– CNN-IBN
New Delhi: The Canadian High Commission has rejected an immigration application of an Indian for working in the Border Security Force which the Canadian authority says, is a notorious force that is engaged in systematic attacks on civilians.
Fateh Singh Pandher, a retired jawan from the BSF, had applied to travel to Canada along with his family. But the Canada High Commission here refused to give permission to travel to Canada.
By Ali K. Chishti
Daily Times can confirm that Siraj Haqqani, the operational commander of the Haqqani Network, who had earlier been moved from Miranshah, North Waziristan to Kurram Agency, has been moved to a secure “safe house” outside FATA. The decision was taken after the September 27 NATO incursion near the village of Mata Sanger, which left two Pakistani FC guards dead.
“Apparently, Siraj Haqqani was pretty close at a safe-house when the NATO incursion at Kurram took place,” confirmed a top Western diplomat. It should be noted that Siraj Haqqani was earlier moved to Kurram Agency from Miranshah in North Waziristan after his brother, Mohammed, was killed in a US predator strike and another military commander, Saifullah Haqqani, was killed earlier this year.
The Haqqani network, which is considered as a ‘strategic asset’ by the Pakistani security establishment due to their considerable influence in Afghanistan, had first been moved to Kurram Agency where a new operation centre had been set up to intensify attacks in Afghanistan in co-ordination with a break away section of the Lakhkar-e-Tayyaba and other groups. It is now reported that the Shia tribes that make up most of the base for the Frontier Corps, who had earlier given most of the resistance to Gubuddin Hekmatyar’s Hizb-e-Islami in Spina Shaga, have turned against the Haqqani network, who they see as an ideological threat to their existence. While most of the Pakistani mainstream media reported the recent clashes in Kurram Agency as ‘water wars’ between various tribal groups where more than 70 militants had been killed in strikes, it was in reality a section of the security establishment’s supporting pro-government tribal killings to pave a way for the Haqqanis. Daily Times can now confirm that it was a story to cover and allow the military to intervene on behalf of the Haqqanis, who are viewed as ‘strategic assets’ and ‘good Talibans’. ….
Read more : Daily Times
The language of the Talk show is Urdu (Hindi).
Courtesy: Geo Tv News, Capital Talk » YouTube
… For three years in a row now, Kashmiris have been in the streets, protesting what they see as India’s violent occupation. But the militant uprising against the Indian government that began with the support of Pakistan 20 years ago is in retreat. The Indian Army estimates that there are fewer than 500 militants operating in the Kashmir Valley today. The war has left 70,000 dead and tens of thousands debilitated by torture. Many, many thousands have “disappeared.” More than 200,000 Kashmiri Hindus have fled the valley. Though the number of militants has come down, the number of Indian soldiers deployed remains undiminished.
But India’s military domination ought not to be confused with a political victory. Ordinary people armed with nothing but their fury have risen up against the Indian security forces. A whole generation of young people who have grown up in a grid of checkpoints, bunkers, army camps and interrogation centers, whose childhood was spent witnessing “catch and kill” operations, whose imaginations are imbued with spies, informers, “unidentified gunmen,” intelligence operatives and rigged elections, has lost its patience as well as its fear. With an almost mad courage, Kashmir’s young have faced down armed soldiers and taken back their streets. …
Read more : THE NEW YORK TIMES
It has suffered disaster after disaster. Its people have lived through crisis upon crisis. Its leaders are unwilling or unable to act. But is it really the failed state that many believe?
By Patrick Cockburn
Is Pakistan disintegrating? Are the state and society coming apart under the impact of successive political and natural disasters? The country swirls with rumours about the fall of the civilian government or even a military coup. The great Indus flood has disappeared from the headlines at home and abroad, though millions of farmers are squatting in the ruins of their villages. The US is launching its heaviest-ever drone attacks on targets in the west of the country, and Pakistan closed the main US and Nato supply route through the Khyber Pass after US helicopters crossed the border and killed Pakistani soldiers.
Pakistan is undoubtedly in a bad way, but it is also a country with more than 170 million people, a population greater than Russia’s, and is capable of absorbing a lot of punishment. It is a place of lop-sided development. It possesses nuclear weapons but children were suffering from malnutrition even before the floods. Electricity supply is intermittent so industrialists owning textile mills in Punjab complain that they have to use their own generators to stay in business. Highways linking cities are impressive, but the driver who turns off the road may soon find himself bumping along a farmer’s track. The 617,000-strong army is one of the strongest in the world, but the government has failed to eliminate polio or malaria. Everybody agrees that higher education must be improved if Pakistan is to compete in the modern world, but the universities have been on strike because their budgets had been cut and they could not pay their staff.
The problem for Pakistan is not that the country is going to implode or sink into anarchy, but that successive crises do not produce revolutionary or radical change. A dysfunctional and corrupt state, part-controlled by the army, staggers on and continues to misgovern the country. The merry-go-round of open or veiled military rule alternates with feeble civilian governments. But power stays in the hands of an English-speaking élite that inherited from the British rulers of the Raj a sense of superiority over the rest of the population.
The present government might just squeak through the post-flood crisis because of its weakness rather than its strength. The military has no reason to replace it formally since the generals already control security policy at home and abroad, as well as foreign policy and anything else they deem important to their interests. …
Read more : The Independent
by Dr. Masood Ashraf Raja
Between the mullahs and the military, the future of Pakistan is being squandered in the name of God and security respectively
There are certain necessary fictions that underwrite the project of departmental Pakistani historiography and current explanations of the Pakistani body politic:
· The Ulama, by and large, claim that Pakistan was created as an Islamic state and must, therefore, have an “Islamic System of government.”
· The military keeps reminding us that the integrity of Pakistan depends upon the existence of a strong military force to forestall against any aggression against our status as a free nation by our so-called “arch enemy,” India. …
Read more >> ViewPoint
Karachi: 5 killed in twin blasts at Abdullah Shah Ghazi shrine
At least 5 people have been killed and several others sustained injuries in twin blasts near shrine of Abdullah Shah Ghazi in Karachi, Dunya News reported on Thursday. Two children, security guard and policeman are among the dead.
According to Dunya News correspondent, both the blasts were occurred near walk-through gates of the tomb. According to police, 5 people were killed in the blasts. Panic prevailed after the incident. Police and law enforcing agencies cordoned off the tomb and relief activities have been started.
Emergency has been imposed in Karachi hospitals and paramedical staff has been called. The injured are being shifted to nearby hospitals including Jinnah Hospital. Situation of some of the injured is stated to be critical.
President Zardari was in the Bilawal House when the blasts occurred in Abdullah Shah Ghazi’s shrine. Security around Bilawal House was increased after the incident.
Read more >> DunyaTV
Why I don’t contribute to Desaster-Stricken Pakistan
By Patrice Lagacé
Before talking about the disaster in Pakistan, I would like to tell you about this marvelous “killing machine” called F-16.
You know what a F-16 is, don’t you? Well, it’s one of the most popular fighter planes in the world. They cost approximately $40 million each. And of course, during its lifetime, it will have cost one and half the purchase price for maintenance, repairs (and windshield washer – you wouldn’t believe the insane price of each can of windshield washer that these toys use).
So, coming back to the disaster in Pakistan . Terrible! If we weren’t talking about a Muslim country, we could refer to the flooding as being of biblical proportions: 20,000,000 disaster victims. Just appalling.
Over the last two or three days we’ve been hearing voices accusing the West (Canada and United States ) of a lack of generosity towards a very seriously afflicted Pakistan. People are being told off in Canada, France and Great-Britain.
Read more >> Germerica
LONDON: British media reports say a Pakistani politician has been killed outside his home in London.
For more details >> DAWN
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Read more >>- BBC
Former prime minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif with Najam Sethi on Pakistan’s foreign policy, India, Afghanistan, democracy and other issues. The language of interview is Urdu (Hindi).
Courtesy: Dunya TV-Tonight With Najam Sethi-05-07-2010-11 >> ZemTV
– Aporrea.org
June 19, 2010 – More than a dozen U.S. warships and Israel, including an aircraft carrier, passed through the Suez Canal on Friday and head towards the Red Sea. “According to eyewitnesses, U.S. battleships were larger than crossed the Channel for many years,” reported the London-based newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi on Saturday.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported the Egyptian opposition members criticized the government for cooperation with the U.S. and Israeli forces and allow the passage of ships through Egyptian territorial waters. The Red Sea is the most direct route to the Persian Gulf from the Mediterranean.
Continue reading U.S. Navy and Israeli warships moving towards Iran
New Delhi: Thousands of paramilitary personnel have launched a crackdown to target Maoist leaders across the country in a bid to crush what is described as India’s biggest internal security challenge.
By: Khalid Hashmani
Mr. Azhar Ali Shah has extracted some interesting information about 14 Army chiefs of Pakistan (of course none of them was Sindhi) from Wikipedia. He has asked the knowledgeable persons to comment on the authenticity of the information since any one can add information to Wikipedia. He interestingly notes that except for one Army Chief, all other 13 chiefs superseded their seniors, denied the orders of head of state, seized the power though coup ….
Courtesy: Sindhi e-lists/ e-groups, 26 May 2009
(Editor’s Note: Bashir Qureshi is a Sindhi nationalist leader, he heads his own faction of Jeay Sindh Quami Mahaz (Long Live Sindh National Front) based on ideology of late G.M. Syed who called for independence of Sindh from Pakistan in 1970s. G.M. Syed was founder of movement for independent Sindh into a separate country he called “Sindhudesh”, that means land of Sindh. Qureshi lives in Karachi, originally hails from a small city of Larkano district called Rato Dero. He became prominent when he was student leader in early 1980s at Tando Jam University, where he was studying. It is not confirmed that he completed his graduation from there or not because he was frequently arrested and remained in jail for several years.)
On January 5th, 2009 Syed’s birth day was observed in his ancestral native village called Sann.
Few passages of speech made by Bashir Khan Qureshi, Chairman JSQM are taken from Sindhi newspaper “Awami Awaz” (means voice of people) are given below;
“G.M. Syed is an ideological leader not only of Sindh but of globe, Syed considered Pakistan’s creation precarious not only for people of this country but for world at large”. This reality is now established universally that Pakistan’s existence is precarious not only to region but world at large.
We consider meaning of Pakistan as Punjabistan. Madeleine Albright, the former U.S. Foreign Secretary of State/Minister, said openly that “Pakistan is a Migraine for the world”. International Community committed error by not accepting G.M. Syed’s advice, and now this same mistake should not be repeated again, to get rid of religious extremism, international community should support Sindhis, Bashir Qureshi said.
“We Sindhis, though are stronger than Balochistan in terms of ideology but in fighting and resistance Balochs are far ahead than us. We demand end to operation in Balochistan and fully support independence of Balochistan, and further demand freedom and independence of all nations who have separate existence, he (Bashir Qureshi) said“
The Birth Anniversary of G.M. Syed was attended by some five thousands men & women on January 5, coverage of the event widely reported on January 6th 2009.
Background: At present there are four major groups/parties following into the political footsteps of late Jeay Sindh group led by Bashir Qureshi called JSQM is considered to be successor of G.M. Syed’s movement and most popular among its Jeay Sindh’s workers.
Other groups are JSQM-Areesar Group and Jeay Sindh Mahaz-Junejo Group, the fourth group is led by Syed’s own family called Sindh United Party (SUP), it is led by G.M. Syed’s grandson Syed Jalal Shah, who is a former member of Sindh Assembly and Deputy Speaker & acting speaker of Sindh provincial assembly. SUP has moved from demanding separation of Sindh to provincial autonomy of Sindh while remaining into Pakistan’s framework. Where as other three groups still demand independence of Sindh.
New intelligence report says Pakistan is ‘on the edge’
By Jonathan S. Landay and John Walcott | McClatchy Newspapers
Courtesy and Thanks: McClatchy
MORE FROM MCCLATCHY
Severe economic crisis threatens Pakistan’s stability
Wave of violence worsens Pakistan’s security, economic crisis
WASHINGTON – A growing al Qaida-backed insurgency, combined with the Pakistani army’s reluctance to launch an all-out crackdown, political infighting and energy and food shortages are plunging America’s key ally in the war on terror deeper into turmoil and violence, says a soon-to-be completed U.S. intelligence assessment.
A U.S. official who participated in drafting the top secret National Intelligence Estimate said it portrays the situation in Pakistan as “very bad.” Another official called the draft “very bleak,” and said it describes Pakistan as being “on the edge.”
The first official summarized the estimate’s conclusions about the state of Pakistan as: “no money, no energy, no government.”
Six U.S. officials who helped draft or are aware of the document’s findings confirmed them to McClatchy on the condition of anonymity because NIEs are top secret and are restricted to the president, senior officials and members of Congress. An NIE’s conclusions reflect the consensus of all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies.
Continue reading Pakistan: No money, No energy, No government!
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