<b>Freedom fighter capture Pakistani fort </b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Wana, Pakistan, Jan 16: Hundreds of militants in North West Pakistan attacked and captured a paramilitary fort early on Wednesday and seven soldiers and 40 militants were killed, the military said.
The militants attacked the fort in the South Waziristan region on the Afghan border at about midnight on Tuesday and fighting went on for at least two hours, said military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas.
"About 200 miscreants attacked from different directions," Abbas said.
"They were able to breach one of the walls of the fort. In the process, there were about 40 militants dead and seven FC personnel were reported killed," he said, referring to the Frontier Corps paramilitary force.
Fifteen soldiers escaped and 20 were missing, he said.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
We need to pay attention to the bad economic news coming from TSP. Looks like there are multiple reports of price rise- cooking gas, wheat etc, withdrawl of Foreign exchange and closure of border shipments of wheat to Kabul. All indicators of economic mess which could cause a Noko like situation on Indian borders..
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->We need to pay attention to the bad economic news coming from TSP. Looks like there are multiple reports of price rise- cooking gas, wheat etc, withdrawl of Foreign exchange and closure of border shipments of wheat to Kabul. All indicators of economic mess which could cause a Noko like situation on Indian borders..<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Now there are two Pakistan, one who can afford everything, majority of them are Army officers, extended family and feudal lord, second Pakistan is becoming very poor and they can create uprising. Middle class is disappearing. Major change happened in last two years. Situation is as bad as before 9/11.
This info is based on someone (non- paki) who was doing business in Karachi and Lahore. Closed down his business.
Lets see how Army will rescue its prize possession Pakistan this time.
<b>Pakistan Fort Overrun by freedom fighters</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>According to eyewitnesses contacted by telephone, militants captured several soldiers and slaughtered many of them.
âThe forts were well-stocked and soldiers had been told to fight till the last man, last bullet,â a local administration official said. âThe soldiers did put up a good fight in a seemingly hopeless situation.â. </b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<b>Paktel among Chinaâs top ten acquisition bids in 2007</b>
BEIJING, Jan 11 (APP) - China Mobile Communications that bought Paktel, the fifth largest mobile phone company in Pakistan was picked up among the Chinaâs top ten acquisition bids in 2007.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>$1.8bn telecom FDI in 2006-7</b>
By Our Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD, Dec 26: The countryâs telecommunication sector attracted $1.8 billion Foreign Direct Investment during 2006-7, which was 35.6 per cent of the total FDI.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
China is heavily investing or controling Paki air.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Mercedes-Benz plant project: GoP manages to revive $4 billion investment
ARIF RANA
ISLAMABAD (December 26 2007): In a bid to secure $4 billion foreign direct investment, the government has managed to revive Mercedes-Benz manufacturing plant project in Sheikhupura.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<b>Portfolio investment down to worst position</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->KARACHI - The portfolio investment is continuously coming down to its worst position and stood negative at $ 0.17 million, reflecting the exclusion of foreign investment from the equity market in the wake of increasing political instability and deteriorating law and order situation of the country.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<b>Pakistan okays bigger US role : Admiral Fallon</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->ST PETERSBURG (Agencies) - The commander of US forces in the Middle East on Wednesday said Pakistan is taking a more welcoming view of US suggestions for using American troops to train and advise its own forces in the fight against anti-government extremists.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Pakistan okays bigger US role : Admiral Fallon<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
this is only for next installement. <!--emo& --><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Meantime back at the Abattoir :
[center]<b><span style='font-size:21pt;line-height:100%'>Bomber hits Pakistan Shia mosque </span></b>[/center]
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>A suicide attack at a Shia mosque in the Pakistani city of Peshawar has left 10 people dead and at least 20 wounded, officials have said.</b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Another very busy day
<b>Four rockets fired at Pakistan military base </b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Islamabad, Jan 17: Four rockets were fired on Thursday by unidentified persons at a military base in Pakistan's <b>central Punjab province</b>, causing minor damage to a government building.
Two rockets hit the government building and another fell near the Pakistan <b>aeronautical complex in Kamra.</b> One of the rockets fell near Qatba village, District Police Chief Tariq Juya said. No one was injured in the attack.
Earlier reports had said three rockets were fired and <b>one of them had hit an army mess.</b> Police said the rockets had a range of five to eight kilometres.
<b>Kamra Cantonment, located 70 kms northwest of Islamabad in Attock district </b>in the mountainous region north of Punjab, is home to key defence installations like the Pakistan aeronautical complex and an airbase.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
bravo bravo bravo !!!!!!!!!!
<b>Brave Paki Army 'flees second Pakistan occupied fort' </b>
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7193281.stm
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Pakistan not to claim Jinnah House any more</b>
Islamabad: Pakistan Government has "abandoned" the idea of claiming the Jinnah House in Mumbai to open a consulate in the country's financial hub as it feels the building is a "personal" property.Â
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Not good, I want to claim my grand father Bungalow in Muree(Kashmir, occupied Pakistan).
Jan 17 2007
Indian Rupee Exchange Re1 = Pakistani Rs 1.59
Jan 2002
Indian Rupee Exchange Re1 = Pakistani Rs 1.21
Jan 17 2007
U.S. Dollar = Pakistani Rs 62.250
Jan 2006
U.S. Dollar = Pakistani Rs 61
Jan 17 2007
U.S. Dollar = Indian Rs 39.175
Jan 2006
U.S. Dollar = Indian Rs 44
<!--emo& --><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Very interesting...
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->According to our reports, the troops abandoned the fort on their own. Some left last night, others went away this morning. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Leaving on their own means they have no respect for authority or chain of command. Isnt abandoning one's post a court-martial offense? Can even be punishable by death.
It's funny how they managed to tip top under the cover of darkness. Looks like they are putting their training to good use.
How reliable are these reports? It seems all these guys seem to be doing is retreating. I would have thought they would have lost NWFP by now.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->I would have thought they would have lost NWFP by now. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
That is was never been part of Pakistan but now they are doing Boom Boom in La-hore and Islam-a-bad, which I consider very serious.
Again, Indian should keep powder dry.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Operation against extremists in Swat accomplished: DGMO </b>
Updated at Wednesday, January 16, 2008 2335 PST
ISLAMABAD: Director General Military Operations (DGMO) Pakistan Army Major General Ahmed Shuja Pasha on Wednesday said that operation "Rah E Haq" in Swat to re-establish the writ of the government and clean the area from miscreants has been successfully accomplished.
Giving a detailed briefing on the subject at the General headquarters, the DGMO said during the operation, spread over around three months, 36 security personnel embraced shahadat while 9 civilians were killed. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
This is official.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Grenade falls short of Sunni Tehreekâs office: police</b>
Monday, January 14, 2008 -Daily Times
LAHORE: After the GPO Chowk suicide bombing on Thursday, law and order was once again jolted on Sunday when an unidentified assailant (s) threw a hand grenade that fell and exploded in a house adjacent to a religious organisationâs office on Pir Makki Road, in the Lower Mall police precincts. The police claimed that it was an attempt to attack the Sunni Tehreekâs office next to the house. No causality or injury was reported, the police added.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Miscreants hurl grenade at ANP office, 1 injured</b>
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
PESHAWAR: A man was injured following unknown miscreants lobbed a hand grenade into an election office of the Awami National Party in the Wazir Bagh area of the city late on Monday, police said. An official of the Yakkatoot Police Station said the grenade attack left a watchman, Amanullah, injured at around 9:20 pm. He said police had lodged a first information report against unidentified people. staff report
Daily Times <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd--><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Militants bomb snooker club </b>
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
By Akhtar Amin
PESHAWAR: Militants on Monday bombed a snooker club in the Gulbahar police precinct, as officials defused a bomb near another club.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd--><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Security convoy escapes bomb blast in Swat</b>
Thursday, January 17, 2008
MINGORA: A security forces convoy escaped a roadside bomb blast with no casualties in the Chhota Kalam area on Wednesday.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Looks like Diwali in Pakistan. <!--emo& --><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
01-18-2008, 05:03 PM
(This post was last modified: 01-18-2008, 05:54 PM by dhu.)
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Caliphate of Pakistan</b>
by Sandhya Jain
The assassination of a charismatic but flawed leader has disguised the reality of a Pakistan that is emerging as a critical geo-political hub in an increasingly multi-polar world. So far unrecognised, the 'Caliphate of Pakistan' is adroitly positioning itself in an uncomprehending world. Mercifully, India has recognised the security implications for itself.
In a concerted strategy, initiated at least since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, sections of the Pakistani clergy and Islamised Army (including ISI) have coalesced to give Islam a nation ruled by sword and shari'ah. Pakistan has impressive military credentials and the 'Islamic bomb'. <b>More pertinently, the American failure to hold Afghanistan post-September 11, 2001, and the near collapse of the Hamid Karzai regime, has gifted Islamabad the strategic depth it craved to its west. Radical sections in Jammu & Kashmir are dying to form its eastern hinterland.</b>
None of this would have been possible but for the millions of dollars and petro-dollars dexterously extracted by successive Pakistani regimes from the United States and Saudi Arabia, which have helped Islamabad jump out of the squalor of underdevelopment to the pinnacle of jihadi irredentism. Both have funded the Pakistani journey for reasons of their own -- motives that diverged more than they converged -- and thus bear some responsibility for the terrible denouement that climaxed in the cold-blooded murder of Benazir Bhutto.
Washington and Riyadh have multiple agendas, which they are pursuing with varying levels of success; and, it is no one's case that there were no other players in the world's most valuable piece of strategic real estate. Hence it is difficult to say which ball was being juggled in which hand when bombs detonated in Liaquat Bagh. A credible sequence of events is impossible to create without full disclosure in several capitals; still, some points are in order.
In the weeks prior to Bhutto's assassination, Russian President Vladimir Putin led his United Russia Party to a resounding victory, and is set to get his nominated successor elected in March 2008. <b>Kremlin's leadership of the Central Asian gas and oil-rich economies has given it a lead in the emerging world economic order where the strength of nations will lie in sovereign resources, a fact understood by China. </b>Uzbekistan's Islam Karimov, an important Russian ally, returned to power in December 2007.
Press reports reveal that prior to Bhutto's murder, there were secret talks between the Afghan Taliban and Britain. Given the obvious inability of the US-led alliance to hold the ground in Afghanistan or Iraq, and the growing reluctance of native armies to die for private corporate interests, <b>it seems fair to surmise that a deal was being struck to permit a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, in return for protection of Western strategic assets in the region.
</b>
As the Taliban was conceived and mentored in Islamabad, this would have elated the radical sections of the Army-ISI, which disliked the half-stitched deal between President Pervez Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto. The grant of amnesty against allegations of corruption to Bhutto, whose two terms as Prime Minister were dogged by corruption charges against her husband, Mr Asif Ali Zardari, and whose enormous assets abroad defy rational explanation, would hardly have pleased these groups. In the circumstances, her shrill rhetoric against the jihadis, particularly her promise to allow hated American troops to hunt for Osama bin Laden in Pakistani territory and let the International Atomic Energy Agency interrogate nuclear scientist AQ Khan, would have rendered her immediately expendable.
The Saudi role in the tragedy seems more indirect. Saudi polity is schizophrenic on account of the absence of credible military power; most Gulf leaders are forced to rely on the US for security. <b>Riyadh's quest for modern janissaries led it to fund Pakistan's nuclear ambitions and radicalisation via madarsas. </b>Saudi money kept Islam Janus-faced in its jihad against Jews, Crusaders, and Hindus (for Jammu & Kashmir). <b>While incidents east of the International Dateline help stave off pressure on the West, Islam recognises its true oppressors, and it is only a matter of time before it feels emboldened to turn fully westwards.</b>
The murder of the Washington-endorsed 'democrat' served multiple ends. It reinforced the universal belief that friendship with America is the kiss of death. It nullified the White House attempt to broker democracy through Bhutto and Mr Pervez Musharraf. It told Washington that the disliked mullahs and madarsas still called the shots in Pakistan.
To return to the Saudis, it is pertinent that unlike Bhutto's family that prides in its links with Oxford University and the Western elites who acknowledge them only when convenient, Mr Nawaz Sharif is a conservative politician wary of America. The former Prime Minister chose Saudi Arabia as his country of exile when ousted by Mr Musharraf; and returned to Riyadh when denied entry in Islamabad in September 2007. But following Bhutto's successful homecoming on October 18, 2007, Mr Sharif insisted on returning to ensure a genuine election. Mr Musharraf made a sudden dash to Riyadh, and in November, Mr Sharif returned. But soon afterwards, possibly owing to American pressure to honour the deal with Bhutto, the regime had Mr Sharif banned from contesting elections for life.
It is now uncertain how the February election will play out in Pakistan, if held. What is certain is that the bickering in the Pakistan People's Party and the Bhutto clan has only begun; and, that the rise of Mr Sharif will enhance Saudi clout in the region and the Islamic world. Washington, Riyadh and Islamabad have common interests in containing Shia Iran, but it remains to be seen how long the Muslim world will tolerate continued Western military presence on its soil along with subservience to Western geo-eco-strategic objectives.
Whichever way the situation develops, the Army is sure to stay at the helm of affairs in Pakistan, a temporary reprieve for America which has invested heavily in this institution. The suspiciously silent new Army Chief, Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, bears watching. <b>Despite the rallies, hartals, and street violence, it bears remembering that monotheism creates institutions that determine the course of the nation. In Pakistan it is the Army, in America the corporates. </b>Weeks ago, some of us told the naïve Indian Americans that Ms Hillary Clinton would lose the Iowa primary.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<b>Pakistani forces kill 90 freedom fighters</b> ISLAMABAD, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Pakistani forces killed up to 90 militants in two battles on Friday in South Waziristan tribal area along the Afghan border, the military said. The clashes came two days after hundreds of militants overran a paramilitary fort in another part of South Waziristan. In one operation on Friday, government forces attacked a large number of militants who had gathered to attack another attack fort in the region, at Ladha, killing up to 60 of them, said military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas. Security forces used artillery and mortars and there were no casualties on the government side, he said. In the second incident, militants ambushed a military convoy but suffered upto 30 casualties when security forces fought back, Abbas said. âWe had a convoy passing through Chaghmalai. Miscreants started firing on the convoy. The security forces retaliated and there was a firefight for an hour or two and then the security forces cleared the area,â he said. Four members of the security forces were wounded in the second clash, he said.(Posted @ 18:53 PST, Updated @ 19:38 PST))<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Two Pakistani militants escape from jail QUETTA, Pakistan, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Two Pakistani militants, one of them on death row for killing dozens of minority Shi'ite Muslims, escaped Thursday night from a high-security prison in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, police said Friday. The two, Usman Saifullah and Shafiq-ur-Rehman, were members of the feared Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militant group. âThey fled some time in the night. The lock of their cell was found broken early in the morning,â said a police official who declined to be identified. âA manhunt has been launched and police and paramilitary troops are raiding their suspected hideouts.â Among the attacks Saifullah was involved in was a raid on a Shi'ite mosque in Quetta in 2003 in which 53 people were killed. He was arrested in Karachi in June 2006. Rehman, arrested in early 2007, was accused of involvement in similar offences. (Posted @ 16:55 PST)<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<b>Pakistan living on the edge</b> -KPS Gill
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->But this is, in fact, far from the Pakistani reality. The Pakistan Army has certainly taken something of a beating over the past over a year -- and particularly after the Lal Masjid assault in July 2007 -- but its collapse is far from imminent. Indeed, despite the recurrence of jihadi violence in the shape of a rising number of frontal attacks in the Waziristan Agencies and the North-West Frontier Province, and the bombings and suicide attacks in other areas as well, including some at the very heart of the Army's power in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, the crisis appears far more acute from a distance than it would be on the ground. This is the case despite credible reports of significant demoralisation and rising dissensions in the lower ranks in the Army, and a number of incidents, such as the 'surrender' of more than 300 troops to a gang of some 20-odd Taliban in August 2007, that will deeply embarrass the Army command and President Pervez Musharraf. Such incidents are, no doubt, the more incomprehensible and disgraceful in a situation in which the Army has virtually been deified over the entire period of the country's existence. They are not, <b>however, an accurate index of the projected 'collapse' of the Army's power in Pakistan.</b>
Indeed, notwithstanding the seriousness of each of these incidents, or of their cumulative impact, the real crisis in Pakistan is not the psychological and physical havoc each such attack, bombing or debacle provokes. <b>Pakistan's real crises are, on the one hand, the steady erosion of the Army's moral authority and the systematic and unprecedented challenge that is being raised from jihadi ranks in the country and, on the other, the Army's sustained and devastating, albeit gradual, assault against the institutions of civil and democratic governance in the country.</b>
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[center] <!--emo&:flush--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Flush.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='Flush.gif' /><!--endemo--><b><span style='font-size:21pt;line-height:100%'>Inflation surges by 18 per cent for poor class</span></b> <!--emo&:flush--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Flush.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='Flush.gif' /><!--endemo-->[/center]
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->ISLAMABAD - The inflation for the lowest income group has shot up to 18 per cent during the current week as compared to the same period of the last year.
According to Federal Bureau of Statistics, Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) for the income group of Rs 3,000 per month increased by 17.97 per cent on January 17, as compared to the same period of the last financial year. The SPI on weekly basis dipped by 1.06 per cent for the same group.
Whereas the SPI for the highest strata, having monthly income more than Rs 12,000, ballooned by 11.71 per cent on year-on-year basis and declined by 0.85 per cent on weekly basis.
For the second lowest income group (Rs 5,000 per month), the SPI on yearly basis soared by 17.49 per cent and the income group of Rs 12,000 per month witnessed an increase of 15.78 per cent in inflation.
Similarly, the combined SPI (average inflation for all income groups) also raised to 14.46 per cent during the period under review but dropped by 1.06 per cent on weekly basis. The cement prices also increased during this period. The bulletin showed a surge of 15.63 per cent in the cement prices on yearly basis but it also declined by 1.25 per cent on weekly basis.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->
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