BAHAWALPUR: In an unprecedented move, the Pakistan Army and the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) exhibited their professional capabilities by targeting a drone in front of not only the prime minister, many federal ministers and parliamentarians belonging to different parties but also more than 30 military attaches of different countries, who witnessed the heavy firepower of the Pakistani armed forces on Sunday afternoon in the desert of Khairpur Tamewali near Bahawalpur.
The presence of the country’s top political leadership in a very hot desert boosted the morale of Army troops, who have been engaged in a six-week-long Azm-e-Nau-III military exercise for the last few days.
Islamabad – Pakistan’s security establishment, unmoved by the threat from homegrown Islamic insurgents, is to launch a training exercise this week focused on the scenario of a possible showdown with traditional rival India.
The country’s powerful military is to launch exercise Azm-e-Nau (New Resolve) III to test the capacities of its men against a hypothetical Indian attack, and validate its security strategy.
The war game is the culmination of the new strategies discussed over a period of one and half years at various academic and operational levels, and will be the largest military exercise since 1989.
Director General Military Training (DGMT) Major General Muzzamil Hussain said the forthcoming exercise in the garrison city of Rawalpindi will “focus on India.”
The Pak army chief gets candid about India, and unresolved issues
MARIANA BAABAR
Worldview From GHQ:
Stridently opposed to India’s role in Afghanistan
India shouldn’t train the Afghan National Army
Gains from backchannel diplomacy need not be the starting point, especially on Kashmir
Principal focus remains Kashmir
Worried by India’s military doctrine: Gen Kapoor’s statements on a cold start strategy “under a nuclear overhang”.
For decades now, Pakistanis have watched on their TV screens images of the corps commanders’ conference room at the Pakistan army General Headquarters in Rawalpindi. The images are invariably beamed every time the generals meet. And invariably, the images would show dour officers seated around a long table, engaged in discussions on the country’s future. Of course, these TV grabs are supposed to evoke a sense of awe, conveying to the audience who really holds the reins of power in Pakistan. It’s in this room that contemporary history has been shaped—generals are known to have walked out to stage a coup, call for election, or reprimand civilian governments trying to assert themselves.
Gen. (R) Hamid Gul says that Washington’s policies in Afghanistan and Pakistan have not borne fruit and that the US military will be ultimately defeated by the Taliban
Lieutenant-General Hamid Gul was a military commander in the Pakistani Army in the 1980s, and served as the head of the country’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency from 1987 to 1989.
But Gul’s rise to fame came during the Pakistan-Saudi-US effort to keep funds and logistical support flowing to the Afghanistan mujahidin, who were eventually credited with defeating Soviet military and political forces.
During the Bush administration, the US sought to put Gul on a UN list of international terrorists but their efforts were blocked by the Chinese delegation.
Domestically, Gul has been an outspoken opponent of Asif Ali Zardari, the Pakistani president, and has called for the Supreme Court to be reinstated as the rule of law in Pakistan.
Al Jazeera interviewed Gul during a short visit to Doha.
“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.
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.
DURING his candid talks with foreign journalists on Monday, COAS General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani crystallized Pakistan’s traditional stand on Afghanistan and warmth towards people of that country.
Speaking in the backdrop of his trip to Brussels, where he put across Pakistan’s point of view on Afghan conflict, the COAS reflected sentiments of the nation by summarizing the country’s interest in the well-being of the people of Afghanistan by saying “We cannot wish for Afghanistan anything that we don’t wish for Pakistan”.
On Thursday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates confirmed that Blackwater is operating in Pakistan. In an interview on Express TV, Gates, who was visiting Islamabad, said, “They [Blackwater and another private security firm, DynCorp] are operating as individual companies here in Pakistan,” according to a DoD transcript of the interview. “There are rules concerning the contracting companies. If they’re contracting with us or with the State Department here in Pakistan, then there are very clear rules set forth by the State Department and by ourselves.”
Today, the country’s senior minister for the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), Bashir Bilour, also acknowledged that the company is operating in Pakistan’s frontier areas. Bilour told Pakistan’s Express News TV that Blackwater’s activities were taking place with the “consent and permission” of the Pakistani government, saying he had discussed the issue with officials at the US Consulate in Peshawar, who told him that Blackwater was training Pakistani forces.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has successfully mobilised the defunct six-plus-two talks formula to counter the US pressure regarding giving India a “greater role” in warn-torn Afghanistan’s rehabilitation.
Afghanistan’s immediate neighbours – Pakistan, Iran, China, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, as well as the US, are meeting today (Tuesday) in Turkey to discuss the situation in Afghanistan and to take stock of measures for the restoration of peace in the country.
The original “six-plus-two” also included Russia, but in the new set up Moscow representation has been replaced by the United Kingdom.
Project Wake Up PAKISTAN’s Karachi show – held at Bahria Auditorium Karachi, January 17th 2010, organised by PKKH in partnership with WakeUp Pakistan, BrassTacks, and Maria B.
The show will be aired on ARY NEWS on Friday 29th January, 10:00pm PST.
The moment of truth for those in Islamabad who continue to trust the Americans is nearing and might have already arrived. Pakistan needs to respond to the provocations by India and by those who are supporting India. Pakistan also needs to consider withdrawing from the coming London conference on Afghanistan if its legitimate security interests are further ignored by the United States and the United Kingdom. Additionally, Pakistani forces need to be positioned along the border with southern Afghanistan, where some elements within the US establishment seem to be planning limited incursions.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—A nightmare security scenario for Pakistan seems to be emerging – that of a two-front military conflict. Pakistan is already facing an internal militancy aided and abetted from Afghanistan and is threatened with all manner of likely US boots actually coming into Pakistan.
A senior Pakistani security official told Asia Times Online on the condition of anonymity that Pakistan was also reluctant to undertake a full operation in North Waziristan because that region was not a main sanctuary for the Taliban, as is South Waziristan. The official said that the Americans were therefore told that Pakistan’s participation would be limited to the elimination of al-Qaeda and its affiliate groups. At the same time, he hinted at a possible role for Pakistan in facilitating negotiations with the Afghan Taliban.
The dispute over the level of Pakistan’s involvement caused bad blood on both sides. At one point, the Pakistani military establishment clamped down on the many American defense contractors in the country, and even American diplomats were forced to tangle with red tape, so much so that the US ambassador, Anne W Patterson, made a public protest.
London: Pakistan is likely to become a more Islamist state and increasingly anti-American in the coming years, complicating US efforts to win its support against Islamist militants, a report released on Tuesday said.
The report, which looks at Pakistan over a one-to-three year time horizon, rules out the possibility of a Taliban takeover or of it becoming the world’s first nuclear-armed failed state. “Rather than an Islamist takeover, you should look at a subtle power shift from a secular pro-Western society to an Islamist anti-American one,” said Jonathan Paris, who produced the report for the Legatum Institute, a London-based think tank.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan warned India on Wednesday against its relentless pursuit of military preponderance and said it would have severe consequences for peace and security in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region.
The National Command Authority, which met here under Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, took serious note of recent Indian statements about conducting conventional military strikes under a nuclear umbrella and said such irresponsible statements reflected a hegemonic mindset, oblivious of dangerous implications of adventurism in a nuclearised context.
ISLAMABAD: Former Naval chief Admiral Abdul Aziz Mirza gives credence to the recent French investigative report that talked of almost $49 million kickbacks in the Agosta-submarine deal allegedly received by President Asif Ali Zardari and others, including Naval officers, disclosing that the then Benazir government had urged the Pakistan Navy to go for the French subs.
Mirza, while quoting the then Naval chief Admiral Saeed Khan, also revealed that Benazir Bhutto’s defence minister Aftab Shaban Mirani had clearly indicated to the Pakistan Navy’s high command the government’s preference for the induction of the French submarines.
Despite these clear indications by the defence minister, the top naval command again met and deliberated on the subject and decided to recommend two options to the government — the British Upholder and the French Agosta. The government later approved the induction of the Agosta.
I, as a student from Pakistan in the US, have seen that the majority of my fellow countrymen regardless of their age or gender are not proud of who they are and this shocks me. They are mostly pulled into the paranoia created by the Indians’ boasting about their country 24/7 and the biased and unjustified negative portrayal of Pakistan in the International media .Pakistanis say they have nothing to defend themselves with. In this article, I would prove to all why a Pakistani should walk with his/her head held high and should be the most proud citizen.
These days many so called ‘intellectuals’ like Pervez Hoodbhoy, NFP etc are always whining that we Pakistanis spend too much on defence and should cut our defence budget and spend more on reviving the economy, education and social sector. They believe that in today’s world economy is more important than arms and with a strong economy a country can have things their way.
This belief is based not on facts but on books and text they are taught at universities in a system which is based on making men and women better manager but not better leaders. I believe that Pakistan needs to spend on education, social sector and etc, but not at the cost of defence as she faces imminent threat from the East and now a looming threat from the West. With the threats that we are surrounded with, we have no choice but to keep our military defence up to date and running. There are great lessons to be learnt from history when many great empires have fallen because they did not pay enough attention to developing military capabilities.
ISLAMABAD: Chairman Joint Chief of Staff Committee General Tariq Majid on Saturday rubbished the Indian media report which states that the Indian Armed Forces are preparing to fight China and Pakistan.
“Leave alone China, General Deepak Kapoor knows very well what the Indian Armed Forces can not and what the Pakistan Armed Forces can pull off militarily,” said General Tariq Majid.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has said that Indian Army’s new military doctrine including scenarios such as a two-front simultaneous war with both China and Pakistan”betrays a hostile intent” and a “jingoistic mindset”.
Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said in a statement that the Indian Army’s new military doctrine “betray a hostile intent as well as a hegemonic and jingoistic mindset which is quite out of step with the realities of our time”.
Pakistan is prepared to defend itself in the face of all contingencies, Basit said. “No one should ever underestimate our capability and determination to foil any nefarious designs against the security of Pakistan,” he said.
BAHAWALPUR: In an unprecedented move, the Pakistan Army and the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) exhibited their professional capabilities by targeting a drone in front of not only the prime minister, many federal ministers and parliamentarians belonging to different parties but also more than 30 military attaches of different countries, who witnessed the heavy firepower of the Pakistani armed forces on Sunday afternoon in the desert of Khairpur Tamewali near Bahawalpur.
