Mujrai Khalq Main In Aankhon Ne Kia Kia Dekha

Muharram 1430 A.H.

A tribute to Imam-e-Aali Muqaam Imam Hussain (A.S.)

Salam-e-Aakhir
By Shafqat Amant Ali



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The Taliban atrocities against innocent people in Pakistan and the Israeli massacre of innocent Palestinians. What is the difference?

What do ordinary Pakistanis think?

Ghost of TK says:

The number of Dead in Buner reaches 41.



2 squadrons of F-16 killed 200
1 suicide bomber killed 41

Our condemnations of Israeli actions do ring a bit hollow when we completely overlook the heinous crimes being committed in the name of “Islam” right on our soil.

Mr. Munafiq, head of Jamat “Islami” (Qazi Hussain Ahmed) brushed off the Buner attack yesterday by saying …”oh THAT was only personal rivalry.”

So, now, the blessed jihad factories are producing GPS’s ..ie; “General Purpose Suiciders”… DON”T BLAME ISLAM for it…

We’re like the United States, we just innovate, and then people make their own factories.

India has the NANO and the Space Mission to the Moon, We have the fvcking Jihadi Jacket!

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netengr Says:

No difference people in GAZA and people in Bunair , (Taliban ka inteqaam - BBC Urdu)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/pakistan/story/2008/12/081231_bunair_hayee_visit_ra.shtml

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we_are_nuts Says:


I do want to point out that i used to defend the Palestinian cause ad nauseum but have changed my mind given the recent situation in Pakistan. If Pakistanis need to do anything for the Palestinians, it is pray. For more than that, Pakistan needs to be at least as strong as Iran INTERNALLY before going out on any adventures.

Pakistani ‘awam’ should also note that it was our great Islami sipha-e-salar General Zia-ul-Haq that went and killed hundreds if not thousands of Palestinians. So if his bakhiajat are here on this forum speweing hate and violence, for the sake of your leader, if you can’t do what he did, just don’t do anything….


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gditpp Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 2:31 pm


Inalillah e wa in alehay rajayoon

World is in the midst of Clash of the Rightist: Zionists, Hindutva preachers, Evalenglical Christian fundamentalisits and Muslim religious fanatics.

Rather than becoming the fooder of a misadeventure, we have to put our house in order and prepare and equip ourselves before taking on others.

We need to stop following the foot steps of militants like Syed Ismael, Mehdi Sudani, Akhwan and its offspring Hammas, Jamaat and its off spring Taleban and the Alqaeda and start following in the foot steps of reformers and modernist like Sir Syed, Jinnah, Mahatir and Bhutto.


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Awais Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 2:48 pm

Hamas, LeT, Taliban, Jaish-e-mohammad, Hizbollah, Spiah-e-sahabah, Ikhwan, Jammat-e-Islami, all the different faces of a coin.

Israelis has used this strategy {of Violence} for years it hasn’t worked.

Palestinians has use this strategy {of Violence} for years its hasn’t worked.

So i think they need to change that.
there MUST be someone who could STOP both Isreali terrorists and terrorists of Hammas.


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netengr Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 4:42 pm

Why people do not have the same reaction when taliban or muslim groups kill thousand of people .the same day we have bomb blast in bannu where more then 50 innocent muslims killed by militant .In saudi arabia there is special dua for the destroy of jews .I still cant understand that the life or the human or muslim should be equal .the “zulm ” is either by muslims or jews etc should have the same reaction by muslims

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Awais Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 4:52 pm


yes i agree with netengr

none of these, who are supporting the Hammas and their acts, reacted the same way when a succide bomber killed 180-220 people in Karachi in Oct 2007.

they didn’t gave same reaction when Suicide Mujaheddin killed people at Mariot, Bombay, Wah Cannt, Peshawer or Twin Towers.

‘Zulm’ is ‘zulm’ no matter done by Jews, Christians or faithful Muslims.

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Ghost Of TK Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 5:11 pm


@netengr: Why do you hate Islam? Do you not know that the blessed attackers in Bannu were mujahids who are fighting against the Kuffur of the Pakistani State?

So what if 50 people were killed? They are also collateral shaheed. Also do you not see that the Bannu attack shook the foundations of the Zulm-o-Istibdaad of the Zionist Agent Pakistani Regime? Fully 2 motorcycles (100cc each) were destroyed in this Ghazva.

Don’t be on the wrong side of history! Blow yourself up Today! Offer ends this century. Some conditions apply.

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Asif Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 6:21 pm


Why don’t people condemn all the innocent killings around the world? Selective condemning of innocent killings will not tone down terrorism.

Be subjective wen you define something universal, have the courage & ability to condemn all such acts, whether they are done thru missiles or thru eploding oneself.

Wat is brainwashing? its drilling of brains with selective info. So just decide by yourself the extent to which various people are brainwashed, geographically, ethnicaly, religously…

Everyone on earth is being brainwashed by someone for something good or bad depending on the objective of the brainwasher AND the severiest is wen certain groups of people stop condemning certain innocent killings.

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Utmankhel1 Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 6:45 pm

Just to complete the picture here,

35 shaheed in Buner

2 killed in Waziristan

14 afghan kids among the 16 killed in Afghanistan

I dont know whether to add them to the toll in palestine,s casualties or subtract them from. However, i thought it necessary to be mentioned them as well….. they were humans and muslims as well, though somewhat cheap, as i have read express newspaper and there the headline was 200 palestinians shaheed but when they will write about the Buner’s casualties tomorrow i doubt they would call them shaheed. Let’s see ………

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lofty Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 7:24 pm

What on earth is wrong with Hamas. If they do not have the capability to fight Israel why are they getting innocent muslims killed. Quran is very clear, if Jihad is undertaken by the muslim state, the balance of power between the muslim state and transgressing enemy must not be less than 1:2. In other words, if the balance of power between the two is such that the Muslims have less than half the material power as compared to that of their enemies, then they should avoid aggression and in place of that they should work to improve their power structure to the level of at least half that of their enemies.


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netengr Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 7:47 pm


people killed by militant in bajor,wana,sawat ,etc are far more then people killed in Palestine. but not jihadi mulla condemn ,people got killed in Karachi between 1986 to 1992 are 10 times more then people killed in Philistine .

Casualty figures for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from the OCHAoPt[123]
(numbers in brackets represent casualties under the age of 18)

Year Deaths
Palestinians Israelis
2005 216 (52) 48 (6)
2006 678 (127) 25 (2)
2007 396 (43) 13 (0)
Total 1290(222) 86 (8)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli-Palestinian_conflict

116 suicide bombings in Pakistan since 2002 ,Thousand of people killed by so called islamic jihadis and taliban .thousand of people killed by saddam ,iran -iraq war .million got killed by fighting between mujahideen in afghanistan .

1290 people killed in Philistine since 2005 and each incident become big in pakistan where in pakistan people got killed every day and people support the militant and defending them ,


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netengr Says:
December 29th, 2008 at 4:32 pm

-Israel Killed 1500 Palestinian muslims in last three years
-Hammas Killed 300 Israelis jews in last three years
-Osama bin ladin killed 10000 Mulims ,
Hikmat yaar killed thousands mulims .
Mulla Umer killed thousand innocent mulims
bush killed thousands muslims .
Taliban Killed thousands of innocent muslims ,
Baitullah mehsoud is the mass murmurer of innocent muslims
Million muslims killed in afghanistan fighting between so called mujahideen .

Zulm is zulm ,Qatl is Qatal ,either bu jews muslims or any one ,

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netengr Says:
December 29th, 2008 at 4:52 pm

Pakistani muslims killed by taliban has no worth in muslim world .

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FahadAfridi Says:
December 29th, 2008 at 9:46 pm

All those super duper muslims accusing me of not caring about Muslims, do YOU care about hundreds of Muslims killed by ISI backed Taliban? Have you spoken out against your terror army? You don’t care about pukhtun lives, so why should I loose sleep over the lives of arabs? Let your arab shiekhas take care of them.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081229/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan_valley_of_fear

Scenic Pakistani valley falls to Taliban militants

By NAHAL TOOSI, Associated Press Writer Nahal Toosi, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 17 mins ago

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Taliban militants are beheading and burning their way through Pakistan’s picturesque Swat Valley, and residents say the insurgents now control most of the mountainous region far from the lawless tribal areas where jihadists thrive.

The deteriorating situation in the former tourist haven comes despite an army offensive that began in 2007 and an attempted peace deal. It is especially worrisome to Pakistani officials because the valley lies outside the areas where al-Qaida and Taliban militants have traditionally operated and where the military is staging a separate offensive….

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The reality of Kargil, the prophets of history and the prophets of our time - By Khurshid Nadeem

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Plight of women in Swat: Where are all the international and national human rights organisations and women rights groups?

Plight of women in Swat

By Khurshid Khan

THE current situation in Swat is such that any sign of peace in the valley has been washed away. The people are living through the most miserable phase of its history. No doubt, the valley has witnessed invasions, turbulence and chaos from the time of Alexander’s invasion in 327 BC to the formation of Swat state in 1917.

However, at least in living memory the present chaos engendered by militancy has no parallel. It has adversely affected the physical and cultural environment, the economy, tourism, trade, governance and social life in the valley.

Unfortunately, in all this, women have been the worst sufferers. The militants’ obscurant version of Islam begins and ends with womenfolk. According to their belief, women are the source of all sins. A cleric while delivering the Friday sermon in Marghazar village was heard telling his flock, “My fellow Muslims, listen! The prices of daily commodities are rising because women abandon their homes and loiter about in the markets.”

In fact, the Fazlullah-led militants have announced a complete ban on female education from Jan 15, 2008 on FM radio. Some days ago, they announced that no government or private educational institution would be allowed to enrol girls and that all schools and colleges should stop educating them by Jan 15. Schools found violating this ban would be blown up. Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan somewhat modified the announcement saying that schools would remain closed until an Islamic curriculum was devised for imparting education to girls.

Parents and students have lost hope of schools reopening in this volatile atmosphere. The militants have usually been seen to follow up on their words and, despite the army’s presence, there have been no signs of the restoration of peace and harmony.

The militants have bombed or torched more than 100 girls’ schools and colleges to forcibly stop 80,000 girls from going to school in the district. There were 10 high schools, four higher secondary schools and four degree-awarding colleges and a network of primary schools across the district for girls and women, besides a postgraduate institution for young men and women to study at the master’s level.

Against the culture of keeping womenfolk away from development, the rulers of Swat state (1917-1969) encouraged female literacy, the first step on the way to progress, by establishing girls’ schools and colleges. The valley had the highest female literacy rate as compared to neighbouring districts.

After the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan, their repressive activities started getting support in the Pakhtun areas of Pakistan along the Durand Line. Swat is among the more recent victims of Talibanisation. The secular nature of Swati society is slowly and gradually leaning towards extremism.

The clergy first started speaking against girls’ and women’s education through unauthorised FM radios and at public gatherings. But as they got more emboldened, they attempted to stall female education — and eliminate the presence of girls and women in the market — through fiercer means including bomb blasts. Many schools have been destroyed in this way.

Then they turned their wrath on women doctors and the female nursing staff in hospitals warning them to observe strict purdah, confine themselves only to wards for women and not to attend calls on their cellphones. The medical superintendent of a group of hospitals complied with the order and circulated a notice to the entire female staff telling them to do as they had been told. Women patients and visitors were also advised to conform to Taliban instructions.

Militants also ordered the segregation of students at the Saidu Medical College, telling the principal to keep away women students from research labs after a certain time. Meanwhile, another college refused to take in women because of the continuous threats of the militants from 2007 onwards. Militants regularly monitor hospitals and colleges. In fact, working women and those attending school or college, or going to the doctor or in the marketplace are given a bad character by the militants.

Indiscriminate mortar shelling has hit houses and killed and injured civilians. In these, the toll for women casualties has been higher since they are more often at home, while unannounced road obstructions or curfews have made sudden medical emergencies, especially among pregnant women, difficult to be attended to. As a consequence women have lost their newborns as they have not been able to make it to the hospital in time. Besides, with their men also casualties of militancy, many of them are losing breadwinners in the family.

The threatened closure of educational institutions has proved to be the last nail in the coffin. The mindset of the militants — who routinely resort to the violation of fundamental rights in order to accomplish their goal — is clear and their misused and illegal authority has led them to establish a state within a state. Swat is not a no-man’s-land and is very much an integral part of the country. By tradition its inhabitants are not religious bigots. In fact, society in Swat is more civilised and accommodating of opinions than the rest of the Pakhtun belt. Islamabad should understand that and break its silence to take assertive action against the militants if it does not want Talibanisation to engulf the area and paralyse the entire structure of society.

Where are all the international and national human rights organisations and women rights groups? They must raise a collective voice against this victimisation of Swati women and girls. It is also time for the media to take drastic steps to highlight the current lot of Swati women whose repressive treatment should also serve as a wake-up call for women parliamentarians to take an active part in rescuing them from the spread of a venomous culture. (Dawn)

udyana64@yahoo.com
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Bhutto family and Pakistan - by Asadullah Ghalib

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Talk of belling the cat: What is the agenda of Shaheen Sehbai?

Talk of belling the cat
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
By Anjum Niaz

The writer is a freelance journalist with over twenty years of experience in national and international reporting

Shaheen Sehbai’s surgical strike on President Zardari in this newspaper on Dec 26 offered an eclectic mix of facts and speculation. While swathing populist sentiments of the voiceless millions averse to a one-man rule, it also raised some serious questions. The timing; tone and tenor; and a Washington dateline warrant a critique. The presidential exposé came a day before his wife’s first death anniversary. Is there a link between the two or mere happenstance?

Mr Sehbai sweeps us off our feet by predicting the demise of this government. He bases his prophesy on events – past and present- verified by the blowhards on our TV channels ad infinitum. Sehbai sums it thus: Zardari’s is a self-fulfilling prophesy – where he himself is facilitating his own fall by the actions numbered ten in his editorializing. However he stops short of packing high-grade dynamite that can blow up the presidency. It may well provide ample fireworks for drawing room chatter, but Sehbai needs to scrabble more uncanny information that he may be privy to. He needs to calibrate the next steps: how a change will come and more importantly who will bring it. Lastly, why fire his stinger missile from across the other side of the Atlantic, unless the idea is to maintain an oceanic stretch between him (currently in Washington) and the presidency?

Still, Sehbai is the first of his tribe to trawl through parlous waters that most of us have so far studiously avoided. Perhaps President Zardari and his media-friendly information minister Sherry Rehman have successfully tamed the press (with the exception of Sehbai) the way President Bush and his busy bees did. One is reminded of that famous quote by an unnamed Bush aide (Karl Rove?) to American journalist Ron Suskind on the eve of 2003 Iraq war:

We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re (Ron Suskind) studying that reality—judiciously as you will—we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors ... and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.

Zardari is our very own “history’s actor” embroiled in “creating new realities” that daily lacerate our belief forcing us to adjust our moral compass to “study” and judge his actions that often stun-gun most into sullied shock. Excoriating his past alleged misdeeds is the only antacid that relieves our heartburn. Tongues unravel, red flags fly and blogs light up when the president is referenced. But didn’t Pervez Musharraf personally power wash the president’s unproven corruption cases with concentrates of chlorinated NRO? Didn’t the National Accountability Bureau silo the radioactive material flaring with damning evidence against the former first couple so none could fire these ballistic missiles ever again?

However, those who have read Shaheen Sehbai’s viewpoint against the present government think better it would have been for the writer to reveal some startling facts that could spool the legal duo, Messrs Naek and Khosa into a corner. “Does the writer not claim to know the president from close quarters?” Asks an initiated reader. “Does he not have impeachable information that can shake the presidency? I think Shaheen Sehbai does.”

Others feel that to target the president is being untethered from reality. He may be flawed and conflicted; still he’s no demon like his predecessor Musharraf. “Why has the media not demanded accountability of the general and his cronies whose malfeasance is well-documented?” The military dictator’s duplicity and sophistry finally pulled him down. He vacated his seat not because some Pakistani investigative journalist discovered a Watergate like Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein did to drive out Musharraf but Zardari trumped him and rushed in to take his seat. “I am sure Mr Sehbai, if he’s willing to launch into such an enterprise as the Watergate scandal will have many ‘Deep Throats’ to assist him in his mission,” writes a Pakistan-watcher from America.

Jettisoned by the self-censuring media too skittish to shine light on PPP’s unrighteousness, the nation repeatedly questions how a corrupt claque can overrun the land with a spoil system that blatantly privileges only the family, friends and favourites of the rulers. Unsurprisingly then, most Pakistanis are stricken with the same mental symptoms that, as cited by the Financial Times, Asif Ali Zardari suffered as recently as last year.

An Islamabad-based psychiatrist says the majority of Pakistanis have developed similar “severe psychiatric problems” today as they sit on the sidelines and watch the jaw-dropping deformed joke being played on them by their greedy rulers. The critical mass of our Les Misérables will continue to suffer from “emotional instability” as our president did. The Financial Times quoted Stephen Reich, a New York state-based psychologist saying Zardari was “unable to remember the birthdays of his wife and children, was persistently apprehensive and had thought about suicide.” The 70 per cent poor of this country don’t celebrate birthdays! But they regularly commit suicides not because they are “persistently apprehensive,” but for totally different reasons - there’s none to save them.

Our politicians have no souls. Few in the synchronous head-bobbing press stand up and ask what an email questions: “Why are they (ruling and opposition leaders) not grounding themselves to change the destiny of the poor instead of playing politics and fattening their fortunes while straddling across their luxury-lined penthouses and palaces abroad?”

“What could be better than President Zardari(and Mian Nawaz Sharif & company) taking a lead and setting up a historical precedence,” writes Naeem Sadiq in the blogosphere. “He could easily bring back what is already well recorded fortune. He could then make a public declaration asking all his countrymen to do the same. Even if the 100 billion dollar estimate is a twenty times exaggeration, we could still have $10 billion of our own – enough to restart a new Pakistan.”

At a wedding I meet a Pakistani who lives in Qatar. He has horror stories to tell. “My friends want to set up businesses in Pakistan, but are waiting for this government to go because it suffers from a huge trust deficit.”

If President Zardari wants to complete five years as he vows he will, he needs to coral his cronies. He needs to be a model of humility, honesty and hard work himself. He needs to bring traction to issues crying out loud for resolution like accountability; good governance; transparency in public dealing; and jobs on merit. These are moral certitudes that apparently don’t matter to our rulers. They feel they can do no wrong. The chief justice of the Supreme Court; ministers Makhdoom Amin Fahim and Farooq Naek appear immune to national outrage, media and public animadversion, when their daughters receive undue favours; ministers Khurshid Shah and Naveed Qamar make a production of their sons’ marriages by blatantly misusing their clout. Why does the PPP turn into a juggernaut whenever it gets power, behaving as if Pakistan is their personal playing ground?

President Zardari figures as one of the 20 ‘People Who Mattered’ in Time magazine. The list has winners as well as losers. There is for example the Olympic super swimmer Michael Phelps; Sarah Palin- impersonator and comedienne Tina Fey; self-help guru of The Purpose Driven Life Rick Warren whom Obama has assigned the invocation at his presidential inauguration; and powerhouse Hillary Clinton. Included also are losers like failure George Bush, blackmailer Rod Blagojevich; also-ran John McCain; foxy Somali Pirates and dictator Robert Mugabe!

So what do you think – which list will you put President Zardari in - the winners or the losers category?

Email: aniaz@fas.harvard.edu
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The end of the Kashmir jihad: Elections in Kashmir... By Aakar Patel

The end of the Kashmir jihad
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
By Aakar Patel

On Jan 12, 2002, President Pervez Musharraf banned Laskhar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Muhammad. He promised that “no organisation would be allowed to carry out terrorism on the pretext of Kashmir.”

On Sept 17, 2002, Jammu and Kashmir went to vote. In the two months before polling, 570 people died, including 327 militants.

The average vote was 44 percent. The lowest turnout, 7.8 percent, was in Sopore, home to the Jamaat-e-Islami’s Syed Geelani; the highest, 78 percent, was 10 times that, in Kargil, a stronghold of Shias, always more wary about Jihad. US Ambassador to India Robert Blackwill acknowledged a dip in infiltration across the Line of Control and called the turnout “remarkable.”

On Nov 2, 2002, Mufti Mohammad Saeed and the Congress Party formed the government, agreeing to split the six-year term between the two parties with Mufti Saeed as chief minister for the first three years and Ghulam Nabi Azad the last three. They focussed on governance, not identity, for almost the whole of their terms. But then, in the manner of the subcontinent, identity appeared.

Amarnath, 90 kilometres from Srinagar, is where Hindus pray to a giant ice stalagmite, which they believe is a representation of Shiva’s phallus. The Amarnath shrine was discovered by a Muslim shepherd in the 19th century, and pilgrims walk 42 kilometres from Pahalgam in the Hindu month of Sravan (July-August) to worship there.

On May 26, 2008, the Jammu and Kashmir government agreed to give 100 acres of land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Trust, for the setting up of tents for pilgrims. In Srinagar, this was immediately shown as evidence of how Kashmir would slowly be taken over by India. (The Indian Constitution’s Article 370 gives Jammu and Kashmir separate status from the rest of the Union and Indians cannot buy land in that state.)

Kashmiri Muslims came to the streets to oppose the transfer; Jammu’s Hindus came to the streets to defend it. Hindu groups, including the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal, blocked the road to the Valley from Jammu, threatening an economic blockade and alarming the country. The government cancelled the land transfer, but Mufti Saeed withdrew support from the Congress government, which resigned on July 7, 2008.

On Oct 19, the Election Commission of India announced Kashmir’s elections would be held from November 17 in seven phases till December 24. Few believed the elections would be successful.

The communist Yusuf Tarigami said “elections were no solution to the Kashmir problem.” The secular Yasin Malik said his group, the JKLF, would campaign actively for a boycott and that the elections would fail just as they had in the past. “To boycott the elections was every Kashmiri’s right,” he said. Sheikh Abdullah’s grandson Omar said his party, the National Conference, would contest but he worried that “turnout would be low.” Hurriyat spokesman Abdul Ghani Bhat said elections were a non-issue and, “whether or not they were held, would cause the Hurriyat no consternation.” The Jamaat’s Geelani said that the “so-called elections were no solution.” The JKDFP’s Shabbir Shah promised a “total boycott.” Mirwaiz Umar Farooq asked people to stay away from the elections “or face social boycott.”

On Nov 17, Bandipora, Leh, Kargil and Poonch polled 69 percent; on Nov 23, Ganderbal and Rajouri polled 68 percent; on Nov 30, Kupwara polled 68 percent; on Dec 7, Baramulla, Udhampur, Budgam and Reasi polled 59 percent; on Dec 13, Pulwama, Shopian and Kathua polled 58 percent; on Dec 17 Anantnag, Doda, Kishtwar, Kulgam and Ramban polled 66 percent; on Dec 24 Jammu, Srinagar and Samba polled 55 percent.

Why did this happen?

In 2003, there were 3,401 incidents of violence in Kashmir. In 2005 this fell to 1,415 incidents. In 2007 this fell to less than 900. Infiltration across the Line of Control also plummeted.

Without the leverage of the Lashkar-e-Taiba’s and Jaish-e-Muhammad’s guns, the Hurriyat showed it had little influence. In a democracy, there is no substitute to rallying people, other than through daily contact on daily issues. Leadership on one grand, emotional issue cannot be sustained.

Musharraf ended Pakistan’s jihad; Kashmiris have put a moratorium on identity issues. Kashmiris have damaged the credibility of the Hurriyat Conference, and made it irrelevant for the next six years.

The Mirwaiz is conservative, as religious leaders must be. But along with worrying about Bida’a, in the manner of all South Asian maulvis, he fought a political battle—but without ever fighting an election. He has lost. After the results were announced on Sunday, Dec 28, he said this was a “lesson for separatists.”

Who were the winners?

Thirty-eight-year-old Omar Abdullah will become chief minister. He is secular (married to a Hindu), intelligent and experienced. Exactly the kind of man the state needs. His grandfather, Sheikh Abdullah, and Rahul Gandhi’s great-grandfather, Nehru, had a friendship that fell apart and Nehru jailed the Sheikh for a dozen years. This was after Nehru fought against Hari Singh before Independence to have Sheikh Abdullah released. Now, these two young men, who are also close friends, are at the doorstep of history.

The BJP was rewarded for its opportunism in inflaming Jammu and won 11 seats, 10 more than last time. But it has polarised Jammu from Kashmir in its recklessness. It says the issue is of discrimination against Jammu, not Hindu versus Muslim, but this is untrue. Where it has the opportunity to use bigotry—in Gujarat, and elsewhere—it does so without qualm.

The BJP talks tough to Indians, but in December 1999, Vajpayee surrendered to the Jaish-e-Muhammad after the Kandahar hijacking and released Masood Azhar and Omar Saeed Sheikh. This act of myopia under pressure from a few dozen middle-class families led to more terrorism in India, including the attack on Parliament in December 2001. It also led to the attacks on Musharraf, whose death might have led to a different story in Kashmir, and to the savage murder of The Wall Street Journal’s Daniel Pearl.

The Congress calmed tempers even at the cost of being hurt by angry Hindus in Jammu and elsewhere in India—and it is down three seats to 17. Under Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh, it remains the party that puts nation above self.

What about the separatists? They are fighting the wrong people.

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq’s father was killed by the Hizbul Mujahideen in May 1990. Sajjad Lone’s father, Abdul Ghani Lone, was killed by the Lashkar-e-Taiba in May 2002.

I met Abdul Ghani Lone in his Srinagar house, and while showing me out he pointed at the Indian army soldiers protecting him and referred to them as “these butchers.” But I wondered who they were protecting him from.

Mufti Mohammad Saeed’s daughter Rubaiyya was kidnapped by militants in December 1989, when he was India’s home minister. The V P Singh government released five prisoners to get Saeed’s daughter back.

These people are the victims of militancy, but they became its champions. As it now fades away, they will become irrelevant, unless they separate their message from violence.

Yasin Malik’s young face bears testimony to the brutality of the Indian state, whose guest he has been for much of his adult life. He says elections are not the solution to the Jammu and Kashmir issue.

But India has no strategy beyond offering secular democracy and the recurring right to vote, which it has been begging Kashmiris to take—and which they have finally taken, at least for now.

Yasin Malik talks about Gandhian protest, but Gandhi did not fight for a theocratic state. In a truly Azad Kashmir, Yasin Malik will be stamped out by Mirwaiz, Geelani and the Kashmiri population that will get down to the mischief of Hudood, Riba, Zina. Pakistan thinks it inherited it from Zia, but that actually came from the Muslim League and Liaquat’s 1949 Objectives Resolution.

Having predicted that Kashmirs would boycott the election, Indian liberals are now urging the government to act to resolve the Kashmir issue with some sort of geographical solution. They are wrong.

Elections are the solution. Secular democracy is the only goal. It is what Jinnah wanted. Kashmiris already have that. (The News)

The writer is a former newspaper editor who lives in Bombay. Email: aakar.patel@ gmail.com
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Objectifying the Pakhtun: The false fantasy of "Operation Lion Heart"; the Taliban and the dubious role of Pakistan Army....

Objectifying the Pakhtun
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Farhat Taj

Some people on the editorial pages of The News have have fantasies in which they objectify the Pakhtun. It is as if the Pakhtuns do not human needs, constraints and concerns but are objects programmed to behave in line with the fantasies of these people. Two of the people are Admiral (retired) Fasih Bukhari (Dec 15) and Zeenia Satti's article "Dangerous vacuum" (Dec 16).

in "Let's get our act together in South Asia," Mr Bukhari writes that in Afghanistan the coalition forces' "Operation Lion Heart" against Pathan supporters of the Afghan Taliban in NWFP "is an obvious reference to the third Christian Crusade of Richard II of England against Sultan Salahuddin Ayubi: obviously calculated to arouse anger in the highly religious tribesmen."

It is a fantasy that "Operation Lion Heart" will arouse Pakhtun tribesmen's anger. The connotation has nothing to do with the current realities of the Pakhtuns and their history, because the Crusades are not an episode in Pakhtun history. With a literacy rate of 17 percent among men and 3 percent among women in the tribal areas, most tribesmen and -women have little knowledge of the history of far away lands. However, the tribal people do have knowledge of Pakhtun history. For example, many tribal people would know something about the Pakhtun history of resistance to the Muslim Mughal Empire and the British Empire. I asked 411 tribesmen and -women in different places in the tribal areas to tell me how much they know about Richard II. Not a single man or woman knew who he was--including some individuals educated up to the level of MA. Only five people had heard about the Crusades (Salibi Jangey). Three of them had no idea about the geographic and ethnic identity of the peoples who participated in the Crusades. They just said that the Crusades were wars between Muslims and Christian somewhere in the world.

So how can the Americans provoke the "highly religious tribesmen" by naming their operation "Lion Heart"? Rather, the Americans were provoking, if indeed they were, the Arab militants holed up in the tribal areas.

Secondly, not all tribesmen are "highly religious." Pakhtun tribal society is like any other human society. Some individuals are highly religious but others are moderately so. Mostly, Pakhtun men and women live according to their Rewaj (Custom) not religion; religion is an important part of the Rewaj, but not the entire Rewaj.

Ms Satti writes that the Pakistani Taliban "have already benefited from the CIA's drone attacks. After each attack, the incumbents, entrusted with guarding the territorial sovereignty of Pakistan, are seen sitting on their plush sofas, doing effete 'muzammat'--while the Taliban are seen destroying NATO vehicles and firing at the drones. This has endeared them to NWFP residents, despite the Taliban's having caused the attacks, in the first place."

This statement is a wild fantasy when seen through the realities of the people of the NWFP. They are sick and tired of the Taliban. The Taliban have killed innocent people--men, women, children--they have destroyed the educational institutions in the area, devastated businesses and shattered the peace there. The Taliban even exhume and humiliate the dead bodies. The Army, an institution always respected by the people of the NWFP, is losing its prestige in the eyes of the people of the area for being seen as unable or unwilling to crush the Taliban. Despite all this, Ms Satti believes that the Taliban have become the darling of the NWFP people. Which NWFP is the writer talking about? The real NWFP, the federating unit of Pakistan, or some imaginary NWFP in the fantasies of the writer? What is the writer's source of information?

I sent the writer an email on Dec 17 and asked the following questions:

1. For whom does the Taliban's behaviour have an emotive appeal?

2) Could you explain a bit what you mean by "while the Taliban are seen destroying NATO vehicles and firing at the drones. This has endeared them to NWFP residents"?

3) When was the last time you were in the NWFP?

4) Are you from the NWFP or FATA?

The writer never replied to the email. One of my friends also sent her an email asking more or less the same questions. The writer never replied to this friend either. Perhaps the writer did not receive our emails, or perhaps she deliberately chose to ignore them. If we had received a response, we would have had a better idea of the logic behind her statement. Several people of the NWFP with whom I discussed her article expressed strong disagreement. One described it as "bizarre, naive and irresponsible."

I would request both Mr Bukhari and Zeenia Satti to check the bases of their assumptions about the Pakhtun areas against the concrete realities of the area, its people and their history before writing about them. (The News)

The writer is a research fellow at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Gender Research, University of Oslo. Email: bergen34@yahoo.com

Some Comments:

Utmankhel1 Says:
January 1st, 2009 at 5:06 pm
comment-top

Everyone here from Swat and Peshawar should take up the issue with leadership of ANP at whatever level is possible, to force them ask for UN or NATO help in countering the elements. The residents of these areas will have at least a sense of justice done if some of these bastards are killed so long as their brutalities continue.

Furthermore, in presence of our army we are never gonna see the bastards like Qazi being tried for their role is a pimp of army, unless some powerful force from outside does anything. NATO seems to have the capability.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/pakistan/story/2009/01/090101_drone_waziristan.shtml

...

Utmankhel1 Says:
January 1st, 2009 at 6:44 pm

though what i m writing here seems not more than a mere propaganda, but i have to write them, as sadly thats the reality.

i remember Qazi shouting in a jalsa once,” we pukhtuns are always fighting each other, aint it better we fight hindus in kashmir”, a huge clapping followed with narae-takbeer. i remember a friend of mine in first year FSc joined jihadi training thanks to this pimp.

In school days, we were once invited to watch a movie of brutalities committed against muslims in kashmir and bosnia. This thing was arranged by the fuc..g jamaatees. A number of footages were shown, but the one that stuck in my mind was a BLACK AND WHITE footage of the massacre of Bonsnian muslims in the 90s by serbs, in which the corpses of dead were rolled over by road rollers. Now i have found out that the Black and White footage basically was the 1940s massacre of jews by nazis. I know things have been done to muslims but am trying to keep the character of these criminals in proper perspective as they used trues and lies to fuel anti hindu/christian/jews sentiments for their jihads. In short using truths and lies, these JI criminals kept on recruiting who ever they found for their jihads and now we are faced with those jihadists bent on destroying our villages and cities. All these things happened with full support of the (state of pakistan)=army through the pimps of JI and others.

These jihadists are now operating all over the puktunkhwa and FATA and we cannot do anything as the JI/PTI other religious groups and state of pakistan=army won’t let us do anything.

When our own state of pakistan=army is in love affair with the jihadists we have to look around for help somewhereelse, NATO UN comes into mind suddenly.

So Its a simple thing why dont you understand this ?

and for God sake when our own backyard is burning how are we going to look across the seas for smoke rising from another brotherly country called palestine.
similary you being my countrymen; i expect you to first help me in putting out the fire here and then we will together talk about palestine, but if after years of my cries of help are unheared and i become sure of your indifference then i damn care about anything which binds you and me together, whether it’s religion or being units of the same federation.

——-Example of rubbing salt over wounds is the statements of JI about the blasts in Pukhtunkhwa and protests against israel in pukhtunkhwa.

simple, aint it, i can’t write complex, even if i try to !
Read more...

Asinine and anodyne in '09?: The industry of conspiracy theory in Pakistan

Asinine and anodyne in '09?
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Mosharraf Zaidi

The writer is an independent political economist

One measure of character is the ability to take responsibility for one's own fate and actions. No matter how many detractors and enemies may exist, any human enterprise--a business, an idea, or a country--must be able to ward off adversity in order to survive and thrive. A linear approach to problem solving, in short, is a useful tool to have. This is why the propensity of Pakistanis to explain their country's failures through conspiracy theories, and the propensity of Pakistan's friends to do the same is the most alarming of indicators.

Traditionally, the conspiracy theory of choice, for all calamities, is RAW. Whenever the US is providing vast sums of aid and assistance to the country, RAW is joined in its infamy in Pakistan, by the CIA. Where there is smoke, there is a cigarette, and so for every mention of the CIA, a generous dollop of Mossad references is also necessary. Like maple syrup over a pancake, British MI6 too is all over Pakistan. Since 1998 there is no doubt what the grand prize in the little game is: Pakistan's gold-plated, diamond-encrusted bling-bling nukes. What were they after before 1998? Since Pakistan didn't have nukes, one possibility may be that they were after our women. Whatever they were after, they've always been hard at work trying to contaminate the Land of the Pure.

In the last few years, traditional conspiracy theories to explain away the Pakistani state's difficulties are now supported by a spectrum of new ones. Pakistanis have now discovered that in fact its not only RAW, CIA, Mossad or MI6 that are trying to destroy Pakistan from within. It is also the ISI--even if inadvertently. Good or bad, whatever happens in Pakistan can now be traced to a heat-seeking ISI agent. It is they who are behind everything in Pakistan. Every politician is owned by them, every bureaucrat works for them. Every fancy license plate is a product of ISI largesse. Every profit-turning business is a beneficiary of a contract for phantom goods and services. Every mullah donates money, every burqa sold contributes revenue. New mosques are built by the ISI, but so are new malls, new parking lots and new soda fountains. Left to the right, north or south, up or down the ISI seems to have joined the ranks of RAW and CIA as the owners of the remote control that manages Pakistan's central nervous system, its skeleton, its muscles, its very heart and soul.

So on we go, on this merry-go-round of a national obsession with passing the buck to the invisible hand of seemingly divine structures. Cleanliness may be next to godliness, but who needs a shower and soap, when you have intelligence agencies? In 2009, it seems that spying is the new Lux. Spy work is next to godliness. Omni-potent gangs of secretive evil geniuses plotting the demise of all things Pakistan. The line begins in Langley, Virginia and ends at ISI headquarters in Islamabad.

If you are progressive and liberal, the ISI has ruined Pakistan's E Street drive to development and secularism. The ISI-Taliban-LeT nexus has driven nine-inch-nails into the Quaid's secular dream. If you tilt more to the right, the RAW-CIA-Mossad-MI6 quadrant has destroyed Pakistan's drive to keep the dream of the ummah alive. The kaafirs are plotting to derail Pakistan from the siraat-e-mustaqeem trail.

Conspiracy theories that blame intelligence agencies (local or foreign) for the breathtaking and oft-unbelievable life and times of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan exist because of intellectual laziness. It is easier to weave stories where the dots don't all connect, than it is to painstakingly make the linear connections required to understand a fascinating, resilient, creative, but deeply dysfunctional state. Audiences at home and abroad are more easily and cheaply titillated by a narrative that involves cloaks and daggers than they would be by new institutional economics, identity politics and random walks.

The habitual blaming of American and Israeli organizations for cancers that are deeply ensconced within the body politic and society of Muslims is not endemic just to Pakistan, but in fact to the global Muslim community. It is a tired and pathetic tactic, and it fails to conceal the deep crises of faith, gender, literacy and integrity that plague the Muslim experience all over the world.

Intelligence agencies exist to operate in secrecy. Contrary to their protestations, they almost surely behave outside the law at times. But the overwhelming evidence in Pakistan suggests that intelligence agencies--foreign or national--can only have made a marginal contribution to the rot.

For example, in the 2008 election, it surely could not have been an intelligence agency that forced the Election Commission of Pakistan to use the discredited 2002 voters' list. No intelligence agency stopped government from investing in power plants and the energy sector. It is not any intelligence agency that is stopping Pakistan from addressing climate change. Spy masters from India did not initiate the practise of establishing ghost schools, nor of hiring political pets as primary school teachers. The CIA is not stopping the federal government from reforming the BPS system of grading in government. Nor did Mossad force the Punjab or NWFP to dispense with the DCO system without conducting a credible analysis of the costs and benefits of a return to the colonial commissioner system. The MI6 does not kill mothers during childbirth, and the ISI does not cause gastrointestinal epidemics because of contaminated water. Spies aren't the ones that let the Securities and Exchange Commission slip from capable hands in 2004 to a revolving door of leadership ever since. No intelligence agency will be responsible for letting the current State Bank governor leave without any attempt to retain her, and no intelligence agency will be responsible when an incompetent sycophant is named to replace her.

Of course, the spies have been central to the conduct of overt and proxy wars in the South Asian region for donkey's years. That's what they do. They should certainly be scrutinized and held to account for their behaviour. Pakistanis however need to take enormous care in dumping their entire load of dirty laundry onto RAW, or the CIA, or Mossad, or MI6, or even the ISI.

There would never have been any possibility of Lashkar-e Taiba-training camps in Pakistan if the country enjoyed a 100 per cent literacy and school enrolment rate. There would be no recruitment pool for the Taliban if the economy generated enough jobs for the willing and able. Friday sermons would not be a source of fear and loathing across the country if Islam was treated with the respect any faith deserves, rather than as a political football for mullahs and heretics to kick around for personal and interest group gain. There would be no link between Pakistani citizens and domestic problems in the UK or India if Pakistani public policy reflected even a nominal degree of sensitivity to the ethos and aspirations of all of its citizens. And no RAW, CIA, Mossad, MI6 or ISI agent would represent a threat to Pakistan if Pakistan didn't represent such a major threat to itself. In 2009, Pakistan must dump the asinine and the anodyne. Ordinary Pakistanis must take responsibility to build an ordinary and functional Pakistan. (The News)

www.mosharrafzaidi.com

Also read:

Munir Attaullah: Conspiracy. Will anyone tell me who these terrorists are?

"RAW Totay": The conspiracy theory parrots. The supporters of Sipah-e-Sahaba and Taliban remember Lal Masjid and shed crocodile tears....

Everyone at fault, except us. Why is it that everything that goes against us becomes a conspiracy?

International conspiracies against Pakistan - an eye opener for conspiracy theorists

Read more...

Rehman Malik shows he has a heart of gold. DG FIA Tariq Pervez retires gracefully.

DG FIA Tariq Pervez retires gracefully
Malik shows he has a heart of gold

Tuesday, December 30, 2008 (The News)

By Tariq Butt

ISLAMABAD: The Director General of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Tariq Pervez, refused to get extension and retired on Monday on attaining the superannuation age of 60.

“Ask the advisor,” he told this correspondent when inquired whether he was offered extension. However, a source said that Interior Advisor Rehman Malik wanted to give extension to the polite but competent police officer of grade 22. However, Tariq Pervez was not interested.

“I am fully satisfied that I retire with honour and dignity, and this is very important to me,” he said. Tariq Pervez plans to engage in counter-terrorism efforts and may join a think-tank. To a question, he said he faced pressure for many times during his service. “When one does the right job, one is bound to face such situations.”

During his excellent career, Tariq Pervez has to his credit resolving several terrorist attacks including suicide bombings after this scourge struck Pakistan in the wake of the 9/11 episode. He always enjoyed good reputation as far as his integrity was concerned.

Under his stewardship, the terrorists, who had tried to assassinate former President Pervez Musharraf, and who had bombed the Marriott Hotel Islamabad and resorted to many other high-profile bombings in the ongoing wave of terrorism, were traced. He had prepared a useful book of suspected terrorists.

Tariq Pervez served in the FIA for many years. A most remarkable but eye-opening incident related to his recommendations to the then FIA chief for dismissal of Rehman Malik, a senior agency official at the time, on a variety of serious charges in late nineties. Both were then posted in the FIA.

As luck would have it when Malik became all-powerful Interior Advisor in the present government for being very close to President Asif Ali Zardari, he plainly conveyed to Tariq Pervez that he has forgotten what the officer had proposed about him. The advisor told him that he should not worry about any victimization by him and he would continue to be the FIA director general during his incumbency.

Not only that, Malik kept treating Tariq Pervez decently and never gave any sign that the officer had once suggested his sacking from service on several charges. Before penning down his recommendations, Tariq Pervez had carried out an in-depth investigation into the allegations against Malik on the directions of his high-ups.

Throughout his outstanding police career, Tariq Pervez has been a thorough professional but straightforward officer, who has been more concerned about his official work and assignment rather than “politics” like a number of other bureaucrats.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that names of two senior police officers including Tariq Khosa, who has earlier served in the FIA, and Asif Nawaz are being considered for appointment as the FIA chief.

The powerful National Accountability Bureau (NAB) law had taken away many vital powers of the FIA especially relating to investigating corruption and other crimes. This significantly changed the domain of the agency, which became more engaged in detection of terrorist attacks with its special investigation unit doing this job, cyber crime and intellectual property rights offences.

However, after the NAB has been made irrelevant, all the old powers of the FIA have been given back to it and hundreds of its posts that had been taken by the NAB have been revived. The FIA has now been provided teeth as a result of which it has again emerged as an agency to be reckoned with.

The latest major case that the FIA under Tariq Pervez laid its hands on pertained to the alleged scandal involving Khanani & Kalia International for allegedly transferring a hefty amount of foreign exchange out of Pakistan. After 9/11, a number of FIA officials have been given specialized training with the American funding in different fields.
Read more...

What is happening in Swat? A local Swati explains the whole story...

By Afzal Khan:
December 30th, 2008


I belong to Swat and have closely observed the present militant uprising in Swat two years back. The solution to present situation in Swat is very simple.

It just needs sincerity from the government side. If the government is sincere in bringing peace, they can bring it in a couple of days. But we don’t know, why the government itself wants to spoil the peace of Swat.

Mulana Fazalullah is a very common man and he cannot challenge the writ of the government by his own. Today he is the head of Swat state (because government of Pakistan has no writ there). In Swat the Talibans have their own judicial system, their own judges, their own law, their own way of punishment and their own way of administration.

Recently they have issued an administrative order that from January 15, 2009 there will be a complete ban on female education in Swat. Most of the schools have even acted upon this order from the very first day of its issuance and they have banned female education.

Mulana Fazlullah became the head of this State in just two years with the support of 1500 to 2000 millitants (as claimed by the government itself). Before 2005, his business was to run cable chair over the river Swat in his village Imam Dheri. This was the only source of his income. The ticket of this cable chairs was just Rs. 1 per head for one side trip, from this one can guess the chunk of money he was earning. This can just hardly support his family. In 2005, he started an illegal FM radio through which he was delivering some controversial and funny speeches. Most of the people were listing him on his illegal FM radio just to amuse themselves from his funny wordings.

What I mean to say that Mulana Fazlullah is just a common figure of the society and no more exceptional personality. The militants (The so-called talibans) in Swat are fighting the Pak Army, FC and police since 2006. During these two years they never faced the shortage of guns and ammunitions, so the question is, from where they get these guns, ammunitions and explosive materials in such a huge quantity that they are fighting the well-equipped (Jet fighters, Gunship helicopters, heavy artillery and bulletproof tanks) 40,000 security forces and exploding security posts, police stations, schools, markets, hotels, bridges, hospitals, electricity grid stations, telephone exchanges, gas supply plants and houses of political and intellectual personalities. Surprisingly the government is not stoping them from doing so, even they do all these activities during curfew hours.

Let me clear one thing that, the Talibans in Swat are composed of four groups, i.e. the locals (Swatis), Qabayalis (those belong to FATA),the banned Jehadi organisations from all over Pakistan (they are known as Panjabi Talibans here in Swat) and the forgniers ( Arabs, Tajik, Uzbek, Chechens, Indian etc). All these four groups work there under the umbrella of Pakistan government or government agencies. Here is a big question, you must want to ask, why the government itself want to do so? We are raising this question since last two year in Swat that why (and how) the government can do so? But this is what the ground reality. Because as I mentioned above how its possible for 2,000 militants to fight for two years against well-equipped 40,000 security forces and in the result 80% Swat is under the control of Militants and their power is growing.

More interestingly the illegal FM radio channel is still running. Can you believe that the government is not capable of banning this illegal FM radio? of course the government is, but it deliberately don’t want to ban it. How funny it is, when everyday we read in news paper that the 30 to 40 militant were killed in the Army operation. If you calculate, with this ratio it just need 4 to 5 months to finish all the militants in Swat! but the reality is totally against it, the number and influence of militants is increasing day by day despite of two years long operations. The only prominent effect of this operation is in the form of considerable deaths and casualties of common people and a huge disaster to infrastructure. Those who are fortunately not suffered from physical causalities are suffering from mental stress.

If you ask some one in Swat about the situation in Swat, no one can tell you the truth, because the truth exposes both the Talibans and the government, and in both cases slaughtering (from Taliban side) and gun shooting (from security forces) is one’s unfortunate (ultimate) fortune.

Let me also clear that the so-called Taliban in Swat don’t want Sheriyat in Swat, they just want power in which they have to define everything by their own. For example, what is wrong and what is right, this can only be define by Talibans. No one has the right to disagree with it, otherwise slaughtering is his fate. As far as I know, most of the local Talibans are from the lower and illiterate class and they have just a greed of power and revenge from this class divided society, the other non-local groups fight against the government as they were first created, raised and supported and then banned in the previous government. The non-local groups still get support and were getting support in past from agencies. In the past they were supported by the local agencies and now they are supported by local as will as foreign agencies. In this way, one can say that they are enjoying their golden period.

The Swat was famous all over in NWFP for its peace, beauty, high literacy rate and good financial status of its habitants .The people of Swat are hopeless for peace as the present situation is just like a “TOPI DRAMA”. The common man in Swat thinks that we cannot get back our old Swat in the coming 30 years as 200 schools, 80% bridges have been exploded. The tourism which was growing and was established as profitable industry is 100% destroyed.

Because of tourism Handicrafts was also an established business which is almost 100% destroyed. The education sector is almost destroyed. Health facilities are almost zero. Peace of mind has blown away. Unemployment is increasing day by day and the people are migrating to the other part of the country due to this unpredictable situation. In such a harmful situation, the silence of government is meaningful! There are no sincere efforts toward the real peace or plans for the rehabilitation.
Read more...

Swat falls to Taliban militants - Associated Press - What do orindary Pakistanis think?

The Taliban in Swat ban girls schools and girls education (Where is the Pakistan Army?)


Amir Hameed Comments:
This cancer of Fazal-ullah needs to be stopped and taken out and should not be allowed to spread. These fagg0t beardos are no muslims, this is for sure. I would like to ask their supporters on this forum that where in the Quran is it mentioned that girls should not be allowed to get education?

On the other hand, these b@stards have support of the agencies else how can one explain that they (agencies) were able to kill Bugti but have not been able to capture this fagg0t?

...

geele.mitti Says:

It is really sad to see Swat fall to these so called Muslims.

What is it? Is it military backed covert operation where factions in our own military giving these people sanctuary with the dream of regaining control over Afghanistan or they are backed by Afghan/Indian/US coalition, getting weapons from them and using against us. It is hard to believe that Pak army could be so incompetent to take control unless either they are willing to do so or they are not only facing the extremist but also Western/US coalition.

It is hard to believe that the are able to stand against the professional machinery of a trained and we sourced army with out any external help.

......



By NAHAL TOOSI, Associated Press Writer Nahal Toosi, Associated Press Writer – Mon Dec 29, 6:33 pm ET

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Taliban militants are beheading and burning their way through Pakistan's picturesque Swat Valley, and residents say the insurgents now control most of the mountainous region far from the lawless tribal areas where jihadists thrive.

The deteriorating situation in the former tourist haven comes despite an army offensive that began in 2007 and an attempted peace deal. It is especially worrisome to Pakistani officials because the valley lies outside the areas where al-Qaida and Taliban militants have traditionally operated and where the military is staging a separate offensive.

"You can't imagine how bad it is," said Muzaffar ul-Mulk, a federal lawmaker whose home in Swat was attacked by bomb-toting assailants in mid-December, weeks after he left. "It's worse day by day."

The Taliban activity in northwest Pakistan also comes as the country shifts forces east to the Indian border because of tensions over last month's terrorist attacks in Mumbai, potentially giving insurgents more space to maneuver along the Afghan frontier.

Militants began preying on Swat's lush mountain ranges about two years ago, and it is now too dangerous for foreign and Pakistani journalists to visit. Interviews with residents, lawmakers and officials who have fled the region paint a dire picture.

A suicide blast killed 40 people Sunday at a polling station in Buner, an area bordering Swat that had been relatively peaceful. The attack underscored fears that even so-called "settled" regions presumptively under government control are increasingly unsafe.

The 3,500-square-mile Swat Valley lies less than 100 miles from the capital, Islamabad.

A senior government official said he feared there could be a spillover effect if the government lost control of Swat and allowed the insurgency to infect other areas. Like nearly everyone interviewed, the official requested anonymity for fear of reprisal by militants.

Officials estimate that up to a third of Swat's 1.5 million people have left the area. Salah-ud-Din, who oversees relief efforts in Swat for the International Committee of the Red Cross, estimated that 80 percent of the valley is now under Taliban control.

Swat's militants are led by Maulana Fazlullah, a cleric who rose to prominence through radio broadcasts demanding the imposition of a harsh brand of Islamic law. His appeal tapped into widespread frustration with the area's inefficient judicial system.

Most of the insurgents are easy to spot with long hair, beards, rifles, camouflage vests and running shoes. They number at most 2,000, according to people who were interviewed.

In some places, just a handful of insurgents can control a village. They rule by fear: beheading government sympathizers, blowing up bridges and demanding women wear all-encompassing burqas.

They have also set up a parallel administration with courts, taxes, patrols and checkpoints, according to lawmakers and officials. And they are suspected of burning scores of girls' schools.

In mid-December, Taliban fighters killed a young member of a Sufi-influenced Muslim group who had tried to raise a militia against them. The militants later dug up Pir Samiullah's corpse and hung it for two days in a village square — partly to prove to his followers that he was not a superhuman saint, a security official said on condition of anonymity.

A lawmaker and the senior Swat government official said business and landowners had been told to give two-thirds of their income to the militants. Some local media reported last week that the militants have pronounced a ban on female education effective in mid-January.

Several people interviewed said the regional government made a mistake in May when it struck a peace deal with the militants. The agreement fell apart within two months but let the insurgents regroup.

The Swat insurgency also includes Afghan and other fighters from outside the valley, security officials said.

Any movement of Pakistani troops from the Swat Valley and tribal areas to the Indian border will concern the United States and other Western countries, which want Pakistan to focus on the al-Qaida threat near Afghanistan.

On Friday, Pakistani intelligence officials said thousands of troops were being shifted toward the border with India, which blames Pakistani militants for terrorist attacks in Mumbai last month that killed 164 people. But there has been no sign yet of a major buildup near India.

"The terrorists' aim in Mumbai was precisely this — to get the Pakistani army to withdraw from the western border and mount operations on the east," said Ahmed Rashid, a journalist and author who has written extensively about militancy in the region.

"The terrorists are not going to be sitting still. They are not going to be adhering to any sort of cease-fire while the army takes on the Indian threat. They are going to occupy the vacuum the army will create."

Residents and officials from the Swat Valley were critical of the army offensive there, saying troops appeared to be confined to their posts and often killed civilians when firing artillery at suspected militant targets.

The military has deployed some 100,000 troops through the northwest.

A government official familiar with security issues estimated that some 10,000 paramilitary and army troops had killed 300 to 400 militants in Swat since 2007, while about 130 troops were killed. Authorities have not released details of civilian casualties, and it was unclear if they were even being tallied.

The official, who insisted on anonymity because of the issue's sensitivity, disputed assertions that militants had overrun the valley, but said a spotty supply line was hampering operations. He said the army had to man some Swat police stations because the police force there had been decimated by desertions and militant killings.

A Swat militant boasted that "we are doing our activities wherever we want, and the army is confined to their living places."

"They cannot move independently like us," said the man, who was reached over the phone and gave his name as Muzaffarul Haq. He claimed the Swat militants had no al-Qaida or foreign connections, but that they supported all groups that shared the goal of imposing Islamic law.

"With the grace of Allah, there is no dearth of funds, weapons or rations," he said. "Our women are providing cooked food for those who are struggling in Allah's path. Our children are getting prepared for jihad."

___

Associated Press writers Zarar Khan in Islamabad and Riaz Khan in Peshawar contributed to this report.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081229/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan_valley_of_fear

Some Comments:

Re: Live with Talat 29-December-2008
A special episode of live with talat regarding Swat situation with Rasheed Iqbal ( Journalist ), Syed Inam-ur-Rehman ( Swat Peace Jirga ) , Zia-ud-Din (Global Peace Council ) and lot of guests from Swat.

engsaaiqbal Says:
December 29th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
comment-top

salam to all.
It is crystal clear that the situation in swat is created by the army.They intentionally do not want to handel the situation.we are the resident of swat and have keen observations.If taliban walks in mingora bazaar(known as chena)while the city is coverd from all the side by armed forces so how the militants enter the city.Swat is settled area and we have no border attached with other countries or tribal areas so how such a huge amount of weapons come to the district as a resident of swat i my self can not carry knife to mingora bazzar. It is something amazing that an atomic power which can exact shoot it target thousand of kilometer away can not shoot some thousands militants.This drama should be stop further………..
FM radio frequency can be jammed in few minutes but still It is running by the militants.I can just request the pak army to stop killing the people instead of taliban.Other wise a horrible civil war will begin which will have no end………………………..
syed amjad iqbal

engsaaiqbal@hotmail.com


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eqykhan Says:
December 30th, 2008 at 12:49 am

AA,
Swat situation is a totally drama by Govt. and other related forces, killing innocent people, creating hostile environment for terrorist to come, live and supporting them to achieve what the govt want? Only solution is to change govt. policies……..

...

Utmankhel1 Says:

First to all of those talking about social disparity, and struggle between rich and poor, don’t mislead people who are always trying to find an alternative reason to Army’s backing of the taliban darama as the reason for the situation.There is nothing pecular about Swat. Why not in Dir, Buner, Mardan, Peshawar ? ? ? The society is more or less the same so why would there be a clash between poor and rich. Furthermore, there has never been such things as Chawdhry, Wadera in pukhtun society. Don’t try to confuse things.

Now the question is why is our intelligence agencies doing this ? ? ? ? What could be their motives for this criminal behaviour ? ? ? any sane person has some idea ? ?

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An open letter to the President of Pakistan from an Indian citizen

By R.Alamsha Karnan

An open letter to the President of Pakistan from an Indian

Dear President of Pakistan

I appreciate your genuine aspiration to have friendly relationship with India and save your nation from the brink of collapse. 180+ million hard working and lovely people of Pakistan have the right to expect peace and prosperity for their nation and that’s the reaon they have elected you in the first place.

We can not deny the fact that the 1947 partition and the birth of Pakistan was a culmination of more than 150 years of Hindu-Muslim hatred perpetrated and fanned by the British. This partition has divided millions of families across the border and they desperately want to meet and reunite with their loved one’s.

Pakistan is getting isolated in the comity of nations and is being projected as an unfavourable destination for business. Millions of your well educated and hard working youths are facing embarassment and difficulties abroad. Even employers in gulf countries are showing reluctance towards hiring Pakistani manpower and in general, every one wants to stay away from Pakistan. There is a very big image problem for your nation. Why can’t you change the image of Pakstan as a dynamic and peace loving nation instead?.

I would like to ask you a few simple questions and wish you may find some surprisingly simple answers to take your nation forward.

Question 1:

India has appointed several Muslim Presidents including Dr.Abdul Kalaam and has even honoured him with the highest civilian award “Bharat Ratna”. Can a Pakistani Hindu aspire for such a honour and distinction?.

Question 2:

Why can’t you nominate a respectable, patriotic Pakistani Hindu as your Vice President and see how the entire world is going to standup and applaud your nation?.

If you can do it, entire world will admire it as a master stroke by the people of Pakistan and they will keep their head high in pride.

Good luck and God bless.
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Basit, son of DDG Intelligence Bureau Riaz Sheikh, writes an open letter to Ansar Abbasi

Ansar Abbasi, you are a third class blackmailer, a yellow journalist, a supporter of the Taliban. Shame on you.

....

Son defends father in open letter

Monday, December 29, 2008 (The News)

By our correspondent

ISLAMABAD: Basit Riaz Sheikh, son of Deputy Director General (DDG) Intelligence Bureau Riaz Sheikh, wrote an open letter to The News to defend his father, whose name was mentioned by Ansar Abbasi, Editor Investigations The News amongst those, required to be interviewed by police to get to the bottom of the threats and vilification campaign launched against Mr Abbasi.

While Ansar Abbasi insists that he did not lodge any FIR against anyone therefore the question of making any person including Mr Sheikh as accused does not arise, the following is the unedited version of Basit Riaz Sheikh’s open letter addressed to Ansar Abbasi.

“My father, Ahmad Riaz Sheikh (former Deputy Director FIA and presently Deputy Director General Intelligence Bureau), and I have often admired your investigative reports in ‘The NEWS’. Your writings have been a popular topic over our dinner table and though we did not fully concur with your viewpoint on many occasions, your writings often stood out as tenacious dissenting slogans against anti-democratic elements in Pakistan.

A writer shares a unique bond of trust with his/her readers. This special bond of trust is built on a premise of a thorough research and investigation on the part of the writer to ensure that readers are not misled and misguided. Yesterday, our trust in you was shattered when you accused my father of spearheading a vilification vendetta and charged him for being part of a greater conspiracy against you. I could not phantom this coming from a seasoned journalist whose writings I had once so dearly admired.

I could have opted to stay quiet but there is way too much at stake to keep mum. It’s not only a matter of family honour for me; it’s a question of separating truth from ugly lies, it’s a question of our media’s future. We have all dreamt and struggled for a free and an independent media but all sacrifices would go in vain if that freedom were built on deceitful journalism and hideous motives. All I seek is truth and only truth, not for myself but for all those who have been duped in the name of free media.

The one and the only time my father met you was in a chance encounter at Islamabad Club back in June’08. In one of your earlier reports, you had shown great resentment over my father’s appointment in the Intelligence Bureau and claimed that he had been assigned the task of gagging any dissenting voices against the newly elected PPP government. My father went on length to explain that this was quite contrary to reality and he had been a victim of false perceptions. From the trials and tribulations of the mighty Attock Fort to vigorous attempts to deny my brother and I the right to study abroad even when we had acquired scholarships, the then state machinery worked terribly hard to make us exampled victims of a brutal politics of revenge. After getting convinced, not only you apologized and showed total remorse but also promised to compensate us for any grievances. Little did we know that the compensation would come in the shape of baseless allegations of vilification conspiracy.

For the last few months, my father has been extremely busy with his course work at the National Management College (NMC). He could have sought an exemption based on the grounds of absence from service for more than a decade, but instead he decided not to solicit any favour and opted to strictly follow all rules and regulations. Even a cursory glance at his NMC and work schedule is enough to figure out that he hardly gets any time to himself, let alone worry about you.

Ever since the coincidental meeting at the Islamabad Club, my father has not had any direct or indirect contact with you nor has he remotely dealt with any issues you have investigated or written about. As such, your allegations have not only shocked us but also betrayed our trust in our media. The allegations are totally false and concocted and we expect a senior journalist in you to either withdraw these false claims or else come forth with actual facts to prove these allegations. My father has offered to resign from his job if there is even an iota of truth in your alleged claims.

We could have chosen a path of legal suit against you, but like always we leave the fate of these false accusations to Allah Almighty. All we expect from you is to come out in open and share any information whatsoever and reveal all those hidden anti-state faces who might have intrigued you into wrongly accusing my father of something that he had been and continues to be a victim of.

Our family’s only desire is to have a truly democratic system flourish in Pakistan. We wish that in these tumultuous and troubled times at home and abroad, our political parties would rise above the politics of petty personal gains and stand united under the leadership of our President Asif Ali Zardari to fulfil the dream of a progressive and prosperous Pakistan that Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto had inspired. If that is a crime, we stand guilty as charged under penal code by Ansar Abbasi.”
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Jundullah responsible for Saravan bombing: Joint terrorism by ISI, CIA and the Saudi Arabain Intelligence Services

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 14:36:04 GMT

The Jundullah terrorist group has claimed responsibility for a deadly Monday suicide attack that rocked a southeastern city in Iran.

A suicide bomber carrying explosives tried to enter a police station in the city of Saravan in Sistan-Baluchestan Province on Monday.

The bomber, however, failed to enter the building and was killed in the explosion.

Four people have reportedly been killed in the attack among two of whom were police officers. Nearly 20 others were wounded.

The city of Saravan has become a hotbed of terrorist activities by the Jundullah cell.

Earlier in June, sixteen Iranian police officers were abducted by Jundullah (Soldiers of God) terrorists at a checkpoint in Saravan.

The armed insurgents threatened that if the Islamic Republic refuses to release its 200 members from Iranian prisons, they would kill the hostages.

After Iran refused to meet the terrorist cell's demands, the group announced on Dec. 3 that it had killed all the 16 abducted Iranian officers.

A report on the Arabic Nahrainnet website later revealed that Saudi Arabian intelligence agencies were behind the abduction of the Iranian police officers.

The report, citing informed sources in Pakistan's Peshawar, claimed that Saudi Arabia and the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) have been using the "proxy army" to destabilize the government in Iran.

ABC News, in 2007, cited US and Pakistani intelligence sources that the group, which "has taken responsibility for the deaths and kidnappings of Iranian soldiers and officials", "has been secretly encouraged and advised by American officials."

In another report in July, investigative journalist Seymour Hersh revealed that US Congressional leaders secretly agreed last year to President George W. Bush's $400-million funding request for a major escalation in covert operations in Iran.

Under the ruling, the US can arm and fund terrorist groups such as the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) and Jundullah militants.

The group's ringleader Abdolmalek Rigi describes his terrorist cell as a 'national movement' and denies any links to Washington.

CS/HGH

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=79858§ionid=351020101
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Robert Fisk: Leaders lie, civilians die, and lessons of history are ignored

Monday, 29 December 2008 (The Independent)

We've got so used to the carnage of the Middle East that we don't care any more – providing we don't offend the Israelis. It's not clear how many of the Gaza dead are civilians, but the response of the Bush administration, not to mention the pusillanimous reaction of Gordon Brown, reaffirm for Arabs what they have known for decades: however they struggle against their antagonists, the West will take Israel's side. As usual, the bloodbath was the fault of the Arabs – who, as we all know, only understand force.

Ever since 1948, we've been hearing this balderdash from the Israelis – just as Arab nationalists and then Arab Islamists have been peddling their own lies: that the Zionist "death wagon" will be overthrown, that all Jerusalem will be "liberated". And always Mr Bush Snr or Mr Clinton or Mr Bush Jnr or Mr Blair or Mr Brown have called upon both sides to exercise "restraint" – as if the Palestinians and the Israelis both have F-18s and Merkava tanks and field artillery. Hamas's home-made rockets have killed just 20 Israelis in eight years, but a day-long blitz by Israeli aircraft that kills almost 300 Palestinians is just par for the course.

The blood-splattering has its own routine. Yes, Hamas provoked Israel's anger, just as Israel provoked Hamas's anger, which was provoked by Israel, which was provoked by Hamas, which ... See what I mean? Hamas fires rockets at Israel, Israel bombs Hamas, Hamas fires more rockets and Israel bombs again and ... Got it? And we demand security for Israel – rightly – but overlook this massive and utterly disproportionate slaughter by Israel. It was Madeleine Albright who once said that Israel was "under siege" – as if Palestinian tanks were in the streets of Tel Aviv.

By last night, the exchange rate stood at 296 Palestinians dead for one dead Israeli. Back in 2006, it was 10 Lebanese dead for one Israeli dead. This weekend was the most inflationary exchange rate in a single day since – the 1973 Middle East War? The 1967 Six Day War? The 1956 Suez War? The 1948 Independence/Nakba War? It's obscene, a gruesome game – which Ehud Barak, the Israeli Defence Minister, unconsciously admitted when he spoke this weekend to Fox TV. "Our intention is to totally change the rules of the game," Barak said.

Exactly. Only the "rules" of the game don't change. This is a further slippage on the Arab-Israeli exchanges, a percentage slide more awesome than Wall Street's crashing shares, though of not much interest in the US which – let us remember – made the F-18s and the Hellfire missiles which the Bush administration pleads with Israel to use sparingly.

Quite a lot of the dead this weekend appear to have been Hamas members, but what is it supposed to solve? Is Hamas going to say: "Wow, this blitz is awesome – we'd better recognise the state of Israel, fall in line with the Palestinian Authority, lay down our weapons and pray we are taken prisoner and locked up indefinitely and support a new American 'peace process' in the Middle East!" Is that what the Israelis and the Americans and Gordon Brown think Hamas is going to do?

Yes, let's remember Hamas's cynicism, the cynicism of all armed Islamist groups. Their need for Muslim martyrs is as crucial to them as Israel's need to create them. The lesson Israel thinks it is teaching – come to heel or we will crush you – is not the lesson Hamas is learning. Hamas needs violence to emphasise the oppression of the Palestinians – and relies on Israel to provide it. A few rockets into Israel and Israel obliges.

Not a whimper from Tony Blair, the peace envoy to the Middle East who's never been to Gaza in his current incarnation. Not a bloody word.

We hear the usual Israeli line. General Yaakov Amidror, the former head of the Israeli army's "research and assessment division" announced that "no country in the world would allow its citizens to be made the target of rocket attacks without taking vigorous steps to defend them". Quite so. But when the IRA were firing mortars over the border into Northern Ireland, when their guerrillas were crossing from the Republic to attack police stations and Protestants, did Britain unleash the RAF on the Irish Republic? Did the RAF bomb churches and tankers and police stations and zap 300 civilians to teach the Irish a lesson? No, it did not. Because the world would have seen it as criminal behaviour. We didn't want to lower ourselves to the IRA's level.

Yes, Israel deserves security. But these bloodbaths will not bring it. Not since 1948 have air raids protected Israel. Israel has bombed Lebanon thousands of times since 1975 and not one has eliminated "terrorism". So what was the reaction last night? The Israelis threaten ground attacks. Hamas waits for another battle. Our Western politicians crouch in their funk holes. And somewhere to the east – in a cave? a basement? on a mountainside? – a well-known man in a turban smiles.

....


Those Who Pass Between Fleeting Words

O those who pass between fleeting words
Carry your names, and be gone
Rid our time of your hours, and be gone
Steal what you will from the blueness of the sea
And the sand of memory
Take what pictures you will, so that you understand
That which you never will:
How a stone from our land builds the ceiling of our sky
… From you steel and fire, from us our flesh
From you yet another tank, from us stones
From you teargas, from us rain
… As bitter dust, go where you wish, but
Do not pass between us like flying insects
… Pile your illusions in a deserted pit, and be gone
… And we have what you lack
A bleeding homeland of a bleeding people …

It is time for you to be gone
Live wherever you like, but do not live among us
It is time for you to be gone
Die wherever you like, but do not die among us
… So leave our country
Our land, our sea
Our wheat, our salt, our wounds
Everything, and leave
The memories of memory
those who pass between fleeting words!

–Mahmoud Darwish 1988
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Our leaders and their writing - by Aakar Patel

Monday, December 29, 2008 (The News)

India’s early leaders wrote a lot. Ambedkar’s Writings and Speeches number some 20 volumes. Nehru’s Selected Works, still being edited, have reached volume 39 and the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, who wrote almost every day, sprawl over 100 volumes, possibly unmatched anywhere in the world.

These are books meant to be dipped into, not consumed front to back — except for Ambedkar’s, whose collected works do not include letters he wrote, and whom every Indian child must be taught, along with Gandhi.

He had clarity on Pakistan as early as 1940, and Partition, though inevitable, might have been less painful if his Thoughts On Pakistan had been more widely read and understood. Jinnah wrote no book, but his letters have been edited by Z H Zaidi. For some reason Zaidi also includes correspondence to Jinnah, and most of it is banal. This is irritating because the Jinnah Papers volumes are very expensive.

Each volume of Gandhi’s collected works can be bought for as little as Rs25 (free online), while each volume of Jinnah’s is between Rs2,500 and Rs4,750. It is surprising the Pakistan government does not subsidise the publications of its founder, as India does the publications of its early leaders.

Pakistanis who trawl through the Jinnah Papers will not find much illumination: Jinnah wrote little about his view of Islam, or its history or Pakistan’s future or form of government. His letters are about everyday life: motor car repairs, travel plans, statements of accounts, granting of appointments, telling people not to name their companies after him, accepting or declining invitations, a series of very brief exchanges with Liaquat, a rejection of Bombay Bar Association’s decision to honour his 50 years at the Bar in 1947, saying that the vote was carried narrowly.

One woman, Mrs K L Rallia Ram of 5, Masson Road, Lahore, wrote to Jinnah every other day in 1946 and 1947, alerting him to the conspiracies she was convinced Hindus, Sikhs, Communists and the RSS were plotting against him. She attached newspaper clippings in support of her theories. Zaidi has included many letters by her in the volumes.

While there is abhorrence for Jinnah in India, Iqbal’s is a grey figure. He is reviled for the idea of Pakistan, but the educated North Indian loves the width and beauty of his writing.

Manmohan Singh began reintroducing Iqbal to India through couplets that he delivered in Parliament’s Central Hall in the middle of his budget speeches of 1991-1996, through which he liberalised India’s economy.

I was familiar with the basic lines of Tarana-i-Hind but had not registered its most stirring couplet: Yunan-o-Misr-o-Roma sab mitt gaye jahan se, ab tak magar hai baqi naam-o-nishan hamara, till Manmohan Singh recited it in his Punjabi lilt. Iqbal is to be read like Ambedkar is to be read: front to back, and carefully.

His great work is the Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, and it is one of the world’s undiscovered classics. His understanding of east and west is majestic, perhaps unmatched in all India. And his defence of religion in the opening lecture is the best I have ever read, and would be an excellent response to recent books by the rationalists Dawkins and Hitchens.

Naipaul’s dismissal of Iqbal, though it is comprehensive, does not appear to have incorporated the reforming side to him. Muslims of course love the middle-period Iqbal of Shikwa and Bang-e-Dara and Javidnama but not the author of the Reconstruction lectures, or the young unifier of India, before he went to Europe.

I have spent many hours talking about Iqbal with my late friend Dr Rafique Zakaria, who said he had a book of Iqbal’s bawdy verse somewhere but could never find it. It is no surprise that the great scholar Annemarie Schimmel chose Iqbal as her muse in India. The man that Pakistan’s Muslims, and perhaps India’s, needed alive after 1947 was not Jinnah, who died in 1948, but Iqbal, who died in 1938.

The formulation of the current Islamist intellectual Tariq Ramadan (Hassan al-Banna’s grandson) that Muslim states retain their Hudood laws but suspend their execution would have found favour with, and is possibly lifted from, Iqbal, through his sixth lecture. This is actually something that the Pakistan state has lapsed into doing, though without reasoning it through.

The other Islamist of course was Maudoodi, who had a very nimble mind. Al-Jihad fi al-Islam was written when he was only 24. It was interesting to go through the work of the modern Islamists, al-Banna and Sayyid Qutb and see how much they had lifted from him, especially Qutb. And how much brighter he was than them (strange to be proud of the fact that ‘our’ fundo is better than ‘their’ fundo!).

His political extension of the concept of Tawheed, and his construction of a religious state around it and also its top-down implementation was the work of a very intelligent and creative mind, but one with limited understanding of civilisation’s universality.

The writings of Hindu reformers Vivekanand and, in particular, Gandhi, softened the religion and made it flexible enough for Nehru and Ambedkar to legislate their reforms. Gandhi and Vivekanand were effective because they modernised the faith from the inside, unlike Ambedkar who fought it from outside and was ineffective outside his community.

The true Hindu intellectual was Radhakrishnan, India’s second president. His writing was like Iqbal’s: deeply immersed in the culture and the religion, but with the perspective of a trained European scholar.

The RSS’s writers were more passionate than intellectual, in part because of the audience they were addressing. The writing of RSS ideologues Golwalkar and Upadhyay is mostly moderate, and written in the emotional style of the Indian religious discourse. Hindutva, Savarkar’s classic, is simple, but overly emotional. Though his message on inter-caste marriage was pragmatic, and derived in scholarly fashion, he succumbed to caste when he insisted on his children’s marriage to fellow Chitpavan Brahmins.

Savarkar’s inclination towards the 19th century Italian reunifiers Mazzini and Garibaldi makes one think of what his thoughts would be on nationalism as it has now evolved in Europe.

Today India has no intellectuals in politics other than Manmohan Singh and Arif Mohammed Khan, a very fine mind. Except in Bengal, where caste is in decline, democracy has removed the layer of nominated, as opposed to elected, politicians, who have traditionally carried intellect to Delhi.

Few autobiographies have been written by Indian politicians in recent years, and no good ones other than one by Mani Shankar Aiyar, who was born in 1941 in Lahore’s famous Laxmi Mansion, home to Manto after 1948.

Political biographies in Pakistan peaked in the 90s when Bhutto’s supporters (Mubashir Hasan, Rafi Raza, Iqbal Akhund) and opponents (K M Arif, Sherbaz Mazari, Akbar Bugti, G M Syed) published their memoirs after Zia’s death. While a lot of Pakistani autobiography, like Indian autobiography, is self-aggrandising and dishonest, this period’s writing was possibly the most direct, and certainly the most entertaining. Mubashir Hasan wrote about his ministerial tenure in great detail but let his fellow liberals down by not revealing what he did, or even thought of, during Bhutto’s passing of the inhumane Second Amendment. He does not mention it at all, even in passing.

Bhutto comes across as deranged. The contours of his character revealed through his treatment of that fascinating character J A Rahim in Hasan’s and Raza’s books; his treatment at the hands of Akbar Bugti in Mazari’s book; and his behaviour just before his hanging in Gen Arif’s book are astonishing.

Zia wrote no book, but Ayub Khan wrote one and shouldn’t have. It starts off wrongly — by leaning on religion — and it paints a picture of him that collapsed the year he was booted out. He is seen positively today by very few excluding, presumably, Samuel Huntington (who likened Ayub to the Greek lawgiver Solon) and the economist Shahid Javed Burki.

Altaf Gauhar also wrote on Ayub, and his writing was dishonest — but Rafique Zakaria told me a story about Gauhar’s superb understanding of secularism and Islam, which made me see Gauhar in a different way.

Musharraf will be seen 20 years later in a better light than he now is, but he damaged his cause with his second-rate autobiography, actually written by Humayun Gauhar. Politicians have stopped writing in Pakistan and India. On the evidence of Ardeshir Cowasjee’s reporting, Asif Zardari cannot even spell, leave alone write. It will be strange if the only picture of him as a man comes out from newspaper columns.

The writer is a former newspaper editor who lives in Bombay. Email: aakar.patel@gmail.com
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The massacre in Gaza: Can there be any doubt who the real terrorists are?

29/12/2008
The long drawn-out siege of Gaza and the numerous military assaults on its people are only the latest (Israeli) crimes in a catalogue of terror.

By Stuart Littlewood

* U.S. definition fits perfectly

The patience of all decent men must surely be exhausted.

Yesterday’s slaughter of innocents in Gaza, with at least 230 reported killed in raids on “Hamas terror operatives” (as the Israeli military put it), amounted to “a mass execution”, said Hamas.

Can there now be any doubt who the real terrorists are?

The killing spree couldn’t have happened without the tacit approval of America, Britain and the EU. The political pea-brains that direct the pro-Israel western alliance were partying, gorging themselves on Christmas fare or binge-shopping while this massacre of hungry women and children and their despairing menfolk in Gaza was being planned and executed.

According to the U.S.'s own definition of terrorism Israel is squarely in the frame. Under Section 3 of Executive Order 13224 "Blocking Property and prohibiting Transactions with Persons who commit, threaten to commit, or support Terrorism", the term “terrorism” means an activity that…

(i) involves a violent act or an act dangerous to human life, property, or infrastructure; and

(ii) appears to be intended

• to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;

• to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or

• to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, kidnapping, or hostage-taking.

The order and its definition of terrorism, signed 23 September 2001 by George W Bush, is used to outlaw and crush any organization, individual or country the U.S. doesn’t like. The Israeli regime’s "amoral thugs", as a British MP branded them, have plainly been terrorizing the Palestinians for the last 60 years.

The long drawn-out siege and blockade of Gaza, and the numerous military assaults on its people and their legitimate government, are only the latest crimes in a catalogue of torment and terror. They are clearly attempts to "intimidate and coerce", while the mass destruction of Gaza's infrastructure, the withholding of humanitarian aid, the assassinations, the abductions, the bulldozing of Palestinian homes, and the many violent and dangerous acts including indiscriminate bombing and shelling (and the use of cluster bombs in Lebanon), ensure Israel’s ugly head is a perfect fit for America’s terrorist hat.

How does the world feel about Obama pledging to “forge an unshakeable bond” with the "miracle" of Terrorist Israel?

How do we feel about the EU rewarding Israel for its terrorist acts with enhanced benefits under the EU-Israel Association Agreement?

How do we Brits feel about our Intelligence and Security Committee being chaired by a Friend of Terrorist Israel and 5 out of its 9 members also being the Zionist regime’s devoted Friends? How do we feel about our Foreign Affairs Committee being chaired by a Friend of Terrorist Israel...and our Defence Committee too?

Britain’s prime minister Brown and his predecessor, now peace envoy Blair, both self-confessed Zionists, have given their undying support to a terrorist state and steered Britain’s foreign policy on a course that has earned the opprobrium of civilised people.

The best Brown could do today was urge “restraint”. He called on Gazan “militants” to “cease all rocket attacks on Israel immediately”, but didn’t urge his bosom pals to end the siege and their illegal occupation which, as every sane person knows, are the cause of the strife. Our Foreign Office went so far as to say they were “deeply concerned” then spouted the mantra: “The only way to achieve a lasting peace is through peaceful means”.

The only peaceful means of achieving a lasting peace is for Western leaders to pull the plug on Israel until the regime conforms to international law and the will of the United Nations (without whose misguided generosity there would never have been a state of Israel), pulls back behind the 1967 border and strictly observes the principles of universal human rights.

If they don’t shoulder their responsibility, they risk a mighty moral backlash from ordinary people, who are beginning to learn the awful truth.

-- Stuart Littlewood is author of the book Radio Free Palestine, which tells the plight of the Palestinians under occupation.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/newsfull.php?newid=198480

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Comments:

netengr Says:
December 29th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
comment-top

-Israel Killed 1500 Palestinian muslims in last three years
-Hammas Killed 300 Israelis jews in last three years
-Osama bin ladin killed 10000 Mulims ,
Hikmat yaar killed thousands mulims .
Mulla Umer killed thousand innocent mulims
bush killed thousands muslims .
Taliban Killed thousands of innocent muslims ,
Baitullah mehsoud is the mass murmurer of innocent muslims
Million muslims killed in afghanistan fighting between so called mujahideen .

Zulm is zulm ,Qatl is Qatal ,either bu jews muslims or any one ,
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Remembering Benazir Bhutto - By Abbas Mehkari

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An advice for the UN: If you want to root out the unholy nexus between the ISI and Al Qaeda/Taliban, investigate the murder of Benazir Bhutto

Investigate, please

WHATEVER one’s political persuasion, it is impossible to deny that Benazir Bhutto’s assassination was a cataclysmic event for Pakistan. Ms Bhutto was no ordinary person: internationally, she was one of the few Pakistanis who had instant name recognition; nationally, she was the leader of the only party that can genuinely claim countrywide support. When she returned to Pakistan in October 2007, she did so with every likelihood of returning to power through the ballot box. Could there be another death that deserved to be investigated as fully and as thoroughly as hers? And yet, a government led by her own party — with a PPP president, prime minister, interior adviser, attorney general and law minister — has shown an astonishing lack of commitment to any investigation. The official PPP line is that only the UN can fully investigate Ms Bhutto’s death, and that Pakistan is pressing for a commission to be set up at the earliest. But a year since the assassination, and eight months since the PPP-led government has been in power, this explanation is looking increasingly worn.

Leave aside the complications of assembling a UN investigation commission and its potential for future international interference in Pakistan; can this government not launch a parallel enquiry of its own? It is hardly unusual for multiple commissions and committees to probe an event of such magnitude. In the case of Ms Bhutto’s assassination, there are enough questions to occupy several investigations. Yet, from questions about the actual events at Liaquat Bagh to those about the links of the attackers to questions about the wider nexus between politics and terrorism, nothing about Ms Bhutto’s death has been probed by the government. Strangely, the government has even distanced itself from the trial of five men by an anti-terrorism court on charges of involvement in Ms Bhutto’s assassination, creating the peculiar situation of ATC-I Judge Chaudhry Habibur Rehman conducting the only trial related to the death, while the government is “waiting for the UN”, in the words of Law Minister Farooq Naek.

The public deserves better. Less than two months after Ms Bhutto’s assassination, 35 million Pakistanis voted in the February election and 30 per cent cast their vote for the PPP. The People’s Party leadership owes a debt to all those voters, whether they supported the party or otherwise, because they endorsed the democratic process — the only way the PPP can come to power. To sustain that process, the government must rebuild the public’s faith in a broken system of governance. But if a PPP government appears impotent to investigate its leader’s assassination, why should anyone have faith in democracy? By standing on the sidelines, the government is empowering the very forces that seek to destroy it. (Dawn, 28 Dec 2008)
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A poem for Palestine: Seraphim weep as children die

(picture from Sunday Times, 28 Dec 2008)

Israel yesterday (27 Dec 2008) launched its largest raid on Gaza with two waves of air attacks that killed at least 225 people and injured more than 700, according to Palestinian doctors. Children on their way home from school and policemen parading for a graduation ceremony were the principal victims of a bloody few hours that left the territory in flames.....

Read full story here

....

A poem for Palestine

....I started work on this poem over five years ago. I think I am going to let it go now. It is odd — not exactly a poem, but not exactly anything else either. The punctuation seems haphazard, as do line breaks and grouping techniques. But then again, this is Palestine we're talking about — Eretz Israel. I think I shall leave it be...

For Palestine, My home:

Seraphim weep as children die:
a tooth for tooth
an eye for eye
promised land? a piece of sand.
understand? don’t even try.

guns of death
stones of hate
brotherhood—
a twist of fate

devils laugh
the children die
mothers cry out
why, why, why?

God is just
and God is good
God just loves
the ones he should

Jacob love
and Esau hate,
Ishmael—the Devil’s bait

hear them cry
watch them die—
or, content, just pass them by

blood-drenched sand
atoning hand

God, oh God,
why, why, why?

Judgment Day
time to pay
innocence washed away
holy land
a piece of sand—

leave the bodies,
let them stay

in the land for which they died
with their brothers, side by side

a fence of wire
to kill the hope
the worlds conspire
the youth do cope:

this one dies, and that one dreams,
this one prays, and that one screams.

are they Arab, are they Jew?
God can’t tell—
Christian
why can you?

SalamShalom
the words of peace

but then the burning of release

and pain sears flesh like edge of fire—
God hears our hearts, and death desire.

hope runs dry
as children cry
“A tooth for tooth
An eye for eye!”


but blood drenched sand,
from God’s own hand,
will be the justice in the land

as shadows cross
and pierced lambs die

how long oh Lord, must Seraphim cry?

Source: Salam + Shalom
http://salemshalom.blogspot.com/2008/03/poem-for-palestine.html

.......

Some comments by ordinary Pakistanis:

Politicolysis Says:
December 27th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
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Olmert is correct. He will probably have success in avoiding a humanitarian crisis. If there are no humans left in the darn place, there won’t be a humanitarian crisis!

....

shimatoree Says:
December 27th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
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To all the champions of enlightened moderation and secularism and some who wish to adopt the ways of the West-
To all those who want to have Western Democracy

Just imagine how many extremists this attack has created. Many Mohammad Ata’s will rise from the deaths in Gaza. I do not know what sort of people are leading Israel and her supporters but you can say good bye to the wishful peace process of the Americans and it merely confirms what Bin Ladin has been saying.

...

Awais Says:
December 27th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
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I am mourning the loss of human life in Middle east.

But But we need to understand that Hammas and Israel are the face of a same coin.

Hammas rocket on Innocent civilian Jews strengthen the Israeli occupation and given Israel an opportunity to occupy and attack Gaza and in return the occupation and attack of Gaza {by Israel} gives Hammas an opportunity to get sympathy, money and new Recruits to fight Israel.

and people who are suffering are innocents sons of Abraham.

My simple Question Why Israel doesn’t attack West Back or Why West Bank {Muslims} don’t fire rockets on Israelis Jews.



I think there are Mad People on both sides who want to ‘Wipe each other from the face of the earth’

But we need to stand with the humanity.
A loss of Muslim Life is as condemnable as a loss of a Jews Life.

All Human are Equal.
and both evils {Israel & Hamas}


......

FahadAfridi Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 12:16 am
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Not Pakistan’s problem. Let the Arabs do their own thing.

.....

ksjadoon Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 12:54 am
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@FahadAfridi - please at least moral support, if you cannot do anything else at least you can pray for them.


.....

Jatt Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 1:10 am
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@FahadAfridi : Not Pakistan’s problem. Let the Arabs do their own thing.

Crimes and their Victims, regardless of where ever they happen to be are not less or more glorified becuase they are Jews,Indians,Pakistanis,Afghanis or even Arabs.

Here is a quote from ‘First they Came’.

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I was not a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

......

Ghost of TK says:

Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 1:19 am
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Did anyone ever wonder why 12 million jews have their bambboo up the arse of 1.2 BILLION Muslims?

Just think about it. Don’t be emotional.

Just sit down, make a cup of tea, and think about it. Give it 10 minutes of your un-emotional life.

And I protest this inhuman Israeli action, it’s horrible, but that’s all we can say right now.

We need to change strategy. Obviously the Jews are doing it WITHOUT having to blow themselves up. Why do our kids have to do it?

Ever think about it?

Wouldn’t you rather YOUR ENEMY was so desperate ? to live like animals rather than you? to be hunted like animals rather than you?

What is the difference?

And stop whining that we don’t follow our religion… Israels are fucking wicked assholes! It is not that they’re better jews than we are Muslims…

The solution lies somewhere else. It is in your head.

READ MOTHER VUCKERS! READ! AND WRITE IT ALL DOWN!

Time to be honest to ourselves…

.....

agrana75 Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 4:08 am
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The people who call themselves democratic champions and often talk about peace and condemn Islamic extremists and fundamentalists , now are you happy with the western so called civilization and democratic values? In fact we dont have the right to condemn israel or other powers behind this heinous act but we ourselves are responsible for that. Because until and unless we are not strong and realize our status we cannot stand against such aggressions and every one can threaten and destroy us..


...

FahadAfridi Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 7:08 am
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We have enough problems in our own backyard to worry about in-fighting among the Semitic races

...

we_are_nuts Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 8:21 am
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I know this is going to sound to harsh, but Pakistanis should give this issue as much attention as Palestinians and Arabs in general have given to the recent American airstrikes in Pakistan and their ‘utmost’ attention to the Kashmir issue.




I do want to point out that i used to defend the Palestinian cause ad nauseum but have changed my mind given the recent situation in Pakistan. If Pakistanis need to do anything for the Palestinians, it is pray. For more than that, Pakistan needs to be at least as strong as Iran INTERNALLY before going out on any adventures.

Pakistani ‘awam’ should also note that it was our great Islami sipha-e-salar General Zia-ul-Haq that went and killed hundreds if not thousands of Palestinians. So if his bakhiajat are here on this forum speweing hate and violence, for the sake of your leader, if you can’t do what he did, just don’t do anything….

...

Awais Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
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Is simple to understand that ‘the innocent civilians being killed in Both Israel and Gaza are wrong’

one wrong doesn’t justify an other wrong.

My Solution to this situation is that
“there MUST be a Peace keeping force in Gaza which MUST stop rockets being Fired to ward Israeli Civilians and MUST Stop Israeli bombardment of the innocent Gaza Civilians”

I think some one will have to finish the evil of Hammas out from Gaza.



Human Life is equal sacred as of Muslims, Hindu, Sikh, Jew or atheist.

Human loss of life is of same sadness and sorrow no matter if happen in Gaza, Israel, Twin Tower, Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan or any where in God’s earth.

“He who saved one life {irrespective of religion} saved the whole humanity and he who killed one life {irrespective of religion} killed the whole humanity”

with respect.
my friend you cannot kill innocent people {or fire rockets indiscriminately} in the name of “defending your land and the oppression of your people”



i am really sorry Hamas is neither the freedom fighters nor the ideal for Muslims.

they are barbaric killers of same ideology as of Israel.
“Kill innocent people in the name of land”

...

jazoo Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
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To claim a land on mad mischievous biblical claim 4000 years ago is not innocents.
Awaistien is confused or trying to confuse the whole issue about innocence.
Every Israeli by law is a compulsory soldier that leave a small minority as innocent.
Those who came from all over the world to settle in the homes & land of Palestinians, purpose is nothing but to create mischief, are not innocent either.
Awaistien does not like stone throwing kids & every now & then a missile fired from Hammas because such attacks have injured many Israelis & some of them are killed too–He must be concerned at occasional suicide attacks because such attacks kill sometimes as many as 13 Israelis.
So Awaistien thinks its logical Israel kill 100 Palestinians for every Israeli killed & Bulldozing their homes & taking the roofs & shelters away from Palestinian kids & families is also the result of stone throwing atrocities by their kids.

...

gditpp Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
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Inalillah e wa in alehay rajayoon

World is in the midst of Clash of the Rightist: Zionists, Hindutva preachers, Evalenglical Christian fundamentalisits and Muslim religious fanatics.

Rather than becoming the fooder of a misadeventure, we have to put our house in order and prepare and equip ourselves before taking on others.

We need to stop following the foot steps of militants like Syed Ismael, Mehdi Sudani, Akhwan and its offspring Hammas, Jamaat and its off spring Taleban and the Alqaeda and start following in the foot steps of reformers and modernist like Sir Syed, Jinnah, Mahatir and Bhutto.

...

Mohsin Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
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Do you know USA and Euorope pay all of the wages to employees in Gaza. And most of the employees belongs to Hamas.

Either stop taking aid from USA and Euorope or Keep their mouth shut. And to be a Khusraa Army like a Pak Army which takes 100 Million Dollar Every month and also cry like a baby when drone attacks.


...

Awais Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
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@Jazooo

“Every Israeli by law is a compulsory soldier that leave a small minority as innocent.”

what a rubbish argument then according to your same argument “every Muslims is a Mujahid by religion.”

so will its justify killing all Muslims as per religion.????

not at all.

so come up with some sane arguments.

Hamas, LeT, Taliban, Jaish-e-mohammad, Hizbollah, Spiah-e-sahabah, Ikhwan, Jammat-e-Islami, all the different faces of a coin.



Israelis has used this strategy {of Violence} for years it hasn’t worked.

Palestinians has use this strategy {of Violence} for years its hasn’t worked.

So i think they need to change that.
there MUST be someone who could STOP both Isreali terrorists and terrorists of Hammas.


....

Ghost of TK says:

Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
comment-top

I think we need to stop fighting amongst each other and see what we can do in terms of concrete steps to register protest. We can fight the ideological fights later.

Here is my suggestions

1. Write to lawmakers. Pick up a pen & paper please. Explain the situation, tell them why YOU think it’s wrong!

2. Boycott Israeli products. Learn to identify them and try to convince others.

3. Write to Israeli Consul general. Send them Both the pictures of Ghaza victims and Holocaust victims. Write an actuall letter, not emails. It is easy to filter emails.

We talk a lot be we don’t even know what barcodes identify Israeli products. How they hide their products under different guises.

To all the people living outside of Pak+Middle east, this is the least you can do.


...

jazoo Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
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@Awaistien

Every Muslim could be a Mujahid but not Oppressor & Occupier of a Land which does not belong to him.
I am not justifying killing–I am against justifying their existence there in the first place.
They do not belong there–They are there for mischief–They should go back to Russia & Europe & USA, where they come from.
Those settlers have proven they are devoid of human feelings–A normal human being can not sleep at night when he know he has captured someone’s else home & that someone else & his kidz are sleeping under sky because there homes are bulldozed.

...

jazoo Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
comment-top

@Mohsin wrote
“Do you know USA and Euorope pay all of the wages to employees in Gaza. And most of the employees belongs to Hamas.”

This is the arrangement for illegal state of Israel–Aid given to Israel has small portion for Plaestinians and that aid is not directly given by USA & Europe–it goes through Israel.
This arrangement was necessary to stop Paletinians getting aid from other Muslim countries which happened recently when aid from Iran & KSA was blocked by Israel & Israel also refuse to give Plaestinians their minimal portion they rcvd from USA & Europe.
I would love to see Mohsin coming out with same gesture of ignorance when his family is thrown out of their home & those who occupy his home are given $95 & he is paid $5 for his inconvenience.


...

Awais Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
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@jazoooo
this your argument is not true
“They do not belong there–They are there for mischief”

this wrong.
they were there much before Islam or Christianity was born.

but even then i dnt think this is an augment.
The things is both are sons of Abraham they must live peacefully with each.

as they are living in all around the world.
The land of Middle east belongs to Allah who is the God of both Muslims and Jews.

...

jazoo Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
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@Awais wrote
“there MUST be someone who could STOP both Isreali terrorists and terrorists of Hammas.”

You look more miserable with your even handed approach.
Muslim does not have history of violence against Jews–Christian does.
Newsweek in one of its issue has raised this question–why Jews are enemy of Muslims.
As per Newsweek issue–Three times Christians have thrown Jews out of Jerusalem & all the three times Muslims have opened the gate of Jerusalem for them.
First it was Umar bin Khattab(ra) who allowed them in Jerusalem then perhaps if I can recall correctly it was Tariq bin Ziad or Salahuddin Ayubi & third time today’s Palestinians.
Theres no history of Muslim animosity towards Jews as compared to Christians.


@awais wrote

“they were there much before Islam or Christianity was born.”

As per new civilization under UN Chartered that land does not belong to them.
If you are talking about biblical approach then I am sorry to say when it comes to Islam you are secular but for Zionism you believe in religious commandment.
Make up your mind–are you a secular muslim but religious Zionist–I know one thing for sure–You are pathetic.


...

Awais Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
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jazoo

come on
As per UN State of Israel is a Legitimate state now.

I dnt support State of Israel but you need to be fair to them as well.
State of Is real is as terrorists as Hammas.
but there is a difference between state of Israel and Jews living in Israel. Same as between Hammas and the innocent civilians of Gaza.

the problem for all of us is that people like you, Israel and Hammas fail to differentiate that.


...

Awais Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
comment-top

@jazoo

my question to you is why Israel doesn’t attack West Bank {or Vice Versa}.


...

#
netengr Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
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Why people do not have the same reaction when taliban or muslim groups kill thousand of people .the same day we have bomb blast in bannu where more then 50 innocent muslims killed by militant .In saudi arabia there is special dua for the destroy of jews .I still cant understand that the life or the human or muslim should be equal .the “zulm ” is either by muslims or jews etc should have the same reaction by muslims
comment-bottom
#
Awais Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
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yes i agree with netengr

none of these, who are supporting the Hammas and their acts, reacted the same way when a succide bomber killed 180-220 people in Karachi in Oct 2007.

they didn’t gave same reaction when Suicide Mujaheddin killed people at Mariot, Bombay, Wah Cannt, Peshawer or Twin Towers.

‘Zulm’ is ‘zulm’ no matter done by Jews, Christians or faithful Muslims.


...

Ghost of TK says:

December 28th, 2008 at 5:11 pm

@netengr: Why do you hate Islam? Do you not know that the blessed attackers in Bannu were mujahids who are fighting against the Kuffur of the Pakistani State?

So what if 50 people were killed? They are also collateral shaheed. Also do you not see that the Bannu attack shook the foundations of the Zulm-o-Istibdaad of the Zionist Agent Pakistani Regime? Fully 2 motorcycles (100cc each) were destroyed in this Ghazva.

Don’t be on the wrong side of history! Blow yourself up Today! Offer ends this century. Some conditions apply.

,......

Utmankhel1 Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
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Just to complete the picture here,

35 shaheed in Buner

2 killed in Waziristan

14 afghan kids among the 16 killed in Afghanistan

I dont know whether to add them to the toll in palestine,s casualties or subtract them from. However, i thought it necessary to be mentioned them as well….. they were humans and muslims as well, though somewhat cheap, as i have read express newspaper and there the headline was 200 palestinians shaheed but when they will write about the Buner’s casualties tomorrow i doubt they would call them shaheed. Let’s see ………


...

Awais Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
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“JAzoo
your answer

“Because Elected leadership of all Palestinians which is known as Hammas, has its headquarter situated in Ghaza”

is not true as well.
Hamas got 440,409 votes while alFateh got 410,554 votes.

so it doesn’t represent all the Palestinians.

secondly the honest answer to the question {why Israel don’t attack West bank {or why West Bank Palestinians who as Palestinians as Gazans are attack on Israel} is that the people In charge of west bank have realized that the solution to this problem is a 2 state theory living side by side peacefully all Palestinians has agreed to it in OSLO ACCORD.

...

Awais Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
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my solution is that

UN should sent a peace keeping force to GAZA that MUST stop the rocket towards Israel and also MUST stop Israeli incursion to Gaza territory.

....

Ghost Of TK Says:
December 29th, 2008 at 12:01 am
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This was a litmus test for Obama to test out his ‘loyalties’ as it were, and it happened with the connivance of Mahmood Abbas, the Saudi D!cksuckers and the Egyptian d!cksuckers. Israel is cutting Hamas (its own creation) down to size before Fatah takes over both parts and they talk longterm ‘peace’.

This is why Obama is quiet too.

And to top it all off, a “blessed suicide bomber” walked into a demonstration against the Gaza Attacks in Mosul, and blew himself the fvck up.

Way to fight the enemies, MORONS! just blow yourself up! that’s right boy! just BLLLOW yourself up!

Maybe the fvcknut proponents, sympathizers and defenders of suicide bombings on this forum would like to explain this one to us fools who just can’t fathom the sacred depths of this shithole cesspool of denial they call their “jihad”!

happy fvcking new year dipshits! (and next year, try coming up with strategies THAT DO NOT INVOLVE BLOWING YOURSELVES UP! FFS!)

....
Read more...

Pakistan's so-called free press has become a beggar's market where cheap and shoddy journalism is sold to the highest bidder....

Who will Bell the Bad, Fat Cats?

Shaheen Sehbai
January 5, 2000

This article has been submitted for publication to all major newspapers in Pakistan
Every one in the present morally, intellectually and financially depleted Pakistan -- the print media and its well-entrenched "gurus" among the foremost --- is shouting from the roof top for accountability of every one else. Yet no one has seriously demanded, nor does any one appear to be contemplating, any accountability of the media itself.

Accountability of the media should, under ordinary circumstances, be conducted by peers of the profession in terms of its moral, professional and intellectual integrity. But in the lopsided Pakistani context, financial accountability of journalists, columnists, newspaper owners, publishers and editors also needs to be promptly and urgently undertaken and that would require intervention of the State investigative apparatus.

Accountability to determine integrity should not just include professional and financial conduct of journalists but it should also try to understand the reasons why objective journalism and traditional professional journalists are fast becoming an extinct breed and almost all opinion writing, analysis and interpretation work has been taken over by "lateral entrants" --- people who had no journalistic training, who never went through the mill, who acquired writing skills doing something else and when they failed in their professions, took refuge in journalism.

These "lateral entrants" mostly comprise ambitious generals, politicians, bureaucrats, technocrats and opportunists, all masquerading as journalists, opinion makers and columnists of the highest order. Most of them have no reporting or editing skills and some appear to even have been planted by vested interests. It is common knowledge in Islamabad that at least two well known editors of the now-defunct Daily ‘Muslim’ were nominees of the military establishment, including one who became an ambassador and another who graduated to be a federal minister.

That most of them had, and still have, political ambitions and hidden agendas has never been concealed by them, as their current or past conduct would show. Many of them have virtually "used" journalism as a stepping stone to achieve their political and/or financial goals. Names in this category are numerous and if these big names are removed from the present spectrum of editors, leading op-ed writers, columnists, commentators and leader writers, newspapers would appear to be barren.

The purpose of this piece is not to condemn any one for his or her views and opinion nor does this piece encompass all the problems that journalism faces in Pakistan, specially the ills created by yellow journalism and a "free-for-all" attitude to Press freedoms. Yet one specific purpose is to pin point those who have been continuously "using" or "abusing" journalism for their own ends.

Some of these leading lights of present-day journalism in Pakistan are so brazen and unabashed in their pursuit of profit, politics or power, that they seem to have lost their sense and powers of judgement. They exercise their biased judgements only if their own political interests are served. They never measure their own conduct by the yardstick with which they measure everybody else in their writings.

Since all accountability processes began in the country from the cut off date of mid 80s, looking at the media scene in these 15 years brings up a horde of opportunists and power-grabbers, who have been rampaging the newspapers and their columns in one form or the other.

The best way to start such a process would be for the leading stars of the profession to present their own assets and liabilities to the public, like the Chief Executive and other services chiefs have done. One or two journalists have done that already but generally there is deafening silence. That would set the stage for authorities to go into their financial conduct. Newspaper owners and their families, some very high profile editors and some upstarts who overnight became millionaires after they turned editors and publishers, would have to answer a lot of messy questions.

The integrity check should simultaneously be launched by the peers of the profession at whatever forum they think would be appropriate. Perhaps this first hurdle may be the only big hurdle and may never be crossed.

The peers, naturally those who come out unscathed and "clean", should sit down to formulate lists of those who have been publicly demonstrating a lack of intellectual, moral and professional integrity. Big names like Minhaj Barna, Mushahid Hussain, Maleeha Lodhi, Wajid Shamsul Hassan, Nazir Naji, Ataul Haq Qasmi, Ayaz Amir, Hussain Haqqani, Irshad Ahmed Haqqani, Najam Sethi, Nasim Zehra, Jamiluddin Aali and many others who sought or accepted political, diplomatic or government jobs, or joined political parties as activists, should be asked to explain why they did not quit journalism to do so and why they continued to use the profession to get, keep or regain lucrative jobs or positions of power. How do they retain, or claim to retain, their objectivity and credibility, once they have demonstrated their political ambitions. In the least they should have apologised to the profession.

Some of them have been going in and out of journalism so frequently as if the profession was a revolving door only to be used when they needed a push to restore their lost position of political, economic or administrative influence and power.

Some others, like the once-revered Minhaj Barna, who led the trade union movement of journalists and whose "Barna Group" of Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists still exists, accepted so petty, temporary and at times demeaning jobs that the entire profession could only hang its head in shame. Scenes when stalwarts of the profession like him were seen waiting outside offices of petty bureaucrats in Islamabad’s corridors of power, to get an extension of their foreign assignment were, to say the least, despicable, bringing no merit to Pakistani journalism.

I would never forget a supposedly well known name in today's op-ed pages who, in order to "please" a lady ambassador in Washington, turned himself into her private photographer and started taking her pictures with all those present at a grand farewell dinner thrown at her official residence. For three hours this newspaper columnist behaved like a personal privately hired professional. He even carried his "act of sycophancy" to the next day at the airport where people went to see her off, clicking rolls and rolls of pictures with the ambassador sitting, standing, waving and smiling at every Tom, Dick, Harry and Larry. Even junior embassy staffers started making jokes about this senior journalist and his "buttering skills". To his ultimate disgrace, he was never obliged by the slick ambassador, despite his publicly self-demeaning conduct. But later these very skills worked well with the successor political government and he landed a cushy government job in Islamabad. The moment the government was ousted, his columns started attacking his previous employers. Still he retains his claim to be an "impartial and objective" analyst and writer and does not include himself in the long list of trapeze artists that crowd the media circus in Pakistan.

Pakistan's so-called free press is on the verge of becoming, or has already become, a beggar's market where cheap and shoddy journalism is sold to the highest bidder --- whether political or military --- and thus the sellers get unprecedented access to power corridors. Many in Pakistan's print and news media seem to have forgotten their responsibilities as guardians of the truth. It has therefore to be decided: whether these political aspirants, masquerading as journalists, deserve to be given the status of "objective commentators"; whether what they dish out every day as "informed opinion" or "dispassionate analysis" should be presented to the readers as material worthy of credit; and whether the value of transparency is not irreparably compromised.

Financial accountability of journalists has to take place parallel to what the peers may decide to do and for that the government sleuths have to determine how small-time reporters turned overnight into millionaires, newspapers owners and big-time real estate tycoons.

Tax accountability will demonstrate the fraud Pakistani journalism has evolved into. Tax collectors should go into the records of "overnight millionaire journalists" to determine whether, for example, the life style of some of the big names match what they have been paying into the exchequer, whether the properties they have built in short spans of time match the incomes, or losses, of their otherwise unprofitable newspaper organisations.

Cases of open and blatant government cash handouts to favourite journalists, newspapers and news agencies are no secret in Islamabad and Lahore. A deceased news agency owner, a small time reporter not long ago, was awarded two costly plots of land in Lahore to set up his news agency by the first Nawaz Sharif administration. The agency still claims to be "independent" but always dishes out planted stories that suit the rulers of the day. Open and blatant black mailing tactics by some vernacular newspapers were hated by every political government and party but no one ever tried to curb their activities, fearing an exposure. Only an honest and strong government could tackle these profiteering rags.

While the peers of the profession and the state probers look into the conduct of the mediamen, the editors and publishers should also carry out a simultaneous process of introspection to determine how other outsiders --- opportunists and ambition-hunters --- have used the print media for achieving political goals that would otherwise not be achievable.

This category would include a long list of uniformed generals, air marshals and admirals, retired bureaucrats and technocrats, many of whom were shunted out in disgrace --- sinners of the past, who would just not quit, and continue to impose themselves on the nation in one form or the other. Politicians have also been trying frequently to use the media to stage a come back when they lost the game on their own wicket.

The spearheads of this list would be stalwarts like Altaf Gauhar from the bureaucracy and Lt. Gen. K.M. Arif from the khakis. But in politics, not only Benazir Bhutto has been trying to regularly push her case of innocence through op-ed pieces, even her famous one-time house-maid Naheed Khan got at least a couple of articles published in obliging newspapers to include her name in the list of those who could be seen brandishing the media sword. That was like adding salt to the injury.

I vividly recall my first encounter with Lt. General (Retd) K.M. Arif in Washington D.C. when I saw him at the Carnegie Institute, while he was here with the then opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, US columnist Mansoor Ijaz and Editor Najam Sethi to speak at a conference on nuclear proliferation in South Asia. I had always carried one question for the general which I had wished I could ask him. That day I did. We were standing in a small group of some five or six people including the then Assistant Secretary of State Robin Raphael and the then ambassador Maleeha Lodhi during the tea break, when I asked: "Have you, General, ever thought of apologising to the people of Pakistan for the years and years of rape of democracy and institutions that you committed in collusion with military dictator General Zia ul Haq, virtually as his No 2."

The General was thunder struck. Face distorted, he tried to compose himself for a few anxious seconds and then said he would like to take a cup of coffee and moved away from the group. That general is one of the most outspoken authority on democracy and foreign affairs in our newspapers today and has just been named as a member of the think tank on foreign affairs by General Musharraf. His appointment can best be described as the most apt example of insulting the collective intelligence of the people. If he is not punished for what he did to democracy, he should at least have been banished from giving sermons on democracy and good governance in newspaper columns.

The list of foreign and home-based technocrats and experts on economy, sciences and geo-strategic subjects, who pushed their resumes through newspaper columns, would also not be a small one. Some may have achieved their objectives. What they did could probably not be called objectionable, but if they did so in collusion with newspaper editors and owners who now expect to be rewarded because the aspirant expert has assumed political power, it would be patently unethical and against professional integrity.

While carrying out this exercise of accountability by the peers and by the state apparatus, it should not be forgotten that journalism has always been proud of many who have remained spotless, intellectually and financially, despite the most adverse of conditions in their professional and personal lives. They would definitely emerge as the "clean peers" that we desperately need for self-cleansing.

Among those the profession has to remain forever thankful, are late Mazhar Ali Khan, A.T.Choudhri, Khwaja Asif, Nisar Osmani, Razia Bhatti and Maulana Salahuddin [the notorious protege of General Zia and Jamaat Islami] besides living legends like Ahmed Ali Khan and Zamir Niazi. Some very respectable names like Aziz Siddiqi, I.A. Rehman, S.G.M. Badruddin, A.B.S. Jafri, Salim Asmi, H.K. Burki, Munno Bhai, Hussain Naqi, and the present younger lot of many hard core professionals who have turned down all inducements and bribes, plots and privileges to remain honest and upright journalists, also need recognition.

These leading lights should do something to clean up journalism or what is left of it as a growing cesspool.

http://www.chowk.com/articles/4687
Read more...

Was Mumbai the Kargil 2?Joining the jigsaw puzzle. Incriminating evidence against the unholy nexus between ISI and jihadi/sectarian forces in Pakistan

Was Mumbai the Kargil 2?

What is Pakistan Army/ISI upto this time?

Incriminating evidence against the unholy nexus between ISI and jihadi/sectarian forces in Pakistan

Spare a few minutes in reading the following various reports. Pause and reflect for little while. Try to connect various pieces of the jigsaw puzzle to trace the unholy nexus between the ISI and sectarian/jihadi militants in Pakistan.

Wake up Pakistani nation. It is time to save democracy. It is time get rid of extremism and violence, the evil legacy of General Zia.

.........

What happened to Pir Samiullah's body is a dangerous symbolism, because to many people in Swat it was wilfully permitted by the Army.

Hanging a dead pir – By Farhat Taj

http://letusbuildpakistan.blogspot.com/2008/12/what-happened-to-pir-samiullahs-body-is.html


…..

Indian military retaliation would play straight into LeT’s hands. - Praful Bidwai
There is no military option

http://letusbuildpakistan.blogspot.com/2008/12/indian-military-retaliation-would-play.html

….

India not the real enemy; militancy is - By Ayaz Amir
Will hypocrites such as Imran Khan and Qazi Hussain Ahmed listen to this sane voice?

http://letusbuildpakistan.blogspot.com/2008/12/india-not-real-enemy-militancy-is-by.html

……..


Toying with terrorism - Kamila Hyat reveals ISI's close association with the Taliban
Thursday, December 25, 2008 (The News)

http://letusbuildpakistan.blogspot.com/2008/12/toying-with-terrorism-by-kamila-hyat.html

……

Barbarism in Swat - By Khurshid Khan

SWAT’S Sangota Public School was blown to smithereens on Oct 7, 2008 — a dark day in the history of the area.

http://letusbuildpakistan.blogspot.com/2008/12/barbarism-in-swat.html

….

Unchecked fanaticism in NWFP and the criminal silence of Pakistan’s religious parties -(Dawn, Editorial)

http://letusbuildpakistan.blogspot.com/2008/12/unchecked-fanaticism-in-nwfp-and.html

……….

Barbarians at the gate - by Ghazi Salahuddin

http://letusbuildpakistan.blogspot.com/2008/12/barbarians-at-gate.html

…..

Is Pakistan a failed state? What is the relationship between ISI and jihadis? Do Pakistanis love Mullahs? An interesting analysis by Muhammad Hanif
BBC Urdu dot com

http://letusbuildpakistan.blogspot.com/2008/12/is-pakistan-failed-state-what-is.html

……..

Evidence of ISI's continued support for terrorism and sectarianism....Where is the suicide bomber Shakiel al-La'l ? 'ISI killing US troops in Afghanistan' – various reports

http://letusbuildpakistan.blogspot.com/2008/12/evidence-of-isis-continued-support-for.html

……..

Why did the Taliban in Swat exhume Pir Samiullah’s body... Because Pir was from Barelvi sect, and was opposed to the Taliban's militant activities...

by Delawar Jan

http://letusbuildpakistan.blogspot.com/2008/12/why-did-taliban-in-swat-exhume-pir.html

……

Why is ISI protecting Masood Azhar? What is the linkage between ISI, Jaish-e-Muhammad and Sipah-e-Sahaba? Various reports….

http://letusbuildpakistan.blogspot.com/2008/12/why-is-isi-protecting-masood-azhar-what.html

….

The double-cross role of ISI and Talibans in Pakistan's tribal areas. What do ordinary, informed Pakistanis think?

What do ordinary Paksitanis think about the role of ISI and Mullahs in terrorist activities in and outside Pakistan? Some comments:

http://letusbuildpakistan.blogspot.com/2008/12/double-cross-role-of-isi-and-talibans.html

…

Jihadi and Jasoosi cocktail in Pakistan - By Hasan Mujtaba of BBC Urdu dot com; Also comments on the movie "The Convoy of Death"

An interesting piece on Mullah Military Alliance (ISI-Jihadi Alliance) in Pakistan.

http://letusbuildpakistan.blogspot.com/2008/12/jihadi-and-jasoosi-cocktail-in-pakistan.html


…….

Was the Mumbai attack the Kargil 2? Does ISI wan to topple the democratic government of President Zardari in Pakistan? How can the UN help Pakistan?

An interesting conversation between some educated Pakistanis

http://letusbuildpakistan.blogspot.com/2008/12/was-mumbai-attack-kargil-2-does-isi-wan.html

…………

Nawaz Sharif says Ajmal Kasab from Faridkot, Pakistan

http://letusbuildpakistan.blogspot.com/2008/12/nawaz-sharif-says-ajmal-kasab-from.html
Read more...

A poem for Benazir Bhutto - and some comments by ordinary Pakistanis

Benazir Bhutto (21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007)

In Memoriam

We are prepared to risk our lives, But we are not prepared to surrender our great nation to the militants. - Benazir Bhutto

Hideous serpents hissed and recoiled,
Mesmerized by your homecoming,
Obvious of your mighty presence.
Forked-tongues darting out,
Poised for the final kill.

The bang that butchered over a hundred bodies,
The road that ignited with flesh and blood,
Did little to deter your determination,
Nor shake your spirit,
To build our half-ravaged cities,
And rekindle the hearts of your poor folks.

They stalked you all along,
Like a homeless hunter
Far from the hills,
Breathing in silence,
Camouflaged in crowds.

Yes, indeed you knew them all-
Those cut-throat thugs with lolling tongues,
Militants within, militants without, Al-Qaida,Talibans,
Who knows what?

There is something rotten in the state of Pakistan………..
They rise in congregation,
Grubby boots, imbecile minds,
Broken promises, lidless eyes.

M. Azim Khan
6, Gulmohar Road
University Town
Peshawar

Also read:

Habib Jalib: Benazir Bhutto - Darte hain bandooqon walay....

Benazir Bhutto: Mein Baghi Hoon - I am a rebel

Some comments:

gditpp Says:
December 27th, 2008 at 10:46 am
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BB was a rare phenomena, a valiant female politician in a male dominated society. She was the ace anti mulla, anti establishment figure of her age. She was the embodiment of a Democratic, Federal Pakistan. She was leading progressive, left of the centre figure in Pakistani politics. She was a symbol of hope to the poor and the down trodden of the country. Yet at the same time she was an international figure whose sane voice was listened world over. Her presence on the international scene gave Pakistan a soft image.

Aaj phir dil main teri khoi hoi yaad aai
Jaisay veeranay main chupkay say bahar a jaey
Jaisay sehraoon main hoolay say chalay baad e nasim
Jaisay bimaar ko bewajhay qarar aa jaey

We miss you BB.


Three popular, civilian, democratically elected Prime Ministers have been killed brutally within 2 Km of GHQ, Is it a mere coincidence?

....

Fahim23 Says:
December 27th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
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She was highly educated, gorgeous, brilliant, and most hard working politician of Pakistan. The tragedies and trauma she went through (Father hanged, brothers murdered, mother has nervous breakdown, husband imprisoned, and herself being accused of almost everything), it was only Mohtarma who could have dealt with it and not only dealt with it but emerged as the toweing and unquestioned leader of largest political party of Pakistan.

Her capabilities are not only acknowledged by her supporters but also by her critics.

The party workers and activist miss her unfailing ability to keep in touch with them through emails/telephone calls, cards and letters.

Great leaders are given as gifts to the nation and taken away or stopped as punishment.

....

dara Says:
December 27th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
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We as nation and as individuals have lost the war in our minds. we have surrendered to barbarianism and to animals who do not believe in humanity.
Benazir was only leader we had who was not only against that extremism but also was fighting against the constant factor ( establishment) who has been using extremism to their advatage.
She was murdered by combination of extremist maniacs (zia’s Bakiat) in establishment and one extremist group.
I believe those who have been trying to prove that extremists and terrorists are justified should also stop sending their daughters to schools.
The greatest conspiracy against Islam is in action where dictators like Shah family in Saudia and Husni Mubarik of Egypt have been supported by the west where as they want us to waist our energies in fighting like Talibans and others.
We need to establish and give strength to democracy in Pakistan as this will not only take us out of such a horrible times but will be a beacon of hope for other Muslim nations.


...

pejamistri Says:
December 27th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
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Hasan Mujtaba on BB

http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/miscellaneous/story/2008/12/081227_hassan_column_as.shtml

جبیب جالب کی اس بہادر نہتی لڑکی کا، جسکے سامنے فوجیں نہیں ٹھہر سکتی تھیں‘ تصور بھی اس دور میں بنا تھا جب وہ حزب مخالف کی لیڈر تھیں۔ وگرنہ جبیب جالب ہی نے اقتدار میں آنیوالی بنیظیر کے پہلے دور حکومت میں لکھا تھا:
وہی حالات ہیں فقیروں کے
دن پھرے ہیں تو بس وزیروں کے
کتنے بلاول ہیں دیس میں مقروض
پاؤں ننگـے ہیں بینظیروں کے۔‘

لیکن انہی دنوں میں ملتان کے قریب کھیتوں میں کپاس چننے والی عورتوں کے خیالات مجھ سے اور حبیب جالب سے مختلف تھے۔

انہوں نے ایک صحافی سے کہا تھا: ’نظیراں ( بینظیر) سے جاکر کہنا ہمارے پائوں ننگے سہی ، ہم بھوکے اور غریب سہی لیکن وہ اسی طرح ٹی وی پر آتی رہے اور ہم اسے ہر روز اسی طرح دیکھتے رہیں۔‘

For.... I can assure you I know such ladies who would not mind hunger and poverty but would love BB and like to watch her on TV …. haha…. I want to hear something about such ladies …. and then would like to give a lecture on democracy’s principle of “Collective Decision Making” and “Equality in Intellect while making national decision” …. but first need some criticism on those “illiterate, uneducated , poor” ladies working in the farm , any volunteers???

.....

Awais Says:
December 27th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
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these “illiterate, uneducated, poor ladies” had some thing called ’street wisdom’ which most of the Literates, educated middle class or rich people lack.

that’s why these “illiterate, uneducated, poor ladies” never supported any Mullah or a dictator.
its was these “illiterate, uneducated, poor ladies” who stood against Zia-ul-Haq when all so called ‘Literate, educated, middle class or rich intellectuals’ were calling him
‘Merd-e-momin’
‘merd-e-Haq’




these “illiterate, uneducated, poor ladies” voted for PPP when all Midlle class was thinking that they should boycott the elections.

these “illiterate, uneducated, poor ladies” Voted for Benazir and made her first ever elected women PM of Pakistan {an Islamic country} when all middle class, religious Right was discussing ‘is it permissible in Islam for a women to be a PM in an Islamic State’



Its is because of these “illiterate, uneducated, poor ladies” that the Mullahs , military or dictators always run away from elections because they know what will be the result.

Thats why all Mullahs want to impose Islam by all other means except democracy.


...

pejamistri Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 12:09 am
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@MTC

In a world that made sense, these women, any by extension poor PPP Bhutto-freaks, would have questioned their immediate superiors in the party hierarchy for everything that went wrong in the PPP. They would and should have gotten involved and set the party to rights.

That’s what I wanted to hear. The poor ladies did not know what it means by oligarchy, plutocracy and democracy , ahhh poor souls did not know what Aristotle told , but there was one “feudal” who once came to their village and told them that the decision that government makes is based on their vote , one person one vote…. since then whenever they get a chance they vote for Bhuttos they know that they are making their decision and their vote does count :)………….
By the way when you get a chance read about Ismat BB , she has some more to tell about democracy :)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/pakistan/story/2008/12/081226_bb_mazar_ppl_rh.shtml

.....

Ghost of TK says:

Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 12:13 am
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@peja:

For @GoTK and @MTC I can assure you I know such ladies who would not mind hunger and poverty but would love BB and like to watch her on TV …. haha…. I want to hear something about such ladies …. and then would like to give a lecture on democracy’s principle of “Collective Decision Making” and “Equality in Intellect while making national decision” …. but first need some criticism on those “illiterate, uneducated , poor” ladies working in the farm , any volunteers???

I fail to see the point of your previous post aside from provocation stemming from boredom during the holiday season.

First of all, I resent the implication that somehow I don’t consider these women to be “worthy” of something or other. To the contrary.

Nothing could be further from the truth. As a matter of fact, I speak for the empowerment of these very same downtrodden people by giving them a democratic choice to select their village/town/chak/tehsil/etc. party leaders and to allow them to select this very own idol of theirs (Benazir then, and Bilawal and…ummm.. Zardaro Ach Thoo! now ?) in a party convention.

I can understand their intuitive love for a woman leader and I can see that they yearn for empowerment through a leader, whose obligation it was to make sure that the members of PPP got this basic right in the party ranks, but who instead chose to play games with the kleptocracy in the name of “practicality” starting with the 1988 elections.

What I do not understand is you quoting these women, while you sir, are the person who does not tire of presenting lame excuses against internal party democracy which would actually empower the very same disadvantaged supporters of PPP.

Not for some real reason but because there is some dungeons-n-dragons phantasy game of Good vs. Evil being fought between “The establishment” and “Zardari in command of the virtuous riders of rohan!” And god forbid midgets like me or MTC should disturb the playborad by asking for grassroots democracy… IN A PARTY FIGHTING FOR FVCKING DEMOCRACY!!!!!

The best tribute to the Bhutto Myth would have been to organize, engage, empower and democratize these very same poor people who give their everything for that myth! To give them a feeling of participation.

..

mengla says:

Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 12:27 am
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So Nawaz Sharif, Imran Khan, Qazi Hussain Ahmad, Gen. Gul, Maulana Sami ul Haq and countless other anti-PPP leaders continue to admire Benazir Bhutto as ‘hypocrites’, right. Right?! Oh, that is ‘just politics’. Right?

I am not even going to mention the millions who have loved Benazir for her courage and sacrifices and they include not just the poor who are rediculed by many shameless Zia’s Baqiat’s on this board but also people from all walks of life in Pakistan and abroad, both rich and poor, educated and illiterate, pious and sinners.

A more educated Anniversary post and responses–not all positive, by the way, could be seen at:
http://pakistaniat.com/2008/12/27/benazir-bhutto-assasination-anniversary/

Rest in peace Benazir. We deeply mourn you. We mourn you and the world mourns while the patron saint of the urban ingrats of this forum lies unnoticed in the majestic grave of King Faisal Mosque in Islamabad.

The verdict of history is already delivered–today.

.......

Fahim23 Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 1:14 am
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Leaving aside numerous accusations/allegations on PPP and especially its leadership, one thing that no fair student of Pakistani politics would disagree with is that ZAB and PPP gave voice and power to the poor and downtroaden people of our country. The rerhi wala, hari, mazdoor, driver for the first time in history of Pakistan were involved in the state affairs.

Zulfi’s vision and character does not need any endorsement from me or you. He is in history and history will decide who and what he was (and it already has in many ways, both the foes and friends of PPP are forced to admit the greatness of ZAB and BB). Same is true for Benazir Bhutto. If someone can give one’s life for a cause there must be some genuine sincerity in their struggle and for that I respect both of them who died looking into the eyes of the death. That is the courage and only honest and sincere people can have that kind of courage…Trust me!!!

The so called educated, drawing room intellectuals have mostly been against PPP and they conviniently forget that, PPP is not all about Bhuttos. In my opinion if this party is alive since last 40 years and winning is more because of the sincere, selfless, courageous and brave workers thn anybody else. They have genuinely give blood for this country and fought with the jurnails who fortunately now are abhored by majority of the nation. The so called educated elite has just recently realized dictatorship is the curse not cure, while the illiterate PPP supporters have always been fighting against it. It was the same illiterate who gave Quaid-e-Azam the power to earn country for us.

I bet most of the learned scholars at this forum will not even be aware of the sacrifices and services rendered by the political workers of PPP for this country and quickly jump to ridicule, humiliate and abuse the street wisdom and boast about thr “intellectual superiority”. In my opinion it is the so called educated elite that has harmed Pakistan most thn anybody else.

It is not surprising if AZ is accused of plotting assassination of Mohtarma sitting in Dubai and thn smoothly becoming President with the help of all major political parties of Pakistan. There were people who were 200% sure that Karsaz blast was political stunt of BB, as she was power hungry and killed her father, brothers and poisoned her mother to become chairperson of PPP.

Criticism is not wrong infact it is essential for improvement. But criticism for the sake of criticism is destructive. One can have many disagreements with Zardari or any of the PPP leader. But we should all own as no matter what AZ and PPP is the Pakistani. If AZ is found guilty of anything by free and fair trial, no one will have problem if he pays for his crimes. But we should not let our hatered, bias and jealousy dictate us to single out any single personality or party

....

Fahim23 Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 1:53 am
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@Ghost of TK

Your criticism on PPP that it does not regularly hold party elections to elect its chairperson or co-chairperson is very valid. I hope you know that at lower level it regularly hold elections and after BB’s unfortunate demise it should have elected new chairman through genuine party elections. And I would agree with you that it is not the divine right of Bhuttos to rule this party and no one can defend or justify it.

But let me present you the another prespective or reasons (Not justifications) in my assessment why PPP or other political parties have not been able to hold regular elections within the party for thr.

1- I hope you would agree that throughout human history and especially in our culture the son inherits his father legacy (financially as well as professionally). The son of carpenter mostly becomes carpenter, son of musician most probably becomes musician. Similarly if your parents/elders are involved in politics naturally you are going to be influenced by them and you are more likely to succeed in that field.

2- In case of PPP when it was founded the ZAB was elected unanimously as its leader. When ZAB was imprisoned by Zia he nominated Sheikh rasheed as party chairman and in elections thn Nusrat Bhutto won and became the chairman. During that period, mohtarma BB started campaigning along with her mother and she earned the respect of workers and after two years when her father was hanged by military dictator she became the co-chairperson of PPP. Afterwards although no elections took place for the PPP’s leadership but she would have definitely won the elections on her own capabilities.

3- Due to heavy involvement of intelligencies and anti-democratic forces in our country, it is most likely that such people are penetrated in the party which actually work to harm the party and act like mercenaries for thr masters. I remember BB was once asked about party elections in some interview and she expressed this fear. I totally buy this argument, because in our society it is very easy to buy people. We need to develop a political, democratic culture in our society before we can really expect the true fuits of democratic values.

4- Bilawal Bhutto is Selected as co-chairperson because of the sudden unfortunate circumstances. After BB’s death the party has serious threat of disintegration. Unfortunately the choice was very limited, and to keep the party united Bilawal Bhutto or AZ was the most suitable choice.

Beside MQM and JI is also a political cult like many other political parties and no one can even dream to replace Altaf Bhai or Qazi as leader. It is also not correct in my opinion that PPP like MQM and JI does not promote and empower middle class. We need to change the psyche of our society and promote democratic values. Of course the main stream political parties like PPP should take lead in this regard.

.....

mibrahim Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 7:47 am
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Fahim23@
(December 28th, 2008 at 1:14 am)

“ZAB and PPP gave voice and power to the poor and downtroaden people of our country. The rerhi wala, hari, mazdoor, driver for the first time in history of Pakistan were involved in the state affairs”.
——————————————-

Very true. In 1970 elections, big land lords and waderas suffered humiliating defeat from student leaders, professionals and other lower and middle class citizen.

But

1977 elections, the same defeated land lards got party tickets and were brought back to assemblies. Whatever change was brought through 1967 movement of masses, was reverted overnight.

The same method of maintaining power, adapted by dictators i.e; keep wadera, jageerdar and other influential elements in hand rather than relying on street power. This method adapted by a dictators was understandable as they don’t have any roots in masses. It was an stupid mistake for somebody who was papular in masses.

Result of this mistake was obvious. When dictatorship striked again in 1977, street voice was less stronger in cmparison to what it was in 1967. It was simply due to fact that middle class left wingers paradoxically suffered more damage during Bhutto regime than during Ayub regime.

Now compare this with current lawyer’s movement which had middle class PPP professionals as very instrumental. But same paradox. It suffered more damage during PPP gov than it suffered during Musharraf gov.

Coming to Mohtarma, all credits to her brave elven year struggle against a dictator and it’s fundamantalist allied vultures.

But what were expectations from this fearless fight.
Acceting GI Khan as presiden?
Giving TAMGHA-E-JAMHOORIAT to an army general?
Compromising on every issue of national interest just for the sake of short stay in PM house? and
leaving all power in those same dirty hands?

In summary, PPP has a history of a series of great struggles and at the end of each struggle, undoing whatever was acheived and discrediting themselves.

....

democrate Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 8:31 am
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BB is the greatest leader of pakistan after Quid A Azam.she brought democracy in pakistan single handedly.she put pressure on mussharaf constantly to shed his uniform and hold fair and free election and she succeeded.some analyst give credit to lawyers movement but they are wrong,lawers demand was to reinstate chodery it was BB who said thier never can be deal with mussharf until he sheds his uniform.some sick mind has develped so much hate for BB due to thier own failures,only surgen can remove thie trumour.

...

Awais Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
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I think yesterday was a slap {thapper} on the face of all the so called literate , educated, middle class, urban, pseudo-intellectuals who are saying is media everyday

*-PPP hasn’t done anything
*-PPP has lost its credibility
*-Zardari has ruined the PPP
*-People are not with this government
*-This Government is a product of NRO

I think hundreds of thousands of people turn up to Garhi Kudda Bakhish in spite of all the rumors of bomb blasts, suicidal threats to show their support to their beloved leader and their party to which they have their faith in.

Ask Mian Sahab or Imran Khan sahab, or Qazi Sahab or any one to show this much public support.


....

Fahim23 Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
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@mibrahim

Most of your arguments have weight and any faithful PPP supporter should pay necessary attention to these arguments. Please note that I agree with you on the notion that “One should not compromise on Good principles”.

But question is? Shall we as individual or group compromise in certain conditions or we shall not compromise at all? I think and it’s my personal opinion to achieve larger goal if we have to make some compromises we should but it should not be for our personal interest/gain it should be for collective good. To support my way of thinking I would present following examples:

1- In treaty of Hudaybiyyah, Prophet SAW agreed on this term:

“A young man, or one whose father is alive, if he goes to Muhammad without permission from his father or guardian, will be returned to his father or guardian. But if anyone goes to the Quraish, he will not be returned.”

Now this article apparently seems complete compromise risking the life of new Muslim converts and it was not liked by most Sahaba (RA) of that time and some even objected. But Prophet (SAW) made this deal with Quraish for the larger goal.

2- I hope you would also know that Prophet (SAW) especially prayed for Hazrat Umer (RA) and Abu Jehal, because he (SAW) believed if they became Muslim; it will greatly help Islam because of their social status.

I am trying to build an argument that compromise/deal is not always wrong though it is not ideal; as it is the sign of weakness. My second argument is that the masses follow the elite, in their language, culture and religion. This is how the world works. Probably these are the reasons why ZAB chose landlords in 77 elections and BB accepted GIK as president. At this point I want to clarify one thing that some people think ZAB completely ignored the middle class people and gave most of his tickets to landlords etc. It is not true, even in 77 elections 70% of tickets were awarded to genuine middle class party workers.

I believe if they would have struck the deals for personal gains then ZAB would have been alive today, BB wouldn’t have spent 5 years in jail, most of her life either fighting cases and in exile and continued fighting elections and for democracy after loosing her father, two brothers, mother. Her spouse was put in jail for 11 and half years, and in 30 years of struggle she wouldn’t have remain in power for 18 and 23 months. If ZAB and BB would have been power hungry as some claim then she could have easily opted to remain in power like Sharif’s, chowdhries, mullahs or MQM’ have done.

Having said that all these actions (may be committed in good faith) proved to be grave mistakes, and most of time the elite has betrayed and hurt PPP Not only PPP but all major parties should cleanse themselves, introduce regular elections, and sideline the corrupt /exploitative elements.

I think you are exaggerating when you say “compromising on every issue that is of national intrest”. PPP has done most then any body else for Kashmir, Nuclear, Missile, submarines, tanks, F16s, Constitution, Provincial harmony, Foreign policy (ties with China, Russia), etc. I can quote number of achievements of PPP in thr short lived two last terms but that will over stretch the post.

Regards

...

mibrahim Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
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Fahim23@

It is true that you have to show lot of flexibility on many issues, but there are certain limitations. A good, responsible leadership should not compromise on certain principles.

One of such principle is rule of law, supremacy of parliment and to confine all elements of soceity (poor, rich, wadera, bearocrat, civilian, army etc.)within the boundries of constitution.

History proves which principles should be rigid non flexible . Before 77 election we had experience of awarding examption from constitution to a dictator. This should be a basic, non compromisable principle. Results of such a compromise and NAZARIA-E-ZAROORAT are speaking for themselve in every inch and corner of our country. ZAB biggest sucess and acheivement was not a nuclear tech., or any other projected one. His major acheivement and contribution was a constitution that was passed through a legal and ligitimate parliment. It proves that he had full understanding of what is the basic principle which can make nations, a prosperous one. Now paradoxically agin,the one who initiated to amend and change the face of this constitution was no one but ZAB himself. If these kind actions are taken by somebody like Zia, Musharraf etc. is understandable because they are mindless, errogants and are ruling bodies without any thought process. It was rather disappointing for a person with such a high level of intellact and understanding.

In 1988, we had another 11 year experience of somebody who was granted special prevailages to be exampted from law. Why we we struggled for eleven years? Against a person name Zia? Of course not. We were struggling against an unconstitutional process. We were struggling because these principles were not compromisable. What sense does it make to compromise on same principles for which we fought for eleven consecative years. How one can chose to form government by compromising on 8th amendment?

Remember after one of Indian elections of 1980’s, CPI(Marxist) were offered support from other parties to form government. They refused to do so because they had to compromise on certein basic principles.

If you are avoiding a big bloodshed or something by compromising on a principle than probably it may be justified to compromise. But if only consequence of compromising is that it will deprive you from forming government and make to sit in apposition, it is not justified by any means.

Making deals with undemocratic forces like army is not acceptable at all. Our whole history is nothing but speaking for that fact.

...

Fahim23 Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
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@mibrahim

I think I can understand from where you are coming. Especially the popular leaders should try not to compromise as much as possible, because thr implications are severe. But I think we cannot make specific rules like making deals with dictators is Forbidden, Making deals with superpower is Forbidden, making deals with Kings is forbidden. The particular circumstances and situations will guide us (if we are sincere) what is the right thing to do. However we can make a rule that making deal for personal gains Should be forbidden, while making deal with Anybody for the larger good in my opinion is quite reasonable thing.

I believe if quaid-e-Azam or Gandhi didnt have made deals with the foreigh occupiers (worst thn dictators) they would have failed like Tipu sultan, 1857 mutiny, Syed Ahmed shaheed etc.

I second you on stating that ZAB and PPP’s greatest contribution was to unite the nation and steered them to produce a constitution. Please correct me if I am wrong, you sounded like as if making amendments in the constitution is wrong. It is constitutionally provisioned to make amendments. But if anybody who unilaterally on his own amends/distorts/subverts a single comma of the constitution we call him/her a Dictator. We should see whether ZAB on his own made any amendments in the constition or he followed the due process. If he followed the due process we can disagree with the amendments but cannot criticise.

I’m sure you will know that 8th amendment was passed in 1985 when many current stalwards of Pakistani politics like NS were pledging to continue the mission of Zia. Mohtarma BB did compromised with the Pakistani establishment but the fact that she was removed just after 18 months makes me conclude that She didn’t compromised beyond limits. There are many people who supports my argument, and there are many who like you believe BB and PPP struck the deal in ill faith.

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mibrahim Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 6:29 pm

Fahim23@
“while making deal with Anybody for the larger good in my opinion is quite reasonable thing”.
——————————————-
You are giving justification to NAZRYA-E-ZAROORAT.

Speak to any Jammaati and asked them why they supported Gen. Zia when he violated the constitution and rule of law by using army to eiliminate a democratically elected gov. Although it was a clear, un acceptable deviation from a core principle, still they will bring same argument as you are giving i;e”making deal with Anybody for the larger good”. If you also allow to compromise on certain principles which should be strictly non-compromisable, than what’s differance.

I concider these right wingers as vultures for their deals with dictators. If same act was done by anyone else no matter it is PPP or any other force, is unacceptable.

I just advocating you to look at the history of any of country like ours and compare it to history of prosperous nations.Our history is full of compromises and bypassing rules of core interest. Compromising on those issues is not an option in developed countrie. You, me or anybody are not deciding which principles are to be compromised and which are not. It is simply the history of modern world which has proved and established certain principles as noncompromisable and ‘NO IFs ANDs or BUTs are acceptable.

Now concider constitution of 73. First amendmend was made only 4 hours after its implementation. Most of initial amendmends (including dissolving the Baluchistan assembly) were throgh an ordinance (not even a resolution throgh a parliment). Exactly in the same way as practiced later by Zia and Musharraf.

Time has proven again and again the devastating consequences of such compromises. The right wing vultures, religio-political leaders did not had any clue how sensitive the issue was and therefore they supported repeated gang rapes of our constitution by army generals. Problem with the liberals is the same. Rather than accepting their open, shameless mistakes they are trying to find justifications. Even they are fighting for one principle for a number of years and finally compromising on whatever they were fighting for. That is a simple U turn. What was the end of the 11 year struggle. Simply KHODA PAHAR NIKLA CHOOHA. Dirty hands at the throat of the nations remained like as it is and all struggle went in to GUTTER.It was just proved to be a FAREB-E-NAZAR.

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pejamistri Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 6:59 pm


@mibrahim, @Fahim23

On the compromise let me tell you my own view , in fact this was taught to me by another “jiyala”. In 1989, when BB made probably the worst compromise (perhaps as bad as ZAB made in 1977 when he adopted the feudal) , I was absolutely disgruntled. You see at that time I was young and during the election against the wishes of my (right wing) family I supported PPP candidate (who by the way lost). So I was extremely unhappy , because BB compromised on worst possible terms , and everything I opposed in the mad dictator’s era. She even gave the “medal of democracy” to Mirza Aslam Beg….

So I am talking to this PPP stalwart , who happened to be district PPP leader , and I told him how much disappointed I am , he told me something which I still remember…

He said in order to understand the compromise , first of all you must assume that BB is at least as intelligent and have at least same intellect as yours . So if you think that you have better intellect than BB or you suppose your self wiser than BB , then of course it will not be possible for you to understand why BB made these compromises.

I said fine , I bring myself down at BB’s intelligence level , tell me how can BB compromise with the murderers of his father , how can she sell the blood of so many martyrs of democracy… he said wait wait… now you need to make sure that your level of righteous is no more than BB , therefore she is as much concerned about the blood of martyrs , murderers of her father and so on and so on….
I said fine, but still tell me how can BB make those compromises why she needed to do all this??

He said yes now you can think why BB did all this… he asked me what she should have done? I gave him a detailed plan of how BB could have become the “great leader of whole south Asia” (you know I was genius since beginning :) ) …

And the guy said, “Listen, your action plan may be great , however it can only be proved great once someone acts upon it.”, I said right , then why BB did not do it? He said because she had her own plan , and this action plan can not be proved “wrong/bad” until someone acts upon it.

Then he gave me a lecture how she might have made this plan , how she would have discussed this plan with several people , how different people might have supported her plan and how some other intelligent people have objected on certain points in her plan….

And then he proved to me why she is more intelligent than I , and how she is more righteous than me. How she is more concerned about the murderers of her father , and well being of the martyrs of democracy than me… and so on…. and so on…

That is why I ask MTC , GoTK and bring their intelligence level down to the level of AZ or for that matter Nawaz Sharif, and then also stop being self righteous(a trait of beardos” btw) and then they will find that their action plan is “as worthless as that of AZ” :)

BTW in the end I think somehow she became “great leader of whole south Asia” without acting upon my plan :) …

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pejamistri Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
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BTW since than I consider all the politician wiser than I , and more honest than myself .. that doesn’t however mean that they don’t make mistakes :)

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Fahim23 Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 7:30 pm

@mibrahim

Yes it is high time we need to draw a line.


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Fahim23 Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 7:36 pm

@mibrahim

Not only the political parties but we as a society needs to groom and develop our democratic apetite. The political setup is the manifestation of our society.


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mibrahim Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
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pejamistri@

Very Intrersting details.

Intelligence, brightness, brilliance are all relative terms and god gifted tandencies. Political leadership demands something i.e. common sense. A common sense is detrmined by general objective, geographical and economical circumstances of masses and good leadership must always have compliance, acceptance and have coordination with masses. Now a person like you from masses has its expectations from leadership and leadership is elite graduate from Oxford.

Due to different levels of intelligence, grooming etc., among different elements of soceity, and to counter these differences , those devoloped countries firstly, made rules of the game (constitution, other core principles)and strictly implemented those rules and eliminated all means that can compromise these basic rules and principles.

We despite having examples of developed countries, despite having our own devastating experiences as a result of compromising those principles, still trying to find excuses and justifications for these compromises and violation. I think we should be open minded in condemning all these acts. Other wise we and Jamatis will be same forces walking aimlessly in apposite directions.
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A song half-sung - Benazir Bhutto's first cousin Tariq Islam remembers her...

A song half-sung
By Tariq Islam

ON a cold winter’s evening, an explosion from hell ushered in the permanent permafrost in ordinary lives. One assassin, one macabre moment of madness, one frightening flash and the dawn of hope faded, as her spirit sailed into the sunset. In the blink of an eye, lives had sunk into an abyss of darkness. This December day stands as the reminder of our winter of discontent.

I mourn today a woman who to me was far more than a first cousin. Hers was a presence so powerful and pervasive; she remained an all-embracing blanket of security and strength. She filled so many vacuums in one’s life that the thought of life without her is yet to crystallise into accepted reality. This winter’s day is a sharp reminder of personal dispossession and dysphoria.

Books will be written on her. She will be idolised, myths will be spun and stories with half-truths conjured up. She was multi-dimensional, so much larger than life and so saleable an image that it is inevitable that her life will be viewed through multicoloured prisms. It is also inevitable that there will be a rush to capture and canonise her memory. But in all the colourful stories that are told about her, one hopes that her true essence is not destroyed.

One hopes that lament rather than lucre remains the motivating factor in recalling her memory.

My earliest memories take me to the time when we were children all, playing hide-and-seek, climbing hills and having our usual spats. I had four cousins born of my maternal uncle, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Now, only the solitary Sanam survives to remind us that once there was a family.

I recall how as kids we would be prancing around the lobby of 70 Clifton and her father would suddenly walk in.

After greeting the other children, he would head to his library, which was always considered a sacred and out-of-bounds area. He would always pluck Pinkie, as we called her then, out of our small crowd and take her into his library. While other kids were still reading comic books, Pinkie was being tutored in the art of politics and world affairs.

In 1970, Benazir went off to Radcliffe in America, and it was there that her ideas and intellect found enduring sustenance. After graduating from Radcliffe, Benazir came to Oxford to begin a new and an even more fulfilling journey. This was her father’s alma mater, and she returned home after graduating and looked forward to a new beginning, a new journey.

Her father was the all-powerful prime minister and the world was at her feet. What was there to stop her from reaching for the stars? But trial and tragedy were written in the stars. A military coup overthrew the elected government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and a period of relentless victimisation began. This was a period of unremitting hardships for the Bhutto family and their supporters, who were flogged, tortured and jailed with impunity.

This was also the time of Benazir’s political education in practical terms. She regularly visited her father at Rawalpindi Central Jail, where he would pass instructions and guidance. Benazir was beginning to kick up a political storm all on her own, and fearful of her fiery style and popularity, the martial law administration would frequently place her in confinement.

All international appeals to spare Bhutto’s life fell on deaf ears, and the moment of eternal darkness arrived without notice. On April 3, 1979 Benazir and her mother were abruptly taken from their confinement to the death cell. This was not their day for a visit. Something in the air smelled foul. It was time for the final goodbye.

Bravely, Benazir held on and fought on. Bhutto’s judicial murder sent millions of PPP supporters into deep shock and grief. She met everyone, no one was turned away. This was the making of the future chairperson of the PPP.

In the summer of 1985, she joined the rest of her family in Cannes. For the first time after many, many years they were once again united as a family and were happy to be together. But time and tragedy interacted once again as a reminder that in the lives of the Bhuttos mirth was a mirage. The family was woken up in the early hours of that summer morning to the news that Shahnawaz, in the very prime of youth, had been murdered.

Of all her siblings, Shahnawaz was the closest to her. She was devastated. Risking arrest and persecution, she took her brother back to Garhi Khuda Bakhsh to sleep in peace.

Benazir returned to England and immersed herself in work, in endless meetings and foreign tours. From her Barbican flat, she and her typewriter waged war on dictator Zia. She was restless though and wanted to return home. She was also conscious of the fact that as a single woman in Pakistani politics, the path forward would always be uphill.

Her proposal for marriage to Asif came through my mother while she was in London. After her initial meeting with him at our flat, she nominated me to ‘interview’ Asif. I arranged to meet Asif over lunch and it seemed I was more nervous than him. I was given a long list of questions to ask him and had to commit these to memory. And also retain Asif’s responses in minute detail.

Later that evening I had to undergo so thorough a debriefing that I joked with her, “Are you going into battle or marriage?”

Benazir pursued her political struggle with a primal sense of purpose, which finally bore fruit when she took oath as the Muslim world’s first prime minister in December 1988. Once again, she had vindicated her father’s name.

The old men from the old, rusted order plotted and planned. First came a no-confidence motion sponsored by sinister and shadowy forces, and when this failed a campaign was mounted to plunder the truth. Uninterrupted excoriation was followed by vilification.

Benazir was ousted from power followed by a plethora of corruption charges. Democracy was once more placed in the dungeon.

Benazir surmounted impossible odds to vanquish her foes and win power for a second time in November 1993. She moved at a frenetic pace. There was a sense of exhilaration and excitement. But treachery was waiting in the wings. Her own Brutus stabbed her in the back and it was back to the battlefield. To compound the pain and perfidy, her brother Mir was killed in an encounter for which her government stood accused.There now followed a period of unrelenting trial and persecution. Asif was once again back in jail while Benazir ran around from one court to another to fight her own cases and Asif’s. The persecution became so intense that she was forced into self-exile in Dubai and London.

Even in the extremities of her despair, she seemed to float above the drab dullness of ordinary lives. There was always an agenda, always something to be taken care of.

She spent her summers in London when her children had their vacations from school in Dubai, where we spent some quality time together. She was a great family person, and would go out of her way to get every one of us, her sister, cousins and relatives, together.

She enjoyed a stroll in Hyde Park, was happy spending the afternoon at the movies or at the Bayswater skating rink, watching her children and nephews and nieces bowl while she dug into her favourite peppermint-flavour Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.

Well, that was Benazir. Everyone knew her name but very, very few really knew her.

Comparisons are often made between Bhutto and Benazir. Such comparisons are tenuous and tedious. For one, they lived and governed at different times. Bhutto’s was an era of socialism. It was an era of rebellions and marches. It was the era of non-alignment and fierce nationalism. It was an era of idealism.

Benazir witnessed the bringing down of the Berlin Wall and the retreat of ideology. It was an era of globalisation and the market economy. The forces that propelled them were fundamentally different. Bhutto ruled with an absolute majority and absolute authority. There were few challenges to him and he ruled with an iron fist.

Benazir had to constantly seek compromises and suffer coalitions and dilutions of power. Bhutto was the catalyst of change, she its champion. Conditions and compulsions, the forces and the dynamics, were too different to merit a meaningful comparison.They were both brilliant and tireless. Both had untapped reserves of energy and vitality. Both had a formidable aura. Both were populists and had the common touch. Both were utterly fearless. Both father and daughter turned the word Bhutto into a brand name, a national political website for Pakistan.

....

The story of Benazir : A song half-sung — II
By Tariq Islam

ALL great people carry the infection of inherent contradiction. It makes them more engaging, more compelling. Like her father before her, Benazir’s personality was a constant interplay of light and shade. Such a life could not be ordered into supine routine.

History’s greatest triumphs are followed by tragedy. Her death has enshrined her and will remain a fixing moment in all our lives. We will always remember where we were and who we were with when he heard news of her death.

She gave the outer appearance of being strong and stringent but she was immensely sensitive and vulnerable. Her very essence, her core, was defined by the suffering she had undergone. Though she came across as a strong-willed and confident politician, the trauma and trial of her father had left her with a shaky inner core. Her inherent sadness and pain connected her instantly to the poor.

Benazir was never unidimensional, she was intrinsically versatile. From Madonna to markets, she could converse with ease. She had an inherent fondness for life and continually questioned and examined all its aspects. All things in the universe fascinated her.

She was remarkable in how easily she could mingle and mix with those who represented the sorrow of this land. Like her father, she could easily blend into their world. Like her father, she connected with the constituency of the rejected. For the Pakistani youth, she was the zeitgeist queen.

Her fearless and rampant soul remained a prisoner to her legacy and the overpowering but self-imposed sense of duty. She was a people’s person and spent endless hours with them, even when those hours were duty without dividend. She fulfilled her duties to her children, her husband and her family. She remained loyal to her friends through her highs and her lows.

Her laugh was infectious as was her warmth. The girlie giggle, the mischievous wisecracks and, above all, the sympathy and solicitude carried in a tender heart were her hallmarks. Though bruised by reality, she never stopped dreaming those dreams. She was supremely unique, sublimely human.

Though always comfortable among the poor and supremely confident amongst intellectuals and dignitaries, she remained strangely insecure and shy whenever she had to make an appearance before the chattering classes, the social elite. She felt that they were peering at her through a magnifying glass and were judgemental.

She was alert to the fact that her life had often been invaded by predators and parasites, creating the smoke and saga till the truth lay in tatters. The Bhuttos were considered the nation’s best-known soap opera, and she knew it.

Benazir was many, many things. She was a volume with multiple chapters, each with a different theme. She was, among those many things, Don Quixote’s fantasy adventurer who was the slayer of all the dragons met on a tortuous journey. And she spent much of her life tilting at windmills. Ironically, the dragons in her life were not delusional.

In the summer of 2007, we were having dinner one evening at her flat and the discussion led to books and poetry. She asked me if I had read the poet Anna Akhmatova, a Russian poetess who together with her son and husband had suffered horrible persecution during the Stalinist pogrom.

I had not, but made it a point to buy her book of poems. I did not get around to opening its pages in any seriousness until after her assassination. When I started flipping through the pages, I stopped. I was startled when my eyes fell on the following passage:

“How terribly the body has changed/ How withered the tormented mouth/ I didn’t want a death like this/ I didn’t set the date./ It seemed to me that storm-cloud with storm-cloud/ Collided with something on high/ And a flying flash of lightning/ Descended like angels, upon me.”

Was this death foretold?

She was determined to return home and all our imploring and protests did not deter her. She came back even though knowing the dangers that awaited her — she came hugging the delusive phantom of hope.

When she had arrived back from exile on Oct 18, I stood alongside her on the fatal truck journey; she turned to me while waving to the crowds and said, “Isn’t this great … I can feel their love.” And after a pause, “I can never let them down.” The change had already begun to manifest itself.

Moments later, a deadly and devastating bomb blast tore out the soul of a nation. One moment there was a sea of cheering, clapping, dancing humanity and in another there was the gruesome spectacle of smouldering embers, the odour of burnt flesh and charred bodies. The tunes of love had died in the din of the dying. The terrorists had come out singing their hymn of hate.

This was the time she could have cut and run. If she now wished to retreat to the safety of Dubai, the doors were open. But bravery was bred in the marrow. She would stand and fight, she would fight till the last breath in her body.

On subsequent visits to her at Bilawal House, where a very few of us would be around her in the wee hours of the night as she tried to unwind and reflect on the day’s happenings, she talked but her talk was soliloquy. She was seeing a vision. The look in her eyes, the beat of her pulse, the song of her soul, all conveyed a different message.

She had travelled a great distance to reach here. The traveller had transformed during the journey. She was clearing her decks, reiterating her belief in the higher things of life. And as though in recognition of its consequences, she was bidding farewell to all of us.

She knew that from the moment she landed at Karachi, notwithstanding her deal with the general and the powers that be, the entire dynamics of the political power balance had changed. She was recalling her father’s message in that famous letter when he had told her that there is much merit in pragmatism, but to never forget that the “paradise of politics lies at the feet of the people.” She knew too that there was deception in the air; the dice had been rolled, so let the chips fall where they may.

One year and one day ago from this very December day, she left for Rawalpindi’s Liaquat Bagh, not far from the site of her father’s hanging 28 years ago. She looked royal and radiant as she smiled and waved at the euphoric crowds. But tragedy was blowing in on the tail of a treacherous wind. An assassin was lying in wait.

Benazir on that day left the stage she never wanted. Circumstances threw her into the dirty, murky world of politics where she had to deal with the sleaze that breeds in the political ghettos and gutters of Pakistan.

She had been trained to walk the corridors of power and fame, mingle with kings and queens. Her life took her into the backyards of an unpleasant world where she had to deal with carpetbaggers and kerb-crawlers. She was forced to learn about their ways and deal with factors that were external to her ethos.

It was repellent to her nature but she accepted the challenge. She had to deal with troublesome ‘uncles’, men who lurked in the shadows and elements from the country’s ubiquitous security apparatus. She vanquished them all along her tortured journey but laid her life gallantly before treachery’s final bugle.

Her assassination may yet prove to be the catalyst of the change she predicted. But more importantly, her blood has mingled with the soil of this land and nourished a legend more powerful than the legend of Marvi whom she recalled in a poem she wrote to mark her 50th birthday.

How would she like to be remembered? She would be the warrior princess who battled dictators and overcame them. She would be the great reformer and emancipator. She would be the redeemer with the healing touch. She would be the poet who wrote stirring verses. She would be the Joan of Arc who raised her party’s standard against oppression. She would be the flower whose fragrance never faded.

She was all these things. But above all, she was what she most wanted to be. She was Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s daughter. To us, her family, she was the giant oak whose shade we have been shorn of.

When the tide of time washes ashore, people will remember her for her kindness, they will remember her with affection. She died before she was meant to. She was a song half-sung, a verse half-written, an incomplete life, a story half-told.

This then is the story of Benazir, Pakistan’s princess.

Concluded
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Get rid of false patriotism. India needs voices such as Arundhati Roy and Pakistan needs voices such as Pervez Hoodbhoy.

Patriotism misunderstood
Legal eye

Saturday, December 27, 2008 (The News)
Babar Sattar

The terrorists have succeeded in realizing their objectives in Mumbai. Not just in carrying out the carnage that claimed innocent Indian lives, but also in provoking chest-thumping hysteria within the two nuclear armed neighbours that is obfuscating real issues and impeding their ability to meaningfully cooperate in confronting the threat of terrorism. With the peace constituency within India and Pakistan having shrunk at an alarming rate over the last few weeks, the Mumbai tragedy has dragged the two countries back by at least a decade in terms of their bilateral relationship. The ugly invidious prejudice that runs deep within each nation against the other now lies bare in public eye. And all this has happened despite the realization shared by saner elements in both countries that neighbours cannot be wished away and the linked destinies of the suffering multitudes in both India and Pakistan will not be served well by a war between them or even the politics of war-mongering.

The governments of Pakistan and India are in a catch-22 situation. The Mumbai attack has hurt India's sense of security as well as its newly found confidence and pride as an aspiring global power. The voices seeking accountability of the perpetrators of terror are probably more than those braying for revenge. But together they have put the Indian government under tremendous pressure to seek reprisals from Pakistan for the alleged involvement of its citizens. The Pakistani government and the civilian political leadership seem genuinely interested in taking to task those within the country whose link to Mumbai can be established through verifiable evidence. But given the history of acrimony between the two countries and how it informs the concept of national honour, the harder India pushes Pakistan publicly the lesser political space and ability the Pakistani government is left with to respond constructively.

One of the casualties of the Mumbai tragedy has been the quest for truth. The speed and ferocity with which media in India and Pakistan assumed on behalf of their respective states the responsibility for proving the other guilty of disseminating lies has been alarming. What has happened to the objectivity and self-restraint of this most vital component of civil society? The worst manifestations of bigotry and hatemongering in each country are being chosen and highlighted as a means to characterize the other. The statements of vengeance seeking politicians in India are regarded in Pakistan as the truly representative voices from India as opposed to the more responsible and tension diffusing statements of the Indian prime minister for example. Likewise, the voices of those in Pakistan who reject any involvement of Pakistanis in Mumbai and view it as an Indian conspiracy to put Pakistan in the dock reverberate across India and overshadow the repeatedly expressed government desire to work with India on establishing facts and taking action on their basis.

The self-styled 'patriots' in Pakistan believe that Arundhati Roy's 'Monster in the Mirror' is the depository of the whole truth about Mumbai and India. And likewise hawks in India love to highlight voices critical of Pakistani state policy – such as that of Pervaiz Hoodbhoy – as proof of their view of Pakistan as an evil state. The consistency in the analysis of Roy and Hoodbhoy – in terms of their denunciation of nuclear weapons or their emphasis on the atrocities inflicted on citizens by misconceived state policies – is lost on these new found disciples. Yet those who love Hoodbhoy in India hate Roy, and those who cite Roy with approval in Pakistan castigate Hoodbhoy for being a traitor. And the lack of awareness of such fundamental contradiction in hawkish views only goes to show the deep-seated bias that we are afflicted with. That patriotism cultivates the desire amongst citizens to defend the territorial integrity, sovereignty and honour of their country is a no-brainer. But reasonable people can and should disagree over how national interest is to be defined and what policies must be employed to accomplish the interest of the state.

In the context of Mumbai, Pakistani patriotism must not be reduced to jingoism or indiscriminately contradicting any views or facts emanating from India. Shutting out the urge to uncover facts and forfeiting the courage to look critically into the mirror out of the fear of discovering unflattering realities, even at a time even when the country is being unduly vilified, neither serves the interests of Pakistan nor qualifies as patriotism. Let us vigorously debate and agree/disagree over what policies and actions promote the collective interest of our nation. But neither the sabre-rattling of hawks on either side of our border, nor any misconceived concept of national interest or security should be allowed to mow down our appetite for the truth. There are some mothers who can never find any fault with their kids out of pride. And there are others whose love urges them to censure kids when they falter to enable these children to tell right from wrong and develop a character. We are only hurting ourselves most of all if, when under attack from abroad, we allow patriotism to degenerate into chauvinism or xenophobia.

The main issue between Pakistan and India that has led to the present state of belligerence and is dragging the two countries towards war is what happened in Mumbai: who all are responsible for killing innocent civilians there and to the extent that verifiable facts establish links with groups in Pakistan what steps can we take to bring the perpetrators to justice. We must not confuse manifestations of the whipped up antagonism post-Mumbai and the fighting words uttered in both countries with the cause itself. Also what are not issues for Pakistan in its interstate relations with India also needs to be highlighted. Whether or not India ill-treats its minorities, especially Muslims, is not our issue. We advocated a solution for the Muslims of Indian sub-continent in the form of Pakistan in full view that the Muslims left behind in India will be an even weaker minority in a Hindu-dominated India. We must reconcile with this reality and understand that the state of Pakistan has no mandate to speak for Indian Muslims. What happened in Gujarat was sad and despicable. But it is a reflection on the Indian federation and a matter for the Indian nation to resolve internally.

The state of Pakistan has the responsibility to promote and maximize the interests and security of the citizens of Pakistan. And as a nation we need more clarity in defining our identity and our national objectives. Faced with challenges straining the cohesion of our own social fabric and the frail state of interethnic relations within Pakistan, we must focus on strengthening our own federation rather than looking abroad and assuming the responsibility of guarding the perceived interests of foreign nationals who share our faith. What is also not an issue between the states of India and Pakistan is the cause of the Malegaon Blast or the Samjhota Express tragedy. These were crimes that were committed in India. And even though some of the casualties in the latter were Pakistani citizens, in terms of state responsibility, they are fundamentally different from the events of Mumbai.

Mumbai is a possible case of non-state actors from one state crossing the international border and unleashing terror in another. Malegaon and Samjhota are relevant only in that they highlight India's indigenous roots of terrorism and counter the propaganda that Pakistan is the fountainhead of violence in the region. But we must fathom that criminal acts do not give the Pakistani state a cause of action against the state of India. Pakistan and India have a very long history of hostility and mistrust and if we look backward rather than forward we will keep fighting till the cows come home. If the present state of flux is to be prevented from crystallizing into a new cold war between the neighbours, we must keep our focus on Mumbai. And to that end the first imperative step is to share with Pakistan the findings of a transparent, diligent and credible investigation that lays threadbare the facts of this tragedy.

Our overzealous patriots must realize that Ajmal Kasab's Pakistani identity does not make Pakistani nation or state complicit in the terror attacks. Taking affirmative steps to try and deny/hide his identity could. And India must understand that sharing evidence with Pakistan cannot be contingent upon Pakistan "doing more". For due process requires such evidence to be the trigger for any enforcement action that the Pakistani government can legitimately undertake.

The writer is a lawyer based in Islamabad. He is a Rhodes scholar and has an LL.M from Harvard Law School. Email: sattar@post.harvard.edu
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What happened to Pir Samiullah's body is a dangerous symbolism, because to many people in Swat it was wilfully permitted by the Army.

Hanging a dead pir
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Farhat Taj

Pir Samiullah of Swat was reportedly encouraged by the army stationed in Swat to raise a lashkar against the Taliban. This invoked the rage of the Taliban who besieged him for days in his village. The army never showed up to help and finally he was killed. The Taliban exhumed his body and hung it in a public place for several hours.

What the Taliban did to the pir's body is tantamount to a kick to the face of civilisation. The Taliban, who had done the same with the body of Dr Najibullah, the former president of Afghanistan, will most probably do it again if given the opportunity.

As far as I know Pakhtun history has never seen such kicks to the face of civilisation, although a greater part of it has been a history of armed conflicts. This changed with the arrival of the holy warriors--the Mujahideen and Taliban.

The Pakhtun Taliban, it seems to me, have appropriated such means of disgrace from the history of their Arabs and Central Asians colleagues. The Umayad caliphs dug up graves of their opponents, exhumed bodies, put them on trial and hanged them.

What happened to Pir Samiullah's body is a dangerous symbolism, because to many people in Swat the disrespect to it was wilfully permitted by the Army. One person said: "The Army did not fire a single bullet while 300-400 of Taliban were firing at the Pir's supporters in Matta tehsil. When the Army knew that Taliban fighters had gathered in their hundreds, why didn't they take action?'

I have been in contact with a number of people from Swat, who complain that the Taliban terrorise and slaughter people and exhume dead bodies, but the Army is nowhere to protect them. They argued that the army is backing the Taliban. One person even said that the commander of the military operation in Swat sends Rs10 million every month to the Swat Taliban leader, Maulana Fazalullah, so he would not harm the army, and do whatever they want with the people and culture of Swat.

Many people who know the geography of the area believe that the military is capable of beating the Taliban by simply besieging their headquarters from three different directions--from the Matta and Madyan tehsil and from lower Dir. This will disrupt the Taliban's logistics and ultimately force them to surrender. The people of Matta had distributed sweets when the military arrived there.

Local residents complain that while the military has killed hundreds of civilians, it has killed only a few hardcore Taliban. The brother of a serving minister of the NWFP, who was in the police and was well-known for standing up to the Taliban, was killed in broad daylight in Mingora, and the perpetrators succeeded in escaping. How then can the people believe that the military is serious in its operation against the Taliban? The result is that an increasingly people in Swat see the Taliban and the Army as two sides of the same coin.

To crosscheck the views of the local people I had a long discussions with two Army offers, a colonel and a major. (Neither was stationed in Swat but the said they were aware of the situation of their colleagues in Swat.) They denied any notion of the army supporting the Taliban. They emphasised that the militants hid among the civilian population and the Army had to move very carefully to avoid civilian damage. They said the Army is constrained by its sensitivity to media reaction: there is media uproar when civilians are killed in military operations and almost complete silence when militants kill civilians. They also pointed out that the civil administration has abandoned the people of Swat. There is almost no one in areas cleared by the army--the police or the administration--to resume routine work. They also said that Army commanders in Swat had requested key federal and provincial political leaders to come to areas cleared by it, under full military protection, to restore the confidence of the people of Swat in the government and the Army, but to no avail.

Following my meeting with the two army officers I also met an NWFP journalist who had had had long discussions with the military commanders in Swat. The journalist more or less confirmed the views expressed by the two army officers.

There seem to be a lack of confidence between the Army in Swat and the politicians and this is to the disadvantage of the people of Swat. The two sides have to remove the lack of confidence in each other if they wish to retain respect among the people of Swat, who now feel abandoned by both the army and the political leaders.

The media should be robust in its response to the violence used by the Taliban. Many people in Swat also believe they have been abandoned by the media as well. One person told me he had been contacting famous media persons like, Hamid Mir, Kamran Khan and Dr Shahid Masood to as them to highlight in their TV shows the daily violence committed by the Taliban, but none of them ever replied.

Any civilised society would have come to a complete standstill upon an incident like the disrespect to the dead body of Pir Samiullah. But in Pakistan it has been business as usual. When the holy warriors insulted the dead body of Dr Najibullah the society in Pakistan remained indifferent. Now this act of disrespect has been committed well inside Pakistan--Swat has no border with Afghanistan. I am afraid that in future such acts could be repeating themselves in Lahore and Islamabad. People across Pakistan must send--for their self-interest, if not for moral reasons--a strong message to the Taliban that their brutal means of violence are not acceptable. Otherwise, we must be ready to see more such kicks to the face of civilisation in our country.

The writer is a research fellow at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Gender Research, University of Oslo. Email: bergen34@yahoo.com (The News, 27 Dec 2008)
Read more...

Remembering Benazir Bhutto - By Nazir Naji

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Was the Mumbai attack the Kargil 2? Does the ISI want to topple the the democratic government of President Zardari? How can the UN help Pakistan?

Was the Mumbai attack the Kargil 2? Does ISI want to topple the democratic government of President Zardari in Pakistan? How can the UN help Pakistan?

An interesting conversation between some educated Pakistanis


pejamistri Says:
December 17th, 2008 at 6:30 pm

It seems to me that ISI has asked all the “beardo brigade” members to focus on …..
There are several reasons for this. Initially it started with the bashing of political parties after the removal of the mad dictator, however after the Mumbai attacks, ISI decided exploit the misplaced/misguided patriotism of “educated” youth of Pakistan hence they went for an all out propaganda.


Pejamistri says:

December 24th, 2008 at 11:36 am

Earlier I mentioned that for the people of India and United States, the best thing is to support people of Pakistan. However true to their past governments of both countries (specially Indians are not interested in it) of course they believe that they can survive several more 9/11s, Mumbai attacks.
While the military of Pakistan is generating a war hysteria in Pakistan in an attempt to ride on the sentiments of false patriotism and win the “hearts” of people of Pakistan. However Indians are hitting the people of Pakistan where it hits the most i.e. Financially and Diplomatically.

Today Indians are trying to prevail over Sri Lankan government to cancel the upcoming Cricket tour of Pakistan. BTW Sri Lankan Army and Pakistan Military have been “comrades in arms” for a very long time , in fact mad dictator was in Sri Lankan Military headquarters when Nawaz Sharif sacked him , and their are news that Sri Lankan army helped him with intelligence during his visit their against the wishes of government of Pakistan.

Moreover India is going to make a case of economic sanctions against Pakistan early next year which may then cause stoppage of IMF’s installment next year.
Is it a coincidence that just after 1988 , Americans approved/invoked Pressler amendment and United Nations were worried about the Nuclear arms in the decade of 90’s , and now just after the mad dictator has gone and Pakistan is under civilian rule we find the US and Indians again trying to put Pakistan in economic jail.
That is why I ask my friends in US, why were they surprised about 9/11 when their own government asked for it , and how could they be surprised about “Manhattan dirty bombing” when their government is again asking for it. For eight years US, Indians, and some Europeans were supporting the mad dictator’s regime with 70 billion dollars , despite 7/7 (British 9/11 as they call it) they kept giving money to directly to Pakistan army and indirectly to extremists.

And now when there is a civilian government in Pakistan , they are making hue and cry about the 9/11 of a country which is just trying to be part of “civilized nations”, whose in civilized record is suspicious.
Remember Pakistan army wants war euphoria , they want to use Mumbai attacks to gain public sympathy and improve their reputation. They may even think of small Kargil like battle which could as usual be disaster, on the other hand Indians it seems are not interested in war instead they want economic sanctions against Pakistan. Whereas Americans are busy in transition.


pejamistri Says:
December 24th, 2008 at 1:01 pm

@GoTK
Just like you I am also waiting for Zardari to do one single thing right. It’s been a year and he could not get UN team for BB’s murder investigation.
There is a difference however between my disappointment and yours and that is if Zardari fails , I trust NS , if he fails I trust IK and if he fails too then I trus Zardari (if he is still there in Pakistan ) , and if he is not there I start trusting NS again , and if in the meanwhile GoTK becomes a popular politician I will start trusting him…. all the while democratic system is there , politician are fighting , defeating each other and I am voting….


Ghost Of TK says:
December 24th, 2008 at 4:08 pm

@peja: They may even think of small Kargil like battle which could as usual be disaster,

Out of the various possiblities, do you think Mumbai may have been Kargil_2 which the world has averted? ie; India attack pakistan, military gets to not fight its choochaa’s ??

I still am not sure. Though I am flip-flopping between fals-flag conspiracy theories (india/mossad did it using beardos) and Kargil-II (arms length ISI assets did it using .. you guessed it.. the beardo’s)

The reason I’m leaning towards a “plausibly deniable” inovlvement of the ISI networks is because Hamid Gul was really a cheery little fvcker right after the attacks and he came on one show and claimed he was lifting weights alredy to get ready for war and that 25 lakh retired fauji’s were ready to fight (the 2.5 million Bat-men … can you imagine the wings flapping?)

He has also been making statements last year that 2009 will be the “year of the revolution”. I’m sure JI and other PiThoo’s will like nothing better than “another revolution in the interest of the nation”

The level of activity in favor of “mard-e mujahid Hamid Gul” after such moronic interview was very interesting. On most news forums new ID’s started appearing with statements like “Hamid Gul is right! He is true mujahid…” etc. again.. a feeble attempt on the part of the agencies to give credence to his batshit crazy ideas …
so… was it a false flag by mossad?

or a self-directed false flag by Gul and company with the beardo’s given the kind of training that they would leave a trail of evidence that would lead to pakistan, cause a conflagaration, army moves out of swat/FATA to eastern border, emergency is declared and Kayani eventually takes over.

Also interesting was the near instantaneous re-aligning of the “Taliban” + Army opinion once India seemed ready to strike. “Mehsud is a patriot” … The same Mehsud that their frothy-mouthed stooge, Zaid Hamid declared to be a “RAW asset” a day before the “patriot” statement by ISPR.

????

We’re not out of the woods yet, because now the indians are complaining that Pakistan is creating ‘war hysteria’ … so that kind of gives credence to your ‘army wants war’ theory.


Pejamistri says:
December 24th, 2008 at 6:17 pm

@GoTK
I was away… but let me comments on your posts in chronological order… so first..
dude I got news. Zardari killed Benazir. Everything points to it. This is why he’s not moving on it……

Please excuse my famous “Know-All” expression , but that’s where I can not help using this.

You see I am all confusion and you are all “Sure” , I am all questions and you are all answers , I am the small x in indeterminate equation and you are the “(planck’s) constant” in equation. So you know Zardari killed BB , I want UN investigation team to find out who killed BB :)…

For the “Hosni Mubarik” thingy , I am amused there were two times when I got afraid of “Hosni Mubarik” phenomenon in Pakistan , once the “GREAT” ameer-ul-moomneen Hazrat General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq Rahmat-ullah Alaiha , ghazi-e-millat , faatih-e-Kabul were ruling , there is no doubt democratic forces trying their best to topple ameer-ul-moomneen, Junejo, young BB, mature Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan all were doing great, but you know “ameer-ul-moomneen” was not perturbed by them , he had a large following in the urban areas and he was pretty much settled to rule like Hosni Mubarik.

Second time it was briefly in the early 1997 , when Nawaz Sharif riding the huge popularity in both urban and rural part of Punjab, NWFP got the two-third majority. I was little bit worried as he was young , had right-wing ideas and was more acceptable in the military , therefore I thought may military has found their leader after death of “ameer-ul-moomneen”. But you know what , that was the time when my faith in politicians of Pakistan got a mega-boost as the presumed “ameer-ul-moomneen” turned out to be a politician and he got away with 8th amendment instead of implementing the shariah bill , he offered olive branch to India , instead of buying missiles for USA , and decided to sit on foot -toilet seat instead of sitting in P.M house chair at the mercy of fvcking generals…
So I can’t help smiling that you would think “Asif Zardari” can become Hosni Mubarik , if he does then well it will prove two things one you are really “Know-All” , second I am nuts … which means I need to do a “Beea’t” at your hands my guru… hahahah


Pejamistri Says:
December 24th, 2008 at 6:29 pm

@GoTK
Ref:24 December 2008 16:08
I am not actually interested in who did Mumbai attacks , to me it has no meanings/consequences who did or didn’t do it. I remember on BBC someone wrote an article calling Mumbai attacks a new phenomenon in terrorism which he called perhaps “show biz terrorism” where few disgruntled youth with few thousand dollars take up arms, knowing very well that there “show” will be telecasted live on all the sattelite channels :)…. So you see what I mean… it is not important at all who did it…

Important thing is who does what after Mumbai attacks. And that’s where I see Pak Army using it to generate the war hysteria and gaining public sympathies and maligning the politicians (see it is not only AZ but NS as well) …
And I see India using it to get economic sanctions on Pakistan.


Pejamistri says:
December 24th, 2008 at 7:16 pm

Coming to the Kargil-II possibility, it seems to me that it may quite be possible and I am really worried about this scenario. The Kargil-II has not happened yet , but it is quite possible that the army generals decide to embark on another misadventure , remember “Operation Gibralter” ,people usually think that it happened one night , in reality there were strained relations and blame game between Pakistan and India for quite sometime. There used to be “air space violations” , “firing along the LoC and borders” etc.. for quite a few months.
Looking at the chances of a Kargil-II, I would think they are merely 40% or below. As I said although army is ready to accept and acceptable level of survival , but they don’t want to commit suicide. It is true that they would like to have their image restored in the eyes of “urban educated” public , by creating war hysteria in major cities. At the same time they also want to mend their differences (or should I say hostility) with the Mullahs , they would like to get out of Mullah’s fire line, but they can not afford to have an all-out war with India , a small Kargil could have all the probability to lead to an all-out war…

…

Ghost Of TK Says:
December 24th, 2008 at 7:30 pm

@peja: re: seriously funny, fair enough, but then again, explain the GoP asking PRC to NOT BLOCK the resolution against JuD.

If there is a Mullah-Military nexus, this will weaken Mullah’s …

If kiyani is in control, then how did zardari dare to do it?

If there is a MM nexus, and Zardari did it anyways, then is not using the situation against the jurnails? Same thing that they were trying to use against him (ie; Kargil-II which I think mumbai was) courtesy of Mr. Qasab et. al.

……..

Pejamistri Says:
December 24th, 2008 at 7:43 pm

@GoTK
At the risk of annoying “Beardos” , let me put argument in another way…
If kiyani is in control, then how did zardari dare to do it?

If there is a MM nexus, and Zardari did it anyways, then is not using the situation against the jurnails?

You see you are the Muslim/Christian ,”a monotheist” , you believe that only one god rules Pakistan , it is either Kiyani or Zardari , or it may be a trinity Zardari-Kiyani-XYZ etc… I am the “hindu” , a polytheist whose “gods” are always fighting with each other , when the god of Sun wants the the Sun to shine , the god of clouds wants the clouds to rain … you see what I mean….

I have no idea why GoP will ask PRC not to block the resolution against JuD, I even have no idea whether it actually happened, I even have no idea if China is gay (loves Pakistan too much that it would STOP resolution against JuD on Pakistan’s instructions ) or straight (likes to play safe :)… I hope you understand what I mean).

So in a nutshell what China did was what he should have done … there is no question that any country will stop resolution against JuD after the Mumbai attacks.

……..

pejamistri Says:
December 24th, 2008 at 8:44 pm

Hasan Mujtaba on Kargil-II & Maulana Hippi..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/miscellaneous/story/2008/12/081223_hasan_column_sen.shtml …

…..

Pejamistri says:
December 25th, 2008 at 1:08 pm

It may not be surprising for me if I had read some research in collective human psychology (if there was any research) , however it is amazing that how the sense of “false patriotism” as I call it, blinds the people with facts and realities.
For example how easy it is to believe that the Pakistan army is so bestial , barbaric and cold blooded murderers that these soldiers won’t have qualms of conscious while burning alive the innocent little girls with chemical weapons , but how difficult it is to believe for the same people that the same army can kill the hindus (in Mumbai massacre).

These people have no problems in believing that this army is killing their own people , abducting their own people , selling their own people , but at the same time the same army is ready to die for the sake of same people.
In existentialism their is a term known as “Karamazov Nature” which means that a person can contemplate two extremes at once, let me quote here
Karamazov is just such a two-sided nature, fluctuating between two extremes, that even when moved by the most violent craving for riotous gaiety, he can pull himself up, if something strikes him on the other side. And on the other side is love.
I thought Karamzov nature applies only to individual , but can it also apply to the collection of humans?, is it possible that a cold blooded army on a killing spree of the humans has so much soft and caring heart that at the same time it is ready to defend the same people.

There is no question that the war hysteria being created by the Pakistan military , by having “low flying air force jets” , issuing “on my dead body” like audacious statements, is just part of re-branding themselves. I personally think that such attempts have no consequences , the constituency that such attempts targets is the “urban educated” population , remember we have seen such thing for over 11 years when their used to be 23rd March parades , weapon exhibition and Ghazi-e-millat ameer-ul-moomneen used to tell about the blessings of jihad , however just after his death the people of Pakistan choose the “lady in the green”….

The thing I got worried over the past on week is the possibility of another misadventure , until yesterday I give 40% chances of such a probability however after talking few people in Pakistan it seems that the probability could be higher than this.

Although I don’t have complete information but it seems that India is encouraging Pakistan army to go for a small scale misadventure , the important point is that India is no mood for an all-out war (which Pakistan army believes is good for them), however in that limited battle they want to tone down their own public anger , by as usual showing to the public that they defeated Pakistan army yet again (remember Kargil, 1971 etc..)… on the other hand Pakistan army believes that using “false patriotism” in the dozens of television channels they can create the similar false picture of their virtual success (again recall Kargil and 1965) … so it may give a win-win to both India and Pakistan…

The worrying thing however is that it is hard to trust Pakistan Army specially the known “internal rifts” and the possibility of use of nukes. It is very hard to find out how the limited war can turn out specially in this new world with communication revolution….

….

Pejamistri says:
December 25th, 2008 at 5:28 pm

@sashah,

Very interesting … you mentioned you have been visiting indian blogs , recently somebody posted here a question asking for links to indian blogs, would you be able to supply the links to those blogs I would be really interested as well…
Now coming to your response…

No doubt the role of militry in pakistan’s political history has not been good(even worst)

I am smiling at even worst why not just call it “has not been good”? … can you tell me what you mean by worst.. and what is meant by “has not been good” , to be honest it is very hard to judge the “has not been good” and “worst” , for example for some overthrowing the democratic government (for some government of NS and for some government of ZAB) is “not a good act” and for some it is worst?.. similarly it is hard to qualify acts of killing at lal masjid, waziristan , balochistan etc… as “not good” or “worst” , I would really appericiate if you could enlighten me which act of army has not bee “good” and which was “worst”….

Aaah… I would love to agree with you that the Kiyani is the angel…. remember I talked about the Karmazov nature … perhaps he has one such nature ….

My friend re-read my comments… just like I did , and reading them again I realized your words are very familiar to me …. the “verbal diarrhea guy” .. guess who?????
I am away from Pakistan and It makes me sad when I see Pakistanis fighting with each other on a Blog using abusive language. LACK OF TOLERANCE in EDUCATED Pakistanis.

……

kafka8 Says:
December 26th, 2008 at 10:18 am

@peja
i spoke to a few ppp insiders and they agreed that indeed zardari is trying to use america/india to cut the army down to size.
but my non-ppp friends insist that my hatred for faujistan has blinded me to the incompetence of zardaro.

what say ye…O’ faithful defender of all things democratic!!
ps: tk, shirkuh, bohkhari, nrkh…do jump in once peja replies

…….

Pejamistri says:
December 26th, 2008 at 11:12 am

@kafka8

I come from a “software engineering” background , there we use a term called “abstraction” , higher the level of abstraction, lower the visibility of implementation details. Most of the time I look at the politics in Pakistan from higher abstract level , where AZ, NS, IK , mad dictator, Kiyanis etc.. are less visible instead we have democratic force and establishment and the BATTLE.
Now coming back to your question, at lower abstract level , my conviction for AZ “cutting army down to size” is not based on the current , past or future actions of Zardari, they are based on simple theory of perpetual battle between establishment and the democratic forces. I explained this earlier somewhere that it is like a proverbial animosity between the cat and dog, I usually quote the example of NS in 1997 , who got the heavy public mandate and was (is?) a right wing leader , having (still?) vast sympathies in the establishment forces and having no visible differences in terms of right-wing (islamic?) policies for Pakistan…. but since he was a popular leader trusted by the people of Pakistan and came through democratic means , therefore his existence would mean extinction of the establishment (army), consequently he was overthrown…

AZ must have made several compromises with the army in order to get into the government (there may be hundreds of reasons why he made those compromises and why he did not adopt a rigid approach)…. remember BB in 1988 , when she made much worse compromises with the army in order to get the government. But these compromises do not have much impact on the battle between the two…

In fact I would like to rephrase/revert your question and you will see how much does it make sense?…. i.e.

I spoke to a few establishment insiders and they agreed that indeed establishment is trying to use america/india to cut the PPP/ANP/PMLN down to size.
So in a nutshell whether AZ is using America/India against the army or not at this moment, this battle is on , establishment (army) is on the look to find an opportune moment to send the “bloody civilians” back , and democratic force are steadily moving towards getting Pakistan out of woods…
P.S.

At this moment by the way establishment (army)’s only objective is to get their image repainted , they are using every opportunity for this purpose even at the cost of more deaths to the people of Pakistan (the war hysteria, giving room to extremist in NWFP, shaking hands with mullahs, threatening (hollow) US to bring drones down etc…)

…

Pejamistri says:
December 26th, 2008 at 8:46 pm

@GoTK
Ref:December 26th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
That’s pure politics, a rebellion within the party , remember there are very mature politicians in the rebellious group. YRG , AA, Safdar Abbasi’s etc.. of this PPP are not mere pawns

NS doing “very sensible politics” , “a mature politicians”.
IK making sure he himself align with the wishes of people
And so on and so on………

So do you get what it means by democratic forces? :)….
You know what, if everything went smooth and there is a mid term elections, I , like an “eighteen stone women”, will vote for NS this time (I will not be giving vote to AA+YRG group of PPP )… then there will be another rebellion against the Sharif Brothers , the great Javaid Hashmi leading the rebellious group , then again a mid term , and now I vote for AA+YRG … an so on and so on….
Some pessimism

Only thing I would be worried is another mad dictator. Then again pejamistri, then again the CJ , then again …. … haha………

……

Pejamistri says:
December 26th, 2008 at 9:16 pm

@GoTK
At the very least one should criticize those areas,
heehehe… you are borrowing pharases from beardos a lot my friend…
There are so many people criticizing him (AZ), I am not talking about the critics on ….s which are just “bu11shit” …

Do you really know why there are 4 line news everyday YRG is staying , YRG is going, why Amin Fahim gets here daughter in Ireland , why Safdar Abbasi etc.. started appearing on news channels….

BTW there is a central executive committee meeting today…

and there is another statement from Ban Ki Mon about the UN team for investigation…
On UN investigation let me tell you important thing is the mandate of the UN team , there are several groups fighting about this , of course ISI the major one. There are voices about getting the UN investigation team formulated through a UN security council resolution… you can imagine what it will mean for all the players involved in BB’s murder….

….

Pejamistri says:
December 26th, 2008 at 9:59 pm

@GoTK

Just in case you get worried that somehow I am suggesting AZ may be involved in BB’s murder, you already know I don’t buy such bu!!shit…. the differences between all the people in PPP are purely political (and you know politics is based vested interest too… )

BTW you see my dilemma, in Pakistan, people are always talking in extreme , their are either satans or angels (no more humans)… of course this is because they have been dealing with satans (establishment) , therefore as their opposite they search for angels…. so it is hard for the “urban educated” people to understand what it means by being human and what it means by the “vested interest” of a human :)…

…

Marcvs_Tacitvs_Cicero Says:
December 27th, 2008 at 1:49 am

I admire @Peja as much as I admire Mukhtaran Mai.
I think @Peja knows EXACTLY how this is going to turn out. He knows that this ZPP government is fantastically incompetent and outdoes the previous BB governments in its corruption. He knows there will be another Martial Law. He knows Zardari will be swinging from a lamp post.

But just like a good rape victim, he has mentally accepted this situation.
What he writes is merely his process of psychological rationalization of the coming abuse he knows PPP workers will suffer. Like some masochist, he is getting ready.

Haakim-e-shahr bhi , majma’-e-’aam bhee
teer-e-ilzaam bhi , saNg-e-dushnaam bhee
SubH-e-naashaad bhi , roz-e-naakaam bhee
in kaa dam.saaz apnay siwaa kon hay
shahr-e-jaanaaN meN ab baaSafaa kon hay
dast-e-qaatil ke shaayaaN rahaa kon hay
rakht-e-dil baaNdh lo dil figaaro chalo
Phir hameeN qatl ho aa.eN yaaro chalo

……

Pejamistri says:
December 27th, 2008 at 6:27 am

@MTC
I was just going to ask you when is the next martial law, sometimes back you said it is not far off….

I think @Peja knows EXACTLY how this is going to turn out. He knows that this ZPP government is fantastically incompetent and outdoes the previous BB governments in its corruption. He knows there will be another Martial Law. He knows Zardari will be swinging from a lamp post.

EXACTLY I already know how is it doing it turn out… I predicted even before the elections happened. Remember

mausam aya tau nakhle-daar pe meer
sar-e-Mansoor ka hi baar aya

This is not because I am “MTC” or “GoTK” and I “Know-all” , this is because I have fought this battle for a long time , I know its rounds and I know what is coming next.

Yes the rape is inevitable , the rape of the nation at the hands of another mad dictator, along with its forces , but you know now it is not PPP only which is affected by this rape , it is the “Chief Justices”, “Nawaz Sharifs” and “Media” who are also unwilling victim in this rape…

However I don’t search for excuses for this “rape” , saying that “BB’s government was corrupt” , “Nawaz Sharif government was incompetent” and “AZ government is fantastically incompetent” is like saying since “the girl was too pretty, and she had lesser cloths , and the rapists was starved of s3x for many days , therefore my Lord please have mercy on the rapist!!!”

Or at the risk of annoying beardos again let me say this … “A woman with lesser cloth is more prone to rape than a woman in the viel… as there are male wolf out there on the look for them” … similarly “A corrupt government is more prone to be dismissed by the generals than a “government by angels” as military ba$tard$ are out there to rape bloody civilians“.

My friend until you understand why democracy produces people like “Bush” and “Blair” as the leaders in “civilized” society and why they are allowed to “rule” during their tenure, it will be hard for you to understand my “syndrome”, although I can perfectly understand your “genetic disorder” caused by the Ameer-ul-mooneen General Zia’s rape of this nation….

..

pejamistri Says:
December 27th, 2008 at 6:46 am

@GoTK
Thanks for the compliments…

It seems though you did not read my comments carefully , I mentioned that people look for “angels” because they are faced by “satans” and it is not the “common man” who looks for “angels” , it is the “urban educated” man…

And by AZ is still the C-in-C and is leading the troops :). There is no change….
I will come back to generalization/abstraction theory little bit later. In the meanwhile “do contribute on the death anniversary of shaheed-e-millat Mohtarama Benazir Bhutto” as who knows you may have to write something for “Shaheed-e-Jamhooriat Izzat Maaab Asif Ali Zardari”… I love when people have to write/say something against their convictions
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Asif Zardari among 2008 prominent personalities

People Who Mattered Most in 2008 (Time Magazine)

Asif Ali Zardari

Pakistan's unfavored son ended last year by burying his slain wife Benazir Bhutto. He ends 2008 as the President of a nuclear-armed nation threatened by Islamic militancy and on the verge of economic collapse. Allegations of corruption against Zardari led in part to Bhutto's removal from power in the 1990s. But when she returned from exile, ready to lead her nation back to democracy after nearly a decade of military rule, Zardari was beside her. He often repeats Bhutto's favorite line, that democracy is the best revenge. In Pakistan, though, it might take more than that.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/2008/personoftheyear/article/0,31682,1861543_1865283_1867399,00.html

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Geo News

Asif Zardardi among 2008 prominent personalities WASHINGTON: Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardar among the top 20 personalities of year 2008.

US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown are also included in the list of US Time magazine.

Time magazine has given its annual Person of the Year award to US President Barack Obama.

About Asif Zardari, the magazine stated Zardari ended last year by burying his slain wife Benazir Bhutto. He ends 2008 as the President of a nuclear-armed nation threatened by Islamic militancy and on the verge of economic collapse.

Allegations of corruption against Zardari led in part to Bhutto's removal from power in the 1990s. But when she returned from exile, ready to lead her nation back to democracy after nearly a decade of military rule, Zardari was beside her. He often repeats Bhutto's favorite line, that democracy is the best revenge. In Pakistan, though, it might take more than that.
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An overview of Pakistani blogs; Choose your own top ten Pakistani blogs from this list

---work in progress---

Here is a simple and candid review on Pakistani blogs. If you would like to add your blog to the list or offer a perspective on your or other blogs, please comment.

……

All Things Pakistan

http://pakistaniat.com/

We hope that ATP (All Things Pakistan) will be about discussion, not rants.

Our aspiration is to indulge in a conversation with others - Pakistanis and non-Pakistanis - about Pakistan as a living, breathing, vibrant, vigorous, multi-dimensional, complex society. This is in direct retaliation to the dominant discourse on Pakistan that tends to be about various versions of ‘Pakistan - the cardboard cut-out’.

The purpose of ATP is to talk about the problems constructively and to celebrate enthusiastically that which deserves to be celebrated. To embrace Pakistan in all its dimensions - its politics, its culture, its minutia, its beauty, its warts, its potential, its pitfalls, its facial hair, its turbaned heads, its shuttlecock burqas, its jet-setting supermodels, its high-flying bankers, its rock bands, its qawalls, its poets, its street vendors, its swindling politicians, its scheming bureaucrats, its resolute people - in essence, all things Pakistani.

ATP is about ‘all things’ but it cannot be about ‘everything.’ There is always a choice about what to put in and what to focus on. ATP wants to be balanced but also eclectic. We will focus on things that are primarily about Pakistan, will do so from a primarily Pakistani perspective, but we will also try to talk about things that others are not talking about. This is not a ‘news blog’ that simply comments on the headlines of the day. There are plenty of those already. Our criteria is to find interesting topics, neglected topics, and pertinent topics about, you guessed it, all things Pakistan.

.......

Sherryx's Weblog: De-realization of Pak Tea House!
By Shaheryar Ali

A great source of alternative, critical reflection. Rich is leftist and secular ideas and resources.

http://sherryx.wordpress.com

……..

Metroblogs

What is Metroblogging?

Metroblogging started off as a more locally focused alternative news source in Los Angeles and has turned into the largest and fastest growing network of city-specific blogs on the Web. We got sick of reading local news that was syndicated from the other side of the country, or was just repurposed national chit chat that had nothing to do with our city. We created our first blog as a throw back to the days when a local news paper focused on local issues, and you could walk down to the corner coffee shop and chat up the reporters whose column you read earlier that day. This idea didn’t stay in one city for long and before we knew it there were Metblogs in Chicago, Portland, Karachi, and Vienna. Today there are over 50 Metblogs in countries all over the world. Local politics, event reviews, lunch recommendations and ways to avoid that big traffic jam downtown. If it’s happening in our cities, we’re on it.

We are bloggers first and foremost, and we love our cities.

islamabad.metblogs.com/

karachi.metblogs.com/

lahore.metblogs.com/

………..

Bloggers Pakistan

http://bloggers.pk/

Bloggers.pk is the first and only blog aggregator of Pakistani origin and Pakistan based blogs. It was founded by the ALVI-E Team (Dr. Awab Alvi [Teeth Maestro] and Omer Alvie [the olive ream] as part of their continuing efforts to ensure freedom of expression of Pakistani bloggers.

Its inception was the result of the blogspot ban and the subsequent step after the launch of Dont Block The Block campaign to ensure promotion of Pakistani blogs and to encourage free expression of personal views via the tool of free web logs (sites).

The ALVI-E team are committed to ensuring further improvements on bloggers.pk to create an online, interactive community of Pakistani bloggers.

…….

Friends Korner

http://www.friendskorner.com/
A relaxing place with healthy environment where you can chit chat with members in reference to daily life issues

…..

PK Politics

http://pkpolitics.com/

This site was developed with good intention of providing access to popular Political Talk Shows and News Clips to those who don’t have access to these TV channels, or miss these programs due to travel or other engagements. Since all programs are archived on this site, you can watch your favorite programs at your own convenient schedule.

…….

Teeth Maestro

http://www.teeth.com.pk/blog/

Teeth Maestro, the blog name of Dr. Awab Alvi a Pakistani dentist practicing in Karachi. he graduated with a dental degree (BDS) from de’Montmorency College of Dentistry, Lahore. and then proceeded to Saint Louis University for a Masters Degree (MSc) in the field of Orthodontics (Braces) he later went for an extensive study at the University of Pennsylvania for a certificate in Endodontics (Root Canals). Dr. Alvi is now presently presently practicing at the Alvi Dental Hospital which is located at 23-B Sindhi Muslim Society, Karachi Ph: 4524371 / 72 or website @ www.alvidental.com

Teeth Maestro has blogged from July 2004 where initially he was based off a Blogspot address specifically orthodontist.blogspot.com - Due to constant connectivity issue he migrated to his own domain in 2005 and has now maintained his own blog URL.
Contacting Teeth Maestro is quite simple, no lengthy protocols, no lengthy spam filters, just simply use the contact form provided below or pop an email to the Gmail account attached. He is sure to respond…….

……..

Light Within

sajshirazi.blogspot.com/

This is a blog on business, experiments and proposals.

……..

Raza Rumi

http://www.razarumi.com/

A travelling soul with diverse interests ranging from Urdu, literature to music and from psychologyand Sufism to cinema. History is another unwavering passion of mine. Lahore is my janam bhoomi and Pakistan is what defines me in its entirety. Yet I am a citizen of the world and my Muslim identity, howsoever fractured in these times, is central to my being. I have created this space to prompt a conference of words where people sharing my interests could contribute their thoughts and writings. I have also posted my recent writings on diverse topics - some of these have been published in a Pakistani weekly publication.

And, yet ki janaa mein kaun? for I do not recognize myself…

Raza Rumi is a freelance writer from Lahore, Pakistan. He regularly writes for the Pakistani weekly The Friday Times, The News and Daily DAWN on myriad topics such as history, arts, literatue and society. Raza blogs at Jahane Rumi - a website devoted to Sufi thought, the arts, literature, and cultures of South Asia. Raza also edits a cyber-magazine Pak Tea House; and manages Lahore Nama . He is also a self-taught painter and his works can be seen at the online Saatchi Gallery. Check him out on flickr too. Raza’s interests include writing, literature, world civilizations and cultures, travel, painting and mysticism. Academically, he is trained in economics and social development.

Raza is also regular writer at All Things Pakistan, Desicritics, and Global Voices. Raza has worked in Pakistan and abroad in various organizations including multilateral institutions such as the United Nations.

……

Chowrangi

www.chowrangi.com/

A blog on Pakistan Politics, Current Affairs, Business and Lifestyle

Chowrangi is a crossroad of lifestyles. Chowrangi cover topics related to business, entertainment, current affairs, religion, sports, technology and other aspects of our daily lives.

……

Pak Tea House

http://pakteahouse.wordpress.com/

Pak Tea House is a little corner in the blogosphere that will endeavour to revive the culture of debate, pluralism and tolerance. It has no pretensions nor illusions but the motivation of a few people who want to see Pakistan a better place - where ideas need to counter the forces of commercialism, adverse effects of globalisation and extremism. And, ideas must translate into action that leads us to an equitable, just and healthy society. Please join us - through writings, contributions, discussions, and spreading the word…Raza Rumi - editor/founder Pak Tea House blog-zine

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Watan Dost

http://watandost.blogspot.com/

WATANDOST: Inside News About Pakistan and its Neighborhood

Watandost in Urdu and farsi means "friend of the country". The blog contains news and commentaries about Pakistan (and its neighbors) that are intriguing and insightful but often are not part of the news headlines. Issues related to "Islam and the West" are also covered here.

Hassan Abbas
Occupation: Academic
Location: Boston : Massachusetts

……

The Pakistani Spectator

http://www.pakspectator.com/

We at TPS are so grateful to you that you have taken time out of your precious life and have visited us. We treasure you and your time, and strive hard to make your visit here as much worthwhile as possible.

We take a candid look on everything happening in and for Pakistan.
We render views, news and opinions on Pakistani Politics in specific and world politics in general with respect to Pakistan.

We also throw a fair light on the blossoming Entertainment industry of world, and gather best of the breed quality information in that regards for you.

In order to let you know that how passionate the bloggers and webmasters of this planet are, we regularly conduct their interesting interviews from all over the world.

We also present the political content in Urdu language.

We want to be at your service all the time in every possible way. Please do keep visiting us and bestow your comments upon us, for our welfare.

…….

Pro Pakistani

http://www.propakistani.com/

Welcome to ProPakistani - a website that consistently updates you about latest happenings from Pakistan’s Telecom and IT Industry – A Resource that you can Trust!

At ProPakistani, we are committed to:

• Unbiased Reporting: supported by facts and figures instead of fiction
• Inform & Educate: you by notifying you latest cellular packages, tutorials, telecom FAQs, reviews, tips, tricks and anything that encircles Telecom and IT
• Protect Consumer rights by bringing those elements to front that incline to violate consumer laws.

….

Chowk

www.chowk.com

Chowk is a platform to publish, discuss and debate writings on a variety of issues that are important to the people of India, Pakistan, and other South Asian countries.

It is a place to:

• express and exchange ideas
• discover eclectic thoughts
• get useful information
• meet new people
• engage in social change
• enjoy and educate yourself

Chowk is committed to promote the right to express. It nurtures ideas and voices that are original, investigative, and independent of doctrine and dogma. Chowk does not propose, favor or defend any ideology. Readers and writers arrive at their views through debate in an open and free environment.

Chowk does not claim to solve the political or social problems of Pakistan and/or India. Rather, it provides a platform for dialogue, introspection, and familiarity amongst the people to break taboos and facilitate a climate for lasting peace and understanding.

Chowk is a not-for-profit publication, managed by a self-directed staff of editors, associates, and correspondents. All of Chowk content is contributed by its members. In essence Chowk is an ecosystem of hyper-writing, an emergent form of journalism. At Chowk, writers and readers interact to give birth to new ideas, sometimes diminishing and other times enhancing the original message.

…..

Chapati Mystery

http://www.chapatimystery.com

Chapati Mystery(CM), a “quaint” publication, started out wondering what T. E. Lawrence and Bhagat Singh would talk about, over dinner. And it kinda went downhill from there. Over the last four years, you would have read examples of ‘Cool History’ from South Asia ['cool' being a subjective term, here], wrong analysis of US domestic politics [I thought Kerry would win], many, many rants against journalists and historians who write about Islam, Middle East or South Asia, some sober assessments on Pakistan’s political and religious scene, a few ruminations about public intellectuals and digital history and finally enough snark to overcome a room full of Wicker Park hipsters. Do be aware that CM’s only qualified expertise is in medieval South Asian history. You should take our guided tour.

……..

Let us build Pakistan

http://www.letusbuildpakistan.blogspot.com

Welcome to Sarah, Abdul and Paindoo's reflections on Pakistan's politics, society and arts. In the main, the blog offers a selection of columns (editorials, op-ed pieces) from the Pakistani and international press. Syndicated since June 2008.

".... a really good blog on Pakistan Let Us Build Pakistan. Apart from the honest look at the Pakistani role in the Mumbai attacks there’s also some good poetry and videos of Pakistani music." Highly recommended!

………

Ahmed Quraishi

http://www.ahmedquraishi.com/

Ahmed Quraishi has hosted various political talk shows from PTV News and Geo TV. This site is a platform projecting Pakistan’s foreign policy priorities as well as an analysis of Pakistani politics.

…….

Pakistan Defence Forum

http://forum.pakistanidefence.com/

A site related to Pakistani politics in particular issues related to army, navy and air force.

……

Grand Trunk Road

http://www.grandtrunkroad.com/

A blog by Rabia Shakoor. It has some good links and interesting commentary on the nature of Pakistani politics.
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A salute to the workers of PPP; the strongest pro-moderation pro-democracy force in Pakistan...

To PPP workers

Friday, December 26, 2008 (The News)
by Harris Khalique

Common political workers belonging to any party must be held in a very high esteem. These are the people who put their lives, livelihoods, families and whatever small belongings they have at stake just to see their dream of a social change come true. They may believe in different ideologies and follow different paths but their commitment to change is undeterred in the face of political oppression, hardships, police lockups and prison cells, torture and blackmailing, removal from jobs and what not. I have met people from across Pakistan who sacrificed their youth in struggling against the governments they did not like and spending decades behind bars. These people never rise to positions of prominence even in their parties, let alone getting lucrative senior governmental appointments, diplomatic postings or ministerial portfolios. Leaders also sacrifice but get dividends in return in the shape of power, prestige and influence. Even those who do not make it to the corridors of power, get recognition in other ways. But in a country like Pakistan where politics is a deadly game and raising your voice for the rights of the masses is detested by the power-elite, a common political worker is more important than ideologues, perfect at blowing storms in teacups.

On the occasion of the first death anniversary of Benazir Bhutto, who was brutally killed while struggling for the cause of democracy, moderation and return to civilian rule in her homeland, a leader who commanded respect even among those who ferociously disapproved of her politics, I want to speak to the workers of the PPP. For it is their comrades who laid most lives in the struggle for democracy, were flogged for what they stood for and spent years in prison. It is not only the Bhutto family but countless workers of the PPP who have suffered at the hands of powers that be. I want to remind them today that they have given innumerable lives and suffered irreparable losses in this struggle to realise the vision of creating a modern, democratic state where the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the citizens are protected. They have supported PPP in the name of socialism, democracy and empowerment of the people. They wanted a Pakistan not only for the idle rich classes but for the common people who give their sweat and blood in our fields, factories and business houses. This was envisioned in the founding documents of the party.

I want to remind the workers of the PPP to revisit what was written by the founder of their party, Z A Bhutto, in his two books, “The Myth of Independence” and “If I Am Assassinated”. In the latter, published after his martyrdom at the hands of a dictator, he says that the interests of two conflicting classes cannot be served in tandem. The haves and have-nots cannot be made happy at the same time. He considers it a mistake in the policies he pursued. The baton was passed on to Benazir Bhutto who committed mistakes like a politician would but sacrificed her life and tried her best to pull the federation of Pakistan together. She was neither vindictive nor petty. To some of us she may not have tried enough in making this country strong but at least she did make efforts to improve the living conditions of the teeming millions. Her death deepened the crisis of leadership in this godforsaken country.

When little hope is left in the leadership, it is now for the workers of the PPP to decide what they can do to make sure the access to good quality education for every child and decent healthcare for every Pakistani. It is up to them to see if fundamental municipal services can be made available to every one and unequal development will be replaced by an even development in all parts of the country. I salute the workers of the PPP for they have never let our hope in the political process fade away.

The writer is an Islamabad-based poet and rights campaigner. Email: harris@spopk.org
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Indian military retaliation would play straight into LeT’s hands. - Praful Bidwai

There is no military option

by Praful Bidwai

Ultimately, it wasn’t superior firepower, sophisticated interception methods or commando training that explains how one of the Mumbai attackers was arrested alive. The key to that feat lies in the great courage shown by the city’s policemen in overpowering Mohammed Ajmal Amir Iman (Kasab) with nothing more than lathis after his accomplice Abu Ismail was killed.

Assistant sub-Inspector Tukaram Ombale held on to the barrel of Kasab’s gun even as he took a burst of fire and pounced on the man, allowing his colleagues to arrest him. Ombale died, but his bravery ensured that a key participant in the attack would live to tell the tale.

Kasab’s arrest is unique in the annals of anti-terrorist operations anywhere. His interrogation has produced invaluable evidence about the preparation for and execution of the attack.

Kasab must be tried scrupulously fairly and with full respect for his right to legal defence. A lawyer of unimpeachable competence must be drafted to defend him. His conviction cannot be a foregone conclusion merely because of the attack’s barbarity. His guilt must be proved on the highest norms of criminal law.

After Kasab’s disclosures to the police, there can be little doubt that Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba carried out the attack after putting recruits through rigorous training and ideological-political indoctrination for almost a year. The Pakistani media has since verified Kasab’s home address, and interviewed his father in Faridkot village in Punjab’s Okara district. The international community has confirmed the LeT’s involvement through the ban imposed on its sister organisation, Jamaat-ud-Daawa, by the United Nations Security Council under Resolution 1267.

The LeT isn’t just another jehadi group. It has had a special relationship with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency. Unlike other groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammed, which are Deobandi, the LeT is Salafist and doesn’t believe in fighting governments in Islamic countries. The LeT doesn’t actively oppose the army’s anti-Taliban-Al-Qaeda operations at the Afghanistan border.

It’s not clear if the ISI or its “rogue” elements logistically supported the Mumbai attack. But it’s reasonably plain that the attackers’ main motive was to provoke a military response from India, which would cause a troops build-up at Pakistan’s eastern border. This would create a rationale for redeploying Pakistani troops from the western border—where they face considerable pressure from US-Pakistan operations—to the Indian border. This would allow Al Qaeda-Taliban fighters to regroup and overrun large swathes of Afghanistan and Pakistan

Secondarily, the attackers’ motive was to increase disaffection among Indian Muslims and provoke a backlash—to further help extremism. Mercifully, this hasn’t happened—despite the Sangh Parivar. The attacks have triggered unprecedented Hindu-Muslim unity and a spirited condemnation of terrorism by an overwhelming majority of India’s Muslim organisations.

Indian military retaliation would play straight into LeT’s hands. This would further destabilise Pakistan, which is already in a precarious condition, to the point of unravelling its state—with disastrous consequences for the whole region. The Indian government has acted with restraint and used diplomatic, not military, means to deal with the crisis. On December 11, Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee underscored this approach. In response to a demand for attacking Pakistan, he said: “That is not the point….I am making it quite clear that that is not the solution. Let us be very clear and frank that that is no solution.”

The meaning of the military option, advocated stridently by hawkish “strategic experts” and by Bharatiya Janata Party MPs like Arun Shourie should be plain. Shourie wants India to target Pakistan’s vital installations and keep Pakistan “preoccupied”, presumably through covert action, with its “own problems in Balochistan, in Gilgit, Baltistan”, etc. He said: “Not an eye for an eye; but for an eye, both eyes. For a tooth, (the) whole jaw.”

This is an insane prescription. Any India-Pakistan conflict is liable to escalate into nuclear war. In Nuclear Armageddon, there are no winners—only mega-deaths.

Even a limited nuclear exchange will kill millions of civilians in both countries. The economic and environmental damage will set us back by decades. A single Hiroshima/Nagasaki-type bomb will kill 8 to 20 lakh people in a big city. India and Pakistan both have scores of such bombs, indeed even more powerful ones.

In every conceivable war-gaming scenario—and many credible ones exist —, an India-Pakistan conflict has one inevitable outcome: full-scale war, in which Pakistan won’t hesitate to use nuclear weapons if it fears loss of territory. This will invite nuclear retaliation from India, with consequences too horrifying even to contemplate.

No leader has the moral right or political mandate to sacrifice millions of civilians. Only extremists with apocalyptic visions like RSS chief KS Sudarshan believe nuclear war is acceptable.

He recently told an interviewer: “Whenever the demons (Asuri powers) start dominating this planet, there is no way other than war…I know it will not stop there. It will be a nuclear war and a large number of people will perish. But … let me say with confidence that after this destruction, a new world will emerge, which will be very good, free from evil and terrorism.”

It’s dangerous to imagine that the threat of war can compel Pakistan into acting decisively against extremist groups. Indeed, Pakistan will respond with even greater bellicosity.

The idea of “surgical strikes” against terrorist training camps is equally harebrained. LeT camps are makeshift affairs, and poor candidate-targets for strikes. Any strike, however “limited”, will invite armed conflict. Pakistan isn’t Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, which the US could attack without fear of resistance because it crippled all military communications. Even covert action, which will require the creation of a new monster—”India’s own ISI”—will trigger escalation.

But there are alternatives. Manmohan Singh outlined a two-pronged approach: galvanising international opinion for effective action against terrorism, and persisting with diplomatic pressure on Pakistan. Domestically, he promised reform of internal security arrangements. US and UK pressure has already led to a ban on JuD. But India must develop a broader multilateral approach to avert getting drawn into Washington’s parochial plans for the region.

The best strategy would be to press Pakistan through UN Security Council Resolution 1373, under which sanctions can be imposed on a state that fails to “deny safe haven to those who finance, plan, support, or commit terrorist acts…” and violates its duty to “refrain from providing … support… to entities or persons involved in terrorist acts…”.

Bilaterally, India can achieve much by sharing evidence of the LeT’s role in the Mumbai attacks with Pakistan, and acting demonstrably to defuse suspicions about its covert operations in Balochistan and Afghanistan.

While revamping India’s internal security system, the Singh government should have followed the advice of Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan against using “questionable methods such as permitting indefinite detention of terror suspects…coercive interrogation techniques and the denial of the right to fair trial”, and his plea for “substantive due process”.

Regrettably, it has done the very opposite by having a law passed which replicates all the obnoxious provisions, including detention without charges for 180 days, of the discredited Prevention of Terrorism Act—except for making police confessions admissible as evidence. The National Investigative Agency Act too has flaws, including overcentralisation of powers, and their illegitimate extension to areas affected by insurgency and Left-wing extremism. These Acts must be undone.

The writer, a former newspaper editor, is a researcher and peace and human-rights activist based in Delhi. Email: prafulbidwai1@yahoo.co.in

Friday, December 26, 2008 (The News)
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India not the real enemy; militancy is - By Ayaz Amir

Will hypocrites such as Imran Khan and Qazi Hussain Ahmed listen to this sane voice?

......

India not the real enemy; militancy is
Islamabad diary

Friday, December 26, 2008
by Ayaz Amir

Militancy and extremism on the march. Three schools in Peshawar attacked with rockets. The Fazlullah-led Taliban in Swat ordering the closure of girls’ schools from January 15. Scores of schools already torched in Swat, one of the most beautiful places on earth. Swat’s prestigious Sangota Public School blown up on Oct 7. These events are far more important, of deeper impact, than the bluster and threats coming our way from India.

India will have to take leave of its senses to attack Pakistan, even to carry out a limited attack, what armchair idiots like to call a “precision strike”. Any Indian attack, precision or otherwise, will elicit a Pakistani response. Where that might lead to falls in the realm of the incalculable. It needs no Clausewitz to vouchsafe that it is easier to start wars; much harder, as the Americans from their Iraq and Afghanistan experience can testify, to end them.

India is piling up the pressure on Pakistan, exploiting the opportunity provided by the Mumbai attacks. We should take cognisance of the pressure and resist it. But there is no need to go into panic mode. India is not attacking us. Or, rather, it has no need to attack us because we are attacking ourselves from within. Militancy is on the march and the state (I can think of no better word) is in retreat, helpless before the militant onslaught, now confined not just to FATA and Swat but spreading, and indeed clueless about how to combat it.

We know how to meet any threat from India. This is travelled territory, a script we know by heart. But India is not the problem. We are being slowly devoured and destroyed from within and there is no agreed script about how this challenge, now turning into a grave threat, is to be met.

India says we are in denial about Mumbai. This is not true. Evidence of any smoking gun, clinching evidence rather than rhetorical flourishes, has yet to be shown to Pakistan. But this is beside the point. We, the Pakistani people and our state, are in denial about the tramp of what could easily pass for the 21st century equivalent of the Huns in the northwest and the north.

The problem before us has its roots in the past but it won’t do to make the past an alibi or excuse for twiddling our thumbs in the present. Gen Zia all those years ago helped create this Frankenstein monster and Gen Musharraf through ill-judged cunning, and equally ill-judged military actions, allowed militancy and extremism to become the fast-growing viruses which they presently are. But berating Zia and Musharraf won’t do us any good. The monster is a monster, regardless of the laboratory or the geniuses who created him.

What defies understanding, and the army has yet to come up with a convincing explanation, is why the army operation in Swat has come to a standstill, without being able to dent the power of the Fazlullah-led militants? It has been trying to clear Swat for over a year now but Fazlullah’s forces are stronger than ever. What is happening? There may be an American angle to the situation in FATA but there is none in Swat.

Turmoil in Swat makes nonsense of the concept of sovereignty. If we are not internally fully sovereign, of what worth our claims to external sovereignty? The threat in Swat, because it undermines the nation from within, is more serious than any notional threat from India. The army high command should be concentrating on this and senior generals would do the nation greater service by stationing themselves in Swat rather than lolling about in Rawalpindi. Indeed, it would be no bad idea for the Rawalpindi Golf Club, where senior generals take their leisure, to close down while the troubles in FATA and Swat last. This is no time to play golf.

Afghanistan and Iraq may be stupid wars but American and British leaders make it a point of visiting their troops in both countries. Musharraf never, not once, visited FATA. He never visited Swat. Gen Kayani has gone to both places but he needs to go there more. What about President Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani? At the drop of a hat they set off on foreign tours. But they can’t bring themselves to visit troops in FATA and Swat. There can be no greater shame than this.

The world has changed and so has our regional environment. War with India—-or from India’s point of view, war with Pakistan——should no longer be a possibility or an option. The nature of the threat has changed. The armed forces therefore need to revamp and restyle both their thinking and their posture. F-16s and more inter sub-continental missiles will do us little good. How many atom bombs do we have? Fifty? That should be enough for any sane notion of defence against India. If 50 atom bombs are insufficient all the world’s arms will not give us a sense of security.

We need a leaner force, more attuned to covert operations and warfare in the rugged north and northwest. The eastern frontier must become a frontier of peace if we are to devote what energies we have to the threat from within. Which doesn’t mean we lower our guard, only that we give up on meaningless warmongering. It is time to bury the notion, so beloved of the Nazria-e-Pakistan school of thought, that India is our eternal enemy. It isn’t. India is not torching our schools. It is not proscribing female education. Someone else is.

To Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, whom I once heard lecturing at a Jamaat-ud-Daawa mosque in Chakwal, I would respectfully say that the time for the kind of ‘jihad’ as promoted in the 1980s and 1990s is over. What was possible then is no longer possible now. That kind of ‘jihad’ far from serving any useful purpose or advancing any Pakistani interests now endangers the country. A farewell to ‘jihad’, turning Kalashnikovs into ploughshares, that is what Pakistan needs.

When the Bolsheviks under Lenin seized power in Russia in 1917, the First World War still raging, large parts of western Russia were under German occupation. Most of the members of the Bolshevik central committee were for continuing the war. But Lenin insisted that saving the Revolution was more important. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk concluded with Germany imposed humiliating terms on Russia, including the loss of the Ukraine, but Lenin accepted them in the hope that if the Revolution triumphed temporary setbacks would be of no account. Events proved him right. Germany lost the war and the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk came to nothing.

Saving Pakistan from within must take priority over everything else. Notions of strategic depth and the like, of ‘jihad’ as an instrument of national policy, must finally be discarded. Folly sowed over 30 years of benighted effort has come to haunt us. High time we gave up on these ghosts from the past.

The army is pitted against the Taliban in FATA but there are persistent accusations, never persuasively denied, that it turns a blind eye to the presence of Taliban elements in and around Quetta. How long can we sustain such dichotomies?

Should the ISI be brought under ISI control? Even if it is, that would still be but a half-step. What gives the ISI a distinct imprint is its umbilical link with the army. Army officers rotate to and from it, making the ISI an extension of the army. The time may have come to consider ways of turning the ISI into a professional spy organisation like the CIA and KGB, or even RAW for that matter. These organisations are not staffed by army officers.

Immediately after the Mumbai attacks our government’s stand could have been more coherent. But as consultations with various branches of government and other political leaders got underway, some of the earlier fumbling disappeared.

This is not a Churchillian government. I think we are all agreed on this score. Even so, with all the confusion on display, Pakistan’s response to combined American and Indian pressure in 2008 has been a whole lot more steady and sensible than Gen Musharraf’s response to American pressure in 2001. Which serves to underline the distinction that the most fumbling democracy is preferable to any kind of military dictatorship.

Email: winlust@yahoo.com
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An interesting conversation between a Jinnah hater and a Jinnah lover

digitalmaster:

I am not a historian so cannot comment on the personality of Jinnah. For all I know he was from a religion respected family. He firmly believed in a separate state for MUSLIMS … does that translate as secular state for you !…

Ghost Of TK Says:
December 25th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
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@dm: the arguments you present leave a lot to be desired in terms of supporting your thesis. Please take a look at the August 11 address by Jinnah.

You yourself claim that you have NO IDEA on the background of Jinnah or his life from a historical perspective, yet you are sure that he wanted a theocracy. Or at least a ‘non-secular’ govt. whatever that means.

your sense of history seems to be derived from Jamaat Islami pamphlets. I would would get ‘a second opinion’ when dealing with the beardo’s who have been the ever present mark of shame for Pakistan, and presided over EVERY SINGLE DISASTER that Pakistan faced (with their precipitative help).


digitalmaster Says:
December 25th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
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@GoTK

Jamati Islami was against the creation of Pakistan… who denies that. I don’t trust “Jamats” that are part of the current political process.

The point I am raising is that millions of muslims didn’t vote for a secular state… because Pakistan at that time was not projected as a secular state. Even if you prove to me that Qaid’s philosophy was secular… it maybe… but in 1945’s elections muslims voted for a muslim state.

Also I didn’t say I have NO IDEA about Jinnah’s history… I have read enough but have not set my mind on “Jamat-e-islami” thinking or “liberal secular” thinking. I try not to see stuff in black and white… You cannot brand people in just two groups. Jinnah like any other human being was a complex man

Coming back to my point again…. even if the leadership of Pakistan was not making it to be a muslim state…. the original philosophy (Iqbals ?) and the way masses precieved it was very much along the lines of “we want to create this state so we can practice our religion and have our own identity “…. The question I ask is why was Pakistan needed if Islam was not a factor.

BTW I have read ur explaination of the term “beardo”. I agree with the general philosophy but the word makes me VERY queasy. Also it gives the impression that you somehow brand all Ulemas as holders of this mentality. Which is narrow mindedness.
Who would you consider not a “beardo” and still an Islamic scholar… give example from anywhere in muslim world.

Traffic Says: [this man "Traffic" is a bigoted sectarian activist, a supporter of the Taliban and a hater of Jinnah)

December 25th, 2008 at 11:27 pm


baboos’ only arguments are we fought america’s war in 80’s(but they are not agaisnt fighting america’s war right now), jinnah was a secularist, and education is panacea for all problems(forget everything else).

in 80’s baboos wanted us to lie down like a b*t*h so that communists could over-run us, and now baboos want us to help americans fight taliban. in other words baboos are always anti-state and anti-people.

who gives a f0ck what jinnah was or what he wanted, the majority of Muslims at the time sacrificed everything not for a secular state ruled by baboos but an Islamic state.

Ghost of TK Says:
December 25th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
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@Traffic: “who gives a f0ck what jinnah was or what he wanted”

This pretty much sums up the beardo mentality. Who indeed. Maybe Jinnah himself who seems to contradict your hallucinations about Pakistan being an “Islamic” state. Islamic as defined by some arbitrary beardo.

You seem to assume a lot of things. At least I do not support the American presence in Afghanistan or Iraq or any fucking country including Pakistan. But that fact you conveniently ignore. Similarly, every people have a right to self defense, I supported that in the Soviet Invasion and I support that now. So, READ MY LIPS: Afghans have the right to resist foreign invaders, manipulators and intriguers and to evict them. This includes but is not limited to the so called “Internation Security Assistance Force”

That doesn’t mean that I support a free for all on Pakistani territory. A free-for-all which includes running dumbass jihadi camps against every single neighbour of the State of Pakistan. Including China. What the fuck is wrong with the beardo’s. If they love the state and well-being of Pakistan so much, would they go so far as supporting the US/UK supported Uigher movement in china?

The fact is that they are numbnuts! And don’t understand what the hell they’re doing and that relates directly back to their abysmal ignorance of world affairs.

Like a bull in a bullfight, they only see the red-curtain of JEEHAAWD, and they Charge!

Now, is the way in which our venerable Army dealing with the FATA issue correct? NO! But these are the same dipshits who the beardo’s connived with and the same dipshits who created the proxy fighter forces to begin with.

Don’t blame the Nationalist Left for your retarded choices. You helped them every step of the way, and now they’re raping you. Well, enjoy the ass-shafting. Now you know how it feels hahaha!

And beardo’s have the nerve to call their opponent’s reasoning muddled and confused when it is they who on one hand condone the beheading of the Pakistani soldiers (THE symbols and last remaining piller of Pakistani STATE) in FATA, but they accuse others of “treachery” when others doubt the intentions of the very same army.

Consistency is not something that one should expect only from one’s opponents.

gditpp Says:
December 26th, 2008 at 12:54 am
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@Traffic

who gives a f0ck what jinnah was or what he wanted,
———————

Shame on you, thats all I have say.

dara Says:
December 26th, 2008 at 9:16 am

Pakistan was created for muslims not Islam.
Islam is universal truth doesn’t need a country.

bilal ekram Says:
December 26th, 2008 at 7:45 am
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JINNAH IS OUR REAL QUAID.HE WAS THE GREAT LEADER OF OUR COUNTRY AT THIS TIME WE NEED A LEADER AS SAME AS JINNAH A MAN OF so many great qualities thanks QUAID

GiveMeHope Says:
December 26th, 2008 at 6:25 am
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May ALLAH bless you Mr Jinnah. I salute you . You were, are and will be a source of pride for the muslims of the subcontinent. I wish we can learn from you and build our nation as you had dreamt it to be, tolerant and progressive and an examplery true Islamic nation….Ameen

gditpp Says:
December 26th, 2008 at 6:47 pm

For those you are hell bent upon calling him Babaee Qaum, Bani e Pakistan, Pasban i millat, Hazrat, Quaid i Azam, alay rehmat…… Mohammad Ali Jinnah said in 1942 — “I have lived as plain Mr. Jinnah and I hope to die as plain Mr. Jinnah. I am very much averse to any title or honours and I will be more than happy if there was no prefix to my name.”

Ghost of TK Says:
December 26th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
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@FJ: I’m just trying to shatter some preconceived notions that people may have about drinking, heroes, and just trying to point out that one has to look at a person as a whole as opposed to applying a cliched Javed Choodhry’ish checklist to assess a person’s worth.

Don’t shoot the messenger. That’s all I’m saying.

The point is, drinking, or even being such an avid drinker that a person can’t recognize the Prophet himself sometimes doesn’t make someone a “bad person”.

A conclusion that the “children of Zia” hurriedly jump to at the mention of “Khumr”.

Remember, this hadith is around the end of Badr and before Uhud. The transmission for proscribing drinking did not come until AFTER Uhud the battle in which incidentally, Hazrat Hamza, The Lion of Islam, embraced Shahadah.

I’m not saying there is a connection between the two events. I’m just saying that one cannot evaluate someone’s worth by these pygmy yardsticks. Jinnah created Pakistan (with a lot of help and goading and manipulation from the British) Maybe he had a few personal vices, and so what, “Sharab peeta tha? kab peeta tha? kaisay peeta tha? botal say muNh laga kay to phir bhi naheen peeta thaa” …

these are the kind of attitudes that lead to …

….

“HaaN haaN peetaa thaa, ghareebooN kaa khooN to naheeN peetaa thaa!”

“Ganjay kay sar pay hal chalay gaa!”

“chalo chalo afghanistan chalo!”

“Jihad-e-Afghanistan kay liyay chaNda!”

“Chalo Chalo Kashmir Chalo!!!”

“Al-Arz-u-Lillah! Delhi peh JhanDaa lehraiNgay”

“Pehlay to ham mujahid thay! ab kiyooN terrist ban gai?”

KiyooN Indeed! ;)

And Muhammad(s) said, “momin ek soorakh say do baar naheeN Dasaa jaataa”

......

#
Traffic Says:
December 26th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
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@ TK

you are the one who objects the most when someone quotes a Quranic ayah or hadith. now why are YOU quoting them? another hypocricy of the baboo brigade.
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#
Ghost Of TK Says:
December 26th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
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@Traffic: OMG! You must be an indian sympathizer! How can you be against Islam and the Ahadith of The Prophet peace and blessings be upon him!!! ???

Why shouldn’t I quote Ahadith? Do you have sole monopoly on Islam? We don’t even know if you are Muslim enough! You haven’t proven your Islam.

P.S. I wasn’t losing an argument and did not quote to win it by trying to shut my opponent up!

La Hole Wala Quvvat Illa Billa

Now, go and wear your armour and your JJ (jihadi-jacket)… Don’t you have to go blow yourself up under an advancing Sukhoi aircraft to defend “Islam ka Qilla” ???? If you’re really a “True Muslim” that is.


....

oncerned_pakistani Says:
December 27th, 2008 at 1:48 am
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May Allah bless his soul, and keep Pakistan safe, ameen.

It is so painful to find that some midgets dare to speak against the giant, our beloved Quaid. Please leave him alone!

For those who would like to read the following famous books on line, the links are:

1. My Brother by Fatima Jinnah
(http://www.scribd.com/doc/7380292/My-Brother-by-Fatima-Jinnah)

2. Jinnah, Creator of Pakistan by Hector Bolthio
(http://www.scribd.com/doc/6454823/jinnah-creator-of-pakistan)
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Shaheen Sehbai given enough rope to hang himself and the Jang Group...

Aftab Iqbal's column in Nawaiwaqt 29 December 2008 exposing Shaheen Sehbai's request to President Zardari to become an ambassador. Because of Sehbai's anti-Pakistan record, he was not given security clearance for any diplomatic post.





Shaheen Sehbai, the current Group Editor of daily English newspaper The News International, and his two team members Ansar Abbasi and Rauf Klasra are extremely unhappy with the PPP-ANP-JUI Government in Pakistan, particularly with President Asif Zardari.

Does any one know, why?

Here is the list of various demands by this group presented to President Zardari:

1. Removal of a criminal case against Shaheen Sehbai which was registered against Sehbai in 2001. The person who filed the complaint with the Rawalpindi police on 21 August is Khalid Hijazi, who is the former husband of a cousin of Sehbai. The complaint alleges that Sehbai carried out an "armed robbery" in his home on 22 February 2001. Sehbai was told by President Zardari that he must face these charges in a court of law.

2. Sehbai tried to approach Chief Justice Abdul Hamid Dogar for 'settlement' of this case but his request was turned down.

3. Shaheen Sehbai has developed personal vengeance against ex-President General Pervez Musharraf. He wants Musharraf to be tried in a court of law on charges of treason and also because according to Sehbai, "Musharraf sold Pakistan's interests by participating in the USA war against the Taliban and Al Qaeda". President Zardari refused to bow to this request by Mr. Sehbai.

4. Shaheen Sehbai's team members (Ansar Abbasi in particular) are vehement supporters of Jamaat Islami and the Taliban. They are upset with President Zardari because of his decision to fight terrorist of Taliban and Al Qaeda.

5. On February 16, 2002, Sehbai let a story run that "exposed" government Pakistani ties with terrorist bombings in India (a story that also ran in The Washington Post and The International Herald Tribune by the work of the reporter, not Sehbai). The government immediately stopped its advertisements in The News International, and put inordinate pressure on the company to fire those involved in the creation and publishing of the story.

6. Mr. Sehbai returned to America and started a web based newspaper, The South Asian Tribune, in which he produced many false stories against Pakistan. Obviously he became bitter towards Musharraf because of Musharraf's tough stance on war on terror and also because Musharraf had decided to weaken ties between ISI and Jihadis/Talibans. In 2005, Sehbai, announced that he was closing The South Asian Tribune after three years of service.

7. Invitation to the Army Chief General Kayani to intervene in politics: In his highly controversial article in Daily The News on 2 September 2008, Shaheen Sehbai states that the very fact that Asif Zardari is about to become the head of the state of Pakistan proves how big a mess Musharraf made. He says thus it is the army’s duty to fix it as the political parties certainly are not capable of doing it. “Risking the charge that will instantly be thrown at me that I am inviting the Army to intervene again”, he offers a seven-step plan for General Kiyani.

Comments by some ordinary Pakistanis

aahmad Says:
September 2nd, 2008 at 2:30 am


Is Shaheen Sehbai the new “media trouble maker’ in making? After Dr. Shahid has been bought and Hamid Mir partially compromised towards PPP, we need brave ones like SS and Ansar Alam. Even Bolta Pakistan duo is not agressive as they used to be…

MalangBaba Says:
September 2nd, 2008 at 3:28 am

Extremely shameful articles by Shaheen Sehbai. He is asking for a new Martial Law. What a shame. This person has gone nuts.

It seems that Americans are very frustrated right now. They have started a vicious war against the newly elected government. It seems that Pakistan Army and Zardari have agreed to change Mush’s policy og blindly toeing American line.

At this point Zardari has an unprecedented support from parliament, all four federating units, army and courts. It seems some elements in establishment in US and Pakistan hate to see Pakistan’s elected government taking hold of internal and external affairs.

Shaheen Sehbai proves to be a complete idiot by inviting another coup.

pejamistri Says:
September 2nd, 2008 at 7:58 am

The chief commander has hit the establishment where it pains most. Now they (establishment) is back with vengenance, I am just so thrilled by this battle , this time they (establishment) are going to face the biggest chanllenge of their life. There is a real panic in the establishment this time , which is evident from every single establishment paid writer/anchor.

It is interesting to read/hear the establishment guys at every level , Shahin Sehbai off course has his own class , his two articles articulated very well how much establishment is afraid of President Zardari, there are certain low level establishment stooges like Zaid Hamid and Ahmed Quraishi which are much more straight forward in their thoughts.

Establishment’s new solgan is “Pakistan ka khuda hafiz”

I honestly can not wait for 6th of September. This would indeed be a historical day in the Pakistan. Day by day my confidence in Zardari is strengthening , the more creates the panic in establishment , the better it is for the nation. Aah.. how much I wish that once we see a decisive battle.

Battle is on comrades…

Raqs-e-may taiz karoo saaz kee lay taiz karoo
soo-e-mekhana safeeran-e-haram aatay hain

SomeOne Says:
September 2nd, 2008 at 8:12 am

I strongly disagree with the column. The only thing Army should do is to be a professional Army and be away from Politics. Rest of the things will be okay with time. It might take long but we do not want Army to involve in non-professional activities, even how good they are…

Aneeza Says:
September 2nd, 2008 at 8:48 am

I would have agreed with Shaheen Sehbai, IF all of the acts that he has recommended for Gen Kayani would have been done when Kayani was appointed and when Musharraf was the President. It would have been quite legal and constitutional. At this moment in time when the elections have taken place, an elected government is in power, he has no right and he should not intervene. It is true that PPP has been a disappointment and Zardari a man of double talk and maybe not a good option for the country BUT (and a big BUT) it is a fact that this is an elected government. Let only the people have the right to throw it out. This is the falut we have always been making, egging on the generals to clean the political mess and expecting them to put everything right and serve in a plate to us distributing sweets when they topple over a government. For once, let them do their work and let US be the judge of the politicians. Its true that it is a long and tedious process, it will take decades to cleanse the political parties of the scum that has accumulated but this is the only way - to let the system run and to slowly cleanse itself. For example, with the recent double talk of PPP, I don’t see many people (even the die hard jialas)supporting them blinding in next elections. In these few months time, we can count the good politicians on fingers from all the parties. Slowly we can vote them out. MOreover, a nation deserves its leaders. I mean how can we expect angels when we ourselves are not even good citizens.

In Pakistan the involvement of the generals always reminds me of Lord of the Rings. “The ring of power has a will of its own”. Whenever a general comes, he comes with the “good intention” of setting the system right but then the ring of power takes hold of him. Remember the speeches of General Zia, Musharraf etc. Zia categorically said that his intention was only to conduct the elections and hand over the government to elected parliament and look how long he stayed -11 years. Absolute power corrupts.


iamsowise Says:
September 2nd, 2008 at 9:19 am

@It seems some elements in establishment in US and Pakistan hate to see Pakistan


Malek Says:
September 2nd, 2008 at 10:02 am

Although i am very anti PPP of what they have done to the country (and to their coalition partners) in a very short time, i still think PPP should be given the full chance to govern the country for rest of 4.5 years


khizarkyz Says:
September 2nd, 2008 at 11:20 am

I’m anti-PPP but what the columnist is proposing is dangerous. Let the politicians decide what to/not to do. The Generals better keep away.

moaziz syed Says:
September 2nd, 2008 at 4:59 pm

Now that politicians, for the time being atleast , are refraining from knocking at GHQ door, a journalist of the level of SS have chosen to play the ‘Establishment’. His hatered for Zardari is welcome: I don’t like him either. But I don’t like Army to meddle in politics, inspite of my Army back ground. I liked Musharraf as a soldier. But I hated him as a userper of political power. Now will some body hold me responsible for what Mush did just because I have been a soldier. How Kiani becomes responsible of what Mush did or what politicians are doing(or not doing)after him. I am shocked at SS’s suggestion that Army should use power of gun to clear the ‘mess’. What happened to our cry of democracy. If Zardari is a traitor or untrustworthy than what about his accomplices like Altaf Hussain, Molana Fazlur Rehman, Asfand Yar, Raisani and even NS till recently. Are they not people’s reps. Are they all anti Pakistan or fools to support Zardari ? Have a heart SS. You are not the whole of Pakistan. I am Punjabi but even Punjab is not whole of Pakistan( and whole of Punjab is not anti Zatrdari)Let’s show patience and tolerance,Zardari cannot bacome dictator or sellout Pakistan in the presence of other so many leaders. Let’s trust our people, our constitution. If we can get rid of one dictator we can do another, but no Army please for politics.


Munir Solangi Says:
September 2nd, 2008 at 7:17 pm

Shaheen Sehbai is clearly inviting Army to impose martial law.I think PPP,PML-N and JI will not support Shaheen Sehbai,only Imran Khan and Chuadhry Shujaat will support this idea.Now difference is there.Nusrat Javeed and Hamid Mir belives in democracy,they were banned by a dictator and they are still facing problems,Why this Sehbai is not facing any problem?Yes because he is very thick with ISI.I think Zardari should immediately fire DG ISI and Kyani after becoming President.


bechari-awam Says:
September 2nd, 2008 at 8:34 pm

As I keep on repeating, I will prefer AZ hundred times more than to see these FA second divisioner napak generals climbing over the walls of PTV. Any one supporting this action on one pretext or another, will never get my support and you know who I am “bechari-awam”


meengla Says:
September 2nd, 2008 at 11:34 pm

A VERY important point that Zardari-haters continue to ignore in SS’s article: He is clearly implying that Zardari has been cleared of all court cases after a rigorous witchhunt and that now is time to nab the hundreds others (including perhaps this forum’s favorite ‘leader’ NS!) by abolishing NRO.

PS. SS has gone nuts! Firstly, if the military is dis-engaging itself it is precisely because they have left Pakistan in such a mess that it is nearly impossible to ‘fix’ matters–so let the bloody civilians pickup the pieces, a la 1971. Secondly, Army is disengaging from politics to do some damage-control of its own ‘image’. Why would Kiani be stupid to involve himself now?

Nadeem12 Says:
September 3rd, 2008 at 4:35 am

A good dictator is better than any democracry, but a worst democaracy is 1000 times better than worst dictatorship.

Think about the trade-off involved. Are we in a position to take any further risks?

West is opposing Zardari alongwith the real establishment. This shows that it is in the interest of common populace of Pakistan to have Zardari at the helm of affairs.

unseenhawk Says:
September 3rd, 2008 at 9:03 am

I was also one of the readers of of SS from his old days. I always found it odd of how he closed up his weekly newspaper. Everybody has a price and sadly, it led many of us in the DC area to believe he was bought. I have lost all confidence in SS and his like.

Recently I was reading that Zardari is promising affordable housing in the Islamabad area for journalists. Now come on, how can these “journalists” be fair? This is just another form of censorship.

I have lost all confidence in news coming out of Pakistan and that is primarily due to the biased reported from “journalists”.


hajveri Says:
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:22 am
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Shaheen Sehbai has gone nuts…i hate zardari but any person even worse than zardari still 1000 times better than any army pig…


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Unwarranted attack on Zardari reflects anti-democratic sentiment

Saturday, December 27, 2008

By Aniq Zafar

On the eve of the anniversary of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto’s Shahadat, the group editor of The News has shown great insensitivity in writing an article that talks of President Asif Ali Zardari in an unusually derogatory manner. The title of the article, ‘Zardari Given Enough Rope to Hang Himself’ is outrageous in a country where a popularly elected prime minister was executed by a dictator in a tragedy that continues to haunt the nation to this day.

What does a supposedly liberal journalist hope to achieve by conjuring up images of a Ziaul Haq like coup d’etat and hanging on the eve of the country’s mourning a second calamitous national tragedy and at a time when Pakistan faces serious external threats? Pakistan is in the process of building a democracy. Part of democracy is disagreement and criticism and it is for that reason President Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani have maintained respect for the media even when the media is critical of the fledgling democratic government. But shouldn’t the media be its own critic and is this not time for using temperate language even if one finds scope for major criticism?

The problem with some journalists and intellectuals is that they become too involved with their subject, as if demanding the right to make policy rather than merely reporting it or commenting on it. Those in the political arena cannot and do not always follow the recipes of the commentators. Those commentators, who feel close to political leaders in opposition, as Mr Sehbai asserts he was to President Zardari in his years in exile, have the choice of joining them in government or striving to maintain their independence. But some want a veto in policy matters and when that is not granted, lose all objectivity.

Mr Sehbai is now talking of a Zardari Group taking over the PPP and claiming that those close to Benazir Bhutto have been ignored by President Zardari just as he was accusing Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto of betrayal last year, a few months before her Shahadat. In an article titled ‘Et Tu Mohtarma’ in the Indian magazine Outlook published on August 27, 2007, Mariana Babar referred to Mr Sehbai as follows: “Former editor Shaheen Sehbai left Pakistan because he feared the diabolic intent of the military regime. Today, his wrath is directed against Benazir: ‘Of course, all she’s interested in is getting back her billions, withdrawal of cases against her and Asif Zardari and an amendment to the Constitution that would allow her to become prime minister for the third time. Party workers have never been her top priority.’ “

Quite clearly, when Mohtarma was risking her life to have democracy restored in Pakistan Mr Sehbai could not understand her strategy and attacked her. “Not caring for party workers” was simply an excuse to vent frustration over the fact that the practical politician did not follow Mr Sehbai’s invisible wishes and the attack against the Shaheed was as vicious as it is today against the country’s first elected civilian politician president. Over the last few months Mr Sehbai has gone out of his way to be critical of President Zardari, often with little regard for facts. He is on a crusade and ends justify the means.

Even in the latest article, Mr Sehbai claims that “Zardari formed a group of his cronies who had nothing to do with the PPP or its politics for years.” Of the people he names as the president’s cronies, he ignores the fact that Zulfikar Mirza was first elected a member of the National Assembly in 1990 and Agha Siraj Durrani served in the Sindh Assembly since the same year. Mirza faced cases and Durrani served years in prison for their association with the party. Both are indeed Mr Zardari’s friends but can they really be described as people who had “nothing to do with the PPP?”

Rehman Malik was closely associated with Shaheed Benazir Bhutto during her years in exile and hosted many party meetings as well as those of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD). Husain Haqqani was associated with Mohtarma since 1993 and was her ally on the US think tank circuit through the exile years. In fact, Mr Sehbai was by his own account closer to Mr Zardari than anyone saw Haqqani as his crony though Mr Sehbai and Haqqani probably did not live far from one another.

In his latest article, Mr Sehbai puts forward a charge sheet against President Zardari. He writes of the president, “Step by step he has dismantled every pillar that Benazir Bhutto had painstakingly tried to build to strengthen politicians vis-a-vis the generals. In the many years that he was in New York, I never heard him discuss the Charter of Democracy or why the powers of the president should be cut. He would always discuss either some business deal or how he had outclassed other politicians in petty whimsical games. He never talked about any vision of a grand politically stable and strong Pakistan.”

But in the May 14, 2005 edition of his online newspaper South Asian Tribune Mr Sehbai wrote of Musharraf’s intrigues and referred to President Zardari positively. If he felt that Mr Zardari did not have a political vision he did not say it. In fact, when he returned to Pakistan in 2006 he announced his decision to not only shut down South Asian Tribune but also took the unusual decision to have all its pages removed from the internet.

Internet footprints do not erase easily so here is an extract from Mr Sehbai’s 2005 comment about Mr Zardari:

“Just imagine if General Musharraf gives a clean chit to Asif Ali Zardari and is ready to talk and share power with him, the date, time and the historic picture of President Musharraf taking oath from Asif in the President’s House may not be that far away. Would that picture not be very similar to that Ministerial oath given by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan to the same Asif Ali Zardari, who had walked away with the Pakistan flag flying on his official limousine. A similar picture would place General Musharraf in the same category as the disgraced GIK and I would love to be present on that occasion when the big mouthed General leads Asif to his swearing in ceremony.”

Mr Sehbai also wrote, “Benazir would be enjoying the bigger picture. Is it not a fact that 90 per cent of all the charges against her during both her tenures as Prime Minister were related to Asif Zardari. He was called Mr 10 per cent. He was the bad guy, the wheeler dealer, the friend of friends. He was kept as a hostage. So the day Asif is declared ‘Kosher’ by the Army, what would be left against Benazir Bhutto and who would stop her and on what grounds from coming back and becoming Pakistan’s Sonia Gandhi. But any concessions that Asif offers to General Musharraf or the Army, which are not publicly and expressly supported by Benazir Bhutto would mean nothing.”

At that point Mr Sehbai saw President Zardari and Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto as inextricably linked just as genuine PPP supporters see them even today. The Zardari group is nothing but the Benazir Bhutto group and it is interesting to note that at different times since his own return from exile Mr Sehbai has had criticism to offer of the Shaheed Mohtarma as well as her widower. Perhaps Mr Sehbai needs to find some objectivity in his tone and criticism instead of acting and writing like a jilted lover. (The News, 29 Dec 2008)
Read more...

Shaheen Sehbai. What is his agenda? Is he a brilliant journalist or a stooge of anti-democracy forces such as Jamaat Islami and the 'establishment'?

Shaheen Sehbai

Background Information

Shaheen Sehbai is a Pakistani journalist and the current Group Editor of daily English newspaper The News International. He has also worked as a reporter for the Dawn newspaper in Washington D.C. and then later was became the editor for The News International in Islamabad. But, he was forced to resign the post because of some 'mysterious activities'. However, recently he was again the made the Group Editor (senior most editor) of The News.

On February 16, 2002, Sehbai let a story run that "exposed" government Pakistani ties with terrorist bombings in India (a story that also ran in The Washington Post and The International Herald Tribune by the work of the reporter, not Sehbai). The government immediately stopped its advertisements in The News International, and put inordinate pressure on the company to fire those involved in the creation and publishing of the story.

After the February 16th article, though, the government forced Sehbai to resign through immense financial pressure on The News International, and Sehbai was later accused of Arm Robbery by an employee of the Pakistan army headquarters. He eventually left for the United States, an expatriate out of disgust for the Musharraf government.

Mr. Sehbai returned to America and started a web based newspaper, The South Asian Tribune in which he reported many cases of allegedly "government and military corruption" under Pakistan's Musharraf administration. Obviously he became bitter towards Musharraf because of Musharraf's tough stance on war on terror and also because Musharraf had decided to weaken ties between ISI and Jihadis/Talibans. In 2005, Sehbai, announced that he was closing The South Asian Tribune after three years of service.

Recent anti-democracy activities

Invitation to the Army Chief General Kayani to intervene in politics

In his highly controversial article in Daily The News on 1 September 2008, Shaheen Sehbai states that the very fact that Asif Zardari is about to become the head of the state of Pakistan proves how big a mess Musharraf made. He says thus it is the army’s duty to fix it as the political parties certainly are not capable of doing it. “Risking the charge that will instantly be thrown at me that I am inviting the Army to intervene again”, he offers a seven-step plan for General Kiyani. Is Sehbai out of his mind or does he have a valid point?


How to clean up the bloody mess

Tuesday, September 02, 2008 (The News)

By Shaheen Sehbai

News analysis

KARACHI: The sudden prospect of Asif Ali Zardari sitting on the most powerful and sensitive political hot seat in the country has shaken everybody. There is a greater sense of uncertainty in the political class as well as the civil and military establishment, although the presidential election should have removed the clouds of doubt hanging over the political scene.

Yet no one has any clue how to handle this situation as Mr Zardari has an absolute right to contest for and claim that hot seat, his controversial past and spotted career notwithstanding. But stepping back a little and trying to get an overview of the situation, two facts should become crystal clear about who is responsible for this mess and who is being asked to clean it.

No one can deny that Gen Pervez Musharraf’s nearly nine years rule, or misrule, landed the country in the political turmoil that we are facing. During this period political parties and leaders were hounded, persecuted, terrorised, exiled, abused and deprived of their genuine rights. Musharraf played havoc with the system, it is obvious.

Political parties and leaders were on the run in exile, never being allowed to settle down, organise or prepare for taking over the state responsibilities. As an individual Mr Zardari was the last person expected to climb the political ladder so fast that within eight months of Benazir’s assassination, he is now poised to be the country’s head of state, master of the nuclear button and supreme commander of the armed forces of Pakistan.

In short, the leaders and parties are not prepared, or capable, of handling this mess. It would, in fact, be unfair and totally unjustified to expect them to clear the nine-year year old backlog, in less than nine months. Basically, though, the responsibility of correcting the situation is on the elected representatives who should chalk out a plan, call an all-party conference, invite the Army leadership to reach a consensus or whatever, but they seem either not interested or not too involved in petty politicking.

So then who should do it? After the politicians, in all fairness, it is the prime responsibility of the Pakistan Army, which under Gen Musharraf created this situation and which should now undo the wrongs that Musharraf perpetrated for years. When Musharraf decided to quit as Army chief, he did not, and could not, absolve the rest of the Army generals from the blame they must share.

Just by walking away under the pretext of “neutrality” and protecting their ex-commander by giving him a Guard of Honour, as if he was leaving after performing tremendous feats for Pakistan, the generals who collaborated with Musharraf cannot get away from their national duty and responsibility to undo the wrongs.

But Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has walked away from everything and the poor politicians, led by Asif Zardari and Mian Nawaz Sharif, have been left with the dirty task of sweeping the stables and washing the left over dirty linen.

It would have been fair for the Army after Musharraf had quit to undo his decisions, all taken to prolong his own power, so that the politicians had a clean slate to start their innings. That did not happen and now we are left with the prospect of a massively intricate political situation, with no one having a clue how to untangle it.

Still it would be a right thing if the Army decided to correct the situation even now, unless they do not want to take the heat to a point in a few months when the generals will be sucked in, walking in like saviours to save the situation, like it has been happening in the past.

Honesty and sincerity demands that the present Army generals put in their bit to help correct the distortions left over by Musharraf. They are the ones with guns to implement decisions. This time their efforts would be in the interest of Pakistan, as against using that power to perpetrate the interests of one man, one general or one junta.

Risking the charge that will instantly be thrown at me that I am inviting the Army to intervene again, like the PFUJ secretary-general Mazhar Abbas did rather unjustifiably after my last article, I am prepared to offer the following sequence of steps that the Army must take before the politicians are handed over the full reins of the country, the presidency and the Prime Minister house included:

1) Since Gen Musharraf had imposed an emergency on Nov 3, as COAS, to suspend the Constitution, Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani should find a way to undo all that was wrongfully done. It is his responsibility.

2) Kayani should use his influence to restore the judges to the Nov 2 position, because Musharraf threw them out fearing a judgment against him and as the politicians would never be able to reach a consensus in view of their own insecurities and vulnerabilities. It is also a known fact that Gen Kayani did not appear in the Supreme Court to give testimony against the deposed chief justice when the Supreme Court was hearing the case before July 20, 2007. It has been reported, and not denied, that Kayani was against the sacking of Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry when he was ISI director-general.

3) He should get the NRO repealed to revert the white-washing of thousands of alleged criminals, mostly those who had struck deals with Musharraf, or whose support Musharraf needed to prolong his rule. These people should be made to face normal process of law and clear themselves, as Asif Ali Zardari had done in almost all of his cases. I still cannot figure out why he had to get himself tainted with the NRO when he had been cleared by the courts any way.

4) Kayani should cancel all the secret deals that Musharraf had made with politicians or foreign powers as these deals are not binding international agreements signed between governments. Gen Kayani or his Army is not supposed to be bound by them.

5) He should persuade others to set up a National Accountability Commission, with men of undisputed credibility, strength of character and certified competence so that all the corruption cases, past, present and future, are sent to it and anyone cleared by it is genuinely considered an honest and clean person. At present the NRO has cast more doubts on its beneficiaries than helping clear their image.

6) While all the politicians, bureaucrats and others are made to appear before this commission, Gen Musharraf must also be brought before it and made to face the charges, instead of providing him a blanket amnesty.

7) When Army power can be used to thrust a one man rule and perpetuate his interests, why can’t Army power be used to undo the wrongs for which the entire institution of the army is facing the blame and Kayani has been forced to push it into the background.

Let the power of the guns and barrels be used, for a change, in the interest of the nation and the people. It is obvious that the politicians cannot clean the dirt as they are neither visionaries, nor that tall, nor experienced, nor prepared nor motivated to look beyond their noses. But the unfortunate thing is that this is the crop of politicians we have and this is what we have to work with. Neutrality is a very pious concept but after throwing all the mud and muck in the political pond, standing on the side as neutral observers would only be a poetic injustice to the nation.

Comments by some ordinary Pakistanis

Asif Says:
September 2nd, 2008 at 1:37 am
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a reply in words will strengthen his agenda, only actions can turn upside down this agenda.

aahmad Says:
September 2nd, 2008 at 1:38 am
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Dear Friends,

Do not expect any ‘cleaning up’ by this current General junta as they were part of every crime Mush done in Pakistan. This is the same shameless Generals who gave Mush a guard-of-honer last month when he finally departed!!! These are the same shameless generals who are protecting Mush in the Army House (Rawalpindi) currently.

Shame on them!!

aahmad Says:
September 2nd, 2008 at 2:30 am
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Is Shaheen Sehbai the new “media trouble maker’ in making? After Dr. Shahid has been bought and Hamid Mir partially compromised towards PPP, we need brave ones like SS and Ansar Alam. Even Bolta Pakistan duo is not agressive as they used to be…

MalangBaba Says:
September 2nd, 2008 at 3:28 am
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Extremely shameful articles by Shaheen Sehbai. He is asking for a new Martial Law. What a shame. This person has gone nuts.

It seems that Americans are very frustrated right now. They have started a vicious war against the newly elected government. It seems that Pakistan Army and Zardari have agreed to change Mush’s policy og blindly toeing American line.

At this point Zardari has an unprecedented support from parliament, all four federating units, army and courts. It seems some elements in establishment in US and Pakistan hate to see Pakistan’s elected government taking hold of internal and external affairs.

Shaheen Sehbai proves to be a complete idiot by inviting another coup.

pejamistri Says:
September 2nd, 2008 at 7:58 am
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The chief commander has hit the establishment where it pains most. Now they (establishment) is back with vengenance, I am just so thrilled by this battle , this time they (establishment) are going to face the biggest chanllenge of their life. There is a real panic in the establishment this time , which is evident from every single establishment paid writer/anchor.
It is interesting to read/hear the establishment guys at every level , Shahin Sehbai off course has his own class , his two articles articulated very well how much establishment is afraid of President Zardari, there are certain low level establishment stooges like Zaid Hamid and Ahmed Quraishi which are much more straight forward in their thoughts.
Establishment’s new solgan is
“Pakistan ka khuda hafiz”

I honestly can not wait for 6th of September. This would indeed be a historical day in the Pakistan. Day by day my confidence in Zardari is strengthening , the more creates the panic in establishment , the better it is for the nation. Aah.. how much I wish that once we see a decisive battle.
Battle is on comrades…

Raqs-e-may taiz karoo saaz kee lay taiz karoo
soo-e-mekhana safeeran-e-haram aatay hain

SomeOne Says:
September 2nd, 2008 at 8:12 am
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I strongly disagree with the column. The only thing Army should do is to be a professional Army and be away from Politics. Rest of the things will be okay with time. It might take long but we do not want Army to involve in non-professional activities, even how good they are…

Aneeza Says:
September 2nd, 2008 at 8:48 am
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I would have agreed with Shaheen Sehbai, IF all of the acts that he has recommended for Gen Kayani would have been done when Kayani was appointed and when Musharraf was the President. It would have been quite legal and constitutional. At this moment in time when the elections have taken place, an elected government is in power, he has no right and he should not intervene. It is true that PPP has been a disappointment and Zardari a man of double talk and maybe not a good option for the country BUT (and a big BUT) it is a fact that this is an elected government. Let only the people have the right to throw it out. This is the falut we have always been making, egging on the generals to clean the political mess and expecting them to put everything right and serve in a plate to us distributing sweets when they topple over a government. For once, let them do their work and let US be the judge of the politicians. Its true that it is a long and tedious process, it will take decades to cleanse the political parties of the scum that has accumulated but this is the only way - to let the system run and to slowly cleanse itself. For example, with the recent double talk of PPP, I don’t see many people (even the die hard jialas)supporting them blinding in next elections. In these few months time, we can count the good politicians on fingers from all the parties. Slowly we can vote them out. MOreover, a nation deserves its leaders. I mean how can we expect angels when we ourselves are not even good citizens.

In Pakistan the involvement of the generals always reminds me of Lord of the Rings. “The ring of power has a will of its own”. Whenever a general comes, he comes with the “good intention” of setting the system right but then the ring of power takes hold of him. Remember the speeches of General Zia, Musharraf etc. Zia categorically said that his intention was only to conduct the elections and hand over the government to elected parliament and look how long he stayed -11 years. Absolute power corrupts.


iamsowise Says:
September 2nd, 2008 at 9:19 am
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@It seems some elements in establishment in US and Pakistan hate to see Pakistan


Malek Says:
September 2nd, 2008 at 10:02 am
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Although i am very anti PPP of what they have done to the country (and to their coalition partners) in a very short time, i still think PPP should be given the full chance to govern the country for rest of 4.5 years


khizarkyz Says:
September 2nd, 2008 at 11:20 am
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I’m anti-PPP but what the columnist is proposing is dangerous. Let the politicians decide what to/not to do. The Generals better keep away.

moaziz syed Says:
September 2nd, 2008 at 4:59 pm
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Now that politicians, for the time being atleast , are refraining from knocking at GHQ door, a journalist of the level of SS have chosen to play the ‘Establishment’. His hatered for Zardari is welcome: I don’t like him either. But I don’t like Army to meddle in politics, inspite of my Army back ground. I liked Musharraf as a soldier. But I hated him as a userper of political power. Now will some body hold me responsible for what Mush did just because I have been a soldier. How Kiani becomes responsible of what Mush did or what politicians are doing(or not doing)after him. I am shocked at SS’s suggestion that Army should use power of gun to clear the ‘mess’. What happened to our cry of democracy. If Zardari is a traitor or untrustworthy than what about his accomplices like Altaf Hussain, Molana Fazlur Rehman, Asfand Yar, Raisani and even NS till recently. Are they not people’s reps. Are they all anti Pakistan or fools to support Zardari ? Have a heart SS. You are not the whole of Pakistan. I am Punjabi but even Punjab is not whole of Pakistan( and whole of Punjab is not anti Zatrdari)Let’s show patience and tolerance,Zardari cannot bacome dictator or sellout Pakistan in the presence of other so many leaders. Let’s trust our people, our constitution. If we can get rid of one dictator we can do another, but no Army please for politics.


Munir Solangi Says:
September 2nd, 2008 at 7:17 pm
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Shaheen Sehbai is clearly inviting Army to impose martial law.I think PPP,PML-N and JI will not support Shaheen Sehbai,only Imran Khan and Chuadhry Shujaat will support this idea.Now difference is there.Nusrat Javeed and Hamid Mir belives in democracy,they were banned by a dictator and they are still facing problems,Why this Sehbai is not facing any problem?Yes because he is very thick with ISI.I think Zardari should immediately fire DG ISI and Kyani after becoming President.


bechari-awam Says:
September 2nd, 2008 at 8:34 pm
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As I keep on repeating, I will prefer AZ hundred times more than to see these FA second divisioner napak generals climbing over the walls of PTV. Any one supporting this action on one pretext or another, will never get my support and you know who I am “bechari-awam”


meengla Says:
September 2nd, 2008 at 11:34 pm
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A VERY important point that Zardari-haters continue to ignore in SS’s article: He is clearly implying that Zardari has been cleared of all court cases after a rigorous witchhunt and that now is time to nab the hundreds others (including perhaps this forum’s favorite ‘leader’ NS!) by abolishing NRO.
PS. SS has gone nuts! Firstly, if the military is dis-engaging itself it is precisely because they have left Pakistan in such a mess that it is nearly impossible to ‘fix’ matters–so let the bloody civilians pickup the pieces, a la 1971. Secondly, Army is disengaging from politics to do some damage-control of its own ‘image’. Why would Kiani be stupid to involve himself now?

Nadeem12 Says:
September 3rd, 2008 at 4:35 am
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A good dictator is better than any democracry, but a worst democaracy is 1000 times better than worst dictatorship.

Think about the trade-off involved. Are we in a position to take any further risks?

West is opposing Zardari alongwith the real establishment. This shows that it is in the interest of common populace of Pakistan to have Zardari at the helm of affairs.

unseenhawk Says:
September 3rd, 2008 at 9:03 am
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@ Nota,

I was also one of the readers of of SS from his old days. I always found it odd of how he closed up his weekly newspaper. Everybody has a price and sadly, it led many of us in the DC area to believe he was bought. I have lost all confidence in SS and his like.

Recently I was reading that Zardari is promising affordable housing in the Islamabad area for journalists. Now come on, how can these “journalists” be fair? This is just another form of censorship.

I have lost all confidence in news coming out of Pakistan and that is primarily due to the biased reported from “journalists”.


hajveri Says:
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:22 am
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Shaheen Sehbai has gone nuts…i hate zardari but any person even worse than zardari still 1000 times better than any army pig…

..........

The Daily Noose (Interview with Shaheen Sehbai)

Publication: The Times of India
Date: March 18, 2002

Exposing the Pakistani establishment's links with terrorists can be a hazardous job. It cost Daniel Pearl his life, and Shaheen Sehbai, former editor of 'The News', a widely-read English daily in Pakistan his job. Fearing for his life, Sehbai is now in the US He speaks to Shobha John about the pressure on journalists from the powers-that-be in Pakistan:

Q. Is it true you had to quit because a news report angered the government?
A. On February 16, our Karachi reporter, Kamran Khan, filed a story quoting Omar Sheikh as saying that he was behind the attack on the Indian Parliament on December 13, the Kashmir assembly attack and other terrorist acts in India. Shortly after I am, I got a call on my cellphone from Ashfaq Gondal, the principal information officer of the government, telling me that the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had intercepted the story and I should stop its publication.

I told him I was not prepared to do so. He then called my newspaper group owner/editor-in-chief, Mir Shakil ur Rehman in London and asked him to stop the story. Rehman stopped it in the Jang, the sister newspaper in Urdu but could not do so in The News as I was unavailable.

The next day, all editions of The News carried the story. It was also carried by The Washington Post and The International Herald Tribune the same day, as Kamran also reports for The Post. On February 18, all government advertising for the entire group was stopped.

On February 22, Rehman rushed to Karachi and called a meeting at 10 p m. He told me the government was “very angry” at the story. He said he had been told to sack four journalists, including myself, if the ads were to be restored. He asked me to proceed to Islamabad to pacify the officials. Sham informed us that he had contacted the officials and was told by Anwar Mahmood, the information secretary that “the matter was now beyond his capacity and we will have to see the ISI high-ups to resolve it”. I was told to go and see the ISI chief in Islamabad and also to call Anwar Mahmood on Eid and improve my 'public relations' with him.

I left the meeting with the firm resolve that I would neither call nor meet anyone, even at gunpoint. Sham, however, left for Islamabad to meet the officials. His meetings were unsuccessful. From my sources, I learned that the ISI and the government were not prepared to lift the ban unless I gave them specific assurances. If I refused, there may be trouble for me as the owner was already under pressure to fire me and the other three journalists.

On February 27, I took a flight out of Karachi to New York. On February 28, I received a memo from my owner accusing me of policy violations. In reply, on March 1, I sent in my resignation.

Q. Is the ISI still keeping a close watch on journalists after Daniel Pearl's killing?
A. The ISI has been a major player in domestic politics and continues to be so. That means it has to control the media and right now, it is actively involved in doing so. Pearl's murder has given them more reasons to activate the national interest excuse.

Q. Is there a sense of desperation within the Pakistan government that it should not be linked in any way to events in India?
A. Yes. That's why when our story quoted Omar Sheikh claiming such links, the government came down hard on us.

Q. Has there been any pressure on the staff of 'The News' to 'conform'?
A. Yes. The News was under constant pressure to stop its aggressive reporting on the corruption of the present government. A few months back, Pakistan International Airlines stopped all ads to The News as we ran a couple of exposes. A major story on the government owned United Bank was blocked when we sought the official version. Intelligence agencies were deputed to tail our reporters in Islamabad.

Q. This is not the first time you and your family have been under pressure, is it?
A. I have been the target of physical attacks in the past too for stories against the government. The first was in August 1990 when I was arrested and detained for 36 hours and falsely charged for drinking, before a judge gave bail. The second time, in December 1991, three masked men broke into my house in Islamabad, ransacked it, pulled guns on my two sons, beat them up and told them, “Tell your father to write against the government again and see what happens”. In 1995, I was threatened once again and I had to take my entire family away. My newspaper then, Dawn, decided to post me to Washington as their correspondent. This time, I feared that I could be physically targeted again. So I decided to leave the country.

Q. Is the present regime in Pakistan any different from earlier ones with regard to freedom of the press?
A. It has tolerated some freedom under foreign pressure, but the situation is basically the same. Now Musharraf appears to be under pressure to manage the media more effectively in order to manage the October elections and get his supporters elected in the polls. He needs to legitimise his military rule through a political process, which essentially is being rigged from the beginning.

Q. Is your case the first instance of a crackdown on the media by this government?
A. This was the first case of a major financial squeeze on the country's largest media group. It was followed by demands to sack me and other senior journalists and then to change the policy.

Q. How independent will the forthcoming polls be now?
A. They will be as independent as the recently-concluded local bodies polls in which candidates were named by the army and no one else was allowed to win. Candidates for state and national assemblies are now being pre-selected and influential politicians are being pressured, lured or coerced to join Musharrafs supporters.

Q. What is the mood within the Pakistani media?
A. The media is generally quiet and has fallen in line because Musharraf is getting strong support from the US and the West. But elements in the media are very resolute and they will fight back as soon as they see Musharraf losing his grip. The October polls will determine the role of the media as well because if Musharraf fails to 'manage' the elections, his control over the media will be finished.

Q. What do you propose to do now?
A. I will be writing out of Washington for some time and will return to Pakistan around the October polls. My days in Pakistan were very exciting as I maintained a completely independent editorial policy and pursued it to the last day. In the memos written by the owner, he repeatedly complains that I was not consulting him on policies. I had no need to, as he watches his own commercial interests.

http://www.hvk.org/articles/0302/206.html

....

The person who filed the complaint with the Rawalpindi police on 21 August is Khalid Hijazi, an employee of the army headquarters who is the former husband of a cousin of Sehbai. The complaint alleges that Sehbai carried out an "armed robbery" in his home on 22 February 2001.

Sehbai left Pakistan in March 2002 after resigning as editor with the English-language daily newspaper The News.

.......

Zardari given enough rope to hang himself

Friday, December 26, 2008
Bearing Justice Iftikhar ill will was unwise; taking Justice Dogar under his wings was counter-productive; PPP ranks are ill at ease; attempt to work on Army will prove last straw

By Shaheen Sehbai

WASHINGTON: The one question that I am repeatedly asked by everyone, believing that I have been quite close to Asif Ali Zardari during his days of self-exile and forced expulsion from politics for many years, is how long he and his government will survive.

It is hard to answer this very loaded and complex question almost on a daily basis, especially when people think everyone who comes to Washington from Pakistan knows something more than they do. So I have decided to pen down my answer.

My considered opinion is that the present Zardari-led set-up will not last long as it has been structured on a wrong and distorted political premise as result of which the key players who have emerged as main power wielders were never in the picture, neither of Benazir Bhutto’s PPP, which actually got the votes and won the seats in the February 18 elections, nor anyone else. And these new players have failed to establish their political legitimacy and moral authority through their actions after coming to power.

These power players do not have any political ideology, they do not believe in the established principles of democracy and parliamentary process enshrined in the constitution and most important of all, they do not have a following among the masses, which is necessary for any political government worth its name.

What has happened is that in extraordinary turbulent circumstances, the Zardari Group of the PPP has taken over the party, out-manoeuvring the others through opportunities created by circumstances followed up cleverly by a web of deceit, chicanery and in some specific cases simple lies and cheating. Taking full advantage, Zardari formed a group of his cronies who had nothing to do with the PPP or its politics for years. Who could imagine that Rehman Malik, Farooq Naek, Babar Awan, Salman Farooqi, Husain Haqqani, Hussain Haroon, Dr Asim, Dr Soomro, Riaz Laljee, Siraj Shamsuddin, Zulfikar Mirza, Agha Siraj Durrani and many other smaller but tainted friends and associates of Mr Zardari would suddenly take over every important position and start calling the shots?

The above statements may seem bold, and to some, outrageous, but each one of these statements can be substantiated with specific and undeniable examples and proof. Of course Zardari and his cronies will deny this, screaming from every rooftop that he is genuine and represents the people’s will. But does, or will, anyone believe him?

To begin with, in the chaos that followed Benazir’s death, Asif Ali Zardari took over the party (PPP), the government, the parliament, the presidency and the judiciary. That was some achievement but the way he did it angered friends and foes alike. That is why he has been grappling with an enormous trust deficit, both domestically and abroad.

Has any prime minister who was elected unanimously or a president who secured a two-thirds majority ever looked so insecure that he had to repeatedly use questionable tactics to get his way through? Why is it that despite such strong support in parliament, he is working overtime every day to keep and tighten his hold on those state institutions not yet under his thumb — like the ISI, the Pakistan Army and some parts of the media?

His attempt to take over the ISI were foiled but he was asking for too much, too early. But given his nature, he will try again to control not just the ISI, but will also try to stuff the superior courts with Jiyala judges loyal to him and, if he gets the chance for which he will try his best, he will try to stuff the top Army hierarchy with his loyal generals.

This is where Mr Zardari will be stopped. That point may come as quickly as he tries to grab power. So in a way his own survival is in his own hands. But knowing Mr Zardari, I can predict he cannot stop himself. The unfortunate fact is that he cannot fathom what the judges movement has done to the body politic of the country and he cannot imagine what transformation the media has brought in the thinking of every man and woman in the country. He still lives in the ‘90s and cannot come out of that syndrome.

Step by step he has dismantled every pillar that Benazir Bhutto had painstakingly tried to build to strengthen politicians vis-a-vis the generals. In the many years that he was in New York, I never heard him discuss the Charter of Democracy or why the powers of the president should be cut. He would always discuss either some business deal or how he had outclassed other politicians in petty whimsical games. He never talked about any vision of a grand politically stable and strong Pakistan.

The illusion that he has become stronger than General Musharraf thus cannot make him a visionary overnight. As I know him, he is capable only to use these powers for his personal survival and security. But when an all-powerful Musharraf made mistakes, none of his powers could rescue him. Zardari has started by committing blunders.

He has survived so far because people expected a change and had to give him time. The safe window of opportunity that had opened up with the PPP victory was his safety valve, but for how long? He started when everyone wanted to give him time. Instead of building on that reservoir of sympathy, support and hope he has gone back on every promise he made publicly.

The 10 biggest blunders that will ultimately take him down can be listed as follows, though the full list may be too long:

1. Failure to show any enthusiasm to track down Benazir’s killers. The mysterious and tragic apathy shown by him towards her assassination is a sore in every heart. The top PPP leadership every evening sits in cosy drawing rooms and speaks in derisory language about what he is doing and how.

2. Failure to support the judiciary sacked by Musharraf and adopting a hostile attitude towards Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. He lost the chance to build grand support.

3. Unnecessary and grossly counter-productive support shown for Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar.

4. Failure to make any move towards repealing the 17th Amendment and strengthening parliament. In fact, he has taken the system to a super-presidential model with a prime minister now cribbing regularly about his lack of powers.

5. Betraying his political coalition partners by refusing to follow the Charter of Democracy and cheating them with false promises.

6. Opening himself and his party to blackmail by smaller coalition parties to an extent that the entire government has become a hostage, thus unable to take any major initiative.

7. Boasting about his capacity to get economic and financial aid from the so-called friends of Pakistan, making repeated visits to world capitals and finally, opting for the most damaging and least acceptable option of going to the IMF, thus admitting failure.

8. Keeping petty political bickering alive in Punjab through a nonsensical presence of Governor Salman Taseer, a Musharraf appointee.

9. Turning into a widely disliked person in Pakistan within months by letting Musharraf go scot-free and adopting all his sins and drawbacks.

10. Humiliating and then forcing loyal PPP leaders into submission.

No one is yet ready to destabilise the current political set-up and Mr Zardari has been given a rope, in fact a longish rope, obviously to hang himself with. What worries me is that he has not proved himself competent to rise to the occasion, has shown no urge or capacity to grow into the huge shoes that he so suddenly finds himself in and somehow he does not envision the broader canvas of politics and lives with all the fears and insecurities of the era of the ‘90s and his days of captivity. Thus he is using the rope with intense energy to tie himself up in knots and form a noose around his neck.

If all the above answer the question how long will he last, the next universal question everybody asks is: how will he be removed as he has all the numbers?

This is an easy question to answer. By his acts Mr Zardari has not endeared himself to anyone in the 10 months of his rule. The initial honeymoon with the PML-N apart, now his own party is on the brink of imploding. December 27 will be a crucial date. How and on what issue the party cracks up is moot, but pressure from the opposition, a wink from the right quarters and one major blunder by Zardari is all it will take. It took an all-powerful Musharraf not even a few weeks to go down; Zardari is just learning the tricks to survive. After all the humiliation, what are BB loyalists like Aitzaz Ahsan doing in the PPP?
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Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah's Legacy to Pakistan - A lecture by Stanley Wolpert

Jinnah of Pakistan

The old forget - The young don't know



"I cannot emphasize it too much. We should begin to work in that spirit and in course of time all these angularities of the majority and minorities communities, the Hindu community and the Muslim community.will vanish. Indeed, if you ask me this has been the biggest hindrance in the way of India to attain freedom and independence and but for this we would have been free peoples long long ago.You are free, you are free to go to your tamples, You are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this state of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste on creed - that has nothing to do with the business of the state.We are starting in the days when there is no discrimination, no distinction between one community and another.We are all citizens and equal citizens of one state.all members of the Nation.and you will find than in course of time Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslim would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the state.My guiding principle will be justice and complete impartiality, and I am sure that with your support and co-operation, I can look forward to Pakistan becoming one of the greatest Nations of the world." Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah

Lecture by Prof. Stanley Wolpert

Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah's Legacy to Pakistan
A lecture by Stanley Wolpert, Professor of History, University of California, Los Angeles. Delivered at a seminar organized by the Institute of Regional Studies on March 22, 1998

Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah was South Asia's most brilliant Barrister, and an honest man, who also emerged as British India's most remarkable political leader proving mire than a match for all of his Congress opponents. including Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. by virtue of his total integrity. legal acuity and unwavering commitment to the Muslim League's suit which he pressed through the last arduous decade of his devoted life, Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah sired the independent Nation-state of Pakistan.

Never tempted by bribery or the lures of Imperial 'honours' (he was, as Liaquat Ali Khan put it "unpurchaseable"). Mr. Jinnah was hailed after 1937 by Muslim League followers as Quaid-e-Azam and he has rightly remained Pakistan's 'Greatest leader since death 50 years ago. "I shall always be guided by the principles of justice and fairplay without any.prejudice on ill-will, "he assured your first Constituent assembly on August 11, 1947. "My guiding principle will be justice and complete impartiality".

Lincoln's Inn Barrister M.A.Jinnah entered politics as a member of India's National Congress (before joining the League), and soon emerged as its best Ambassador of Hindu-Muslim Unity, drafting the Lucknow Pact of 1916, adopted both by the Indian National congress and Muslim League as their united platform demand to the British Raj. Four years later, however, when Mahatma Gandhi revolutionized the congress at Nagpur, after the end of World War one in the Wake of Jallianwala Bagh, Mr.Jinnah tried to caution him against embarking upon a program designed, as your Quaid rightly predicted, to trigger violence and cause chaos throughout British Raj. Gandhi and his followers ignored Jinnah's warnings and ridiculed his rational voice, impelling him to leave Congress's pandal, never to return. He remained a member of the Muslim league but for some time Barrister Jinnah opted to live and work in London, until after 1935, when he was lured back to accept the permanent Presidency of Muslim league by Liaquat Ali and Begum shah Nawaz, among others.

In 1937, following elections held under the new government of India Act in which Congress won a commanding majority of Provincial Seats and after Nehru arrogantly insisted that there were only two parties left in India, the congress and the British, and all others must "line up, line up!" Jinnah replied " There is a third party - the Muslims ". And that October he transformed his appearance on the eve of the Muslim League meeting in Mahmudabad's Garden in Lucknow, donning his black sherwani and Persian lamb cap, that has come to be known the Jinnah cap, abandoning his Barrister grab to emerge as Quaid-e-Azam of Muslim India's inchoate Nation. " The .Leadership of the Congress, especially during the last 10 years, has been responsible for alienating the Musalmans of India.pursuing a policy which is exclusively Hindu, "Jinnah thundered " They have by their words, deeds and programmes shown, more and more, that the Muslmans cannot expect nay justice or fair play at their hands. Wherever they were in a majority.wherever it suited them, they refused to co-operate with the Muslim League.To Musalmans every province. I say.. Organize yourselves; establish your solidarity and complete unity. Equip yourselves, as trained as disciplined soldiers.Work loyally, honestly as far to cause of your people and your country. No individual or people can achieve anything without industry, suffering and sacrifice. There are forces which may bully you, tyrannize over you and intimidate you.But it is by going through this crucible of the fire up persecution which may be leveled against you.the threats are intimidation that may unnerve you.by resisting, by overcoming, by facing these.. Hardships. and maintaining your true convictions and loyalty, that a nation will emerge, worthy of its past glory and history, and work live to make its future history greater and more glorious.Eighty millions of Musalaman in India have nothing to fear, they have their destiny in their hands, and as a well-knit solid organized, united force can face any danger, and withstand any opposition.Take your vital decisions.they may be grave and momentous and far-reaching in their consequences. Think a hundred time before you take any decision, but once a decision is taken, stand by it as one man."
For the next years, Quaid-e-Azam Jinnah worked vigorously to consolidate his incubating Muslim Nation. "We must stand on our own inherent strength build up our own power, "he reiterated in Karachi. "It is in use blaming others. If the Musalmans are going to be defeated in their national goal and aspirations it will only be by the betrayal of the Musalmans among us as it has happened in the past".
And at the League's session in Patana, the Quaid told his cheering audience: " The Congress has now..Killed every hope of Hindu-Muslim settlement in the right royal fashion of Fascism.I want to make it plain to all concerned that we Muslims want no gifts .no concessions. We Muslims of India have made up our mind to secure full rights, but we shall have them as rights.the Congress in nothing but a Hindu body.Today the Hindu mentality, the Hindu outlook, is being carefully nurtured, and Muslims are being forced to accept these new conditions and to submit." The Quaid cautioned that from them on they could look for help only to their own "Muslim nation" and to "God".

In 1939, shortly after viceroy Linlithgow proclaimed British India at War with Germany, Nehru called upon the viceroy to issue an immediate promise of "absolute freedom to India after the war and the right of India to draft her own constitution, " as the price if Congress's support. We also called for general elections. No British officer had either the time or inclination to bargain with Congress over India's future, while Britain's own future was in jeopardy. Jinnah alone among India's political leaders understood great Britain's position, and said nothing negative, called upon all Muslims to help the Raj by "honourable co-operation at this " critical and difficult juncture. "He met with the Viceroy to plead for " more protection" for Muslims, and full recognition of the League as the "only organization that can speak on behalf of Muslims of India."

While Congress thus alienated the British in those administrative support and Viceregal backing. Nehru and Ghandi grossly underestimated British and Allied power in 1939, deluded into believing that without India congress support the Raj would collapse. Jinnah knew better. His assessment of British power was unclouded by sentiment or wishful thinking, Nehru tried to goad Jinnah in make an anti-British public statement in October of 1939. "The Indian people are asking for a constitution to be drafted and adopted by our selves, "Jinnah never responded to so gross a challenge, waiting quite for congress to resign the provincial power it had enjoyed since 1937. Nehru impetuously obliged by doing just that in early November, and then Quaid-e-Azam Jinnah announced that Friday, December22, 1939 was to be celebrated as a "day of Deliverance and thanks giving .that the Congress regime has at last ceased to function." He urged Muslims everywhere to hold public meetings and offer prayers of thanks for the demise of that "Hindu Raj" under which Muslims had for two and a half years been crushed by yokes of "tyranny, oppression and injustice." Those prayers proved a portent of the Muslim League's decision to opt for separate statehood.

In January of 1940 Jinnah wrote a piece of London's Time and Tide, in which he quoted the 1935 Report of the joint Committee on Indian constitutional reforms, stating that India was inhabited by "many races.often as distinct from one another in origin, tradition and manner of life as are nations of Europe. Two-thirds.profess Hinduism.over seventy-seven millions are followers of Islam; and the difference between the two is not only of religion.but also of law and culture. They may be said indeed to represent two distinct separate civilizations, "though irreversibly afflicted by this time with tuberculosis, Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah arrived on the morning of March 22, 1940 in Lahore, where he was to preside over his Muslim League's most important session, entering the crowded pandal erected on the maiden of Minto (now Iqbal) Part at 2:25 p.m.

Why does not Mr. Gandhi honestly now acknowledge that the Congress is a Hindu Congress, that he does not represent any body except the solid body of a Hindu people? President Jinnah asked in the capital of Punjab, which would remain the cultural capital of Pakistan despite political pride of place given to Karachi and Islamabad. "I think even a blind man must have been convinced by now, that the Muslim League has the solid backing of the Musalmans of India. Whey then all this camouflage?" asked the Quaid of Mr. Gandhi, addressing him over the heads of more tan 60,000 Muslims gathered within earshot of his amplified voice in Lahore. "Why not come as a Hindu Leaders proudly representing your people and let me meet your proudly representing the Musalmans?"

So though Fazul Haq and Shrawardy were predisposed to a separate Bangladesh, the Quaid insisted that Pakistan must be a single Nation, for he understood the official British mind much better than any of his colleagues, or any Congress leader. Nehru was closed to British liberal and Labour intellectuals, of course, but most official British minds resonated to Mr. Jinnah's thinking. He knew it would be much easier to get the British to agree to a single partition of India, rather than to its further Balkanization, opening a Pandora's box of separates demands by Sikhs, Untouchables, Dravids - all clamouring for 'nation as' of their own - not to remain the princes! The Quaid knew how difficult it would be to begin Pakistan how complex the task of seeking to identify and divide the assets and liabilities of an Empire the size of British India was to become. He also appreciated more than any other leader of the era that time was his enemy, and any change would require monumental labour.
"I have placed before you the task that lies ahead of us, Quaid-e-Azam Jinnah told his followers in Lahore 58 years ago. "Do you realise how big and stupendous it is? Do you realize that you cannot get freedom or independence by mere arguments?" He realized that he might not live to witness the birth of Pakistan and hoped to inspire enough healthier young followers with his brilliant vision. "We wish to live in peace and harmony with our neighbours as a free and independent people, "President Jinnah told them. "We wish our people to develop to the fullest our spiritual, cultural, economic, social and political life in a way that we think best and in consonance with our own idea and according to the genius of our people. Honesty demand and vital interest of millions of our people impose a sacred duty upon us to find and honourable and peaceful solution which would be just and fair to all. we cannot be moved or diverted.

A year later, (April 1941) in Madras, Quaid-e-Azam Jinnah elaborated the sort of programme he envisaged, explaining how his followers must dedicate their lives and labour to help transform the Lahore Resolution calling for creation of a sovereign "Land of the Pure" for South Asia's Muslims, into political reality.
"Our goal is Pakistan.Now what next? No people can ever succeed in anything..unless they work for it and work hard. what is required now is that you should think. we must now think and devise the programme o a five-years plan, and part of its would be how. best the departments of the national life of Muslim India may be built up. What are those departments?. They are the four main pillars (1) Let us devise a definite well-considered educational plan. It is knowledge, information and enlightenment that make a people great. (2) Next, you know the Muslim are left behind both economically and in the social life of the people of this great land. there is this great province of Madras. May I know what stature the Muslims have in the economic life of this province ?. (3) The next important thing is political training. We must have political soldiers.. (to help us) live. on lines of security, justice and fair play. We believe in action, we believe in statesmanship, and believe in practical politics. The next thing .. (4) I want to tell you is what the ideology of the League is. the ideology of this League is based on the fundamental principle that Muslim of India are an independent nationality, and any attempt to get them to merge their national and political identity and unity will not only be resisted, but. it will be futile. The next thing. is our policy - internal, external and international. Our policy of the All-India Muslim League is to endeavour to promote goodwill and harmony with the other peoples on the base of equality, fair play and reciprocity. with the objective of collective security and orderly development. among free states as members of a community pledged to respect each other's rights."

That was (the outline of your Quaid's enlightened policy upon which he elaborated on the very eve of Pakistan's birth, six years later, to the Constituent Assembly in Karachi:

"I sincerely hope that . we shall make this Constituent Assembly an example to the world. The first and. foremost thing that I would..emphasize is this - remember that you are now a sovereign legislative body and you have to all the powers. It therefore places on you the greatest responsibility as to how you take your decision. You will no doubt agree with me that the first duty of a Government is to maintain law and order, so that the life, property and religious beliefs of its subjects are fully protected by the state.

"The second thing that occurs to me is this "One of to biggest curses from which India is suffering.. is bribery and corruption. That really is a poison. We must put that down with an iron hand and.Black-marketing is another curse.Now you have to tackle this monster which.is a colossal crime against society, in our distressed conditions, when we constantly face shortage of food.

"Now what shall we do? Now, if we want to make this great state of Pakistan happy and prosperous we should wholly and solely consent on the well being of the people, especially of the masses and the poor. If you will work in co-operation forgetting the past, burying the hatchet you are bound to succeed. If you change your past and work together in a spirit that everyone of you, no matter to what community he belongs, no matter what relations he had with you in the past, no matter what is his colour, caste creed, is first, second and last citizen of this state with equal rights, privileges and obligations, there will be no end to the progress you will make.

"I cannot emphasize it too much. We should begin to work in that spirit and in course of time all these angularities of the majority and minorities communities, the Hindu community and the Muslim community.will vanish. Indeed, if you ask me this has been the biggest hindrance in the way of India to attain freedom and independence and but for this we would have been free peoples long long ago.You are free, you are free to go to your tamples, You are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this state of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste on creed - that has nothing to do with the business of the state.We are starting in the days when there is no discrimination, no distinction between one community and another.We are all citizens and equal citizens of one state.all members of the Nation.and you will find than in course of time Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslim would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the state.My guiding principle will be justice and complete impartiality, and I am sure that with your support and co-operation, I can look forward to Pakistan becoming one of the greatest Nations of the world".
Such was the great dream and legacy of your Nation's Father. No wonder you continue to revere him as your Quaid-e-Azam, and to enshrine him in your hearts as well as in noble monuments of marble. But the greatest tribute to any man of such genius and inspired leadership, remember, is the do what he asked of you not simple to pay lip-service to his memory, but to activate his legacy by transforming yourselves, and daily labours and nation wide support and co-operation to help turn his Pakistan and yours into one of the greater Nation of the world!

Quaid-e-Azam Zindabad! [Long Live Quaid-e-Azam!]
Pakistan Zindabad! [Long Live Pakistan!]
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Provide security to Ansar Abbasi

Although we disagree with the biased and pro-Taliban reporting of Mr. Ansar Abbasi, having come to know that Mr. Abbasi has received threats by some vested interests, we support Mr. Shaheen Sahbai's following appeal to the Government of Pakistan to provide official protection to Mr. Ansar Abbasi.


Group Editor writes to govt

Thursday, December 25, 2008

News Desk (The News)

KARACHI: On behalf of The News and the Jang Group of Publications, Group Editor of The News Shaheen Sehbai on Wednesday strongly urged the government to take immediate note of the death threats and a campaign of vilification launched by some vested interests and sections of the government against Ansar Abbasi, Editor Investigations of The News, for publishing stories exposing important persons and institutions.

In a letter sent to Federal Information Minister Sherry Rehman, copies of which were sent to the president, the prime minister, the chief of Army staff, the NA speaker and the chairman Senate, heads of intelligence agencies, all governors and chief ministers and international media watchdog bodies, Sehbai asked the government to provide protection to Abbasi and end the harassment campaign in which some cabinet ministers and supporters of the government had also become actively involved.

Ansar Abbasi had recently written a number of stories including the scam of military lands given to the JUI-F, the case of Farah Hameed Dogar and the housing project which involved Rs 60 billion, which embarrassed the government and other institutions, including the Supreme Court.

[Ironically, it may be noted that the JUI-F represents the Deobandi sect in Pakistan. The majority of the Taliban, the favourites of Ansar Abbasi, belong to the same sect. Mir kia sadah hain beemar huay jis kay aivaz......]

......

Defending the media

For some time now, this paper in general and its editor in particular have been under attack by extremist elements in society and also misplaced ones within the media. This fact is commonly known at home and abroad. The foreign media has reported on this matter but not a single editorial of substance has been written in any media to defend us or criticise those who target and attack us unfairly. This tells us something about the state of our “free” media and the wide spaces inhabited by green-eyed monsters or fierce ideologues or extremist religious nationalists who cannot stomach a different point of view. Never mind. One should do unto others as one would have others do unto one.

A case in point is that of Ansar Abbasi of The News. He says he is facing death threats after bringing to light a number of scandals of misconduct among the powerful elite of the country. Regardless of one’s disagreement or not with the opinion and approach adopted by Mr Abbasi to project his point of view on various issues, we in the media should take his fear at face value and rise to his defence. Therefore we stand by Mr Abbasi’s right to uncover misdemeanour and corruption and ask the government to protect him against all threats to his life. There are decent ways of countering a newspaper