Surging Towards Disaster in the "Afpak Theatre"

An essay well worth a read at Antifascist Calling.

With critical supply routes from Pakistan cut by Afghan Talibs and Pakistani Taliban fighters, who have launched coordinated attacks with Central Asian and Arab al-Qaeda guerrillas, the virtual closure of the Khyber Pass in the North-West Frontier Province has fueled a growing logistical crisis. Prior to last December's offensive by insurgents, some 75% of supplies for NATO forces flowed into Afghanistan along this route.

Also,

Meanwhile, on the "Pak" side of the "Afpak theatre" America's former "best friends forever," the Pakistani Taliban grouped under the banner of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Tehrik Nifaz Shariat-i-Muhammadi (Movement for the Enforcement of Islamic Law, TNSM) have been doing some "surging" of their own.

Having successfully concluded a "truce" with the government of President Asif Ali Zardari in the North-West Frontier Province's Malakand District, the nominally secular Pakistan Peoples Party has ceded the political ground to Army and Inter Services Intelligence agency-linked militants with long-standing ties to international terrorist outfits and drug trafficking cartels. In other words, American allies.

Re: Swat situation:

In the aftermath of the TTP and the Army's bloody operations Swat lay in ruins, its people terrorized and its infrastructure all but destroyed. Describing the region as a "hell-hole of bodies and ruin," The Sunday Times reports that

In the former mountain resort of Malam Jabba, where skiing thrived when the surrounding Swat Valley was an international attraction, one can still see the remnants of the Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation's flagship hotel. The building was blown up by the Taliban because it was being used for "un-Islamic activities".

Hundreds of other hotels in the valley have been destroyed or forced to close after threats from the militants. (Daud Khattakis, "Into a Taliban wasteland of blood and fear," The Sunday Times, February 22, 2009)

But the destruction of critical infrastructure that fueled the region's economy is but the visible manifestation of a virtual reign of terror that grips Swat Valley. Khattakis writes:

What I found in Swat was a hell-hole. Suicide bombings, car bombs and artillery have scarred the valley's roads and buildings. The charred remains of hospitals and even a madrasah (seminary) litter the landscape.

Nearly 200 schools have been destroyed, all girls over the age of eight are banned from lessons and, in a symbol of the Taliban's hatred of learning, the public library in Mingora has been wrecked.

The Taliban have banned music and dancing, television and internet cafes. Women cannot leave home without wearing a burqa, the all-encompassing robe. Justice has been enforced with floggings and public executions. (The Sunday Times, ibid.)

Democracy is not dead in Pakistan, but common sense may be.

BUFFETED as it is by crises, the PPP-led federal government has been astonishingly cavalier in adding to its already long list of challenges. Take for a minute the PPP at its word that it deplores the Supreme Court’s disqualification of Nawaz and Shahbaz Sharif and then it still hopes to carry forward its agenda of national reconciliation.
Yet, within hours of the disqualification, the PPP, in an egregious act of commission, imposed governor’s rule in Punjab. The order for governor’s rule was issued by President Zardari, the advice to do so was tendered by Prime Minister Gilani and the power to administer Punjab has been handed to Governor Taseer.

All three belong to the PPP. The government they removed was led by the PML-N, a party which holds nearly 50 per cent of the seats in the Punjab Assembly. Scrutinised from any angle, it is obvious that the PPP has fired the first salvo in what is shaping up to be a fierce clash with the PML-N.

Also,

Surely, whatever legal complications there may be, the collective will of parliament can find a way to allow two of Pakistan’s most popular politicians to contest elections.

Instead, the PPP has opted for a dangerous path of confrontation.

...

The PML-N may take to the streets in Punjab and threaten a severe law and order crisis. The lawyer’s long march may now culminate in violent confrontation. The federation may feel the strains of pitting the largest province against the centre. And on the back-burner may go the country’s serious crises of militancy, the economy and governance. Democracy is not dead in Pakistan, but common sense may be.

Ref: Dawn Editorial on Zardari & Taseer's latest brainfart!

You know that it would be untrue...

GeedarR, Sheher kaa rukh, etcetera.

I wonder why the newpaper of record numero deux, aka, The Wall Street Journal is offering up some depressing fare regarding our "beloved" president? Just as Zardari implemented his latest brain fart, and the Sharif brothers -- now recognizing fully the need for a public outcry against NRO-zadah Zardari (having been quiet for some time ... all this time actually) -- brought their supporters to the streeet, why did WSJ have to offer such bad press for Zardari?

Here is an excerpt... looks like herr prezidente is under considerable pressure! :

The widower of slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is alienating both allies and foes. Even his personal style has turned off supporters of his wife -- some of whom serve in his government but are now reluctant to deal with him directly. At meetings in recent months, according to several witnesses, he lashed out at senior ministers, calling one a "witch" and another "impotent."

I wonder who the "witch" is .... Sherry Reghman?

I noticed long ago that Zardari was a bit of a lecher ... seems like he's a jack-ass to boot! ("to boot!" get it? hahahah)

Some of those who visit him there, however, say they are frequently subjected to boorish behavior.

At a meeting in mid-January, Mr. Zardari taunted Sen. Raza Rabbani, Pakistan's provincial coordination minister, calling him "impotent" after the two disagreed on how to approach allied political parties about running certain candidates in upcoming Senate elections. "You always say no, and that is a reason why you don't have children," the president told the 55-year-old senator, according to multiple witnesses.

In previous meetings, Mr. Zardari has called a senior cabinet minister a "witch" on many occasions. He has told others to "shut up" or mocked their personal foibles, divorces, affairs. "This is what you come to expect at the presidency. You go there and you are insulted," said another senator who was at the mid-January meeting. .

Officials say his behavior is putting off people to the point where they actively try to avoid working with him. That is keeping the government from getting things done, they say, citing everything from shaping economic policy to deciding the future of the tribal areas, which are ruled by the federal government.

Full Article at WSJ

Can't a ni66a get a table dance?

Why is Zardari doing a "loor loor" tour of china without ANY PROTOCOL? My guess is he went there to kiss Hillary's ass, but she snubbed him all the way from Beijeng and went back to D.C to meet her counterpart (Mr. Shah Mehmood Qureshi!)

So, now, Zardari has to be content with meeting the "chairman of Shanghai". It is like Hamid Karzai came to Pakistan and the highest official that met him was "Naib Chairman, Zilla Council Lahore" .... JTFC!!1

Limited capabilities ....

Limited capabilities: The future of the armed forces By Ayesha Siddiqa

IN the past year or so, different American think tanks and research organizations have been trying to evaluate the future of the Pakistan military, an organization that is critical in the war against terror. Globally, governments are keen to know and predict what kind of management and which ideology will shape the thinking and planning of the officer cadre of Pakistan’s armed forces. The questions asked from anyone who has done some work on Pakistan’s military relate to the future stars of the military and their social background. Such research, as indicated earlier, is linked with the concern that a nuclear-weapons equipped military must not go the route it had traversed under its former army chief, General Ziaul Haq. There is also the understanding that a large number of junior and middle-ranking officers, as opposed to the higher ranks, have become ideologically conservative, even bordering on being sympathetic to the Talibaan. But is this assessment correct? More important, what is the future of Pakistan’s armed forces in terms of the dominant ideology, capabilities, and political ambitions?

and...

The more important factor is the mediocrity in planning and generalship, a problem that has been the military’s fate for very long. The lack of capacity in planning also emanates from the fact that the army, which is the largest service of the armed forces, allocates less time on professional work and more on power politics. Thus the claim that the military is professional hardly means anything considering that successive generals have launched military misadventures to win wars and battles.

also,

The military’s continued involvement in politics has another downside as well – it would further erode professional management at the top. The service chief, especially from the army, is selected on political grounds. In any case, it is a rarity for the selection of service chiefs, especially the army chief, to be based on the principle of seniority. Such problems influence the military’s performance and professionalism in the long run. So, despite the claims by the present army chief, General Ashfaq Kiyani, that the military can face any challenges, the organisation’s capability to counter internal and external threats remains limited.

Ascent of Man - Music of The Spheres

Identity Crisis anyone?

What percentage of people in Pakistan look like THIS? 5%? 7%? Does this picture represent ANYTHING relating to this land? White people, celebrating white people holiday ... Piyar ka din hai ji...

Sassi punnooN aur Heer raaNjha meeN kiRay paRay haiN kia?

Mongrel nation with illusions of grandeur and a severe identity crisis celebrating a commercial holiday from faraway racist lands.

This is Pakistan.

The Price of the Mullah

SINCE use of Islam became central to British machinations, it is important to take a close look at how they went about it. The diaries of NWFP Governor Sir George Cunningham reveal the variety of ways these heretics conspired to employ for their own selfish ends pious Muslim leaders and the devotees of the Prophet of Islam (May peace be upon him).

The diaries are preserved in the India Office Library in London among his personal papers. They are available to anyone for verification or research. I obtained official copies of these on requests.

I am conscious that the diaries mention names whose exposure will cause deep hurt to their present descendants, but I consider it a duty to the nation that it be told of the tactics adopted by the colonial power to prolong its reign. The people should know this lest any other power in future tries again to usurp their right by using the sacred name of Islam.

When one reads the Cunningham diaries one is amazed how very respectable, angelic persons, even some who had been trained in as inspiring and ennobling an institution as Deoband, had allowed themselves to be used for the cause of the British. With Quran in hand and the Prophet’s teaching around their necks they went and sold off their conscience and their faith in return for a few pieces of silver.

Creating communal and religious splits among Indians and using these for their own ends had been standard British practice. In NWFP, however, they were faced with the problem that the Muslims here were in such majority that they had no fear of non-Muslim ascendancy. Besides, the Pushtoons had such confidence in themselves that they could not conceive of ever becoming subservient to anyone. Those who had defied as powerful and ruthless a nation as the British couldn’t be intimidated by any one else.

The British therefore adopted a special tactic here – in the province generally, in the tribal and Afghan areas in particular. It consisted in winning over the mullahs and making them their local support against the Russians. With the 1917 revolution in Russia the Czarist military legacy had acquired an ideological force as well. The later specially needed to be reckoned with. The British settled on Islam as an appropriate counterpoise.

There was a good precedence. When the British had first encountered real danger from Afghanistan in the form of Amir Ammnullah Khan they had successfully used Islam. It was used at that time against Muslims themselves and against the Pushtoon king of an Islamic country. Later, when war clouds began gathering over Europe, they again used Islam politically against threats to their power in India. There seemed no reason why the formula could not be repeated against an ideological conflict with the Russian.
...

-- Facts Are Sacred -- Khan Abdul Wali Khan

Pakistan was created to fight the russian threat. When the british left, they had already created "stay behind networks" which are controlling this nation to this day.

The rest is bullshit fed to the simple minded masses.

Bol jo kuch kehna hai keh lay -- Happy 98th Faiz!

On the so-called "treachery" of PML-Nawaz Sharif

These 3 links were posted by @tharapolitics on pkpolitics.com:

Expected decision of PML-N to not participate in sit-in

Lawyers didn’t consult for Dharna. Nawaz Sharif

Islamabad sit-in ..Lawyers slam PML-N’s indecision

First of all, I think the Lawyer's Movement for Rule of Law needs to get away from the concept of the ONE DHARNA TO RULE THEM ALL. It is a dangerous way of looking at things and it will only help bring things to a head in a way which will be counter productive.

I am in favor of slow and steady, continuous struggle for the cause, which is Rule of Law!

Regarding Nawaz Sharif statements, like I've been saying all along, NS had the benefit of the 'easy street' on account of not being in the tough spot of having to make choices. We are beginning to see the choices being made now. And we don't like it.

Although, to expect 'revolutionary' politics from Nawaz Sharif would be a little naive. He is bound by the dynamics of his class in what is essentially a class conflict coming to a head.

What surprised me more than NS's statement were the statements of Kh. Saad Rafique the other day. Whatever happened to the "Young Turks" ??? Javed Hashmi is nowhere to be seen these days on the talk circuit, Saad Rafique is sounding like Farzana Raja as Kanjar Haiwan triumphantly "shakes hands" with him on National TV!!!

I have a feeling that after returning from our "laazivaal dost" aka China the Reptilian Infidel, one Qazi Hussain ahmed will also be a "changed man". I think Qazi and his entourage of Qazi look-alikes (why DOES liaqat baloch look disturbingly like Qazi Hussain Ahmed anyway?) are getting a verbal chittrol of their lives from the Communist Party Bosses.

China DOES NOT Want a dangerously right-tilted Pakistan which could appear if the Qazi-Gul-Taliban-Fazlu nexus gets its way by leveraging the Lawyers Movement.

So. Imran Khan stands alone once again. Lawyers at this point should go ahead with the dharna AS THEY want to do it... not to do grandiose things, not to make Islamabad Tehran 2.0, but just to make the point. To make the point that no matter how many of their previous fellow travellers change sides or decide to go sit on the fence yet once again, the underlying truth of their JUST CAUSE will never change!

And before we start whining about the treachery of PML-N, we should once again consider the corrosive effects of family ownership of political parties in pakistan. We are once again face to face with another decision which comes about NOT because it is the decision of the party members (let alone the wish of the people) but because a certain family that controls (owns?) the party cannot let its own interest go neglected any longer.

Another gentle reminder to us all, that without holding certain basic ground rules to be sacred, we will NEVER make any progress, and will forever be doomed to be dissappointed by decisions made by parties in the interests of families who run them as business ventures and not as politicial associations for the benefit of the workers and people at large.

One such basic truth we cannot turn away from anymore is grassroots democracy and a general culture of transparent, democratic decision making in all political parties of Pakistan

-- Originally posted as a comment at pkpolitics.com

It won't smell like urine, and will be tasty too!

PROMISE???????

hahahahahaha!!!!

I just couldn't resist posting this. Apparently, we don't have sole monopoly over creating rightwing FUCKNUTS! India, despite the noises it makes to the contrary, is quite self sufficient in the "FUCKNUT INDUSTRY"

From the people who brought you Gandhi's Murder, Taliban Style terrorist networks of the "Hindu" Kind and quite possibly the Christian Church Burnings and the Gujarat Massacre comes, are you ready?

COW URINE!!

TaDAA!!!!

Yessirree Bob, RSS (not the internet protocol, but the hindu terrorist organization) is launching a 'soft' drink based on ... ahem.... cow urine!

Link to Times Online Article:

Excerpt:

The bovine brew is in the final stages of development by the Cow Protection Department of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), India's biggest and oldest Hindu nationalist group, according to the man who makes it.

Om Prakash, the head of the department, said the drink – called "gau jal", or "cow water" – in Sanskrit was undergoing laboratory tests and would be launched "very soon, maybe by the end of this year".

"Don't worry, it won't smell like urine and will be tasty too," he told The Times from his headquarters in Hardwar, one of four holy cities on the River Ganges. "Its USP will be that it's going to be very healthy. It won't be like carbonated drinks and would be devoid of any toxins."

The Owl Who Married a Goose -- An Inuit Legend

Myth of Independence - ZA Bhutto -- (Quotes N Notes)

CH - 1 The Struggle for Equality

pg 4
"Twenty years of independence have revealed to the people of Pakistan and India the sharp difference that really exists between independence and sovereign equality. The struggle to attain sovereign equality continues undiminished. Foreign domination has been replaced by foreign intervention, and the power to make decisions radically affecting the lives of our peoples has been curtailed by the cannons of neo-colonialism. The war against Nazism has been followed by the cold war between the United States and the Soviet Union, which was further intensified by the end of Mao Tse-Tung's long march to victory in 1949. "

CH - 2 Global Powers and Small Nations

pg. 7

The main purpose of imperialism was to exploit the resources of the colonies. Vast territories were divided and distributed among the imperial Powers, which then drained the resources of the subject peoples. With the end of imperialism in its classical form, only the system of exploitation underwent a transformation. As the colonial Powers withdrew from their colonies, the policy of divide and rule became obsolete and was replaced by that of unite and rule to meet the challenge of new times, although to achieve the same objective. The changed conditions necessitated a change in the method. In the past the colonies were exploited separately by each imperial Power.

Now that these Powers have vacated their possessions, it has become necessary for them to merge the resources of the former colonies into groupings for better collective exploitation. As the position of the exploiters has changed, so also it has become necessary to change that of the exploited. Previously the imperial Powers went separately about their missions of exploitation. Now that they have joined together for their common advantage, it becomes equally necessary for them that their former colonies should pool their resources to facilitate exploitation. The new situation calls for corresponding adjustments both in the former colonies and in the former colonizing countries to make market conditions more suitable for exploitation. Larger markets generate greater exports and imports on terms favourable to the advanced nations of the West. They encourage increased consumption of goods and a more systematic exploitation of resources.

They facilitate the manipulation of prices internationally. There are many advantages, most of them accruing to the former colonial Powers. The security interests of the free world are better served, but economic exploitation remains the principal concern. This is the inevitable adjustment in the transition from colonialism to neo-colonialism, which is why our independence remains a myth.

"Unity"

Unity must be achieved for the benefit of the people concerned and not for the benefit of foreign Powers and their agents. It should be put in the service of the people and not at the command of foreign forces

What Kind of Unity?

Unity which seeks to end exploitation is invariably resisted by foreign Powers determined to retain their privileges in one form or another or fearful of losing them. It goes without saying that the West does not want the unity of, or co-operation between, states that want to assert their independence and control their resources in their own interests. In such cases every effort is made to divide and weaken them. Indeed, in Vietnam the United States is bleeding itself white to prevent the unity of the North and the South.

Lawyers PLiiiizzzz!!!

An interesting episode of "Jawab Deyh" with Host Iftikhar Ahmed grilling Ali Ahmed Kurd, President Supreme Court Bar Association (2008-2009).



I am disappointed by the confusion Kurd and Athar minallah are creating. I would expect these front runners to be crystal clear in their thinking, their assessment of the situation and their demands. What I’ve seen time and again is bumbling, in-coherent answers and a lazy resort to emotionalism.

Not that their case is weak, but that they take their support for granted and are now so lazy that they don’t even bother to defend their case with meticulously logical reasoning.

The result is that they leave themselves open to broadsides like we witnessed in this program and contribute towards decreasing the credibility of the Movement for Rule of Law.

Iftikhar Ahmed did a brilliant job of cross questioning him and Kurd was left speechless on more than one occasion. Good job Iftikhar Ahmed!