Pakistan : Terrorist Wahabi Islamic Rep Pakistan 7

[Naresh]

.

AA : PORK PIES



[url="http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2011/05/software-exports-touched-750m-last-year-pseb/"]Software exports touched $750m last year : PSEB[/url]



KARACHI - The sixth Information and Communications Technology Exhibition and Conference Connect 2011 was held at Karachi Expo Centre. Sindh Minister for Youth Affairs Syed Faisal Sabzwari, who inaugurated the show, said that his department has initiated a vocational training programme to train youth in information technology (IT).



PSEB MD also spoke at the ceremony and revealed that Pakistan had exported software solutions worth $750 million last year. He was of the opinion that the government is striving hard to create a suitable environment for IT sector in the province. "We need to focus on IT and explore talent which is in abundance in the country, he added. Sabzwari said that the youth affairs department will start a career counseling project to guide youth in their career planning in every district of the province.



[color="#FF0000"]BB : REALITY[/color]



[url="http://www.sbp.org.pk/ecodata/dt.pdf"]TRADE IN SERVICES - DETAILS (BPM-5) : July – June FY 2011[/url]



COMPUTER AND INFORMATION SERVICES : US$ 217,089.000



Export of Computer Software : US$ 153,664.000



Cheers

[HareKrishna]

double post

[Guest]

After US citizen abduction, US media is reporting that Pakis gave downed sleath helicopter access to China.

Looks like pressure tactics.

[Naresh]

.

[url="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011/08/16/story_16-8-2011_pg5_9"]PR to acquire 50 locomotives on lease to overcome shortage[/url]



ISLAMABAD : Shortage and out of order locomotives have forced Pakistan Railways to suspend and reduce its certain services on different routes thus resulting in inconveniences for the masses.



Considering the austerity of the issue and in order to meet the demand Pakistan Railways will acquire 50 locomotives from any country depending upon the lease terms and conditions, said an official of Railways’ Ministry.



He said Pakistan Railways needs 300 locomotives urgently to run its affairs properly, therefore a special committee has been constituted to take as many as 50 locomotives on lease from any country till the provision of bailout money for repair of 100 out of order locomotives.



He said at least 25 to 30 engines should be inducted in railways fleet every month for uninterrupted and timely train services to the people of Pakistan.



He said a tender for purchase of 500 locomotives have been floated while another tender for acquiring 27 to 46 more locomotives would be floated soon. He said the matter of purchase of locomotives from China was in the high court and Pakistan Railways could not get a single locomotive from China until the case is decided.



The official said as part of a bailout package Pakistan Railways is expecting to get Rs 10 billion in this August for rehabilitation and repair of tracks and locomotives. He said Rs four billion which was being given by the federal government under PSDP and would be spent on rehabilitation of tracks and coaches, while Rs six billion to be given through a banking consortium would be utilised for the repair and maintenance of locomotives. app



Comment : I hope Indian WKK Crying Hearts do not fall for the Pakistani "Begging" as :



1. Pakistan has no money to pay for the Diesel Oil or Lubes so forget about making "Lease" Payments.



2. The PR Locomotive Drivers, Engineers etc. just do not have the "qualifications" to run Modern Diesel Locomotives especially the Turbo Charged ones. I have been given to believe that the Chinese Locomotives were originally "Super" Charged and the Pakis have made a hash of maintaining them.



God Help Pakistan but God better Help those who supply Locomotives to Pakistan even more.



Cheers

[ramana]

Nareshji, Very good letter to Ashok Malik.

[Naresh]

[quote name='ramana' date='16 August 2011 - 07:32 AM' timestamp='1313459665' post='112475']

Nareshji, Very good letter to Ashok Malik.

[/quote]



ramana Ji :



Many thanks your appreciation.



However, one or two "telling it like it is" is not going to have any effect on the DDM. There must be a concentrated effort.



Lets see!



Cheers

[Naresh]

.

What would happen if Pakistan and the US severed ties?



Raymond Davis jailed in Lahore. Osama bin Laden discovered in the Pakistani Army’s front yard. US forces expelled. Strategic dialogue suspended. $800 million dollars in US military assistance withheld. And now a Washington-based Kashmir activist arrested for being an ISI operative.



Though US-Pakistan ties remain intact, hostility and mistrust are rapidly gnawing away at them. The troubled partnership hangs by thin threads, and one devastating blow could sever it completely. Most Pakistani and American officials cannot bear the thought of a shattered relationship. The fact is that neither nation’s interests would suffer if ties were severed; in fact, they may well be better served.



The paramount expectation of both governments is that the relationship helps attain their objectives in Afghanistan. For Washington, this entails using Pakistani roads to transport Nato supplies. However, if ties were ruptured, Washington would simply turn to Central Asian routes. Bilateral tensions have periodically prompted Islamabad to shut down Pakistani routes and vehicles are repeatedly attacked. Last weekend alone, one fuel tanker was bombed and another fired upon near Peshawar.



Washington also clings to the hope of a Pakistani Army assault on North Waziristan-based militants, who target US forces in Afghanistan. So long as the US-Pakistan relationship remains in effect, this represents an unlikely prospect, albeit one that cannot be ruled out. A collapse in ties would eliminate the possibility altogether — and this would be a good thing for both countries, given the unrest such an assault would unleash. A North Waziristan invasion would unite militant groups against Islamabad, intensifying violence that has already claimed 35,000 Pakistani lives. Additionally, an offensive would trigger a fresh exodus of militants into other tribal areas and across the Durand Line, where they would target international forces in Afghanistan, or add to the growing number of cross-border attacks.



Islamabad, meanwhile, expects the relationship to accord it a prime role in Afghan reconciliation. Yet there is little indication this will happen, given its disagreements with Washington over the role of the Haqqani network in future negotiations. Furthermore, America’s appetite for talks with the Taliban has dissipated after the group’s recent assassination campaign.



Another abiding wish of both capitals is to stabilise Pakistan — hence the infusions of aid into the country. Unfortunately, the current US economic assistance programme is limited and ineffective. If a rupture in ties ended such largesse, Islamabad would find replacement donors among the Chinese, Saudis, Britain’s Department for International Development, the IMF and the Asian Development Bank. Beijing, meanwhile, would fill the vacuum left by military aid cuts.



In short, Pakistan would be able to weather a US aid cut-off. Washington could use these monies to help staunch its spiralling debt and fund counterterrorism efforts in Yemen, which, according to the new US defence secretary, now poses more of a threat than Pakistan.



Given its radioactive reputation in Pakistan, Washington’s stabilisation-through-engagement efforts are bound to fail. The longer US-Pakistan ties persevere, the more anti-Americanism rises and militancy is fuelled. To be sure, America’s relations with Pakistan do not drive ethnic strife in Karachi or insurgency in Balochistan — yet they do stoke anti-state violence in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Fata and southern Punjab. They also deepen fears that Washington seeks to seize Pakistan’s nuclear assets — a perception that reinforces widespread hostility towards America and strengthens militant narratives.



Cutting government links would cool such sentiments, and deprive extremists of a chief rallying cry. In this calmer environment, Pakistan and the US could take stock of what went wrong and recognise that neither side enjoys the leverage it believes it wields over the other. Perhaps a cooling-off period, with time, could even lead to renewed ties — albeit ties infused with more realistic expectations of what the bilateral relationship can deliver.

[Naresh]

.

FRYDAY SPECIAL



Jamrud mosque suicide bomber kills 40



PESHAWAR : A suicide bomber hit a mosque in Jamrud during Friday prayers, killing at least 40 people and wounding more than 100 others in the tribal district of Khyber.



The Khyber bomb exploded after more than 500 people had packed into the mosque in the town of Jamrud, 25 kilometres (16 miles) from Peshawar.



Senior administration official Sayed Ahmed Jan said that the bomb had exploded seconds after prayer ended.



The deputy chief of the Khyber tribal district administration said 40 people had been killed and 117 wounded.



"It was a suicide attack. The bomber was wearing about 8-10 kg of explosives and was on foot. He detonated in the main prayer hall," said Khalid Mumtaz Kundi.



Top administration official Mutahar Zeb said the wounded had been taken to nearby hospitals while a bomb disposal squad was at the scene.



Cheers

[Naresh]

.



[center][color="#006400"][size="7"]FIFTY[/size][/color][/center]

[Naresh]

.

Pakistan becomes a Lawless State!



ISLAMABAD : The original draft of the 1973 Constitution, a very important document of the country, has been lost and the parliamentary sources have confirmed that the original document of the 1973 Constitution is not available in the record and archives of the National Assembly.



The officials are struggling to find out when and how this very important document had been robbed or stolen. During the late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s first government, the National Assembly of Pakistan had approved the first constitution of the country on April 10, 1973 and on April 12, 1973 the National Assembly, in its special session in the State Bank Building, Islamabad, had marked the signing ceremony on the new constitutional draft.



According to the record, after signing the document, members of the National Assembly, headed by Abdul Hafiz Pirzada, law minister of the time, went to the President House in Rawalpindi where Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (President at that time) put signature on the new Constitution.



The parliamentary sources say that the original document of the 1973 Constitution had never been seen in the record of the Parliament House since then. When Speaker National Assembly Dr Fehmida Mirza at the time of approval of the 18th Amendment wanted to see the original document of the Constitution, it transpired that the same was not present in the record of the Assembly.



Cheers

[Naresh]

.





[url="http://www.thenews.com.pk/"][center][size="6"][color="#006400"]Five killed in Karachi, toll reaches 77[/color][/size][/center][/url]



Cheers

[Guest]

ISI resurrects Hikmatyar group to target Indians

August 25, 2011 1:07:24 AM

[url="http://www.dailypioneer.com/363277/ISI-resurrects-Hikmatyar-group-to-target-Indians.html"] link[/url]

Rakesh K Singh | New Delhi

The Pakistani spy agency, Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), with the help of Taliban, has revived the Al-Huda outfit of Gulbuddin Hikmatyar to target Indians in Afghanistan.



As many as 350 persons have been trained so far particularly to target Indian business interests and development works being executed in the war-torn country.



India’s premier external intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), recently reported the development to the Centre. Following the RAW report, security of Indian assets has been beefed up with a view to thwarting any misadventure by the ISI-backed militia.



According to the report, the ISI will provide funds, training and shelter besides intelligence on movement of Indians to the trained recruits of Al-Huda for anti-India operations.



Two training camps were organised recently by the ISI to train the recruits in southern Afghanistan at Chunar and mountainous regions of Nuristan in Afghanistan on Pakistan border, intelligence sources said.

[Naresh]

.

[url="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011/08/30/story_30-8-2011_pg3_5"]Moving beyond Jinnah’s Pakistan —Fahd Ali[/url]



What exists right now in the name of the Pakistani state is an institution that oppresses its citizens, discriminates against them on the basis of religion, usurps their rights, and rewards the coterie of a few, which consists of the civil-military bureaucracy and politicians



Pakistan just celebrated its 64th Independence Day. As usual the day was marked with promises to make Pakistan the greatest nation (and country) the world has ever witnessed. It is ironic that nobody paused for a second to reflect that the country is, at present, struggling to be even a mediocre one. I guess birthdays are a reason for drunken optimism, however unrealistic it may be. Each year August is also the month when both the conservatives and liberals in Pakistan invoke Jinnah’s vision of Pakistan to suit their (respective) ideological aspirations.



It is indeed an interesting crossing where both liberal and conservative minds meet — only to move apart. Jinnah’s vision is invoked by each side to lament the current state of the country and discuss the potential this nation possesses. But before I muse any further on this, let me ask a (seemingly rhetorical) question. What is Jinnah’s Pakistan? If we were to only look at geography then Jinnah’s Pakistan came into existence with eastern and western wings. That Pakistan ceased to exist in December 1971. What we have now is a Pakistan that was left over from that war. This current Pakistan’s 60 percent population is under the age of 30, which means that they were born in 1980 and after. None of these people were born in Jinnah’s Pakistan, which makes them the citizens of what was left over from the war in 1971. But since the idea of Jinnah’s Pakistan is invoked so frequently it must be something that goes beyond geography. For this piece I will just stick to the vision that liberals in the country present.



In that vein, by Jinnah’s Pakistan liberals mostly mean a secular and pluralistic Pakistan (which is also capitalistic but then that is something that everybody takes for granted). And the most cited instance of this vision is Jinnah’s speech of August 11, 1947 made to the then Constituent Assembly. It is quite interesting that a friend recently pointed out a section of the speech that hardly ever gets a mention in mainstream media. [color="#FF0000"]Jinnah’s suggestion to the members of the assembly is to forget the past and cooperate with each other in order to succeed. In the next sentence he tells them to change their past so that “there will be no end to the progress you will make”[/color] ( http://www.pakistani.org/pakistan/legisl...g1947.html ).



It is that part where Jinnah asks the members to forget their past in order to start afresh that I find quite telling. A question that arises immediately: is it even possible to forget our past? In some ways perhaps Jinnah’s statement reflects the enormity of the burden that he felt by creating a nation-state that he accepted only half-heartedly. Ironically, by making that statement [color="#FF0000"]Jinnah was attempting to do away with the communal politics that had brought him (and the rest of the country) to that point.[/color] Some would find that intellectually dishonest but maybe Jinnah was not really concerned with intellectual dishonesty at that time [color="#FF0000"]since he could see the Pandora’s Box that he had opened up through a decade and a half of communal politics. So, in a way, Jinnah’s statement signifies his attempt to escape from the reality (and consequences) of his own politics.[/color]



My attempt here is not to present this argument in order to eventually decide whether Pakistan was a mistake. Pakistan was the result of forces unleashed by a number of actors (foremost among them was Jinnah) — forces that nobody was eventually able to control. Hence, passing judgement on the creation of Pakistan is an exercise in futility for me. It is inconsequential and 64 years down the road it does not really matter. And neither does Jinnah’s Pakistan! Do not get me wrong when I make this argument. I am not arguing against a secular and progressive Pakistan. I am only arguing that there is no need to justify such a vision by invoking Jinnah. In fact, I personally do not agree with Jinnah’s vision of Pakistan. We only tend to highlight the secularist aspects of it but tend to ignore that Jinnah strongly believed in a capitalist Pakistan firmly allied with the US. The present day Pakistan seems to, at least, have achieved the latter part of Jinnah’s vision.



As I mentioned above, the state that Jinnah founded disappeared from the world map in 1971. What we have left is definitely not Jinnah’s Pakistan. What exists right now in the name of the Pakistani state is an institution that oppresses its citizens, discriminates against them on the basis of religion, usurps their rights, and rewards the coterie of a few, which consists of the civil-military bureaucracy and politicians. [color="#FF0000"]I know that [size="5"]the particular state that exists right now has to be dismantled. Brick by brick, institution by institution, law by law — this structure needs to be razed[/size] so that we can make the space to construct a new and better Pakistan.[/color] I do not have to invoke Jinnah (or his vision) to work towards a pluralistic polity in Pakistan. So yes, I also want a secular, progressive, and democratic Pakistan. But I also want a Pakistan where democracy is not limited to casting votes but is also practiced at the workplace, where production is not appropriated by a few but is shared and enjoyed by society. If that is also Jinnah’s vision, well then, great!



The writer is studying towards his doctorate in Economics at the New School for Social Research in New York City. He blogs at http://darumallah.blogspot.com and can be reached at fahdali@gmail.com



Cheers

[Naresh]

.

[url="http://criticalppp.com/archives/55352"]Bringing Home the Desert - by Suleman Akhtar[/url]



There was a land of Cavaliers and Cotton Fields called the Old South. Here in this pretty world, Gallantry took its last bow. Here was the last ever to be seen of Knights and their Ladies Fair, of Master and of Slave. Look for it only in books, for it is no more than a dream remembered, a Civilization gone with the wind. -An introductory foreword to the film ‘Gone with the wind’ (1939)



Civilizations can never be made up, this is all hitherto history has to tell us, but yes they can be ruined to irretrievable notwithstanding. Societies are never absolute in their very essence. This is the natural organic flow of events that weaves the edifice of a society over the time period by encompassing the divergent customs, languages, dogmas and traits. The final synthesis, what we call a society, is the one to impart the distinguishing identity to its adherents. Firmer the foundations of society more preeminent will be the identity yielding out of it. Societies are prone to decadence only when they cease to embrace the extrinsic flavors or when become the subject of deliberate acculturation. Later is the case with ‘the land of pure’ which, as for some, is yet to be more pure.



Pure is the word and Arabization is the synonym. Pure of what? Pure of specter of the pre-partition Indian identity that was congenital inheritance of Indian Muslims bestowed on by the indigenous society that had evolved over hundreds of years by the commingling of various cultures and civilizations. Plagued by quandary, the Pakistani state, after the partition, was quick to embrace the Pan-Islamic identity embellished with salient features of Arabian Peninsula whilst cunningly blending it with religion in order to render it more acceptable for the local populace. The identity engineers considered it the last resort to homogenize the diverse local cultures and vernacular languages by binding them in a construct emanated from religion based identity. That was ‘Fall of Dhaka’ that led to expedition of the Arabization process. Eminent historian Dr. Mubarak Ali explains the predicament in the words:



“Since its inception Pakistan has faced the monumental task of formulating its national identity separate from India. Partitioned from the ancient civilization of India, Pakistan has struggled to construct its own culture; a culture not just different and unique from India, but one appreciable by the rest of the world. ..The tragedy of 1971 [when Bangladesh separated] brought a shock to the people and also a heavy blow to the ideology of Pakistan… More or less convinced of their Islamic heritage and identity, Pakistan’s government and intelligentsia consciously attempted to Islamize the country.”



History itself has been the cardinal victim since antiquity in the hands of plunderers who deem it their foremost target for their ulterior motives. That’s what happened here. History, taught in public schools, starts from the arrival of Muslim Arabs and ends at carving a Muslim state out of Hindu India. Everything else has been rendered smokescreen. The past, prior to Muhammad Bin Qasim, is direct threat to the engineered Arab identity as it was obviously Hindu-Buddhist –so omitted out of purpose. The puritans, Aurangzeb Alamgir and Ahmad Sirhindi, get all the praise since they are more in line with the unyielding version of Arab Islam whilst heretic Akbar is accused of inaugurating a new religion purposefully disdaining the fact that people were far better off in Akbar’s era. There’s not even a single mentioning of inter-faith harmony Dara Shikow had been preaching given that there’s no space whatsoever for trans-religious approach in a society aimed for adherents of single creed. Plunderer Mehmud Ghaznavi has been denominated as ‘Idol-Breaker’ merely to glorify the unified Islamic triumphalism over the misbeliever India. This systematic maligning of young minds is not confined to only government educational institutes but by an act of parliament, passed in 1976, all private schools are also required to follow this curriculum. Rubina Saigol, an expert on education says: “Our state system is the biggest madrasa. We keep blaming madrasas for everything and, of course, they are doing a lot of things I would disagree with. But the state ideologies of hate and a violent, negative nationalism are getting out there where madrasas cannot hope to reach.”



Over the last three decades Pakistan has seen some drastic changes in societal demeanor and etiquettes ranging from language to customs. Dissemination of construct based on the Arab identity is bearing fruit. ‘Abaya’ that was an unknown word in Urdu language has now become the benchmark of the fictitious morality that is the ultimate result of deliberate assimilation of arid Arab culture. Even the moderate ones are obliged to wear Abaya to meet the newly contrived moral standards of society. ‘Chaadar aur Char Dewaari’ (veiled behind high brick walls) policy of dictator Zia-ul-Haq is turning out to be the worst kind of oppression of women, along with the laws like Hudood ordinance enacted during his regime.



Even the language has not been spared amidst this whole drivel of purification. Article 31/2 (a) of constitution of Pakistan states: “The State shall endeavor, as respects the Muslims of Pakistan to make the teaching of the Holy Quran and Islamiat compulsory, to encourage and facilitate the learning of Arabic language..”. What’s that, a pathetic attempt to make Arabic lingua franca for Pakistan where less than 1% population can understand Arabic? What about the divergent local languages or even the so-called national language? Most common but glaring example that may be put forward to underline the predicament is gradual replacement of the Indo-Persian ‘Khuda-Hafiz’ with Arabic ‘Allah-Hafiz’ implying that Arabic Allah is the only proper word for God. Khuda is an Indo-Persian term to say “God”. It is built on the same building blocks that other Indo-European languages use. English say God, Germans say Gott or Gutt, Persians say Khuda. The G is a variation of Kh and the utt or od is a variation of “uda”. They’re very similar. On the other hand, Arabic is Afro-Asiatic language. By taking a look to other Semitic languages such as Hebrew, they are very near to Arabic flavor. As for instance Jews say Elohim that sounds very familiar while reciting the word ‘Allah’. Where do the attributes of God come into the matter from? Some of the 99 names of God have their origins in classical Hebrew instead of Arabic. So in the view of this logic should those be abandoned too? Renowned scholar Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy sheds the light on issue:



“Persian, the language of Mughal India, had once been taught as a second or third language in many Pakistani schools. But, because of its association with Shiite Iran, it too was dropped and replaced with Arabic. The morphing of the traditional “Khuda hafiz” (Persian for “God be with you”) into “Allah hafiz” (Arabic for “God be with you”) took two decades to complete. The Arab import sounded odd and contrived, but ultimately the Arabic God won and the Persian God lost.”



The most considerate aspect of this whole panorama is the puritanical version of Islam i.e. Salafism / Wahabism that is predominately a phenomenon traces its roots to Arabian Peninsula and has been instrumented by the identity surgeons to homogenize the cultures that have not even an infinitesimal thing in common –consequences are horrible. This unyielding interpretation of Islam puts great emphasis on rituals and codes of conducts than on substance quite contrary to the Indian version of Islam that is marked with local customs evolved over the centuries through intermingling of diverse doctrines. All religions have two aspects that are theological beliefs related to one’s relationship with divine reality and sociological beliefs comprising of social behaviors dealing with human society. Former remain more or less absolute in their very nature while the later do change with the passage of time when religions go trans-regional. Problem, predominately, starts erupting when the sociological beliefs are subjugated by state to implement and propagate hidden agendas. These sociological beliefs then lay the bases of hatred, bigotry and misogyny. This is what has been done in land of the pure in the name of purifying religion by escalating a particular expression of religion to the stature of only-viable-interpretation-of-Islam. God has been portrayed as some Arabic speaking deity who is restricted to ethno-linguistic boundary which is clearly in contradiction of message of religion.



As the Qur’an says: “Another of His signs is the creation of the heavens and earth, and the diversity of your languages and color. There truly are signs in this for those who know” (30:22). There is also this famous verse: “O people, we created you from the same male and female, and rendered you distinct peoples and tribes, so that you may know one another.” (49:13)



As for elaborating further the above discussed phenomenon take the example of Madrassas in Pakistan. They are the social sites for the reproduction of Islamic orthodoxy. Hence, to say that the ideological orientation of madrassa education is conservative is to state the obvious. The madrassas in Muslim South Asia teach a curriculum known as Dars-i-Nizami, first introduced by Mullah Nizamuddin Sihalvi (d.1747) who was a scholar of some repute in Islamic jurisprudence and philosophy in Lucknow. But this was only during the last two decades of twentieth century when they became involve in militancy despite having the two hundred years apathetic history. The curriculum of Madrassas has been same for about 150 years which is most pacifist in nature. Its approach to Islam is ultra-conservative, literalist, legalist and sectarian, but definitely not revolutionary or militant. If this were the case the militant tendencies of Madrassas could have been observed during the most volatile events like partition, fall of Dhaka and Indo-Pak wars. What happened during the last two decades of twentieth century, a classic example of importing doctrine, is not-so-secret now and answers lie with the diplomats and Generals who were powerbrokers in Islamabad, Kabul, Riyadh and Langley, VA at that time.



Kamal Azfar, a Pakistani writer, states the dilemma in words:



“There are two concepts of Pakistan: the first empirical and the second utopian. The empirical concept is based on solid foundations of history and geography while the utopian concept is based on shifting sands. Utopia is not an oasis but a mirage… Samarqand and Bukhara and the splendors of the Arab world are closely related to us but we do not possess them. Our possessions are Moenjodaro and Sehwan Sharif, Taxila and Lahore, Multan and the Khyber. We should own up to all that is present here in the Indus Valley and cease to long for realities not our own for that is false-consciousness.”



To conclude, I will take liberty to speak for me and the third generation, I belong to too, who has the privilege to breathe in the airs of this still-not-so-pure-land and is much Pakistani now. I’m not going to mourn the Indus Valley civilization, but what is the substitute they offer me if it’s not desert? I refrain from whining about the bitter reality that I don’t have the clue of half of indigenous literature that has been written in Persian, but to say what do they have in the pipeline for me? I have nothing against whatsoever version of religion, but how would they justify the attacks on the shrines of my land? I’m all for endorsing their policies, but what is the vindication they have of myriads of dead bodies of my country-fellows? I’m ready to relinquish Khusrow, Ghalib, Bhittai, Bhulla, Rahman Baba and Gul Khan, but can they introduce me to the single one of this stature? I shall not question them, but will they care to tell me, ‘who am I’?



Above Article is originally available on [url=http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/7663/arabization-of-pakistan-bringing-the-desert-home/]The Express Tribune



Cheers

[Naresh]

.

[url="http://criticalppp.com/archives/55352"]Bringing Home the Desert - by Suleman Akhtar[/url]



There was a land of Cavaliers and Cotton Fields called the Old South. Here in this pretty world, Gallantry took its last bow. Here was the last ever to be seen of Knights and their Ladies Fair, of Master and of Slave. Look for it only in books, for it is no more than a dream remembered, a Civilization gone with the wind. -An introductory foreword to the film ‘Gone with the wind’ (1939)



Civilizations can never be made up, this is all hitherto history has to tell us, but yes they can be ruined to irretrievable notwithstanding. Societies are never absolute in their very essence. This is the natural organic flow of events that weaves the edifice of a society over the time period by encompassing the divergent customs, languages, dogmas and traits. The final synthesis, what we call a society, is the one to impart the distinguishing identity to its adherents. Firmer the foundations of society more preeminent will be the identity yielding out of it. Societies are prone to decadence only when they cease to embrace the extrinsic flavors or when become the subject of deliberate acculturation. Later is the case with ‘the land of pure’ which, as for some, is yet to be more pure.



Pure is the word and Arabization is the synonym. Pure of what? Pure of specter of the pre-partition Indian identity that was congenital inheritance of Indian Muslims bestowed on by the indigenous society that had evolved over hundreds of years by the commingling of various cultures and civilizations. Plagued by quandary, the Pakistani state, after the partition, was quick to embrace the Pan-Islamic identity embellished with salient features of Arabian Peninsula whilst cunningly blending it with religion in order to render it more acceptable for the local populace. The identity engineers considered it the last resort to homogenize the diverse local cultures and vernacular languages by binding them in a construct emanated from religion based identity. That was ‘Fall of Dhaka’ that led to expedition of the Arabization process. Eminent historian Dr. Mubarak Ali explains the predicament in the words:



“Since its inception Pakistan has faced the monumental task of formulating its national identity separate from India. Partitioned from the ancient civilization of India, Pakistan has struggled to construct its own culture; a culture not just different and unique from India, but one appreciable by the rest of the world. ..The tragedy of 1971 [when Bangladesh separated] brought a shock to the people and also a heavy blow to the ideology of Pakistan… More or less convinced of their Islamic heritage and identity, Pakistan’s government and intelligentsia consciously attempted to Islamize the country.”



History itself has been the cardinal victim since antiquity in the hands of plunderers who deem it their foremost target for their ulterior motives. That’s what happened here. History, taught in public schools, starts from the arrival of Muslim Arabs and ends at carving a Muslim state out of Hindu India. Everything else has been rendered smokescreen. The past, prior to Muhammad Bin Qasim, is direct threat to the engineered Arab identity as it was obviously Hindu-Buddhist –so omitted out of purpose. The puritans, Aurangzeb Alamgir and Ahmad Sirhindi, get all the praise since they are more in line with the unyielding version of Arab Islam whilst heretic Akbar is accused of inaugurating a new religion purposefully disdaining the fact that people were far better off in Akbar’s era. There’s not even a single mentioning of inter-faith harmony Dara Shikow had been preaching given that there’s no space whatsoever for trans-religious approach in a society aimed for adherents of single creed. Plunderer Mehmud Ghaznavi has been denominated as ‘Idol-Breaker’ merely to glorify the unified Islamic triumphalism over the misbeliever India. This systematic maligning of young minds is not confined to only government educational institutes but by an act of parliament, passed in 1976, all private schools are also required to follow this curriculum. Rubina Saigol, an expert on education says: “Our state system is the biggest madrasa. We keep blaming madrasas for everything and, of course, they are doing a lot of things I would disagree with. But the state ideologies of hate and a violent, negative nationalism are getting out there where madrasas cannot hope to reach.”



Over the last three decades Pakistan has seen some drastic changes in societal demeanor and etiquettes ranging from language to customs. Dissemination of construct based on the Arab identity is bearing fruit. ‘Abaya’ that was an unknown word in Urdu language has now become the benchmark of the fictitious morality that is the ultimate result of deliberate assimilation of arid Arab culture. Even the moderate ones are obliged to wear Abaya to meet the newly contrived moral standards of society. ‘Chaadar aur Char Dewaari’ (veiled behind high brick walls) policy of dictator Zia-ul-Haq is turning out to be the worst kind of oppression of women, along with the laws like Hudood ordinance enacted during his regime.



Even the language has not been spared amidst this whole drivel of purification. Article 31/2 (a) of constitution of Pakistan states: “The State shall endeavor, as respects the Muslims of Pakistan to make the teaching of the Holy Quran and Islamiat compulsory, to encourage and facilitate the learning of Arabic language..”. What’s that, a pathetic attempt to make Arabic lingua franca for Pakistan where less than 1% population can understand Arabic? What about the divergent local languages or even the so-called national language? Most common but glaring example that may be put forward to underline the predicament is gradual replacement of the Indo-Persian ‘Khuda-Hafiz’ with Arabic ‘Allah-Hafiz’ implying that Arabic Allah is the only proper word for God. Khuda is an Indo-Persian term to say “God”. It is built on the same building blocks that other Indo-European languages use. English say God, Germans say Gott or Gutt, Persians say Khuda. The G is a variation of Kh and the utt or od is a variation of “uda”. They’re very similar. On the other hand, Arabic is Afro-Asiatic language. By taking a look to other Semitic languages such as Hebrew, they are very near to Arabic flavor. As for instance Jews say Elohim that sounds very familiar while reciting the word ‘Allah’. Where do the attributes of God come into the matter from? Some of the 99 names of God have their origins in classical Hebrew instead of Arabic. So in the view of this logic should those be abandoned too? Renowned scholar Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy sheds the light on issue:



“Persian, the language of Mughal India, had once been taught as a second or third language in many Pakistani schools. But, because of its association with Shiite Iran, it too was dropped and replaced with Arabic. The morphing of the traditional “Khuda hafiz” (Persian for “God be with you”) into “Allah hafiz” (Arabic for “God be with you”) took two decades to complete. The Arab import sounded odd and contrived, but ultimately the Arabic God won and the Persian God lost.”



The most considerate aspect of this whole panorama is the puritanical version of Islam i.e. Salafism / Wahabism that is predominately a phenomenon traces its roots to Arabian Peninsula and has been instrumented by the identity surgeons to homogenize the cultures that have not even an infinitesimal thing in common –consequences are horrible. This unyielding interpretation of Islam puts great emphasis on rituals and codes of conducts than on substance quite contrary to the Indian version of Islam that is marked with local customs evolved over the centuries through intermingling of diverse doctrines. All religions have two aspects that are theological beliefs related to one’s relationship with divine reality and sociological beliefs comprising of social behaviors dealing with human society. Former remain more or less absolute in their very nature while the later do change with the passage of time when religions go trans-regional. Problem, predominately, starts erupting when the sociological beliefs are subjugated by state to implement and propagate hidden agendas. These sociological beliefs then lay the bases of hatred, bigotry and misogyny. This is what has been done in land of the pure in the name of purifying religion by escalating a particular expression of religion to the stature of only-viable-interpretation-of-Islam. God has been portrayed as some Arabic speaking deity who is restricted to ethno-linguistic boundary which is clearly in contradiction of message of religion.



As the Qur’an says: “Another of His signs is the creation of the heavens and earth, and the diversity of your languages and color. There truly are signs in this for those who know” (30:22). There is also this famous verse: “O people, we created you from the same male and female, and rendered you distinct peoples and tribes, so that you may know one another.” (49:13)



As for elaborating further the above discussed phenomenon take the example of Madrassas in Pakistan. They are the social sites for the reproduction of Islamic orthodoxy. Hence, to say that the ideological orientation of madrassa education is conservative is to state the obvious. The madrassas in Muslim South Asia teach a curriculum known as Dars-i-Nizami, first introduced by Mullah Nizamuddin Sihalvi (d.1747) who was a scholar of some repute in Islamic jurisprudence and philosophy in Lucknow. But this was only during the last two decades of twentieth century when they became involve in militancy despite having the two hundred years apathetic history. The curriculum of Madrassas has been same for about 150 years which is most pacifist in nature. Its approach to Islam is ultra-conservative, literalist, legalist and sectarian, but definitely not revolutionary or militant. If this were the case the militant tendencies of Madrassas could have been observed during the most volatile events like partition, fall of Dhaka and Indo-Pak wars. What happened during the last two decades of twentieth century, a classic example of importing doctrine, is not-so-secret now and answers lie with the diplomats and Generals who were powerbrokers in Islamabad, Kabul, Riyadh and Langley, VA at that time.



Kamal Azfar, a Pakistani writer, states the dilemma in words:



“There are two concepts of Pakistan: the first empirical and the second utopian. The empirical concept is based on solid foundations of history and geography while the utopian concept is based on shifting sands. Utopia is not an oasis but a mirage… Samarqand and Bukhara and the splendors of the Arab world are closely related to us but we do not possess them. Our possessions are Moenjodaro and Sehwan Sharif, Taxila and Lahore, Multan and the Khyber. We should own up to all that is present here in the Indus Valley and cease to long for realities not our own for that is false-consciousness.”



To conclude, I will take liberty to speak for me and the third generation, I belong to too, who has the privilege to breathe in the airs of this still-not-so-pure-land and is much Pakistani now. I’m not going to mourn the Indus Valley civilization, but what is the substitute they offer me if it’s not desert? I refrain from whining about the bitter reality that I don’t have the clue of half of indigenous literature that has been written in Persian, but to say what do they have in the pipeline for me? I have nothing against whatsoever version of religion, but how would they justify the attacks on the shrines of my land? I’m all for endorsing their policies, but what is the vindication they have of myriads of dead bodies of my country-fellows? I’m ready to relinquish Khusrow, Ghalib, Bhittai, Bhulla, Rahman Baba and Gul Khan, but can they introduce me to the single one of this stature? I shall not question them, but will they care to tell me, ‘who am I’?



Above Article is originally available on [url=http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/7663/arabization-of-pakistan-bringing-the-desert-home/]The Express Tribune



Cheers

[Naresh]

.

[url="http://criticalppp.com/archives/55352"]Bringing Home the Desert - by Suleman Akhtar[/url]



There was a land of Cavaliers and Cotton Fields called the Old South. Here in this pretty world, Gallantry took its last bow. Here was the last ever to be seen of Knights and their Ladies Fair, of Master and of Slave. Look for it only in books, for it is no more than a dream remembered, a Civilization gone with the wind. -An introductory foreword to the film ‘Gone with the wind’ (1939)



Civilizations can never be made up, this is all hitherto history has to tell us, but yes they can be ruined to irretrievable notwithstanding. Societies are never absolute in their very essence. This is the natural organic flow of events that weaves the edifice of a society over the time period by encompassing the divergent customs, languages, dogmas and traits. The final synthesis, what we call a society, is the one to impart the distinguishing identity to its adherents. Firmer the foundations of society more preeminent will be the identity yielding out of it. Societies are prone to decadence only when they cease to embrace the extrinsic flavors or when become the subject of deliberate acculturation. Later is the case with ‘the land of pure’ which, as for some, is yet to be more pure.



Pure is the word and Arabization is the synonym. Pure of what? Pure of specter of the pre-partition Indian identity that was congenital inheritance of Indian Muslims bestowed on by the indigenous society that had evolved over hundreds of years by the commingling of various cultures and civilizations. Plagued by quandary, the Pakistani state, after the partition, was quick to embrace the Pan-Islamic identity embellished with salient features of Arabian Peninsula whilst cunningly blending it with religion in order to render it more acceptable for the local populace. The identity engineers considered it the last resort to homogenize the diverse local cultures and vernacular languages by binding them in a construct emanated from religion based identity. That was ‘Fall of Dhaka’ that led to expedition of the Arabization process. Eminent historian Dr. Mubarak Ali explains the predicament in the words:



“Since its inception Pakistan has faced the monumental task of formulating its national identity separate from India. Partitioned from the ancient civilization of India, Pakistan has struggled to construct its own culture; a culture not just different and unique from India, but one appreciable by the rest of the world. ..The tragedy of 1971 [when Bangladesh separated] brought a shock to the people and also a heavy blow to the ideology of Pakistan… More or less convinced of their Islamic heritage and identity, Pakistan’s government and intelligentsia consciously attempted to Islamize the country.”



History itself has been the cardinal victim since antiquity in the hands of plunderers who deem it their foremost target for their ulterior motives. That’s what happened here. History, taught in public schools, starts from the arrival of Muslim Arabs and ends at carving a Muslim state out of Hindu India. Everything else has been rendered smokescreen. The past, prior to Muhammad Bin Qasim, is direct threat to the engineered Arab identity as it was obviously Hindu-Buddhist –so omitted out of purpose. The puritans, Aurangzeb Alamgir and Ahmad Sirhindi, get all the praise since they are more in line with the unyielding version of Arab Islam whilst heretic Akbar is accused of inaugurating a new religion purposefully disdaining the fact that people were far better off in Akbar’s era. There’s not even a single mentioning of inter-faith harmony Dara Shikow had been preaching given that there’s no space whatsoever for trans-religious approach in a society aimed for adherents of single creed. Plunderer Mehmud Ghaznavi has been denominated as ‘Idol-Breaker’ merely to glorify the unified Islamic triumphalism over the misbeliever India. This systematic maligning of young minds is not confined to only government educational institutes but by an act of parliament, passed in 1976, all private schools are also required to follow this curriculum. Rubina Saigol, an expert on education says: “Our state system is the biggest madrasa. We keep blaming madrasas for everything and, of course, they are doing a lot of things I would disagree with. But the state ideologies of hate and a violent, negative nationalism are getting out there where madrasas cannot hope to reach.”



Over the last three decades Pakistan has seen some drastic changes in societal demeanor and etiquettes ranging from language to customs. Dissemination of construct based on the Arab identity is bearing fruit. ‘Abaya’ that was an unknown word in Urdu language has now become the benchmark of the fictitious morality that is the ultimate result of deliberate assimilation of arid Arab culture. Even the moderate ones are obliged to wear Abaya to meet the newly contrived moral standards of society. ‘Chaadar aur Char Dewaari’ (veiled behind high brick walls) policy of dictator Zia-ul-Haq is turning out to be the worst kind of oppression of women, along with the laws like Hudood ordinance enacted during his regime.



Even the language has not been spared amidst this whole drivel of purification. Article 31/2 (a) of constitution of Pakistan states: “The State shall endeavor, as respects the Muslims of Pakistan to make the teaching of the Holy Quran and Islamiat compulsory, to encourage and facilitate the learning of Arabic language..”. What’s that, a pathetic attempt to make Arabic lingua franca for Pakistan where less than 1% population can understand Arabic? What about the divergent local languages or even the so-called national language? Most common but glaring example that may be put forward to underline the predicament is gradual replacement of the Indo-Persian ‘Khuda-Hafiz’ with Arabic ‘Allah-Hafiz’ implying that Arabic Allah is the only proper word for God. Khuda is an Indo-Persian term to say “God”. It is built on the same building blocks that other Indo-European languages use. English say God, Germans say Gott or Gutt, Persians say Khuda. The G is a variation of Kh and the utt or od is a variation of “uda”. They’re very similar. On the other hand, Arabic is Afro-Asiatic language. By taking a look to other Semitic languages such as Hebrew, they are very near to Arabic flavor. As for instance Jews say Elohim that sounds very familiar while reciting the word ‘Allah’. Where do the attributes of God come into the matter from? Some of the 99 names of God have their origins in classical Hebrew instead of Arabic. So in the view of this logic should those be abandoned too? Renowned scholar Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy sheds the light on issue:



“Persian, the language of Mughal India, had once been taught as a second or third language in many Pakistani schools. But, because of its association with Shiite Iran, it too was dropped and replaced with Arabic. The morphing of the traditional “Khuda hafiz” (Persian for “God be with you”) into “Allah hafiz” (Arabic for “God be with you”) took two decades to complete. The Arab import sounded odd and contrived, but ultimately the Arabic God won and the Persian God lost.”



The most considerate aspect of this whole panorama is the puritanical version of Islam i.e. Salafism / Wahabism that is predominately a phenomenon traces its roots to Arabian Peninsula and has been instrumented by the identity surgeons to homogenize the cultures that have not even an infinitesimal thing in common –consequences are horrible. This unyielding interpretation of Islam puts great emphasis on rituals and codes of conducts than on substance quite contrary to the Indian version of Islam that is marked with local customs evolved over the centuries through intermingling of diverse doctrines. All religions have two aspects that are theological beliefs related to one’s relationship with divine reality and sociological beliefs comprising of social behaviors dealing with human society. Former remain more or less absolute in their very nature while the later do change with the passage of time when religions go trans-regional. Problem, predominately, starts erupting when the sociological beliefs are subjugated by state to implement and propagate hidden agendas. These sociological beliefs then lay the bases of hatred, bigotry and misogyny. This is what has been done in land of the pure in the name of purifying religion by escalating a particular expression of religion to the stature of only-viable-interpretation-of-Islam. God has been portrayed as some Arabic speaking deity who is restricted to ethno-linguistic boundary which is clearly in contradiction of message of religion.



As the Qur’an says: “Another of His signs is the creation of the heavens and earth, and the diversity of your languages and color. There truly are signs in this for those who know” (30:22). There is also this famous verse: “O people, we created you from the same male and female, and rendered you distinct peoples and tribes, so that you may know one another.” (49:13)



As for elaborating further the above discussed phenomenon take the example of Madrassas in Pakistan. They are the social sites for the reproduction of Islamic orthodoxy. Hence, to say that the ideological orientation of madrassa education is conservative is to state the obvious. The madrassas in Muslim South Asia teach a curriculum known as Dars-i-Nizami, first introduced by Mullah Nizamuddin Sihalvi (d.1747) who was a scholar of some repute in Islamic jurisprudence and philosophy in Lucknow. But this was only during the last two decades of twentieth century when they became involve in militancy despite having the two hundred years apathetic history. The curriculum of Madrassas has been same for about 150 years which is most pacifist in nature. Its approach to Islam is ultra-conservative, literalist, legalist and sectarian, but definitely not revolutionary or militant. If this were the case the militant tendencies of Madrassas could have been observed during the most volatile events like partition, fall of Dhaka and Indo-Pak wars. What happened during the last two decades of twentieth century, a classic example of importing doctrine, is not-so-secret now and answers lie with the diplomats and Generals who were powerbrokers in Islamabad, Kabul, Riyadh and Langley, VA at that time.



Kamal Azfar, a Pakistani writer, states the dilemma in words:



“There are two concepts of Pakistan: the first empirical and the second utopian. The empirical concept is based on solid foundations of history and geography while the utopian concept is based on shifting sands. Utopia is not an oasis but a mirage… Samarqand and Bukhara and the splendors of the Arab world are closely related to us but we do not possess them. Our possessions are Moenjodaro and Sehwan Sharif, Taxila and Lahore, Multan and the Khyber. We should own up to all that is present here in the Indus Valley and cease to long for realities not our own for that is false-consciousness.”



To conclude, I will take liberty to speak for me and the third generation, I belong to too, who has the privilege to breathe in the airs of this still-not-so-pure-land and is much Pakistani now. I’m not going to mourn the Indus Valley civilization, but what is the substitute they offer me if it’s not desert? I refrain from whining about the bitter reality that I don’t have the clue of half of indigenous literature that has been written in Persian, but to say what do they have in the pipeline for me? I have nothing against whatsoever version of religion, but how would they justify the attacks on the shrines of my land? I’m all for endorsing their policies, but what is the vindication they have of myriads of dead bodies of my country-fellows? I’m ready to relinquish Khusrow, Ghalib, Bhittai, Bhulla, Rahman Baba and Gul Khan, but can they introduce me to the single one of this stature? I shall not question them, but will they care to tell me, ‘who am I’?



Above Article is originally available on [url="http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/7663/arabization-of-pakistan-bringing-the-desert-home/"]The Express Tribune[/url]



Cheers

[Naresh]

.

Policeman tries to rape Chinese female engineer



RAWALPINDI : A policeman who tried to rape a Chinese female engineer has been arrested, CPO Rawalpindi Azhar Hameed Khokar told Geo News.



According to the police official, the policeman was deployed on the Chinese engineer's security. The incident took place in the jurisdiction of Police Station Westridge and a case has been registered.



The guard broke into her room and attempted sexual assault. CPO told that the inquiry has been initiated under Police Order 2002, according to which he could be fired.



Cheers

[Husky]

^ The average Chinese and Taiwanese person hates - and I do mean Hates - islam.

Their women aren't like the Indian seculars fawning over bollywho "Khan" uglies or over the local islamist trying to pull a sexual jihad on them.





1. Anyway, Sydney Morning Herald (not Sunday :weekend-mode - an Australian newspaper has more on the Islamic State of Pukestan:



http://www.smh.com.au/world/a-monster-ro...1jq5f.html

A monster roaming the world

Paul McGeough

September 3, 2011.





The West has spent billions trying to buy Pakistan's friendship but the jihadists are stronger than ever, writes Paul McGeough.



Search for a firm footing in Pakistan and there is none - all is quicksand … strategically, politically, morally.



Here in south Asia, strategically sandwiched between failing Afghanistan and the China and India powerhouses, is a country in which journalists are abducted in the night by agents of the state and murdered; in which the only advance after a decade in which Washington has tried to buy friendship with cheques for more than $20 billion, is the expansion of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal - which is on the verge of surpassing Britain's as the fifth biggest in the world.



In Pakistan, a 50-year-old woman is sentenced to death on a dubious blasphemy charge - and politicians who dare to speak in her defence are gunned down; and a woman is gang-raped and paraded naked through her village on the orders of a local council, over bogus claims that her 12-year-old brother has offended a 20-year-old woman from the clan of the men who defiled her.





But that's village life. In the leafy garrison town of Abbottabad, an hour's drive north of Islamabad, Osama bin Laden, mastermind of the attacks of September 11, 2001, was able to hide in plain sight for years. The location of his fortified bunker, a stone's throw from a prestigious military academy, made it harder to give any credence to the generals' repeated denials that significant elements of Pakistan's extensive security apparatus sheltered the al-Qaeda chief and continue to give succour to the Taliban and other insurgency and terrorist movements.



In the south-west, in the wilds of provincial Baluchistan, there have been 150 ''kill and dump'' operations this year. Most of the victims are Baluch nationalist rebels. Their killers are the Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) and other elements of Pakistan's national security forces - driven to brutality by a belief, which could be correct, that Pakistan's arch foe, India, stirs the local nationalist pot. In turn, the Baluch nationalists are accused of running their own death squads - their victims are Punjabi ''settlers'', government workers brought in from other parts of the country.



Baluchistan is half Pashtun, which also makes it a sanctuary for the Taliban from adjoining Afghanistan, where Washington and the world still struggle, with little success, to impose a semblance of democracy on the bones of a fracturing, failing state. Here then is another of the ironies that puts a serious question mark over the bona fides of the Pakistani security forces: the leadership of the Afghanistan Taliban sequesters in Quetta, the provincial capital of Baluchistan, but the various Pakistani security services are so busy putting the Baluch nationalists through the mincer they don't have time to take down the Taliban command-and-control centre. Instead, they reportedly socialise with the Taliban and sit in on their strategy meetings.



West from Baluchistan is the sprawling port city of Karachi, where the spiralling death toll in renewed ethnic turf-wars gives raw meaning to what local novelist Kamila Shamsie broaches obliquely, recounting how the city ''winks'' at her. "Yes, the city said, I am a breeding ground for monsters, " she writes, "but don't think that is the full measure of what I am."



This drab, chaotic home to 18 million people who account for 65 per cent of Pakistan's economy is being carved up by bullets that this year have accounted for as many as 1000 ''wrong place, wrong time'' deaths as gunmen randomly select their targets - sending messages to whole communities, not the individuals with whose blood they paint the rough pavements. As the suburbs seethe, police do little, because they are cowed by the systematic elimination of those in their ranks who intervened in the last iteration of these ethnic wars. Provincial and federal governments and the security forces only wring their hands.



In Karachi everyone lies. No one denies turf wars are being waged. They simply blame everyone else - all the political parties deny any links to the militias that prosecute their bloody agendas and to the crime, drug and land-development mafias that prosper in their wake. And the city's once-dominant Urdu-speaking Mohajirs fight to maintain their control of corrupted city politics, amid an influx of Pashtuns fleeing upheavals along the Afghan border.



"Tension rises, we see killings and then scores must be settled," an adviser to the provincial governor says. "We are at war - the political parties say they are not involved, but the mafias take shelter from the parties as they exploit the situation."



In Islamabad, enter any of the city's newsrooms, and see fear in the eyes of journalists who risk death and torture for going about assignments. Consider the words of their Karachi colleague Madiha Sattar - "a growth of intolerance has forged an extreme, murderous antipathy to freedom of expression."



Most shocking in this campaign of fear and intimidation against one of the pillars of democracy was the disappearance in late May of Syed Saleem Shahzad, an investigative reporter for the respected, Hong Kong-based Asia Times Online. Two days after his abduction, Shahzad's battered body was found at Mandi Bahauddin, 130 kilometres south-east of the capital. The reporter left detailed accounts of the threats he had received from the ISI; in Washington, senior officials unflinchingly confirming that Shahzad's death had been ''sanctioned'' by the Pakistani government.



Umar Cheema might just as easily have been their victim. Behind a door marked ''Investigation Cell'' off a basement corridor in the Islamabad offices of The News, the 34-year-old father of two explains that the shock in his colleague Saleem Shahzad's murder was a realisation it might just as easily have been him.



As Cheema drove home from a party in the early hours during Ramadan last year, 12 men who identified themselves as police commandos abducted him, he says. Informing him first that he was a suspect in a killing, they pulled a bag over his head and hauled him away.



"They took me to a building where the leader stripped off my clothes. Then I was ordered to lie on the floor and they beat me on the back and shoulders for 20 or 25 minutes with leather straps and wooden canes.



"I was writing about corruption in the government and the lack of accountability in the military and intelligence agencies - they said they were beating me because of my reporting. Then they shaved my head and eyebrows - that's what is done to thieves in rural areas to humiliate them.



"Shahzad's death left me speechless," he says. "I was the second last victim before they took him. So I felt very much that this was a message for me - it was very, very personal."



In Islamabad, the government of Prime Minister Yousaf Gillani is as overwhelmed as it is complicit in the nation's failings. The economy is in crisis and the government has ceded control of more than half the country to the military or to extremist militias. "None of the cogs of state mesh to make it do what must be done," Human Rights Commission of Pakistan's Kamran Arif said.



Just south of Islamabad is Rawalpindi, a more typical Asian city than the sanitised and empty boulevards of Islamabad. As home and headquarters to the men and institutions that comprise Pakistan's military and intelligence establishment, this is the centre of absolute power in Pakistan. And it is here that a deep-fried sense of humiliation over the American raid to kill Osama bin Laden, in May this year, is felt most acutely.



"After the bin Laden raid, it's a question of the survival of the state," the defence analyst and director of the South Asian Strategic Stability Institute, Maria Sultan, says. "The problem now is that by this very public humiliation, the US has lost its biggest supporter - it's not the capability of the Pakistani military that is affected, it's its credibility."



A close reading of ''Getting Bin Laden'', The New Yorker's inside account of the May 2 raid, reveals the mission was not just a single US incursion that managed to evade Pakistan's air defences. On the night, there were effectively three separate American missions, none of which was detected by a military-security complex that demands indulgence by the people of Pakistan on the grounds that it is their only protection from the Indian hordes.



Pakistan's generals faced a grim choice - they had to admit to deceiving the world in harbouring bin Laden, or to incompetence by not knowing he was lounging in their backyard. So supine were they in opting to plead incompetence there were fears of a mutiny in the middle ranks of the security services.



The US signal to the world of just how much it could not trust its south Asian ally came hard on the heels of serial embarrassments at the hands of the Taliban and other militant groups in Pakistan.



There have been a series of militant attacks on the most secure and sensitive defence establishments. The latest, which some observers concluded could not have been undertaken without inside help, saw a 10-man assault team storm the Mehran naval aviation base in Karachi. It took hundreds of Pakistani navy commandos, marines and paramilitaries to retake the base, but not before two aircraft were destroyed, hostages taken and the base had been occupied for the best part of a day.



But it takes a discerning Pakistani general to differentiate between militants - some are ''strategic assets'' of the security apparatus and the generals refuse to go after them.



Dr Ayesha Agha, whose military and political commentaries appear in Pakistan's Dawn newspaper, explains: "The military depends on these 'assets' - they are a cost-effective means to fighting wars that the Pakistani military wants to fight in India and Afghanistan." Extrajudicial killings by the military now are counted in the hundreds.



When men in uniform were filmed recently murdering a detainee, the reckoning in human rights circles was that far from being a lapse of judgment, the recording had been allowed in the knowledge that its distribution on the internet would serve as a useful warning to the wider community.



A Karachi taxi driver becomes excited as he ferries us from the airport to a downtown hotel - "Pakistan lovely country," he bellows. "Terrorism? No, no, no."



But a single graphic in a 200-page study of Pakistan, published in May by the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies, reveals an impossible security challenge. Last year alone, 2113 terrorist attacks, 369 clashes between the security services and militants, 260 operational attacks by the security forces, 135 US drone attacks, 69 border clashes, 233 bouts of ethno-political violence and 214 inter-tribal clashes resulted in more than 10,000 dead and as many injured.



The death of bin Laden and the reported death of al-Qaeda's new No. 2 figure, Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, in an American drone attack last week, are still being factored into a running debate among intelligence specialists on the extent to which al-Qaeda offshoots elsewhere in the world, especially the Yemen-based al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula [AQAP], have taken the baton from the Pakistani organisation.





But a July study by the New America Foundation of 32 ''serious'' jihadist terror plots against the West from 2004 to 2011, finds 53 per cent had operational or training links to jihadist groups in Pakistan - compared to just 6 per cent being linked to Yemen. And the rising tempo of the drone attacks has failed to dent the rising frequency of Pakistan-linked plots against the West, the study finds.



Implicit or explicit in any discussion on Pakistan's volatile mix of militant violence and governmental chaos, is the level of anxiety around the world about the security of its nuclear arsenal. Confronted with claims such as that by bin Laden that acquiring a nuclear weapon was a ''religious duty'' and the hope expressed by one of his lieutenants that such a weapon one day might be seized in Pakistan, officials in Islamabad invariably boast that all is tightly locked down.



But when we ask a Pakistani diplomat how secure were the weapons in the aftermath of the US mission to kill Osama bin Laden, he replies: "Less so, now that the Americans have revealed to the world that it is possible to sneak into Pakistan undetected, to take something that you really want."



President Obama's public appeal that Pakistan not become the world's first ''nuclear-armed militant state'' gives context to disclosures by The New Yorker's Seymour Hersh of the existence of a US Special Operations rapid-response team which would be parachuted into Pakistan in the event of a nuclear crisis.



Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, a former director of intelligence and counter intelligence at the US Department of Energy, is boldest in setting out the fears of Washington, London and other capitals - some of which were disclosed without diplomatic varnish by Wikileaks last year.



Writing in Arms Control Today, Mowatt-Larssen, who served 20 years at the CIA, bills Pakistan as the most likely setting for terrorists bent on acquiring a nuclear device to co-opt a nuclear insider - of whom there are estimated to be as many as 70,000 in Pakistan.



"There is a lethal proximity between terrorists, extremists, and nuclear weapons insiders," he writes. "Insiders have facilitated terrorist attacks. Suicide bombings have occurred at air force bases that reportedly serve as nuclear weapons storage sites. It is difficult to ignore such trends.



''Purely in actuarial terms, there is a strong possibility that bad apples in the nuclear establishment are willing to co-operate with outsiders for personal gain or out of sympathy for their cause."



"Not possible," says Maria Sultan. "About eight to 10,000 personnel working at the strategic level on security," she says, ticking off seven or eight interlocking layers of complex security, the first of which she says would trip most intruders before they came within 80 kilometres of a nuclear facility. "The idea that a terrorist can walk in and get hold of a device is just not possible."



Such is the bind in which Pakistanis find themselves. But if it is true feeble and corrupt civilian administrations make circumstances ripe for a military takeover, it is hardly surprising the generals have no respect for democratic fundamentals.



As revealed in one of the Wikileaks cables, Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani was ready to force President Asif Ali Zardari from office - save for the fact the general thought even less of Zardari's likely civilian replacement. And historically, Washington has opted to connect with Pakistan through the military power of the generals, rather than the people power of the civilian leadership.



Bruce Riedel, a veteran CIA analyst, sets out the connections in Deadly Embrace: Pakistan, America and the Future of the Global Jihad. "…Richard Nixon turned a blind eye to the murder of hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshis to keep his friends in Pakistan's army in power, a strategy that ultimately failed," Riedel writes. "Ronald Reagan entertained Zia-ul-Haq even as Zia was giving succour to the Arab jihadists who would become al-Qaeda. George W. Bush allowed Pervez Musharraf to give the Afghan Taliban a sanctuary from which to kill American and NATO soldiers in Afghanistan."



And in the judgment of Bushra Gohar, an elected MP from Pakistan's troubled Swat Valley, Washington still prefers to deal with the military rather than the country's civilian leadership. "That's not a role that the military has under the constitution," she says during a break in the business of the National Assembly in Islamabad. "There has been a democratic transition in this country and we expect the international community to support it."



Power vacuums become ripe for exploitation, as was revealed with frightening clarity earlier this year when two of three elected figures who had dared to speak out against Pakistan's draconian blasphemy laws were assassinated. In January, Punjab provincial governor Salman Taseer was gunned down by one of his state-provided security men; in March, the Minorities Minister and the only Christian in Gillani's cabinet, Shahbaz Bhatti, died in a hail of gunfire as his car left his mother's home in Islamabad.



Taseer's killer confessed and became a national hero. His home is a shrine, he is garlanded with rose petals and, in the oddest twist of all, the young lawyers' movement that effectively bundled Pervez Musharraf, the last dictator, from power in 2008, has taken the side of this cold-blooded murderer - not the principle for which his victim died.



A visitor leaves Pakistan wondering if anyone here speaks the truth. The dictators habitually resort to amping up religious parties - either to drown out secular ones that might be interested in the ideals of selfless democracy, or to further marginalise the country's Shiia Muslim minority.



"And people like Musharraf have two faces," Kamran Arif of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said. "He would say all the right things for the West and do just what he wanted to do at home."



Some foreign analysts fall back on the seeming failure of Pakistan's religious parties at the ballot box as a hopeful sign. But a sense of rising radicalisation, particularly in the military and the middle classes, suggests an asymmetric contest for control of a highly unstable society - the non-religious parties fight in the parliament, but the religious parties are street brawlers.



Sherry Rehman, the only elected figure in the country to defend the convicted blasphemer Aasia Bibi, makes the same point in explaining how that debate was lost. "The discourse shifted from the parliament to the street," she says.



"We have to keep the agenda in the parliament, and not with the gun-toting thugs who make inflammatory speeches outside."



Like the financial institutions in the 2008 global financial crisis, Pakistan is deemed by Washington to be ''too big to fail''. Between them, however, Washington and Islamabad have been unable in the past decade to make this relationship work - credibly or creditably.



Predictions of imminent collapse in Islamabad are exaggerated, but perhaps not overly so. "The government does not have the capacity to tackle any of the issues," says the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan's Arif. "Things will just keep getting bad … and I don't discount the fact that we can fall into chaos."



Like many other analysts, Bruce Riedel laboriously sets out the policy options by which Washington and Islamabad might work together to defeat the global jihadist movement - before he concludes that none is easy or guaranteed.





An adviser to several US administrations and now with the Brookings Institution, Riedel sees Pakistan under siege from a syndicate of radical terrorist groups unified by the notion that nuclear-armed Pakistan could be the extremist jihadist state they have never had.



"They want to hijack Pakistan and its weapons," he says. Alluding to Islamabad's role in creating a monster, as often as not with Washington's sponsorship, he writes: "An extremely powerful jihadist Frankenstein is now roaming the world, with equally powerful protectors in Pakistani society, right up to the very top.



"Who cannot fear that the 'long beards' will prevail?"

If you see any of the Bearded Ones - run, run the other way. Like you would from any wandering germ-infestation.



2. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/wor...6129080533

Fears growing that Bali bomber Umar Patek could escape long prison sentence

From: AP

September 04, 2011 11:22AM



AN Indonesian man blamed for the 2002 Bali bombings could escape with just a few years behind bars.

The tough anti-terrorism law passed after the double nightclub blasts in Bali cannot be used retroactively against Umar Patek, leaving prosecutors scrambling to convict him of lesser crimes, from premeditated murder to immigration violations.



Patek, an al-Qa'ida linked militant captured on January 25 in the [color="#FF0000"]same Pakistani town[/color] where Osama bin Laden was killed by US forces, allegedly told interrogators he made the explosives used in the 2002 attacks in Bali.

The bombings killed 202 people, including 88 Australians and seven Americans. They were followed by near annual suicide attacks on glitzy Western hotels, restaurants and an embassy in the world's most populous Muslim nation.



More than 680 militants have been rounded up, tried in open courts and convicted or executed under anti-terror laws passed in 2003, including 32 for their roles in the Bali bombings, according to police and prosecutors. In 2004, however, the constitutional court ruled that the law could no longer be used retroactively.



Patek will be the first big fish to test that decision.



Authorities will instead use a Dutch colonial-era penal code to charge Patek with premeditated murder and a decades-old emergency decree to charge him with possession of explosives, said Rear Marshal Chairul Akbar, a high official at Indonesia's anti-terrorism agency. Both carry a maximum penalty of death, but getting a conviction will be hard.



“We waited nearly six months to have him deported from Pakistan because we are worried he'd get off after just a few years in jail,” Akbar said.



[...]

Rest at link.

[Naresh]

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[url="http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/spotlight/the911decade/2011/08/2011828133727518751.html"][center][size="6"][color="#006400"]Pakistan : DHOBI KA KUTTA - NA GHAR KA NA GHAT KA[/color][/size][/url]

[/center]



Cheers

[Naresh]

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[url="http://tribune.com.pk/story/247486/us-official-attempts-to-enter-nuclear-research-facility/"]US official attempts to enter nuclear research facility[/url]



FAISALABAD : A US security official’s attempt to enter a ‘sensitive’ area of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) in Faisalabad was foiled by security agencies, who forced him to return after a heated scene at the institution’s gate.



Reports claim that on Wednesday, Mr. Jaison Berger, Security Officer of the US Consulate Lahore, visited Faisalabad to check and inspect security arrangements for a US delegation’s scheduled visit to the city on September 13.



While visiting different areas of the city, Berger reached the National Institute for Bio­technology and Genetic Engineering (NIBGE), a centre of nuclear research working under the direct command of the PAEC.



Police staff and officials on duty stopped the US national at the gate after receiving orders from their superiors at a provincial and national level. The officials requested him to steer clear of the area which was not included in the US delegation’s scheduled plan but Berger refused to acquiesce.



After a heated debate between the US official and security agencies including NIBGE commandos, Berger was forced to leave the site. Following the incident, the official abruptly cut short his visit and headed for Lahore.



Following the tense encounter, sensitive agency personnel and Faisalabad police took up the matter seriously and sent SOS reports to officials concerned about Berger’s attempt to force entry.



Cheers