Why Was the Islamic Republic of Pakistan formed? This question keeps on nagging me. Also, why was it decided to name it ‘Islamic’ Republic of Pakistan?

Let’s go down the memory lane of the history of Pakistan and search for answers. Flashback. Whoa, where am I? The place seems to be set up for some conference. It says on the banner that it is the Muslim League’s Annual Conference in Allahabad. History tells me that it must be the conference that was held on 29th and 30th of December 1930. Dear me, is that Allama Muhammad Iqbal (B. A. (Arabic and Philosophy) – Government College, Lahore. Awarded Jamaluddin Gold Medal for securing highest marks in Arabic, and another Gold Medal in English;M.A. (Philosophy) – Government College, Lahore. Secured first rank in Punjab state and awarded Gold Medal.Reader in Arabic, Oriental College, Lahore;Ph.D., Munich University, Germany (Thesis: Development of Metaphysics in Persia)). Shush, apparently he is about to give a speech. Let’s hear what he has got to say…

“It cannot be denied that Islam, regarded as an ethical ideal plus a certain kind of polity – by which expression I mean a social structure regulated by a legal system and animated by a specific ethical ideal – has been the chief formative factor in the life-history of the Muslims of India. It has furnished those basic emotions and loyalties which gradually unify scattered individuals and groups, and finally transform them into a well-defined people, possessing a moral consciousness of their own. Indeed it is not an exaggeration to say that India is perhaps the only country in the world where Islam, as a people-building force, has worked at its best. In India, as elsewhere, the structure of Islam as a society is almost entirely due to the working of Islam as a culture inspired by a specific ethical ideal. What I mean to say is that Muslim society, with its remarkable homogeneity and inner unity, has grown to be what it is, under the pressure of the laws and institutions associated with the culture of Islam.

“The ideas set free by European political thinking, however, are now rapidly changing the outlook of the present generation of Muslims both in India and outside India. Our younger men, inspired by these ideas, are anxious to see them as living forces in their own countries, without any critical appreciation of the facts which have determined their evolution in Europe. In Europe Christianity was understood to be a purely monastic order which gradually developed into a vast church organisation. The protest of Luther was directed against this church organization, not against any system of polity of a secular nature, for the obvious reason that there was no such polity associated with Christianity. And Luther was perfectly justified in rising in revolt against this organization; though, I think, he did not realize that in the peculiar conditions which obtained in Europe, his revolt would eventually mean the complete displacement of [the] universal ethics of Jesus by the growth of a plurality of national and hence narrower systems of ethics.

“Thus the upshot of the intellectual movement initiated by such men as Rousseau and Luther was the break-up of the one into [the] mutually ill-adjusted many, the transformation of a human into a national outlook, requiring a more realistic foundation, such as the notion of country, and finding expression through varying systems of polity evolved on national lines, i.e. on lines which recognize territory as the only principle of political solidarity. If you begin with the conception of religion as complete other-worldliness, then what has happened to Christianity in Europe is perfectly natural. The universal ethics of Jesus is displaced by national systems of ethics and polity. The conclusion to which Europe is consequently driven is that religion is a private affair of the individual and has nothing to do with what is called man’s temporal life.

“Islam does not bifurcate the unity of man into an irreconcilable duality of spirit and matter. In Islam God and the universe, spirit and matter, Church and State, are organic to each other. Man is not the citizen of a profane world to be renounced in the interest of a world of spirit situated elsewhere. To Islam, matter is spirit realizing itself in space and time. Europe uncritically accepted the duality of spirit and matter, probably from Manichean thought. Her best thinkers are realizing this initial mistake today, but her statesmen are indirectly forcing the world to accept it as an unquestionable dogma. It is, then, this mistaken separation of spiritual and temporal which has largely influenced European religious and political thought and has resulted practically in the total exclusion of Christianity from the life of European States. The result is a set of mutually ill-adjusted States dominated by interests not human but national. And these mutually ill-adjusted States, after trampling over the moral and religious convictions of Christianity, are today feeling the need of a federated Europe, i.e. the need of a unity which the Christian church organisation originally gave them, but which, instead of reconstructing it in the light of Christ’s vision of human brotherhood, they considered fit to destroy under the inspiration of Luther… I hope you will pardon me for this apparently academic discussion. To address this session of the All-India Muslim League you have selected a man who is [=has] not despaired of Islam as a living force for freeing the outlook of man from its geographical limitations, who believes that religion is a power of the utmost importance in the life of individuals as well as States, and finally who believes that Islam is itself Destiny and will not suffer a destiny….

“What, then, is the problem and its implications? Is religion a private affair? Would you like to see Islam as a moral and political ideal, meeting the same fate in the world of Islam as Christianity has already met in Europe? Is it possible to retain Islam as an ethical ideal and to reject it as a polity, in favor of national polities in which [the] religious attitude is not permitted to play any part? This question becomes of special importance in India, where the Muslims happen to be a minority. The proposition that religion is a private individual experience is not surprising on the lips of a European. In Europe the conception of Christianity as a monastic order, renouncing the world of matter and fixing its gaze entirely on the world of spirit, led, by a logical process of thought, to the view embodied in this proposition. The nature of the Prophet’s religious experience, as disclosed in the Quran, however, is wholly different. It is not mere experience in the sense of a purely biological event, happening inside the experiment and necessitating no reactions on its social environment. It is individual experience creative of a social order. Its immediate outcome is the fundamentals of a polity with implicit legal concepts whose civic significance cannot be belittled merely because their origin is revelational.

“The religious ideal of Islam, therefore, is organically related to the social order which it has created. The rejection of the one will eventually involve the rejection of the other. Therefore the construction of a polity on national lines, if it means a displacement of the Islamic principle of solidarity, is simply unthinkable to a Muslim…

“…Personally, I would go farther than the demands embodied in it. I would like to see the Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, Sindh and Baluchistan amalgamated into a single State. Self-government within the British Empire, or without the British Empire, the formation of a consolidated North-West Indian Muslim State appears to me to be the final destiny of the Muslims, at least of North-West India…

… One lesson I have learnt from the history of Muslims. At critical moments in their history it is Islam that has saved Muslims and not vice versa.”

Hmm… from what I know about Dr. Muhammad Iqbal, he is not an illiterate. But he has also ended up being on the list of illiterates of this country as he perfectly fits the bill of that category that some elders of Pakistan have formed.

So diagnosis:

Allama Muhammad Iqbal is clearly involving religion in political and social matters and that is supposed to be on of the major symptoms of illiteracy. Therefore, he was an illiterate.

It is very disappointing to know that the gentleman, who envisioned Pakistan turned out to be an illiterate. He even talked of unity!!! That is a criminal offense. The ‘literate’ elders of the country believe in poking fun and demeaning citizens belonging to different provinces. Unity is not supposed to exist, eh?

Well, let’s hope the founder of Pakistan was ‘literate’ and didn’t make such statements—Hark! He is giving a speech. It’s in January of 1948:

“The constitution of Pakistan has yet to be framed by the Pakistan Constituent Assembly. I do not know what the ultimate shape of this constitution is going to be, but I am sure that it will be of a democratic type, embodying the essential principle of Islam. Today, they are as applicable in actual life as they were 1,300 years ago.”

My mind just can’t accept that the founder of Pakistan, Baba-e-Qaum, had such ‘stone age’ thoughts. Or is history lying to us about their beliefs? Seemingly all the educated and prudent personalities in the world are turning out to be illiterates? My intellect simply cannot accept that.

We wanted independence. Why? Because we wanted an independent country where we could practice Islam. But now we consider Islamic beliefs the beliefs of illiterates.

I have been born 40+ years after Independence, but I believe that those principles still hold true in this age. Reason: Islam applies to all times. I am not accountable for other people’s deeds, but as a Muslim I will always stand, or in someone’s words “guard”, my Religion-the Religion that Allah (SWT) has commanded all to follow, the Religion that Rasoolullah (s.a.w.w.) taught us. I S L A M. The only way of life.

Allama Iqbal’s Point of View of Muslims:

نہ تو زمین کے لیے ہے نہ آسماں کے لیے

جہاں ہے تیرے لیے تو نہیں جہاں کے لیے

Momin-A Great Power:

کوئ اندازہ کر سکتا ہے اس کے زور بازو کا

نگاہ مرد مؤمن سے بدل جاتی ہیں تقدیریں

by Momina

Have you seen the movie “12 Angry Men”? If you don’t let me give you a summary of that film of 1957. Film was mostly shot in a jury room with 12 jury members who were gathered to give judgment on a murder case involving a teenager as a suspect. At the start of jury’s discussion there was only one man who stood up for that teenager suspect and other 11 refused to favor his decision and the arguments begin!. Well that man one by one convinced all the jury members in 90 minutes of arguments. That film was a super hit and was nominated for Oscars and still rated 7th greatest movie of all in the world. Moral of the movie is that one man alone can change the obvious thing with his wisdom and can build up a team which can destroy every evil no matter how strong that seems to be.

One movie similar to this one is going on in our country where one Man stood up against the strong evil now by this time he has made a team of 17 Angry Men which is destroying every evil in Pakistan like NRO and its beneficiaries and I am sure that if this picture continues for say unlimited time then our country is going to lead the list of all time successful countries and actors of this movie “The 17 Angry Men” will not only be nominated for Oscars but they will win them all!

KABUL: Ministers have agreed on a NATO plan for the gradual handover of security responsibilities in Afghanistan to Afghan forces. Earlier in the talks, ministers discussed the withdrawal of nuclear weapons from Europe.

NATO ministers agreed on conditions for handing over security responsibilities in Afghanistan to Afghan forces this year.

The alliance stressed that the transition would be gradual and that it would depend on the conditions being fulfilled rather than a timetable.

“It will not be a pullout. It will not be a run for the exit,” NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told a news conference on Friday after the meeting of foreign ministers in the Estonian capital Tallinn.

Rasmussen stressed there was a need for allies to provide more personnel to train Afghan forces. “What will happen is that we hand over lead responsibility to the Afghans and our soldiers will then move into a more supportive role,” he said.

The handing over of responsibilities is important if NATO is to reduce its troop commitment – which currently stands at more than 120,000 – in the country. With more than 4,000 troops, Germany has the third largest military contingent in Afghanistan behind the United States and Great Britain.

The first day of talks on Thursday was dominated by discussions about the US stockpile of nuclear weapons in Europe. Differences emerged between the United States and some European politicians such as Germany’s Guido Westerwelle, who thinks the weapons are a legacy of the Cold War.

“My personal view is: the presence of American nuclear weapons in Europe is an essential part of a credible nuclear deterrent,” NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said after the ministers’ first round of talks.

The 28-member organization is currently rethinking its entire strategy, and is set to establish a new official doctrine at a summit in November.

Asif Ali Zardari dubbed “Mr 10%” an unknown happy-go-lucky son of a small-time businessman who struck gold by marrying one of the worlds most glamorous women Former Prime Minister of Pakistan Benzair Bhutto. Taking advantage of his wife’s authority he is known to have taken kickbacks from many deals inside and outside of Pakistan. The most famous was a $4 billion deal to buy 32 Mirage jets from the French company Dassault. Documents, which include letters from Dassault executives, indicate an agreement was reached to pay a 5% “remuneration” – about $200m – to Marleton Business, a BVI company controlled by Zardari. Besides these many more kickback deals were taken with companies such as ARY Gold, Social de Surveillance (SGS), Cotecna, and ZPC Ursus, a Polish tractor company.

Zardari assets holding amount into hundreds of millions of dollars easily, Having 8 prime properties in the UK, of which once is the famous Rockwood Estate 365 acres in Surrey, worth £4.35m has now been sold and money sent back to the Govt. of Pakistan. Also 14 multi-million dollar mansions in the USA, including owning Holiday Inn hotel Houston, Texas Owned by “Mr 10%” and Iqbal Memon and Sadar-ud-Din Hashwani.

They (Zardari and Benazir Bhutto) also have huge business ventures in the Middle East running into hundreds of millions if not billion mark. Mr Zardari also has huge stakes in sugar mills all over Pakistan, which include: Sakrand Sugar Mills, Nawabshah, Ansari Sugar Mills, Hyderabad, Mirza Sugar Mills, Badin, Pangrio Sugar Mills, Thatta and Bachani Sugar Mills, Sanghar.

I have been in receipt of this extensive list of Asif Zardari’s Local and International holdings sent to me via a number of sources, in all honesty I have no way of precisely confirming the authenticity of this list but place it on this blog in an attempt to figure out what true what is simply hype. There is little doubt in my mind that this list may be quite close to being authentic considering the massive corruption that has plagued Pakistan in his previous two tenures in power (watch the video below), little to know that the Metamorphosis of 2008 which changed the way he appeared orchestrated after the assassination of his wife on 27th December 2007. Are we to believe in a ‘rejuvenated, honest by-the-books leader’, or are we gearing up to push Zardari further up into Pakistans Rich List of 2008 where he was previously ranked at #2 (also; dou number in urdu).

I can also suspect that the sudden revelation if this list could be a deliberate retaliation by the ‘agencies’ to push Zardari on the back foot and move off Musharraf’s impeachment attack. Whatever be the case this massive list is jaw dropping amazing, I have no idea about the total valuation of the wealth itemized here but I suspect it could easily be an aggregated wealth as listed = £900m / ($1.8billion) or more.

The video below tells where the major share of the above mentioned wealth came from:

ZARDARI’S LOCAL ASSETS:

1. Plot no. 121, Phase VIII, DHA Karachi.
2. Agricultural land situated in Deh Dali Wadi, Taluka, Tando Allah Yar.
3. Agricultural property located in Deh Tahooki Taluka, District Hyderabad measuring 65.15 acres.
4. Agricultural land falling in Deh 76-Nusrat, Taluka, District Nawabshah measuring 827.14 acres
5. Agricultural land situated in Deh 76-Nusrat, Taluka, District Nawabshah measuring 293.18 acres
6. Residential plot No 3 (Now House) Block No B-I, City Survey No 2268 Ward-A Nawabshah
7. Huma Heights (Asif Apartments) 133, Depot Lines, Commissariat Road, Karachi
8. Trade Tower Building 3/CL/V Abdullah Haroon Road, Karachi
9. House No 8, St 9, F-8/2, Islamabad

10.  Agricultural land in Deh 42 Dad Taluka/ District Nawabshah

11.  Agricultural land in Deh 51 Dad Taluka Distt Nawabshah

12.  Plot No 3 & 4 Sikni (residential) Near Housing Society Ltd. Nawabshah

13.  CafT Sheraz (C.S No.. 2231/2 & 2231/3) Nawabshah

14.  Agricultural land in Deh 23-Deh Taluka & District Nawabshah

15.  Agricultural property in Deh 72-A, Nusrat Taluka, Nawabshah

16.  Agricultural land in Deh 76-Nusrat Taluka, Nawabshah

17.  Plot No. A/136 Survey No 2346 Ward A Government Employee’s Cooperative Housing Society Ltd, Nawabshah

18.  Agricultural land in Deh Jaryoon Taluka Tando Allah Yar, Distt. Hyderabad

19.  Agricultural land in Deh Aroro Taluka Tando Allah Yar, Distt. Hyderabad

20.  Agricultural land in Deh Nondani Taluka Tando Allah Yar, Distt. Hyderabad

21.  Agricultural land in Deh Lotko Taluka Tando Allah Yar, Distt. Hyderabad

22.  Agricultural land in Deh Jhol Taluka Tando Allah Yar, Distt. Hyderabad

23.  Agricultural land in Deh Kandari Taluka Tando Allah Yar, Distt. Hyderabad

24.  Agricultural land in Deh Deghi Taluka Tando Mohammad Khan

25.  Agricultural land in Deh Rahooki Taluka, Hyderabad

26.  Property in Deh Charo Taluka, Badin

27.  Agricultural property in Deh Dali Wadi Taluka, Hyderabad

28.  Five acres prime land allotted by DG KDA in 1995/96

29.  4,000 kanals on Simli Dam

30.  80 acres of land at Hawkes Bay

31.  13 acres of land at Maj Gulradi (KPT Land)

32.  One acre plot, GCI, Clifton

33.  One acre of land, State Life (International Center, Sadar)

34.  FEBCs worth Rs. 4 million

SHARES IN SUGAR MILLS INCLUDE:

1. Sakrand Sugar Mills Nawabshah
2. Ansari Sugar
3. Mills Hyderabad
4. Mirza Sugar Mills Badin
5. Pangrio Sugar Mills Thatta
6. Bachani Sugar Mills Sanghar

FRONT COMPANIES IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES:

1. Bomer Fiannce Inc, British Virgin Islands
2. Mariston Securities Inc, British Virgin Islands
3. Marleton Business S A, British Virgin Islands
4. Capricorn Trading S A, British Virgin Islands
5. Fagarita Consulting INc, British Virgin Islands
6. Marvil Associated Inc, British Virgin Islands
7. Pawnbury Finance Ltd, British Virgin Islands
8. Oxton Trading Limited, British Virgin Islands
9. Brinslen Invest S A, British Virgin Islands

10.  Chimitex Holding S A, British Virgin Islands

11.  Elkins Holding S A, British Virgin Islands

12.  Minister Invest Ltd, British Virgin Islands

13.  Silvernut Investment Inc, British Virgin Islands

14.  Tacolen Investment Ltd, British Virgin Islands

15.  Marlcrdon Invest S A, British Virgin Islands

16.  Dustan Trading Inc, British Virgin Islands

17.  Reconstruction and Development Finance Inc, British Virgin Islands

18.  Nassam Alexander

1. Westminster Securities Inc.
2. Laptworth Investment Inc 202, Saint Martin Drive, West Jacksonville
3. Intra Foods Inc. 3376, Lomrel Grove, Jacksonville, Florida
4. Dynatel Trading Co, Florida
5. A..S Realty Inc. Palm Beach Gardens Florida
6. Bon Voyage Travel Consultancy Inc, Florida

ZARDARI’S PROPERTIES IN UK:

1. 355 acre Rockwood Estate, Surrey (Now stands admitted)
2. Flat 6, 11 Queensgate Terrace, London SW7
3. 26 Palace Mansions, Hammersmith Road, London W14
4. 27 Pont Street, London, SW1
5. 20 Wilton Crescent, London SW1
6. 23 Lord Chancellor Walk, Coombe Hill, Kingston, Surrey
7. The Mansion, Warren Lane, West Hampstead, London
8. A flat at Queensgate Terrace, London
9. Houses at Hammersmith Road, Wilton Crescent, Kingston and in Hampstead.

ZARDARI’S PROPERTIES IN BELGIUM:

1. 12-3 Boulevard De-Nieuport, 1000, Brussels, (Building containing 4 shops and 2 large apartments)
2. Chausee De-Mons, 1670, Brussels

ZARDARI’S PROPERTIES IN FRANCE:

1. La Manoir De La Reine Blanche and property in Cannes

ZARDARI’S PROPERTIES IN USA — in the name of Asif Zardari and managed by Shimmy Qureshi:

1. Stud farm in Texas
2. Wellington Club East, West Palm Beach
3. 12165 West Forest Hills, Florida
4. Escue Farm 13,524 India Mound, West Palm Beach
5. 3,220 Santa Barbara Drive, Wellington Florida
6. 13,254 Polo Club Road, West Palm Beach Florida
7. 3,000 North Ocean Drive, Singer Islands, Florida
8. 525 South Flager Driver, West Palm Beach, Florida
9. Holiday Inn Houston Owned by Asif Ali Zardari, Iqbal Memon and Sadar-ud-Din Hashwani

ZARDARI’S BANK ACCOUNTS IN FOREIGN COMPANIES:

1. Union Bank of Switzerland (Account No. 552.343, 257.556.60Q, 433.142.60V, 216.393.60T)
2. Citibank Private Limited (SWZ) (Account No. 342034)
3. Citibank N A Dubai (Account No. 818097)
4. Barclays Bank (Suisse) (Account No. 62290209)
5. Barclays Bank (Suisse) (Account No. 62274400)
6. Banque Centrade Ormard Burrus S A
7. Banque Pache S A
8. Banque Pictet & Cie
9. Banque La Henin, Paris (Account No. 00101953552)

10.  Bank Natinede Paris in Geneva (Account NO.. 563.726.9)

11.  Swiss Bank Corporation

12.  Chase Manhattan Bank Switzerland

13.  American Express Bank Switzerland

14.  Societe De Banque Swissee

15.  Barclays Bank (Knightsbridge Branch) (Account No. 90991473)

16.  Barclays Bank, Kingston and Chelsea Branch, (Sort Code 20-47-34135)

17.  National Westminster Bank, Alwych Branch (Account No. 9683230)

18.  Habib Bank (Pall Mall Branch).

19.  National Westminster Bank, Barking Branch, (Account No. 28558999).

20.  Habib Bank AG, Moorgate, London EC2

21.  National Westminster Bank, Edgware Road, London

22.  Banque Financiei E Dela Citee, Credit Suisse

23.  Habib Bank AG Zurich, Switzerland

24.  Pictet Et Cie, Geneva

25.  Credit Agricole, Paris

26.  Credit Agridolf, Branch 11, Place Brevier, 76440, Forges Les Faux

27.  Credit Agricole, Branch Haute – Normandie, 76230, Boise Chillaum

The US-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue was supposed to correct the mistakes done by Pakistani leadership in dealing with Washington after 9/11.  So how did we end up ‘outsourcing’ Pakistan’s problems to American bureaucrats, auditors and senators?

By Ahmed Quraishi

Thursday, 8 April 2010.

WWW.PAKNATIONALISTS.COM

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—Seeing the official Pakistani wish list fort the Strategic Dialogue you’d think Pakistan’s managers are outsourcing Pakistan to America. If Washington is supposed to solve all of our energy, educational, strategic, military and economic problems, what are we here for?  To get commission on aid grants?

The United States came to the Strategic Dialogue with a gun to its head.  We are grateful to Washington for giving us a fair hearing. But can we force a change of mindset in Washington just because the US is facing a temporary setback in Afghanistan and needs Pakistan – again – to cut its losses?

The Bush administration caused a lot of damage to Pakistan’s geostrategic environment in the past eight years.  Far from receiving any benefit, we saw our ally empowering our enemies. Even now, our ally reluctantly launched a strategic dialogue. The fear is that Pakistan is being taken again for a ride just as George W. Bush did when he dubbed us a Major Non-Nato Ally promising a new day that never came.  This is why Pakistan’s military commanders need to be congratulated for driving a hard bargain on Pakistan’s role in any new arrangements in Afghanistan. This snatched some victory from the jaws of what looked like sure defeat.

But our bargain is still not hard enough. For a nation that has suffered more than US $ 35 billion in losses and more than five thousand dead, one fifth of them due to US bombings in our tribal belt and others due to other regional intrigues, our position is still not fully recognized. There is an impression in the air that Washington is somehow doing a favor to Islamabad by holding a strategic dialogue.

We need to strengthen the hands of Pakistan’s friends in Washington and work with them to roll back the damage done to Pakistan’s interests.  But for this our political and military leaders need to level with their American counterparts on a number of major issues.

Will the US;

·         End its policy of encouraging the expansion in Indian military footprint in the region?

·         End its policy of demonizing Pakistan in the media?

·         End efforts to create pliant governments in Islamabad cultivate political proxies?

·         End efforts to contain Pakistan’s military and intelligence infrastructure?

·         End efforts to make Pakistan’s interests subservient to those of India’s in the region?

·         End its policy of ignoring Kashmir?

·         End its policy of not accepting Pakistan’s nuclear power status?

There is no hint on any one of these issues in the joint statement issued at the end of the talks.  This is why the jubilant statements by our prime minister and the foreign minister after the first few rounds of the dialogue were premature. They reinforced the impression that the Pakistani government will be happy with crumbs.  There was no mention of a free trade agreement or even a hint on a civil nuclear energy agreement. And yet our government took the exceptional step of moving the courts to reopen cases against Dr. A. Q. Khan, which appears like a lousy attempt at appeasement and is not a good precedent for the future.

Up to one thousand Pakistanis or more have died as collateral damage during CIA’s drone operations in our tribal belt, not to mention of the thousands of affected families of our civilians and soldiers.  Pakistani officials should have arranged to introduce some of these families to the US public to sensitize it. The US media has been too anti-Pakistan to let the good ordinary Americans see and understand the Pakistani perspective.

How can we convince anyone of our arguments when clear divisions exist in Islamabad on major issues? A public event sponsored by some of the coalition members in the Pakistani government a few days ago in Peshawar actually called for increasing CIA drone activity inside Pakistan.  Pakistani officials are also yet to take a stand on the fact that key leaders of terrorism inside Balochistan continue to enjoy the Afghan safe haven. The United States is yet to take measures to curb this.

Seen in the right perspective, the US-Pakistan strategic dialogue should correct the imbalances of the initial deals that framed the joint cooperation after 9/11.   The next rounds of the dialogue should deal with these major flaws in the US-Pakistani alliance instead of creating the impression that we are outsourcing our problems to American bureaucrats.

This column was first published by The News International.

A failed Pakistani political system is headed for chaos.

By Anjum Niaz

Saturday, April 10, 2010
The News International

WWW.PAKNATIONALISTS.COM

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—Wake up before a mob attack. Nawaz Sharif and the faujis [military] may not be the catalysts of change that we seek; it’ll be the people of Pakistan. Shoaib and Sania’s nuptials are a welcome distraction, but in the end the starry-eyed couple will fly off to Dubai throwing back the nation into the pit of darkness and snoozing ministers.

Wake up, Naveed Qamar! If you don’t stop catnapping in public you’ll soon become our Rip Van Winkle, the simple easygoing chap who loved to sleep and not work. Where’s your homework? Remember your headmaster Gilani asked for a report on loadshedding you and your two colleagues Pervez Ashraf and Hafeez Sheikh were to deliver today? The headmaster had constituted a three-member ministerial committee to “examine and prepare a comprehensive report on electricity load management within a week” on April 2.

Let the report be read out aloud.

Loadshedding is hell. Do the rulers realise that Pakistanis can go the way of Kyrgyzstan? The people there have driven out President Bakiyev’s corrupt government. He’s fled while his interior minister has been shot dead. “No police guarded the government headquarters, and hundreds of jubilant but calm residents stood outside, others were walking freely through the building known as the White House,” reported AP.

Why did the Kyrgyz overthrow their government? Simple. The president was accused of enriching himself, his friends and family. “He gave his relatives, including his son, top government and economic posts and faced the same accusations of corruption and cronyism that led to the ouster of his predecessor, Askar Akayev five years ago.”

Our raja from Gujar Khan’s bread and butter was real estate. Zardari promoted the realtor to the dizzying heights of a federal minister and gifted him the ministry of water and power (how magnanimous!). Was this move on the part of the president a wishful thinking? Did he hope Pervaz Ashraf could control the horrible energy crisis left behind by Musharraf? Surely Ashraf must have known the Himalayan task ahead of. Two years up the slippery slopes and still climbing, the minister can suffer a freefall plunging him into a crevice of no return.

But the bright-eyed and bushy tailed raja – poles apart from his sleeping frontbencher Shahji Naveed Qamar — has had his Eureka moment (I’ve found it!) the way Archimedes shouted. According to press reports he told the National Assembly last week “that the country is facing an electricity shortfall, however, hydel power will be increased after improvement of the water situation in dams due to rains.”

The nation now needs to pull out its prayer mats and begin praying for rain! If the army and America can’t solve the power crisis, we can only turn to Allah.

The greatest disappointment has come from America. Hillary Clinton rubbed heads with our foreign minister Eskimo-style, but dodged Shahji Mehmood Qureshi when it came to rescuing us from power cuts. During the strategic dialogue, the lady promised us light when she spoke of the US being fully aware of the energy crisis in Pakistan. Taking the cue, Army Chief Kayani set aside his laundry list of military hardware and requested the US for First Aid to his country starving for electricity. This was a golden opportunity for America to win its war of hearts and minds. It’s still not too late. Prime Minister Gilani goes to Washington next week to meet President Obama. Let hope spring eternal. Except that yesterday’s stolid statement by Gerald Feierstein, deputy chief of mission at the US embassy in Islamabad, mentions ‘three phases’ before Pakistanis shall see light. Time and tide wait for no man, Mr Feierstein. Kyrgyz have revolted against your air bases. Out! They say.

While our minister for water and power cannot single-handedly move mountains to bring us power, just keep us posted, please. As for US, you have to do more.

This column originally appeared in The News International under the title, Catnapping. The writer is a freelance journalist with over twenty years of experience in national and international reporting. anjumniaz@rocketmail.com

SHIREEN M MAZARI

The terrorist attack in Lahore targeting a Special Investigative Unit has once again highlighted all the things wrong with our government and the state structures, especially when it comes to dealing with the terrorist problem. The plethora of statements, coming from various segments of the state in the immediate aftermath of the blast, shows the confusion that still prevails when it comes to the terrorist threats. There seems to be no proactive policy at the macro level to tackle the issue pre-emptively with good human intelligence and isolation of the militants and their supporters amongst the populace. After all, without local informants and local support, non-state actors cannot get shelter. In military terms, for the militants, a local sympathetic population forms their rear and it is here that they blend in to carry out their lethal activities.

So the first job of the intelligence set-ups and the government should be to ensure that the local population not only does not support the militants but also gives information about suspicious activities in their neighbourhoods. It does not seem possible that strangers simply drove into Model Town, found the target and carried out their terrorism. In urban residential areas, especially, it is easy for terrorists to blend in and watch their targets once they have been correctly identified. At the very least the government needs to encourage local watch groups so that suspicious people or strangers are identified and checked. These are abnormal times and require measures on an emergency footing. Television can aid in educating the public on how to arrange for local watch patrols and so on.

Equally important, it is absolutely necessary for the government to move interrogation and other high profile targets out of residential areas where innocent citizens lives can be placed in jeopardy. Locating such centres in the midst of schools and homes is showing scant regard for the lives of the citizens. Ironically, this was not the first time that an intelligence office located in Model Town was targeted; yet the government made no attempt to remove this interrogation set-up from this residential area. It stands to reason that militants would want to get rid of detained people who may reveal sensitive information. So all such interrogation centres are high value targets for them.

At a more general level, the state needs to be clear who are the groups they are fighting in terms of the terrorist threat. We seem to be particularly weak on this count. The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the latest Lahore attack but Rehman Malik and Punjab’s Law Minister Rana Sanaullah have identified the hand of RAW and India in this attack. First, this raises the question of what linkage is there between India and the Pakistan Taliban? Second, since there now seems to be a fair amount of evidence of India aiding and abetting terrorism in Pakistan, why are we not taking up this issue, not only with India but also with the international community – especially India’s strategic partners like the US? What is stopping us from revealing the information we have on India’s covert terrorist activities in Pakistan?
Linked to this is the whole question of the presence of thousands of Americans across Pak-istan, mostly non-diplomats and linked to private security companies, who are carrying out all manner of clandestine activities in Pakistan which are harmful for this country.

Not only do they present a security threat to the neighbourhood in which they live, they also undermine the country’s security by conducting covert operations often without the knowledge of the Government of Pakistan. It is believed that the Model Town SIA building was also accessed by the Americans for interrogation purposes. If this is correct, then the government needs to answer to the people as to why this was being allowed in an urban residential area given the target they presented. But the issue is much more extensive. The government needs to collate how many American non-diplomat citizens are presently in Pakistan, where they are located, what they are up to and whether any of them have dual nationality of Israel. Their movements need to be kept under watch as well as limited to non-sensitive locations and areas – which would exclude the cantonment areas of the urban centres. It would appear the government is not clear on these numbers, nor on what different groups of Americans and US NGOs are up to. Yet without clear and precise information, no headway can be made in combating the terrorist threat effectively.

Linked to the criticality of information through good human intelligence, we also need to understand the multiple nature of the terrorist threat in Pakistan – ranging from the religious extremists to political separatists. Since the targets of these different groups are different and their methodology is also distinctive in each case, by understanding these characteristics better security arrangements can be made and pre-emptive action taken. Within this framework, it is also of crucial importance to be able to identify the funding sources of these groups including foreign state actors like India, and the US specifically in the case of Jundullah.

The mindsets of the terrorists need to be studied but not in a simplistic manner that seems to define the present approach where everyone is lumped together in one general category and simple explanations surround the whys of terrorist behaviour.

Patterns of behaviour if they are properly identified can predict possible future targets so that proper security measures can be taken instead of the present vague security barricades which have at best very limited utility.
Finally, the political one-upmanship that one saw in Lahore between the governor and the PML-N’s law minister shows the callous approach of the ruling elite to the plight of the ordinary people suffering the terrorism fallout. It is surely time for the rulers to get over their internecine political bickering and confront the task of dealing with terrorism at multiple levels and with a seriousness that is still not visible. Mere statements after the incident ring increasingly hollow as nothing seems to have changed by the time the next act of terror happens. The loot sales taking place in state institutions need to be replaced with serious governance and a focus on law and order that goes beyond crude police brutality and torture. And the shift in direction of governance has to be visible to restore a modicum of the people’s faith in their government.

• Parties whose commitment to Pakistan is in doubt are using the 18^th amendment to the constitution to undo Pakistan
• The Constitution is too important a matter to be left entirely to politicians
• The problem is that Zardari regime has too many ‘insiders’ promoting foreign agenda who are hurting the people and damaging the state

By Dr Shahid Qureshi
The London Post
Sunday, 28 March 2010.

WWW.PAKNATIONALISTS.COM

LONDON, UK—Pakistan is unfortunately one of those countries where traitors masquerade as politicians and treachery is deemed to be ‘legitimate politics’.  There is no prize for guessing how did the desire the revoke the 17th Amendment got transformed into a full-fledged exercise for subverting the constitution. The answer is that it was a part of the scheme that involved the NRO and the formation of a coalition government in which all the parties are opposed to the Two Nation Theory of Pakistan. Mian Nawaz Sharif saw the game plan a bit late but he did see it and withdrew from the coalition. If he had not withdrawn, the judges dismissed by Musharraf would not have been restored and NRO would have become law. But the puppet masters have not given up; they are still eager to implement their original plan albeit with slight alterations due to new circumstances.
The plan is devious and not easy to understand. Some of those in the committee reviewing the Constitution have some idea of the true nature of the exercise they are engaged in but most of them do not know what is going on; they do not have a clue what is good for the country and are unable to see through the machinations of parties with anti-Pakistan agenda. The reports of ‘consensus’ and ‘absence of leaks’ makes one suspicious of the entire project. I fear that a ready to sign ‘draft amendment’ is a sinister plot. The public and the press must have a debate on what the committee recommends. The Constitution is too important a matter to be left entirely to politicians.

It seems to me that all the ingredients are being in place to undo Pakistan from the back door without even a fight. It seems the parties in the ruling coalition are in a hurry to fulfill the agenda of international plotters. The puppet masters had been relying on the gullibility of Nawaz Sharif who has been saying he would support no action that would destabilize the country.

The Constitutional Reforms Committee (CRC) which has decided to present the 18th Constitutional Amendment before the two houses of the Parliament, rejecting the reservations of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) and some of its recommendations. He may have reacted a bit late but it is important that he has smelt a rat. After the priorities of the Zardari regime which came into power on the basis of a controversial ‘will’ of late Benazir Bhutto are dubious to say the least.

Owing to the deliberations and recommendations having remained shrouded in secrecy, people might not know why Nawaz Sharif, former Prime Minster and PML-N chief, objected to these constitutional amendments in a press conference only an hour before a signing ceremony?

The reality is that these amendments have many dimensions and multiple usages. Obviously the plotters are not stupid and are backed by an efficient machine. For example, those who drafted the Kerry Lugar Bill had Pakistani insiders to advise how to cloak their sinister ‘agenda’ behind nice words like support for democracy, promotion of tolerance and accelerating the pace of ‘development’. The problem is that Zardari regime has too many ‘insiders’ promoting foreign agenda who are hurting the people and damaging the state. The MQM draft for constitutional amendments visualized “Provincial Autonomy” which gave the federation just two and half subjects – Defence, Foreign Affairs and Currency – Sine qua non for a Federation. The Draft Bill for Constitutional Amendments tabled by the MQM on 12th January 2009 MQM was not without foreign advice and support. I must admire President Asif Zardari, MQM leaders -  Farooq Sattar and Altaf Hussain – and the teams of minders they have, for being so ‘creative’ for their masters.

International financiers and plotters use constitutional loopholes to disintegrate countries to take control of natural resources. These plotters, their bankers and local agents are adept at creating food and other shortages, unemployment, insecurity, lawlessness, corruption, poverty and constitutional hiatus that make it necessary to invite foreign experts and international financial institutions for advice and help. The whole idea is to pass the control over national institutions, assets and resources to these plotters. For example two ‘insiders’ who are cronies of President Zardari – Wajid Shamsulhasasn High Commissioner to United Kingdom and Hussain Haqqani Ambassador to the United States – are allegedly involved in activities against the national interests of Pakistan . Wajid Shamsulhassan violated the decorum of his rank and the Service Rules of Pakistan when he went to collect documents pertaining to the trial in Switzerland and bring official documents to London and keep in his personal custody. Hussain Haqqani allegedly issued visas to the Blackwater personnel and was instrumental in adding conditions harmful and denigrating to the Armed Forces of Pakistan in the Kerry Lugar Bill. That the President as well those who serve him – whether cronies or not – are also subject to law, has been blatantly ignored. President Zardari and the team of his cronies continuously undermine the state; they get their orders obeyed because they have learnt ‘how to bypass the system’ to complete international agenda.

One cannot help admire the plotters for their selections of agents and deploying them in fulfillment of their multi layered conspiracy which is hard to detect and even harder to frustrate or neutralise. The game is not new but it is being played differently making it hard to tackle.

It seems that minders of Zardari, MQM and ANP have the Soviet Model of disintegration in mind. In modern times international plotters exploit legal and constitutional loopholes or arrange for such constitutional amendments that lead inevitably to the disintegration of the country. For example in dismantling the USSR the international plotters used constitutional provisions which had been placed intentionally. They were provisions in the Constitution of the USSR – put in during the heady days after the Russian Revolution of 1918, that made dismantling of the Union not just possible but easy. Article 70 of the Soviet Constitution Stated: “Union of the Soviet Republics is a unitary, federal, multinational state, formed on Free Self Determination of Nations”. Article 72 was more explicit and stated: “Each Union Republic retains the right freely to secede from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics”.

Interestingly no such provision or mechanism is available in the US Constitution. According to US experts “the constitutional language is ‘sparse’. It is up to the Congress to give meaning to that language”.  We all know who control and gets the majority in the Congress?

“It was 1974 constitution of former Yugoslavia which caused the break of the state”, said Antonio Moneo Lain a visiting fellow at LSE in his lecture at London School of Economics on 2nd December 2009. I asked him that although, “USA is also a union of States but no such facility like choice of becoming independent is available to the states as the issue of state autonomy is kept vague”.

This is an edited version of the original article posted at thelondonpost.net

Sikh leaders say the US should learn from the US-Pakistan record that effective engagement is better than negligence. The Party wants Washington to reestablish the Sikh Desk in the US Embassy in New Delhi and open a US Consulate in the Sikh city of Amritsar. The Party believes that US-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue is a welcome development and will indirectly help in balancing India’s behavior in the region. The Sikh leaders also called for nuclear parity between Pakistan and India.

By The Daily Mail of Pakistan

Saturday, 27 March 2010.

WWW.PAKNATIONALISTS.COM

NEW DELHI, India—The Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar’s), which is an Indian political party representing the Sikh nation, views US-Pakistan strategic dialogue in a very positive light.  The Sikh leaders welcome the reduction in trust deficit between the United States and Pakistan because they believe that an Indian state that violates human rights, commits the genocide of Sikh peoples and of its other religious and ethnic minorities can only be restrained in the presence of strong neighbors such as Pakistan and China, says a press release received by the Daily Mail.
The SAD is hopeful that Washington will learn from the record of the US-Pakistan relationship and reopen its separate relationship with the Sikh nation so that a buffer Sikh state between what they called “a theocratic Hindu Indian State and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan will stabilize politics in South Asia and guarantee permanent peace in this region.”

In a statement, the party added, ‘To begin with, our party appeals to the US State Department to reopen the Sikh desk in its Embassy in New Delhi and open its Consulate in Amritsar so that Sikh-American relations improve.
“The Sikh buffer state would obviate tensions between the Muslim Pakistan and Hindu India which have since 1947 upset peace in this region. As far as nuclear concessions are concerned, “we think that there should be parity between these two countries as far as the 123 Nuclear Agreement is concerned, but IAEA must possess the power to check and inspect the nuclear arms industry of the two countries and the military nuclear reactors that make weapons should not be exempt of IAEA oversight”.—PR.

This is an edited version of the original report published by The Daily Mail of Pakistan. It is reproduced here under special arrangement.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Roedad Khan

Every year, we commemorate March 23 in remembrance of ‘The Pakistan Resolution’ passed in the historic city of Lahore. Memories come back to me like shards of glass. I was in Lahore, the city of my dreams, on that memorable day. Yeast was in the air. The idea of Pakistan was about to be born.

A day earlier, on March 22, 1940, Mr Jinnah had arrived in Lahore by the Frontier Mail to preside over the Muslim League meeting. When he entered the packed pandal, he faced a sea of humanity – all his admirers who had converged on Lahore to hear what he had to say. The Nawab of Mamdot, Chairman of the Reception Committee, presented Mr Jinnah to the vast multitude. It was Jinnah’s largest audience, his greatest performance to-date. On that day, the Muslim League led by Mr Jinnah declared its support for the idea of Pakistan. His Lahore address lowered the final curtain on any prospects for a single united India. It was a ringing repudiation of Sikander Hayat’s Unionist Party’s basic platform of Hindu-Muslim-Sikh co-existence. That is why generations of Pakistanis will always remember March 23 with profound reverence and respect. Seven years later, on August 14, 1947, thanks to the iron will and determination of Mr Jinnah, I was proud citizen of a sovereign, independent country – a country I could live for and die for.

As he left the constitutional convention of 1787, Benjamin Franklin was asked by an admirer, “Dr Franklin what have you given us”. Franklin turned to the questioner and replied, “A Republic, if you can keep it”. Not too long ago, we too possessed a great country earned for us by the sweat of the brow and iron will of one person. Where giants walked, midgets pose now. Our rulers, both elected and un-elected, have done to Pakistan what the successors of Lenin did to the Soviet Union. “Lenin founded our State”, Stalin said, after a stormy session with Marshal Zhukov.

The German army was at the gate of Moscow. “And we have …it up”. This is exactly what we have done to Jinnah’s Pakistan. Today it is neither sovereign, nor independent, nor democratic. Today it is not just a “rentier state”, not just a client state. It is a slave state, ill-led, ill-governed by a corrupt, power-hungry junta running a puppet government set up by Washington. The dream has morphed into a nightmare.

Sixty two years after independence, are we really free? Are the people masters in their own house? The kind of Pakistan we have today has lost its manhood and is a ghost of its former self. Our entire political system has been pulled into a black hole caused by periodic army intervention and prolonged army rule. Today if Pakistan were to look into a mirror, it won’t recognise itself. The contrast between Pakistan in 1947 – idealistic, democratic, progressive, optimistic, and Pakistan today – leaderless, rudderless, violent, besieged, corrupt, uncertain about its future – could not be sharper or more disheartening. If you want to know how a people can survive despite their government, or leaders, well, visit Pakistan.

What is there to celebrate? There is no reason to celebrate! But there are myriad reasons to reflect. We lost half the country in a suicidal civil war in 1971. Like the Bourbons of France we have learned nothing and forgotten nothing. Today Pakistan is dangerously at war with itself once again. The federation is united only by a ‘rope of sand’. Sixty two years after independence, we have a disjointed, dysfunctional, lopsided, hybrid, artificial, political system – a non-sovereign rubber stamp parliament, a weak and ineffective prime minister, appointed by a powerful accidental president.

This is an eerie period, the heart of the nation appears to stop beating, while its body remains suspended in a void. What has become of the nation’s core institutions? The militarised state has destroyed the foundations of all our political institutions. The army has been enthroned as the new elite. The level of fawning and jockeying to be merely noticed and smiled upon by any pretender in uniform speaks of a nation that is loudly pleading to be crushed underfoot.

The independence of Pakistan is a myth. By succumbing to American pressure, we managed to secure a temporary reprieve. But at what price? Everyday American aircraft violate our airspace, and bomb our villages. In 2009 alone, they killed 667 innocent men, women and children with impunity. No questions asked. No protest. No remorse. Today Pakistan is splattered with American fortresses, seriously compromising our internal and external sovereignty. American security personnel stationed on our soil move in and out of the country without any let or hindrance. Pakistan has become a launching pad for military operations against neighbouring Muslim countries. We have been drawn into somebody else’s war without understanding its true dimension or ultimate objectives. Nuclear Pakistan has been turned into an ‘American lackey’, currently engaged in a proxy war against its own people.

Parliament is one of the chief instruments of our democracy. Today, it is cowed, timid, a virtual paralytic, over-paid and under-employed. Parliamentary membership is the key to material success, a passport and a license to loot and plunder. Who says it is a check on the arbitrariness of the executive? Nobody takes it seriously. Today it is the weakest of the three pillars of state. It has suffered a steady diminution of power and prestige. Its image is tarnished and has been turned into a fig-leaf for unconstitutional and illegal practices.

To no nation has fate been more malignant than to Pakistan. With few exceptions, Pakistan has long been saddled with poor, even malevolent, leadership: predatory kleptocrats, military dictators, political illiterates and carpet-baggers. With all her shortcomings, Benazir Bhutto had undoubted leadership qualities – charisma, courage, political acumen and articulation. After her tragic assassination, Mr Zardari’s sudden ascension to the presidency caused panic among the people. His record since then hasn’t exactly been an exercise in the glories of Pakistan’s democracy.

To settle back into your cold-hearted acceptance of the status quo is not an option. The present leadership is taking Pakistan to a perilous place. The course they are on leads downhill. This is a delicate time, full of trepidation. Today it is a political and moral imperative for all patriotic Pakistanis to fight for our core values, to resist foreign intervention in our internal affairs and to destroy the roots of evil that afflicts Pakistan. That is the best way to celebrate March 23.

“Every country has its own constitution”, one Russian is alleged to have remarked in the 19th century. “Ours is absolutism moderated by occasional assassination”. The situation is not so very different in Pakistan. In democracies, constitutional amendments are especially solemn moments; in Pakistan they are easier than changing the traffic regulations. After 62 years, a parliamentary committee is busy rewriting the Constitution of Pakistan! If you want to know what happens when constitution, the fundamental law of the land, is periodically decimated, disfigured, defiled with impunity and treated with contempt, well – visit Pakistan.

The recent spontaneous demonstrations and outpouring of anger witnessed in and around Islamabad are ominous. With such ripples do tidal waves begin? Who will tap the anger, the frustration and the resentment among millions of our people? Both military dictatorship and corrupt, fraudulent democracy, have failed them. The country is impoverished and humiliated. Democratic forms remain, but democracy itself is in effect dead or dying.

The writer is a former federal secretary. Email: roedad@comsats.net.pk,www.roedadkhan.com

Thackeray issued a call to form Hindu suicide squads, “to take the Muslims head on”. Labeling them as “trouble makers”, Balaji called for them to be wiped out from the country to make India secure. Urging Hindus to start referring to India Hindu rashtra” (Hindu nation), the Shiv Sena militant leader maintains that only “our religion [Hinduism] is to be honored here” and then “we will look after other religions”.  At least two senior retired Indian military officers answered Bal Thackeray’s call to set up the suicide squads in India.

By S.M Hali

The Daily Mail of Pakistan

Wednesday, 17 March 2010. WWW.PAKNATIONALISTS.COM

According to reports, the eighth Indian dossier containing more “details” on the Mumbai terror attacks has been handed over to the Interior Minister, Mr. Rehman Malik by Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir.

India had submitted the dossier last week at the one-point Foreign Secretary level talks, seeking “strict action” against Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed, who is alleged to be the mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. India had submitted three dossiers, one of them concerning the handing over of Saeed and 34 others wanted by India.

However, after the talks, Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir had commented that evidence presented by New Delhi against Saeed was “mere literature” and India did not have enough proof against him. Earlier, New Delhi had expressed “severe concern” over Islamabad’s “inaction” against Saeed. India needs to accept the fact that Pakistan’s free and fair judiciary, whose independence was acclaimed by India too, had examined the evidence against Hafiz Saeed, after he was arrested in the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks. In light of the data presented by India as “proof” incriminating Hafiz Saeed, the independent judiciary in Pakistan had considered it inadequate to convict him thus he was set free. India, which boasts of an independent, fair and free judicial system in its own country, should realize that it has Ajmal Kassab in its custody, who is alleged to be the sole survivor of the attackers involved in the Mumbai carnage. Despite Ajmal Kassab’s signed “confession”, video footage of the assailants and hundreds of “witnesses” of the heinous crime, Indian judicial system is yet to declare Mr. Kassab guilty of any crime. India will have to put faith in Pakistan’s judiciary or provide solid evidence of Hafiz Saeed’s involvement in the gory episode.

India had also expressed dissent over Islamabad allowing Saeed to make ‘provocative and insidious’ statements against India during a television interview. Saeed had declared an open ‘Jihad’ against India in the interview. “If India is not ready to talk on water and Kashmir then Pakistan should wage a war against India. JuD will fight along with the Pakistan army,” the Jihadi leader had said.

Hafiz Saeed’s comments may be termed provocative but surely it is not a serious crime meriting his arrest and handing over to India. If it were so, India’s own firebrand demagogue Bal Keshav Thackeray, popularly known as Balasaheb Thackeray, who is the founder and chief of the Shiv Sena, a hardcore Hindu terrorist, Marathi ethnocentric and extremist party, must be taken cognizance of. The hothead, highly vocal radical leader, in his vitriolic comments seldom hides the venom he harbors for Muslims and Pakistan. In 2002, Thackeray issued a call to form Hindu suicide squads, “to take the Muslims head on”. Labeling them as “trouble makers”, Balaji called for them to be wiped out from the country to make India secure. Urging Hindus to start referring to India Hindu rashtra” (Hindu nation), the Shiv Sena militant leader maintains that only “our religion [Hinduism] is to be honored here” and then “we will look after other religions”.

At least two organizations founded and managed by the retired Indian Army officers namely Lieutenant Colonel Jayant Rao Chitale and Lieutenant General P.N. Hoon (former commander-in-chief of the Western Command), answered Bal Thackeray’s call to set up the suicide squads in India. Lieutenant General Hoon claimed, Thackeray instructed him to set up the training camps. Another Balaji follower is Indian Army’s serving Lieutenant Colonel Srikanth Prasad Prohit, wanted by Pakistan for his complicity in torching the Samjhota Express which took a toll of 59 Pakistani passengers. Bal Thackeray continues to publish inflammatory editorials in his party’s newsletter, Samna (Confrontation). When explaining his views on Hindutva he has conflated Islam with violence and has called for Hindus to “fight Islam”. In an interview in Suketu Mehta’s book ‘Maximum City’, he advocates the hanging of Indian Muslims and mass expulsion of Muslim migrants from neighboring Bangladesh. One of his more acerbic statements needs attention: “They [Muslims] are spreading like a cancer and should be operated on like a cancer. The… country should be saved from the Muslims and the police should support them [Hindu Maha Sangh] in their struggle just like the police in Punjab were sympathetic to the Khalistanis.”

Balasaheb Thackeray criticized and challenged Indian Muslims through his party newspaper, Samna, around the time the 16th century Babri Masjid was demolished by members of the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the northern town of Ayodhya, on December 6, 1992. The razing of the mosque was followed by a mass genocide of Muslims. The Justice Srikrishna Commission of Enquiry, which investigated the ensuing communal riots in Mumbai, named Thackeray for sparking anti-Muslim violence, which led to more than 1,000 deaths in several ensuing riots, many by having kerosene poured on their bodies while alive and then being burned to death. The Srikrishna Commission found that Thackeray was personally responsible, not only for inciting the mobs through his incendiary speeches, but also directly coordinating the movement of the rioters. In a deposition before the Srikrishna Commission a witness alleged Thackeray coordinated much of the January 1993 Mumbai carnage. Yuvraj Mohite claimed, “Balasaheb ordered that not one Muslim be left alive to stand in the witness box, and asked his men to send the additional police commissioner, A A Khan, to his Allah.” Balaji later announced: “I am proud of what my boys have done. We had to retaliate and we did. If it was not for us, no one would have controlled the Muslims.” He has since made more inflammatory statements regarding Muslims, and reiterated his desire for Hindus to unite across linguistic barriers and to see “a Hindustan for Hindus” and to “bring Islam in this country down to its knees”.

I rest my case for readers to decide themselves, whether Balaji Thackeray should be handed over to Pakistan to face trial for his crimes against humanity or not? Surely there is enough evidence to convict him.

This op-ed was published by The Daily Times. It is reproduced here through a special arrangement.

See The Video Here

For a few hundred dollars, low-paid border guards are allowing entry into Pakistan to spies and agents of multiple foreign intelligence agencies operating in Afghanistan. In this story and video, see how a US lady entered Pakistan through Torkham on Saturday, Mar. 13, 2010, without visa and without the knowledge of Pakistani intelligence officers posted there. This happens in a country that faces terrorism exported by both US-controlled Afghanistan and its Indian ally.

BY SYED FAWAD ALI SHAH

Saturday, 13 March 2010.

WWW.PAKNATIONALISTS.COM

TORKHAM, Pakistan—Rampant corruption and a weak Pakistani state are helping the entry into Pakistan of spies and terrorists from multiple foreign intelligence agencies operating in Afghanistan. Almost all terror in Pakistan is coming from Afghanistan.

This American woman tried to sneak into Pakistan through Torkham on Afghan border today, Saturday, Mar. 13, 2010, around early afternoon. She was wearing an Afghan woman’s burqa and apparently spoke local dialects. She would have successfully crossed into Pakistan safely hidden among a group of Afghan women but something about her demeanor raised the suspicion of a Pakistani border guard.

However, the border guards, known as Khasadars, made sure that Pakistani intelligence officers posted in the area are not told about this arrest. Torkham is considered a hot station within Kasadar tribal force circles. With salaries that go less than PKR 10,000 per month [less than US$ 130], major checkpoints such as Torkham provide an extra source of income for the Khasadars through bribes from travelers.

The guards kept the woman in a room for about thirty minutes and then let her enter Pakistan in her burqa. She paid the Khasadar guards a handsome amount of money as bribe. According a source in the Khasadar Force who witnessed the whole thing, the woman didn’t panic. She appeared composed and familiar with the ways of the border guards. She knew what to do in such a situation.

Thanks to my contacts in the border force, I was able to make a cell phone video of her passport while the Khasadar chief at the checkpoint talked to her.

Her name on the passport was Zohra Rehmati, which makes her an American from either Iranian or Tajik-Afghan extract.

Over the past four years, a large number of US agents have entered Pakistan through Afghanistan. Several have been arrested in different parts of the country disguised  as Afghan men, complete with beards and Turbans and fluent in Pashto, Dari and Urdu. Unfortunately, much of this covert American activity was sanctioned first by the Musharraf government and now by the pro-US Zardari-Haqqani combine in the incumbent government.

Ms. Rehmati, if that is her real name, may or may not be a CIA operative, or one of its private contractors associated with either DynCorp or Xe International.  But such lax security in a country that is a target of terrorism, DynCorp managed to create quite a covert network in Pakistan before being busted by Pakistani security last year. DynCorp remains in Pakistan, thanks to backing from both the US Embassy in Islamabad and the pro-US government, despite repeated attempts by the country’s security officials to force the US defense contractor to wrap up its operations here.  Xe International, formerly known as Blackwater, also operated in Pakistan until 2005 before being moved to Afghanistan, according to an earlier report in the New York Times. But going by the number of incidents in Pakistan over the past couple of years where US private agents were seen operating in major Pakistani cities, it is safe to say that both contractors continue to quietly operate in Pakistan in one

Private contractors help give CIA the benefit of deniability if an agent is arrested on foreign territory.

CIA has been known to send US citizens of foreign descent to their home countries for espionage.

The most recent example is Roxana Saberi, an Iranian-American who was busted in Tehran carrying sensitive documents handed to her by an informant. Ms. Saberi was sent to Iran posing as a journalist. CIA even managed to get her newspaper accreditation from a major American newspaper. The US government was embarrassed at the arrest because Ms. Saberi was arrested red handed receiving official documents from a contact.

In Pakistan, a State that is falling apart at the seams, with no central figure or department to control the rot, is providing the perfect environment for meddling in the country not only by the United States, UK, India and other established powers based in Afghanistan, but also by a puppet regime like that of Mr. Hamid Karzai and his spymasters, who in eight years are in a good position today to wreak mayhem inside Pakistan while the politicians in Islamabad and the military in Rawaplpindi have little recourse beyond words of appeasement or caution during closed-door meetings with foreign powers in Afghanistan that are never translated into action to reestablish Pakistan’s writ domestically and in the region.

Mr. Shah is an independent journalist based in Peshawar.