DAWN.COM Ayesha Jalal

Mohammad Ali Jinnah envisaged Pakistan as a modern democratic state. Threatened by a deadly insurgency in the northwestern tribal areas linked to the American-led war in Afghanistan, and rent by conflict between and within the elected and non-elected institutions, Pakistan today could not be further away from its founder’s vision.

The disregard shown to the rule of law by successive governments, military and civil, is an unconscionable blot on the legacy of the great constitutionalist lawyer, whose memory is invoked with ritualistic fervour. With recurrent derailments of political processes, deteriorating educational standards and curbs on the press, the public discourse on Jinnah’s vision has been open to widespread political manipulation and distortion.

Instead of realising professed ideals, Pakistanis are mired in a sterile debate between so-called ‘Islamic fundamentalists’ and ‘secular modernists’, the latter defined incorrectly as la din or anti-religion. To pose the problem in such terms leaves little scope for a satisfactory resolution of the central question Pakistanis face at this vital juncture in their history: what sort of Pakistan do they want—an inward looking, orthodox religious one or a modern, enlightened and progressive country? continue

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Imran Khan does not want confrontation with anyone at this moment. But he’s confronting them all right. Click here to watch his video message to the residents of Karachi.

SPECIAL REPORT | PakNationalists.com

You don’t want a fight with the bull but you go to his home wearing red. That’s what PTI is doing in Karachi tomorrow. Imran khan’s PTI is avoiding direct criticism of ANP and MQM, the two parties that hold Pakistan’s largest city hostage to violent and divisive politics. Most Karachiites are sick of both but can’t talk. And Imran won’t too. It’s called politics. The focus now is to get rid of the ruling PPPP and the second largest party, the PMLN.

PTI wants to avoid any sideshows at the moment. And this is a wise strategy.

But make no mistake: PTI is shaking all of them in the knees. And if anyone thinks ANP and MQM are happy to see PTI in town, he is mistaken.

PTI’s rally in Karachi tomorrow is the first major rally for any Pakistani political party in that city in a decade. It ends an abnormal situation where one or two Karachi-based parties have controlled Pakistan’s largest city using violent and divisive politics. Imran Khan’s rally will break this monopoly. continue

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Military observers now believe that the NATO aircraft which attacked and killed 24 Pakistani soldiers were in fact sent to rescue the TTP terrorists who had been encircled by Pakistani forces near Silalah check posts.

by Akhtar Jamal

The defence observers who are closely monitoring the situation told Pakistan Observer that reports suggest that Pakistani soldiers had encircled a group of TTP terrorists who had been active in the most difficult area where Pakistani armed forces had gained ground after paying much sacrifice. 

According to a report a group of TTP terrorists who had penetrated from Afghanistan had been surrounded by Pakistani armed forces in the region on November 25 and were about to be eliminated from within next few hours. But all of a sudden NATO aircraft reached and mercilessly attacked Pakistan army’s check posts. Pakistani officials in the region immediately sent messages to their ISAF counterparts in Afghanistan notifying the attack by aircraft but no action was taken and the attack continued for more than thirty minutes destroying all two Pakistan check posts in the area. continue

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One day an idea is discussed on Twitter in Pakistan. Next day, an anti-military draft is released in Hong Kong, and another submitted to the Supreme Court in Islamabad.

SPECIAL REPORT | PakNationalists.com

Here is an interesting sequence of events that shows how Pakistan’s military and its main foreign intelligence-gathering agency, the ISI, are targeted from the inside by a group of Pakistanis conspiring against a vital pillar of the State.

One day, a group of Pakistanis linked to foreign embassies decides to launch a legal campaign to oust and prosecute the two generals that lead the army and the ISI.

The next day, a rights group based in Hong Kong issues a detailed slanderous paper full of lies and insinuations against our military, mirroring and endorsing biased and motivated propaganda coming from foreign countries. Of course, the Pakistani viewpoint is not reflected in the document.

On the same day, a case is filed in the Supreme Court demanding Army chief Gen. Kayani and ISI’s Lt. Gen. Pasha are tried for treason.

What is Kayani and Pasha’s crime? The two have overreached – in the eyes of the conspirators – in probing whether someone from Pakistan wrote a secret memo to the US government seeking support to mount a coup against the country’s military and intelligence leaderships, replacing them with US stooges. continue

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The Inter Services Public Relations department (ISPR) has denied a media report which had stated that DG Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) Shuja Pasha had met Arab leaders to discuss a military coup in Pakistan. A statement released by ISPR on their website on Wednesday clarified that Pasha did not meet any Arab leaders between May 1-9, 2011 and the report was published “without verification at any level”.

It says:
DG ISI’s other visits to Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and UAE only, prior to or after this period, were part of routine intelligence sharing activity, during which he interacted with his counterparts only.

The ISPR statement says that a legal notice will also be served to the British newspaper to retract the story. Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz, the whistleblower behind the Memogate affair, claimed that Pasha had visited Arab countries for discussions on a possible coup, according to media reports. continue

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The twilight of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) – an outlawed umbrella of militant groups – appears to have set in.

The group responsible for most violence in the country is in disarray with its ‘chain of command’ crumbling, funds dwindling and infighting intensifying, admit Taliban foot soldiers. “It appears the TTP’s days are numbered … what was a well-coordinated militia just a year ago has fragmented now and dozens of splinters groups have emerged,” a disgruntled member of the network told.

At least two associates of the group in South Waziristan, the strongest bastion of TTP where its chief Hakimullah Mehsud is hiding, also confirmed this. They said Mehsud has further isolated himself due to threats to his life from the dreaded American drones and Pakistani spy agencies.

“He is virtually a lonely man running for his life … he is always on the move and doesn’t meet even his once most-trusted lieutenants,” said Muhammad, a nom de guerre because the militants seldom use their real names.

Muhammad, who lives in the North Waziristan tribal region, was in Islamabad for the treatment of some kidney ailment at a private clinic. Mehsud has stopped meeting members of his notorious network from Punjab, better known as Punjabi Taliban, suspecting that some of them might be spying on him for Pakistani agencies. continue

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Smith Richardson Foundation, an American think tank, claims that it paid $100,000 to Husain Haqqani to write a book, which attacks the Pakistan army and the military-mosque alliance and its implications for US policies. 

Haqqani came up with a book within two years and the controversial memo reflects many of the thoughts stated in his book.The think tank also claims that it funded another $175000 to Carnegie Endowment for International Peace for developing a new US policy toward Pakistan in 2004 and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace hired Husain Haqqani for the purpose. Smith Richardson Foundation is an American think tank whose mission is ‘to contribute to important public debates and to help address serious public policy challenges facing the United States.

The Foundation seeks to help ensure the vitality of our social, economic, and governmental institutions. It also seeks to assist with the development of effective policies to compete internationally and to advance US interests and values abroad. This mission is embodied in our international and domestic grant programs.’ The website of Smith Richardson Foundation shows under the link: http://www.srf.org/grants/grantsdb.php? username=&lg=1 that in 2003 a sum of $100,000 was given as grant to Carnegie Endowment for International Peace regarding ‘Mosque-Military Alliance in Pakistan and Implications for US Policy’. continue

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