<b>Mudy Ji :</b>
A ânot so recentâ Article from Le Monde.
If this is what the âPaki Terroristaniâ thinks then there must be some â if not a whole lot - merit in his wailing!
<b>Three Months to Save Pakistan</b>
<i>Najam Sethi
Released : 9 Jun 2009</i>
As the offensive against the Taliban continued in Pakistanâs Northwest Frontier province (NWFP), the people of the Swat valley have been fleeing the war zone. Since the launch of military operations on 26 April, the army and paramilitaries have used tanks, artillery, mortar, helicopter gunships and jet bombers to attack the insurgents. Military spokesmen claim dozens of Taliban killed in action, but play down army losses and civilian deaths; international relief agencies say there is a major humanitarian crisis. More than a million refugees have fled, the largest mass migration since Pakistan came into being.
The Taliban has grown more powerful over the past two years in the NWFP and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), terrorising the population and defying the Pakistani government. By signing a peace deal on 28 February allowing the Taliban to administer Islamic law (sharia) in Swat, the NWFP government hoped to purchase calm and order. It was a risky undertaking and it backfired, producing the reverse of its intended effects. The deal emboldened the Taliban to spread out into the adjoining districts of Buner and Lower Dir, make new recruits and seize territories. The rapid advance covered areas barely 100 km from the capital Islamabad and the strategic Karakorum Highway, which links with China
The United States, which in its haste to make a new policy for the region had been pressing Pakistanâs government to take strong military action for months, was angry. Other countries feared the Zardari government may be overthrown, leading to civil war and loss of control of strategic and nuclear installations and arms.
Cynics note that the current, long-delayed military action was finally launched while Zardari was on a state trip to Washington, negotiating economic assistance and political support for his beleaguered regime from the Obama administration, which has pledged $1.9bn in counter-terrorism, economic and humanitarian aid and another $600m for military needs in the next two years. <b>When General Pervez Musharraf was in power, from 1999 to 2008, he would obtain generous economic and military assistance from Washington in return for some newly captured al-Qaida operative or a small-scale military action against the Taliban in a remote tribal area.</b> So Washington was especially annoyed when, contrary to promises, the Zardari government signed the peace deal with the Taliban and won parliamentary approval for it in March.
In view of the Taliban advances, President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee chairman Admiral Mike Mullen, Centcom chief General David Petreaus, CIA chief Robert Gates and others in the US Senate and Congress have all made it clear to Zardari and Afghan president Hamid Karzai that the rules of business have changed. In exchange for economic and political support, there will be formal accountability âgoing forward,â in which common objectives will be listed and progress monitored in the war against al-Qaida/Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan. They told the leaders, who have a reputation for corruption and maladministration, to take things in hand, deliver governance to their people and join hands with the opposition at home and with their international friends to face the common Taliban/al-Qaida enemy that threatens to plunge the region into anarchy.
<b>Pakistan has taken a dangerously long time to understand this. Its religious-nationalist mindset was shaped by the Islamisation campaigns of the 1980s and 1990s and their âIslamic jihad in Indian-held Kashmirâ and âtwo-nationâ theory, based on Muslim-Hindu hatred, which became part of everyday speech.</b> Its anti-Americanism was shaped by unjust US policies towards Muslims in general and Pakistanis in particular after 1989, when the United States achieved its objectives against the USSR in Afghanistan and abandoned Pakistan, making it the most sanctioned state in the world, for pursuing its nuclear programme. Meanwhile the Iraq wars and Palestinian intifadas crashed into every home through CNN and satellite television.
The private sector media created sympathy for the Taliban and support for the Red Mosque terrorists (portrayed as medieval heroes for defying the United States and the army) in the heart of Islamabad in 2007; the army and government were off balance. The media also made this âAmericaâs warâ by spreading the idea that if the US were to leave the region, the Taliban and al-Qaida would dissolve. Ultimately, this same media drummed up support for dangerous peace deals between the Taliban and the army or government. It also enabled the Taliban to exploit the political space and public support and thereby seize large areas of the NWFP.
Three recent developments have changed things. The first was the public flogging of a young girl in Swat in March, shown on all TV channels, and the Talibanâs vicious defence of this as an âIslamic actâ despite resistance from the public and even the ulema (clergy) in the rest of the country. This caused revulsion against the Taliban and exposed its sharia as a narrow, tribal creed masquerading as Islam.
The Talibanâs spokesmen have condemned everything that is sacred to the media and civil society, claiming Pakistanâs constitution, law, civil society, democracy, elections, and personal and institutional freedoms are all anti-Islamic. The Taliban threat to gag the media and punish it has made journalists angry and fearful; 10 journalists have been killed in the tribal regions in the last year, either by the Taliban or in crossfire.
People fleeing Taliban-held areas in the FATA and NWFP and pouring into refugee camps are full of rage and fear that the media cannot deny; rage against the government and army for abandoning them in the face of the Taliban threat and then for not making adequate provisions for their protection after the military action started.
If this is Pakistanâs moment of reckoning on the home and foreign fronts, what is most critical?
⢠The opposition, government, army and media must agree -- an objective that could be accomplished if the largest opposition party, the Pakistan Muslim League led by the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, joins the federal coalition government and agrees to share responsibility in the war against al-Qaida/Taliban. But this hasnât happened as yet. Sharif is insisting on certain constitutional amendments aimed at weakening the power of Zardari and ensuring a mid-term election. The United States is leaning on Sharif to join a unity government but he is dragging his feet. He has proposed an All Parties Conference to thrash out issues. But this is more likely to lead to disagreement than consensus because some small religious anti-US parties are opposed to any military action against the Taliban.
⢠The United States needs to lean on Karzai to get him to incorporate moderate pro-Pakistan Pashtuns in his political system so that Pakistan can feel secure on its western border.
⢠India has to settle outstanding disputes with Pakistan wholeheartedly so that Pakistanâs fear and distrust of India can be dissolved and it can focus on the Taliban enemy within. India has not helped by putting preconditions for peace, including guarantees that there will be no export of terrorism from Pakistan into India. Since Pakistan is also a victim of terrorism, these guarantees cannot be given. The Pakistani army is still disinclined to move troops from the eastern border with India to the war against the Taliban on the western border with Afghanistan. And it will continue to fear a long-term threat from India, even though there is a need for a new mindset in which internal, not external, security is the main issue facing the state. The newly elected Indian Congress-led government might now change its stance and get back to building peace with Pakistan unconditionally.
⢠The flood of refugees will have to be tackled. Pakistanâs prime minister, Yousef Raza Gilani, says the Swat operation is a fight for the âsurvival of Pakistan.â But Pakistan could yet be defeated by the developing crisis of the refugee camps in the NWFP.
When the provincial government asked the people of the affected areas to leave their homes to give the Pakistan army a chance to take on the Taliban without too much collateral damage, they readily agreed. But their reception at the hurriedly created refugee camps is traumatic. Around half a million people moved out of the target areas, joining another half million who fled the conflict zone earlier and were absorbed in the province, sometimes using deserted refugee camps once used by Afghan refugees. The number of refugees rose further to well over a million. The federal government has only given $12m to the NWFP government so far. Organisation and expert handling is missing. No lessons have been applied from the experience of the 2005 earthquake in Azad Kashmir and parts of the NWFP -- nor from handling Afghan refugees over the past 30 years.
The plight of the first arrivals in the camps in Swabi and Mardan is pathetic. The camps are pitched in open fields with only canvas against the summer sun and, despite claims by officers, there is no clean drinking water, which is what the refugees most need in heat they are not used to. Children are especially affected, but there are no medical facilities at the camps. Registration is problematic: Because each family has to be issued a special permit, hundreds are lining up in front of one man registering them and issuing permits. So far only 200,000 have been registered. All this could have been avoided. The plan to take military action should have included detailed plans for the displaced population, but none were made
The national consensus against the Taliban is now broad enough to define policy. But the plight of the refugee camps will strengthen the Taliban and is bound to erode the national consensus; and the political parties and civil society organisations are only just gearing up to face the challenge. The international community needs to do much more to help Pakistan get out of this self-created political mess and human tragedy. <b>As Pakistanâs army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, said to an assembly of politicians, the next three months will be critical.</b>
<i>Najam Sethi is editor-in-chief of the Daily Times of Lahore.
© 2009 Le Monde diplomatique â distributed by Agence Global</i>
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Mudy can you sketch out Gen. Thapar's role for the rest of us?
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->the next three months will be critical.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Nothing is going to happen. US is not in condition to open another sector. Paki Army Generals are playing very safe game.
Current US admin. will buy peace atleast till 2010 election.
06-24-2009, 04:39 AM
(This post was last modified: 06-24-2009, 04:39 AM by Naresh.)
<b>WB refuses to finance Basha dam</b>
<i>Secretary Water and Power Shahid Rafi says ADB has no objection to the project and wants to fund it</i>
ISLAMABAD : <b>The World Bank has refused to finance the Diamer-Basha dam project worth $11.8 billion while saying the site of the dam is controversial between India and Pakistan.</b>
However, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is ready to fund the mega project but has linked the credit supply with a consensus resolution from the Parliament in favour of the project to ensure that the project is not disputed.
In an exclusive talk with The News, Secretary Water and Power Shahid Rafi said the WB has refused to fund the project saying the site of the project is controversial and India claims the area where the dam proposed is a disputed territory.
According to water expert and former Wapda Chairman Shamsul Mulk, this time the WB excused for funding the project on the plea that the site of the project is controversial, it had not only funded the project of the Mangla dam which was also erected in the area of AJK it was, according to New Delhi, also a disputed territory.
<b>âIt is pertinent to mention that India also provided the funds for building the Mangla dam,â said Mulk.</b>
However, Rafi said the ADB has no objection to the project and is poised to fund it, but the Manila-based bank first wants to make the project undisputed among the stakeholders within the country, that is why it desired the consensus resolution from the parliament in favour of the project.
Pakistan is expecting $5 billion from the ADB, but the bank, which earlier indicated to lend loan amounting to $2.5 billion for the dam, is likely to increase the credit in the range of $3 to $4 billion in the aid memoir, but linked it with certain conditions including seeking of resolution from the parliament in favour of the dam.
He said people of Northern Areas have some objections to the demarcation of the site of the project and claimed that the proposed powerhouse also land is in the Northern Areas, but NWFP claims that the powerhouse is proposed in its jurisdiction.
âI have asked Kashmir and Northern Areas secretary to put up the summary seeking the re-demarcation of the site of the project to make every thing transparent.
I want to settle this important issue along with other issues pertaining to the resettlement of the people to be displaced prior to tabling the resolution before the Parliament so that the incumbent regime could not face any sort of embarrassment after passing the resolution in favour of the mega project.â
The government has already come up with commitment to initiate a formal work on dam portion of the mega project and allocated over Rs23 billion for next fiscal year.
It is pertinent to mention that the fact finding mission of the ADB in a meeting of official of Economic Affairs Division held on June 5, had conveyed its advice (terms and conditions) to qualify for the aid memoir for the Diamer-Bhasha dam. Wapda Chairman Shakil Durrani was also part of the meeting.
The ADB has also communicated to the EAD top authorities that Pakistan needs to first ensure the other financial resources other than ADBâs loan, which is required for completion of the whole project. The bank, the official said, also took up the issue of transmission and distribution system, which will carry the electricity to load centers from the dam, waterside canals, and alignment in Karakorum Highway.
The bank asked for the timely completion of the said projects so that the social benefits and dividends could be reaped on time.
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06-24-2009, 04:46 AM
(This post was last modified: 06-24-2009, 04:47 AM by Naresh.)
<b>India says no to compensation for blocking Chenab in Aug â08</b>
ISLAMABAD : <b>New Dehli has refused to extend compensation both in shape of water or in monetary form to Islamabad for the blockade of Chenab river by India in August, 2008 that inflicted huge monetary loss to agrarian economy of Pakistan.</b>
âDuring the three-day dialogue between Pakistan and India at Permanent Commission of Indus Waters (PCIW), held in New Dehli from May 31 to June 2, Islamabad raised the issue of compensation of massive dip in water availability that Pakistan experienced in August 2008 owing to filling of Baglihar hydropower project, <b>but India has turned down any compensation saying that it does not believe the data of Pakistan and argued that water dip that the lower riparian country experienced was not because of the filling of Baglihar project, rather it was because of the hydrological conditions of Chenab river,â</b> reveals the document containing the minutes of the Delhi meeting exclusively available with The News.
However, India, the document says, desires to verify the data collected by Pakistan authorities when the River Chenab experienced dip in the month of August 2008.
Syed Jamaat Ali Shah headed Pakistan delegation during the meeting at Permanent Commission of Indus Waters level.
Under the Indus Waters Treaty, India cannot reduce the flow in Chenab River below 55,000 cusecs between 21st June and August 31, 2008, whereas Pakistan had been receiving a discharge of as low as 20,000 cusecs during August-September 2008.
When contacted spokesman of Ministry of Water and Power, Zarar Aslam confirmed that India has refused to compensate Pakistan for the water shortage that the country faced in August 2008 in River Chenab. However, he refused to share the modus operandi that the government will adopt to tackle this issue.
Pakistan Commission of Indus Water Commissioner Syed Jamaat Ali Shah was not available for comments despite many attempts to contact him.
India is currently spending around $200 billion on the construction of water tunnels to the River Indus, which could turn parts of Pakistan barren, a senior official at the Ministry told The News.
According to, Advisor to the Punjab Irrigation Department advisor M H Siddiqui says that Chenab blockade in August 2008 affected over 10 million acres of land in the province and the standing paddy crop in the area suffered losses, as it was the time of maturity and needed the last watering, which could not be completed just because of the blatant violations of Indus Waters Treaty 1960 by India and continuing to fill up the dead shortage of Baglihar HPP beyond August 31, 2008.
The document also reveals that Jammat Ali Shah has sought permission from New Delhi to visit three large hydropower projects that India is constructing at Laddakh Area on River Indus, which is the lifeline of Pakistan.
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<b>The grieving widower</b>
Here our grieving widower is drowning his sorrows (Before and after his widowership) with Daphne Barak who is an Israeli journalist and a cousin of the old Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. for more photos
<img src='http://islamabadobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/asif_ali_zardari_and_daphne_daf_0332-215x300.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
<img src='http://islamabadobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/img_0416w-215x300.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
<img src='http://islamabadobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/tn_daphne_and_asif_ali_zardari__hus.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
<b>U.S. drone strike kills 45 in Pakistan</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) â A U.S. drone killed at least 45 Pakistani Taliban militants on Tuesday when it struck after a funeral of an insurgent commander killed earlier in the day, Pakistani intelligence officials said.
U.S. ally Pakistan officially objects to the strikes by pilotless U.S. aircraft though the attack came as the Pakistani army is preparing an offensive against Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud in South Waziristan on the Afghan border.
The military went on the offensive against Taliban fighters allied with Mehsud in the Swat Valley, northwest of Islamabad, in May and are in the final phase of that operation.
<b>The next target is Mehsud.</b>
"Three missiles were fired by drones as people were dispersing after offering funeral prayers for Niaz Wali," one intelligence official said referring to <b>a Taliban commander who was one of six militants killed in an earlier drone attack.</b>
The army had no information on the attack on the funeral in the remote area under Mehsud's control, a military official said.
Mehsud, an al Qaeda ally accused of plotting the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007, had been in the area but was not hurt, a Taliban official said.
The United States has offered a reward of $5 million for information leading to Mehsud's location or arrest
..........<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<b>Five Pakistani Army personnel killed in Swat </b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The five personnel were killed when militants attacked troops returning from a search operation at Charbagh in Swat on Tuesday evening. <b>A major and a captain </b>were among those killed, the Army said.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<b>Qatar okays daily LGP supply quota of 2 tonnes for Pakistan</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->KARACHI : <b>Qatar has approved supply quota of 2 tonnes Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) per day for Pakistan.</b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
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<b>'Bribes and bombs' scandal returns to haunt Sarkozy</b>
<b>Families of 11 engineers murdered in Karachi in 2002 point finger of blame at French government
<i>John Lichfield in Paris</i></b>
<b>A political scandal is gathering pace over claims that 11 French submarine engineers were murdered in a bomb attack in Karachi seven years ago to punish France for the non-payment of arms contract "commissions" to senior Pakistani officials.
Lawyers for the French victims' families believe the attack, allegedly carried out by Islamist terrorists, was in fact part of a web of financial chicanery and political manoeuvring which may yet severely embarrass senior figures, including the French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari.</b>
Two French magistrates investigating the bombing of the engineers' bus in May 2002 have ruled out the possibility that it was an attack by al-Qa'ida on Western interests. They have told the victims' families there is "cruel logic" to an alternative explanation. They believe unknown figures in the Pakistani establishment may have fomented the attack in retaliation for the non-payment of part of the â¬80m (£68m) in sweeteners promised to senior officials when Lahore bought three Agosta 90B submarines from France in 1994.
Documents seized by French police allege that part of these "commissions" â legal under French law at the time â were illegally "kicked back" to help finance the 1995 presidential campaign of the then prime minister, Edouard Balladur. When Jacques Chirac won the election the following spring, it is alleged that he punished his old friend and acolyte for running against him by cancelling the remaining payments to senior Pakistani figures.
M. Chirac's then defence minister, Charles Millon, confirmed in an interview with Paris Match magazine yesterday that, soon after he took office in 1995, he was ordered to block the Pakistani commissions and all other arms payments on which "retro-commissions", or kick-backs to France, were suspected. When the â¬800m submarine sale was negotiated, M. Sarkozy was the budget minister and M. Balladur's right-hand man. He was also a key figure in the then prime minister's decision to break with M. Chirac that autumn and run for the presidency the following spring. There is no direct evidence linking him with either the legal commissions or the alleged illegal kick-backs but, as budget minister, he would have had to sign documents authorising large, untaxed payments to foreign officials.
According to investigation documents leaked to the Agence France Presse news agency, a large part of the â¬80m was paid out before M. Chirac intervened and had already been "distributed" by the then Pakistani investment minister, Asif Ali Zardari. Mr Zardari, husband of the late prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, is now President.
The legal implications of the affair are unclear but the political implications could be explosive. If clear evidence emerges to link the submarine commissions to the killing of the 11 French engineers and three Pakistanis, there would at the very least be deep embarrassment for M. Balladur, M. Chirac and for President Sarkozy.
When asked about the suspicions of the two French investigating judges, M. Sarkozy flew into a temper. He said any suggestion that the murders were a Pakistani retaliation for non-payment of French commissions was a "fable". "This is ridiculous. It is grotesque," he added. "Let's have some respect for the grief of the victims. Who could believe a fable like that?"
The answer is that the "fable" is being taken seriously by the victims' families, lawyers and the investigating judges, Marc Trévidic and Yves Jannier. "The al-Qa'ida line of inquiry has been totally abandoned," said Maître Olivier Morice, a lawyer for seven of the families, after meeting the judges in Cherbourg, where the engineers were based. "This is all linked to the payment of commissions... they were blocked by Jacques Chirac to prevent kick-backs to the presidential campaign of Edouard Balladur. This is turning into a [state scandal]."
On 8 May 2002 â just after M. Chirac won a second term as president â a bomb exploded in Karachi beside a bus transporting French shipyard workers who were assembling one of the Agosta submarines. Fourteen people were killed, including 11 French workers. Both Pakistani and French authorities blamed Islamists close to al-Qa'ida, but it appears that US intelligence agents told Paris at the time that the attack was linked to blocked payments on the submarine contract. A self-confessed militant, Asif Zaheer, was convicted in 2003 of playing a part but his conviction was quashed on appeal last month.
The investigating judges are said to believe that M. Chirac's re-election convinced figures in Pakistani they would never receive their missing money â hence the timing of the attack.
In a speech at a remembrance service for the dead shipyard workers in Cherbourg in June 2002, President Chirac said France would not surrender to "blackmail" â a word which caused some puzzlement at the time.
<b>The key figures : 15 years ago and now
Edouard Balladur, 80
THEN[b] Centre-right prime minister in cohabitation with the Socialist president, François Mitterrand. Ran for presidency in 1995 but was knocked out by Chirac in first round.
[b]ROLE</b> It is alleged in documents seized by French police that his campaign â quite possibly without his knowledge â benefited from illegal kickbacks.
<b>NOW Retired.
Jacques Chirac, 76
THEN</b> Mayor of Paris and leader of the centre-right RPR party. Ran for the presidency in 1995 for the third time and won.
<b>ROLE</b> As president, he ordered the cancellation of the Pakistani "commissions", allegedly in pique against M Balladur.
<b>NOW</b> Retired.
<b>Charles Millon, 63
THEN</b> Chirac's defence minister in 1995.
<b>ROLE</b> Admits he cancelled Pakistani commissions on Chirac's orders.
<b>NOW</b> Faded from mainstream politics.
<b>Asif Ali Zardari, 53
THEN</b> Minister in government of his wife, Benazir Bhutto, who was murdered in 2007 after she returned to Pakistan.
<b>ROLE</b> Alleged to have "distributed" part of the commissions paid by France, which were legal under French law.
<b>NOW President of Pakistan.</b>
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06-26-2009, 08:12 PM
(This post was last modified: 06-26-2009, 08:13 PM by Naresh.)
<b>Omar Waraich : If proved, these charges could prove explosive for Zardari</b>
If Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari is anxious about his past returning to haunt him, he has betrayed no sign of it.
When the allegations by independent French investigators surfaced, government ministers reacted with contempt. Within the space of a few hours, Zardari loyalists issued a cascade of denials that their leader, or any other Pakistani official, had been involved.
The story itself has received relatively little play in Pakistan. Part of the reason lies in the fact that the local media's attention has been focused on the army's battles against the Taliban, and the cricket team's recent triumph. As a rule, Pakistani journalists are careful in reporting allegations that involve senior officials. Without concrete evidence, it is a risk that few can afford.
If such evidence were to emerge, however, the consequences for Mr Zardari's government would be explosive.
The President has already served 11-and-a-half years in jail, and earned the soubriquet "Mr 10 Per Cent", for allegedly salting away the spoils of power during his slain wife Benazir Bhutto's time as prime minister.
Mr Zardari has denied any wrongdoing. Among the charges to which he was linked were that he allegedly received kickbacks from the purchase of three French Agosta 90B submarines. At the time, Mr Zardari was serving as investment minister in his wife's second government.
But as one of his aides points out, he has the perfect alibi for 2002, the year the engineers were killed: he was in jail at the time. The original case against the jihadists has begun to fracture under judicial scrutiny. Could the trail lead, as the French investigators suspect, to dark forces within Pakistan's military establishment?
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<b>50pc cotton, paddy crops may be lost due to water shortage</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->KARACHI : Damage to more than 50 per cent production of cotton and paddy is likely this year in Sindh amid 40 per cent water shortage in the current Kharif season.
This year, Sindh has a production target of 3.25 million bales of cotton over an area of 0.5 million hectares and 2.03 million tonnes of paddy over 0.642 million hectares.
However, the water shortage has badly affected the sowing of both the crops across the province and growers have protested.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
.
.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->He said paddy needs regular supply of water besides cotton.
New variety of BT cotton requires almost double water than previous varieties. BT cotton has been sown by majority of growers, which requires at least 6 waters compared to 2 to 3 waters provided to other local varieties of cotton.
Not only these two crops would suffer from water shortage but sugarcane is also in the fields, it would also be affected along with minor crops, Shah said.
<b>âWe are lower riparian and the upper riparian are taking water as it was their kingdom,â</b> he said<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
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<b>India dictates terms of the dialogue</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Pakistan has been beseeching India for quite sometime to agree to resume dialogue. Both the president and prime minister have been literally begging New Delhi to begin talking again and resume the peace process. At Yekaterinburg, at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit, Zardari managed to have a brief meeting with Manmohan Singh. He found the ever so polite Mr Singh administering him a snub and that too publicly, reminding him not to allow Pakistan's soil to be used for acts of terrorism against India. It is not known what Mr Zardari told the Indian leader in private, later.</b> The recent unnecessary reiteration of his earlier questionable remark that India was not an enemy suggests that in his private talk with Mr Singh, his approach might have been one of appeasement. <b>Having swallowed the rebuff, Mr Zardari has decided not to go to Sharm-al-Shaikh NAM Meeting in Egypt and instead let PM Gilani face the odds.</b>
When it comes to the resumption of talks between the two countries, there is a clear need for an objective analysis of the changing pattern of relationships amongst USA, India and Pakistan.
<b>Pakistan is practically a US client state, dependent on doles from Washington and its allies. Islamabad has virtually become the biggest begging bowl in the world.</b> Its economy is in doldrums. It is in the throes of a bloody civil war in its North-West. Winds of alienation are blowing in its largest province. Its cities are at the mercy of suicide bombers. Every second hour or so there is a power blackout, halting the wheels of industry and of work in the offices. With hardly any foreign direct investment and a scary law and order situation the prospects of an economic turnaround are poor. A foreign power unabashedly keeps violating its territorial sovereignty day after day, week after week despite protests<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>It is indeed a measure of the Indian diplomatic skill and its established standing that it successfully and speedily dislodged Obama's thinking about India-Pakistan relations. Not only was the idea of focusing on the resolution of the Kashmir dispute given up, US bowing down to the Indian lobby in Washington, India also succeeded in detaching itself from Pakistan and instead hyphenating it with Afghanistan. Lo and behold we had become a part of the AfPak American strategy. India's concerns were thus taken care of while Pakistan was downgraded, humiliated and demoted to the level of Afghanistan.</b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Put differently, <b>India's new strategy is to soften Pakistan to do its bidding</b> - exploiting to the hilt, its growing relationship with USA.
Under Zardari, Pakistan truly has become a "soft state". Civilian supremacy under PPP's rule suits New Delhi as army under Kayani could be an "obstacle".<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
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<b>Trivial Pursuit (TOI)</b>
K P S Gill
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->After the Mumbai 26/11 attacks, there was unprecedented public outcry provoking the resignation of the Union home minister and the dismissal of Maharashtra's chief minister. Many jumped to the conclusion that India would, finally, take effective action against terrorists and their state sponsors. An apparently inflexible diplomatic stance was adopted, demanding convincing Pakistani action against the 26/11 conspirators. The 'peace process' has since remained suspended. Pushed by western powers, Pakistan initiated reluctant steps against the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) front holding some of its leaders in notional custody, and 'shutting down' a small proportion of its institutional assets. There is, however, little evidence that the organisation's operations have been undermined.
Further evidence of the trivialisation of 26/11 in Pakistan was provided by the Lahore high court's orders to release Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, head of the LeT/JuD. Islamabad promises to contest the court's order, but this is just part of an old charade. The man will be 'arrested' again, to be held in honourable custody, an entirely unconvincing case will be presented by the prosecution and the court will, again, order his release. Eventually, the international outcry will be sufficiently mild to make the release stick or the farce will simply go through another cycle.
Meanwhile, Pakistan tells the world that its slaughter of its own citizens in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA)/North West Frontier Province (NWFP) in indiscriminate aerial and artillery attacks purportedly 'targeting' the renegade Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan is sufficient proof of its 'determination' to fight 'terrorism'. Islamabad insists the world is due to give it further instalments of augmenting aid for its efforts, and to support the deluge of refugees provoked essentially by the use of excessive force by its own army.
At the same time, establishment Islamists in Pakistan accuse India of being obstructive, arguing that the resumption of the peace process cannot be linked to the Mumbai carnage which was in any case "a very small event", and that Pakistan has "suffered bigger incidents of terror".
The world is fully entranced by this performance. The Obama administration has reverted to admonishing India to provide a 'solution' to the 'Kashmir problem' and do more to create 'greater trust', so that Pakistan can withdraw its forces from its eastern borders to focus more fully on bombing the brains out of the people of FATA and NWFP.
The trivialisation of 26/11 doesn't end with Pakistan. In India, statements by top leaders suggest that New Delhi is simply waiting for minimal compliance to get back to the 'peace process'. Vilasrao Deshmukh's elevation to the Union cabinet demonstrates that 26/11 has faded into irrelevance. He was asked to relinquish his post after the 26/11 debacle and the disgraceful 'terror tourism' incident, when he took his actor son and another film personality around the devastated Taj Hotel.
The media and a gaggle of Page 3 personalities had pretended that 26/11 had made terrorism a core electoral issue. That little fable was set to rest by the low voter turnout in Mumbai at 43.3 per cent, a full percentage point below the 2004 elections. With Mumbai voters displaying such habitual 'resilience', there was obviously little political cost to rehabilitating Deshmukh.
<b>For the chattering classes, terrorism is titillation, something to discuss breathlessly at parties. Few understand the sheer horror and dehumanisation that terrorists inflict; </b>fewer still are aware of the tremendous capacities that are at risk of falling into the hands of the most unscrupulous enemy India could imagine.
This is the gravest risk of the trivialisation of 26/11: the trivialisation of the enveloping threats that confront India. At best, the political leadership focuses on the immediate threat, making some fitful provisions for augmented security. The larger issue of growing disorders in the region, the spectre of a failing nuclear-armed Pakistan, <b>the terrorists' dogged pursuit of weapons of mass destruction all these are simply too large even to find place in the policymakers' imagination. </b>Pakistani defence analyst Pervez Hoodbhoy remarks, "Nuclear affairs are now being guided by wishful, delusional thinking.<b> The most frightening delusion is India's trivialisation of Pakistan's nuclear capability." </b>There is an overwhelming proclivity to underplay this threat, or simply to assume, with little justification, that when push comes to shove the Americans will 'neutralise' Pakistan's nuclear assets for us.
The tense equilibrium of mutually assured destruction cannot give us solace. Pakistan is too close and given to a calculus that does not coincide with our notions of rationality. Its nuclear arsenal is at risk, as state failure looms large. If sufficient nuclear materials were to pass into the hands of Islamist extremists to enable the fabrication even of a 'dirty bomb', we would be confronted with a catastrophe that would make our past history of terrorism seem trifling. But the threat of a nuclear catastrophe is dwarfed by the dangers of biological terrorism, which, experts agree, would kill far greater numbers.
In India, however, we continue to quibble over the incremental augmentation of forces and capacities to no more than 'counter' the 'next 26/11'. The war against terrorism is a long war. But we remain abysmally unprepared.
<i>
The writer is president, Institute for Conflict Management. </i><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<b>Time to cooperate âDr Hasan-Askari Rizvi</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->This divided state of mind characterised the orientation of the federal government under General Musharraf. Some federal ministers and others in the official circles made no secret of their sympathy for Islamic militancy. That was the main reason the Red Mosque issue was allowed to fester. The burqa-clad armed women were allowed to continue with their take-over of a childrenâs library and they paraded the streets of Islamabad at will. <b>The movementâs leader could give exclusive interviews to TV news channels from the roadside. <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Had the burqa-clad women not taken Chinese nationals hostage, would their activities have continued indefinitely?</span>
By the time the government took action against the Red Mosque in July 2007, it was too late and the government incurred high human and political cost.</b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The change in the disposition of the civilian government and the army high command came through their own review of the growing threat of militancy in the first quarter of 2009. Mutual consultation brought the civilian government and the military to the firm conclusion that militant groups, based in the tribal areas and the mainland, could not be allowed to threaten Pakistani state and society.
What helped them come to this conclusion were the stories of brutalities of the Taliban and their attempts to expand their domain of authority; their targeting of security personnel and state institutions and symbols; the Swat âNizam-e Adlâ episode; <b>the Mumbai terrorist attack; several terrorist attacks in Lahore, especially the attack on Sri Lankan cricket team; <span style='color:red'>Chinese complaints of the presence of their Muslim dissidents in Pakistani tribal areas;</span> and American-British prodding.</b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->India needs to recognise that Pakistan is now working towards the elimination of terrorism with full determination. India needs to move away from a single-track approach of insisting on elimination of India-related terrorist groups as a pre-condition for normal interaction. <b>India-related terrorism should be viewed as part of Pakistanâs overall problem of extremism and terrorism.
India needs to work with Pakistan to cope with terrorism and focus on problem solving in the context of India-Pakistan dialogue.</b> This will make it difficult for Islamic parties and militant groups to play up anti-India sentiments and thus weaken the governmentâs efforts to cope with extremism and terrorism. A soft and cooperative approach aimed at problem solving including elimination of terrorism will be mutually advantageous.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<b>'Taliban caller' asks Hindus in Pak to pay jiziya: Report</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->An unidentified caller claiming to represent the Taliban demanded Rs 6 million as "jiziya" from the minority Hindu community of Battagram district in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province on Sunday.
The caller made the demand during a phone call to local Hindu leader Parkash. He asked Parkash, a doctor, to collect Rs 6 million from the Hindus in Battagram and pay the amount to the Taliban.
According to media reports, the caller said all minorities living in Battagram must pay "jiziya" or a tax levied on non-Muslims.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Well, I will advise Indian Hindus to start collecting Jiziya from Indian Muslims.
06-29-2009, 02:54 PM
(This post was last modified: 06-29-2009, 02:59 PM by Husky.)
1. <!--QuoteBegin-Mudy+Jun 29 2009, 10:06 AM-->QUOTE(Mudy @ Jun 29 2009, 10:06 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin--> <b>'Taliban caller' asks Hindus in Pak to pay jiziya: Report</b><!--QuoteBegin--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->An unidentified caller claiming to represent the Taliban demanded Rs 6 million as "jiziya" from the minority Hindu community of Battagram district in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province on Sunday.
The caller made the demand during a phone call to local Hindu leader Parkash. He asked Parkash, a doctor, to collect Rs 6 million from the Hindus in Battagram and pay the amount to the Taliban.
According to media reports, the caller said all minorities living in Battagram must pay "jiziya" or a tax levied on non-Muslims.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Well, I will advise Indian Hindus to start collecting Jiziya from Indian Muslims.
[right][snapback]99241[/snapback][/right]<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->Sounds reasonable: Revert to Dharmic tradition, pay up or go to pakiland.
I think they'll all choose to revert (no Indian islamic is seriously going to consider pakiland).
2. Was this already posted, can't remember:
http://rajeev2004.blogspot.com/2009/06/al-...-pakistani.html
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Wednesday, June 24, 2009
<b>Al Qaeda says would use Pakistani nuclear weapons</b>
jun 24th, 2009
of course. they paid for it, so why shouldn't saudi arabians use the 'mohammedan' nuke? the links between the saudi royal family and the shadowy jihadis are very murky -- they have been encouraged to bring violent saudi wah'abism and salafism everywhere except to saudi territory itself
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Girish
http://in.news.yahoo.com/137/20090621/738/...kistani-nu.html
"We expect that the Pakistani army would be defeated (in Swat) ... and that would be its end everywhere, God willing."
Posted by nizhal yoddha at 6/24/2009 11:17:00 PM <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<b>People face problems, as fuel sale stopped</b>
KARACHI : The people are facing problems, as various petrol pumping stations Tuesday stalled the sale of petrol and diesel across the country including Karachi ahead of increase in petroleum prices.
There are reports that the summary regarding the increase in petroleum prices has been approved by Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and petroleum ministry has received back the summary.
Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) sent the summary of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources regarding Rs6 to 7/lit increase in the prices of petroleum products.
<b>Several petrol pumps stopped selling petrol and diesel triggering problems for the motorists and vehicle-owners.</b>
Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->
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