Pakistan - News and Discussion -7

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-Mudy+Aug 30 2006, 10:31 AM-->QUOTE(Mudy @ Aug 30 2006, 10:31 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->
Where is BV Island?
[right][snapback]56479[/snapback][/right]
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British Virgin Island!

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->People    British Virgin Islands Top of Page 
Population:   
23,098 (July 2006 est.) 
Economy - overview: 
The economy, one of the most stable and prosperous in the Caribbean, is highly dependent on tourism, generating an estimated 45% of the national income. An estimated 350,000 tourists, mainly from the US, visited the islands in 1998. Tourism suffered in 2002 because of the lackluster US economy. In the mid-1980s, the government began offering offshore registration to companies wishing to incorporate in the islands, and incorporation fees now generate substantial revenues. Roughly 400,000 companies were on the offshore registry by yearend 2000. The adoption of a comprehensive insurance law in late 1994, which provides a blanket of confidentiality with regulated statutory gateways for investigation of criminal offenses, made the British Virgin Islands even more attractive to international business. Livestock raising is the most important agricultural activity; poor soils limit the islands' ability to meet domestic food requirements. Because of traditionally close links with the US Virgin Islands, the British Virgin Islands has used the US dollar as its currency since 1959. 
GDP (purchasing power parity):   
$853.4 million (2004 est.) 
GDP (official exchange rate): 
NA 
GDP - real growth rate:   
1% (2002 est.) 
GDP - per capita (PPP):   
$38,500 (2004 est.) 
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[Naresh]

<!--QuoteBegin-Mudy+Aug 30 2006, 08:01 PM-->QUOTE(Mudy @ Aug 30 2006, 08:01 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->
Where is BV Island?
Liberia is investing in Pakistan  <!--emo&:roll--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ROTFL.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ROTFL.gif' /><!--endemo-->
[right][snapback]56479[/snapback][/right]<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

<b>Mudy Ji :</b>

The investing Companies registered in UK, USA, Switzerland, Hong Kong, BV Islands, Singapore and Liberia are mainly Pakistani Controlled (Drug Monies etc.) and need not necessarily have a physical presence in these Countries.

The Investor Companies from Kuwait, Saudi Aria and UAE are mainly the Sheiks, Emirs etc. with a certain amount of Pakistani Ex-Pat participation.

Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[Guest]

Mudy, Naresh has a point. For example, most merchant vessels or cruise ships (even those that operate in US) are registered in Liberia (Panama is the only nation with higher numbers of ships on their registry).
One of the reason being (was explained to me by a sea-farer type) is that laws/regulations are pretty easy there.

So you only have to guess as who these Liberian investors are. Must be accounts set up during Afgha-Soviet war of 80s <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tongue.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[Guest]

<!--emo&:liar liar--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/liar.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='liar.gif' /><!--endemo--> Pak’s double game
Two-sided policy against extremists unsustainable
by Pamela Constable

ISLAMABAD – For the past five years, Pakistan has pursued a risky, two-sided policy toward Islamic militancy, positioning itself as a major ally in the Western-led war against global terrorism while reportedly allowing homegrown Muslim insurgent groups to meddle in neighboring India and Afghanistan.

Now, two high-profile cases of terrorism—a day of gruesome, sophisticated train bombings in India in mid-July and a plot foiled this month to blow up planes leaving Britain for the United States – have cast a new spotlight on Pakistan’s ambiguous, often starkly contradictory roles as both a source and suppressor of Islamic violence, according to Pakistani and foreign experts.

Moreover, increasing evidence of links between international attacks and groups long tolerated or nurtured in Pakistan, including the Taliban and Kashmiri separatists, are making it difficult for the military-led government here to reconcile its policy of courting religious groups at home while touting its anti-terrorist credentials abroad.

“The conundrum for the military still persists,” said Talat Masood, a retired Pakistani army general. “The question always is, should we totally ban these organizations or keep them for later use?” Although the government has “selectively” prosecuted extremist groups, he said, “at the conceptual level, it has deliberately followed an ambiguous policy.”

The basic problem for Pakistan’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, is that he is trying to please two irreconcilable groups. Abroad, the leader of this impoverished Muslim country is frantically competing with arch-rival India, a predominantly Hindu country, for American political approval and economic ties. To that end, he has worked hard to prove himself as a staunch anti-terrorism ally.

But at home, where he hopes to win election in 2007 after eight years as a self-appointed military ruler, Musharraf needs to appease Pakistan’s Islamic parties to counter strong opposition from its secular ones. He also needs to keep alive the Kashmiri and Taliban insurgencies on Pakistan’s borders to counter fears within military ranks that India, which has developed close ties with the Kabul government, is pressuring its smaller rival on two flanks.

“It is clear that our current policy of stout denial fools nobody,” columnist Irfan Husain wrote in the Dawn newspaper last Saturday. By allowing Islamic militant groups to flourish while seeking praise for helping to break up the plot in Britain, he said, Pakistani officials are “determined to see only one side of the coin,” but “the rest of the world is bent on examining the other side very closely indeed.”

Until recently, Musharraf had handled this balancing act with some success, Pakistani and foreign experts said. He formally banned several radical Islamic groups while quietly allowing them to survive. He sent thousands of troops to the Afghan border while Taliban insurgents continued to slip back and forth. Meanwhile, his security forces arrested more than 700 terrorism suspects, earning Western gratitude instead of pressure to get tougher on homegrown violence.

But this summer, a drumbeat of terrorist violence and plotting in India, Britain and Afghanistan have begun to blur the distinction between regional and international Islamic violence. Pakistan, which has a large intelligence apparatus, is now in the awkward position of denying any knowledge of local militants’ links to bombings in India and Afghanistan, while claiming credit for exposing their alleged roles in the London airliner plot.

“It is ironic that our very success in thwarting plots and arresting a large number of terrorists reinforces the perception that this country is a bastion of terrorism,” said Shafqat Mahmood, a former Pakistani legislator, suggesting that Islamic militancy has been permitted to flourish in Pakistan at the country’s peril. “Our triumphs in the war against terror have become advertisements of our failure,” he said.

In a recent interview, Riaz Mohammed Khan, Pakistan’s foreign secretary, said his government “opposes all terrorism” and had worked diligently to expose the role of Pakistanis in the London plot. Pakistan has arrested a British national of Pakistani origin, Rashid Rauf, whom sources described as a member of a banned sectarian group, Jaish-i-Muhammed. Pakistan also placed under house arrest the former head of Lashkar-i-Taiba, another militant group blamed by India in the bombings. (Now released. – Ed)

Despite the arrests, Indian officials suggested that Musharraf, after sincere efforts to curb militant groups, was now giving them freer rein in order to secure their electoral support. They said that both the Taliban and some pro-Kashmir militants had now gone beyond their original aims and forged ties to al-Qaida.

“Whether this is a loss of control by Musharraf or a deliberate shift in strategy, for us the results are the same,” said a senior Indian official in New Delhi. In Afghanistan, officials have repeatedly accused Pakistan of harboring and aiding the revived Taliban insurgency, which has launched a wave of violent attacks and suicide bombings across the southern part of the country this spring and summer. Pakistan has denied the charges and periodically arrested some Taliban figures, but there are widespread reports of insurgents operating freely on both sides of the border.

As for India, Pakistan is eager to resolve the Kashmir issue, but its relations with New Delhi have been hostile for years and remained captive to the persistent violence in the territory. India has repeatedly accused Pakistan of sending armed insurgents across the border, but Pakistan has insisted it provides only political support to the separatists.

But critics said Pakistan’s problems with Islamic violence cannot be resolved as long as the military remains in power. In an unusual move last month, a diverse group of senior former civilian and military officials wrote an open letter to Musharraf, warning that the country is becoming dangerously polarized and that a uniformed presidency only exacerbates the problem by politicizing the armed forces. The only solution, the group wrote, is a transition to a “complete and authentic democracy.”

— By arrangement with LA Times-Washington Post

[Guest]

<b>UK poses biggest terror threat to America</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->They single out British Pakistanis as a "danger" to the United States, prompting suggestions last night that the system that allows UK passport holders to travel freely across the Atlantic needs to be reviewed urgently.

The explosive allegations come amid growing concerns in Washington about what has been dubbed "Londonistan" - Britain's reputation as a breeding ground for Islamic extremism
.....
An article in the New Republic magazine details how this summer's terror alert has left a question mark in the US over the trustworthiness of young Asians in Britain who trace their roots back to Pakistan and in particular Kashmir.

It highlights how extremists with links to Pakistan have been implicated in a string of attacks and plots against Western targets, often after attending training camps run by terror organisations.

........

The article, headlined "Kashmir on Thames", declares: "For terrorist organisations like al-Qa'eda - which, in the years since American troops deposed the Taliban, has reconstituted itself in Pakistan - ethnic Pakistanis living in the UK make perfect recruits, since they speak English and can travel on British passports.

"Indeed, in the wake of this month's high-profile arrests, it can now be argued that the biggest threat to US security emanates not from Iran or Iraq or Afghanistan but rather from Great Britain, our closest ally."

It points out that up to 400,000 British Pakistanis travel back to the country each year, and that many of them have links with Kashmir, which has been the target of a violent militant movement designed to end Indian control of the territory.

Its authors, Peter Bergen and Paul Cruikshank, are well-established experts on Islamic extremism, and the New Republic is an influential voice in Washington.

They say: <b>"The danger to the United States of the nexus between British Pakistanis, al-Qa'eda and Kashmir is becoming clear," </b>adding: "Of more concern...is the likelihood that British Pakistanis will continue to target Americans, both in the US and abroad."
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[Naresh]

[center]<b><span style='font-size:21pt;line-height:100%'>India is putting the squeeze on General Musharraf</span></b> <!--emo&:flush--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Flush.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='Flush.gif' /><!--endemo--> [/center]

Despite General Pervez Musharraf’s clear signal to India through a recent interview to an Indian publication that Pakistan is prepared to do its best to keep the dialogue process moving, <b>the Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, has said that New Delhi is not about to soften its hard line. Dr Singh is reported to have categorically stated that the peace process between India and Pakistan would not go forward until Islamabad ended its support for terrorist groups.</b> “This cannot go forward if Pakistan does not deal with terrorism firmly. What has Pakistan done to control terrorism? Both countries have a common obligation to ensure that terrorist elements are firmly dealt with.” The remarks came in response to a question about whether his meeting with General Musharraf on the sidelines of the upcoming Non-Aligned Movement meeting in Havana would help jump-start the process which has been stalled since the Mumbai bomb blasts on July 11.

The elements in India and Pakistan that were hoping for a breakthrough at Havana may have to wait a little longer for the process to begin lumbering again. There are many factors at work. First, the process, even before the Mumbai blasts, had begun to slow down considerably. Since that event, however, India has found the space it was looking for to put the brakes on it. Dr Singh is troubled at home. There are fissures within the coalition, as also tensions in the Congress party. There is the BJP factor. The Bharatiya Janata Party has decided to go on an offensive and to counter it Dr Singh has to project a tough image. The internal compulsions are bad enough. To them are also added the regional factors. India is definitely fishing in Balochistan and while Pakistan played down that factor as long as the process was chugging along, it has now become more vocal in its allegations. The August 26 operation that killed Nawab Akbar Bugti prompted statements from New Delhi and Kabul that Pakistan has retaliated against, telling both to mind their own business and not interfere in Pakistan’s internal affairs.

This was expected. <b><span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>But the fact is that India knows that General Musharraf is in trouble at home, with the entire opposition now baying for his blood. Some influential elements in Delhi have been arguing since the Mumbai blasts — even earlier — that India should, among other things, help the opposition in Pakistan get rid of General Musharraf.</span></b> These analysts believe that General Musharraf cannot be dealt with and India needs a democratic Pakistan for lasting peace. This assessment seems to be governing the logic of New Delhi’s policies right now. It is helped by the fact that given the direction of the process, Delhi was already planning to further cut its speed.

On the plus side, it is difficult for India to continue with this policy for too long. Putting on the pressure is one thing; breaking engagement is quite another. Dr Singh is right in saying that one cannot choose one’s neighbours. So engaging Pakistan is a compulsion even if it may not be to Delhi’s liking. The only problem is that negativity quite often starts creating its own compulsions. Instead of adding value, it tends to unravel even that which has been achieved. <b>Dr Singh must weigh the consequences of any further backsliding.<span style='font-size:12pt;line-height:100%'>*</span></b>

<b><span style='font-size:12pt;line-height:100%'>* :</span> Cross Border Islamic Terrorism.</b>

Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[acharya]

http://indianterrorism.bravepages.com/index.htm

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->http://indianterrorism.bravepages.com/index.htm<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->Merely shows how desperate Pakis (and Islamos in India?) are to project Pakipark as a victim terrorised by neighbour India. All I have to say is that such propaganda ain't working.
Recent example: one of my non-Indian friends actually referred to "terrorist base countries like Afghanistan, <b>Pakistan</b>, ..." (as far as I can remember, this is the exact phrasing he used). He must have been reading the news... Ouch, the secret is out and no one is buying the dawaganda anymore. That's gotta hurt. Explains the desperate mentality behind such lame sites like the one above and india-'facts'.com. They have to invent tall tales to give their terrorist selves some company.

[Guest]

<b>In view of the recent happenings in the United Kingdom, it is not only the Muslim citizens of the United Kingdom but Muslim citizens of other countries are expected to face trouble particualrly in travelling by air. We in India recently, had the test of the things to come . Several Indian citizens travelling from the US to India via Amesterdam were arrested and subjected to utter humiliation simply because they were Muslims.
On the one hand we cannot ignore the security concern of the security agencies of various Western countries, while on the other hand we cannot be silent spectators while our fellow citizens are humiliated and disgraced while travelling on International Flights.It was in the fitness of the situation that the Ambassador of the Netherlands was summoned to the Foreign Office and handed down the letter of protest of the Goverment of India. </b>

[Guest]

Post 209:
Have I understood it correctly, or are Muslims protesting their dhimmitude?
I mean, I don't approve of it, but dhimmitude is after all an Islamic invention. One would think they wouldn't oppose it in Dar-ul-Harb lands, seeing as how the discrimination in Dar-ul-Islam lands goes the other way (and where mistreatment of the non-Ummah is infinitely worse than anything that happened in Amsterdam).

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Several Indian citizens travelling from the US to India via Amesterdam were arrested and subjected to utter humiliation simply because they were Muslims.
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What kind of humiliation they suffered?
According to news they were disobeying flight attendants and refused to follow instructions. If India want to pursue Muslim appeasement policy, why they expect rest of world be a fool like them?

Did India ever summoned US or Paki or Bangladesh or Malaysian or Singaporean diplomats when Indian Hindus faced same treatment?

[Naresh]

<b>Mudy Ji, Ravish Ji, Viren Ji et all :</b>

One does see the Bright and Rosy News Items in the Pakistani Media about the Billions upon Billions of U S Dollars flowing into Pakistan in the form of Investment.

Please refer to the following Table from the State Bank of Pakistan Web Site :

Net Inflow of Foreign Private Investment

http://www.sbp.org.pk/ecodata/Netinflow.pdf

2005-2006 : USD 351.5 MILLION.

What about the Billions upon Billions?

Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[Naresh]

[center]<b><span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Assets of humanity</span></b> <!--emo&:flush--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Flush.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='Flush.gif' /><!--endemo--> [/center]

In French, the 'idiots savants' means 'knowledgeable idiots'. In English too the 'idiot savants' are people who are mentally handicapped but display brilliance in a specific area. The autistic savant is one of the most fascinating phenomena in psychology. It refers to individuals with autism who have extraordinary skills not exhibited by most other people. Although, the skeptics may be unconvinced but the worldwide existence of the idiot savants is an undeniable reality. It is still a mystery, though, how these freaks of nature who suffer from an irreversible congenital disability can so remarkably make up for their mental deficiency to perform brilliantly in various fields. Their achievements especially in mathematical calculations, memory feats, artistic and musical abilities are, indeed, mind-boggling.

<b><span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>While in Pakistan there is no dearth of the ordinary idiots in every field</span></b> but there are not many renowned idiot savants around. The government should endeavour to discover them and nurture their incredible abilities to make them useful citizens of the state. –<b>FAROOQ ZAMAN, Lahore, via e-mail, August 14.</b>

Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->SUCH GUP
<b>More enemies</b>
A blood curdling statement to the Press from the family of the late Nawab Akbar Bugti ends with the line: “General Pervez Musharraf directly threatened the Baloch leaders, in particular Nawab Bugti on public television in which millions watched him when <b>he said, ‘they won’t know what will hit them’ </b>and that therefore beyond any shadow of doubt General Musharraf is directly responsible for the murber of Akbar Bugti”. So now the Baloch are also the general’s sworn enemies, a la the jihadis, and are out to get him.

... <b>angels fear to tread</b>
<b>The real PM begins his book tour in the US in the last week of September. He is all set to promote his autobiography “In the line of fire”. His first stop will be on 60 Minutes, followed the next day by NBC’s Today show, and on the subsequent morning, wait for it, Jon Stewart’s merciless comedy show. The real PM is a brave man for agreeing to appear on Stewart’s show. He will round up his book tour with a Meet the Press and an interview on National Public Radio.</b> The latter are known for their irreverence and anti-establishment stance. The real PM may find himself in the lion’s den at any time during his tour. Perhaps he is determined to venture where angels fear to tread.
<!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
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[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Nuggets from the Urdu press
<b>Changing party or changing ‘khasam’</b>According to Jang, in 1996 there was a clash between PMLQ’s Ms Tehmina Daultana and PPP’s Haji Nawaz Khokhar, who had changed loyalty to join the PPP to become a minister. Ms Daultana declared that she wished to greet the lota minister who had changed his loyalties. On this Khokhar lost his cool and said he had changed loyalties not his khasam (husband) like Ms Daultana. There was pandemonium after this and Khokhar was asked to apologise but he would not. He did so after 45 minutes of persuasion. Next day Ms Daultana made an emotional speech and repeated that Khokhar was a lota who had told her to carry ganday anday aur tamatar (rotten eggs and tomatoes) in her purse and throw them on President Leghari, but he was now a minister under him. She said she would keep a jooti (shoe) on her desk to show Khokhar if he talked to her again.

‘<b>Dhanya’ to OIC</b>
According to daily Pakistan Lahore’s stormy petrel advocate MD Tahir despatched a letter to the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) asking it to send 50 bangles one-each to the member Islamic countries for their leaders. He also sent dhanya (parsley) to the rulers as the herb is supposed to slow down the system and make an individual impervious to all excitement. He excluded only Iran, Syria and Lebanon.

<b>How Kaaba was built</b>
Magazine of Nawa-e-Waqt revealed that Kaaba was first built by angels on orders from Allah. Then Prophet Abraham and his 30 year old son Ismail came from Syria and rebuilt it on the old foundations. Ismail picked up a stone for his father to stand on to raise the walls. This stone is today called Muqam-e-Ibrahim containing the footmark of the prophet. The Black Stone was also brought down by the angels. This is where the tawaf begins.

The cloth cover of Kaaba
According to Nawa-e-Waqt magazine, the first covering of Kaaba was made by Ismail, son of Prophet Ibrahim. Hundreds of years before Islam a Yemeni king saw a dream and supplied a ghilaf made in Yemen in 423 AD with a cloth of red stripes. He also supplied a lock and a key for the Kaaba. When someone spoke ill of the king named As’ad the Holy Prophet (pbuh) rebuked him. The Quresh changed the ghilaf on every 10th of Muharram and fasted on that day. The cover was at times made of leather or jute.

How ‘ghilaf’ became ritual
As printed in an article in Nawa-e-Waqt magazine, the Holy Prophet (pbuh) arranged for a new covering for Kaaba on his last hajj. This tradition was followed by Hazrat Abu Bakr who got it made from Egyptian cloth. Hazrat Umar continued this practice but he began burying the old ghilaf before distributing its fragments among people as sacred relic. Hazrat Usman put the new ghilaf over the old one and began the practice of changing it twice in a year.

<b>Change of cover for Kaaba</b>
According to Nawa-e-Waqt the ghilaf of Kaaba was supplied by Amir Muawiyya twice a year from Damascus. These days were 10th of Muharram and 23rd of Ramadan. The Umayyads and the Abbasids continued the tradition, the latter sending the ghilaf from Baghdad. Haroon Rashid sent two but Mamun sent three in a year. Haroon Rashid sent a white one. One caliph made a green covering but after that the tradition of a black ghilaf became permanent.

<b>Great Al Qaeda men freed in Peshawar</b>
According to Daily Express a local court in Peshawar freed members of a terrorist group led by Abu Musaab Zarqawi, the Al Qaeda sectarian agent for being innocent. The group of seven contained Dr Burhan of Bangladesh with a PhD from Oxford, and Khalifa bin Hassan, a member of the ruling family of Morocco. Khalifa was sent home in a special plane. The others were two Algerians were caught in Peshawar and Batkhela, two from Tajikistan, Jamshed Ahmad and Zareef Lateef, the last one being accused of being a deputy of Zarqawi. Algerians and one Tunisian had wives and children and were living in the Tribal Areas.

<b>One million Muslims killed in 1947</b>
According to Nawa-e-Waqt magazine a million Muslims men and women were killed by Sikhs and Hindus during partition in 1947. Some estimates place the killed at 2 million. According to the 1941 census, Patiala, Kapurthala, Faridkot, Jand and Nabha contained 800,000 Muslims most of him were done to death. Only in Patiala 250,000 Muslims ‘disappeared’. Non one from Kapurthala survived. Four trains from New Delhi arrived in Lahore all over their passengers slaughtered. Bangladesh officially claims that West Pakistani troops killed 3 million in 1971.

<b>Why are Pakistanis doing terrorism?</b>
Columnist Tanvir Qaiser Shahid wrote in daily Pakistan that Aimal Kansi of Pakistan was executed in the US for killing CIA officers in 1993. Kansi said in an interview that he had killed because of the Palestinian issue. In 1995 another Pakistani Imran Haider did the same sort of thing in New York and yet another Pakistani Naveed Afzal in Seattle in 2006. In July 2005British-born Pakistanis committed terrorism in London, killing 50 innocent people, all in the name of Palestine and Iraq. Why were only Muslims involved in terrorism. Why were other Muslims not moved by Islamic grief to the same extent?

<b>Pakistan and ‘ghilaf’ of Kaaba</b>
According to Nawa-e-Waqt the cloth covering of Kaaba came from Turkey’s King since Egypt was a province of the Ottomans. But after coming to power the house of Saud didn’t like some pagan practices included in the ceremony and took away the ritual from Egypt. Meanwhile Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavi of Afghanistan sent a yellow ghilaf. In 1928, Maulana Ismail and Maulana Ghaznavi sent the ghilaf from Amritsar. In 1927, the House of Saud set up a factory in Saudi Arabia with the help of Indian craftsmen from Benaras to make the ghilaf. In 1962 Pakistan had the honour of sending a ghilaf.

Egypt and the divine cover
As related in Nawa-e-Waqt, Egypt became a permanent supplier of the covering of Kaaba. Egyptian rulers used to declare holiday on days the covering was sent off. Some villages were set aside for the revenue needed for the manufacture of the ghilaf. The Egyptians also began inscribing Quranic verses on it including the name of the ruler. Cairo had a special factory dedicated to the manufacture. This went on till the beginning of the 20th century.
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[Guest]

<b>Bugti`s killing start of end of Musharraf rule: Khan of Kalat</b> <!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The countrywide protests after the Baloch nationalist leader's killing had "sent a clear message to Musharraf that his era is over", said Khan of Kalat Mir Suleman Dawood, a descendant of Balochistan rulers who opted to join Pakistan during the time of partition in 1947.

"All Sardars of Balochistan are discussing future plans. The government has invited the Baloch to fight and we will not back down," he was quoted as saying by dawn in Balochistan capital Quetta yesterday<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

<b>Nawab Bugti's funeral held, relatives not present </b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Islamabad, Sept 01: The decomposed body of slain Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti was on Friday buried by Pakistani authorities in his native Dera Bugti town in the absence of his relatives and fellow tribesmen. The body was brought in a sealed coffin and no one was allowed to see the body.

Deputy Commissioner of Dera Bugti, Abdul Samad Lassi told a news channel that family members had been asked to come to the funeral but no one turned up.

Some tribesmen from the rival ranks of Bugti's tribe and officials attended the funeral. An Islamic cleric brought in by the government conducted the funeral prayers.

Bugti's sons and relatives demanded the body be handed over to them but the government has declined to do so.
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This is gross insult.
One Muhajir can show middle finger to Baloch. What a shame?

[Naresh]

<!--QuoteBegin-Mudy+Sep 2 2006, 07:34 AM-->QUOTE(Mudy @ Sep 2 2006, 07:34 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->This is gross insult.

One Muhajir can show middle finger to Baloch. What a shame?
[right][snapback]56637[/snapback][/right]<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

<b>Mudy Ji :</b>

Mush may belong to Bush but <b>his Ayaz is the Pakjabi's Grass</b>

the Pakjabis are so very much hated in Pakistan that they have to rule Pakistan via a "Figurehead"

Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[Bharatvarsh]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->One million Muslims killed in 1947<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Job well done by Hindus and Sikhs in 1947. It was a time where the only law was "kill or get killed".

[Naresh]

<b>Riding the camel - Humayun Gauhar</b> <!--emo&tupid--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/pakee.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='pakee.gif' /><!--endemo-->

Earlier, I had conjectured about how the neocons could re-divide countries from Turkey to Pakistan. I also said that in addition, the neocons also intend to reinterpret Islam for the Muslims. Now I ask: can the Muslims withstand the onslaught? Kathleen Christison's sentence about Israel in Counterpunch haunts me, for it applies with equal force to Muslims. "A nation that mandates the primacy of one ethnicity or religion over all others will eventually become psychologically dysfunctional."

<b>Israel has a decisive leadership that knows exactly what it wants and how to get it. Instead of becoming a vassal of America, this puny little country of 5 million has made the US into its vassal. As against this, the Muslim countries, barring Iran, form an "Axis of Weasels" - dithering, scared and vacillating, afraid of their own shadows, holding each other in contempt.</b> Some people sit on the fence, not getting off on either side until one side has won. Others ride a tiger, and sometimes get eaten by it if they lose their ideological way. Muslim power elites sit on a camel with one leg dangling on the US side, not knowing which side the camel will finally sit on. The time is coming that if they don't decide soon, and decide right, the camel will crush them. The camel is the Muslim people.

The emergency meeting of the OIC in Kuala Lumpur took place three weeks after Lebanon was attacked. After much pious speechifying and pontificating, it came out with an inconsequential resolution. A week later the Arab League presented its own version of a draft UN Security Council resolution that was ignored. What was expected from them was an ultimatum to Israel to desist, or else. Or else what? Not with this leadership or people who were secretly happy that Shia Hezbollah was getting it in the neck. <b>Two Saudi clerics gave a fatwa that Muslims shouldn't pray for Hezbollah.</b> So far has the Shia-Sunni divide gone, that there were hardly any demonstrations worth noticing in the Sunni world. <b>Sunni leaders were first ambivalent about the war; when they saw that Hezbollah was not caving in and Israel was getting a good run for its money, they decided on attack by verbiage - empty verbiage. They are scared of the Shias winning; they are scared of Iran dominating the region; they are scared of Islam. The effete lives many lead and their weak actions stand testimony to their political and religious impotence. They are beyond the pale. Such people cannot be vehicles of salvation or revolution.</b>

One principle of warfare is: know your enemy, his strengths and weaknesses. The Jews are the most intelligent people in the world. One Nobel laureate out of five is a Jew from a worldwide population of 12 million - less than Karachi. See how 12 million are controlling the world, holding six billion people hostage, have the biggest superpower of all time on call and 1.5 billion Muslims on the rack. They know that power flows from four sources: knowledge, the media, the ability to control and move global capital across borders in a millisecond, and military. The Jews have them all. They dominate the world's best universities and think tanks and are the best-educated people. They dominate world media, including Hollywood, which means that they can influence our thoughts and perceptions without our even realising it - thought control. They dominate global banking and finance. And they not only have the best conventional and nuclear military hardware, they have America, the most powerful nation in history, on their side.

Another principle of warfare is: know your own strengths and weaknesses - especially your weaknesses. <b>The Muslims know neither their strengths nor their weaknesses. They live in a delusional world, Don Quixote-like. They don't have any linkages to any of the four sources of power. Their education systems and think tanks are pathetic, wallowing in the medieval.</b> They send their best and brightest to western schools and colleges. <b>They don't have a press: their newspapers, journals and electronic media are largely state controlled while the few private ones are busy trying to ape the style and programmes of western television channels.</b> They don't have one global commercial or investment bank. Their currencies are tied to the US dollar and are at its mercy. Despite their petrodollars, Muslims were not able to make even one of their currencies a benchmark. Their own oil is traded in US dollars on two oil bourses in New York and London and when they say that they will shift to the Euro (another non-Muslim currency), they get thrashed as Saddam did. Muslims could not establish one oil bourse of their own, trading in their own currency. They have not one multilateral donor or financial institution that is worth a laugh. They haven't one university of consequence. Their military hardware comes from the West or other non-Muslim sources; all they can do is reverse engineer - copying. The money the West pays Muslims for their oil is brainlessly returned to it and parked in American and European banks in which the Jews have incredible influence. Muslims can't even think of taking it out for they will freeze it. <b>The GDP of all the Muslim countries put together is less than the GDP of one US state for God's sake, California. As a proportion of total population, the Muslims have the largest number of poor. They also have the largest number of illiterate.</b> None except Pakistan has nuclear weapons, and we had to develop ours surreptitiously, with the entire world against us. And who got us into trouble over 'proliferation'? Two Muslim countries: Libya and Iran.

<b>The truth is that the West holds all our strings. If they were to cut off all supplies to us, I would not even have this computer to write on. Soon, there would be no planes, no tanks, no medicines, no books, no submarines, no guns, no nothing.</b> Even Hezbollah and the Palestinians are fighting with western made weapons. Thank God for the black market and its gunrunners. The only weapons we have are our numbers - 1.5 billion and growing faster than any other people in the world - our oil and our faith. But we fail to galvanise and mobilise our numbers, we fail to use the oil weapon that could bring the global economy crashing down and America to its knees, and we have lost touch with the true spirit of our faith. We are in our own Dark Age, mired in obscurantism, dogma and ritual, taking guidance from 'scholars' who themselves are caught in a time warp, trapped somewhere in the 7th Century AD

There is no point in just criticising Muslim leaders. They are but a reflection of the society that accepts them, be they elected or otherwise. <b>As against the intelligent Jews, Muslims keep following false gods like an obsession to self-destruct; gods who have sold them down the drain repeatedly and are one of the prime causes of Muslim woes.</b>

Islam's genuine enlightenment and reformation can only come from within; when the Muslims are historically ready. It won't follow the Christian pattern and those outside the religion certainly cannot impose it on them either.
E-mail: hgauhar@nation.com.pk

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<b>Paki Come Home! </b>- By Dr. Elst