Imran Khan: new trouble man for US in Pakistan–>Hamid Mir,TheNews

by Hamid Mir

Source : http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=75416&Cat=2

ISLAMABAD: Imran Khan is no more a cricketer turned politician. He has suddenly become an important regional player in the US endgame in Afghanistan.

A mind-blowing public rally of Imran Khan in Lahore on October 30 made it very difficult for the Zardari regime to give new commitments or accept any demands from the US to push its decade-long war against terror. Imran Khan has not only become a threat for traditional political parties inside Pakistan but is also going to become a big hurdle in the implementation of demands made by US during the recent visit of Hillary Clinton to Islamabad.

The PTI leader criticised not only President Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif but also blasted US policies in the biggest-ever show of political power in Lahore in the past 25 years. The last time Lahore saw this kind of political tsunami was on April 10, 1986 when late Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto returned after many years in exile. A big reception to the daughter of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was a bombshell for the then military dictator. Benazir Bhutto addressed a big rally in Iqbal Park, adjacent to the historical Lahore Fort. That rally was the beginning of General Zia’s end.

The October 30 rally by Imran Khan in the same Iqbal Park also looked like an end of pro-US policies started by General Pervez Musharraf ten years ago. Imran addressed US Secretary of State as “Chachi Clinton” (Aunty Clinton) and said a big no to any more army operations in Pakistan’s tribal areas. It will now be impossible for the ruling Pakistan People’s Party and its coalition partners to start new operations in North Waziristan or even continue the old operations from South Waziristan to Khyber Agency.  Elections are close and no political government can take the risk of going against public opinion.

Hillary Clinton is these days desperately looking for someone who can become a bridge between Afghan Taliban and the US. Imran Khan can make some serious efforts in this regard but is more focused on the situation inside Pakistan. He has offered his services for the engagement of Pakistani Taliban but wants assurances that there will be no more military operations.

Imran said all this just one day before the meeting of President Asif Ali Zardari with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Istanbul. The US has arranged this meeting through Turkish President Abdullah Gull for the success of the Istanbul conference. Army Chief General Kayani also left for Turkey on Monday. Afghan officials will discuss the US endgame with Pakistan, India, Iran, China, Saudi Arabia, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgystan, Uzbekistan, UAE, Turkey, US and UK in Istanbul Conference from November 1.

The US wants some commitments from Pakistan at this conference and that is why the Pakistani Army Chief is also invited to this conference. However, Imran Khan’s massive anti-American rally has made it very difficult for Pakistani leaders to oblige their friends from Saudi Arabia and Turkey who have became part of the process on the US request.

Imran criticised the Army operations in the tribal areas in very strong words. He clearly said some tribal elders had given him assurances that if US drone attacks were stopped and the Pakistan Army halted operations in the tribal areas they would control all militants. Imran Khan also arranged meetings of these tribal elders (mostly from North Waziristan) with his ex-wife Jemima Khan who is making a documentary against drone attacks.

Jemima and Imran are separated but often meet because of their two sons. An American lawyer Clive Smith is also helping Jemima and they are planning a big campaign against drone attacks in the Western media. Jemima writes for Vanity Fair magazine. She is helping not only Imran but also Julian Assange, WikiLeaks founder, and Assange may also speak at the inauguration of documentary against drone attacks. The documentary is expected to have a lot of “WikiLeaks”. Imran Khan has repeatedly said, “Pakistan has changed”. He threatened, “I will not spare anyone who gave Pakistani bases to US and sold my people for dollars”.

Without naming Pervez Musharraf he sent him a message not to come back to Pakistan. He also said: “We want friendly relations with every country but we cannot accept slavery of America”. Imran Khan came out openly in support of the Kashmiris and advised India to withdraw its troops from Kashmir.

He tried to satisfy the central Punjab voters who are not happy with the soft stance of Zardari and Nawaz Sharif on India. This hawkish stance will definitely bring him closer to the military establishment but he opposes military action in Balochistan. He also criticised the role of Pakistan Army in former East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in his recently published book “Pakistan a Personal History”.

According to the sources in Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) more than a dozen ambassadors from different Western countries wanted to see Imran Khan this week but he left for China immediately after addressing the mammoth public rally in Lahore on Sunday night. He will be a guest of the Chinese government. His opponents often declared him “Taliban Khan” or the “modern face of Jamat-i-Islami” but hundreds of thousands of people enjoyed the songs of many popular singers in the Lahore rally. For some critics it became a grand musical show but the fact is that the crowd enjoyed the music at a public place after a very long time. Pakistan has many popular pop singers but they cannot sing at public places due to fear of suicide bombings that started in 2007. There was a suicide attack on the musical show of Sono Nagam sometime back in Karachi and after that many pop singers were threatened not to sing at public places. Many singers like Adnan Sami, Atif Aslam and Ali Zafar tried their luck in India in recent years but now they can come back.

Imran Khan is bringing back not only the political activities on the roads but also encouraging many pop singers like Shehzad Roy to sing publicly who made songs against drone attacks. Roy presented his famous song ‘uth bandh kamar kya darta hey phir dekh Khuda kya karta hey” in the Sunday rally. Thousands of youngsters were dancing on this song and Imran was clapping with them.

Imran Khan is becoming the voice of the common Pakistanis who are neither religious extremists not secular fascists. He is becoming a ray of hope for those disgruntled youngsters who have started hating democracy due to bad governance and corruption. These youngsters can now bring about a change in Pakistan through their vote power. Youth is the real power of Imran Khan and this youth belongs to the lower middle, middle class. This is the most disillusioned class in Pakistan but now the youth of this class is becoming active, which is a positive sign.

Dozens of sitting parliamentarians are contacting Imran Khan for joining his PTI. Former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and many political big shots will make some shocking decisions soon but Imran is more interested in young blood and well-educated minds.

He warned the government on Sunday that all politicians must declare their assets inside and outside Pakistan within a few months failing which his party would launch a civil disobedience movement and block all major cities with public support. For many analysts he is emerging as the third option after Zardaris’s PPP and Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N.

Some say he will ruin Nawaz Sharif in the central Punjab and PPP would be the ultimate beneficiary. Imran does not agree with this analysis. He always criticises PPP and PML-N jointly because one is ruling at the centre and the other is ruling Punjab, which is more than 60 percent of Pakistan. Imran has definitely proved that he enjoys more political support in Lahore than Nawaz Sharif but it does not mean that he is going to get clear majority in the coming elections. He needs some winning horses not only in the central Punjab but also in south Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Baluchistan and Sindh.

He needs big rallies in Faisalabad, Multan, Peshawar, Karachi and Quetta and then he can make some bigger claims. He will definitely make dents not only in the vote bank of PML-N but will also damage the PPP badly. There are 25 seats of national assembly in Lahore division of which PML-N has 20, PPP has 3 and PML-Q has one. Imran may snatch at least half of the PML-N and all the seats won by PPP and PML-Q in Lahore. Out of 23 seats in Gujranwala division PML-N has 13, PPP 8 and PML-Q has 2. Imran will damage PPP and PML-Q more than PML-N in Gujranwala. There are 20 seats in Faisalabad division – PML-N has only 4 while PML-Q has 8 and PPP has 7 seats.

Many sitting members of the national assembly from Faisalabad are pleading to Imran to accept them in his party. Some PPP, PML-Q and ANP members from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are also in contact with Imran, which means that his popularity is not confined to Punjab.

His biggest stronghold in the north is the tribal area where he is expected to make a clean sweep and more than 10 seats are in his pocket. This is the same area where he will not allow government to start any new Army operations.

If there is no operation then what will be the future of Pakistan-US relations? Zardari regime is at the crossroads. There is US pressure from one side and the PTI pressure from the other.

Nawaz Sharif was trying to play safe by targeting only Zardari and not the US but Imran Khan has suddenly changed the political dynamics in Pakistan. He is the new trouble man for US and also for the pro-US political elite in Pakistan. All the popular parties have no option other than to follow his anti-Americanism.

Hillary Clinton needs to realise the wave of change in Pakistani politics. She cannot understand this change without engaging Imran Khan. October 30 was just a beginning. World will see more changes on the political map of Pakistan and Imran Khan will play a leading role.

Shamsi Air Base taken back from CIA, US forces–>TheNews

By Ansar Abbasi

Source : http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=5458&Cat=13&dt=4%2F22%2F2011

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has stopped all US operations from the Shamsi Air Base in Balochistan, an airport which was given to American forces for use after 9/11 and drone attacks were launched from the base on targets in the tribal areas, military sources have confirmed. It was also used extensively in 2001 when thousands of US sorties took off to bomb Afghanistan a few weeks after the 9/11 attack in New York.

As the relations between Islamabad and Washington have strained due to latter’s mounting interference and repeated breach of Pakistan’s sovereignty, the US Embassy spokesman, Alberto Rodriguez, confirmed that there are no US forces at the Shamsi Air Base in Balochistan.

Pakistan Air Force (PAF) spokesperson, when approached about his version on the vacation of US forces and the deadly drones from Shamsi airfield, explained that the airfield does not belong to the PAF while the Pakistan Army sources confirmed that the airfield was free from the American forces.

No one was prepared to share with The News the dates or the time period when the Shamsi airfield was vacated by the Americans although the sources insist that it is a recent development.

Almost a year back, Defence Minister Ahmad Mukhtar spoke on the topic of the Shamsi Air Base confirming that it was being used by American forces for logistical purposes but, he added, the government was not satisfied with payments for the use of the facility.

Mukhtar, however, did not go into the nature of airfield’s use by the American forces. Prior to Shamsi, Pakistan had also got vacated from the US forces the Jacobabad Air Base and Pasni, which were used for its operations in Afghanistan.

The US has been using the Shamsi Air Base in Balochistan province to station unmanned Predator drones that have been used to attack terrorist targets inside Pakistan’s tribal areas. Shamsi airfield, also called Bandari, is a small airfield and air station located about 200 miles southwest of Quetta near the town of Washki.

In 2009, media reports revealed that the airfield was used by the United States Central Intelligence Agency as a base for Predator drone attacks on so-called militants in Pakistan’s tribal areas but ended up killing several hundreds innocent people. On January 9, 2002 a US Marine Corps KC-130 aircraft reportedly crashed on approach to Shamsi. All seven crew members were killed in the crash.

In February 2009, The Times of London had announced that it had obtained Google images from 2006 which showed Predator aircraft parked outside a hangar at the end of the runway of the Shamsi airfield. Before that, a US Senator Dianne Feinstein said that the CIA was basing its drone aircraft in Pakistan. The US company Blackwater was also reported to have a presence there, hired by the government to arm the drones with missiles.

It was General Musharraf who had permitted the US to use its airbases not only to attack Afghanistan but also to launch drone attacks on the people of Pakistan in the name of the so-called war on terror. The present regime also continued with Musharraf’s policies and allowed much larger number of drone attacks than before.

WikiLeaks had revealed that Prime Minister Gilani had endorsed the drones’ policy. Gilani was reported to have even said to the US officials that his government would raise hue and cry over these drone attacks for the sake of countering the public pressure.

However, of late and after the Raymond Davis episode, things became extremely tense between Washington and Islamabad with the CIA insisting to carry on with its operations, including the drone attacks inside Pakistan, while the ISI is adamant to restricting the Americans from crossing the red-line.

Our leaders appear compromised can they be trusted –>Ansar Abbasi ,The News

After the WikiLeaks deluge

By Ansar Abbasi

Source : http://thenews.com.pk/02-12-2010/ethenews/t-2415.htm

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan stands insecure as our leadership, both political and military, ruling the country have been exposed by no one else but Washington, to whom our leadership is shown by WikiLeaks to have sold their souls at the cost of national integrity, honour and prestige.
Is our fate in safe hands? This is the fundamental questionthat boggles almost every mind in Pakistan as the WikiLeaks bombshell, believed to be deliberately leaked by Washington to attain its designs including chaos in Pakistan, leaves hardly anyone among the leaders here to be trusted.
Each and every word of WikiLeaks would be taken as true if Pakistani authorities and leaders, blamed and shamed by these leaks, do not come out with a clear answer. They need to reply, more importantly through their actions, that Pakistan is no more American domain.
Otherwise, WikiLeaks precisely proves what was earlier said i.e. Pakistan has been practically reduced from a sovereign state to an American colony as the president, prime minister, top political leaders and even Army chief all have been shown pleasing or taking into confidence the US ambassador — the de facto viceroy of Pakistan — to continue ruling the roost with the blessings of Washington.
DG ISI Lt Gen Pasha too crossed the limits of discipline as he is shown by the WikiLeaks to have told US officials that President Asif Ali Zardari was corrupt. The question here arises why did he report such purely internal matter to the Americans.
The only exception has been Imran Khan, the man who on the face of Americans has been criticising US policies, drone attacks, the so-called war on terror besides asking for negotiated settlement with Taliban to end extremism and refusing to dance to the tunes of the “real masters” of this unfortunate country.
Shame is too little a word to reflect on the portrayed conduct of those ruling Pakistan after one goes through the WikiLeaks, which is expected to heap more dirt on Pakistan as well as the Muslim nations.
What would be more shameful than reading President Asif Ali Zardari as conceding to the Americans, “We are here because of you,” and then assuring Washington, “We won’t act without consulting with you.” To the pleasure of his masters, Zardari committed Pakistan to the war on terror, insisting that it was Pakistan’s own war.
Asfandyar Wali too shares the shame by inviting Washington to influence both Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari through Jeddah and Dubai to mend fences. Why did he invite three foreign countries in matters purely pertaining to internal politics?
Look at the callousness of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, who on the issue of drone attacks told Washington, “I don’t care if they (US) do it (carry out drone attacks) as long as they get the right people. We’ll protest in the National Assembly and then ignore it.” The premier had snubbed the interior minister Rehman Malik, who had suggested to the Americans that the Predator attacks should be stopped after the Bajaur operation.
Look at the double speak of the PML-N, whose top leadership both Nawaz Sharif and Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan were shown repeatedly assuring the Americans that the PML-N was pro-America. To leave no doubt about his loyalty to the Americans, Nawaz recounted his decision to override his Chief of Army Staff and deploy Pakistani troops to Saudi Arabia in support of the US coalition in the first Gulf War. Here Chaudhry Nisar Khan reminded that it was the PPP and its leaders who were organising street demonstrations against Pakistan joining with the US coalition.
Exposing the hypocrisy of the already stinking Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the WikiLeaks revealed that the leader of the country’s most fiercely pro-Taliban religious party, hosted a jovial dinner for Ms Patterson at which the Maulana sought her backing to become the prime minister and expressed a desire to visit America. His lieutenant Abdul Ghafoor Haideri acknowledged that “All important parties in Pakistan had to get the approval of the US (to get power).” Just compare the actions of these Maulanas to what they preach in their speeches. Simply disgraceful!
Interior minister Rehman Malik is referred to as a frequent and co-operative interlocutor, who professes his support for cooperation with the United States.
No less shocking is the way the Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has been opening his heart and mind before the Americans, including the US ambassador. Otherwise giving the impression of being a man of few words, the Army chief spoke before the Americans against President Zardari and opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, and also talked of getting resignation from the president and tailoring democracy to his sweet choice.
He also hinted at supporting Asfandyar Wali Khan, the leader of the Awami National Party, as the new president. Kayani even made it clear to Ms Patterson, the former US ambassador, that regardless of how much he disliked Zardari, he distrusted Nawaz even more.
Such hobnobbing of the military chief with any foreign diplomat or official, what to talk of Americans, is undoubtedly a violation of discipline and breach of his oath. Unluckily, we have a tainted president, tainted prime minister and tainted political leaders otherwise this is a fit case of seeking explanation from the Army chief.
With such leadership, both political and military, Pakistan’s future is really bleak. Whom should we trust? Who is free from the US influence? Can we become a sovereign nation? Can we take our own decisions? Why do we have more faith in Washington than in God? How could we save Pakistan from being destabilised after reading what our president, prime minister, political leaders and Army chief have said to a minnow American — Anne Patterson? With such leadership, how can we tackle the problem of terrorism? Who would save us from disgrace and shame?
One hardly has any answer to the above questions. Our irony is that our leaders are leading us to shame like never before. What option do they have to undo what they have brought for this country and its people? Resignations and stepping down from their respective public and political offices is one option. Another option is to say a firm no to the American drone attacks, cut the Nato supply line, revisit our policy on US’s so-called war on terror, halt all military operations inside Pakistan, open up dialogue with the local Taliban leaders to bring to an end terrorism and desist from dancing to the tunes of Americans.
Otherwise these leaks, containing truths and half-truths all suiting Washington but embarrassing others, are bound to create more mistrust and chaos in the country, which is the actual design of those having leaked it from Washington.

Pak Army Extra-Judicial Killing of 6 Prisoners–>We need war crimes tribunal

Another story of brutality in this so called war against terror has come on internet. In the video Pakistan Army soldiers are doing extra-judicial killing of 6 prisoners (seems to be of young age) in area probably of Khaiber Pakhtoonkhwa.

Previously videos of torture including old men have come on the media and army promised an inquiry but no results came , also reports of civilian killings through indiscriminate bombings is a usual practice in this so called war against terror.

We seriously need a “War Tribunal” to probe unconstitutional actions, extra-judicial killings, drone attacks with support from Pakistan government/army, illegal abductions and other human rights violations by Army and other security institutions in this so called war against terror.

If we think we are a civilized nation with some sort of sense of justice and humanity then we need to take some bold measures. We need to understand actions like these extra-judicial killings will promote terrorism and will not help the cause of peace (if this is the real purpose of this war which doesn’t seem to be).

http://www.liveleak.com/e/af8_1285266157

[ Video : Alleged execution of prisoners in Pakistan]

 Though there is a statement in media as usual claiming these videos to be faked but we can’t trust them unless free and fair investigation with proper trial are conducted for these actions.

Image building dramas like stopping NATO supplies or showing false discontent on drone attacks will not solve the problem. Army really needs to behave as a naitonal and civilized army not an occupied force.

Remembering Musharraf : 2007 worst year for Pakistan

This one is for Mushis apologists and narrow-minded people who are mentally retarded enough to still praying and hoping for Musharraf’s return. 2007 was the worst year for Pakistan which damaged the federation and economy . Still its impacts are going on with growing severity day by day. People see the growing tree but don’t see where the roots are.Musharraf played sectarian, ethnic and social class cards to his favor which still serve for him to get some support. This approach has destroyed our social fabric. 

‎1- 31st March 2007 attempt to remove the CJP in a ridiculous manner:

A real insulting attack on Judiciary, weakened the already weakened institution.

2- 12th May 2007 Karachi violence:

An attempt to kill CJP and an attempt to create a civil war type situation between ethnic groups. Purpose was divide people and extend his rule.

3- 3rd July 2007 Lal Masjid Operation:

It was done to dilute the impact of First Lawyers Movement and to give sectarian and social class color to this war against terror so that it can be owned by a wide section of our society. The consequences are still being felt as now after this operation this war has become more brutal and intensity has increased to highest level. It was part of Mushi’s expand the war and extend the rule policy. The logics, like Masjid e Zarrar or Takfeeri or Sufi/Wahabi division, which were floated in the masses to justify the operation later proved to be really damaging for our society as many who opposed the operation used the same logics to justify their brutal actions. This started a new row of suicide bombings and terrorism and a new sectarian war started with it.

4- 3rd November 2007 Martial Law:

It was another brutal attack on constitution, judiciary, media, lawyers, civil society and everyone who was against the illegal regime of Musharraf, his unconstitutional actions and violations of human rights.This action brought Pakistan’s economy to its knees. The economic structure of Mushi and Shortcut Aziz was fake and based on fictitious economy so economy started to collapse further (collapse already started in early 2007).

5- 27 December 2007 Benazir Murder:

Mushi and his partners decided to remove Benazir from the scene. It brought Zardari as new Chairman of PPP through an allegedly fake will. Benazir and Mushi had a deal arranged by USA,UK and Pakistan Army which broke when Mushi imposed 3rd November Martial Law and also Mushi never wanted Benazir to share his rule with Benazir and also he was afraid that Benazir might not be able to do things for him which he wanted like a clean and safe exit. Zardari was given PPP and NRO in return for Mushi’s security and later this helped the smiling wicked person to become Pakistan’s President. But Zardari gave Mushi a safe exit and now due to his incompetency or probably planning Mushi is trying to come back in Pakistani politics.

Its hard to say how long our country will face the aftermath of Musharraf's evil tenure.

Pakistan can miss export targets due to power crisis:Amin Fahim

Is this war really our war? It is destroying our lives,economy,social fabric and except a few from elite who are benefiting from all this rest are just suffering.

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Source: Pakistan can miss export targets due to power crisis:Amin Fahim.

Infocrats-mag

Lahore- Amin Fahim, The Pakistani federal minister for commerce has warned about the possibility of not achieving the export targets if electricity crisis and the law and order situation do not see any positive change.

He also said that terror attacks are making the foreign investor to reconsider their strategy in Pakistan.

He also told the media that the government is trying to Persuade United States, European Union and friendly Muslim countries to provide free market access to Pakistani products to revive its economy.

He was talking to the media during his visit to Lahore Expo Center.He said Rs3.5 billion needed for its completion have been sanctioned and the center would hopefully be operational in two months.

According to Fahim every time a bomb blast occurs foreign countries gave new advice  to their citizens.

Pakistan being the front-line state of ongoing war in the region has suffered great economic and human losses as a price for its role in the war.The problems got worse with another ongoing issue of electricity affecting the industrial productivity especially for export goods.

If we need a revolution or something , we need genuine thinkers and visionaries not so called hakims or so called spiritualists .

If we need a revolution or something , we need genuine thinkers and visionaries not so called hakims or so called spiritualists who copy the ideas re-mold them into their dirty deceptive agenda and use the names and work of great genuine people like Iqbal, Jinnah etc for their bogus agenda. I am seeing lots of good people following these deceivers just in the name of nationalism, patriotism etc .
My suggestion is to use your free mind and sense of justice so that you don’t get misguided by these so called nationalists.

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Some of my friends on these views of mine against the war think that I support the terrorists for them I need to say:

Opposing the war doesn’t mean supporting the terrorists.

I consider both army and the suicide bombers or terrorists who are killing the innocent civilians as destroyers of peace and don’t find their actions as just.

The problem is when I oppose the war the “nationalists” think as if I am supporting the
terrorists in fact I am opposing the mess and pointing out to destroy the root cause.

I consider prime responsible for this mess are army and government and reason is they
brought an unwanted war on our land and people.

I oppose the killings of innocent civilians in suicide bombs and by army/air force bombings
but again I consider prime responsibility goes to the country institutions because they (means their key heads rest are just blind followers) created the mess for dollars and this mess has created terrorism.

It was army and government who breached the agreement made by Jinnah for dollars.

It was again army and government with allied forces in Afghanistan with their missile attacks and drone attacks destroyed three peace deals after 2004 .
Before this operation ISPR and Information ministry deliberately tried to mold the facts as if the agreements were broken by tribes but even former army generals like Asad Durrani rejected these claims.
Try to find out how “Neik Muhammad” got killed after the peace deal by USA missile attack and then look at the government reaction of owning it.

The terrorist activities can mainly be categorized as:

1) Revenge of the innocent killings by our forces here and Allied forces in Afghanistan.
Also our support in the form of giving supply route to NATO supplies and Drone attacks are playing it’s part as well.
2) Revenge and anger exploited by enemies of Pakistan but its our fault we are providing them the ground to play with.
3) Attacks like on Shariah academy,Peshawar and Benazir were done by players of weapon-blood-dollar game which includes enemies of Pakistan who want us to remain engaged in the war (so called allies in the so called war against terror) and their pets in our own ranks (politicians, military and civil establishment etc).

After the blast which killed Benazir Bhutto the place and all the evidence was washed within hours and a drama was created to link it with tribal situation which never got proved.
My question is who was being protected here?

4) Not to forget the ethnic and sectarian cards which Musharraf government played with their allied parties and groups to control power, they have also contributed a lot to this mess.

My questions are:

Can we support innocent killings in the name of nationalism?
Can we support injustice in the name of patriotism?
And after doing that can we expect peace?

It’s time to sort out the real problems

Recent attacks on civilians are not only horrible but highly condemnable but with all the condemnation and anger we need to sort out the real problems which have become the real cause of this mess.

The terrorist activities in Pakistan are a result of capitalist-imperialism, greed of
our leaders, absence of justice and lack of accountability of our institutions.

If we think that few thousand Talibans ( with all the disagreements and agreements with wrongs and rights of their system) or some other force can rule us then it means we
are admitting that our state structure is garbage and if you are talking about changing the culture or ideology by force…No chance.

The terrorist activities can mainly be categorized as:

1) Revenge of the innocent killings by our forces here and Allied forces in Afghanistan.Also
our support in the form of giving supply route to NATO supplies and Drone attacks are playing it’s part as well.
2) Revenge and anger exploited by enemies of Pakistan but its our fault we are providing them the ground to play with.
3) Attacks like on Shariah academy,Peshawar and Benazir were done by players of weapon-blood-dollar game which includes enemies of Pakistan who want us to remain engaged in the war (so called allies in the so called war against terror) and their pets in our own ranks (politicians, military and civil establishment etc).

4) Not to forget the ethnic and sectarian cards which Musharraf government played with their
allied parties and groups to control power, they have also contributed a lot to this mess.

The only solution is to bring system of justice, re-establishment of tribal institutions and accountability of institutions and leaders to fix the internal problems.

As far as the external part of the solution we need to tell USA and NATO to get out from Afghanistan and end this baseless war and if they don’t we need to come out of this war on our own, stop NATO supplies from Pakistan, stop Drone attacks by any means and convey the Pros of peace and Cons of this war to the the rest of the world.

“Terrorist Activities in Pakistan and US-War on Terror”

Pakistan’s strategic location makes it almost impossible for the country to keep itself away from the events all over the world. 9-11 2001 attacks on world trade centre towers in New York lead Pakistan to a situation in which it had to take a U-turn on its successful Afghan policy and they had to pull off their support for the pro-Pakistan Taliban government.

The legitimacy of the war is not only criticized by many in Pakistan and all over the world but the debate is also a hot topic in USA itself whether the 9-11 attacks are the job of al-Qaida or it’s an insider job .

According to former Italian president, Francesco Cossiga:”[Bin Laden supposedly confessed] to the Al-Qaida September [attack] to the two towers in New York [claiming to be] the author of the attack of the 11, while all the [intelligence services] of America and Europe … now know well that the disastrous attack has been planned and realized from the CIA American and the Mossad with the aid of the Zionist world in order to put under accusation the Arabic Countries and in order to induce the western powers to take part … in Iraq [and] Afghanistan.”

Nevertheless Pakistan government took a position of frontline state in the war and now it is facing the brunt of it and also in that war on terror Pakistan was forced to send its troop in the northern parts of its country.

Now after a brief background come to the real topic, the terrorist activities in Pakistan.

Though first suicide attack in Pakistan occurred even before 9-11 in 1995 when an Egyptian bomber smashed his explosives-laden truck into the embassy of Egypt which killed 14 people.

The recent suicide bombing row started from 2002 attacks on French engineers and scientists who were in Pakistan to work on the nuclear submarine project, the blame was put on al-Qaida and its allies in Pakistan ( as a reaction of its role in the war on terror), after that a series of suicide bombings in Pakistan started in which hundreds of people have been killed including the former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and also several high profile leaders including President Musharraf, former Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, military personnel and foreigners were attacked in the similar manner.

Some points to ponder

Whenever there is a chance of peace truce being signed or even after signing the agreement between local tribesmen in Waziristan and Pakistan Army some similar pattern activities occur.

1) Us strikes in the tribal areas (like the recent one is February 28^th one and just one month ago on 29^th January)

2) Pakistan Government denies such attacks by foreign forces and claims whatever actions are being taken in the area are being conducted by Pakistan forces and thus taking the blame on their shoulder (and event they face the mass public pressure they just give a weak foreign office condemnation)

3) Suicide attacks in civilian and military areas of Pakistan (like the one on 2^nd March on peace jirga).

4) Then peace talks break, like it has happened twice this year and even before that in 2006 and 2007(the Damadola USA strikes attack etc).

5) During that period several tribal leaders and religious scholars who were actively working for the peace negotiations were being targeted and removed from the scene.

These repetitive set of events and the relation between the events have lead to the rise of the thought which is prevailing very quickly that USA is involved in these activities because it wants to weaken the only nuclear Muslim state.

Recent statement by Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz Khan that people in Pakistan feel that India, Afghanistan and USA are involved in terrorist activities in Pakistan, may have fueled the US officials but the ground reality doesn’t deny this.

We must not forget that many Indian RAW agents have been arrested for their involvement in terrorist activities in Pakistan and also it is now well clear that BLA (Baluchistan Liberation Army ) was well supported by India and Israel (with US-backing and approval).

Also we should not neglect the statement given by Robert Gates in December 2007:

“Al-Qaida right now seems to have turned its face toward Pakistan and attacks on the Pakistani government and Pakistan people.”

We must ask ourselves, “Can we keep our eyes close from the facts? What does the history and prevailing facts tell us. It’s time to learn from the history or get ready to be a forgotten part of it.”

It is clearly evident that USA is again interfering in our political matters ( and our respectful and democratic leaders are allowing it to happen or in fact willingly want them to get involved), we as a society put pressure on our leader to act as true leaders not slaves of Imperialist and Zionist powers.

We should at least ask ourselves, for what we are fighting? And whose cause we are serving? We have put on stake our national integrity and honor, for what? We have damaged our Kashmir cause, for what? We are killing our own people, for what? We toppled our institutions (even the most important one, the judiciary), for what? We disgraced our national hero, for what?

For that so called war on terror whose legitimacy is has become a question mark not only in the whole world but in USA as well.

And our dictator still claims that his actions are in the broader national interest of Pakistan.

Can someone tell me which Pakistan?

It’s surely not the one which was founded by our ancestors.

May be Musharraf wants to make a new Pakistan, “George Ka Pakistan”.

Also read:

http://united4justice.wordpress.com/2008/07/24/the-zionist-game-plan-comment-on-a-friends-blog/