Tag Archive | "Baluchistan"

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International Conspiracies against Pakistan Army and Memo Scandal

Posted on 19 December 2011 by Tea Server

Drone at Shamsi Air base

Before writing anything about today’s topic I would like to
discuss few disclosures made by Wikileaks in the last year as these will be
helpful to understand the current situation. On 8 December 2010, Wikileaks
published these documents on the net and all Pakistani newspapers published
them with headlines as they were linked to integrity and safety of Pakistan. The
important thing in these documents was that USA (United Satanic Alliance) itself
has confessed that India is involved in armed interference in Pakistan along
with evidence. With reference to these Cables of American embassy that Indian
army and secret agencies are interfering in Baluchistan and Waziristan.
According to this disclosure US govt. has severely criticized present and
previous armed and civilian leadership of India and it was verified that higher
command of Indian army is busy in a dangerous game through terrorism in
Pakistan. In these documents not only deep relations between Indian army and
terrorist Hindu groups are discussed but they have been claimed as more
dangerous than Al-Qaeda and Taliban for international peace.

                According
to these Wikileaks America was of the view that the purpose of these links
between Indian army and terrorist Hindu groups is to crush Indian Muslims and pressurize
Pakistani ISI. These documents also include the details of a meeting between US
diplomat and Hemant Karkare who arrested an on duty Indian army officer Colonel
Purohit along with evidence for terrorist act of burning Samjhota Express. According
to these reports, Karkare requested USA to pressurize Indian govt. for the
safety of his family and himself. He made this clear to US diplomat that Indian
govt. and establishment have decided to murder him for his crime of arresting
and unveiling terrorists within Indian army.  In this meeting, Karkare also disclosed the
names of those Indian generals who were supporting and leading terrorists
within and outside Indian army.

                The
most important aspect of these cables between US embassy in New Delhi and US
govt. in Washington is that US has rejected any doubt about ISI’s involvement
in attacks on Indian hotels on 26 November 2008 in Mumbai. Moreover, DVDs
consisting of confession of Ajmal Qasab were also declared as fictional and
doubtful. Indian army’s “Cold Start War Doctrine” against Pakistan and China
was termed as fictional. Meanwhile US officials expressed astonishment that
planning of Indian army revolves only around Pakistan and China. An earlier cable
described Indian Army is involved in gross human rights violations in Indian
Held part of Jammu and Kashmir while some Lt-Gen HS Panag, the then
GOC-in-Chief of the Northern Command of the Indian Army was equated with
General Milosevic of Bosnia with regard to butchering Muslims through war
crimes. The cable urged Washington to secretly divert UN attention towards the
genocide of innocent civilians in Kashmir on the hands of Indian Army and also
suggested that US should avoid holding any joint drill with Indian army until
it stops inhuman activities in Kashmir. In these secret documents presence of
ISI is verified in India however this was told as well that ISI is not involved
in any terrorist activities in India.

               

                Meanwhile
in another cable the death of Karkare in the Mumbai attacks has been mentioned
as a staged drama and concerns were expressed over the loss of an important
link and evidence. US govt. was also advised to ban all Indian organizations
including Hindu Council of America who were providing financial support to Shiv
Sena and other Hindu terrorist organizations. US was also warned that if these
Hindu terrorist groups are not brought to an end in the coming years they will
prove a time bomb for the peace of the area. Indian government’s capability to
handle Naxals has been also doubted as there is hardly any writ of Indian govt.
and the presence of more than 80% nuclear installments of India makes the
situation graver. This area is known as Red Corridor among Indian intellectuals.

This
was a brief discussion of American cables about our region which were termed as
fake by US govt. on protest of India in order to protect US interests. However,
has anyone any doubt about the genocide of Kashmiri Muslims by Indian army? Is
not his truth that on duty officers of Indian army and Hindu terrorists were
involved in terrorist burning of Samjhota Express? Is this a lie that the South
and North-western Indian states are practically in the control of Naxals and
Maoists? Where Indian army cannot imagine to move freely, where hundreds of
Indian army personnel are not only killed in a single attack but their under
garments are torn away as well? India could not dare to face them so blames ISI
and Pakistan in its propaganda war. The term Islamic extremism was invented by
India which has been successfully used Israel to cover its genocide of Muslims.
But the more serious problem is that the international media is also blaming
Pakistan, at least why? This is a such question for which Pakistani people have
no answer, they are just witnessing that since 1947 India has not spared a
single to chance to harm Pakistan. India played an important role in the
division of Pakistan in 1971 utilizing its resources, huge army, and
international Jewish companies. Later on in order to hide its terrorist
organizations and conspiracies on international level Pakistan army was posed
as Punjabi army. The more painful aspect is that following the Indian
conspiracies our traitors have succeeded in convincing the public that fall of
Dhaka was a defeat of Pakistani army and all political parties used this as a
propaganda weapon against Pakistan army. While on 15 April 2007, in Bareli of
UP province of India, during an election campaign Rahul Gandhi claimed fall of
Dhaka as great achievement of his family, he disclosed that how more than 1
billion Hindus in Bengal played their role in this conspiracy fulfilling their
religious duty. Not only this, he addressed Pakistan in the west that do not
worry we (Congress party) will get freedom for you as well. He was obviously
talking to his friends in Pakistan who sometimes dream separation of
Baluchistan and sometimes they threaten to change the geography of Pakistan. They
claim Kala Bagh Dam as poison for Pakistan and water terrorism of India as its
basic right, they blame Pakistan army for all the problems of Pakistan (i.e.
existence of Pakistan until now is due to its army).

Dual Standards:
On the right hand US soldier crying after hugging his baby while on the
left same aged baby is being body searched

                Pakistani
people are just witnessing powerlessly the massacre of innocents for last 33
years. On the other hand, in the markets, on the roads, offices, trains, buses
everywhere innocent Pakistanis were targeted with bomb blasts and terrorism. When
Soviet Union attacked Afghanistan at that time Moscow’s need was to access sea
via Pakistani sea-shores for exploitation of resources of middle eastern
states. All this was done in the name of peace in Afghanistan. When Afghans
started resistance against Soviet invaders, this became necessary for Pakistan
to support them as the seashore strip is important for Pakistani economy. During
this period from Karachi to Peshawar all cities were filled with blood of
innocents. There was not a single city of Pakistan that was saved from
terrorist attacks and suicide bombs. Thousands of innocent Pakistanis were
murdered in remote control bomb blasts. Several terrorists were arrested and
astonishingly all belonged to Afghanistan. We kept silent on these terrorist
activities (of world powers) and world did not give any importance to it. Just
few reports were published that KGB, Afghan KHAR, and Indian RAW are punishing
Pakistanis for war in Afghanistan. More astonishing fact is that few of these
terrorists who confessed their crimes in open trials, their links with their
agencies has been also proved with evidence, they are waiting for hanging in
Pakistani prisoners, and now our rulers are finding excuses for sending them
back to India because they are Indians and India is our rulers’ most favorite
nation. (This is the same terrorist state India which staged drama of Mumbai
attacks just to remove few of its honest police and intelligence officers and
blamed Pakistan for its own terrorist acts because an important personality of
Pakistan said that few non state actors of Pakistan might be involved in these
attacks).

                At that
time US also participated in Afghan war foreseeing the defeat of Red army and
Soviet army left Afghanistan with the gold medal of defeat in Afghanistan. However,
Pakistan kept hosting 7 million Afghan migrants who became target of civil war
as a result of inhuman policies of American and western forces for their damn
interests. Half of these migrants are still living in Pakistan and Afghan
President says that Pakistan will have to continue supporting them. On one side
we had to bear this extra pressure on our already poor economy while on the other
hand a group of our intellectuals, and journalists were criticizing role of
Pakistani army in afghan war as army’s policy to safeguard American interests. They
were repeating the propaganda of India on international level. These (sold)
minds that were against USA at that time, now they are supporting US policies
against Pakistani army and earning dollars for participating in propaganda war
of enemies of Pakistan.

US forces in a mosque in Iraq!

                Hard
time for Pakistani and Afghan people started afresh when USA as a reaction to
its own terrorist act of 9/11 attacked Afghanistan to test its latest weapons
on living human beings. In fact neither of the pilots who crashed aeroplanes
with WTC were Pakhtoon nor they had any link with Afghanistan. Attackers as
claimed by USA belonged to Arabs, who had tired protesting against State terrorism
of Israel in Palestine and their protest had converted into hatred against USA.
But USA in the name of presence of Osama in Afghanistan invaded a sovereign
state with rain of Daisy-Cutter and other lethal bombs from its B-52 bombers. They
did this as they were taking revenge from the Afghan public. At that time
western world had no time to think that how Osama, equipped with light weapons,
wandering in the mountains of Afghanistan had got such a lamp of Aladdin that
he had got such latest and scientific techniques to control these pilots?
Moreover how he forced these pilots who had been trained in USA to go on the
journey of death, and also guided them to leave documents containing their
identity in their cars outside the airports so that later on Americans can
arrest and torture their families?

                However
in the last ten years team of engineers and scientists in Europe has proved
that in the light of experiments, 9/11 tragedy was a strange example of
American state terrorism in which in order to achieve higher interests of US
establishment, such a terrorist drama was planned under the cover of which US
govt. succeeded in getting free hand for massacre of humanity in two sovereign
states. In the videos of these experiments, these scientists have proved that
these buildings did not fell due to the crash of plans and fire due to plane
fuel, but due to the modern bombs that were planted in the parallel steel
pillars from bottom to top storey. Now western analysts have also accepted that
Bush and Dick Cheney related to oil business had planned to capture Iraq. In
spite of directly hitting Iraq they thought it necessary to attack Afghanistan
first. Some groups are of the view that few American elements (CIA) linked with
smuggling of drugs forced US to attack Afghanistan first. Through this,
international Zionists have captured resources for their multinational
companies for future, American weapon industry being on top of them. Moreover
world has ignored Israeli state terrorism in Palestine under the fear of
AL-Qaeda which was later on changed as Taliban by these western propagandists. Because
now these multinational companies and their Jewish owners do not want to leave
resources of Afghanistan.

After murdering their parents US soldiers giving flowers to Afghan Children

                But the
problem is that in spite of murder of more than 1 million innocents in last ten
years USA had not been able to properly capture Afghanistan and defeat Afghans.
Now it seems that UNO has given mandate to USA for genocide of Muslims. The
videos of American  invasion can still be
viewed on the internet. On the one hand these videos show the mountains of Tora
Bora changing into dust after due to US bombs after watching which many
countries have got afraid that if they dared to stand in front of US terrorism
they will be punished like Afghans hiding in Tora Bora. On the other hand these
videos show American soldiers entering into Afghanistan with flowers, while few
afghan children in dirty clothes are along with them. The purpose behind this
propaganda was that they have not invaded Afghanistan but they had come to free
these people (from life). UNO had given them mandate to free Muslim public and
made Americans saviors.  After
Afghanistan, Iraq, then Libya and now Syria, God knows which Muslim country
will be chosen next to quench the thirst of UNO for Muslim blood.

                If we
look at poor US public, the situation is that due to shortage of space for
burial of US soldiers killed in Afghanistan, more than 250 corpses of US
soldiers were dumped into waste after burning them. Because the sports grounds
and public parks in US cantonments have been filled with corpses of US soldiers
killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. Now this process of burning and dumping of dead
bodies of soldiers has become a conflict. Widow of one such soldier has decided
to go to US judiciary, she is of the view that these soldiers have given up
their lives for Americans not that their corpses should be burnt and dumped
into waste.

               

                USA
considers Pakistan army responsible for defeat of US forces in Afghanistan,
because Pakistani army had not played any role in genocide of Afghans. USA is
not ready to accept that Pakistan has given sacrifice of more than 5000
security personnel (mostly in attacks planned in Afghanistan) and more than
35,000 innocent Pakistani people. Now USA wants to blame Pakistan for her
defeat so that she may run away from here, take some rest and attack some other
Muslim country to drink the blood of Muslims. But Pakistan is not ready to
sacrifice anymore for USA (United Satanic Alliance). The reward of sacrifices
of Pakistani nation has been given by USA in the attack on Pakistani posts on
26 November. Whole nation is protesting against it and ISAF commander general
Allen says that such attacks may occur in future as well. This is an attempt to
further agitate Pakistani nation. Not only this the propaganda against Pakistan
army is also going on to create conflict between Pakistani public and army. This
has now recently adopted the form of “Memo Gate Scandal”. After this, few of
our anchorpersons and analysts are busy in creating hatred in the minds of
public against Pakistan army. A long time has passed, army has got aside from
politics but these paid analysts are still discussing possibilities of Martial Law.
Who is behind this propaganda campaign? Has USA also started thinking like India
that Pakistan army is the greatest hurdle in their damn imperialist plans? These
questions and reasons behind Memo Gate will be discussed next week…

Written By Khalid Baig,

Published in Daily Nawa-i-Waqt,

Date: 17 December, 2011.

Syndicated from: PAKISTAN DEFENCE BLOG

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The article with no Topic ..

Posted on 18 December 2011 by Tea Server

With a daily dose of hypocrisy at the highest level , I plead my case in front of God of those 24 soldiers that were mercilessly killed by the Americans on a dark night and we surrendered sovereignty again like we had been doing for the past 10 years. Pakistan has gone through turmoil torture pain and yet still somehow it stands on its one wounded leg. With crippling economy, lack of respect in the world, the last thing this nation needs is a weak president.
Don’t get me started on the illness of Zardari , but yet somehow , someway he has kept this country together , which is a big accomplishment for that chocolate hero. But now his illness has tormented him so much that with memo gate scandal, and nato strikes looming, the binding factor of this nation is abroad for some treatment that we are un notified of . Doesn’t the common man deserve to know where his hard earned tax payers money is spent or just an illusion of democracy along with the empty promises will suffice for these half hungry individuals. 
For those disillusioned politicians, who can’t see their end , let me notify , it’s not 1998 , its 2011 . Things have changed, and I guess their slow grasping of this reality will do justice with them coming elections. The common man of Pakistan is frustrated and looking for an outlet to vent out his frustration, with no work or job in sight, the empty mind of the common man is a plotting agent against these promise neglecting politicians. Things have changed and Imran’s rise to political stardom is an indication of that. This nation desperately needs change, politicians who actually get treated in Pakistani soil.
I won’t start blabbing on and on about the greatness of Imran khan , much is said and written , the only thing I will appreciate is the fact Imran has always represented national interests rather than provincial or sectional interests. Never have I seen Imran talking about the greatness of him being a pathan and never have I seen him pleading to Punjabi greatness. Never have I seen him instigating hatred in Muhajirs and Sindhis about the unjust Punjab etc. Imran is much bigger than all that and that is the sole reason he should be in power. 
Pakistan is not Punjab , Baluchistan , KPK ,Sindh etc , Pakistan is Just Pakistan from the peaks of K2 to seaview tucked at the end of Karachi . Pakistan is not about provinces and never was provincial autonomy a case for Jinnah or Iqbal . Provincial Autonomy and Provincial promotion is a way utilized by major political parties to strengthen their constituencies unfortunately at the expense of Pakistan.
I quote Jinnah , cause frankly my word doesn’t matter :
 
Yet this is a truth people so easily seem to forget and begin to prize local, sectional or provincial interests above and regardless of the national interests. It naturally pains me to find the curse of provincialism holding sway over any section of Pakistan. Pakistan must be rid of this evil.
Jinnah
Imran is a solution for Pakistan rather than Punjab, Sindh Kpk or Baluchistan. Its time we all vote for Pakistan.
Syndicated from: Pakistan Zindabad

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Lets Say Sorry to the Past.

Posted on 16 December 2011 by Tea Server

Picture Courtesy The News

This Was First Published at The News Tribe Blogs:

This past Friday I was getting late to reach to reach the mosque for Friday prayer, this is quite usual for me to be late for that. However, ever since I am here in UK, getting late creates a lot of problem because prayer can be skipped and, because there are only a few mosques in the city they get over capacity and one cannot find a place to offer his prayer. Let me share you some facts about Newport (Gwent) there are total nine mosques in Gwent including the imam bargahs, two of them have Pakistani administrations and I normally visit these two places because they are nearer to my place.

As I was saying that, I got late that day and I was more than sure that it would be hard for me to find place in the mosque, so I made my way to the Shah Poran Bangladeshi Jame Mosque. This mosque has Bangladeshi management and it has capacity for 800 worshippers.

Because of the history, I have some emotional attachment to Bangladesh, just because it has been a part of Pakistan for years and another reason is the accounts that I have heard from my grandfather who was posted in East Pakistan (Bangladesh). Feeling of happiness was there as I made to the mosque in time and I was happy that I would not be missing or skipping prayer. There was enough space in the hall and picked a place to sit and offer the prayer. The sermon and the Dua (pray) after the collective prayer was in Bengali language. I found it easier to understand, as mostly the needs are the same that we want our God to help us with.

According to my observation, I was one of the very few Pakistanis in that hall as there were three or four Pakistanis in that hall. Offered the prayer and came out of the mosque, this life has become purposelessly busy and this busy life did not allowed me to start or have some conversation with Bengalis there.

I never had a friend from Bangladesh and I wanted to make one, I did not had chat with anyone there because I wanted to avoid the question that one student at my university from Bangladesh asked me after conforming if I am from Pakistan. The question was, “so do you think that separation of both wings of Pakistan was right?”

With all the regret and murk of sad feelings of East Pakistan fall my reply was a question itself, “are you happy today”. When the word “yes” hit my eardrum I said, “in that case it was right”. That day I replied that question and realised that I will be facing the same question again if I meet someone from that part of the world may be because there is still some kind of kinship between some Pakistanis and Bangladeshis. Even after the separation, the connection is there that made them to ask this question just to know if there has been some change in our opinion or attitude. The fact remains that to some extent, they share the same past the versions and editions of the past might be different.

The atmosphere of the mosque was just like a mosque should have; welcoming. I spent my time there and came out. I was a complete stranger for the people there and they were strangers for me no one asked me anything but still I came out of the mosque with the head down and neck heavy with the burden of history.

Why East Pakistan became Bangladesh is not a mystery anymore, there were some mistakes at every end and no one came forward to apologise for those.  Mistakes, misdeeds, and arrogance resulted in what I experienced there, psychologically, in that mosque I was a Pakistani there and others were Bangladeshi this division, which is the result of the hate born and brought up in the minds of people of that part of the country back then.

No matter it is nation or an individual, the progress meet them only when they learn from the historical mistakes and apologise the history for making those mistakes. In all those thirty years, neither we have said sorry nor we have learned anything the proof of that is the current state of Baluchistan.

Whatever we have done wrong to the Bengalis, I feel sorry for that all, and I want to say, “I am really sorry for what happened”. I think it might be late but still there is time for us that we should say sorry to the past and specially the past that brought the year of 1971 in our history.

P.S: This piece was written in July after many tries it could not be published earlier for some reason. today on 16th December I am publishing it. Now there are two Mosques in the city with Bangladeshi management. In fact I am the regular visitor to the New mosque as it is near to my place. And yeah still I am scared of that question tough no one asked it.

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Syndicated from: My Land Pakistan

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VOLVO to QINGQI

Posted on 15 December 2011 by Tea Server

Image

QINGQI

There is some hue and cry over the sorry state of affairs at Railways and PIA, but WHY?

It was destined like this!

Let me remind you some services which died and we just watched.

1988 on

  1. Punjab Urban Transport, Karachi Transport Company (KTC), Metro Bus Services, Sarhad Urban Transport and if any such service existed in Baluchistan were taken off the road deliberately. All these services had spacious, comfortable and durable Volvo buses. But we preferred the Toyota Hi lux Wagons (Death capsules) and last of all Qingqi. Graveyard of the Volvo buses in Lahore used to be somewhere near Thokar Niaz Beg.

    Image

    We had them once!

  2. For intercity transport there used to be Government Transport Service (GTS) if any one remembers the Red Buses yes they were replaced by New Khan and M. Nazir Inayat Ullah Road Runners. The GTS buses were spacious, comfortable and followed a time schedule.

2008 on

  1. Railways yes still alive but in ICU but being replaced by Daewoo, Niazi Coach Etc. and on the freight side so many goods transporters and movers today hold the market.
  2. PIA also breathing its last so what is so wrong if AIR INDUS would replace it.

Who is to be blamed for all this, politicians, military regimes, governments, poor management of these government-run services or the private transport mafias who played crook to safeguard their businesses? All of them! Where were we; we suffered as every time a service was withdrawn but we stayed quiet. Don’t we deserve to suffer more and mourn the demise of railways and PIA?

Syndicated from: Wise… or Otherwise?

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Sorry Bangladesh

Posted on 15 December 2011 by Tea Server

Raza Habib Raja

Sixteenth December arouses radically different sentiments in two different and yet related countries of the world. In one, it is cherished and celebrated and in the other it is just “ignored” and of course deliberately.

But then the significance of this day differs so much for each of the aforementioned countries of the world. For one it is the day of victory (though their official Independence Day is March 26, 16th December is celebrated as the Victory Day) and for other, it is the day of a humiliating defeat which they will like to forget. It is the day when the cherished army made up of so called martial race belonging to the latter was overwhelmed within one month.

It is a day which ideally should never be forgotten by latter country Pakistan but given its tendency to conveniently ignore the inconvenient truth, it is perhaps expected. While our history text books scream about 1965 war with India, they hardly say a word about 1971’s humiliating defeat and more importantly as to what had actually led to the fateful year.

All our history, the one which is taught, is silent about what was happening in East Pakistan during 1950s and 1960s. Our history just talks about West Pakistan and in doing so merely reflects what exactly was happening TO East Pakistan: It was being ignored completely. And when we finally turned attention, it was not to redress their grievances but to undertake an army operation which could be easily called a massacre as well. And of course the official history does not talk about it and even if you go through the popular “unofficial” version you will find that most of the blame would be placed on Mukti Bahni and Indian conspiracies to break Pakistan.

It is only if you start reading some books by the foreign authors or some of the more objective Pakistani writers that a different narrative starts to emerge. And needless to say that even if you read credible writers and objective accounts that narrative is radically different from the official Pakistani version.

Pakistanis had mistreated Bengalis and that mistreatment progressively became worse as the time went by. It started with the denial of freedom to Bengalis to choose a national language and then started to seep into economic domain. Bengalis particularly felt left out in the matters of governance and decision making. And it was this feeling of deprivation which ultimately manifested into secession based movement.

It should have been remembered that humans generally do not have a single identity but rather multiple identities. Which identity actually would actually be at the forefront at a particular time would depend on a host of complicated factors and perception of discrimination, whether real or nor, is one of the most potent ones. Ethnicity, defined on the lines of language and cultural homogeneity within a group has always been a very strong identity.  If an ethnicity feels that it is being discriminated due to its ethnicity, then that becomes the foremost identity and also the rallying point.

And then there is the concept of ethnic nationalism. Nationalism is not merely preservation of identity; it is very much intertwined with the concept of state. If state is perceived as unjust then nationalists will try to create their own state and thus would try to secede. Ernest Gellener actually defines nationalism in the context of injustice. The deprived and excluded if belonging to some common ethnicity will revolt and will form nationalist expression built around that ethnicity and may end up striving for a state of its own.

Let’s not forget that Bengalis were at the forefront of the Pakistan movement. To declare that they did not want Pakistan would be completely incorrect. However, while opting for Pakistan, their cultural as well ethnic identity though for the time being relegated did not simply vanish. And it came out dormancy when State began its exclusion based on that identity.

And we had more than two decades to redress the grievances by giving them a share in the governance and to ensure their greater participation in the national decisions which invariably affected them, but bent on centralization, we did not. We created one unit system, which according to many independent observers, was a twin pronged strategy to negate their population advantage and also to negate the ethnic diversity with in Western Pakistan.

And then when Awami League won the elections, we refused to give them their share of power and later on went on to conduct a military operation which resulted in wide scale loss of human lives.

It is our fear of plurality, particularly the perception that autonomy on ethnic lines would break up Pakistan that made us do all that back then and which continues to make us do similar things to provinces like Baluchistan.

So we have not learnt the critical lesson. We continue to believe that autonomy will break up Pakistan completely overlooking the key historical evidence: lack of autonomy will actually break Pakistan. And even if inhabitants of Baluchistan are not able to actually secede due to lack of military means, in their hearts they will hate Pakistan with increasing intensity.

As pointed out quite eloquently by Mr. Stephen Cohen in his book “The Idea of Pakistan” that Pakistani leaders have not fully grasped that in an ethnically diverse state most politics is of identity and closely linked to issues of pride, status, jobs and social equality. They seem convinced that ethno-linguistic demands are an economic problem, not a political, problem, and if other means fail, a military problem

Civil wars evoke a lot of emotions and subsequently the historical accounts reflect those emotional biases. Exactly how many died during the war of 1971 will always be a matter of dispute and both sides will claim radically different numbers. It is hardly surprising that estimates range from less than ten thousand to over a million.

How many were killed will remain a matter of dispute but even if no one was killed, the point is that we did an injustice by not giving Bengalis their due share and denied them their rights.

Nations move on only by embracing their past blunders and acknowledging their grave mistakes. Only through acknowledgement do we set our future direction right. A very important step towards this embracement and acknowledgement is to apologize to those who have faced the brunt of those mistakes. Yes, sorry is difficult but nevertheless an important step towards making peace with a very bitter part of our history.  Sorry requires a lowering of ego but our misplaced ego has always been our worst enemy.

Yes sorry wont compensate whatever has been done and there is a possibility that many Bengalis won’t even accept it for not being enough. But then to say sorry is our duty and to forgive is their choice. And when it is a matter of duty, it has to be done irrespective of whether the counter party exercises its choice or not.

The real sorry has to come from Pakistan’s government..but I will nevertheless say it..

We are Sorry Bangladesh…

 

Syndicated from: Pak Tea House

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Islamabad: A Capital for Refugees!

Posted on 14 December 2011 by Tea Server

My father was posted to Islamabad in early 1960s when all the ministries were shifted in this newly built administrative capital  of Pakistan from its original capital Karachi. We have witnessed it evolving into one of the fastest growing cities here which was once an abode of people who used to work either for the federal government or for the foreign missions in Pakistan. Almost everybody knew everybody else and this is a proof of how small this place actually was.

In late 1970s and early 1980, with Ziaul Haq in power, we saw hoards of Afghan refugees in Islamabad. The theme was generosity and hospitality of the Pakistan government towards the people in war torn Afghanistan. Refugees in Islamabad were those with money and power back home. They simply changed the landscape of Islamabad. Sectors such as G-8 and G-9 were pested with Afghan refugees and G-9/4 can be rightly called the “Little Kabul” in Islamabad. They had their schools, clinics, businesses and community centers there and 70% of the residents were Afghans. They were among the most prosperous business owners of Islamabad and had their businesses in ‘the most expensive’ commercial areas. These people have NOT been repatriated back and Pakistan has failed miserably on its policy related to refugees which has taken a toll on Pakistani masses.

With its own out-of-control population – Pakistan never have had enough of refugees at the expense of the welfare of its own people. A logic hard to understand. We had a fair share of more than 3.5 million Afghans refugees according to the UN estimates but there is likelihood that the numbers were much higher because Pak-Afghan border which is 2,430 km long was always porous. Only in Islamabad at a certain point their numbers reached 300,000. In Islamabad-Rawalpindi region alone, there numbers reached more than half a million. There were more Afghans than Pakistanies at one point in certain sectors in Islamabad like the infamous “Peshawar Moor” (G-9/4) – the Afghan Hub. Many of the apartments whether government or private were rented out to Afghans because they were willing to pay whatever prices and were ready to live in really small /cramped “one-room setups” while sharing kitchen and toilet. A family usually comprised of of 8 or 9 people. It has been reported that one person used to hire a place and then sublet it to a number of families – room by room and the trick was and still is: they call themselves joint family. The Afghans and the local populace have never had good relations. Afghans are extremely disrespectful of Pakistanies – most of the time. It has been 32 years when the first batch came to Pakistan and now their second and at times third generations have grown up here. According to the UNCHR, NWFP has about 2 million Afghans, Baluchistan about 800,000 and Islamabad 50,000 ( which is a misleading number) and details can be seen here.

In mid 1990s and by 2000, these people have moved to the sectors F-10 and F-11 but honestly, their presence is felt everywhere. I have heard that huge communities of Afghans are living in an area called “Sadiqabad” of Rawalpindi – a twin city of Islamabad. Even within Afghan people we have those who are ethnically Pashtuns (they are usually poor and are found in the refugee camps) and then Tajiks, Hazaras and Uzbeks (the wealthier Afghans).

The story of these refugees does NOT seem to end – government of Pakistan has failed to come up with “any” policies in collaboration with UNHCR and the Afghan government to repatriate these millions and millions back to their country – which need them more. Landlocked Afghanistan is equally a major player in what ails Pakistan today. Smuggling of both food and weapons as well as drug trafficking routes and channels criss-cross Pakistan from Northern and Western borders.

Pakistan is one of the leading countries involved in all sorts of human trafficking of not just Pakistanies but it serves as a transit country for illegal foreigners as well. The destinations are diverse. They have an easy access to ‘good-to-go’ forged papers such as fake Pakistani National Identity Cards and passports – thanks to the corruption in Pakistan and particularly at the Passport and Immigration offices of Pakistan under the auspices of Ministry of Interior.

The story doesn’t end with Afghan refugees because in 1990s, we also saw a huge numbers of Arabs, Somalis and Sundanese in Islamabad. In mid 1990s, Pakistan brought refugees from Bosnia Herzegovina and one could see them in government hospitals (PIMS) frequently. I have to stress that the fault lies in the policies of Pakistan with respect to the number of refugees flowing in the country and one of the catalyst is the thriving corruption to the core of Pakistani society as well. I will NOT hold any of these communities responsible because they have succeeded due to the loopholes in our system.

Right from the beginning, Pakistan was unable to confine them in specific areas as the rule goes in all other countries. We have Iran as an example but in Pakistan they were free to move any where and these Afghans are everywhere – WHY???

WE NEVER FORESEE the effects of these people on our fragile economy and became silent observers to how jobs shifted to these refugees from our people.

We never cared as to how their presence affected the natural resources as well as the environment in general.

Provincial governments of Baluchistan and NWFP have given various warning on how likely is the possibility of outbreak of various diseases such as Congo Hemorrhage Fever and malaria over and over again.

How Pakistan has put in jeopardy the the well-being of its local people and that of the ecosystem?

What made us stuck with short term unrealistic goals and poor policies?

What were the effects on our culture and society per se. because of these refugees?

Are they NEVER gonna leave???

We are becoming another Afghanistan –  we are compared with them more often than not which is  very alarming. We should bring our own house in order rather than worrying about the entire world. We should worry about our own people, people of Pakistan – rather than inviting the world’s entire refugees here. We are NOT doing any service in any way. I think we have to rethink that Persian proverb: “Kerdan  Sud Aib, Na Kerdan yuk Aib”. We should learn to say “NO”!

Syndicated from: sarahinsouthkorea

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US vacates Pakistan airbase

Posted on 11 December 2011 by Tea Server

The United States has vacated a Pakistani airbase
following a deadline given by Islamabad in the wake of anger over NATO
air strikes last month that killed 24 soldiers, officials said.

Pakistan’s
military said in a statement that the last flight carrying US personnel
and equipment had left Shamsi airbase, in the south-western province of
Baluchistan, completing a process that began last week.
Islamabad’s
fragile alliance with the United States crashed to new lows in the wake
of the November 26 NATO air strikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers
and which the Pakistan military called a deliberate attack.
The
base was widely believed to have been used in covert CIA drone attacks
against the Taliban and Al Qaeda commanders in north-west Pakistan’s
tribal areas, which border Afghanistan.
“The control of the base has been taken over by the Army,” the statement from Pakistan said.
A
senior security official requesting anonymity earlier told AFP: “The
Americans have vacated the Shamsi air base and it has been handed over
to the Pakistani security forces.”
Another official in Baluchistan confirmed that the last batch of US officials left in two flights on Sunday.
Following
the November air strikes, Pakistan closed two border crossings to
Afghanistan to US and NATO supplies and gave American personnel until
Sunday to leave Shamsi airbase.
US ambassador to Islamabad, Cameron Munter, told a Pakistan television channel last week: “We are complying with the request.”
A
security official said the US aircraft left the Pakistani airfield on
Sunday afternoon with the remaining group of 32 US officials and
material.
US president Barack Obama last Sunday expressed
condolences to Pakistan’s president Asif Ali Zardari for the soldier
deaths and said the NATO air strikes that killed them were not a
“deliberate attack.”
But the incident has rocked Washington’s
alliance with its counter-terrorism ally Islamabad, though officials say
neither country can afford a complete break in relations.
US
officials and intelligence analysts have said the covert drone war would
not be affected by the closure of the base as Washington could fly
Predator and Reaper drones out of air fields in neighbouring
Afghanistan.
But the Shamsi air base was supposed to be particularly useful for flights hampered by poor weather conditions.
Islamabad
has tacitly consented to the covert US drone campaign, which many
Pakistanis see as a violation of their country’s sovereignty.

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-12/us-vacates-pakistan-airbase/3724976

Syndicated from: PAKISTAN DEFENCE BLOG

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Pakistan army believes NATO attack planned: reports

Posted on 10 December 2011 by Tea Server


(Reuters) – A
senior Pakistani military officer said a NATO air strike killing 24
Pakistani troops on the Afghan border last month was pre-planned and
warned of more attacks, comments likely to fuel tension with the United
States.

Major General Ashfaq Nadeem, director general of military operations, was also quoted by newspapers on Friday as saying that Pakistan, a strategic U.S. ally, would deploy an air defense system along the border to prevent such attacks.
Nadeem
made the remarks to a Senate committee on defense on Thursday. Senator
Tariq Azim, who attended the briefing, confirmed to Reuters that Nadeem
had made the comments.
The Daily
Times said Nadeem described the attack as a plot. Another newspaper
quoted him as saying it was a “pre-planned conspiracy” against Pakistan.
“We can expect more attacks from our supposed allies,” the Express Tribune quoted Nadeem as saying at the senate briefing.
U.S. and Pakistani officials have offered differing initial accounts of what happened.
Pakistan
said the attack was unprovoked, with officials calling it an act of
blatant aggression — an accusation the United States has rejected.
Two
U.S. officials told Reuters that preliminary information from the
ongoing investigation indicated Pakistani officials at a border
coordination centre had cleared the air strike, unaware they had troops
in the area.
Nadeem ruled out the
possibility that NATO forces may have thought they were firing on
militants, who often move across the porous frontier and attack Western
troops.
One newspaper reported that
he told the Senate committee that militants do not leave themselves
exposed on mountain tops, like the ones where the Pakistani border posts
were located.
Senator Azim also
quoted Nadeem as saying that NATO helicopters singled out one army major
as he was crossing from one border post to another after losing
communications, and this also led the military to conclude the attack
was planned.
Pakistan responded to the attack by suspending supply routes to NATO forces in Afghanistan.
Idle
drivers of trucks carrying fuel and other supplies to the neighboring
country fear being attacked by Pakistani Taliban militants who oppose
cooperation with NATO.
Militants
fired a rocket-propelled grenade at such trucks in the southwestern city
of Quetta in Baluchistan province on Thursday night, setting fire to 29
vehicles, police officials said.
Washington,
which sees Pakistan as critical to its efforts to stabilize Afghanistan
ahead of a combat troop pullout in 2014, has tried to sooth fury over
the NATO incident.
President
Barack Obama called Pakistan’s president to offer condolences over the
strike that provoked a crisis in relations between the two countries. He
stopped short of a formal apology.
Pakistan boycotted an international conference in Germany on the future of Afghanistan because of the NATO attack.
U.S.-Pakistani ties were already frayed after the secret U.S. raid in May that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Syndicated from: PAKISTAN DEFENCE BLOG

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Pakistani truckers back Nato supply route blockade

Posted on 10 December 2011 by Tea Server

CHAMAN: Sleeping in a freezing cab, running out of money and
worried about militant attacks, Ghulab Jan is one of thousands of truck
drivers stranded as a result of Pakistan’s blockade of the Afghan border
to Nato and US war supplies.

But they and the
businessmen who run what has been a lucrative trade for most of the last
decade say they support the decision to shut the frontier in
retaliation for coalition air strikes almost two weeks ago that killed
24 Pakistani troops in two remote border outposts.
”We risk our
lives and take these supplies to Afghanistan for Nato, and in return
they are killing our soldiers,” said Jan, whose fuel truck is parked in a
terminal in the dusty, dangerous border town of Chaman in southwestern
Baluchistan.
“This is unacceptable, and we unanimously support the government over closing the border.”
Given
the current anti-US sentiment in Pakistan, drivers might not want to
call publicly for the border to reopen. There is broad anger throughout
the country over the attack, and the US faces a challenge in repairing a
relationship critical to its hopes of ending the Afghan war.
”I
hope Allah grants my prayer that this Nato supply ends permanently,”
said Ghaza Gul, a 45-year-old driver who has been in the trucking
profession since was he was 10, when he washed the vehicles and made
tea. ”I would rather die of hunger than carry these shipments,” he said,
sitting on a dirty mat with other drivers at a terminal in Karachi, the
port city where the supplies are unloaded.
Despite such
declarations, the drivers have remained with their vehicles. That
suggests the trucking companies believe the stoppage will be temporary.
The trucks are currently parked at terminals close to the border, some
in large towns in the area.
Pakistan closed its two Afghan
crossings in Chaman and Torkham, in the northwest Khyber tribal area,
almost immediately after Nato aircraft attacked two army posts along the
border on November 26. The supply lines account for 40 per cent of the
fuel, clothes, vehicles and other ”non-lethal” supplies for the Afghan
war.
President Barack Obama and other American officials have
expressed their condolences for the deaths and promised a full
investigation into what they have said was an accident. But this has
done little to assuage anger in Pakistan, where the military has
continued to describe the attack as a deliberate act of aggression.
The
government, needing to show a firm response to placate critics who have
long protested its alliance with Washington, has also retaliated by
demanding that the US vacate an air base used for CIA drones and by
boycotting an international conference aimed at stabilising Afghanistan.
Many
analysts believe Pakistan and the US want to avoid a total rupture of
their difficult relationship because of its mutual strategic importance.
Pakistan needs American aid and cannot afford diplomatic isolation;
Washington wants Islamabad’s help with Afghanistan.For that reason, most
people think the trucks will start rolling again soon, likely within a
few weeks.
”It won’t be much longer,” said Imtiaz Gul, director of
the Center for Research and Security Studies in Islamabad. ”They can’t
sustain it indefinitely. It would alienate the whole world,” he said,
referring to the many countries that have troops in the coalition. Nato
officials have said the coalition has built a stockpile of military and
other supplies that could keep operations in Afghanistan running at
their current level for several months even if the route through
Pakistan remains closed.
The coalition has reduced its dependence
on Pakistan over time by developing alternative routes that enter
Afghanistan through Central Asia. Nato could seek to expand those
routes, but that would make the coalition heavily dependent on Russia at
a time when ties with Moscow are increasingly strained.
Last
year, Pakistan kept the Torkham crossing closed for 11 days after US
helicopters accidentally killed two Pakistani troops. It reopened the
route along the fabled Khyber Pass after Washington formally apologised.
Militants
and criminals, some reportedly working with trucking companies engaging
in insurance scams, took advantage of the situation to carry out
near-daily attacks against trucks stacked up in poorly guarded terminals
and roadside rest stops. The attacks killed several people and
destroyed about 150 vehicles.
Authorities have taken stronger
steps to protect the trucks this time around. Many of the vehicles were
ordered to drive south away from the militant-infested border areas in
the northwest, said truck owners and drivers. Those that remained were
prohibited to park along the road, where they were most vulnerable, and
were instead put in terminals that may not be 100 per cent safe but at
least have some security.
Syndicated from: PAKISTAN DEFENCE BLOG

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US Vacating Air Base In Pakistan Used By Drones

Posted on 05 December 2011 by Tea Server

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The United States is vacating an air base in
Pakistan used by American drones that target Taliban and al-Qaida
militants, complying with a key demand made by Islamabad in retaliation
for the NATO airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, the U.S.
ambassador said Monday.

The move is not
expected to significantly curtail drone attacks in Pakistan, since
Shamsi air base in southwestern Baluchistan province was only used to
service drones that had mechanical or weather difficulties.
But
Washington’s decision to leave the base shows how the NATO attacks on
Nov. 26 have plunged the already strained U.S.-Pakistan relationship to
an all-time low. The crisis threatens U.S. attempts to get Pakistan to
cooperate on winding down the Afghan war.
Pakistan
immediately retaliated by blocking its Afghan border crossings to NATO
supplies and giving the U.S. 15 days to vacate Shamsi — a deadline that
falls on Dec. 11. It is also boycotting an international conference in
Bonn, Germany, aimed at stabilizing Afghanistan.
U.S.
Ambassador Cameron Munter said in a local TV interview that Washington
was doing its best to comply with Pakistan’s demand to leave the air
base.
“I think what we can promise you is
that we will do everything we can to vacate the Shamsi base by the date
that you asked us,” said Munter.
The ambassador did not mention the use of the base by American drones.
The
U.S. does not acknowledge the CIA-run drone program in Pakistan
publicly, but American officials have said privately that the strikes
have killed many senior Taliban and al-Qaida commanders.

Syndicated from: PAKISTAN DEFENCE BLOG

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