09-03-2006, 04:38 AM
(This post was last modified: 09-03-2006, 04:39 AM by Naresh.)
<b>The swing of the pendulum</b> <!--emo&:flush--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Flush.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='Flush.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Pakistan is a state within the army and not the army within the state. <i> The more things change the more they remain the same.</i> The history of Pakistan shows that there has been a swing of pendulum of the civil and military supremacy. For the first 10 years, Pakistan was governed under the Government of India Act of 1935. The Constituent Assembly of Pakistan failed for seven long years to enact the Constitution. Eventually when the draft was ready, in 1954, Governor General Ghulam Muhammad dissolved the Constituent Assembly and appointed a Cabinet with the C-in-C, General Ayub Khan, as Defence Minister. Thus, the Governor General, himself a bureaucrat, invited the Army Chief into the corridors of power.</b><!--emo&  tupid--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/pakee.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='pakee.gif' /><!--endemo--><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Friday times download link,
Enjoy gossip from Disney land. <!--emo&  --><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Mytempdir Link : http://www.mytempdir.com/908330
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Pakistanis feel Mush should quit: Survey</b>
[ 4 Sep, 2006 1723hrs ISTPTI ]
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/artic...956368.cms
ISLAMABAD: <b>A majority of Pakistanis feel that President Pervez Musharraf should quit one of the two offices he currently holds and want former Prime Ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif to return from exile</b>.
Though many favour Musharraf, they want him to be either President or Army Chief and not both, an opinion survey conducted in Pakistan by the International Republican Institute (IRI), a research organisation of the US Republican Party said.
Details of the survey published by Dawn newspaper here said that two-thirds of Pakistanis want to see the exiled leadership back in the country and take part in elections.
Bhutto topped the rating with 18 per cent for the Prime Minister's job. Present Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz got 15 per cent and Nawaz Sharif 13 per cent.
The survey conducted in the months of May and June this year said 77 per cent people think the country needs a very strong and popular leader while 48 per cent said President Musharraf should not hold two offices simultaneously.
However, nearly two-thirds of the respondents approve of the way Musharraf is handling his job.
Sixty per cent of the people want a parliamentary system instead of presidential system. Still, half of the respondents consider the role of the army in civilian government as necessary.
A total of 3,046 adult Pakistanis, both men and women, from nearly 200 villages and 150 urban locations from all four provinces were randomly selected and interviewed for the poll.
According to the poll, the US Government and its nationals, Al Qaeda and feudal lords are the most disliked foreign and local groups while the ulema and civilian governments are the most liked.
In the political party ratings at the national level, the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) stood first with 23 per cent followed by Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) with 22 per cent, the PML-N headed by Sharif with 16 per cent, the Muthahida Quamove Movement (MQM) 12 per cent and Islamist Muthahida Majlist Amal (MMA) only seven per cent.
However, the PML and the PML-N lead the favourability ratings in Punjab (32 per cent and 21 per cent respectively), the PPP in Sindh (44 per cent), and the MMA in NWFP (17 per cent) and Balochistan (30 per cent).
Peoples' perception about the present government's performance is divided. Thirty-seven per cent say the current coalition has done its job well and deserves re-election, while another 35 per cent oppose it.
At an individual level, the president and the prime minister received good ratings for their performance, especially from Sindh province, but another finding rated the government's performance on most issues as poor, with crime, terrorism, employment and provincial autonomy receiving the worst scores.
A majority of respondents do not believe in the ability of Musharraf's regime to hold transparent elections and are of the view that a caretaker setup will be more capable.
It is generally believed that religious parties, particularly Jamaat-i-Islami, are more organised and were more in touch with their voters<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
09-05-2006, 09:53 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-05-2006, 09:54 PM by Bodhi.)
How Bush put the screws on Musharraf
Arthur J Pais in New York | September 05, 2006 15:13 IST
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The meeting between the two presidents on September 24, 2003 in the $7,000-per-night suite at New York's Waldorf-Astoria hotel lasted an hour.
Soon afterwards, a White House statement said President George W Bush and Pakistan's General Pervez Musharraf had discussed cooperation on the war on terror, providing troops for Iraq, dialogue with India and Kashmir.
What it did not reveal was that the meeting had also set a trap for Musharraf that would soon lead to the fall of A Q Khan, popularly called the father of the Islamic bomb, and the world's leading blackmarket dealer in nuclear technology.
In his gripping book Shopping for Bombs, the BBC's security correspondent Gordon Corera reveals that unknown to the public and certainly to Pakistani politicians, Bush told the Pakistani leader at the end of their hour-long talks at the Waldorf-Astoria that he should be 'prepared for another visitor and Musharraf should pay great care to what he said.'
That visitor was CIA Director George Tenet.
Asserting that A Q Khan was 'at least as dangerous as Osama bin Laden,' Tenet made a detailed presentation of the evidence against Khan -- collected over many years by his agency and British intelligence -- to a deeply embarrassed Musharraf.
Though the Americans had known of Khan's nuclear bazaar for many years, it was only in 2004, after proof began to emerge that Khan had become too much of a rogue scientist, that they were forced to act. It took the Americans and the British some time to gather strong enough evidence to persuade Musharraf, a close ally after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on America, to act against a national hero in Pakistan.
The discussion regarding Khan in New York was kept secret in Pakistan for several weeks, Corera reveals, because Washington did not want to push Musharraf into a corner. The White House let Musharraf behave as if he had come to know of Khan's deals only after a high level American delegation visited Pakistan many days later.
By that time, it was becoming clear that Libya's Colonel Muammar Gadaffi was changing his attitude towards the West and was promising to tear down the country's nuclear infrastructure built with Khan's help.
Correa's book also provides the first detailed account of the high-wire and ever-tense dealings the Americans and British had with Gadaffi and his son Saif, which led to Libya's renunciation of nuclear weapons.
The book is essentially the first professional biography of A Q Khan in English and his role in nuclear proliferation. It offers a vivid picture of how the ever conniving, overbearing and imperious Khan was finally brought down. How even after Musharraf stripped him of his powers as the head of Pakistan's nuclear programme and put him under house arrest, Khan's sidekicks and admirers continue to believe that he had been sacrificed to satisfy the White House.
Pakistan refuses to allow Khan to be interviewed by American or British officials. Corera thus had to rely on secondary sources to examine the beginning of Pakistan's nuclear programme four decades ago, and to unravel how Khan, who studied metallurgy in Belgium and the Netherlands, eventually became arguably the most powerful person in Pakistan, and one of the most dangerous men in the world.
The riveting inside story of the rise and fall of Khan also reveals how Washington looked away from Pakistan's nuclear programmes because it wanted Islamabad's help in fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan. And how the country which almost became a pariah nation during the Clinton administration became a favoured ally soon after 9/11.
These are well-known facts, but Shopping for Arms has scores of other unsettling revelations.
It briefly touches on many American officials who helped to turn America's gaze away from Pakistan's nuclear programme. Among them was Charlie Wilson, a Republican Congressman from Texas. (For the story of a whiskey-swilling, skirt-chasing politician who masterminded the largest covert operation in history and got the mujahideen defeat the Soviet army in Afghanistan, read Charlie Wilson's War. The bestseller by the late George Crile is being made into a big film by Tom Hanks who will play Wilson.)
Despite not meeting Khan and his closest allies, Corera offers many well-researched revelations about how Musharraf finally rendered Khan ineffective. In one of the most interesting passages in the book, Corera writes how top Pakistan army officers met with Khan a few weeks before his fall in January 2004, and confronted him with the evidence against him.
When Khan began shouting at them, they warned they would go public with the information against him unless he confessed. The haughty scientist continued to deny the charges. Though veiled threats were made against Khan -- including references to Guantanamo, the infamous American prison in Cuba -- the army officers failed to elicit a confession.
It was only when Musharraf, unable to resist the rising British and American pressure, summoned Khan and presented him with hard evidence -- including a letter Khan had written to the Iranians telling them to dismantle the equipment they had received from him -- did Khan break down.
'His defenses were suddenly breached and then buckled entirely,' Corera writes. 'Khan literally collapsed before the president, begging for mercy.'
In Corera's book, which reads like a thriller, the readers also get to see <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>how Abdul Qadeer Khan, who was born in Bhopal in 1936 and migrated to Pakistan in 1952, grew increasingly angry towards India. The anger turned venomous when he watched the surrender of Pakistan to India on television after the end of the war for Bangladesh in December 1971. </span>
Three years later, as India tested its first nuclear device, Khan offered then Pakistan prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto his help in creating a nuclear bomb. In 1975, when his Dutch employer discovered Khan had stolen centrifuge designs, he fled to Pakistan, even more resolute to build the bomb.
Khan was more of a nationalist than a Muslim visionary in the 1970s, Corera argues. It took him many years to begin to see Pakistan as the centre of the Muslim world. He was religious, but far from being a fanatic, and served liquor to his foreign friends in his guesthouse near Islamabad. 'He was also intensely superstitious, regularly employing fortune-tellers,' reveals Corera.
During his long stay abroad, Khan, who built a network of German and Dutch friends who became (not always unwittingly) partners in his secret nuclear programme, began to resent the Western stranglehold on nuclear weapons. Despite his Western education and his Dutch-South African wife, that resentment soon turned into hatred for the West. That hatred would never disappear and may have become stronger following his fall.
One wonders whether the fallen hero, now said to be recuperating from prostrate cancer, has the luxury of consulting any more astrologers today, and what advice they might have for him.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Pak has impregnable defence: Musharraf
September 05, 2006 21:16 IST
As a nuclear and missile power, Pakistan has an "impregnable defence" to "deter aggressive designs of the adversary" and possessed capability to protect its integrity, safeguard its economic and other vital interests, President Pervez Musharraf said on Tuesday.
"Pakistan has come a long way since 1965 (war with India) and we are now a country having an impregnable defence," he said.
"Pakistan is a nuclear and missile power" and achieved "self reliance," made "giant strides" in the field of defence, he said in a message to the nation on the occasion of the Defence Day being observed on Wednesday to commemorate the 1965 war.
"The Al-Khalid and Al-Zarrar Tanks, Augosta 90-B Submarine and the JF-17 Thunder Fighter Aircraft are shining examples of our achievements in enhancing our indigenous defence capability," he said.
Musharraf said the government would continue to provide total support to the Pakistan Air Force to enhance its effectiveness "as one of the best fighting outfits in the world."
"We realised that big countries seeking to impose their hegemony pay little heed to international laws and could violate the sanctity of borders of smaller neighbours with impunity," he said.
"The answer lies in being strong enough to deter aggressive designs of the adversary. We needed to possess the capability to protect our integrity; safeguard our economic and other vital interest," he added.
Pakistan observes September 6 every year as the Defence Day.
<b>Pakistan Throws in the Towel</b> <!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> <b>The Pakistani military will no longer operate in the area where Osama bin Laden and other top al Qaeda operatives are believed to be hiding, according to terms of what the Pakistan government calls a "peace deal," signed today with militant tribal groups allied to the Taliban and al Qaeda.</b>
It is a stunning setback for U.S. efforts to root out al Qaeda and Taliban strongholds.
The agreement, signed in the North Waziristan district of Pakistan's volatile tribal belt, calls for the military to return to its barracks and for the insurgents to stop launching attacks on Pakistani troops.
<b>"The army will pull back to its camps," </b>spokesman Major General Shaukut Sultan told ABC News.<b> "They will not undertake any terrorist activity. There will be no parallel government, and foreigners will leave the area."</b>
Extremist tribal leaders in North and South Waziristan had virtually taken over in recent months. They imposed Taliban-style law in their districts, held public executions and were openly recruiting fighters for 'jihad' against U.S. troops across the border in Afghanistan.
Though the military will not release exact figures, they also killed and injured hundreds of Pakistani soldiers in roadside bombs and suicide attacks. The ongoing military operations in the tribal belt were so unpopular here -- many accuse President Pervez Musharraf of fighting America's War on Terror with Pakistani blood -- analysts say the general had to stop the bloodshed, even if just for the meantime.
An earlier deal in 2003 dissolved after tribal militants failed to hold up their end of the bargain. Few expect this deal to hold either.
"This is just a temporary solution," says ABC News Consultant Rahimullah Yusufzai. "They want to push things under the carpet for the time being."
.....................
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
WOW!!! Mushy is looking for F16s yesterday. <!--emo& --><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<b>Pakistan : Non-textile products drop by 7.8% to $783.053mn</b>
Nareshji,
Another news which contradicts GDP <!--emo& --><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<!--QuoteBegin-Mudy+Sep 6 2006, 04:14 AM-->QUOTE(Mudy @ Sep 6 2006, 04:14 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin--> <b>Pakistan : Non-textile products drop by 7.8% to $783.053mn</b>
Nareshji,
Another news which contradicts GDP <!--emo& --><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
[right][snapback]56873[/snapback][/right]<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<b>Mudy Ji :</b>
Allah be Praised!
Any thoughts to my resquest per Post 212?
Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->
[center]<b><span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Paki Pipe Line Dreams remain Pipe Dreams!</span></b>[/center]
<b>Doubts over Turkmen pipeline</b>
ASHGABAT, Sept 5: Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov said Tuesday he saw no immediate prospect for a gas pipeline to the West and <b>cast doubt on another pipeline project across Afghanistan, saying that Russia and China were priority partners.
âDonât ever think that Turkmenistan wants to put a squeeze on Russia and go in a different direction with its gas. We have a strategic agreement,â Niyazov said after talks with the chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom, Alexei Miller.
âWe will first of all ensure the Russian route,â he said.</b>
Regarding plans nurtured by the United States to build a pipeline across the Caspian Sea to Western markets, Niyazov was downbeat, saying that territorial disputes over the Caspian would have to be resolved first.
<b>Niyazov also appeared pessimistic about plans for a pipeline from his natural gas-rich country across Afghanistan to Pakistan and India, a project also backed by Washington.
âWe are in talks on the trans-Afghan pipeline. Its volume would be 30 billion cubic metres (annually) but the price hasnât been established and importantly a consortium hasnât been created,â he said.âAFP</b>
Cheers
<!--emo&  --><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /><!--endemo--> Pak offers 'peaceful' bin Laden safe haven
Chidanand Rajghatta
[ 7 Sep, 2006 0002hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
RSS Feeds| SMS NEWS to 8888 for latest updates
In Islamabad, Sultan later described the ABC report as "absolutely fabricated, absurd" and insisted he never said the remarks attibuted to him.
Indeed, it was unclear from his exchanges with ABC if bin Laden was the specific subject of discussion at that point in the interview, although Sultan broadly suggests that any terrorist who surrenders and forswears violence can stay in Pakistan.
Q. ABC News : If bin Laden or Zawahiri were there, they could stay?
A. Gen. Sultan: No one of that kind can stay. If someone is there he will have to surrender, he will have to live like a good citizen, his whereabouts, exit or travel would be known to the authorities.
Q. ABC News : So, he wouldn't be taken into custody? He would stay there?
A. Gen. Sultan: No, as long as one is staying like a peaceful citizen, one would not be taken into custody. One has to stay like a peaceful citizen and not allowed to participate in any kind of terrorist activity.
Whether bin Laden-specific or not, Pakistan's hospitable remarks towards terrorists and its retreat from within its own territory on Tuesday came even as President Bush pledged to eliminate terror camps and help allies re-establish control over their own sovereign territories.
The amnesty offer was angrily denounced by analysts on television networks who suggested Pakistan is retreating from the war on terrorism.
The development also came on the eve of the fifth anniversary of 9/11 when bin Laden suddenly appears to have made a comeback in US public discourse. Bush mentioned bin Laden 17 times in a speech on Tuesday on the war on terror, invoking his name alongside Hitler and Stalin.
< Previous|1|2
<b>Waziristan accord signed</b>
Why they signed accord?
1) To trap Osama and his gang, they will think now they are free.
2) Free Army from Afghan border and create problem in Indian side of border. Recent new bunkers etc may be new plan to destabilize India.
3) Free Army for Balochistan.
4) During Sept trip Mushy can ask for more weapons.
I strongly believe it is point 2. Let see
I will love to see Mushy's roast in Jon Steward show.
<b>Pakistan: Hello al-Qaeda, goodbye America</b>
<b>MIRANSHAH, North Waziristan - With a truce between the Pakistani Taliban and Islamabad now in place, the Pakistani government is in effect reverting to its pre-September 11, 2001, position in which it closed its eyes to militant groups allied with al-Qaeda and clearly sided with the Taliban in Afghanistan.
While the truce has generated much attention, a more significant development is an underhand deal between pro-al-Qaeda elements and Pakistan in which key al-Qaeda figures will either not be arrested or those already in custody will be set free. This has the potential to sour Islamabad's relations with Washington beyond the point of no return.</b> <!--emo&:flush--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Flush.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='Flush.gif' /><!--endemo-->
On Tuesday, Pakistan agreed to withdraw its forces from the restive Waziristan tribal areas bordering Afghanistan in return for a pledge from tribal leaders to stop attacks by Pakistani Taliban across the border.
Most reports said that the stumbling block toward signing this truce had been the release of tribals from Pakistani custody. But most tribals had already been released.
The main problem - and one that has been unreported - was to keep Pakistan authorities' hands off members of banned militant organizations connected with al-Qaeda.
Thus, for example, it has now been agreed between militants and Islamabad that Pakistan will not arrest two high-profile men on the "most wanted" list that includes Osama bin Laden, his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri and Taliban leader Mullah Omar.
Saud Memon and Ibrahim Choto are the only Pakistanis on this list, and they will be left alone. Saud Memon was the owner of the lot where US journalist Daniel Pearl was tortured, executed and buried in January 2002 in Karachi after being kidnapped by jihadis.
Pakistan has also agreed that many people arrested by law-enforcement agencies in Pakistan will be released from jail.
Importantly, this includes Ghulam Mustafa, who was detained by Pakistani authorities late last year. Mustafa is reckoned as al-Qaeda's chief in Pakistan. (See Al-Qaeda's man who knows too much, Asia Times Online, January 5. As predicted in that article, Mustafa did indeed disappear into a "black hole" and was never formally charged, let alone handed over to the US.)
Asia Times Online contacts expect Mustafa to be released in the next few days. He was once close to bin Laden and has intimate knowledge of al-Qaeda's logistics, its financing and its nexus with the military in Pakistan.
<b>Militants at large</b>
<b>"Now they [Pakistani authorities] have accepted us as true representatives of the mujahideen," Wazir Khan told Asia Times Online at a religious congregation in Miranshah. "Now we are no longer criminals, but part and parcel of every deal. Even the authorities have given tacit approval that they would not have any objections if I and other fellows who were termed as wanted took part in negotiations."
Wazir Khan was once a high-profile go-between for bin Laden and one of his closest Waziristan contacts. He was right up there on the "wanted" list. Now he can move around in the open. "The situation is diametrically changed," he said.</b>
From a personal point of view, things have changed for Wazir Khan and others like him, but in the bigger picture things have also changed diametrically.
Pakistan, the leading light in the United States' "war on terror" and a "most important" non-North Atlantic Treaty Organization ally, is returning to the heady times of before September 11 when it could dabble without restraint in regional affairs, and this at a time when Afghanistan is boiling.
"The post-September 11 situation [in Pakistan] was draconian," a prominent militant told Asia Times Online on condition of anonymity. "All jihadi organizations were informed in advance how they would be [severely] dealt with in the future and that they had better carve out an alternative low-profile strategy. But some people could not stop themselves from unnecessary adventures and created problems for the establishment. This gave the US the chance to intervene in Pakistan, and over 700 al-Qaeda mujahideen were arrested.
"Now the situation changed again ... we know the state of Pakistan is important for the Pakistan army, but certainly we know that the army would never completely compromise on Islam."
The truce between Islamabad and the Pakistani Taliban in Waziristan has been a bitter pill for Washington to swallow, although Pakistan's pledge to allow foreign troops based in Afghanistan hot pursuit into a limited area in Pakistan softens the blow a bit.
Islamabad's overriding concern, though, is to earn some breathing space domestically, as well as get Uncle Sam off its back.
The situation in Waziristan was becoming unmanageable - it's already virtually a separate state - and trouble is ongoing in restive Balochistan province, especially since the killing at the hands of Pakistani security forces of nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Bugti. Fractious opposition political parties have shown rare unity in attacking the government of President General Pervez Musharraf on the issue.
<b>Redrawing the map</b>
An article by retired US Major Ralph Peters titled "Blood borders" published in the Armed Forces Journal last month has given Pakistan some food for thought over manipulating the geopolitical game on its own terms and conditions.
Peters, formerly assigned to the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, where he was responsible for future warfare, argues that borders in the Middle East and Africa are "the most arbitrary and distorted" in the world and need restructuring.
Four countries - Pakistan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Turkey - are singled out for major readjustments. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are also defined as "unnatural states".
Though the US State Department was quick to deny that such ideas had anything to do with US policymaking, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey read much between the lines of talk of restructuring their boundaries.
Among Peters' proposals was the need to establish "an independent Kurdish state" that would "stretch from Diyarbakir [eastern Turkey] through Tabriz [Iran], which would be the most pro-Western state between Bulgaria and Japan".
Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz recently visited Turkey and then Lebanon, where he announced that his country would not send any peacekeeping troops to the latter. Ankara then said that if peacekeeping forces tried to disarm Hezbollah, Turkey would pull out of the peace mission. These decisions are the result of back-channel diplomacy among Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan.
Across Pakistan's border in Afghanistan, the Taliban have control of most of the southwest of the country, from where Mullah Omar is expected soon to announce the revival of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan - the name of the country before the Taliban were driven out in 2001. Once the proclamation is made, a big push toward the capital Kabul will begin.
<b>The sounds of jail doors opening in Pakistan will jar with the United States, as will Islamabad adopting a more independent foreign policy and, crucially, aligning itself with the resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan, which once again could become a Pakistani playground.</b>
<i>Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief. He can be reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com.</i>
Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Friday FT and fun time
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>SUCH GUP </b>
<b>Great leap forward</b>
A middling khaki in the real PMâs media outfit is planning a great leap forward. He serves as a media assistant these days but it is said he has his eye on greener pastures. They say he may be trying to maneuver his retirement from khakidom so that he can jump many stages and get inducted into the bureaucracy at Grade 21, if not 22. This will take him to the civilian equivalent of Major General and enable him to become Press Sec to the real PM.
<b>Hugely expensive</b>
Despite advice to the contrary from those who are charged with revamping Pakistanâs image in the world, the government seems hell bent on hiring a hugely expensive and pretty ineffective group of international PR managers. Apparently, this firm is twice as expensive as its nearest competitors and its plan of action is half as detailed. At US $ 1 million plus this PR firm is costing the exchequer a pretty penny, and it had better be worth our money. <!--emo& --><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
+++++
<b>Nuggets from the Urdu press </b>
<b>Honour killing in Rome!</b>
Daily Khabrain reported that Italian citizens were shocked to learn about the murder of a Pakistan girl by her father. The girl was killed by her father with the help of family members and then buried inside the courtyard of their house. The young girl was divorced by her husband of an arranged marriage. Her father said he couldnât tolerate her friendship with an Italian boy. He told police that he didnât want her to become like other Italian girls. The lawyer of her father said he is a very pious man and believes in all the commandants of Holy Quran. <!--emo& --><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->Â The neighbours of the girlâs house said she was a beautiful girl and used to wear mini skirts.
<b>Why Hindus idols are thirsty?</b>
According to daily Khabrain, thousands of local Muslims flocked to see the miracle of salt water turned into sweet water near the mausoleum of a Muslim saint. The mausoleum is situated on the bank of the ocean near Mumbai. On hearing this great miracle, the prejudiced Hindus spread the rumours that gods have started drinking milk in different temples. Now the situation is out of control and thousands of Hindus have gathered with pots, jugs and other utensils full of milk in front of temples. Scientists said that stone idols can absorb liquids.
<b>London bombers in Bahawalpur!</b>
Daily Pakistan reported that secret agencies have captured nine members of banned organisations and have transferred them to undisclosed locations. The arrested terrorists are from Lashkar e Jhangvi and include one Zaka ullah who has escaped from the Dera Ismail Khan prison. The agencies are looking for others who were also involved in the attack on President Musharraf. .
<b>No songs for us, Please!</b>
As reported daily Nawa-e-Waqt, notice sending expert MD Tahir sent legal notice to the Lahore Arts Council Authorities for holding competition of mehndi songs. The notice said that <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>song competition is against the tradition of Islam and morality. He wrote that asking women to dress in new clothes and dance with marriage songs for a prize is shameful. This has humiliated the honor of the whole Islamic nation. </span>He urged the Arts Council to stage plays about Tipu Sultan, Tariq bin Ziad and Sultan Salahuddin Ayubi, so that younger generation can learn from the heroes of Islamic history.
<b>Gang rapist women of Gujranwala</b>
Sarerahe stated in daily Nawa-i-Waqt that <span style='color:red'>three women abducted a young man, injected him with drugs and then gang raped him.</span>Â <!--emo&:o--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ohmy.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ohmy.gif' /><!--endemo--> This shows that man have honour too and women can also do gang rape. These strange happenings have started surfacing even before the parliament passed the amended Hudood Ordinance. Sarerahe also stated that Gujranwala is the city of wrestlers and pious people. But this news of sexual abuse is the indicator of the day of Last Judgment or the coming of enlightened moderators. Sarerahe lamented that these alien sins are being imported to corrupt our pious people.
<b>New Jewish conspiracy</b>
According to daily Nawa-i-Waqt, the Islamic identity of Al Quds city is being threatened and the sacred place of Al Quds is being changed with Jewish identity. According to the report, Aqsa Foundation for the preservation of Islamic heritage has unearthed a plan by Israel to convert Al Quds city into David city.
<b>Zia ul Haq is our hero!</b>
As reported in Daily Pakistan, a seminar was held by Zia ul Haq Foundation in Islamabad. Lt Gen (retd) Hamid Gul said Islam is facing a challenge which can be faced with the strength of faith (jazba e imani). He said what happened in Lebanon proved that Muslims would not accept slavery of the West. Federal Minister Ejaz ul Haq said Hezbollah did not fight for Lebanon but for the whole Islamic world. Mujeeb ur Rehman Shami, Editor of Daily Pakistan, said<b> Zia ul Haq planted the seed of all freedom fighting movements around the world in Afghanistan. Zia was a soldier of Islam </b>and now Westernised women are criticising Hudood Ordinance without having read it. Senator Tahira Latif said if Zia was alive today, Kashmir would have been free. MNA Haneef Abbasi said our rulers changed our Afghan policy on one phone call from America. Prominent journalist Altaf Hussain Qureshi said that Zia ul Haq is the architect of jihad not only in Pakistan but in the whole Islamic world.
<b>Five thousand rupees for Hassan Nasrullah</b>
As reported in Daily Pakistan, famous lawyer MD Tahir has sent the charismatic leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrullah, five thousand rupees and a letter to express his love for the great leader. MD Tahir sent the money and letter through the Pakistan Embassy in Lebanon. He praised Hassan Nasrullahâs bravery and courage to defeat the evil designs of Israel. He wrote that <b>his victory has revived the memory of Jang Badr, and the great sacrifice on the plains of Karbala</b>. He requested Hassan Nasrullah to buy a nice suit with five thousand rupees.Â
<b>66th anniversary of Jamaat Islami</b>
In daily Khabrain magazine, Mian Tufail Mohammad wrote on 66th anniversary of Jamaat Islami that Maulana Maudoodi established Jamaat Islami in 1941 in Lahore with only 75 members. Now Jamaat Islami is the biggest political party in Pakistan with forty one lakhs members. <b>Maulana Maudoodi is the biggest personality after the first Four Caliphs (Khilafat e Rashida). He went to prison to serve Islam</b>. He wrote his book, âTafheem ul Quranâ to guide the Muslim that had gone off the track. Mian Tufail lamented that whenever Muslims got the leadership, there were others who plotted against them.
<b>Osama is not in Chitral</b>
As reported in Daily Pakistan, Chitral MNA Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali stated that American report is wrong about the presence of Osama bin Laden in Chitral. He said Chitral is a peaceful area. He said we would not tolerate the presence of FBI and CIA in Chitral. He said the clerical alliance would defend the area till the last drop of their blood is shed.
<b>Money laundering case against Shaukat Aziz!</b>
As reported in daily Jang, spokesman for interior ministry said that ex interior minister Naseerullah Babarâs allegations that warrants were issued to arrest Shaukat Aziz for money laundering are not correct. His spokesman said that interior ministry has all the record of such cases. He said these warrants are issued by the courts and not by the ministry.
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Pak troops advance, Indian Army not worried :CNN-IBN
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->New Delhi: The Indian military is not seriously concerned over the noticeable movement of Pakistani troops close to the Jammu and Kashmir border. Military officials say they have noted the troop movements but there is nothing alarming - for now.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, military sources said that they discounted the possibility of Pakistan conducting any surgical strikes in Jammu and Kashmir in view of its troubles domestically and along the Afghan border.
The troop movement has taken place in recent days along the Line of Control (LoC) that divides Jammu and Kashmir between the two countries. No induction of Pakistani military has been noticed on Kashmir's international border. "The (intelligence) inputs have been studied. The conclusion is that nothing alarming should be read into them," an army officer said.
"We are alert to these developments but see no reason to make any additional deployments at this point of time," he added.
The inputs say there has been considerable movement of Pakistani troops in two areas: at Chakoti in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, facing Naushera town in the Indian Jammu and Kashmir.
The Pakistan Army's 19 Division has reportedly moved from its peacetime headquarters at Jhelum to Chakoti and has been reinforced with three brigades and Special Forces personnel.
Simultaneously, an additional brigade has been moved up to face Naushera.
At one level, this could be constituted as preparations for a quick and surgical operation. But, as an Indian Army officer explained, Pakistan's elite 1 Corps based at Mangala - which would be expected to carry out such a strike had been considerably depleted due to troubles in Balochistan and on the Afghan border.
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<b>US keeping a watch on Pak: Bush</b>
<b>Embarrassed Pakistan retracts from its bin Laden arrest statement</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Islamabad, Sept 8 : Embarrassed by its statement of not arresting Osama bin Laden if âLaden decides to lead a peaceful lifeâ, Pakistan now has retracted from it and asserted that the dreaded terrorist would be brought to justice.
Major General Shaukat Sultan told a news agency, âPakistan is committed to its policy on war on terror, and Osama caught anywhere in Pakistan would be brought to justice<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
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