CENTURION – Within minutes of Pakistan’s last ball defeat at the hands of Australia at the Centurion ground in South Africa, Indian Minister for Extrenal Affairs S M Krishna has sensationally pointed the finger at Kashmir-based militant group ‘Lashkar-e-Tayba’ which it alleges is supported by Pakistan’s InterServices Intelligence Agency (ISI).
‘We know there is no way Pakistan would have lost to Australia after being in a winning position towards the end. We have intercepted calls from Lashkar-e-Tayba masterminds made to the Pakistan dressing room in those last few minutes of the game. You can see why Misbah-ul-Haq went down and asked the physio came out with the message that they have to lose the game.’ He remarked.
Earlier, Home Affairs minister P Chidambaram had talked of Lashkar-e-Tayba using earnings from betting on allegedly fixed matches to fund what he called ‘Terror attacks’ on Indian soil.
WASHINGTON: Pakistani officials, diplomats and spokespersons do not consider the otherwise mind-boggling conditions included in the just passed Kerry-Lugar aid bill in the US Senate as of any serious significance but they are not prepared to state on record that all Pakistani stakeholders, the Army, the intelligence agencies, the people of Pakistan, have been taken into confidence, or even told before hand, that such conditions were being imposed.
The Secretary of State has to issue a certificate on these sensitive subjects before each instalment of the US aid is to be disbursed and Pakistanis are wondering how all, or any, of these conditions will be met, if at all.
One thing though should be expressly clear: there is no military victory in Afghanistan. Success will be in leaving behind a stable Afghanistan minus Al Qaeda, but not minus what time has begun to define as the Taliban
Obama’s Afghan policy is in a flux. Having inherited it as work in progress, he ended up owning it by default. Of the two, Iraq and Afghanistan, he was committed to retrenching on Iraq, but had to stay the course on Afghanistan.
The difficulty with the ‘war on terror’ has been that it has always remained too open ended. While Bush’s own war was Iraq, he tended to be only gung-ho as a strategy in Afghanistan, never really defining the exact objectives. As a result, in Washington, it is back to the drawing board.
Times of India: China on Monday asked India and Pakistan to seek a solution to the Kashmir issue through peaceful and friendly consultations and offered to play a “constructive role” in resolving the “bilateral issue”.
As a friendly country, China would also be happy to see progress in the peace process between India and Pakistan, said Hu Zhengyue, Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs, in charge of the Asian region.
It is time to shed some light on the electronic media of our neighbouring country and the effects that it has on our society especially on our youth and the anti-Islamic and anti-Pakistani feelings that it is exciting.
For many years, Indians have been using their media to despoil Pakistani society by injecting their own culture into it. This is quite dangerous as both of these countries, Pakistan and India, share a somewhat similar culture and language. Thus, some Pakistanis end up thinking that there is little or no difference between these two nations. Tune into any Pakistani radio station on a Saturday evening and you will find almost all of them playing tunes from Indian flicks that they term as ‘Desi’. And that’s not it, even our own “Free Media” is helping them out by copying the styles of their TV shows and Dramas, abolishing the decency that the Pakistani telefilm industry(especially PTV) possessed for years.
In this latest episode by Brasstacks, Zaid Hamid sheds some light on Khilafat-e-Rashida that how it was the greatest form of governance ever by human kind
An American, who survived the terrorist attack in the Indian city of Mumbai last year, resisted hate in favour of curiosity to discover and learn to embrace Islam, according to a media report.
Dennis O’Brien, a Catholic, sought to understand the root faith the people behind the attacks claimed to practice and discovered it had been twisted by the gunmen, The News Journal of Wilmington, Delaware, reported. And eventually, he came to embrace it.
It is a matter of enormous regret that unethical practices are endemic in Pakistani society – so endemic in fact, that they are generally accepted as the standard way of doing things. However, our people are not to blame – mostly they are innocent participants in a system that is inherently broken. We all endure an atmosphere where bribery has become part and parcel of daily life. From corporatist graft at the highest levels of State to the palm greasing of petty officials, the issue is now so mundane that people are now desensitised to it and will seldom raise an eyebrow. The level of demoralisation is now so severe that some do not even acknowledge it as an evil. In a system where sleaze is par for the course, can there be any deliverance?
Its high time we stopped compromising on our sovereignty and declared US a hostile state. Shut down the US Embassy and consulates, order all US diplomatic staff to leave the country with immediate effect, shut down NATO and US supply routes and respond in kind with a threat to launch a full-scale military offensive on US bases in Afghanistan if Pakistani Airspace is breached.
The United States is threatening to launch airstrikes on Mullah Omar and the Taliban leadership in Quetta as frustration mounts about the ease with which they find sanctuary across the border from Afghanistan, according to a The Sunday Times report. The threat comes amid growing divisions in Washington about whether to deal with the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan by sending more troops or by reducing them and targeting the terrorists. This weekend the US military was expected to send a request to Defence Secretary Robert Gates for more troops, as urged by Gen Stanley McChrystal, the US commander in Afghanistan. In a leaked strategic assessment of the war, Gen McChrystal warned that he needed extra reinforcements within a year to avert the risk of failure. Although no figure was given, he is believed to be seeking up to 40,000 troops to add to the 68,000 who will be in Afghanistan by the end of this year. US Vice-President Joe Biden has suggested reducing the number of troops in Afghanistan and focusing on the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Pakistan. Last week Gen McChrystal denied any rift with the administration, saying, “a policy debate is warranted.”
D S Rajan, director, Chennai Centre for China Studies, analyses the Chinese reaction over closer India-US political and military ties. A signed Chinese language article in the Chinese Communist Party’s theoretical organ, Qiu Shi (September 14), entitled ‘The strengthening of US-India military cooperation will change the strategic situation in South Asia’, is noteworthy for its assessment of the situation arising out of the US-India agreements on expanding cooperation in the fields of military, space and civil nuclear power generation, reached in New Delhi [ Images ] during US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s [ Images ] visit (July 19-21). The article by Chinese analyst Li Qiulin has stated that although the agreements did not mean the birth of an ‘alliance’ between the two nations, it is clear that both will seek long-term cooperation in military and political spheres.
Noting that India’s military had been dependent on Russian arms and later on Israel, it has pointed out that the US has now become the most important source for India’s military procurement and that mechanisms to manage the same are gradually emerging. Highlighting in this connection the involvement of the US Boeing company in India, it has revealed that in the first half of 2009, Washington allowed it to sell to India eight Boeing P-8I long-range maritime surveillance and anti-submarine patrol aircraft for $2.1 billion (about Rs 10,500 crore) — cost-wise the biggest US military sale to India. Feeling that the agreements would also lead to more US-India joint military exercises in future, the article has stated that in 2007, during the ‘Malabar’ exercise, India adopted NATO’s operational procedures and that the US permitted the Indian Navy access to its satellite system centre.
Out of the proposed US aid to Pakistan for the year 2008-9, one billion dollars out of $1.8 billion, have been earmarked for the proposed extension of the US embassy. And there are reasons for the construction of a ‘mini-Pentagon’ in Pakistan. Firstly, the cornerstone of American global policy remains the containment of China. To accomplish it, it is necessary to bring together the countries of South Asia, West Asia and South-East Asia and the Central Asian countries in this alliance.
With Ali Azmat on Aag TV Zaid Hamid and Ali Azmat (formerly of Junoon) take live calls and discuss ideology, vision and mission of Allama Iqbal and its relevance with the current times, and answer questions from the youth of Pakistan in his latest episode of “Iqbal Ka Pakistan” series
Congratulations Pakistan for sticking another one down the throats of our arch-rivals. Don’t care if we go out in the next game, what matters is that the boys stood up to be counted when it mattered most.
A new wave of anti-American sentiment in Pakistan has slowed the arrival of hundreds of U.S. civilian and military officials charged with implementing assistance programs, undermined cooperation in the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban, and put American lives at risk, according to officials from both countries.
In recent weeks, Pakistan has rejected as “incomplete” at least 180 U.S. government visa requests. Its own ambassador in Washington has criticized what he called a “blacklist” used by the Pakistani intelligence service to deny visas or to conduct “rigorous, intrusive and obviously crude surveillance” of journalists and nongovernmental aid organizations it dislikes, including the Congress-funded International Republican Institute and National Democratic Institute.
Hafiz Mohammed Saeed and the Jamaat al Daawa have nothing to do with Mumbai attacks, regardless of what the Indians keep saying. If you don’t believe me, ask the InterPol. They also don’t believe what India says.
LAHORE, Pakistan—Pakistani interior minister Abdul Rehman Malik has invited his Indian counterpart for a public debate on the issue of Mumbai attacks.
He claims that Pakistan has done more than India as far as investigations into the Mumbai attack are concerned. He also said that his country cannot take action against Ameer Jamat-ud-Dawah Prof. Hafiz Saeed because of “hearsay” and needs more time to assess the genuineness of information provided by India on him.
On the other hand Indian foreign minister SM Krishna has said that Pakistan has a vested interest in blocking the inquiry into the Mumbai attacks and is safeguarding Hafiz Saeed. Indian interior minister has visited United States to intervene in the issue and press Pakistan to act against Hafiz Muhammad Saeed.
Must watch episode of Dr. Shahid Masood’s ‘Mere Mutabiq’ in which he links Zardari’s mention of the 100bn figure with the idea floated last year to ‘buy off’ Pakistan’s nuclear weapons for 100bn. Also under discussion are Blackwater and other US mercenaries present in Pakistan.
Joining the discussion is the ex-head of Pakistan’s premier Intelligence agency, the ISI as well as Parvez Hoodbhoy
And it’s one, two, three
what are we fighting for?
Don’t ask me, I don’t give a damn
next stop is Vietnam
- Country Joe and the Fish, 1969
After eight long years, now more than ever, the United States invasion and (partial) occupation of Afghanistan is on a roll, courtesy of US President Barack Obama’s “new strategy”.
This – which Pentagon supremo Robert Gates insists is “working” – includes US and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) staging mini-Guernicas, al la the bombing of Guernica, Spain, by German and Italian warplanes in 1937, as painted by Pablo Picasso.
It also includes General Stanley McChrystal – the former number one hit man for General David Petraeus in Iraq – assaulting Washington to demand (what else is new?) an extra 45,000 US boots on the ground.
Add 52,000 US troops and no less than a staggering 68,000 US contractors as of late March – don’t even count NATO – and soon there will be more Americans wallowing in the Afghan mire than Soviets at their occupation peak during the 1980s. In only 450 days, Enduring Freedom plus NATO boots swelled up from 67,000 to 118,000.
[PKKH] Another example of US micromanagement in Pakistan’s internal affairs. While nobody in Pakistan wants Zardari to stay on the President’s post, it is the system which needs an overhaul.
WASHINGTON: Americans see a change fast, but smoothly, coming in Pakistan in the wake of loss of credibility of the man at the helm, following some domestic legal developments.
After meeting top political and defence decision-makers here in the US capital, where I was invited by the National Defence University (NDU) for a two-day seminar on the anniversary of 9/11, I was told in unambiguous terms that a change in Pakistan was inevitable for US policy interests, although Washington does not intend to disrupt the system.
Several important Pakistani political players have also been conveyed the same message by the US political and defence establishment, including the MQM and recently the ANP, whose chief is travelling with President Asif Zardari in New York.
My 72-year-old uncle was shot point blank because he refused to say, “I AM AN INDIAN” which he never was. You Indians are unwelcome and detested by Kashmiris at all levels except for those pro-India elitist few who are protected by your army. Yes, India’s army understands us very well. That’s why 700,000 of them continue murdering us in cold blood and keep the rest of us imprisoned. Kashmir is the world’s biggest/dirtiest concentration camp.
A junior commissioned officer of India’s Marine Commando (MarCo) Force and atleast a dozen commandos were killed in a 4-day gunfight in Rafiabad forests in north Kashmir’s Varmul district, which ended on September 23rd after four days of intense gunbattle with Kashmiri mujahideen.
Sources from occupied Kashmir say the operation was a ‘Fidayeen’ attack carried out by two local mujahideen who attacked the MarCos camp located near Wullar, home to the contentious Wullar barrage project that India has been using to control and limit the flow of water to Pakistan’s Jehlum river.
The highly trained Indian commandos were held up for four days by two lightly armed Mujahideen who managed to kill over a dozen commandos as well as injuring many more – some said to be in serious condition – before embracing Shahadat due to fatigue and running out of ammunition.
It’s interesting to note that while both India and Israel with the help of the US, of course, are bent on the break-up of Pakistan – Israelis with the help of its powerful Jewish Lobby in the US and Britain – are also on their way to establish a second little Zionist entity in India next to Muslim Bangladesh and Buddhist Burma. Of course, the later is not a hot topic in India or the West -thanks to the anti-Muslim partnership between Hindu and Jew extremists who own the mainstream media both in India and the West. Read the rest of this entry ?
The geopolitics of today, steered by the imperial powers with there ulterior designs, perplexes one by its ability of cunning deceit. The capitalist system which dominates the global arena, deems its intricate and institutionalized failures as external evil, and then strives to exorcize them with fuming abstract notions that emanate from it own capital-oriented principles. Consider for instance the issue of ‘overpopulation’.
The rate of population growth over the last century has been labeled the underlying cause of the world standing on the brink of disaster; it is argued we are running out of food to sustain such growing population. It is argued by the proponents of over-population that the huge growth in world population is responsible for poverty, environmental destruction and social unrest. Economic development in the third world is impossible as long as populations continue to grow as a result international agencies and governments have developed numerous programmes to curtail the rate of population growth, all of these have been implemented in the third world.
With talk of NATO pulling out of Afghanistan, an increasingly potent Taliban threat and rising questions in the U.S. about whether defeating the insurgency is possible, there is even less incentive for the Pakistani authorities to share intelligence on Haqqani and Omar, said Shaun Gregory, a professor at Bradford University’s Pakistan Security Research Unit.
“The Pakistanis want the Americans out; above all they want India out. And the only creatures who can do that are the Afghan Taliban,” he said. “If the Pakistanis hand over more info on al-Qaida and the rest, it will have a marginal effect as to what happens in Afghanistan.”
The Pakistanis have not supplied the U.S. with any intelligence on the Haqqani network, Gregory said. In return, Haqqani and other Afghan Taliban have not joined their Pakistani Taliban brethren in trying to seize other regions and advance on the capital, Islamabad.
“They don’t want to antagonize several groups in Pakistan. If the Haqqani group starts helping the Pakistani Taliban, then God help us,” said Talat Masood, a Pakistani defense analyst. “The Americans cannot stay in Afghanistan forever, but we will have to live here forever.”
