Pakistan army showing the true way to treat Taliban

Give the devil its due!

It seems that the jihadi and sectarian killers, suicide bombers, human butcherers namely Taliban (or Sipah-e-Sahaba or Lashkar-e-Taiba or Lashkar-e-Jhangavi or Jaish-e-Muahammad, and so on) are receiving justice Taliban style from Pakistan Army.

Give the devil its due. We support Pakistan Army in its jihad against Taliban.

The True Way to Treat Taliban Criminals!

Compare the above video with the detailed account of Taliban violence in Pakistan (compiled by Rabia Shakoor):

http://talibanviolence.wordpress.com/

Also must watch:

Pakistan Army rescues a family from Taliban in Swat in a daring operation

As the army moves deeper into Swat, people have started talking about Taliban's atrocities, including forced marriages with young girls. At least three soldiers were injured as an army unit tried to rescue one such family from the Taliban.

Video shows Pakistan army 'abuse'

By Syed Shoaib Hasan BBC News, Islamabad Men in uniform are seen kicking and hitting detainees Pakistani soldiers are seen apparently abusing Taliban suspects in a 10-minute video which has been posted on the social networking site, Facebook. The video would be the first clear proof of such abuse. It shows men in military uniform beating suspects as officers stand by giving instructions. It is not clear who shot the film or where. It appears to have been made recently, perhaps in the Swat valley. Pakistan's army has said it needs to examine the video before commenting. Conversations heard on the video suggest it is recent. Troops recently declared they had largely cleared the Swat valley of insurgents after a sustained offensive there. Human rights groups have accused the military of being involved in torture and extra-judicial killings in the region. Whips "This is a very serious accusation," Gen Athar Abbas, head of Pakistan army's public relations wing, told the BBC when asked about the video. "I cannot comment on the video till we have examined it. This will take some time as the army headquarters will have to be involved in the process." The footage shows an officer in Pakistani army battle uniform interrogating several suspects, some of whom are quite elderly and are presumably relatives of men being sought. When the officer does not receive satisfactory answers, he motions with his head and soldiers rush in to punish the suspect. They then beat him with belts, fists and what appear to be small whips. He is also kicked all over the body by soldiers wearing heavy army boots. The suspect is heard screaming and imploring the soldiers to stop in the name of Allah, repeatedly saying he has told them all he knows. In the video the soldiers administering the beating have to be restrained by the officer on at least two occasions. Threats After an initial round of punishment, the officer tells a suspect that this is "soft treatment". Unless the suspect tells all, the officer says he will have to administer "hard punishment". "You don't want me to cut off your hands and feet," the officer says. If confirmed, this would be the first clear proof of the Pakistani army being involved in the abuse of detainees. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) and other groups have accused the army of such violations during the recent Swat campaign. The HRCP says it has also found evidence that the army is involved in extra-judicial killings in the region. The Pakistani army has consistently denied the reports, calling them "baseless." But it has also said it will investigate if any solid proof emerges of its personnel being involved in such activities. Some relevant comments: (pkpolitics, Pakistan Defence Forum) Wajhee:comon guys!!!just put yourselves in the shoes of the soldiers...they needed vital info to take out the hideout camps of these bast*rds...so what if they kicked a bit...stop exagerating things...God damit its a WAR!!! consider i have raped your mother/killed your father/brother...and i suddenly come in front of you what would be your reaction????sahibzada1 said: Must not forget the innocent men, women and children who have lost lives in the hands of so called Taliban… and please recall those who were butchered by so called Talibans…Those were also Pushtons Can anyone here suggest a better method for a Soldier (Many of whom have lost their lives in these operations) to fight the menace of terrorism……Perhaps u would find it difficult…. the way the video is released and the text added to it…. it looks a great conspiracy ….. Pakistanis Please don’t be a part of it….. Bawa said: فوج کے ہاتھوں شہریوں پر تشدد جہاں نہایت ھی افسوسناک واقعہ ھے وہاں بی بی سی کی طرف سے اس وڈیو کو جاری کرنا کسی اور چیز کی طرف بھی اشارہ کرتا ھے. شہریوں پر فوج یا پولیس تشدد پاکستان میں کوئی نیا واقعہ نہیں ھے. اس سے قبل بی بی سی کو کوئی وڈیو جاری کرنے یا انسانی حقوق کی خلاف ورزیان کیوں یاد نہیں آئی؟ ابھی چند دن پہلے لاہور کے پانچ شہریوں کو ڈاکو بنا کر جعلی پولیس مقابلے میں قتل کر دیا گیا اور انسانی حقوق کے کسی چمپین کو اعتجاج تک کرنا نصیب نہ ھوا http://www.nawaiwaqt.com.pk/E-Paper/Lahore/2009-09-25/page-1/detail-22 Becharraa Jazbaati Pakistani said: @mbokhari u said Who can forget the countless tribal khasadars and soldiers whose throats were slit by the Taliban when the army was appeasing them and signing peace treaties?.. i say the all those tribal khasadaars should be hanged along with FC and Army who let Talibaans/Extremists/Drug Barons to collect so much weapons and power over 62 yrs….that how u run a country???? u can not run a brothel this way….as many Pak Generals will tell from their own experience…. sahibzada1 said: @Haroon Ali Sir respectfully i seek ur opinion if u have any suggestion for the Pak Army to fight terrorism or should it leave the innocent civilian Pushtons at the mercy of these butchers… The point is that why Musharaff allowed these terrorists to take roots in those areas so that now Army have to sort them out like this…. Please don’t give it an ethenic colour since Pak Army is full of Pushtons and FC is entirely Pushton zam1112 said: Weldone our brave army, these zalimans deserve more than this. These zaliman(talibans) have killed so many civilians and policemen and our brave soliders and officers. Peoples who are sitting in the airconditioned rooms and criticising our army, this army cleaned the gund of talibans from SWAT sacrificaing their lives. Young officers and soliders were martayred, but you have been sitting in ur rooms. Never ever criticise our forces they are protecting our country, our bitter enemy india is doing propoganda against our forces , so u some peoples are also doing same. If dacoo come to ur home they start killing ur bro and sisters what will you do. vous said: I think its a coordinated effort by world powers to keep Pak Army under pressure. No doubt contents are contemptous to humanity but this along with other highlights of political scene is a very well concerted effort to maintain status quo among different power players of pakistani society. Just play with mob psychology. zam1112 said: @adnan56 shame on u, calling our brave army napak army, u indian minds are small and garbrage brains shut up. OUR ARMY IS BRAVEST ARMY IN THE WORLD . hadi26 said: Human Perspective: 1) The treatment meted out to these people in the video is disgustful and shockingly appalling. 2) ARMY has no business brutally torturing suspects or even convicted criminals for that matter. These poor guys are mere suspects. Pakistani Perspective: 1) It is extremely naive of anyone to expect all is hunky dory in areas like SWAT and FATA (where ARMY has been operating against the most ruthless adversaries who are ready to SLIT throats, let alone punch and kick, at the drop of a dime) and all laws and human rights are respected by the Law Enforcement and Military personnel when infact they aren’t respected even in the poshest and more developed parts of the country. Take a video Camera and go into your nearest Police Station in your ‘developed’ Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and others and you would find something equally, if not more, appalling and shocking than the contents of this video. 2) The comments inserted in the video at the end do not point to someone circulating this video out of respect for human rights but the intent clearly appears to be toinflame ethnic tensions and hatered and add further fuel to a fire that’s been burning for long. Bottom Line When you are operating in conditions where you have had colleagues slaughtered or blown to bits in suicide/rocket attacks; respect for ‘human rights’, which hardly exists in rest of the country, become a little irrelevant. Pakistan Zindabad Pak ARMY Zindabad My Pukhtoon brothers Zindabad! dara said: Tit for Tat, I have seen vedio in which Talibans have cut throats of soldiers. What Army should do? though it is amazing to realize this is the same army who made those talibans. strikeone said: all pansies up in this forum commenting the inhumane treatment by Pakistan Army, though it is wrong but this is what these people understand, the language of belt boot and stick. All these people which were arrested were only on information by local individuals, they provided information to army who all were partners of Talibans and who all were supporting the talibans and even in video you can see that the local informant was standing there and pointing out army personals. so just relax and chill , it is only the army that swat has been cleared and rest of the area will also be cleared all upto Waziristan. these are those people who instead of fighting against american the so called Kuffars in afghanistan were slitting the throats of their own brothers of Swat. Just relax and chill out. Allah ka Banda said: I think I psoted this said video on Facebook with comments, “We should stay clear whether this clip is issued by Army, n why? To threat Talibans? Or this is something else, with same objectives as with fake fogging clip of Swati girl? Now to defame Pak Army. It happens everywhere including Guantanamo Bay Jail, but why video clip of this law n order effort only, are being issued? Why?” So I again request you guys stay clear, and dont run after another “truck ki batti”. When army wasn’t taking action this same media and human right agencies were accusing army of supporting Talibans, and now they are criticizing their action why? They think us a foolish nation? Local police is there, they are not beating Taliban suspects becos…., army is doing this so we should appreciate this. One can’t assure law n order by giving sweet toffees to Talibans. We guys think like mothers, while law is law, interogation is interogation, and punishment is punishment. For me defaming Pak Army is the last step before the NWFP and Karachi controllers join hands with separatists of Balochistan, Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease Thinkkkkkkkkkkk Abouttttttttttt ittttttttttttttttttttt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Kashif said: I am not surprised we are same group of people who were supporting Taliban until flogging video was released and we switched sides. Then we supported Army operation until this video was released. Pls tell me what other tools choices do our military has to get to suicide attackers, those who are attacking state machinery slitting throats. Wars are brutal HR activists and reporters can’t fight those. Let Army do their job. I stand by Army in operation rahe e raast and support their brutal means of investigation. I wish their was an injection that ‘d force anyone to spill out anything they know. Until we have that we have to rely on these brutal interogation techniques. Kashif said: I hope to see conclusive operation in Waziristan in coming days. I am not sure why people are shocked bythis video. What were there expectations everyday commanders and militants who are surrendering its thru NRO? Frankly I was expecting much brutal video an d I am sure even if its not caught in camera there must be much more brutal investigations going on as we speak. I see here all Taliboons Shitamore, Babu, zam etc are excited by this video as if they have got conclusive evidence to turn the tide and stop operation raahe raast in Swat or Waziristan. I ‘d like to them to see throat slitting videos to refresh their memories. Atif khan said: People what you think Its war. Soliders are trained to kill. War is never clean and neat thats why not everyone can fight the war. Thats why you are sitting in your homes while the brave solider are fighting to keep you safe. NEVER FORGET THAT Allah ka Banda said: The people being interogated are not suspects, they are arrested as per information given by local people/police. They were involved in slitting throats and blasting bombs because the local people got the first hand knowledge, I am amazed by people’s views talking law n order, talking human rights like mother says my son is innocent even when he have killed a man.

hifuka said:
i wish someone uploads those videos in which innocent people were slaughtered as goat/lambs and dead bodies were hanged on the cross after digging them out from the graves.

i wish someone also uploads thsoe videos in which army jawans and officers, even ssg commmandos,were also slaugheterd by the socalled talibans.

i wish someone also uploads those videos in which they force young boys, infront of the eyes of his father and village, to drive the vehicle and push one button after one km, so that others get encouragement for suicidal missions.

i wish someone also upload those videos in which they forcebly take the girls of the village in the nikkah of a socalled mujahid…the mujahid who never offers prayers and drinks alcohol.

i wish someone also upload those video stories of the families who suffered from the hands of these socalled talibans…recently some text stories have appeared on bbc urdu website…

i wish someone digs out the truth behind this socalled torture video which seems to be simply a plot against the efforts of people and army…

long live the people and army of this nation…
(none of my family members serves in any armed forces).

Mulla Nafs e Zakkiya said:
They are being beaten for lie-ing to army!

And I thought Allah was supposed to help these taliban..what happened ?

I am not in support of just mere punishment, I would have not beaten them in this shape if it was up-to me, as I have family both in army and in swat.

One of my distant relatives was dug out of his grave and hanged…and his young brother who was dying was jumped on his body by these beardo’s…

I support Army to eradicate this issue without being recorded cause it is disgusting to see them cry like little girls….

Mulla Nafs e Zakkiya!

Nonaligned said:
This video has certainly harmed the reputation of our Armed Forces; it may also trigger a reprisal from Taliban’s and religious extremists against Punjab.

Before we jump to a conclusion we must realize that our Armed Forces are fighting a war of survival against a vicious and brutal enemy.

Recently I saw a video of a public execution where Taliban were seen cutting the throats of five people one by one like sheep’s, it was the most horrible and nasty video I have ever seen.

This beating may have happened during an investigation when Army was trying to find the cadets and teachers kidnapped by Taliban.

strikeone said:

all those against this video and disturbed like little girls, again one cannot support it but this is “THE METHOD”.

I am sure all of you are angels and have descended from heavens or either member of some human rights chapter of UN. or some PETA member.

In the past all the wars have been fought like that, all the wars right from Islam early years to this day. All crusades, all invasion of Abbasids and Umaiyad to Abbasis, you name it even on christian side, war in europe to Gingiz, from Abdali to Ghazali, to Babar.

this is called Collateral damage, Army has to act swiftly and this is the quick method.

Army can not make them sit in AC environment and give them weeks to break their will, it is matter of few hours and they need information so that rest of talibans dont fleee.

Again this is done with the help of local population who were against talibans and have to leave during their terror time.

so relax and take some pill if you can not sleep at night after watching this video.

yahya said:
اتنی مار ہميں بچپن ميں پنجاب کے سکولوں ميں پڑھ جاتی تھي- ہم سے کسی نے ہمدردی نہيں کی کيونکہ ہم ”مجاہدين” کے کوٹہ پہ نہيں آئے تھے
Read more...

Love life at LUMS: Does that represent Pakistani culture?

This site has moved to http://www.criticalppp.com/archives/1468, click this link if you are not redirected
Read more...

The need for a critical examination of Islamic history and an alternative discourse

The backwards forward

Posted by Nadeem F. Paracha

There is an urgent need in the Muslim world to think anew about a lot of issues, not to appease the West, but to co

There is an informative debate show on a local private channel called Alif. The show is mostly about the various philosophies of Islam and their place in Pakistan and rest of the Muslim world. A moderator usually invites up to four intellectuals every week, with two of them usually being ‘moderate’ in outlook while the other two guests hold a more conservative view on the discussed topic.

Even though it is one of the more academically sound Islamic programmes compared to the myopic disasters viewers are bombarded with in this respect, Alif almost always ends up hitting an intellectual dead-end.

The reason for this is the common consensus Muslim scholars of all shades have had on the traditional version of Islamic history. So no mater how diverse their views and interpretations of what constitutes Islamic philosophy and law, they all usually end up with almost exactly the same agreement on Islamic traditions that emerged some time in the late ninth and early tenth centuries, after which the ‘gates of ijtihad’ were said to be closed.

However, many modern Islamic scholars have now started to point out that the roots of political and social problems that the Muslim communities started to face after Muslim imperialism began its decline after the eighteenth century can be traced to the laws, politics and social bearings constructed from the pitfalls of the consensus reached among various Islamic schools of thought on what constitutes Islamic history and tradition.

They believe that this history and the traditions that it cemented stopped being investigated critically and thus ended up creating gaping misconceptions and leaps of logic about what Islam meant and how it was practiced during the Prophet’s time.

In other words, the history of early Islam that is taught to every Muslim child and is taken as the primary source by almost all Muslim scholars and historians was never put to any serious intellectual test and modern investigative methods.

On the other hand, western historians, while investigating the theological history of early Christianity, tried to a understand the ‘historical Jesus’ in place of the ‘theological Jesus’ whom they discovered (and claim) was different from his historical self.

The theological Jesus, they figured, had very little to do with the actual events in history and was more a creation of Christian priests and scholars who appeared almost two generations after Jesus. According to these historians, the theological version of Jesus was formed for political and evangelical reasons in which the person of Jesus was exaggerated and his personality molded according to social and political norms and nuances of the time when early Christian priests were formulating the personality of Jesus through their exegeses of the Bible and the Gospels.

Early Islamic history has hardly ever been treated and investigated in this manner. Some early attempts were made between the fourteenth and nineteenth centuries, but these attempts were largely the work of Christian apologists who failed to take an unbiased and objective view of the subject and generated their work more as a way to pitch the ‘authenticity of Christian history’ against that of Islam.

However, in the twentieth century, small groups of secular European academics and scholars picked up the pieces and started to investigate early Islamic history using the academic methods historians and anthropologists use to study non-theological history. So far the results have been startling, and many progressive Muslim scholars and historians too have agreed to some of what the rigorous investigations and secular study of early Islamic history has generated.

The most controversial among the investigators was the late Dr John Wansbrough, a leading historian and researcher at London’s prestigious SOAS institute. Though controversial, Wansbrough triggered an academic wave in which a number of respected historians and scholars started studying early Islamic history with the same academic and investigative tools with which historians study the historical context of the Bible and with which general history is studied and its authenticity determined. Wansbrough was at once criticised by Muslim academia for undermining the importance of primary Muslim sources in his study.

Other leading historians in this respect have been Prof. Patricia Crone, Martin Hinds, Michael Cook and Prof. G R. Hawting – people whose critical look at early Islamic history has been largely respected by a number of modern Islamic scholars.

The meeting point where these western academics and many progressive Muslim scholars have managed to reach is the fact that almost all early Islamic history is based on just a single complete biography written on the life of the Prophet. It appeared in 750 CE (by Ibn Ishaq), or about a century and a half after the demise of the Prophet. In fact, this biography has only survived in the writings of Ibn Hisham, who wrote a biography of the Prophet in early ninth Century.

Modern western and Muslim scholars now believe that the accuracy of these biographies is unascertainable because instead of any written documents, Ishaq and Hisham used memorised accounts of the life of Prophet Muhammad (hadiths) as sources.

Historians now view the hadiths with caution, insisting that they cannot be taken as accurate historical sources because they first started to be documented more than a century after the Prophet’s demise.

The reason why early biographers of the Prophet, and early Islamic lawmakers who used hadith accounts to formulate the shariah, could not use any tangible written documents (other than the Qu’ran) was that even a hundred years after the demise of the Prophet there were almost no documented Muslim sources at all about early Islam. Ibn Ishaq’s biography is the only surviving source (written 130 years after the Prophet).

Modern Muslim and western scholarship studying Islam believes that Islam’s progressive evolution was mutated and it became increasingly static after ulema started to compare the human condition of their time with a rather romanticised version of Islam’s early history that was constructed purely on memorised accounts. Accounts that were first put to writing more than a century after the Prophet are likely to have gone through various lapses.

Scholars like Wansbrough, Crone, Hinds, Prof. Ziauddin Sardar, Mohammad Arkoun, and authors such as Irshan Manji, Sumanto Al Qurtuby, and Rashad Khalifa believe most of these memorised accounts of the Prophet and of life under the first four Caliphs were documented more than a century after the Prophet’s demise and then ‘projected back to the time of the Prophet.’

The reason to do so were largely political because at the time Islam was a rapidly expanding imperialist force and needed a politico-religious anchor, especially in the conquered lands that had different (or opposing) faiths as dominant religions.

This tradition was carried across all major stages of Muslim imperialism and the Islamic doctrines were further expanded through scholarly assumptions about life under the Prophet and the ‘rightly guided Caliphs.’ The hadith remained the primary source.

At the decline of Muslim imperialism some time in the late eigteenth and mid-nineteenth centuries, the narratives on which much of Islamic history, philosophy and law were constructed during the imperial phase started to seem static, especially in the face of former Muslim powers coming under waves of western imperialism.

Islamic Scholars and leaders appealed for a return to the basics in an attempt to reform Islam and Muslim societies that they now thought had been ‘adulterated’ by their long imperialist exposure to the rituals of other religions.

The hadith still played the primary role in this respect, but many reformist scholars and leaders now chose the more conservative hadiths to transform Islamic law into a harsher article of faith and legislation, believing these would help Muslim societies ‘retain their true identities’ under western imperialism.

That said, there were also reformists who found Imperialist Islamic dictates to have become static and decadent and they wanted to ‘modernise’ Islam by trying to adopt modern western laws and technology.

But since both these strains of Muslim reformists continued appealing to the nostalgia of Islamic imperialism’s heyday, and to the more mythical narratives of ‘perfect Islam’ under the four ‘Rightly Guided Caliphs,’ the historical and legislative doctrines of Islam based on the conservative reformists’ views managed to bag a more attentive audience in Muslim societies. It is out of these doctrines that concepts like Political Islam would eventually emerge. A concept whose more retarded strains are what we now call Islamic militancy and ‘Islamo-fascism.’

Interestingly, Islamic reformists too continued to draw their legislative, political and historical conclusions from eighth- and ninth-century hearsay accounts as if modern society was still responding to medieval impulses.

Consequently, even today many Muslim historians and lawmakers carry on defining theshariah and Islamic history using a history constructed from memorised and backwardly projected accounts of the Prophet.

Most progressive Muslim scholars however, have pleaded for a more investigative look at Islam’s early history without the use of eighth- and ninth-century perspectives. To do that they beseech the need to be much more cautious about memorised accounts based on simple hearsay. They say that the hadith should be used watchfully and, perhaps, only when it supports or expands the teachings of the Qur’an and not as a legislative response to the political and social dynamics of modernity that can only leave Muslim societies hanging in a limbo between mythical historical narratives and modern material impulses.

Nadeem F. Paracha is a cultural critic and senior columnist for Dawn Newspaper and Dawn.com.

An alternative discourse

By Ayesha Siddiqa
Friday, 02 Oct, 2009 (Dawn)ntribute to the internal political discourse. –Online

A Few months ago, I met a three-member team from a UK-based think tank called Quilliam. Based in London, the organisation claims to be the first counter-terrorism think tank in the world. It was started by two young Muslims, Ed Hussain and Maajid Nawaz, who were formerly part of the Islamist organisation Hizbut Tahrir (HT). They are now dedicated to weaning Muslim youth away from global jihad and towards peace.

It was interesting listening to Maajid Nawaz who had come to Pakistan to talk about his experience as a member of HT. He said he used to visit Pakistan to recruit people in the military and in government for the global jihad. It was during a period of incarceration that Nawaz said he saw the light and decided to wean people away from jihad.

Luckily for the two men, the British government was able to provide funding to set up Quilliam. Now they both go around the world with a missionary zeal to spread another kind of message. Their aim is also to bridge the gap between the Muslim world and the West.

The Quilliam team’s trip to Pakistan was aimed at visiting universities where Maajid Nawaz spoke to students about how he was wrong in supporting global jihad. Earlier, the organisation had funded a conference of the vice-chancellors of various Pakistani universities to convince them of the project that Nawaz later undertook.

The organisation is certainly an interesting idea. But it might not take off in the Muslim world because of its inherent shortcomings. To start with, the think tank has no input from within the Muslim world, which makes it a foreign concept. The problem is that a foreign idea tends to attract negative attention. Quilliam seems to represent the foreign frustration at the lack of an alternative discourse in the Muslim world. It has tried to start the discourse by providing these former HT members with a forum.

However, the lack of real contacts inside the Muslim world turns this into a venture without depth. For instance, in their eagerness to establish contacts and work amongst the youth, Quilliam has partnered organisations in Pakistan with little or no credibility. Another noticeable flaw is that since it is unable to get respectable names from the Muslim world on board, the organisation will not be able to achieve much to please its donors. Besides the two names mentioned earlier, there is no significant name on Quilliam’s team that would generate positive attention.

It would be foolhardy to pretend that there is no scope of an alternative debate of ideas in the Muslim world or people are not capable of doing that. Quilliam could, in fact, build itself as a neutral forum to develop ideas across the Muslim world or even between the Muslim world and the West. Surely, a well-funded organisation can make better use of its resources than just telling the HT story.

At a conceptual level there are two issues worth considering. First, an alternative discourse to curb violence will have to see that rebellion within the Muslim world is partly (if not entirely) driven by a post-colonial discourse, especially where the Muslim population is faced with brutality and is struggling for survival. People in such places cannot be dissuaded from fighting militarily until and unless there is also a new discourse on the other side regarding the solution of the problem.

More importantly, in many places the post-colonial discourse dovetails into an anti-imperialist debate. The problem is that religion becomes a tool that people don’t want to abandon because of the absence of an alternative ideology or set of ideas.

Second, it goes without saying that there is a real need for a new discourse within the Muslim world on numerous issues starting from the concept of the state, war and peace to social norms and economic life. Historically, the Muslim world was progressive due to the independence of academic institutions when it came to arriving at new concepts. Even in the recent past institutions like Al Azhar in Egypt were to be taken note of for encouraging new ideas.

However, it is also a fact that the formulation of ideas in the Muslim world has stopped or taken a peculiar direction as far as political thought is concerned. The bulk of the interpretation of religious texts has been driven by the post-colonial ethos of societies and thinkers.

At this juncture, there is an urgent need in the Muslim world to think anew about a lot of issues, not to appease the West, but to contribute to the internal political discourse. Issues such as the link between religion and politics in an Islamic state or war and conflict involving a Muslim state, or the position of non-Muslims in an Islamic state are matters which require a rethink.

It is not that finding a new direction is not possible. For instance, there have been Muslim scholars in the past such as Abd Al-Razik at Al Azhar who came up with revolutionary ideas regarding the political character of a Muslim state, especially in the context of the link between religion and politics. Though his ideas in the 1930s were not pursued as they were considered too revolutionary, there are newer thinkers who have contributed fresh input to the concept of an Islamic state.

It is unfortunate that most of this discussion is taking place outside the Muslim world by Muslim scholars. It needs to be brought into and made part of the mainstream.

Perhaps organisations such as Quilliam could become a forum for the exchange of ideas, rather than just doing what many might regard as a foreign conspiracy. But then, one is also forced to wonder why, despite the riches of the Muslim world, we are unable to create a forum that would allow Muslims to talk amongst themselves and voice new ideas.

Of course Muslim states in the Middle East and the Gulf fund research initiatives at foreign universities such as the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. However, it is important to bring new ideas and discussion to the heart of the Muslim world if a change is to be brought about or if the social and political development of Muslims is the goal. Until new ideas are generated and discussed, Muslims can hardly hope to flourish or progress.

The writer is an independent strategic and political analyst.
ayesha.ibd@gmail.com

Read more...

SOS: Time to attack the Taliban / Sipah-e-Sahaba hideouts in Quetta.

Who will stop Shia killings in Quetta? Pakistan or the USA?

US demands urgent action in Quetta

By Baqir Sajjad Syed
Friday, 02 Oct, 2009

Mr Feierstein said the US believed that Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was hiding in Pakistan’s tribal areas.— Photo from AP/File

ISLAMABAD: The United States stepped up pressure on Pakistan on Thursday, asking it to dismantle what a US embassy official described as Taliban’s command structure in Quetta, commonly known as the Quetta Shura, for the sake of securing peace inAfghanistan.

The diplomat did not rule out use of drones against what he called Quetta Shura.

‘In the first instance, we will like the government of Pakistan to move aggressively to prevent the use of Pakistan’s soil (by Taliban) in this way… we hope the GoP will take steps to arrest these individuals,’ US deputy chief of mission Gerald Feierstein told journalists.

He said action against the Quetta Shura was imperative for stabilising the situation inAfghanistan.

He insisted that Taliban leader Mullah Omar was in Quetta along with other senior leaders and operated freely. ‘They move around, sometimes they go to Afghanistan, sometime to elsewhere in Pakistan, but fundamentally they are in the area.’

When asked repeatedly if the US would launch drone attacks against Taliban targets in Quetta, he said predator issues were not discussed in public and that the focus was currently on getting cooperation from Islamabad for addressing the issue.

The statement is probably the harshest criticism of law-enforcement agencies to date by aUS diplomat. The issue was previously referred to by the Americans only as a passing remark, or was attributed to unnamed officials because of intelligence and diplomatic considerations.

Analysts believe that the US is gradually building up pressure. The International Security Assistance Force’s Commander in Afghanistan, Gen Stanley McChrystal, in his recent assessment report to President Barack Obama said that the Taliban leadership in Quettawas behind a surge in violence in Afghanistan where July and August were the deadliest months for US troops in the eight-year war. Earlier this week, US Ambassador Anne Patterson had said that the Quetta Shura was high on American agenda.

Mr Feierstein referred to Gen McChrystal’s assessment and said everybody understood that part of the problem was in Balochistan.

The Kerry-Lugar bill on aid passed by the Congress on Wednesday and now awaiting President Obama’s approval requires the US secretary of state to certify that Pakistan has dismantled terrorist bases in Quetta.

But no one in Pakistan expected the US to launch such a tirade against Pakistan.

Before his trip to the US, President Asif Ali Zardari had been cautioned in a policy document that an orchestrated campaign had been launched by the US to shift the focus away fromAfghanistan to Pakistan as the epicentre of terrorism.

Americans believe that the top Taliban leadership is present either in refugee camps or in the Afghan neighbourhoods of Quetta. US intelligence official believe that Mullah Omar collects funds and dispatches fresh fighters and weapons from his Quetta base.

Mr Feierstein rejected Pakistan’s position that the Quetta Shura was an outdated concept with most of its members having been killed or arrested. He said new people had replaced them and the ‘issue remains there.’

When asked if the government had accepted Washington’s demand for action against the Quetta Shura, he said: ‘It is a matter of ongoing discussion.’

The US diplomat appeared to be sympathetic towards the difficulties Pakistan could face in cracking down on Taliban’s alleged network in Quetta. ‘There is no confusion on our part that it is an easy or simple task.’

He said the American leadership was very clear that fixing the problem in Pakistan would not end the imbroglio in Afghanistan. However, he insisted that elements of the crisis could be addressed by Pakistan’s action against Taliban.

Responding to a question about allegations of Taliban sympathisers in Pakistan’s intelligence network, he said: ‘Are there individuals who have sympathies with the Taliban? That is fairly established that this has happened, certainly we have seen it.’

The issue is one of major western concerns and believed to be the cause of poor intelligence on the Quetta Shura.

However, the US official categorically stated that ISI as an institution did not support Taliban.

He revealed that some of those sympathisers had been arrested by Pakistani authorities.

Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit dismissed Mr Feierstein’s claim as baseless speculation and asked the US to come up with proof of Taliban’s presence in Quetta.

Defence analyst Brig (retd) Shaukat Qadir said the Americans were losing the war and were trying to find excuses. ‘Some time back I went to Quetta where both Baloch and Pakhtuns told me that Taliban did not exist in the city.’

Mr Feierstein also said the US believed that Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was hiding inPakistan’s tribal areas.

He questioned President Zardari’s claim made last month that Osama was dead, saying he was very much alive.

However, he said that Al Qaeda chief’s operational capacity was severely restricted because of action against his group. He said he doubted if Osama was still in charge of Al Qaeda’s day to day affairs. (Dawn)

Mullah Omar in Quetta, Osama in FATA: US diplomat

* Quetta-based Taliban shura planning to launch attacks in Afghanistan * Some individuals in ISI supporting Taliban

ISLAMABAD: The top leadership of the Taliban, including Mullah Omar, is based in Quetta and Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden is in hiding in FATA, Deputy Chief of the US Mission in Islamabad Gerald Feierstein said on Thursday.

Talking to reporters, Feierstein said the US “strongly believes” Osama was operating from Pakistan’s Tribal Areas near the Afghan border.

He told reporters that the Quetta-based Taliban shura was active and planning to launch attacks on the US and Afghan forces in Afghanistan.

The US diplomat also said US officials believed Quetta had become the control and command centre of the Taliban.

Feierstein skipped questions about potential US drone strikes in Quetta, but said Washington had conveyed its concerns to the government of Pakistan about the Quetta situation.

But Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit warned against any drone attacks in the region.

“Balochistan is not FATA, and so we are in touch with the US on this and we have conveyed our concerns. And we will continue to raise our concerns,” he said.

ISI: The US diplomat also said the top Afghan Taliban leaders moved freely across the Pak-Afghan border and attacked US and NATO forces at will.

Feierstein said the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was not supporting the Taliban at the institutional level, however, he claimed, some individuals in the agency had been supporting the insurgents, but “such elements have been arrested in the past”.

He said Inter Risk security agency had been providing security to the US embassy and its personnel in Islamabad, adding that it was working in accordance with the law and regulations set by the Interior Ministry.

He rejected the presence of Blackwater officials in Pakistan, saying that the US embassy had an agreement with Inter Risk for providing security to its staff.

Feierstein said the US was building the capacity of Pakistani intelligence and law enforcement agencies, including the NWFP police, the Intelligence Bureau, the Federal Investigation Agency and the Frontier Corps in order to enhance their counterinsurgency abilities. app/daily times monitor

Read more...

An agenda for news

Thursday, October 01, 2009 Kamila Hyat The writer is a freelance columnist and former newspaper editor The question of what makes news is one that is becoming increasingly relevant. Every day, we are assaulted by TV talk shows and hosts who claim to put issues before us. In many ways these shows, which have huge viewership, set the agenda for what is discussed and debated at various places. They have as such drawn out the framework for what people see as 'politics'. They have also, without hesitation, offered to dubious former intelligence men and others the platform from which they have made their recent series of disclosures – allowing them to serve whatever purpose motivated them to emerge en masse. In the past, similar space has been offered to pro-Taliban clerics and to others who see little evil in violence. Through the month of Ramazan many of the major shows have projected the cause of charities of all kinds. This was obviously intended as a social service – and it has had the positive effect of drawing attention to the illiterate, the sick, the blind, the disabled and the destitute who exist on the fringes of our society. Donations have poured in to the many organizations that do such an excellent job of helping those in need. But somewhere an important message was ignored. The state of Pakistan must assume more responsibility for the plight of its citizens and divert funds to tackle the hunger and deprivation that exists everywhere. This, in many ways, is an even bigger issue than that of political alliances or the tensions between different wings of government that we hear about daily, often from guests who hustle from one studio to the next. The link between poor governance and the situation of people has yet to be made. In many ways the media serves the interest of an incompetent government by failing to take up these critical issues and thus allowing it to avoid making these a priority, though of course this should not be an excuse to the indifference that we see to the worsening plight of people. In recent months we have seen multiple stories about parents forced by poverty to sell children. There were accounts ahead of Eid of fathers who, faced with an inability to buy new clothes or shoes or even food, killed themselves, and sometimes their families as well. These reports hardly ever make it beyond the single column item, placed well beyond the outer pages. Misery is not on the media agenda. As a result the volume of despair grows. So too does the gap between people and a state that has been unable to fulfil its most basic responsibilities to them. Scattered around the Internet and buried in reports from different agencies are the figures that testify to the situation we live in. Levels of hunger are 'alarming', significantly higher than those in most South Asian countries and matching levels in Sub-Saharan Africa. Child malnutrition is rampant. More than 33 per cent of a population that has continued to grow with little check live below the poverty line. Millions of others hover close to this mark. Almost a half of this sea of people is illiterate. A person somewhere in the country goes blind every minute, often because they lack the means to seek help. Many others die from preventable disease. Campaigns such as that to contain polio have suffered severe setbacks due to mismanagement. These issues rarely make news. Neither do many others. The loss of parks in congested cities such as Karachi, the blatant chopping down of trees in Lahore to make way for plazas such as those that have crept up along M M Alam Road, the poisoning of land due to indiscriminate pesticide use, the means used to increase milk production by injecting animals with hormones or the steroids used to expand the volume of meat obtained from poultry or cattle are matters that are routinely relegated to 'feature' pages and magazines. Journalists are trained to treat these as 'soft' news, unfit to make news pages. There is a kind of macho pride involved in insisting that the existing divide between 'hardcore news' and 'social problems' must be retained. The inches on front pages are reserved almost invariably for statements, speeches and reports that focus on the chaotic political happenings that unfold daily. The question of how meaningful these are to the lives of people has not been sufficiently explored. But losing tree cover or forcing people to consume food that is effectively poisoned directly effects the quality of life of almost everyone. It is for this reason that such issues have increasingly stolen away space from the politicians in many countries. In India, the strident efforts by some sections of the media to take up issues of the environment and of pollution have played a part in the ushering in of new legislation. Today, around the world and at home too, the role of the print media – particularly of daily newspapers – is being questioned. In a time of 'instant' news from the TV channels and over the Internet, few wait for the papers to land on their doorstep to read about the latest bomb blast or the contents of political speeches. Research also shows that globally more and more readers are accessing papers over the Internet, leading to debate over whether they should be made to pay for these services. The attempt by newspapers to go in for more in-depth reporting – even though this can lead to sensationalism in some cases – indicates some awareness of a changed environment. But perhaps they need to think of more rapid evolution to survive in it and create a distinct niche for themselves. This has happened in many places around the world. One route is to set new agendas as to what constitutes news and how people's lives are affected by events of all kinds that take place around them. For editors and journalists, this is a challenge. Breaking away from the established norm is never easy. Media interests are increasingly tied in with political and commercial ones. But in times of recession bold tactics are necessary. The print media – freed by the 24-hour news channels from its traditional responsibility of delivering news and doing so ahead of its competitors -- can chalk out a new path. It has been offered a new liberty it must take advantage of. By doing so it may find it has served the interests of people and itself, ending the uniformity we see on most channels and widening the notion of what constitutes news in a nation beset with many problems and challenges. Email: kamilahyat@hotmail.com (The News)

Read more...

Gilgit: Shia killing by the Taliban / Sipah-e-Sahaba terrorists

SFP News:
September 30, 2009

Four Shia Muslims were killed in Gilgit since bomb blast at Al Murtaza Book Center. On 26th Septermber a bomb was thwon on Shia book Center resulting four people injured. After such incident the situation became tense. The injured of bomb blast named Aqib Murtaza succumbed to death including four others in various acts of target killings by Sipah-e-Yazeed (wrongly known as Sipah-e-Sahaba).

The Northern Areas of Pakistan were renamed as Gilgit-Baltistan by the Government of Pakistan last month along with long-awaited reform package for the region potentially paving the way for effective governance and development of a very down-trodden area. Mercenaries of Wahhabai/Deobandi origin and disturbers of peace, however, wanted to destroy the goodwill created in these areas by the Federal Government's announcement and in the last week leading up to the visit of the Prime Minister to Gilgit-Baltistan.

These vicious acts of violence appear to be planned to provoke a backlash that will not be detrimental for the people of the region and are designed to severely affect the Federal Government's efforts to initiate the planned changes and economic development of the area.

Tensions in gilgit are created by Wahhabis and Deobandis from Chalas who come from Kohistan to fight Shia Gilgities Chalasias are poor fanatic people; they find Shia Sunni conflict as an excuse for looting and killing reletively rich Gilgities

Some comments:

Muse:

A fascinating development - no sooner is it recognized that a permananent solution to the anomaly that was "Northern Areas" and we have a "welcome" - now if Bill Longley is correct about the "killing shi'ahs" thing, what does it say about the degree to which Wahabi/Salafi ideology has penetrated Pakistan? What does it say about the success the Al-Qaeeda Wahabi influenced Takfiri are having in creating sectarian wars in Pakistan and in doing so, destroy Jinnah's Pakistan?

The job ahead of cleaning Pakistan of this Wahabi/Salafi ideology is going to be a long one - When Muslims cannot live peacefully with each other, what chance they will live peacefully with non-Muslims??

But soon the defenders of the Wahabi/Salafi ideology will be around saying "why blame us" and it's not Wahabi/Salafi ideology, it's something else, I know, it's the US Hindu-Zionists, yeah, that's the ticket - sure it is - just like we used to hear "no Muslim could do this" but then it took hundreds of innocents killed in suicide attacks to understand that we must be honest with each other.

Seekers:

ituation in parachinar is more worst than any other part in country. but unfortunately govt. and media not admit this act is"terrorism" and keep deaf ear over the situation for last two years.

Govt. and media both think this is part of secretriasm and avoid to help the Shias like they are doing in Swat and Waziristan by recruiting and aurmoring the Lashkars.

last two weeks ago the sole route of parichinar for from Afghanistan was also closed by Afghan Govt.(parichnar road link within Pakistan is closed by Taliban for last one year).

They have unable to survive without food and medicines.Hundreds of children had been died due to unavailability of medicines.

One day Govt. and media would must admit the taliban of parichnar "terrorist" like they did label "lashkar jhangvi" and "sipah shaba" as terrorist now.

Muse: I am becoming convinced that Pakistani police and security agencies are creating by their ineptness, a serious, a very serious situation:

4 killed in firing on Gilgit passenger van

GILGIT: Four people were killed and 10 others injured when unidentified persons opened fire on a passenger van on Wednesday.

Gilgit-Baltistan Inspector General Police Kursheed Alam Khan said four people, including a 13-year-old boy, were killed when unidentified persons opened fire on a van travelling from Basin to Gilgit.

He said the boy was killed on the spot while three injured men died in the hospital, adding that two of the injured were in critical condition. app

Read more...

Upset 2008: A book worthreading

A book written by Mehmood Sham. Mehmood Sham, a senior journalist who is very well known for very well balanced journalism, has written a book Upset 2008 in which he has covered some positive and negative aspects of Musharraf's leadership which are usually ignored by his opponents in politics and media. The book also exposes the reality of the long march led by Nawaz Sharif to restore Ifitkhar Muhammad Chaudhry. The book also discusses the causes of Musharraf's downfall.

اپ سیٹ دو ہزار آٹھ

علی سلمان

بی بی سی اردو ڈاٹ کام ، لاہور

ایک خود کش بمبار کو دنیاگمراہ، نادان ظالم قرار دیتی ہے، اس کے لیے برین واش کی اصطلاح استعمال کی جاتی ہےلیکن وہ خود کش بمبار اپنے نظریے سے اس انتہا کی حد تک مخلص ہوتا ہے کہ اس کی خاطر خوفناک طریقے سے اپنی جان قربان کردیتا ہے۔

بالکل اسی طرح ایک ڈکٹیٹر جسے سب قابض، حقوق سلب کرنے والا،بے رحم ظالم،سفاک، لالچی،خود غرض اور نجانے کیا کیا سمجھتے ہیں لیکن ہوسکتا ہے کہ وہ آمر خود کو قوم کا مخلص،رحم دل دیانتدار اور ایک عادل حکمران سمجھتا ہو۔

ہوسکتاہے کہ ایک ڈکٹیٹر کی اس سوچ کو عوامی سطح پر قبولیت حاصل نہ ہو لیکن بہرحال یہ تصویر کا ایک دوسرا رخ ہے۔

پاکستان کے حالیہ فوجی حکمران پرویز مشرف کے بارے میں تصویر کا یہی دوسرا رخ دکھانے کی ایک کوشش محمود شام کی کتاب’ اپ سیٹ دوہزار آٹھ ؟”ہے۔ کتاب کے مصنف کہتے ہیں کہ ’جسے ہم اپنی نظروں میں شیطان کا درجہ دے دیں اس کی خوبیوں اچھائیوں، صحیح فیصلوں کو جان بوجھ کر نظرانداز کیا جاتا ہے اور جسے ہم ہیرو کہہ دیتے ہیں اس کی خامیوں،برائیوں ،غلط فیصلوں کو دیدہ ودانستہ چھپایا جاتا ہے۔ماضی میں ہم ایسی شخصیت پرستی اور کردار کشی کے نتائج بھگت چکے ہیں۔ٰ

اس کتاب میں پرویز مشرف کی آنکھ سے ان حالات کو دکھانے کی کوشش کی گئی ہے جن کے تحت انہیں وردی اتار کر صدارت کو خیر باد کہنا پڑاتھا۔

سابق فوجی حکمران سیاسی جماعتوں کے رہنماؤں کو حاسد،لالچی اور مفاد پرست سجھتے ہیں لیکن ساتھ ہی ساتھ انہوں نے انہی لیڈروں سے معاہدے کیے ،مفاہمت کی جس کے نتیجے میں بے نظیر بھٹو اور نواز شریف کی پاکستان واپسی ہوئی۔

وزیر اعظم ظفراللہ جمالی کے بعد صدر مشرف ہمایوں اختر خان کو وزیر اعظم بنانا چاہتے تھے اور مقتدر حلقوں نے بھی ان کی تعیناتی کی حمایت کردی تھی لیکن چودھری بردران کی سخت مخالفت کی وجہ سے وہ وزیر اعظم نہ بن سکے اور قرعہ فال شوکت عزیز کے نام نکل آیا۔

اپ سٹ دو ہزار آٹھ

پرویز مشرف پیپلز پارٹی اور نون کے ساتھ مفاہمت کے دفاع میں کہتے ہیں کہ’ پی پی پی گیارہ سال،پی ایم ایل (ن)آٹھ سال سے لیڈروں کے بغیر ملک میں کام کررہی تھیں لیکن ان کے کارکن کرپشن،مقدمات کےباوجود بے نظیر بھٹو اور نواز شریف کو ہی اپنا لیڈر مان رہے تھے۔ وہ کرپشن کوبرا سمجھتے ہی نہیں ہیں۔یہ ساری صورتحال دیکھتے ہوئے مفاہمت کے حق میں راہ ہموار ہوئی۔ٰ

کتاب میں درج سابق صدر سے منسوب گفتگو کے مطابق پرویز مشرف نے کہا ’ہمیں مصدقہ اطلاع ملی تھی کہ چیف جسٹس افتخار چودھری بطور صدر میری نااہلی کا فیصلہ کرنے والے ہیں۔ میں نے اس نظام کو اپ سیٹ ہونے سے روکنے کے لیے ایمرجنسی لگائی لیکن ستم ظریفی کہ اپ سیٹ پھر بھی ہوا بلکہ اس سے زیادہ شدید ہوا۔سول سوسائٹی نکل آئی۔ میڈیا ڈٹ گیا۔ سیاستدان سرگرم ہوئے۔ اس میں غیر ملکی ہاتھ بھی شامل ہوا۔مجھے نااہل قرار دینے سے شاید ملک میں اتنا اپ سیٹ نہ ہوتا۔”

پرویز مشرف نے کہا کہ ’ لوگ کہتے ہیں کہ یہ ایک بین الاقوامی سازش تھی اور اس میں انڈیا کا ہاتھ ہے۔میں یہ نہیں کہہ سکتا لیکن یہ ضرور کہوں گا کہ ملک کو انتشار میں دھکیلنے کے ذمہ دار جسٹس جاوید اقبال،بھگوان داس اور افتخار چودھری ہیں۔‘

کتاب کے مطابق پرویز مشرف اپنی اقتدار کی رخصتی کو ایک اپ سیٹ سمجھتے ہیں انہیں اعتراف ہے کہ اس کا آغاز چیف جسٹس افتخار محمد چودھری کے انکار سے ہوا تھا لیکن ان کے خیال میں دیگر عوامل بھی شامل تھے۔دوسرا بڑا اپ سیٹ وہ محترمہ بے نظیر بھٹو کی ہلاکت کو سمجھتے ہیں اور ان کا خیال ہے کہ اگر محترمہ زندہ رہتیں تو پہلے وہ سینٹ کی چئیر پرسن بنتیں اور پھر وزیر اعظم کا عہدہ سنبھالتیں جبکہ پرویز مشرف خود صدررہتے۔

مشرف اپنے خلاف تحریک کو ایک اپ سیٹ قرار دیتے ہیں

’اپ سیٹ دوہزار آٹھ‘ کے مطابق طارق عزیز، چودھری بردران کے خلاف ہوچکے تھے اور وہ پرویز مشرف کے کان بھرتےتھے کہ وہ رجعت پسند چودھریوں کی بجائے اعتدال پسند اور روشن خیال بے نظیر بھٹو سے مراسم بڑھائیں۔

چودھریوں سے ان کے سابق کلاس فیلو طارق عزیز کی دشمنی کی وجہ ہمایوں اختر خان ہیں جن کے سفارشی طارق عزیز ہیں لیکن چودھری بردران ان کی مخالفت کرتے تھے۔

اسی کتاب میں پہلی بار وضاحت کے ساتھ یہ بات منظر عام پر آئی ہے کہ وزیر اعظم ظفراللہ جمالی کے بعد صدر مشرف ہمایوں اختر خان کو وزیر اعظم بنانا چاہتے تھے اور مقتدر حلقوں نے بھی ان کی تعیناتی کی حمایت کردی تھی لیکن چودھری بردران کی سخت مخالفت کی وجہ سے وہ وزیر اعظم نہ بن سکے اور قرعہ فال شوکت عزیز کے نام نکل آیا۔

ہمایوں اختر خان نے حال میں چودھری بردران کے خلاف ایک ہم خیال گروپ تشکیل دیا ہے اس انکشاف کے بعد ہمایوں اختر خان کی چودھری بردران سے سیاسی دشمنی کی وجہ سمجھ میں آتی ہے۔

کتاب کے مصنف محمود شام پاکستان کے سب سے زیادہ شائع ہونے والے اخبار جنگ کے گروپ ایڈیٹر ہیں اور یقینا لکھے گئے اور شائع ہوئے حروف کی حرمت کو سمجتھے ہیں۔ اسی لیے اپنی کتاب میں انہوں نے سنہ دوہزار آٹھ کے ملکی سیاسی حالات کے بارے میں انکشافات تو کیے ہیں لیکن جہاں وہ معلومات کی درستگی کی تصدیق نہیں کرسکے وہاں انہوں نے اس بات کو واضح کردیا ہے۔

مثال کے طور پر جہاں انہوں نے لکھا کہ چیف آف آرمی سٹاف پرویز کیانی نے ایک کپتان کے ذریعے ٹائپ شدہ استعفی صدر پرویز مشرف کو دستخط کے لیے بھجوایا تھا وہیں بریکیٹ میں لکھ دیا کہ اس بات کی تصدیق نہیں ہوسکی ہے۔

اس کتاب میں پاکستان کے حالیہ بحران سے تعلق رکھنے والی تمام اہم دستاویزات کی نقول بطور ضمیمہ شائع کردی گئی ہیں جن سے کتاب کی دستاویزی اہمیت میں اضافہ ہوگیا ہے۔

دوسوچالیس صفحات کے متن اور ایک سو چھپن صفحوں کے دستاویزی ضمیمے پر مشتمل اس کتاب کو ویلکم بک بورڈ اردو بازار کراچی نے شائع کیا ہے۔عمدہ کاغذ،معیاری طباعت اور مضبوط جلدبندی والی اس کتاب کی قیمت صرف چار سو روپے رکھی گئی ہے جو کہ عام آدمی کی قوت خرید کے دائرے میں ہے۔

Review by Anwar Kidwai

Read more...

Dr Safdar Mehmood: A failed historian, a yellow journalist

An analysis by Chaudhry Fawad Hussain

Read more...