Pakistan’s leading militants have called on fighters to honor an agreement not to attack the Pakistani military in the most important sanctuary for the Taliban and al-Qaida along the Afghan border.
Militants have long used the North Waziristan tribal area as a base to attack U.S.-led forces in neighboring Afghanistan. American officials have accused Pakistan of supporting some militants

Kashif. N. Chaudary

Imran Khan is Pakistan’s sports superstar. His philanthropy is also admirable. This, however, does not mean I should not exercise my right to criticize Khan’s politics. Sadly,Imran Khan’s followers do not take criticism all that well. Anyone who calls him Taliban Khan is quickly ascribed a set of views and labeled a “pseudo-liberal” and “fascist”.

In a recent interview, Imran Khan said he believed in engaging the far right and justified being represented at rallies of extremist groups by stating that his was a political party that believed in engaging marginalized groups. Will Imran Khan also engage the ostracized Ahmadi Muslims, Hindus and Christians of Pakistan? Or is his engagement limited to those that preach and execute their killings?

Imran Khan has been represented at rallies organized by banned terrorist outfits such as the Jamaat-ud Dawa and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. His vice president has spoken at pro-Mumtaz Qadri rallies and has been in attendance at anti-Ahmadi rallies organized by the extremist Aalmi Majlis Tahaffuz Khatm-e-Nubuwwat. Khan believes this approach of friendship with the radical right will help bring them to the center. It will soften them and with time, allow them to shun their extremist ideology.

If Imran Khan genuinely believes in coherence, he should employ the same approach of engagement with the far left to make them more centrist, right? Surprisingly, he ridicules them openly, calling them “the scum of Pakistan.” He does not stop at that. He also blames all the extremism in Pakistan on the liberals living within. For example, in a recent interview, he said:

“These liberals. I don’t know these liberals, because these liberals back bombing of villages. They back drone attacks. I mean, I don’t call them liberals. I call them fascists. In my book these people are fascists…Because of them we have extremism in this country these liberals, so called liberals, applauded the incineration, where they bombed this mosque when there were children and women in it, students in it. And these liberals were in the forefront. I don’t call them liberals. I agree. I really think these are the scum of this country.”

Let me remind Imran Khan that liberals were not in the forefront at Lal Masjid. It was the Army. Also, drones do not take off from atop liberals’ houses; they take off from army bases. But I understand it is much easier to criticize vulnerable unarmed liberals than take on the Military-Mullah nexus.

I am flabbergasted. I am also confused. Does Imran Khan and his die-hard fans really understand the words he uses? A fascist is a person who is dictatorial and suppresses criticism and opposition through use of force. Scum refers to a low life, worthless or evil person.

I am yet to meet a “so-called liberal” who bombs mosques and attacks shrines. I am yet to see a “so-called liberal” who kills fellow Pakistanis citing differences of faith. I have never come across a “so-called liberal” who persecutes Pakistan’s very own minorities and razes their places of worship. I am yet to come across a “so-called liberal” who delivers sermons of hate against Shia and Ahmadi Muslims, inciting their killings.

Let me remind Imran Khan that it is the religious fanatics he engages that are the real fascists and the real scum of Pakistan. It is they that are responsible for all the extremism in the country.  Lest he has forgotten, it is they that bomb mosques and shrines. It is they that murder fellow Pakistanis they despise, namely the Ahmadi and Shia Muslims, and non-Muslim Pakistanis. It is they that have made life in Pakistan a living hell for everyone, especially its minorities. It is they that spread hate and incite violence against any and all voices of reason and moderation. Many have had to flee after being threatened by these bigots.

Now, why the far left liberals should be considered scum and unworthy of engagement while those who openly carry out and endorse acts of terror be considered worthy of engagement is beyond me!  Why must only the far right be brought to the center and the far left subjected to ridicule and left isolated? Why must one end of our political divide be
befriended and the other rejected? Above all, why must the heavy burden of sins of one be taken off its shoulder and placed on the shoulders of the other?

Is this justice? Is this Insaaf?

Imran Khan’s justice appears to favor the rightist and the strong. Unless he garners courage to blame extremism on those that actually perpetrate it and relieve the “so-called liberals” of unbefitting slander, his party will increasingly be seen as TPI (Tehreek-e-Pseudo Insaaf) and not PTI.

God Save Pakistan!

Mr. pro Taliban and Anti-Zionist is going for the sixer, telling an audience in Swabi about the Tsunami of change he will bring in to Pakistan. He is out of his mind, being idealist and hoping to extradite USA powers and players from the country. What someone needs to tell him is the PPP and [...]

PTI’s Imran Khan made delusional promises is a post from: PakMediaBlog All Rights Reserved.

The United States (US) Committee on Foreign Affairs is set to convene a congressional hearing on Wednesday (February 8), for an exclusive discussion on Balochistan.

The extraordinary event has generated great interest among followers of Pakistan-US relations, as the allies’ mutual relationship seems to be deteriorating. The powerful House of Representatives committee oversees America’s foreign assistance programs and experts believe it can recommend halting US assistance to Pakistan over human rights violation in Balochistan.

Calls for ‘independence’
While Islamabad has strictly treated Balochistan as an internal matter, the debate on such a divisive topic by the powerful committee has highlighted the level of American interest in Balochistan and its support, if any, for the nationalist movement. On its part, Pakistan has kept Washington at arm’s length on the Balochistan issue, by refusing to grant it permission to open a consulate in Quetta.

A Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, who recently co-authored an article with Congressman Louie Gohmert expressing support for an independent Balochistan, will chair the hearing.

“Perhaps we should even consider support for a Balochistan carved out of Pakistan to diminish radical power there (in Pakistan),” Rohrabacher wrote in his piece.

According to Asia-Pacific Reporting Blog, “it is expected that the hearing will tackle issues related to whether or not the US Congress should tie human rights issues in Balochistan to Pakistani aid.”

Witness box
Another area of interest is of the controversial witnesses who will testify before the committee. The three-member panel comprises of defence analyst Ralph Peters, Georgetown assistant professor, C. Christine Fair and Ali Dayan Hasan, Pakistan Director of the Human Rights Watch.

Ironically, the panel on Balochistan does not include a Baloch representative, an issue which has disappointed the Baloch diaspora in the United States, who fear the misinterpretation of their stance by people they view as unfamiliar with the Baloch conflict.

One of the witnesses, Ralph Peters, attracted scathing criticism by right-wing Pakistani strategists in June 2006, when his article Blood Borders was published in the Armed Forces Journal with a map of Free Balochistan. Peters, 59, a former US army officer, is expected to support in his testimony the idea of an independent Balochistan comprising of the Balochistan provinces in Pakistan and Iran and parts of Afghanistan.

On the other hand, Dr Christine Fair is known as a passionate supporter of Pakistan with an anti-India stance. The Pakistani media quoted Dr Fair in March 2009, for allegedly linking India with the Baloch insurgency. She was reportedly questioned the role of the Indian consulates in Afghanistan and Iran.

“Having visited the Indian mission in Zahedan,” she told a roundtable organized by the Foreign Affairs magazine, “I can assure you they (Indians) are not issuing visas as their main activity.” Later on, however, she told Outlook, an Indian news magazine, in an interview that the Pakistanis had blown her comments out of proportion.

On Twitter, a week ahead of the hearing, Dr Fair called Ralph Peters, the fellow witness, a “nut” and asked “WHAT does he know?” On Saturday, she also irked the Balochs by questioning their majority status in Balochistan while in another Tweet she warned the separatists not to “expect me to support an independent Balochistan”.

Public debate
Dr. Akbar S. Ahmed, Pakistan’s former high commissioner to the United Kingdom, told Dawn.com that the congressional hearing was a “significant step” in highlighting Balochistan’s problems. “The information provided in the event,” he said, “will not only be used by members of the US Congress but will also be picked up by the world media.”

“The shocking stories of torture and murder in Balochistan will become part of the public debate. It is in the interest of Pakistan to quickly and effectively resolve the situation in Balochistan bringing back the Baluch with honor, respect and dignity,” said Dr Ahmed, who is currently the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at the American University in Washington DC.

Dr Ahmed, who served in 1980s as the Commissioner of three districts in Balochistan, says the hearing can potentially create a great deal of negative publicity for Pakistan.

Close watchers
In the United States, the conflict in Balochistan has been gaining remarkable attention of late. While some officials from the government and non-governmental organizations have only expressed concern over the situation, other individuals, including former army soldiers, State department officials and members of the US Congress, have now begun to publicly assert support for an independent Balochistan.

For instance, on January 15, Victoria Nuland, the State Department spokeswoman, expressed America’s “deep concern” over the ongoing violence in Balochistan, especially targeted killings, disappearances and human rights violations.

“This (Balochistan) is a complex issue. We strongly believe that the best way forward is for all the parties to resolve their differences through peaceful dialogue,” she said.

Last year on November 16, the State Department deputy spokesman, Mark Toner, had also observed during a press briefing, “You know, more broadly, we do have concerns about the situation in Balochistan. We’ve addressed those concerns with the government of Pakistan.”

Nationalist view
Baloch nationalists are cautiously monitoring Wednesday’s hearing.

“To be honest, we are not very optimistic about this meeting,” Sardar Akhtar Mengal, a former chief minister of Balochistan, told Dawn.com, “but both support and attention from the US are significant because the presence of the US cannot be overlooked in South East Asia. It is essential that the US gives attention to Balochistan, as the aid that is given to Pakistan in the name of war against terror is being spent to commit atrocities in Balochistan.”

A political expert in Washington DC, who requested anonymity, said during the election year, the Republicans are likely to bring up the Balochistan issue to castigate Democratic President Barrack Obama for deliberately keeping quiet against Pakistan, an ally in the war on terror, for allegedly misusing American assistance to fight the secular Balochs instead of quashing the Taliban.

After the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, many American policymakers have become disillusioned with Pakistan and now some of them propose an independent Balochistan to fight religious extremism. Last month, Louie Gohmert, another Republican Congressman from Texas, suggested that the US should, “talk about creating a Balochistan in the southern part of Pakistan…they love us. They’ll stop the IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and all the weaponry coming into Afghanistan, and we got a shot to win over there.”

Sardar Mengal, who leads the largest Balochistan National Party (BNP), says the hearing does not mean that the Washington is going to support the Baloch cause in the future.

“What the US can do for us is to care for the Baloch as human beings. Since Washington is apparently a committed supporter of human rights, it is obligatory that the US should stop the genocide of the Baloch nation by the authorities as it has done in other parts of the world, supporting their right of self-determination.”

M. Chris Mason, a Senior Fellow at the Center for Advanced Defense Studies, who recently retired from the US Foreign Service, has emerged as another ardent proponent of free Balochistan in the United States.

In an article, Mason, who lecturers at the prestigious National Defense University, argued an independent Balochistan would solve many of the [Af-Pak] region’s most intractable problems overnight and would create “a territorial buffer between rogue states Iran and Pakistan.”

“The answer to the current Pakistani train-wreck is… recognizing Balochistan’s legitimate claim to independence… to help the Baluchis go the way of the Bangladeshis in achieving their dream of freedom from tyranny, corruption and murder at the hands of the diseased state,” he wrote.

Routine matter
Hassan Abbas, a scholar based in Washington DC who until recently was Quaid-i-Azam Chair Professor at Columbia University in New York, seriously doubts if the US will officially support Baloch nationalists at this time as this will complicate US-Pakistan relations.

“I think the hearing is a routine matter as all security related issues in Pakistan are being analyzed in the policy world with keen interest as well as concern. The hearing will discuss human rights issue as well as politics,” says Abbas, who is also a Senior Advisor at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, “but the hearing itself will not create any serious diplomatic row. The US Congress must listen and understand that there is a variety of perspectives on the subject.”

Dr Ahmed, meanwhile, attributes the deepening crisis in Balochistan to Islamabad’s failure to understand that time is running out for it.

“The leaders of Pakistan are so focused on the power struggles in Islamabad that they seem to have little will or imagination to deal with the urgent issues that concern the country’s largest province of Balochistan.”

How will Islamabad respond to the hearing?

“Pakistan’s establishment is quite sensitive about the Balochistan crisis and they will follow the hearings closely and sceptically,” says Hassan Abbas, whose book, Pakistan’s Drift into Extremism, was published in 2005.

According to Abbas, hawkish elements in Pakistani media are likely to create a lot of hue and cry over the hearing. Yet he cautions, “They will serve Pakistan better by focusing on projecting the concerns of the ordinary Baloch people, who are disenfranchised, distressed and increasingly getting disenchanted.”

Sardar Mengal of BNP, who was detained in Karachi for several months during the Pervez Musharraf regime, predicts there would be a definite reaction from the government.

“They can only display their superiority to the ones who are weaker, and in this case, the Baloch are the weaker ones,” he says and warns, “But if there is a reaction from Pakistan toward us, this time it will be once and for all. Either the Baloch will swim across or sink as a nation.” (Courtesy: Dawn, Pakistan)

http://www.facebook.com/nadeemmalik

NADEEM MALIK

Do You Think President Asif Zardari Should Enjoy Blanket Immunity?

A Gallup poll shows 38% Pakistanis do not know about the President’s immunity, 37% believe that the President enjoys NO immunity whereas 25% believe that the President enjoys immunity provided to him by the constitution.

NADEEM MALIK

وزیراعظم سوئس عدالت کو خط لکھ دیں اور عدالت سے معافی مانگ لیں ورنہ چارجز لگ جایں گے۔ ایس ایم ظفر
میرے خیال میں اب یہ مشکل ہے کہ وزیراعظم سوئس عدالت کو خط لکھیں۔ وزیراعظم کے لئیے اس وقت صورت حال خاصی مشکل ہے۔ یاسین آزاد
عدالت اپنے فیصلوں پر عمل نہیں کروا پائی۔ اگر وزیراعظم کیس لڑے اور ہار گئے تو پھر وہ وزیراعظم نہیں رہ سکیں گے۔ احمد رضا قصوری

ISLAMABAD TONIGHT WITH NADEEM MALIK
nadeemmalik.wordpress.comوزیراعظم سوئس عدالت کو خط لکھ دیں اور عدالت سے معافی مانگ لیں ورنہ چارجز لگ جایں گے۔ ایس ایم ظفر میرے خیال میں اب یہ مشکل ہے کہ وزیراعظم سوئس عدالت کو خط لکھیں۔ وزیراعظم کے لئیے اس وقت صورت حال خاصی مشکل ہے۔ یاسین آزاد عدالت اپنے فیصلوں پر عمل نہیں کروا پائی۔ اگر وزیراعظم کیس لڑے اور ہار گئے تو پھ…

NADEEM MALIK

وزیراعظم نے بلا ضرورت اور بے وقت اپنی قربانی دی ہے۔ وزیراعظم سوئس عدالت کو خط لکھ دیں اور عدالت سے معافی مانگ لیں ورنہ چارجز لگ جایں گے۔ ایس ایم ظفر
میرے خیال میں اب یہ مشکل ہے کہ وزیراعظم سوئس عدالت کو خط لکھیں۔ وزیراعظم کے لئیے اس وقت صورت حال خاصی مشکل ہے۔ یاسین آزاد
عدالت اپنے فیصلوں پر عمل نہیں کروا پائی۔ اگر وزیراعظم کیس لڑے اور ہار گئے تو پھر وہ وزیراعظم نہیں رہ سکیں گے۔ احمد رضا قصوری
این …آر او بڑے لوگوں کو کی گئی چوری سے بچانے کے لئیے کیا گیا ہے۔ آج لوگوں کا سارے اداروں پر سے اعتماد اٹھ چکا ہے۔ ہر طرف کرپشن ہے اور لوگ مر رہے ہیں۔ بھاشا ڈیم پر دی جانے والی کمپینسیشن میں سے دو ارب روپے غائب ہیں۔ اعظم سواتی
عدالت صبر سے کام لے رہی ہے ورنہ حالات خراب ہو سکتے ہیں۔ لوگوں کا عدالت پر اعتماد ہے اور یہ عدالت کا بہت بڑا امتحان ہے۔ احمد رضا قصوریSee More

Islamabad Tonight – 2nd February 2012
www.awaztoday.comوزیراعظم نے بلا ضرورت اور بے وقت اپنی قربانی دی ہے۔ وزیراعظم سوئس عدالت کو خط لکھ دیں اور عدالت سے معافی مانگ لیں ورنہ چارجز لگ جایں گے۔ ایس ایم ظفر میرے خیال میں اب یہ مشکل ہے کہ وزیراعظم سوئس عدالت کو خط لکھیں۔ وزیراعظم کے لئیے اس وقت صورت حال خاصی مشکل ہے۔ یاسین آزاد عدالت اپنے فیصلوں پر عمل نہ…

NADEEM MALIK

Islamabad Tonight with Nadeem Malik -:-
Guest: S.M. Zafar, Yaseen Azad, Ahmed Raza Kasuri, Azam Swati and Nayyar Bokhari on Contempt of the Court

Islamabad tonight – 2nd february 2012
www.zemtv.comIslamabad Tonight with Nadeem Malik -:- Guest: S.M. Zafar, Yaseen Azad, Ahmed Raza Kasuri, Azam Swati and Nayyar Bokhari on Contempt of the Court

NADEEM MALIK

تمام ادارے پارلیمنٹ کو جوابدہ ہیں، وزیراعظم

NADEEM MALIK

GILANI GUILTY OF CONTEMPT:
After the preliminary hearing, we are satisfied that prima facie there is a case for further proceeding into the matter. Adjourned for February 13, for framing charges. The Prime minister is required to remain present in the Supreme Court.

NADEEM MALIK

سپريم کورٹ نے وزير اعظم گيلاني پر توہين عدالت کيس ميں فرد جرم کرنے کے لئے انہيں 13فروري کو طلب کر ليا ہے.عدالت نے مختصر فيصلے ميں کہا کہ وزير اعظم توہين عدالت کے مرتکب ہوئے ہيں ، ان پر 13فروري کو فرد جرم عائد کي جائے گي.

NADEEM MALIK

سینٹ کے الیکشن کے بعد فوری طور پر ملک میں الیکشن کا اعلان کر دیا جائے گا۔ شیخ رشید
الیکشن کی پہلی دھاندلی آئندہ بجٹ ہو گا جو ایسا بنایا جائے گا کہ آئندہ آنے والا اس پر پورا نہ اتر سکے۔مسلم لیگ ن ایک دفعہ پھر ٹریپ ہو گئی ہے۔ نواز اور شہباز شریف کی سوچ میں بڑا فرق ہے شہباز فرنٹ فٹ پر کھیلتے ہیں۔ مسلم لیگ ن شروع سے کوئی فیصلہ نہیں کر پائی ڈرتی رہی کہ کہیں فوج نہ آ جائے جبکہ فوج کے آنے کا کوئی امکان ن…ہیں-اسحق ڈار وزیر خزانہ ہوتے تو اتنی کرپشن نہیں ہوتی۔ میمو کے مسئلہ پر پیچھے ہٹنے سے فوج کی ساکھ پر اثر پڑا ہے۔ میرا خیال تھا کہ جنرل کیانی مدت ملازمت میں توسیع نہیں لیں گے لیکن انہوں نے لے لی۔ فوج کے نزدیک میمو ایک بہت سنجیدہ معاملہ تھا لیکن پھر پتہ نہیں کہ کیوں پیچھے ہٹ گئی۔
لوگ فوج عدلیہ اور سیاست سے بہت مایوس ہوئے ہیں اور تھک کر بیٹھ گئے ہیں۔ میں نہیں سمجھتا کہ فوج کسی سیاسی جماعت کو سپورٹ کر رہی ہے۔ بہت سے لوگ صرف اس لئیے عمران کے ساتھ چلے گئے ہیں کہ فوج اس کے ساتھ ہے۔ میں قوم کو بتاؤں گا کہ کہ چور کون ہے اور چوکیدار کون ہے۔ شیخ رشیدSee More

Islamabad Tonight – 1st February 2012
awaztoday.comسینٹ کے الیکشن کے بعد فوری طور پر ملک میں الیکشن کا اعلان کر دیا جائے گا۔ شیخ رشید الیکشن کی پہلی دھاندلی آئندہ بجٹ ہو گا جو ایسا بنایا جائے گا کہ آئندہ آنے والا اس پر پورا نہ اتر سکے۔مسلم لیگ ن ایک دفعہ پھر ٹریپ ہو گئی ہے۔ نواز اور شہباز شریف کی سوچ میں بڑا فرق ہے شہباز فرنٹ فٹ پر کھیلتے ہیں۔ مسلم…

NADEEM MALIK

In a major development toward ending a decade of war in Afghanistan, US Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said on Wednesday that American forces would step back from a combat role there as early as mid-2013, more than a year before all American troops are scheduled to leave Afghanistan.

NADEEM MALIK

Islamabad Tonight with Nadeem Malik -:-
Guest: Sheikh Rashid Ahmed

Islamabad tonight on aaj news – Shaikh rasheed interview – 1st febuary 2012
www.zemtv.comIslamabad Tonight with Nadeem Malik -: – Guest: Sheikh Rashid Ahmed

NADEEM MALIK

Efroze Chemical Industries confessed on Wednesday that the batch of IsoTab produced for Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) was tainted with Pyrimethamine, an anti-malarial.

NADEEM MALIK

Anthrax Threat: A parcel containing anthrax was sent to the Prime Minister’s Secretariat in Islamabad during the month of January 2012.Police investigations are underway and a case has been registered against unknown people. The packet was sent from Jamshoro.

NADEEM MALIK

اعتزاز احسن صدر کا استثني ثابت کرديں تو عدالت مزيد کارروائي نہيں کرے گي,عذر گناہ، بدتر از گناہ ہوتا ہے-سپريم کورٹ
اعتزاز احسن نے کہاکہ وزيراعظم ايڈوائس ليتے ہيں،جو انہيں وزير قانون اور سيکريٹري قانون نے دي، وزيراعظم ديانت داري سے سمجھتے ہيں کہ صدر کو استثني حاصل ہے، جسٹس آصف سعيد کھوسہ نے کہاکہ وزيراعظم نے کہاکہ اس ايشو پر جيل جانا پڑا تو جاوں گا ،کيايہ کہنا کيا حکم عدولي نہيں ہے، جسٹس آصف کھوسہ نے کہاکہ سترہ ججوں نے بہت واضح حکم ديا، کيا آپ ايک اور حکم چاہتے ہيں. اعتزازاحسن نے کہاکہ سوئس حکام کو خط کے حکم پر ابھي عمل ممکن نہيں، وزيراعظم کا عدالت کے سامنے بيان، غير رسمي تھا- سپريم کورٹ نے اعتزاز احسن کو کل ابتدائي دلائل مکمل کرنے کي ہدايت کي

NADEEM MALIK

لندن کي ليبارٹري نے پنجاب ميں ہلاکتوں کا سبب بننے والي ايک اور دوا کو غير معياري قرار دے ديا. پنجاب انسٹي ٹيوٹ آف کارڈيا لوجي کي طرف سے لندن کي ليبارٹري ميں ٹيسٹ کيلئے بھيجي گئي دوا آئسو ٹيب کي رپورٹ موصول ہوگئي ہے. يہ دوا دل ميں خون کي گردش بڑھانے کيلئے استعمال کي جاتي ہے. آئسو ٹيب ميں انسداد مليريا کي دوا پيري ميتھا مائن PYRIMETHAMINE کي بہت زيادہ مقدار ميں آميزش پائي گئي

NADEEM MALIK

‎-NATO report alleges Taliban in Afghanistan are being directly assisted by Pakistani security services

-Afghan civilians frequently prefer Taliban governance over the Afghan government, usually as a result of government corruption

Pakistan ‘backs Afghan Taliban’
www.bbc.co.uk‎-NATO report alleges Taliban in Afghanistan are being directly assisted by Pakistani security services -Afghan civilians frequently prefer Taliban governance over the Afghan government, usually as a result of government corruption

NADEEM MALIK

Missing Pakistanis: After the Supreme Court Orders Two Missing Brothers Found in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Unit of the Lady Reading Hospital

Relatives allowed to see ‘missing’ brothers
www.dawn.comPESHAWAR, Jan 31: Five family members of two missing men, Abdul Basit and Syed Abdul Majid, were allowed to visit the plastic and reconstructive surgery unit of the Lady Reading Hospital and meet them for a few minutes

NADEEM MALIK

Leading lights in American Politics, Presidential candidates, have released their tax and asset details and Americans voters are asking questions from them about legality of sources of income and welath accumulation patterns. Do we know how much our President, Prime Minister or leading politicians pay taxes and what is their net worth?

NADEEM MALIK

Mitt Romney won the Florida primary, a victory expected to cement his status as the Republican front-runner. Voters picked Romney over former House speaker Newt Gingrich as the best positioned to take on President Obama in November.

NADEEM MALIK

PPP to support changes proposed by PML (N) in the 20th Constitutional Amendment: Qamar Zaman Kaira
Amendment to regularize 28 senators, MNAs, MPAs elected after 18th amendment as a one-time special case- Law to be amended for regularization of women reserved seats- Ishaq Dar
PPP Must also negotiate appoitment of Chief Election Commissioner and Caretaker setup for the next elections as agreed in the 18th amendment- Ishaq Dar
PPP should transfer control of Sheikh Zaid Hospital to Punjab government to get support of the provincial government for setting up Drug Regulatory Authority- Ishaq Dar
DRA issue should not be linked with Sheikh Zaid Hospital- Kaira

Islamabad tonight – 31st january 2012
www.zemtv.comPPP to support changes proposed by PML (N) in the 20th Constitutional Amendment: Qamar Zaman Kaira Amendment to regularize 28 senators, MNAs, MPAs elected after 18th amendment as a one-time special case- Law to be amended for regularization of women reserved seats- Ishaq Dar PPP Must also negotiate …

NADEEM MALIK

ہم فئیر اینڈ فری الیکشنز چاہتے ہیں تا کہ کوئی انگلی نہ اٹھے۔ بہتری کی خاطر آئین اور قانون میں کسی بھی ترمیم کے لئیے تیار ہیں۔ قمر زمان کائرہ
بیسویں ترمیم کے لئیے چیف الیکشن کمشن کی تقرری اور عبوری حکومت کی تشکیل پر مزید مشاورت کی ضرورت ہے۔ اسحق ڈار
چیف الیکشن کمشن کی تقرری کے لئیے پارلیمانی کمیٹی بن چکی ہے۔ قمر زمان کائرہ
پارلیمانی کمیٹی کو چیف الیکشن کمشنر کےلئیےتین نام دئیے جایں گے جن میں سے ایک… پر اتفاق کیا جائے گا۔قمر زمان کائرہ
چیف الیکشن کمنشنر کے لئیے ایک ہی نام ایسا آنا چاہئیے کہ جس پر کسی کو کوئی اعتراض نہ ہو۔ اسحق ڈار
عبوری حکومت کے قیام کے معاملہ کا چیف الیکشن کمشن کی تقرری کے ساتھ کوئی تعلق نہیں ہے۔ قمر زمان کائرہ
شیخ زید ہسپتال پنجاب کو نہ دئیے جانے کی وجہ سے ڈرگ ریگولیشن اتھارٹی نہیں بن پا رہی۔ اسحق ڈار
شیخ زید ہسپتال مل جائے گا پنجاب ڈرگ ریگولیشن اتھارٹی بننے دے۔ قمر زمان کائرہ
ایم کیو ایم غیر جانبدار چیف الیکشن کمشنر کی تقرری کی حمایت کرتی ہے۔ حیدر عباس رضویSee More

Islamabad Tonight – 31st January 2012
awaztoday.comہم فئیر اینڈ فری الیکشنز چاہتے ہیں تا کہ کوئی انگلی نہ اٹھے۔ بہتری کی خاطر آئین اور قانون میں کسی بھی ترمیم کے لئیے تیار ہیں۔ قمر زمان کائرہ بیسویں ترمیم کے لئیے چیف الیکشن کمشن کی تقرری اور عبوری حکومت کی تشکیل پر مزید مشاورت کی ضرورت ہے۔ اسحق ڈار چیف الیکشن کمشن کی تقرری کے لئیے پارلیمانی کمیٹی بن…

NADEEM MALIK

Subscribe @ http://www.facebook.com/nadeemmalik

Nadeem Malik

NADEEM MALIK

توہین عدالت کیس میں وزیراعظم سید یوسف رضا گیلانی کے وکیل اعتزاز احسن نے کہا ہے کہ سپریم کورٹ اگر واضح ہدایت دے تو سوئس حکام کو خط لکھ دیا جائے گا، توہین عدالت کیس کے حوالے سے عدالت میں کچھ دستاویزات جمع کرائی ہیں جن کے بارے میں وہ کچھ نہیں بتا سکتے۔

NADEEM MALIK Punjab Institute of Cardiology: 122 dead so far. No responsibility fixed yet. NADEEM MALIK YOUTUBE: http://www.youtube.com/NadeemMalikLive Nadeem Malik : ندیم ملک www.youtube.comISLAMABAD TONIGHT: The programme gives independent news analysis of the key events shaping future of Pakistan. A fast paced, well rounded programme covers almost every aspect, which should be a core element of a current affairs programme. Discussion with the most influential personalities in the fed… NADEEM MALIK عوام سے غلط بیانی کی جا رہی ہے ڈرون حملے حکومت کی اجازت سے ہو رہے ہیں۔ ہمارے جاسوسی کے ادارے اب بھی نہیں سمجھ رہے۔ صبح شام اسلام کا ڈھنڈورا پیٹا جاتا ہے کیا اسلامی ملک ایسا ہوتا ہے۔ قائد اعظم کے علاوہ کسی نے عوام کو فیصلے کا حق نہیں دیا۔ میمو کی تحقیقت شروع ہو گئیں لیکن مشرقی پاکستان کی علحیدگی کی آج تک تحقیقات نہیں ہوئیں۔ جو بھی آئین توڑے عوام کو اس کے خلاف سڑکوں پر آ جانا چاہئیے۔ سٹیٹ کا کام ہے… کہ لوگوں کو عزت دے اور ان کا تحفظ کرے۔محمود اچکزئی وزیراعظم کی کوئی کریڈیبلٹی نہیں ہے ان کی کسی بات کا اعتبار نہیں کیا جا سکتا۔ خواجہ آصف میرے خیال میں حکومت کے پنڈی والوں سے بھی معاملات طے ہو چکے ہیں۔ تمام ادارے زاتی مفاد کی خاطر امریکی مفاد کا تحفظ کر رہے ہیں۔ خواجہ آصف میرے خیال میں پیپلز پارٹی اور مسلم لیگ ن دونوں الیکشن پر متفق ہیں۔ محمود اچکزئیSee MoreIslamabad Tonight – 30th January 2012 www.awaztoday.com عوام سے غلط بیانی کی جا رہی ہے ڈرون حملے حکومت کی اجازت سے ہو رہے ہیں۔ ہمارے جاسوسی کے ادارے اب بھی نہیں سمجھ رہے۔ صبح شام اسلام کا ڈھنڈورا پیٹا جاتا ہے کیا اسلامی ملک ایسا ہوتا ہے۔ قائد اعظم کے علاوہ کسی نے عوام کو فیصلے کا حق نہیں دیا۔ میمو کی تحقیقت شروع ہو گئیں لیکن مشرقی پاکستان کی علحیدگی کی… NADEEM MALIK امريکا ميں پاکستان کے سابق سفير حسين حقاني ابوظہبي روانہ ہوگئے. حسين حقاني کووزيراعظم ہاؤس سے اسلام آبادپوليس کي حفاظت ميں ايئرپورٹ پہنچايا گيا. امريکا نے کہا ہے کہ پاکستان کي سپريم کورٹ کي جانب سے سابق سفير حسين حقاني پر سفري پابندياں ختم ہونے کي خوشي ہے.امريکي محکمہ خارجہ کي ترجمان وکٹوريا نولينڈ نے بريفنگ ديتے ہوئے کہا کہ امريکا ميں پاکستان کے سابق سفير حسين حقاني اب آزاد ہيں اور جہاں چاہيں جاسکتے ہيں.10,775 People Reached · 199 People Talking About This

NADEEM MALIK

US President Barack Obama has confirmed that the US drones have struck Taliban and Al Qaeda targets within Pakistan – operations that until now had not been officially acknowledged.
A lot of these strikes have been in the FATA – Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas. This is a targeted focused effort at people who are on a list of active terrorists, who are trying to go in and harm Americans, hit American facilities, American bases, and so on. Barack Obama

7,646 People Reached · 79 People Talking About This

NADEEM MALIK

عوام سے غلط بیانی کی جا رہی ہے ڈرون حملے حکومت کی اجازت سے ہو رہے ہیں۔
ہمارے جاسوسی کے ادارے اب بھی نہیں سمجھ رہے۔ صبح شام اسلام کا ڈھنڈورا پیٹا جاتا ہے کیا اسلامی ملک ایسا ہوتا ہے۔ قائد اعظم کے علاوہ کسی نے عوام کو فیصلے کا حق نہیں دیا۔ میمو کی تحقیقت شروع ہو گئیں لیکن مشرقی پاکستان کی علحیدگی کی آج تک تحقیقات نہیں ہوئیں۔ جو بھی آئین توڑے عوام کو اس کے خلاف سڑکوں پر آ جانا چاہئیے۔ سٹیٹ کا کام ہے …کہ لوگوں کو عزت دے اور ان کا تحفظ کرے۔محمود اچکزئی
وزیراعظم کی کوئی کریڈیبلٹی نہیں ہے ان کی کسی بات کا اعتبار نہیں کیا جا سکتا۔ خواجہ آصف
میرے خیال میں حکومت کے پنڈی والوں سے بھی معاملات طے ہو چکے ہیں۔ تمام ادارے زاتی مفاد کی خاطر امریکی مفاد کا تحفظ کر رہے ہیں۔ خواجہ آصف
میرے خیال میں پیپلز پارٹی اور مسلم لیگ ن دونوں الیکشن پر متفق ہیں۔ محمود اچکزئیSee More

Islamabad tonight – Mehmood Khan Achakzai – 30th january 2012
www.zemtv.comعوام سے غلط بیانی کی جا رہی ہے ڈرون حملے حکومت کی اجازت سے ہو رہے ہیں۔ ہمارے جاسوسی کے ادارے اب بھی نہیں سمجھ رہے۔ صبح شام اسلام کا ڈھنڈورا پیٹا جاتا ہے کیا اسلامی ملک ایسا ہوتا ہے۔ قائد اعظم کے علاوہ کسی نے عوام کو فیصلے کا حق نہیں دیا۔ میمو کی تحقیقت شروع ہو گئیں لیکن مشرقی پاکستان کی علحیدگی کی آ…

NADEEM MALIK Islamabad Tonight with Nadeem Malik -:- Guest: Mahmood Khan Achakzai Chairman PKMAP and Khawaja Muhammad Asif PML (N)Video Islamabad Tonight with Nadeem Malik 30th January 2011 – Mehmood Khan Achakzai www.friendskorner.comIslamabad Tonight with Nadeem Malik -:- Guest: Mahmood Khan Achakzai Chairman PKMAP and Khawaja Muhammad Asif PML (N) NADEEM MALIK TWITTER: http://twitter.com/nadeemmalik Twitter twitter.comTWITTER: http://twitter.com/nadeemmalik

Filed under: CURRENT AFFAIRS

The PTI leader is back to blaming everyone but himself over deaths caused in hospitals as a result of questionable drugs. He is backed my the ISI and Taliban, how dare he pretend to care over the deaths of innocents! Thank goodness his Facebook pages were hacked, Mr Khan your change is not something we [...]

ISI Lover Imran Khan Blames Punjab Govt. Again is a post from: PakMediaBlog All Rights Reserved.

By Nancy Birdall for Foreign Policy

In the January/February 2012 issue of Foreign Affairs, Stanford political scientist Stephen Krasner claims that “current U.S. policy toward Pakistan has failed” and recommends that the United States take a radically different approach: credibly threaten to sever all forms of cooperation, including all U.S. aid – military and civilian – to force Pakistan into cooperating with the United States on security matters. Center for Global Development President Nancy Birdsall responds.

Stephen Krasner (“Talk Tough to Pakistan: How to End Islamabad’s Defiance,” Jan/Feb 2012) wants to change the Pakistani government’s behavior. He argues that its failure to cooperate with the United States on Afghanistan and on terrorism is not due to its weakness as a state. Instead, it is a rational response of Pakistan’s military leadership, whose priority is to defend itself against India – with a nuclear deterrent and support for terrorists and the Afghan Taliban. Therefore, the only way the United States can win cooperation from Pakistan is to threaten “malign neglect”- cut off military and civilian assistance, sever intelligence cooperation, maintain and possibly escalate drone strikes and initiate unilateral cross-border raids. If that isn’t enough, then the U.S. could move on to “active isolation” — declare Pakistan a state sponsor of terrorism, making it a pariah, and impose sanctions.

If only it were this easy. Krasner fails to mention that the U.S. has tried this approach before. In the 1990s it cut off military and civilian assistance to Pakistan and imposed sanctions in an effort to dissuade Pakistan from developing a nuclear capability. We all know how that story ended. But let’s suppose this time the threats or the follow-through worked and brought the military and intelligence establishment to heel in Pakistan. Let’s suppose the United States got what it wanted on the security front – helping assure a timely U.S and NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan. Would that solve the problem Pakistan poses for America’s security in the long run? No.

What Krasner doesn’t say is that the U.S. wants something more than compliance from Pakistan’s military and intelligence communities with its immediate security needs. The U.S. wants a capable and stable civilian government that plays by the rules of the international community. It wants a democratic state that would not abuse and misuse its nuclear capability and that would find its way to peaceful relations with India.

In other words the U.S. has a long-run vision for Pakistan, very much in its own interests, as well as a set of short-term demands. In the 2009 Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act (known as Kerry-Lugar Berman, or KLB) Congress recognized the resulting need for a two-track approach. That legislation made U.S. security assistance (not actually authorized in the legislation) conditional on Pakistani cooperation on security matters. But its fundamental purpose, and the money it authorized for civilian aid, was the rebuilding of a serious partnership with the civilian government and the people of Pakistan. With KLB as the framework, since 2009 the Obama Administration has engaged fully with the civilian government and with civil society and private sector leaders in Pakistan on a range of issues — energy, water, agriculture, macroeconomic issues, private investment and trade.

In short, the purpose of U.S. civilian aid to Pakistan is to help build a better state. It is not to bribe or reward the “government” (neither the military nor the civilian leadership). Withholding military aid would likely not punish the military anyway. It would, however, reduce the resources available to the civilian government, since the evidence is that the military can get what it wants from the government’s overall available resources. And withholding civilian aid obviously would not punish the military. It would, however, take away a modest tool of America – investing to educate kids, create jobs, and strengthen civil society and representative institutions and thus give Pakistan a better shot at becoming a stable, prosperous and democratic country in the long term.

There are of course real questions about the effectiveness of U.S engagement with the civilian government – with aid and dialogue – given the prevailing suspicion there of U.S. motives, the inherent difficulties of operating in a complex and insecure environment, and the bureaucratic shortcomings of the U.S. aid system itself. But then those are reasons to put relatively more emphasis on other forms of engagement: trade, investment, and encouraging the normalization of relations with India. They do not warrant bullying the weak civilian government that the U.S. wants to strengthen.

Krasner begins and ends his article by invoking the testimony of former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen during his last appearance before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Krasner is right in pointing out that Mullen was critical of Pakistan’s role in supporting extremist organizations and the need to get tough with Pakistan. Yet, Krasner fails to mention the conclusion Mullen reached in his statement. Mullen recognized that the U.S. has a variety of objectives in Pakistan and the region, and that by focusing too intensely on short term interests, the U.S. will end up short-changing itself over the long haul: “We must also move beyond counter-terrorism to address long-term foundations of Pakistan’s success – to help the Pakistanis find realistic and productive ways to achieve their aspirations of prosperity and security.” Mullen concludes, “Isolating the people of Pakistan from the world right now would be counter-productive.”

Nancy Birdsall is the founding president of the Center for Global Development, a Washington, DC based think tank.

Filed under: Afghanistan, Nuclear, Pakistan, Pakistan Army, Pakistanis, Taliban, terrorism, United States, US Army, US-Pakistan Relations Tagged: Afghanistan, Islamabad, Kerry-Lugar Berman, NATO, Pakistan, Pakistanis, Senate Armed Services Committee, Taliban, United States, Washington

Faith, for me, is a private matter. What I have in my heart regarding myself and the God, is to remain within confines of my heart and others have no right to judge or base their acts on it. But this assumption gets tested most of the times.

Islam is different in the sense that it involves various issues that relate to society in general, for example, guidelines related to divorce, matters 

There is a conventional wisdom out there — parroted often by the likes of Imran Khan — that the Taliban and their local affiliates act the way they do because they are solely and exclusively motivated by the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan, as well as Pakistan’s alliance with the U.S.

By this logic, the Taliban are a nationalist force, standing up for their nation, which is alternatively considered the Pashtun nation or the Afghan state, depending on one’s own beliefs and opinions on the boundaries of their political identity.

With that as background, here’s an excerpt from a piece by Ijaz Khan in the Friday Times:

Nationalist movements promote and protect national language, culture and identity through political expression. They aim to control their affairs without outside interference. They are about managing their economic resources by themselves. They may want autonomy within a multinational state in order to structure it to protect their identity, or in certain cases for an independent state of their own.

Taliban meet none of these criteria in Afghanistan or Pakistan, and therefore cannot be considered a Pashtun nationalist movement. They take ideological and political inspiration from Arabs and other non-Pashtuns. They have consciously, as a matter of policy, targeted different cultural traits of Pashtuns, like tribal councils and folk music; they are not concerned about the language and promote mostly Arabic and/or interestingly, Urdu; Economic resources or their control is not their concern; neither is any political or administrative manifestation of Pashtun identity their goal.

They have killed a large number of traditional Pashtun elders in FATA and banned the Jirga as means of dispute settlement in areas under their influence. They have been eliminating the Pashtun way of life.

Isn’t it instructive that scholars who actually know the area, such as Ijaz Khan (University of Peshawar) or the oft-cited Farhat Taj, completely and unequivocally reject the Imran Khan thesis? This idea that the Taliban are somehow representative of the Pashtun nation, and are fighting and dying for them, is just silly.

Within the study of civil war in political science, non-state movements are generally divided between ethnically focused and ideologically focused. Obviously this is often a too-rigid categorization, but it’s useful because the two types of mobilizations often have different goals.

Those movements that are ethnically motivated are generally what we call nationalist movements. These tend to be focused heavily on a particular piece of territory, since group identity and territory have a very strong relationship. So if all xs are concentrated in region X, then it’s unlikely that the xs will launch a movement, violent or otherwise, in regions other than X. This is because (a) they don’t care about regions other than X; in fact, their mobilizations are often motivated by demanding increasing separation from X and non-X areas, and (b) there’s not enough xs in the non-X region for them to congeal in a movement worth worrying about. Examples include the Tamils in northern Sri Lanka or the Bengalis in former East Pakistan.

Those that are ideologically motivated tend to be focused on control of the state or political unit at large. They are not interested in controlling a sliver of territory, they are interested in re-orienting the state. The important thing to note is that granting a piece of territory to the agents of the movement is unlikely to satisfy them, since their movement is not based on the control of territory in the first place. Examples include the Communist Party of China or the various right-wing militias operating in Latin America during the Cold War.

This distinction matters because it gets at the heart of the debate on the war in Pakistan and whether it is worth fighting. If you believe that the Taliban and their local affiliates are nationalists, then it makes sense to give them control of various districts or maybe even a whole province, in the hope that that’s what they want, and will therefore cause them to stop mounting violent challenges to the state.

If you believe that the Taliban and their local affiliates are ideologues, then it doesn’t make sense to give them control of various districts because they will only use that control to consolidate their material capabilities to launch yet further assaults on the state and its citizens.

I wish we lived in a world where the Taliban were indeed nationalists because it would mean that there is fairly self-evident solution to the violence. Unfortunately we do not and there is not. Imran Khan, however, continues to believe that they are and that there is. Reasonable people can disagree on the extent to which force should be used, what type of force (air power vs shock troops vs full-blown incisions) is to be used, how negotiations should be constructed, which actors should be invited to the negotiations, and so on. But no reasonable person can believe that the “war can be ended in 90 days” or that the Taliban are likely to go quietly into the sunset if you hand over a bunch of territory to them.

Image for representative purpose – Agencies
Pakistani warplanes pounded militant hideouts in the northwestern tribal area before dawn on Wednesday, killing at least 20 Taliban insurgents, security officials said.
The jets targeted hideouts in the tribal Orakzai district and at least four compounds were hit, they said, in the latest surge of fighting between government security forces and

By Alee Paul

I never want to criticize anything.  We the people beautifully give a comprehensive solution to the problems, and even the way we identify problem that jolts me. Ask anybody over a cup of tea what is this nation’s biggest problem, everybody will close argument by wrapping it in one word, Education, poverty, bureaucracy and the list goes on. The continuous bombardment of issues from media to the nation’s head has made so many scholars out of us that we even forgot to identify what is the actual issue around here? So what is really the issue here? Question still remains.

Do we have our own opinion? Or what we are talking about is Hamid Mir, Talat Hussain and whosoever banging inside our heads. No we don’t, all is cooked up. We don’t want to think anymore, we don’t want to take a break from news now, we want updates every second, even if they are shocking enough to listen that my neighborhood was targeted by American drones last night while I was having peanuts. The channels are baking every insignificant news to ‘Breaking News’ not just because they want to, but also because what we want to hear is what we want to hear from them. Talking about the latest Maya Khan Fiasco and the drop scene was as I was expecting it to be. She got fired from that channel along with her production crew.

It was not a surprise, not something very new for me in this country, recalling the past I find so many similar stories, whether it’s Dr. Abdul Qadir Khan who was the face of the crime of Nuclear Proliferation and saved millions of lives by confessing or his former president Pervez Musharraf accepting Laal Masjid Operation as a mistake and nobody knows who else were accompanying him on those kinds of misadventures. See everybody is as naked here. Samaa TV stepped forward, apologized, presented disclaimer and did what was required in ‘greater good’ of organization. Thanks but no Thanks Samaa. We never wanted that, what we want is why that kind of thing got on air in the first place.

It’s not about Maya khan, don’t worry I am not playing devil’s advocate here. It’s about stepping out of Maya khan, and let’s contemplate for a millisecond, was firing her the best we wanted from Samaa? Was all that campaigning from Social Media to get her fired or we really want to change something around here at this point of time?

From where I see we don’t want to change our very own collective unconscious here because we believe in hating the sinner (which by the way Maya herself did too), but we don’t want to eliminate the sin and then we make common cognitive errors. We create demons to kill other demons and when the new demon starts messing we market another one more fierce and beasty in nature, and we get stuck in a vicious cycle of demonization. The demon factory created trained militia ‘Taliban’ to fight soviets, Media to encounter society’s deep dark secrets and millions of other examples we can find in our daily lives. Are we going to blame Maya for all this? Because what we do best in a stress or a panic situation is to blame. Blame game is the national game for us. I don’t want to accept at my face that a Lion can be the leader of jackals. We have to cogitate that what we want is a change of face or a change of thought process. If it would not have been Maya, it would have been somebody else. We are in a hurry we want to close the case as soon as possible and wait for another problem to hit us in the head, and that’s what we are best at. Given the problem, thought it for a second and bingo ‘we have the solution’ JUST fire her! We have no time to get hooked up to a single cause for so long.

Finally a sincere apology to Maya for losing her job, we didn’t mean to hurt you either, like you didn’t want somebody to get hurt with your program. With you Maya there are millions of your kind who deserve this or may be worse, but eventually they are not losing their jobs because they are playing it safe. See that’s common between cricket and life, one wrong selection of the shot and you will be directed to pavilion with no mercy.

As Reported by The BBC

The Taliban in Afghanistan are being directly assisted by Pakistani security services, according to a secret Nato report seen by the BBC.
The leaked report, derived from thousands of interrogations, claims the Taliban remain defiant and have wide support among the Afghan people. It alleges that Pakistan knows the locations of senior Taliban leaders.

A BBC correspondent says the report is painful reading for international forces and the Afghan government. Pakistan has strenuously denied any links with the Taliban on previous occasions.

“We have long been concerned about ties between elements of the ISI and some extremist networks,” said US Pentagon spokesman Captain John Kirby, adding that the US Defence Department had not seen the report.

The BBC’s Quentin Sommerville in Kabul says the report – on the state of the Taliban – fully exposes for the first time the relationship between the Pakistani intelligence service (ISI) and the Taliban.

The report is based on material from 27,000 interrogations with more than 4,000 captured Taliban, al-Qaeda and other foreign fighters and civilians.
It notes: “Pakistan’s manipulation of the Taliban senior leadership continues unabatedly”. It says that Pakistan is aware of the locations of senior Taliban leaders.

The report states: “As this document is derived directly from insurgents it should be considered informational and not necessarily analytical.”
Despite Nato’s strategy to secure the country with Afghan forces, the secret document details widespread collaboration between the insurgents and Afghan police and military.

Lt Col Jimmie Cummings, a spokesman for Nato’s International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) in Afghanistan, said the document was “a classified internal document that is not meant to be released to the public”.

“It is a matter of policy that documents that are classified are not discussed under any circumstances,” he said.
The report also depicts the depth of continuing support among the Afghan population for the Taliban, our correspondent says.
It paints a picture of al-Qaeda’s influence diminishing but the Taliban’s influence increasing, he adds.

In a damning conclusion, the document says that in the last year there has been unprecedented interest, even from members of the Afghan government, in joining the Taliban cause. It adds: “Afghan civilians frequently prefer Taliban governance over the Afghan government, usually as a result of government corruption.”

The report has evidence that the Taliban are purposely hastening Nato’s withdrawal by deliberately reducing their attacks in some areas and then initiating a comprehensive hearts-and-minds campaign.

It says that in areas where Isaf has withdrawn, Taliban influence has increased, often with little or no resistance from government security forces. And in many cases, with the active help of the Afghan police and army.

When foreign soldiers leave, Afghan security forces are expected to take control. However according to the report, rifles, pistols and heavy weapons have been sold by Afghan security forces in bazaars in Pakistan.

Filed under: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Pakistan Army, Pakistani Taliban, Pakistanis, Taliban Tagged: Afghanistan, BBC, Hamid Karzai, Islamabad, Kabul, NATO, Pakistan, Pakistan Army, Taliban

CASUALTIES: 15 is the number of troops who were wounded while defending the Jogi check-post. PHOTO: AFP/FILE PESHAWAR:  Security forces repulsed a major Taliban attack on a strategic check-post in the Kurram tribal region, triggering bloody clashes that left 43 people, among them eight troops, dead and dozens others wounded, the military said on Tuesday.
“

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Tuesday acknowledged “tactical advantages” to US drone strikes on the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, but appeared to shrug off the unexpected confirmation by Washington of attacks on its soil. The remarks from Pakistan’s foreign ministry came as President Barack Obama confirmed for the first time that drone aircraft had targeted militants in Pakistan’s [...]