By Ahmad Majidyar
While the arrest of the Taliban’s No. 2, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, could deal a serious blow to the Taliban in the short term — as the insurgent group is struggling to counter NATO’s ongoing offensive in southern Afghanistan — its long-term impact on overall Taliban activity in Afghanistan, Kabul’s reconciliation efforts, and U.S.-Pakistan cooperation should not be overstated. Read the rest of this entry ?
It is now for one week that the invading enemy have launched military operations named “Moshtarik” (together) against Mujahideen in Marjah, a part of Nad Ali district, Helmand province. They have put more than 15,000 American, NATO and the hireling Afghan troops against a minuscule number of Mujahideen in the area. More than 60 helicopters, armed with hellfire missiles, and hundreds of tanks are taking part in the operation.
Marjah has remained in the hands of Mujahideen for the last few years. Other parts of Helmand province like Baghiran, Dishu, and Washer districts are already under the administration of the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan”. So question rises why the enemy chose Marjah, a small area, to launch operations. Ostensibly, the enemy say that they want to put pressure on Taliban to accept the government terms of re-integration and reconciliation announced at the end of London Conference on 28th of last month. In fact, Marjah is a geopolitically important area because it borders on Baluchistan, Pakistan where China has a vast developmental project in the shape of Gwadar seaport.
PKKH Editorial | Mahru Khaled and MS
“In the summer of 2001 some Predators were equipped with two of Lockheed’s Hellfire AGM-114 laser-guided anti-tank missiles [$45,000 apiece]. So far there are four reported cases of the Predator-Hellfire combination being used. Two of these attacks resulted in the deaths of at least 13 innocent civilians.”
“On February 4, 2002, a Predator drone fired a Hellfire missile at ‘three tall men’ believed to be Al Qaeda members because they were clothed in long robes. The three men were later revealed to be poor people scavenging for metal in the Zhawar Kili battlefields. Families of the villagers were furious over the deaths of Daraz Khan, Jehangir Khan and Mir Ahmed. The 16 year-old niece of Daraz Khan said: “Why did you do this? Why did you Americans kill Daraz? We have nothing, nothing, and you have taken from us our Daraz.”
These are just few of the unheard stories of our beloved countrymen in tribal areas of Pakistan, who not only represent a very vital part of the nation’s stature, but also have stood by Pakistan in every hour of need and never have thought twice on giving any sacrifices for their homeland; who not only just live at one of our most mercurial borders but also assist our forces in guarding it.
First Published By Pakistan Daily
The United States, the United Kingdom and Australia have issued travel advisories to its citizens in view of the critical security situation in India.
Recently, a bomb blast at a bakery frequently visited by foreigners in Pune has raised suspicions that Indian Hindu terrorist organization, which can go so far to block celebration of St Valentine Day, may carry out further attacks and suicide bombings on foreigners.
According to media reports, a US travel alert said “American citizens have been advised to be alert to the continued possibility of terrorist attacks in India as terrorists and their sympathizers are capable of attacking US citizens.”
In its travel alert, updated after the blast, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) of the UK government said: “British nationals are reminded to remain vigilant in public places”.
By Moin Ansari
Secret Document Bares Indian Subversion in Pakistan
NEW DELHI, Feb 13 (APP): Even as India and Pakistan were actively engaged in laying a framework for normalizing their relations in the aftermath of Operation Parkaram (Dec 2001- Oct 2002), R&AW’s Counter Intelligence Team X (CIT-X), assigned to conduct subversive operations targeting Pakistan was working relentlessly to destabilize the country.
According to well placed sources, the details of these plans came to light once a copy of the classified document detailing these activities was accidently lost and became available for public scrutiny.
Lahore, Feb.17 (ANI): The Indian Government’s charge that he masterminded the 26/11 terror attack on Mumbai is unfounded and baseless, said Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Muhammed Saeed.
Accusing New Delhi of indulging in fabricated propoganda, Saeed demanded concrete proof of his reported involvement in the said attack that claimed the lives of over 160 people and injured more than 300.
“India always indulges in propaganda and has always fabricated false reports about me and that’s how India has been able to use international pressure against us,” Saeed said in an exclusive interview to Al Jazeera here.
Baradar’s capture signifies a split within the Afghan Taliban, as he headed the minority faction more open to negotiations with the Afghan government and the US. His secret negotiations in Dubai may have angered hardliners including Mullah Omar, who have rejected the offers of negotiations and reconciliation with the Karzai government, and representatives of the US and NATO.
Shahid R. Siddiqi
Indian explosion of its nuclear device in 1974 drew only a customary “show of concern” from the Western powers. But Pakistan’s nuclear program, initiated in response to the Indian acquisition of nuclear weapons, evoked immediate and “serious concern” from the same quarters. Ever since, Pakistan has been under immense pressure to scrap its program while the Indians remain uncensored.
That Western discriminatory attitude can also be seen by the religious color it gave to Pakistan’s bomb by calling it an ‘Islamic bomb’. One has never heard of the Israeli bomb being called a ‘Jewish Bomb’, or the Indian bomb a ‘Hindu Bomb’, or the American and British bomb a ‘Christian Bomb’ or the Soviet bomb a ‘Communist’ (or an ‘Atheist) Bomb’. The West simply used Pakistan’s bomb to make Islam synonymous with aggression and make its nuclear program a legitimate target, knowing full well that it merely served a defensive purpose and was not even remotely associated with Islam.
New Delhi: Fifty percent Indian military equipment is ‘obsolete’, according to a study by the Confederation of Indian Industry and the consultancy firm KPMG.
The report comes a few months after the army admitted to a Parliament standing committee that it had just over 50% of the required capability.
The CII-KPMG report, ‘Opportunities in the Indian Defence Sector: An Overview’ says India is set to undertake one of the largest procurement cycles in the world in the light of the situation. Read the rest of this entry ?
ISLAMABAD – Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, on Monday assured the tribesmen of Waziristan Agency that the Pakistan Army would not abandon them and continue playing its role in rehabilitation of the displaced people and development of the area.
He held out these assurances while talking to notables of Mehsud and Wazir tribes during ground-breaking ceremonies of two major projects including Tank-Jandola-Sararogha-Makeen Road and Tank-Khajuri-Tanai-Wana Road. He also reviewed progress on quick impact projects for the rehabilitation of the displaced people.
By Subir Bhaumik
At least 24 troops were killed when armed Maoists attacked a camp of the paramilitary forces in India’s West Bengal state, officials said.
Nearly 50 rebels on motorcycles encircled the camp of the Eastern Frontier Rifles (ERF) at Silda village on Monday and started firing on it.
More fighters joined the assault on foot, firing from automatic weapons.
There has been a surge in Maoist violence in recent months
More than 6,000 people have died during the rebels’ 20-year fight for communist rule in many Indian states.
The Indian government recently began a major offensive against the rebels in several states.
Indian Prime minister Manmohan Singh has described the Maoist insurgency as India’s “greatest internal security challenge”.
The rebels now have a presence in 223 of India’s 600-odd districts.
Landmines
The camp was overrun by the Maoists after the troops put up brief initial resistance, district magistrate of West Midnapore district NS Nigam told the BBC.
Ahmed Quraishi
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—If it comes to a military-led intervention, both military officers and politicians will have to stay out of actual power. The army chief may not become a chief executive. The military might have to look into a new concept called the ‘Smart Coup’, where the military can bring capable Pakistanis to power with a firm executable plan of reform over five years, or more, fully backed by the military. There may not be time to put the plan to vote. It will have to be implemented. This would be the absolute last option. But we are nowhere near that right now. Gen. Kayani certainly has no such thing in mind according to people who have met him.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—”This was my first interaction with the soldier who commands the seventh largest military force on the face of the planet.”
With this catchy line, Dr. Farrukh Saleem began his brief and fascinating account of a meeting with General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.
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
part 1
After much rioting, violence, and firebombing of theatres, the Shiv Sena has now bombed Puna to sabotage the efforts of the people of South Asia to achieve peace. Shiv Sena: Mumbai for Maharashtrians Xenophobia
This Shiv Sena move was expected, actually called out by Rupee News and many other defense analysts. This sits in perfectly with their Anti-Northe India, Anti-Muslim and Anti-Pakistan campaign disguised as “Mumbai for Maharashtrians”. Shiv Sena’s Hindu ‘suicide squad’ in Balasore India.
Indian Occupied Kashmir: Aflame. It has happened before. High handed brutality by the Bharati (aka Indian) Security apparatus pushes the peace loving Kashmiris towards resisting occupation with violence. The United Nations charter gives people the right to resist occupation by any means. This cannot be called terror, it is a freedom struggle. Nehru’s commitment to the people of Kashmir
The freedom struggle in Kashmir is being waged because the impotent United Nations fails to implement its resolutions on holding a plebiscite in Kashmir, to ascertain the wishes of the Kashmiri people on whether they want to join Bharat or Pakistan. Those were the two choices given to all 570 states in South Asia, when the British colonialists left. Hyderabad was not given that choice–she was forcibly incorporated into Bharat. Why can’t Hyderabad be independent? Junagarh and Manvadar acceded to Pakistan but were forcibly occupied by Bharat. That occupation is null and void and illegal. Kashmir & Junagarh are Pakistani territory. Kashmir was forcibly occupied by Bharat, as the fake article of accession was supposedly signed after Bharati forces had already landed in Srinagar, and all the dates on the article of accession are wrong with people signing the article when they were present elsewhere and their presence elsewhere is officially documented. To make matters worse, Delhi now claims that the article of accession is lost–as if it ever existed.
BEIJING: Despite India’s advances in missile technology, the country is still a decade behind China, a top Chinese defence analyst has claimed and asserted that Beijing does not view New Delhi as its “strategic rival.”
Shrugging off concerns that newer versions of India’s Agni missiles could strike the northernmost tips of China, the state-run Global Times, quoting a top analyst said India may take five more years to achieve this capability.
The analyst also dismissed the claims that India is far ahead of China in developing interceptor technology, the paper said this week, days after India tested the Agni- III, which has a 3,500 km range.
Chinese Rear Admiral Zhang Zhaozhong, a professor at the prestigious Chinese National Defence University, said India is still 10 to 15 years behind China in terms of missile technology.
By ASHOK SHARMA (AP)
NEW DELHI — Hindu extremist leaders demanded Sunday that new peace talks with rival Pakistan be
canceled after a bomb blast in a crowded bakery in western India killed nine people and wounded 57.
The explosion Saturday, caused by a bomb left in an unattended bag, was the first major terrorist attack in India since the 2008 Mumbai massacre.
It ripped open the German Bakery in the city of Pune, 125 miles (200 kilometers) southeast of Mumbai. Thick patches of blood and severed limbs littered the popular hangout, which is close to a meditation retreat and a Jewish center officials say were previously scouted by a terrorist suspect now detained in the U.S.
“I came running to the bakery after hearing the explosion. I found people lying all over the place,” said Abba More, who lives nearby.
Security forces were put on high alert Sunday at airports, train stations and markets across the country.
Hindu extremist leaders blamed the attack on Pakistan and demanded the government call off next week’s peace talks, the first between the nuclear-armed neighbors since the Mumbai siege.
“India’s initiative to hold peace talks with Pakistan is misconceived and adventurous,” said Arun Jaitley, a top leader of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party.
NEW DELHI: India’s main opposition party said Sunday that a bomb blast at a restaurant in the western city of Pune left “the whole nation” questioning the government’s decision to resume talks with Pakistan.
“What has happened in Pune is a grim reminder about the fragility of our security system, and the adventurous track that we are walking,” Arun Jaitley, a senior leader of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, told reporters in New Delhi.
Saturday’s bomb ripped through a restaurant popular with students and tourists in central Pune, killing nine people and injuring more than 50.
It came a day after India and Pakistan agreed to revive a dialogue that India had frozen after the November, 2008 Mumbai attacks, which it blamed on Pakistan-based militants.
While declining to speculate on who was behind the explosion, Jaitley said it underlined fears that the government had acted prematurely in offering renewed talks with its neighbour and arch rival.
ISLAMABAD: Sitting under a portrait of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, with a huge blazing red calligraphy on his left and an impressive piece of framed Chinese embroidery on his right, recalling the deaths at the Parade Lane of four young sons of his officers who were Hufaz-e-Quran, COAS General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani emerged as the first Army chief to resort to speak to the Americans and their Western allies in words and images that they cannot fail to understand.
One of the last few senior generals to have undertaken military training in the US until the Pressler Amendment was slapped on Pakistan, the US and its allies are now not only listening but also understanding as the COAS uses the symbols of American legendary golfer Tiger Woods on his power point display and comparing full bases at a baseball game to some of the war situations on the Pak-Afghan border.
The Afghan resistance against the oppressors is actually a freedom struggle. A retaliation against the US “terrorists” who consider it their birth right to go and occupy a weak nation and crush them for the fruition of their sinister goals. But they never learn from history and they never realize that its not always that their evil designs will work and if they gear up to oppress, suppress and torture other nations just for their ugly purposes, then they are bound to fall over their faces. That’s what happened to them in Vietnam and that is what is happening to them in Afghanistan. Taliban, the freedom fighters are getting stronger by the day and the terrorists from the US and NATO are facing defeat everyday. The Taliban Mujahideen tore apart a superpower previously and they can do it again. This won’t stop until they give up, throw their weapons and leave Afghanistan disgracefully.
Ahmed Quraishi | PakNationalists.com
Dr. Ayesha Siddiqa, teaching defense and strategy to Pakistani students, calls Pakistan’s Founding Father and the national poet ‘homosexuals’.
And Prof. A. H. Nayyar, an alumni of the largest university in Islamabad, is asking followers to fake evidence against Pakistan’s founder in order to show him to young Pakistanis as someone who ate ham, which is prohibited for Muslims and Jews.
Read the rest of this entry ?
ISLAMABAD – In a bid to clear his position after he badly failed to pursue Dr Aafia Siddiqui’s case efficiently, Pakistan’s Ambassador to USA Hussain Haqqani called on Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday.
Although, Haqqani’s meeting with the premier was not a top secret as Media Section of the PM Secretariat formally released details of the meeting soon after it.
According to details shared by the PM Secretariat, the Prime Minister asked Haqqani to convey US that Pakistan wanted the Obama Administration to give due respect to the sentiments and expectations of the people of Pakistan to help bridge the trust deficit and bring the people of both the countries closer.
You are currently browsing the Pakistan Ka Khuda Hafiz blog archives for February, 2010.
