Excerpt;
…. The way the war on terror is conducted by the Pakistan Army has left the tribal people oppressed and terrorised by both the army and the al Qaeda-led Taliban. They are under a double occupation of the army and the Taliban. Asking the tribal people to make lashkars against the Taliban is a brutality against them. The generals created the Taliban and their army must fight them, not the tribal people.
Read more » Daily Times
– Don’t Trust Musharraf
With Pakistan in the news following Hillary Clinton’s visit, Bruce Riedel argues that we can’t forget to hold Musharraf accountable for bin Laden.
by Bruce Riedel
Excerpt;
Former Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf should be held accountable for his role in the search for Osama bin Laden who for some three years was hiding within earshot of the country’s premier military academy while Musharraf led the country and its army. Whether clueless (his answer) or complicit about bin Laden’s hideout, Musharraf failed to bring justice to the world’s most-wanted man for years. We should press him for answers about his ineptitude, not look to him for answers about his country’s future. ….
……. President Obama wisely decided we could not tell Kayani that we had tracked bin Laden to Abbottabad. He could not be trusted. Nor can we trust Musharraf. Americans and Pakistanis have every reason to ask Musharraf and his fellow generals hard questions …..
Read more » THE DAILY BEAST
Chinese toddler Yue Yue who was ignored by 18 passers-by after she was the victim of a hit-and-run has died from her injuries.
TO WATCH THE VIDEO, CLICK HERE
By Malcolm Moore, Guangzhou Military Hospital
Two-year-old Wang Yue was run over by two cars last Thursday in a market in the southern province of Guangdong. Closed-circuit television footage of 18 people walking past her body without helping her has ignited outrage both inside China and worldwide. ….
Read more » telegraph.co.uk
– Pakistan overturns ban on booze . . . for export
IT IS an Islamic republic where alcohol is forbidden to 97 per cent of the population and drinkers can face 80 lashes of the whip under holy law – but in a move set to anger religious conservatives, Pakistan is poised to become an exporter of beer.
An official in the Ministry of Commerce in Islamabad told The Times that a ruling this month by its Economic Committee on Trade would allow Pakistan to export beer and spirits from next year.
“India would be the largest market for our alcoholic products. ….
– What’s it like to appear in someone else’s book without your knowledge or approval? After Jemima Khan got her hands on Imran Khan’s book, she had the opportunity to discuss Pakistan and their time together with her ex-husband
“Too late. Don’t worry Jem – you come across as you always wanted to – Joan of Arc,” was the response I got from my ex-husband, Imran Khan, when I asked if it would be possible to read his memoirs before they were published.
Imran and I have remained on very good terms. He even uses my mother’s house as a London base when he’s in the UK. Still, hearing that there was a chapter in Pakistan: A Personal History entitled “My Marriage”, was, I’ll admit, unsettling. I wrestled an advance copy, a brick of a book, from my sons (to whom it had been dedicated, as well as to “the youth of Pakistan”). ….
Read more » independent.co.uk
– The preservation of Moenjodaro was discussed at a conference held in Karachi on Saturday in which archaeological experts, top Sindh government officials and Unesco representatives participated. While the provincial government allocated Rs100m to help conserve the 5,000-year-old Indus Valley Civilisation and World Heritage site, experts in their desperation suggested burial of the ruins until such time that technology became available to control the rising water table and salt levels in the soil that threaten the prehistoric site. International experts have reportedly been struggling for years to conserve Moenjodaro, in the process experimenting with various techniques that just do not seem to give the desired results. This is extremely worrisome. ….
Read more : DAWN EDITORIAL » Aboard the Democracy Train
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