<b>LONDON : The United States should threaten to cut aid to Pakistan to press it to restore democracy, opposition leader Benazir Bhutto said Friday before a meeting between a US envoy and President Pervez Musharraf.</b>
But in an interview with Britain's news television she voiced doubt about an immediate cut in US assistance to the country.
"I would like to see aid used as a leverage to influence General Musharraf as well as the armed forces. They're benefiting from the immense international assistance that is coming into Pakistan," she said.
"The signal that Mr. Negroponte should give is that this aid could stop," she said. But she added: "I'm unsure whether we should straight away stop that aid because sometimes getting aid restarted is difficult, and I think Pakistan needs that aid.
"Our people need that aid, but they need that aid coming to the people. It hasn't come to the people in the past." <!--emo&:flush--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Flush.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='Flush.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Now I think I need to change my TV set. I was watching PBS, and panel of experts guy in suit is saying, "Iran problem: started with Pak. North Korea: started with Pak.." I did not hear the rest, I have heard of the effects of radioactive emissions coming from TVs that have gone bad. I am afraid for my life. Help! I don't want to be a mutant!
Shambhuji,
If you look Middle East or Muslim countries, they have oil, large contracts, spoil Kings and Princes Etc who will use Western products and keep west glowing and growing. Pakistan is fighting for place in Muslim world and ofcourse west, now what Pakistan can offer other than jihadist or Nukes.
Till these Jihadist were killing Hindoos and helping western agenda, West was keeping them in good humor. Now they are biting west, here comes problem. So suddenly US media woke up from comatose state and seeing danger, like they do when Police inform their teenager is arrested high on weeds and parents realize, what happened, and look for counseling. Now for west it is counseling time.
Donât forget, Barbara Walter was very vocal against India during 1971 war and was favoring Pakistan even with full knowledge of genocide in Bangladesh.
Koi ham-dam na raha
Koi sahara na raha
Hum kisike na rahe
Koi hamara na raha..
BTW I heard BB saying in an interview that she will no longer talk with Mush, Ever. Full and final. He is dhokebaaz. "Situation in Pakistan is critical".
Also, Shoaib Akhtar, the pak fast bowler, wants to visit Munna Bhai Dutt in jail. Akhtar has been visiting orphanages in India recently. Ppl say he is trying for Indian citjenship, knowing fully well the kajoo-burfee that will soon be distributed to every pakistani back at home as the situation goes from political-critical to hospital-critical.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>LONDON (Reuters) - President Pervez Musharraf, defending his decision to declare emergency rule, has said Pakistan's nuclear weapons could fall into the wrong hands if elections led to disturbances.</b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Nareshji,
Mushy is in foolish mode, but this may work also. Current discussion on US media is about Paki nukes, it may go into wrong hand etc. Looks like his handlers in US must have told him to start Nuke bogey to scare world.
Now who will ask him to do striptease?
<b>US: Emergency rule must end in Pakistan</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Washington's No. 2 diplomat delivered a blunt message to Pakistan's military ruler, telling him that emergency rule must be lifted and his opponents freed ahead of elections.
Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte's visit was seen as a last best chance to avoid political turmoil in Pakistan. <b>He met for more than two hours Saturday with President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and Pakistan's deputy army commander, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani.</b>
"I urged the government to stop such actions, lift the state of emergency and release all political detainees," Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte told a news conference at the U.S. embassy Sunday at the end of his trip. "Emergency rule is not compatible with free, fair and credible elections."
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<b>Pakistan military's No. 2 seen as poker-faced, apolitical figure</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN -- While Gen. Pervez Musharraf was preparing this month to issue a sweeping emergency decree, his No. 2 in the military was nowhere to be seen in the corridors of power.
Instead, Gen. Ashfaq Kiani was far afield, visiting Pakistani troops engaged in a difficult and demoralizing struggle with Islamic insurgents in the jagged hills along the Afghan border.
.......
Tall and taciturn, a chain smoker through his adult life, Kiani rose through the ranks from a humble background -- <b>unusual in an army whose senior officers are mostly the sons of the military aristocracy.</b>
Yet he is a product of military tradition, <b>hailing from a powerful clan in Punjab province, a longtime army recruiting hub.</b>
Among his army mentors as he ascended to the rank of infantry commander was Musharraf, an ex-commando a decade his senior. <b>But Kiani was not part of the general's inner circle of senior officers who helped him seize power in 1999</b>.
Still, Kiani's close ties to Musharraf were apparent in 2003, when he was made corps commander in Rawalpindi, the seat of army headquarters just outside the capital, Islamabad. <b>In the past, that job had been a springboard for staging coups, so the appointment demonstrated the general's trust in him</b>
......
The following year, Kiani became head of the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistan's spy agency, notorious for its ties with the Taliban. By the time of his tenure, the agency's senior ranks had largely been purged of insurgent sympathizers, <b>but under Kiani's watch, the militants did regain strength and territory in Pakistan's semiautonomous tribal areas.</b>
.....
To U.S. military officials, Kiani is something of a known quantity. He has studied at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth in Kansas. <b>He has met with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and is acquainted with senior staff at the Pentagon and CIA.</b>
...
"If the army thinks Musharraf has to go, I think Kiani will act against him," said Sajjan Gohel of the Asia-Pacific Foundation, a London-based think tank. "In Pakistani politics, the person you trust most is often the one who will betray you."
<b>According to accounts by those present at the clamorous meeting in March, Kiani was the only officer in the room who said absolutely nothing.</b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<b>I think most people will agree that <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>scams for Pakistanis are like snow for Eskimos.</span></b> Hardly shocking any more, the willing suspension of disbelief having gone the full round, anything and everything is possible, is acceptable and is believable. In fact such is the nationwide cynicism that the more bizarre the scam, the more believable it becomes. Stories about LPG quotas for all the top stakeholders who are holding on to the stakes for dear life are rampant. Everyone who is anyone seems to have tons of LPG 'allocated' to them. It is money for jam because no hard work is required, no daily grind here. Quotas in, LPG out, money in. Every day, hundreds of thousands of rupees are rolling into private coffers, no one daring to question the transparency of the deals that net millions to those who already have billions.
So this startling email -- even by Pakistan's jaded standards, popped up on my screen the other day. The subject? A Rs600 million corruption scam in the Study Report of the Lahore Mass Transit Train Project. The period? Just a few months between April and September this year. The sender of the email swears on all that is holy that every word, every amount of money siphoned off in this scam, is true and offers his email address for any verification. So those thinking that this is another irresponsible rumour of which variety this country has plenty might have to re-think. Is it a score-settling game? I doubt it.
The Punjab government has launched a Rs200 billion project for the transportation of millions of intercity commuters in Lahore. For the preparation of the study report, a Hong Kong-based consultancy firm was hired. In the preparation of this report, Rs600 million has changed hands in the form of bribes and kickbacks. Why the firm needs to buy at this stage the acquiescence of the lower staff, acting on their own or representing other powerful masters, remains a mystery. This report which has a vital bearing on the safety standards of the proposed system seems to be of critical importance to the foreign firm which instead of doing its work is apparently spending all its time and resources, greasing many outstretched palms.
The alleged main players are some officers and a clerk of the Punjab Transport Department and the AG's office, but two main characters who emerge are a section officer and a clerk in BPS-10. Not only are both named, but their NIC numbers are also provided. The clerk fronts for the section officer who fronts for the others. Among other things the talented clerk has in a matter of six months procured seven vehicles in his brother, wife and friend's names. The vehicles complete with registration numbers and names registered to, include two Honda Civics, a Toyota Corolla GLI, a Santro, a Cuore, a Toyota Camry (I want that sexy Camry) and an unregistered Prado. The gentleman providing these gory details admits that there are still some details missing. The value of these cars is known to all.
He goes on to list the money deposited in the NIB Bank in Lahore complete with account numbers. Here the clerk's lady wife has a number of hefty deposits to her good name. These deposits made between May and September 2007 range from Rs2.15 crores, Rs2 crores again two weeks later, another two crores a day later, Rs20 lacs in July, another Rs2.5 crores in September, followed by Rs60 lacs a week later and another similar sum another week later. It all adds up to many crores, many lacs and too many thousands which I can't write in figures my French being what it is.
The head clerk who must be a very busy man has another set of accounts at Habib Bank (mera be to hai) where he and his lady wife plonked Rs75 lacs in September. This comes with details of the account number, beneficiary etc. A similar sum of money is placed by the enterprising clerk's lucky brother on the same dates. That is Rs 75 lacs again in case you are losing the thread of the narrative. There are reportedly more accounts or more sums of money deposited here of which details are not known. Why we cannot make this head clerk Pakistan's finance minister I'll never know, but such talent should hardly go unnoticed -- can't really say unrewarded.
Having done with the cars and the bank accounts, next on the menu is the dessert. This comes in the shape of a rich cheesecake and is just as appetising as cheesecakes are reputed to be. The mysterious boss appears at last but the lead roles are still shared by the head clerk and his lady wife against which fair lady, Lady Macbeth has begun to look more and more like Mother Teresa. However, dessert awaits. In Iqbal Town, Lahore, the boss has a plot -- a modest affair worth about Rs1.5 crores only. The adjoining plot -- anyone remember 'birds of a feather flock together?' -- is with Lady Macbeth valued the same. The party then moves to Gulshan-e-Ravi where three plots are picked up valued at about Rs3.25 crores in all. A house in Old Anarkali for Rs70 lacs and another modest dwelling on Food Street, valued at Rs35 lacs are also with the dear lady. In what is obviously a 'loot sale', Lady Macbeth then picks up two villas in Gulshan-e-Ravi for Rs2.25 crores, a flat on Maclagan Road for Rs15 lacs and a house in Shalimar Colony in his/her brother brother-in-law's name for Rs20 lacs, a shop in Old Anarkali for Rs15 lacs and another for Rs70 lacs. Another shop in Mozang for Rs15 lacs, two small hotels on Food Street for Rs1.2 crores and Rs20 lacs and a jewellery shop in Anarkali for Rs70 lacs completes the bonanza. Total value of these properties? Rs14 crores, 85 lacs. How much does it all add up to? God knows how much, since I have lost count.
As for after dinner chocolates, the enterprising group has picked up a wholesale gold business in Old Anarkali (I guess that's where all the action is) for a paltry Rs1.5 crores plus another two business units for Rs15 lacs each, all these goodies registered in the names of two brothers and a son. Total value of this initiative? Rs1.5 crores, 30 lacs. So, those of you still struggling with your lacs and crores, the entire package is about Rs18 crores give or take a crore this way or that. I now understand what Shaukat Aziz kept calling the 'trickle down' effect and dud that I was, never quite understood that brilliant man. But to our sleuth some marks for detailed probing are perhaps due because he had attached two approved bills pertaining to Sep-Oct complete with invoice numbers, details of the invoices and amounts paid into the company's accounts in Citibank.
The question is, whether this is true or not? If false, why go into so many details? Is it someone done out of this deal, now spilling the beans or is it someone who is sincere and horrified at this blatant corruption? Who knows? Why is this foreign company having to shell out so much money at a study phase level? How can they afford so much payoffs? Are they incompetent? Is this project another Jinnah Flyover that collapsed within a month of its opening? No wonder they called it a flyover! And of course our dear 'jawans' who built this engineering marvel have not been singled out and punished at all. Not that anyone was expecting it. We are all used to scams and every deal in Pakistan is shady. The purchase of PIA's 777 aircraft routed through a company, Taxila Inc, registered (but of course) in Cayman Islands with a grand paid-up capital of $ 250 just 11 days before the banks pushed the loans through has the same smell as fish left out in the sun, but who is probing it? The lurid details of Lahore's Mass Transit payoffs need to be investigated. But then, who is going to do it?
<i>The writer is a Lahore-based columnist. Email: masood_news@hotmail.com</i>
<b>91 killed in sectarian violence in Pakistan</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->
Over 46 people were killed on Sunday in clashes between Sunnis and Shias in a Pakistani tribal town bordering Afghanistan where the latest sectarian bloodletting has left over 91 dead and nearly 150 injured.
Clashes continued for the fourth day on Sunday with members of the two sects using mortars, rockets and heavy weapons to target each other's houses and mosques in Parachinar, Kurrum tribal agency's main town which is dominated by Shias who account for only 20 per cent of the population in Pakistan
.......<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<b>Pakistan: US Envoy Brought 'Nothing New'</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's government dismissed a last-ditch U.S. call to end emergency rule, leaving the Bush administration with limited options Sunday in steering its nuclear-armed ally back toward democracy.
Pakistan said U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte brought no new proposals on a make-or-break visit, and received no assurances after urging Musharraf to restore the constitution and free thousands of political opponents.
<b>"This is nothing new," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammed Sadiq told The Associated Press. "The U.S. has been saying this for many days. He (Negroponte) has said that same thing. He has reiterated it."</b>
Locked in a battle with increasingly powerful Islamist militants, Pakistan is seen as a key front in the war on terror. U.S. officials are clearly fearful that the emergency rule imposed more than two weeks ago could lead to a potentially destabilizing round of political turmoil.
In an early morning news conference before departing Pakistan, Negroponte said he hoped that the president listened to his appeal to end a crackdown on opponents before legislative elections scheduled for January.
"I urged the government to stop such actions, lift the state of emergency and release all political detainees," Negroponte told reporters at the U.S. Embassy. "Emergency rule is not compatible with free, fair and credible elections."
But Musharraf has appeared intent on setting his own pace despite warnings from Washington, which has been hesitant to match criticism with actions such as cutting military aid.
Militant gains have raised U.S. concerns about Pakistan's ability to combat militancy and flush out remnants of al-Qaida and the Taliban believed to be sheltering in the country's rugged northwestern tribal areas<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Told you, Mushy is smart guy, he had fooled Indians again and again, now he is doing same with US again and again.
<b>Letter in the Pindi GHQ Newsletter "Tall and Tight":</b>
Assalam aleikum.
I agree with you Hazrat Minister-e-Vilayat Sadiq.
I mean, no money package aid? Like, one would very reasonably expect Mr. Negroponte to officially announce:
"3.14 billion dollars will be paid to General Musharraf; in addition, 3 bedrooms will be added to his retirement villa in Arlington, Virginia, if he promises to consider thinking about the possible implementation of prospective proposals to roll back the Emergency in a suitable timeframe, say, within 72 months.."
But no. Nothing. What is new, I ask you? Show me anything new. Same old, same old.
Irritating. Disgusting. Nauseating.
May Allah bestow a thousand lashes on your backside, Mr. Negroponte.
Yours in Islam,
Pir Mohammad Shambhuddin Fauji
(Chief Imam, Al-Bhikari Dargah, Rawalpindi)
Pir Mohammad Shambhuddin Fauji,
Situation is very serious, now I have to think harder and deeper.
What is this new game?
<b>Players : US, Mushy, China</b>
<i>US </i>- PM had resigned, PM was eye and ears of US,
-Trying to kick out Mushy so that they can have their own eye and ear, who can deposit OBL in Bank before Nov 08. So that Bushy can proudly display OBL in his library.
<i>Mushy</i> - He knows urgency and now openly tagged with Chini. After earthquake POK, jihadi replacement will take time to bleed India, Indian jihadies are working hard but reaction from public is nil. Whether he help US or not, cash will come, so why to help?
<i>China</i> - Great position, kaughing on India, commies in India are doing great work for CHina, they are like termite/parasite.
They can or using Pakistan to bleed India and US in Afghanistan.
May Allah's (SAW) peace and blessings be upon you. The situation is serious, as you have rightly pointed out, needs H and D thinking from all well-wishers of the Khilafa (SAW II).
The munafiq Shaukat Aziz was indeed an organ of the kafir (may Allah roast and toast their unholy behinds in Jahannum). The infidel "superpower" (may all momeen spit upon that country) has gauged the situation, and will engage newer spies, mostly from the Hunood. The cursed idol-worshippers (may Allah crush them for their shirk and but-parasti) have proved themselves to be very clever.
In my own mind, I think Paa'stan should openly welcome our friend China to en-quadriculate the Dar-ul-Harb "Bharrut". By the grace of Allah the most merciful, agents of our friend China are already wracking hammocks in the enemy nation, and our proud mujahideen always stand (or sit, depending upon the precision of the situation) ready for any eventuality and outcome, regardless of income.
It is thus that the plan of Allah Taa' la will bear fruit.
Peace and blessings,
Pir Mohammad Shambhuddin Fauji
(also a visiting scholar and Al-Fatwuddin Katwa University, Lahore)
Here goes fine interview by Durrani - learn what is techincal defination of Pakistan <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
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