Pakistan News And Discussion-13

11-15-2007, 01:04 AM

http://thenews.jang.com.pk/updates.asp?id=32252
QUOTEHeavy clashes in Pakistan kill 37 

Updated at 2310 PST

PESHAWAR: Fierce fighting erupted between troops and militants in northwest Pakistan Wednesday, leaving 33 rebels, two soldiers and two civilians dead, officials said. Pakistani gunship helicopters and artillery pounded rebel positions for a second day in the Swat Valley, a former tourist spot . Seventeen of the militants died when their vehicle was hit by fire by security forces, while the other sixteen died in separate incidents, chief military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad was quoted as saying. "Helicopters were used in the operation. They shelled known militant positions on hill tops," Arshad said. "In one incident a vehicle carrying 17 militants was targeted, the vehicle fell from a hilltop and all were killed. They were militants, there is no doubt, they had arms," he added.


Now they are killing Muslim brothers, own paki citizens, fifth column of Paki Army.
Staying in power is not so easy.

11-15-2007, 01:09 AM

EU hesitant about cutting aid to Pakistan
cowards !!!

US helping evolve new political formula

http://www.nation.com.pk/daily/oct-2007/28/index7.php
US reviews power-sharing arrangement
QUOTESHAIQ HUSSAIN

ISLAMABAD - With surge in acts of terror in Pakistan, the United States is reviewing its plan aimed at Musharraf-Benazir power sharing deal and under the new strategy âmoderateâ religious forces will also be invited to become part of next ruling set-up.
.......................

So they are ready for soft Jihadi, it means, you can hit India but spare West.

Shambhu · 11-15-2007, 03:14 AM

Watched a 1 min clip of Bush's "I urge Musharraf to take off the uniform" on TV (CNN). Hilarious. Showed people using the the phrase "take off the uniform" 10 times I think; 5 times from Bush, 2 times from Mush, 3 more times from some more guys.

Then there was a comment (within the clip) on "Not yet another gay Republican".

I think it will sooner or later be U Hauled over to U Tube... <!--emo& Smile

--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' />

Naresh · 11-15-2007, 04:09 AM

QUOTE(Viren @ Nov 15 2007, 12:33 AM)Nareshji and Mudy,

Thanks. No fan of BB cause I believe she's just the other side of the coin when compared to Mushy - both are counterfiet when it comes to Indian issues.
Couldn't help notice the print quality of the letter. Seems like nice laser printed letter. Remember back in 90s it was still those noisy dot-matrix or daisy printers.
Unless they used a decent electronic typewriters.
Fake letters against Bush's term in National Guard was busted based on use of fonts not prevelant back in early 70s. Hope someone's paying close attention to this letter.

Another indication that 'things could have been easier with Rajiv around' seems to imply that Rajeev had a "working" relationship with BB where he'd have sold the nation for her (not that's not happened in other instances).
Puts a cloud over entire Brasstacks episode.
Memory bit foggy, so just speaking out loud here.
[right][snapback]75239[/snapback][/right]


As Kosygin told Ayub âWhat could not be Won in War would never be Won on the Table.

However, the Pakistanis are now advocating that what cannot be Won in War or on the Table could very well be Won in Bed. Here is a relavant view :

[center]A tribal state - Dr Ayesha Siddiqa[/center]

QUOTELetâs now look at how a feudal approach is also applied to the conduct of external relations. In certain cases, personal relationships across borders are directly encouraged by top authorities in Pakistan. What is the objective of sneaking into, say, New Delhiâs power circles via personal contacts? The most obvious explanation is that the relationship would be a way of fostering greater confidence between the two sides. What could be more wonderful than the Pakistani spouse of an Indian politician explaining Islamabadâs concerns to the other side? There is historical precedent for such politics. Allegedly, the relationship between Lady Mountbatten and Jawaharlal Nehru was useful for the Indians. But would this approach really work now?

One of the latest example is Capt. Amrinder(?) Singh is besotted with General Raniâs Daughter.

Pakistanis are convinced that Indian Leaders Brains are in their crotch. Who knows!

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

11-15-2007, 04:12 AM

Yes, i have seen and it was <img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ROTFL.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ROTFL.gif' />

11-15-2007, 04:13 AM

QUOTEÂ op-ed in Deccan Chronicle,Â
Fallout of Musharrafâs second coup 
By Dr P.C. Alexander
It may be too early to assess the impact of General Pervez Musharrafâs coup of November 3, 2007, as there is still no clear indication as to where it will lead and when and how it will end. However, certain developments relating to the coup deserve special attention.

Pakistan has witnessed several coups by military chiefs; in fact, men in khaki have ruled it for as many as 32 of the 60 years of its history as an independent nation. The coups in the past have always been on the pretext of saving the country from anarchy caused by the misgovernance and corruption of politicians. Musharraf has claimed in his autobiography, In the Line of Fire, published in 2006, that "it is not unusual in Pakistan for the general public and the intelligentsia to approach the Army chief and ask him to save the nation." According to him, "In all crises, everyone sees Pakistanâs Army as the countryâs saviour."

But the present coup by Musharraf is rightly seen by everyone not as one to save the nation, but only to save himself. He has claimed that he was forced to declare emergency in the interest of the country, but no one has been taken in by such tall claims. The people know that he staged this coup only to pre-empt the sure prospect of losing his office through the judgment of the Supreme Court, which was expected to be delivered in a couple of days. Unlike in the past, "the general public and the intelligentsia" this time chose to come out on the streets to demonstrate their anger and protest against the subversion of the Constitution and the abrogation of the rights and freedom of citizens by Musharraf and his unthinkable action in placing the Chief Justice and several judges of the Supreme Court under house arrest. For the first time in Pakistanâs history there has been a genuine uprising by the ordinary people and the intelligentsia together against a dictator, and in this process, the coup has triggered off a strong movement for democracy in the country.

Equally significant is the fact that the protest against the coup has exposed the limits of the 16th century concept of sovereignty of states, and even of power, under a tight military dictatorship. People have begun to realise that in the new age into which the world has emerged after the events of 9/11 in New York, the concept of national security has acquired a new dimension and that is, just as terrorism has become international, security of nations has also become international.

Danger to the security of states situated in certain sensitive regions of the world is now taken as having the potential to endanger security in the world as a whole. If Pakistan plunges into anarchy because of the confrontation between the people and the government, the gainers will obviously be the forces of militancy and terrorism already entrenched within its borders, and that is why the United States, the European Union and others who have the clout to intervene had warned Musharraf that he has to retract his steps before it becomes too late. Musharraf had announced for public consumption that he "will not take dictation from the US," but it is very clear that he had to eat his own words within a couple of days of making this heroic statement and announce that elections will be held early in January 2008.

If telephone calls from Condoleezza Rice to Musharraf were not enough to make him agree to conduct the elections as scheduled, President Bushâs telephone could convey the message more effectively. In any case, the $10 billion cheque promised earlier could pull its own weight with Musharraf, and he has fulfilled at least part of what he was asked to do by the US, though in his own way. This will not satisfy the people as elections are to be held while the country will still be under emergency.

The firm warning given by the Commonwealth to Musharraf that Pakistan will lose its membership of this organisation unless Constitutional rule is restored is another proof of the limitation of sovereignty of states in the world of today. The next few days will show how far Musharraf will go in ushering in a democratic administration in the country.

Whatever may be the hurdles to cross or the time taken for reaching the goal, Musharrafâs Coup No. II has had the unanticipated result of strengthening the case for democracy in Pakistan. In the midst of the confusion and anarchy which followed the coup by Musharraf, some very disturbing developments in certain parts of the North Western Frontier Province and Waziristan seem to have escaped the attention they deserved. A few important towns in these frontier areas have already come under the control of the jihadi and the Taliban forces who have set up governments of their own in open defiance of the government of Pakistan. A very alarming feature of these developments is that there have been several cases of surrender of Pakistanâs security forces to the militants without a fight in this region. There have also been disturbing reports that the Al Qaeda is making serious attempts to establish an Al Qaeda state in the tribal belt of Pakistan with plans for territorial accretion from both Afghanistan and Pakistan. These territories are now under the firm control of the militants of the ultra Taliban variety who have no respect for rights or liberties of the people except in the manner allowed by the fundamentalist mullahs.

A cause of special concern to India is the fact that Pakistan is withdrawing a large number of its troops posted near the Line of Control in Occupied Kashmir in order to supplement the troops engaged in putting down rebellion and mass protests elsewhere against the military regime. It is obvious that the jihadi and Taliban elements will now find it easier to step up their terrorist activities in India.

A far more serious fallout of the Musharraf coup of November 2007 is the concern about the safety of the nuclear weapons now in the possession of Pakistan. In the absence of a genuine democracy with its own checks and balances and systems of accountability, there is every reason for being concerned about the safety of Pakistanâs nuclear weapons. One can only hope that normalcy will soon be established in this disturbed nation and the coups of the type which had plagued it all through its existence will become an unpleasant memory of the past never to be repeated because of the strength and vibrancy of democracy which is to be established on the debris of Musharrafâs Coup No. II. 

Dr P.C. Alexander was the Governor of Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu and is at present a member of Rajya Sabha

Naresh · (This post was last modified: 11-15-2007, 12:58 PM by Naresh.)

[center]HE IS BENDING - GET THE GREASE![/center]

<img src='http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/images/2007/11/15/20071115_04.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

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

11-15-2007, 08:28 PM

Arun Shourie's 3 part series.
I) Where have all the generalâs cheerleaders gone?
II) Pakistan beyond Musharraf
III) But who has that distant a horizon?

Some points worth noting:
QUOTE Here is a general who insisted that the Pakistani army had nothing to do with Kargil, so much so that he did one of the most dishonourable things that any armyman can do: he refused to accept bodies of soldiers who had died in the operation he had himself planned. And yet the same man claims in his book that Kargil was one of the most successful operations of the Pakistani army!


QUOTEIf he moves against the Taliban, he is in trouble. If he does not, he is in trouble. If he does not let American forces chase the Taliban into Pakistani territory, he is in trouble. If he lets them do so, he is in deeper trouble. If he does not storm the Lal Masjid, he is in trouble. If he does, he is in deeper trouble. If he does not remove the chief justice, he is in trouble. If he removes him, his troubles are just beginning. If he gives up his uniform, he canât rely on the army. If he does not, he canât rely either on his nemesis, the Supreme Court, or his sole prop, the Americans. If he lets Nawaz Sharif stay, he is in trouble. If he does not, he is in trouble. If he rigs elections again, he has to rely even more on the religious parties and fundamentalists, and he falls deeper in trouble. If he does not rig them, he is finished. Unless he throws the judges out, he is out. Now that he has thrown them out, even his patrons are insisting he bring them back â ulti ho gayin sab tadbirein â every stratagem has boomeranged â kuchch na dawa ne kaam kiya â no potion works!


QUOTEToday Saddam is good because he is a counter to Iran; tomorrow he is evil. Today the Taliban are mujahideen, freedom fighters, as they are necessary for throwing the Soviets out; tomorrow they are evil. Today the Kurds are good as a counter to Sunnis in Iraq; tomorrow they are evil as the fellows are dragging Turkey into the arena... This is not to blame the Americans or anyone else: through such twists and turns they are merely pursuing their interest. The lesson is for us: how very wrong, how very shortsighted it would be for us to outsource our thinking to others.


QUOTEAs Balochistan, NWFP, and now FATA have flared up, Pakistan has had to withdraw its troops and other resources from its border with India to its western border. The killings and explosions in Kashmir have gone down. Just a coincidence?


QUOTENow notice two things. First, as Pakistan has had to move its troops away from the border with Kashmir, an orchestra has started in India demanding that we thin our troops in Kashmir: just another coincidence? Second, recall the âremediesâ that our secularists have been urging â âautonomyâ and the rest. âThe Kashmiris feel alienated,â they have been declaiming. âThat is the root-cause of terrorism... give them autonomy...â A formula-factory came into being: âMusharrafâs 7-regionsâ formula...â


QUOTENone of those âsolutionsâ has been put in place. Yet, the killings have gone down. Which is the medicine that has worked? The potion â âautonomyâ â we did not administer? Or the medicine that Pakistan has administered to itself? That it has got into trouble on its western borders?


QUOTEThe army is itself steeped in the culture of jihad, and so will naturally be reluctant to kill those who are, after all, sacrificing their lives in jihad. Even in 1971, the situation was not as grave from a soldierâs point of view as it is now: in that war, he, a Punjabi, was killing Bengalis. Today Pashtuns are being set to kill Pashtuns. Moreover, unlike the Bengalis in 1971, these groups fight back: they are well-armed; they are very well trained; their motivation is stronger than that of even the indoctrinated Pakistani soldier; they are masters of their terrain; they are not âprimitivesâ. On the contrary, they are extremely sophisticated in their tactics and strategy.


QUOTEAnd recent attacks and explosions show that they already have the capacity to reach into the very heart of Pakistan. Incidentally, this has been a major strategic mistake of the West, one of many that is, to have shut its eyes to the fact that the Taliban was getting revived and transformed, and, instead, to have allowed itself to be diverted by the few âAl Qaidaâ operatives that Pakistan has from time to time handed over

QUOTEFew of us realise that while there are 12 million Pashtuns in Afghanistan, there are 25 million in Pakistan. Historically, leadership has rested with the Afghan Pashtuns. But this is shifting to Pak-Pashtuns now â contrast the sway of warlords in FATA and NWFP with the shrunken, tenuous existence of Karzai: they roam freely, they dominate their areas while Karzai is confined to Kabul, and, even within Kabul, he is dependent on the Americans for even his personal safety. The Pashtuns have never accepted the Durand Line as a divide.

QUOTETaliban today have become self-financing: as has been pointed out in General Afsir Khanâs important journal Aakrosh, the Taliban are being much more nuanced about opium and heroin this time round. In their earlier reign, they had banned hashish, not heroin, as the former is what the locals were consuming. This time round they are allowing greater latitude in regard to both as they have realised that drugs provide income to farmers and thus relieve the Taliban of a responsibility, and at the same time, the produce are an unfailing source of revenue. Contrast this with the dilemma that hobbles American and NATO forces: they are not able to provide alternative sources either for employment or for income to the local population but if they stamp out opium cultivation, they alienate farmers; on the other hand, if they allow it to grow, they help finance the Taliban.

Shambhu · (This post was last modified: 11-15-2007, 08:46 PM by Shambhu.)

CSPAN radio played Pak news (in English, starting with the ass salamaleikum):

Hilights:

1. Shortcut has completed 1st full PM term in Pak history. Let there be vaseline all round!

2. Pak fauj-e-hijda will always protect geographical and *ideological* frontiers of Pakistan. (Heh, buggers have finally realized how we are kaffirifying them from the inside out)

3. There are 72 wimmen in Pak parliament (Some things just cannot be believed till you hear them with ur own ears!)

4. Pak nukes are safe: US Govt has given us certificate of safety. Mr Jeff Morales has said nukes are safe. So dont worry, have curry (and let our Tall Fair Tight Nation commit harakiri...)

<img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/b_woot.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='b_woot.gif' />

11-15-2007, 11:03 PM

India beat Pak, win series 

No street demonstration <!--emo& Big Grin

--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' />

11-15-2007, 11:05 PM

Musharraf amends Provisional Constitutional OrderQUOTEThe emergency declaration and the PCO were issued on November 3 by Musharraf in his capacity as army chief.

Legal experts pointed out that this means that the emergency would have to be revoked by the army chief.

With Musharraf saying that he will doff his army uniform by the end of November, it means that the power to revoke the emergency would go to his successor, the experts said.

Musharraf, in his capacity as army chief, on Thursday issued an order to amend the PCO that came into effect immediately.

11-16-2007, 12:15 AM

Knives out for Musharraf as US loosens tiesQUOTETHE White House is trying to distance itself from President Pervez Musharraf and build connections to other Pakistanis, fearing he could soon fall from power.
The US embassy had stepped up meetings with opposition and pro-democracy leaders, military officers and other influential figures, diplomats said.

Increasingly, "the general view is that we're in the endgame", said Marvin Weinbaum, who monitors US policy towards Pakistan at the Middle East Institute in Washington.

The shift in US tactics comes amid suggestions that opposition figures are moving towards forging an alliance against General Musharraf. Raja Zafar-ul Haq, a top official in former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's party, said yesterday that Mr Sharif and his long-time rival Benazir Bhutto spoke by telephone on Wednesday and were ready to bury their differences for a "joint struggle" to oust General Musharraf.

Bhutto, also a former prime minister, is under house arrest in the eastern city of Lahore, while Mr Sharif leads his party from exile in Saudi Arabia. Bhutto's party confirmed that the pair spoke but said she would give details of their conversation later.

Such an alliance would bring together two of the largest opposition parties in Pakistan. Bhutto has also been in touch with other groups - including some of her former bitter enemies - about forging a united front.

Any US move to back away from General Musharraf requires delicate diplomacy that will fall to the Deputy Secretary of State, John Negroponte, who is to arrive here today. He will reiterate US insistence that General Musharraf must end his state of emergency before elections that are to be held by January 9.

Diplomats said Mr Negroponte's message might be tempered by a division within the Bush Administration, where some policymakers say General Musharraf could still survive and so must not be alienated. They added that Mr Negroponte also must avoid appearing to interfere in Pakistani affairs.

But several US officials said that more of their colleagues were coming around to the belief that General Musharraf's days in power were numbered and that the US should consider contingency plans, including reaching out to Pakistan's generals.

The country's king-makers have long been a cadre of elite generals, called the corps commanders. At the top of that cadre is General Ashfaq Pervez Kiani, General Musharraf's designated successor as army chief.

General Kiani is a moderate, pro-American infantry commander who is widely seen as commanding respect within the army and, within Western circles, as a potential alternative to General Musharraf.

While Pakistan remains a haven for al-Qaeda and other Islamic militants, senior officials at the White House, the State Department and the Pentagon now say they recognise that the army remains a powerful force for stability in Pakistan, and that there is little prospect of an Islamic takeover if General Musharraf falls.

They say that if General Musharraf is forced from power it would probably be in a gentle push by fellow officers, who would try to install a civilian president and move for parliamentary elections to produce the next prime minister - perhaps even Bhutto, despite past strains between her and the military.

11-16-2007, 12:17 AM

QUOTETHE STATE OF JIHADI TERRORISM IN PAKISTAN 
INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM MONITOR---PAPER NO.305
B.RAMAN

At the instance of Gen.Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani, the new Vice Chief of the Army Staff who is expected to take over as the Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) as and when Gen.Pervez Musharraf keeps his commitment to give up his second hat as the COAS, a background briefing on the state of jihadi terrorism in Pakistan was organised by the Directorate-General of Military Operations (DGMO) for a select group of Pakistani journalists at the General Headquarters at Rawalpindi on November 14,2007. This was the first briefing of its kind held by the Pakistan Army since 9/11. It is believed that the Army officers, who conducted the briefing, were unusually free and frank in sharing their views and concerns with the invited journalists.

2. It is not clear whether Gen.Kiyani himself attended the briefing. According to reliable sources in the Pakistani media community, what came out clearly during the briefing was that Gen.Kiyani believes that the failure to deal effectively with jihadi terrorism in Pakistani territory was to some extent due to the over-militarisation of Pakistan's counter-terrorism strategy under American influence. Even before this briefing and weeks before Musharraf imposed a State of Emergency, non-Governmental analysts in Pakistan were pointing out that some of the problems being faced by Pakistan in the tribal areas could be attributed to what they perceived as Musharraf's amenability to US pressure in counter-terrorism.

3. A point often heard from non-Governmental analysts was: Would the US use the kind of military methods on its own citizens in its homeland that it has been forcing Musharraf to use on the tribal citizens of Pakistan? They were having in mind the repeated bombing of madrasas in the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) allegedly under US pressure just because US intelligence agencies and military officers suspected that these madrasas were being used by Al Qaeda and the Neo Taliban as training centres for suicide terrorists. According to them, hundreds of innocent tribal children were killed in the bombings, thereby spreading anti-US and anti-Musharraf anger right across the tribal belt. After the bombings, it was allegedly found that the US-supplied intelligence, which led to the aerial bombing, was not correct.

4. Ayesha Haroon, of the "News", who was one of the journalists, who attended the briefing at the GHQ, has said in her detailed report published by her paper on November 15,2007,as follows: "The journalists were told that the VCOAS stresses that "military solutions must be politically acceptable" and "only minimum use of force must be resorted to."

5. It has been my view that while constant US pressure on Musharraf to repeatedly use his Air Force against suspect madrasas and alleged Al Qaeda hide-outs in the tribal area has partly contributed to the jihadi upsurge, Musharraf cannot escape his own share of responsibility for the increase in the activities of Al Qaeda and pro-Al Qaeda jihadi terrorists in Pakistani territory. His predecessors as military dictators had the good sense to realise that the Army alone cannot effectively govern the country and maintain law and order without the co-operation of the Police and other civilian bureaucracy.

6. The Police has an important role in counter--insurgency and counter-terrorism. They act as the eyes and ears of the Government even in the remotest of villages. They know the community better than the Army. Gen.Zia ul-Haq and other military dictators of the past tried to strengthen the self-pride and elan of the Police in order to secure their co-operation for the Army. Musharraf was the first military dictator, who sought to humiliate the Police right from the day he took over in October,1999, and marginalise its role. He appointed junior and middle-level Army officers---some serving, some retired--- as monitors of the performance of senior police officers. There were shocking instances where senior Police officers, holding a position equivalent to the rank of a Maj.Gen. in the Army, were asked to report to army officers of the rank of Major or even Captain. These junior officers, who knew very little of the community, were asked to write the annual performance report of very senior police officers. Musharraf also started an exercise to militarise the Intelligence Bureau (I of the Ministry of the Interior, which, in the past, used to be largely, if not predominantly, staffed by Police and other civilian officers. The IB of Pakistan shared the same civilian traditions and work practices as its Indian counterpart. Musharraf sought to change this in order to give the Army a greater role in the IB. There was a similar mishandling of the non-police sections of the civilian bureaucracy.

7. The result: A drying-up of the flow of intelligence not only from the tribal areas, but also from other parts of the country as well. Police officers hardly investigated terrorism-related cases either because of their resentment with Musharraf or because of a fear of incurring the wrath of the terrorists." It serves the Army and Musharraf right" was their attitude. There was neither effective prevention nor successful investigation in most cases. Successful investigation and prosecution is an important deterrent to the spread of terrorism. This is hardly to be found in Pakistan.

8.Another blunder committed by Musharraf was the over-use of the Frontier Constabulary and the Frontier Corps in the operations against terrorists in the tribal areas. He wanted to avoid using the Punjabi-dominated Army for ground operations. While the Army is actively involved in the ground operations against the Baloch freedom-fighters in Balochistan, it was confining itself to the barracks in the FATA and in the Provincially-Administered Tribal Areas (PATA) of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP). American officials and their counterparts in Pakistan often claim that Musharraf has deployed nearly 80,000 troops in the tribal areas. The Americans cite this as one of the reasons for their strong backing to the General despite his growing unpopularity.

9. What they do not mention is that many of these security personnel are the tribal members of the para-military forces, who come from that area, and not Pakistani military personnel recruited from other areas of the country. A large number of the Pakistani army personnel are used not for ground operations aqgainst the terrorists, but for providing physical security to American and other NATO military supplies to Afghanistan from the Karachi port after they are landed there. This has been creating resentment among the tribal personnel of the para-military forces, who feel that Musharraf, under US pressure, is making not only Muslims kill Muslims, but also Pashtuns kill Pashtuns, in the name of the so-called war on terrorism. The FM radio stations operated by pro-Al Qaeda jihadi leaders in the tribal areas have been repeatedly alleging in their broadcasts directed to the fellow-tribals in the para-military forces that innocent tribals are being killed in order to save American lives in the US homeland.

10. As a result of this, there has been a growing number of desertions of Pashtuns serving in the para-military forces. Only now, for the last few days, Musharraf has been using regular Army units to counter the supporters of Maulana Fazlullah in the Swat Valley, but afraid that the Pashtun soldiers of the Army too might start deserting their units like the Pashtun members of the para-military forces, he has been avoiding the use of the army in ground operations and has instead been relying increasingly on helicopter gunships. This has, on the one hand, resulted in an increase in the number of civilian casualties due to indiscriminate air-mounted actions and, on the other, further fuelled the resentment in the para-military forces, whose personnel are asking: Are the lives of the Army personnel more precious than those of the Frontier Constabulary and the Frontier Corps?

11. Musharraf has so far not told his people and the international community that Al Qaeda and pro-Al Qaeda organisations in the tribal areas have been increasingly targeting Shias and Christians. Captured Shia members of the para-military forces are being treated with brutality and killed by beheading or by cutting their throats. Shia members of the civil society are also being targeted. The FM radio stations have been indulging in the most horrible anti-Shia broadcasts. Shias are being projected as American agents in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq. They are alleging that the majority of the prostitutes in Pakistan are Shias and projecting the Shias as the sect of the prostitutes in the Ummah. A highly reputed school for poor tribal girls run in the FATA by a Christian missionary organisation was targeted and forced to close through intimidation. There are no Buddhists in the tribal areas, but many historical Buddhist heritage sites are there. These too are systematically being attacked. Al Qaeda is trying to replicate Iraq in Pakistan by exacerbating the already existing divide between the Shias and the Sunnis in the civil society as well as in the Army.

12. Musharraf has been totally helpless in dealing with the situation. There is an urgent need to encourage the emergence of a new leadership---political as well as military---which would be able to deal with the worsening jihadi terrorism with greater political sensitivity and operational effectiveness. 

13. The text of the "News" report on the GHQ briefing is annexed. (15-11-07)

(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )

11-16-2007, 12:48 AM

what is happening in balochistan?

11-16-2007, 02:53 AM

After Mushy's Paki army killed two tribe leaders and Helicopter guns over civilians, they are hiding.
Or they may be busy in Swat area, helping others.
We are not hearing any Gasline short circuit.

Naresh · 11-16-2007, 04:39 AM

QUOTE(Mudy @ Nov 16 2007, 02:53 AM)After Mushy's Paki army killed two tribe leaders and Helicopter guns over civilians, they are hiding.
Or they may be busy in Swat area, helping others.

We are not hearing any Gasline short circuit.
[right][snapback]75281[/snapback][/right]


Mudy Ji :

Take, Do The Talk!

Your above post has upset the Lotastaanis to the extent that they hereby unequivocally and vociferously protest about your discounting the Short Circuits in Air Vacuum in the Land of the Pure and Peaceful Religion. They have sent the following for your notice :

[center]Q U O T E[/center]

Vee ar vary uspet at the allegations by our Kufr Enemies in the East.

Here is our Mouth Breaking Response :

Pakistan : 20-inch gas pipeline blown near Sui QUETTA, Nov 15 (PPI) : Engineers have started repair of 20 inch diameter gas pipeline near Sui. and hope it would be operational sometime Thursday night. It was damaged by militants on Wednesday night.(Posted @ 19:50 PST)

[center]U N Q U O T E[/center]

Please be guided accordingly!!

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

11-16-2007, 05:24 AM

Nareshji,
They are reading my post or I am reading their mind, or I really a very good fortune teller. <!--emo& Big Grin

--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' />
Now, let me transform my brain with Paki grey matter for short duration.
Mushy is going to pull big stunt, so that he can stay in power. Now what he can do?
Make current no 2 disappear. So unkle will take another quarter to find replacement, he is desperate, so he may do something very foolish.
How about scaring western bhai log in Karachi? They have already scared Indians; Indians have tail inside, so no tilak nagar type beating. Mushy had tested Indian bhai log, he had realized they had no will to fight or response, so either do some thing big in India so that they will be forced to react or western bhai log may solve short term problem.

11-16-2007, 10:07 AM

http://www.nation.com.pk/daily/nov-2007/16/index2.php
QUOTEThe angry students ransacked the IJT office in the Chemical Technology Department, IER and Geology Department (IJTâs main office).
They broke the window panes and challenged the IJT leaders to come out in open.
Reportedly many IJT workers and Nazims were upset with the thrashing of Imran Khan and his arrest and they also joined the protest. There were reports that they would hold a Press conference at the Hailey College to announce their disassociation with IJT. The conference could not be held but some sources disclosed that it may be held on Friday(today).

11-16-2007, 10:09 AM

http://www.paklinks.com/gsmedia/files/40810/woman.jpg

Just can't believe, how they are treating women in Islamic state of Pakistan

11-16-2007, 11:26 PM

Pakistan gunships raid militant bunkers: armyQUOTEISLAMABAD (AFP) - Pakistani gunship helicopters launched fresh attacks on pro-Taliban bunkers in the troubled northwest on Friday, as clashes that have left nearly 100 militants dead entered a fourth day, the army said.

Chief military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad said US-built Cobra choppers Friday pounded two "miscreant" bunkers as well as mountain positions near the airport at Saidu Sharif, one of the main towns in the area.
...

He said a leading militant commander named Matiullah was among the dead.

Residents said that Matiullah's funeral was led by the militant movement's fugitive leader, cleric Maulana Fazlullah -- who is known as Mullah Radio because he has a private radio station that calls for attacks on troops.

"We have lost a strong mujahid (holy warrior) leader," militant spokesman Sirajuddin said by phone from an unknown location, referring to Matiullah.

Arshad said troops were still hunting for Fazlullah.

In another part of the valley, troops dug in overnight and launched new attacks against a "heavy presence of miscreants who are occupying various heights" along one of the main roads leading toward China, Arshad said

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