000

When an aggressor foresees the defeat coming, it resorts to massive killing and destruction of the habitats and tries to undo the “fear of unknown.” The recent killing of 24 Pakistani sleeping military men is the outcome of this American strategy working across Pakistan and Afghanistan. Late historian Professor Howard Zinn used to argue that “history is a weapon” that can not be ignored. This week in a CNN talk, famous American author David McCullough (author of Truman and John Adams) reminded the audience that history is a powerful reader and a weapon for change and development of a nation. How strange that most Pakistanis seem to have neglected the role of modern history in their search for change and adaptability to the future.

Mahboob A. Khawaja, Ph.D. – Opinion Maker

Devoid of common sense and lessons of the living history, Pakistan is run by dead politicians who lack even self-consciousness –moral or intellectual identity, and whose record is full of crimes and corruption against the very people they claim to represent. The ruling Bhutto family-PPP now under Asif Zardari and his colleagues have infected the body politics of Pakistan with corruption and political tyranny, draining out all of the positive thinking and creative energies of the nation for change, development and for a promising future. Strangely and alarming appears to be the emotional outburst and mindless behavior of some hired agents of the Pakistani landscape to celebrate the day of Miss Bhutto who was killed in a political gathering. If there is any law and justice to protect the interests of the people of Pakistan, Zardari and his gang must be tried in a court of law for systematic and on-going corruption and killing of the population. In some instances, they were indicted but continue to rule the people. These political thugs and indicted criminals should not be allowed to hold offices of public responsibility. The besieged nation MUST see itself in the mirror and learn from the dead past, to change the future course of history and to articulate a new beginning – a new political system under the new educated generation of honest, intelligent and visionary leadership to strive for a promising future.

Pakistan is besieged between its ideology, its meaning and the encompassing corruption and wicked political governance. Alarming rates of domestic and foreign generated bloody conflicts –the “war on terrorism” have sucked up the resources of the poverty stricken nation for change and development goals. The military leaders and the politicians are ignorant of the consequences of such catastrophic engagements. The nation lives in great discord under corrupt political governance as it slipped away from its original roots of the ideological THINKING to encounter the emerging political challenges of the contemporary 21st century world. Islam, the real lifeline and identity of the Muslims, has been denied its rightful place in the working of institutions and governance of Pakistan. If Islam is not the point of reference for the Muslims, then what else would be relevant and rational to make sense for the existence of the nation?

When pretension and stingy greed give life to politically manipulated leadership, treachery and oppression become the rule of political governance in which people are seen as eggs and chickens, conveniently broken and slaughtered and politicians are akin to assume the above normal role play lacking legitimacy and accountability. Pakistani politics regrettably as is, a venture of intrigues, self-engineered conspiracies and dead roll calls to explain the history of this beleaguered nation. Feudal lords are the political masters, and Bhutto family with complacent army Generals, has been one of them to unfold a naïve and destructive chapter of the Pakistan’s political misfortunes. Mr. ZA Bhutto, the leader of the PPP, his daughter late Benazir Bhutto, two of her brothers, all are dead but they still ruling the country by imposter Zardari as the master of the ceremony. Alive or dead, Bhutto family has been at the centre of political intrigues and destructive consequences in Pakistan. How irrational and untrue it seems that dead people are leading the living masses of Pakistan?

Pakistan, a Muslim nation of living people is governed by physically, morally and politically dead people who cannot change the course of history nor make any difference to the present volatile politics carving a hopeless future. Islamically, dead are those who are forgetful of the memory of Allah, ignorant and arrogant people devoid of public accountability. The PPP regime under Zardari meets the set criterion requirements. The political elite sees its best interests in engaging with dead ideas and foreign strategies and buying time for good times at the expense of the nation toll of miseries and havoc social and political conditions. The overwhelming occupation of the dead minds and souls is to see how best they could exploit the common citizens or to get foreign monetary assistance to finance the self and bogus projects for change and economic development.
Of all the political and intellectual bankruptcy, unit recently, the ruling elite was preoccupied to investigate the killing of Miss Benazir Bhutto, the ex PM and twice dismissed on corruption charges and under investigation for 12-15 money laundering schemes along with her husband Asif Ali Zardari, the current self-made President and inheritor of her “suspected bogus will.” The Zardari regime invested $40 million to the dysfunctional UN to come up with a fact finding report on the killing of Miss Bhutto. One wonders, while country is experiencing a life and death economic situation with daily terrorist suicide bombings and civilian bloodsheds and non-productive economy and catastrophic social and political saga, should this been the top priority of the nation to conduct political surgery on the dead body of Miss Bhutto? What importance does Miss Bhutto has in relation to the political history, security, integrity and the future of Pakistan? What would come out of the dead bodies and graveyard? How would dead celebrities change the misfortune of the nation? There are plenty of Pakistanis with living conscience to question the absurdity of these politically manufactured delusions as dead politicians have nothing else to do to remedy the sufferings of the 180 million living human beings.

Mr. ZA Bhutto was ordered to be hanged by the Supreme Court on charges of killing a political opponent. By Pakistani standards, the trial

was open and non-partisan. He was never elected to be a leader in one Pakistan (comprising both of the East and West Pakistan) as it was Sheikh Mujib ur Rehman, leader of the National Awami Party with majority to assume the leadership but military intervention deprived him the role of a united Prime Minister as it was conspired by Bhutto and General Yayha Khan. Both were active complacent in the surrender of almost 100,000 Pakistani troops and killings of countless innocent civilians in the former East Pakistan enabling them to remain in power. ZA Bhutto did not die for Pakistan except for the self.

Did Miss Bhutto die for Islam? No
Did Miss Bhutto die for Pakistan? No
Did Miss Bhutto die for democracy and freedom of the captive nation? No

ZA Bhutto met his ambitions by conspiring to disintegrate Pakistan and surrender to India and got hanged for the political murder. Benazir Bhutto met her ambition by allegedly killing General Zia ul Haq with 12 other army Generals and 100 or so civilians in the 1988 plane crash and finally was gunned down at an election rally. Zardari has just scarified a black goat to warn off the evils but his future increasingly becoming short-lived and uncertain. It is rational to assume that dead people make no difference to the living creation of God. The PPP ruling elite finds it convenient to draw the legitimacy for political governance from the dead ZA Bhutto and dead Benazir Bhutto; otherwise, there is no rational political basis which could stand as reference point to Zardari.

Facts are denied but pretension lives on that the Bhuttos were “shaheed”- martyrs- a political cliché to distort the facts of human life and history. To any realist observer of Pakistani affairs, it is becoming crystal clear that they are the wrong people, at wrong places and doing the wrong things. The so called American financed democracy has no relationship to the living masses across Pakistan. With 40 years of lost time and opportunities under the dictatorship of various army Generals, dismantled public institutions, devastated social and economic affairs, disjointed trades and commerce, political surge of terrorism, 12,900 civilians killed in 2009, and thousands in detention camps under the military control, and dead leadership, how could a nation be able to conduct business as usual?

Would the dead people re-emerge as visionary leaders for the future of the country? Not rationally, but Pakistani politics is not run by rational people with rational ideas and ideals for the interests of the common citizens. The junk history exhibits accumulative junk of several decades. Its inescapable consequences have brought Asif Zardari – a known thug and indicted criminal to the presidency. There could be hundreds and thousands of puppet Zardaris and Bhuttos affiliated with such an establishment. The nation has a serious problem of integrity and political credibility. The military dictators, Bhuttos, Zardari and Sharifs could never have come into politics unless the whole nation had lost the sense of PURPOSE and MEANING of its existence. Are there any concerned and proactive young people to safeguard the national interests of the present and future generations of Muslim Pakistan?

General Musharaf, Bhuttos, Zardaris and Sharifs are not the hope for the future but dead entries of the darkest part of the Pakistani history. They collaboratively articulated a culture of political exploitation and institutionalized corruption to transform Pakistan into a so called “failed state” and according to the US Foreign Policy magazine, “most dangerous place on earth.” They helped to bring religious terrorism into the Pakistani mainstream and victimized the nation. In the course of history, the consequences of this man made culture gave fertile impetus to reactionary public outbursts and emerging terrorism against the ruling regimes. None of them could have done alone but hundreds and thousands of other likeminded people must have been actively involved in pursuing the similar evil goals making Pakistan- “the most dangerous place on earth.”

Leaders do lead or they are imposters and stage puppets. The criterion requirements determine the role of leaders as standing for righteousness (haq), not for falsehood (batil). They cherish the collective interests and good of the masses and defy the obsession of egoistic self-interests and they are always open to listening, learning and capable of making navigational change, if the facts of life warrant such a change. Western democratic nations eagerly search and patronize new and creative talents and people with visionary leadership outlook and merits. This appears to be a rare commodity in Pakistani politics.

To change the adverse historical trend, Pakistan is desperate for new, educated and intelligent proactive leadership to facilitate a sustainable future for the nation. In a knowledge-driven global age of rising expectations and public accountability, most developed societal politics would set criterion requirements and define standards of quality and specifications for performance in jobs/role-plays and in positions of greater public responsibility. Why are not there any written standards and defined criterion requirements for the positions of the President, Prime Ministers and Ministers and MP’s in Pakistan? Should the Constitution not define such salient features and characteristics of the vital office bearers? Is there any law and justice system in the country to protect the interests of the beleaguered masses? Are the leaders not supposed to provide intellectual security and sense of direction in crises, and a visionary picture of the future to the nation they claim to represent? Under what operational system, do thugs and indicted criminals get legitimacy and approval to hold public offices for which they do not even qualify?

180 millions living human beings continue to experience terrible social, economic and political consequences of the dead politics of Pakistan. Are there any THINKING people in the Pakistani society who worry about the future of the Muslim nation? Are there any concerned intellectuals and political activists who could take initiatives to plan and change the course of being a “failed state” unto a functional and sustainable Islamic Pakistan?

When an aggressor foresees the defeat coming, it resorts to massive killing and destruction of the habitats and tries to undo the “fear of unknown.” The recent killing of 24 Pakistani sleeping military men is the outcome of this American strategy working against Pakistan and Afghanistan. Historian late Professor Howard Zinn used to argue that “history is a weapon” that can not be ignored. This week in a CNN talk, famous American author David McCullough (author of Truman and John Adams) reminded the audience that history is a powerful reader and a weapon. How strange that most Pakistanis seem to have neglected the role of modern history in their search for change and adaptability to the future. Devoid of common sense and lessons of living history, Pakistan is run by dead politicians who lacked even self-consciousness and whose record is full of crimes and corruption against the very people they claim to represent.

The ruling Bhutto family-PPP now under Asif Zardari and his colleagues have infected the body politics of Pakistan with corruption and political tyranny, draining out all of the positive thinking and creative energies of the nation for change, development and a promising future. Strangely alarming appears to be the emotional outburst and mindless behavior of some hired agents of the Pakistani landscape to celebrate the day of Miss Bhutto who was killed in a political gathering. The besieged nation MUST see itself in the mirror and learn from the dead past, to change the future course of history and to articulate a new beginning – a new political system under the new educated generation of honest, intelligent and visionary leadership to strive for a promising future.
History has a defined role and the present and future generations must give credence to these developments and learn to be aware of the future in waiting, and how best to make a navigational change to ensure independence and integrity of an Islamic Pakistan.

Suppose in few decades if some of these characters were alive and you were to ask the Generals, Bhuttos, Zardaris and Sharifs, what went wrong with them? What made them to transgress against the poor masses of Pakistan? Why were they dismissed from the public offices? What compel them to sell the interests of Pakistan in return for cash US dollar payments or secret bank accounts in the Western world? What made them to act as cruel monsters to the interest of the Pakistani people? Why could they not change their wrong THINKING and WRONG behaviors? Surely, they will all claim innocence and blame others. But history sees the leaders by their actions, not by their claims.

A century earlier, Robert Briffault (The Making of Humanity), made a candid observation which amicably represents the contemporary Pakistani politics: “The men who have most injured and oppressed humanity, who have most deeply sinned against it, were according to their standards and their conscience, good men; what was bad in them, what wrought moral evil and cruelty, treason to truth and progress, was not at all their intentions, in their purpose, in their personal character, but in their opinions.”

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