Voice of Pakistan

Pakistan Zindabaad

2010-09-06T09:33:00.003+05:00

Hillary Clinton admitted the U.S. created the Taliban

2010-08-27T14:31:00.005+05:00

In 2009, appearing before a congressional hearings on the Obama administration's foreign policy, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton admitted the U.S. created the Taliban. "Let's remember here... the people we are fighting today we funded them twenty years ago... and we did it because we were locked in a struggle with the Soviet Union," said Clinton.

China denies visa to J&K Gen, India hits back

2010-08-27T11:19:00.001+05:00

India has suspended defence exchanges with China after Beijing refused a visa to an Indian army general from the Kashmir region, media reports said on Friday. Indian army's General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Northern Area Command was denied visa because he was responsible for "disputed" region of Jammu & Kashmir, according to China. A government source said the Indian government would issue a statement later on Friday over the issue. The Chinese have been provokng India on Kashmir in recent times by refusing to paste visas on the passports of residents of J&K, instead stapling them instead. India has strongly protestd this practice since the government refuses to recognize stapled visas as valid travel documents http://www.hindustantimes.com/China-denies-visa-to-J-amp-K-Gen-India-hits-back/Article1-592418.aspx

New Delhi asks Google to show Kashmir part of India

2010-08-24T09:00:00.002+05:00

New Delhi (ND) has issued a notice to the search engine giant Google for showing what India considers Azad Kashmir as Pakistani territory. The disputed map comes up on Google Insights for search and Indian authorities have asked Google to immediately correct this “inaccuracy”. “There had been media reports that Google Images had been depicting India’s international boundaries incorrectly. Upon learning this, minister of state for communications and IT Sachin Pilot instructed the department of information technology to inquire into the matter and to take necessary steps to ensure that the depiction is made accurate,” said a statement from Pilot’s office.Following this, the IT department issued a notice to Google India. http://www.daily.pk/new-delhi-asks-google-to-show-kashmir-part-of-india-20404/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailypk+%28Pakistan+Daily%29

Pakistan facing a 'slow-motion tsunami'

2010-08-20T13:30:00.004+05:00

By Washington correspondent Craig McMurtrie An emergency session of the United Nations has been told Pakistan is facing potential political and economic instability in the wake of catastrophic flooding. The stark warning came from Pakistan's foreign minister but was echoed by US officials including the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton. Ms Clinton announced a boost of US aid funding, but the Americans also criticised Pakistan's regional allies, including China, for not doing their part. Weeks after the disaster first hit, the UN convened with a graphic video showing the extent of the inundation. UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon says the rains that continue to swamp Pakistan are a "slow-motion tsunami". The special session was called because of concerns that the flow of international aid is not matching the scale of the catastrophe, one that Mr Ban says is affecting more people than Pakistan's 2005 earthquake, the Indian Ocean tsunami, and the Haiti earthquake combined. "At least 160,000 square kilometres of land is underwater, an area larger than more than half of the countries of the world," he said. Lifting a US promise of $90 million in aid to $150 million, Ms Clinton warned against international donor fatigue after what she called an unrelenting stream of disasters this year. "Experts predict that the flooding will not recede until mid-September and if the monsoon rains continue the devastation will spread to new areas driving yet more people from homes," she said. "So we know we face a humanitarian disaster of monumental proportions and it is creating economic and security problems." US officials are worried about the danger of instability in the nuclear capable country if more is not done, a point underlined by Pakistan's foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi. "The food security of the sixth most populous country in the world is at risk," he said. "The possible threat of food riots and related violence cannot be ruled out." He also reminded those listening of Pakistan's importance in the battle against extremism. "The massive upheaval caused by the floods and economic losses suffered by the millions of Pakistanis must be addressed urgently," he said. "If we fail it could undermine the hard-won gains made by the government in our difficult and painful war against terrorism. "We cannot allow this catastrophe to become an opportunity for the terrorists." Britain, the EU and others followed America's lead, upping their contributions at the donor's conference. But with billions expected to be needed for reconstruction, it is just a start. The US and its allies have been annoyed by the slow response from Pakistan's regional allies, with ambassador Richard Holbrooke taking a swipe at China. "Other countries maybe more highly rated on popularity scales than Pakistan like, for example, China, but we do the most and I don't know where those other countries are," he said. The Obama administration has also launched a special fund for Pakistan, but so far it is not generating anywhere near the outpouring of public support seen for Haiti's earthquake victims earlier in the year. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/20/2989046.htm?section=justin

Inhain Phir Wohee Halaat Do!!

2010-08-19T09:07:00.001+05:00

U.N. says secured more Pakistan flood relief funds

2010-08-18T12:33:00.003+05:00

By Alistair Scrutton ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Nearly half the $459 million (295.8 million pounds) needed for initial relief in Pakistan's worst ever floods has been secured after days of lobbying donors and warnings that the country faces a spiralling humanitarian catastrophe, the United Nations said on Wednesday. But despite the fresh funds, only a fraction of the six million Pakistanis desperate for food and clean water have received help after the worst floods in decades killed up to 1,600 people and left two million homeless. "There has been an improvement in funding. Donors are realising the scale of the disaster," U.N. spokesman Maurizio Giuliano told Reuters. "But the challenges are absolutely massive and the floods are not over." "The size of (the area affected by) this disaster is equivalent to Austria, Switzerland and Belgium combined. That's pretty scary." A few days ago, only a quarter of aid pledged had been received, prompting U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on a visit to Pakistan to urge foreign donors to speed up funding and avert more deaths. So far, food rations and access to clean water have only been provided to around 700,000 flood survivors, the U.N said. The damage and cost of recovery could shave more than one percentage point off economic growth, analysts say. Pakistan's High Commissioner to Britain, Wajid Shamsul Hasan, said the cost of rebuilding could reach up to $15 billion. Victims are relying mostly on the military, the most powerful institution in Pakistan, and foreign aid agencies for help. Nevertheless, a military coup is considered unlikely. The army's priority is fighting Taliban insurgents, and seizing power during a disaster would make no sense, analysts say. Hundreds of villages are isolated, highways and bridges have been cut in half by floods and hundreds of thousands of cattle -- the livelihoods of many villagers -- have drowned. The United Nations has warned that up to 3.5 million children could be in danger of contracting deadly diseases carried through contaminated water and insects in a crisis that has disrupted the lives of at least a tenth of Pakistan's 170 million people. "Who will treat her? The doctors said she has a hole in the wall of her heart," said Bakhmina Said, whose one-year-old Naeema slept on a mat in sweltering heat at a fly-infested camp in northwestern Pakistan. She had no fan, no chance of seeing a cardiologist anytime soon and at risk of catching other potentially fatal diseases in cramped, un-hygienic conditions. U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation says Pakistan could face food shortages if its farmers miss the sowing season which is due to start next month. Public anger has grown in the two weeks of floods, highlighting potential political troubles for President Asif Ali Zardari's unpopular government which is a major U.S. ally in the war against Islamist militancy. Some Pakistani flood victims blocked highways to demand government help and villagers clashed with baton-wielding police on Tuesday after opposition leader Nawaz Sharif tried to distribute relief in Sindh. (Additional reporting by Michael Georgy in Charsadda; Writing by Alistair Scrutton; Editing by Michael Georgy ) http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE6700QW20100818?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0

State Dept., USAID urge Pakistan flood aid

2010-08-18T09:12:00.002+05:00

The State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development are once again encouraging Americans to donate money to a natural disaster beyond U.S. borders, this time seeking for survivors of Pakistan's historic floods. The two agencies led similar efforts after the Haitian earthquake. This time they're urging concerned citizens to text "SWAT" to 50555 to give $10 to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees for flood relief, the State Department said. The U.N. office has delivered about 4,000 tents, 2,700 plastic sheets, 2,200 kitchen sets and 4,000 plastic mats to the hardest-hit areas, according to the U.S. embassy in Islamabad. @StateDept is also keeping Twitter users informed, linking them to a page with phone numbers and Web sites of other nongovernmental organizations providing assistance, including Save the Children, the International Red Cross and OXFAM. USAID has a page with similar information. And in an effort to win hearts and minds on the Internet, the State Department produced the video above of Consul General William Martin discussing flood relief. Have you seen other examples of the federal government's response to the Pakistani floods? Leave links in the comments section below. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/federal-eye/2010/08/state_dept_usaid_urge_pakistan.html

UN: Money Needed to Help Pakistani Flood Victims

2010-08-16T18:33:00.005+05:00

The United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, has left Pakistan after describing floods there as the worst disaster he has ever witnessed.

The UN has appealed for nearly half-a billion dollars to fund emergency relief in Pakistan, but so far only a quarter of that amount has been raised.

Correspondents say relief workers are struggling to cope with the scale of the devastation and more people are being forced to flee their homes by rising flood waters.

Pascal Cuttat, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Pakistan, is one of those trying to tackle the massive relief effort.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/news/2010/08/100816_pakistan_aid_wt_hs.shtml

Pakistan also offers nuclear security skills to world

2010-04-16T11:52:00.001+05:00

Pakistan is ready to share with nations its competence in the area of nuclear security, particularly prevention, detection and response to illicit trafficking, said the paper Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani presented at one of the sessions at the Washington summit earlier this week. –Photo by Reuters

WASHINGTON: In a policy paper presented to leaders from nearly 50 nations, Pakistan offered to share with other states its nuclear security skills, particularly in prevention, detection and response to illicit trafficking. In a similar document, presented at the Washington nuclear security summit, which ended on Tuesday, Pakistan declared that it had acquired advanced nuclear fuel cycle capability and can offer it to the rest of the world under IAEA safeguards. “Pakistan is ready to share with nations its competence in the area of nuclear security, particularly prevention, detection and response to illicit trafficking,” said the paper Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani presented at one of the sessions at the Washington summit earlier this week. The same document contained two other equally significant points: nations need to cooperate with each other in acquiring reliable nuclear security and that India needed to work with Pakistan for protecting South Asia against a nuclear disaster. “Of course, legally, nuclear security is a national responsibility. But nations do not act alone. They cooperate with each other to learn and to establish formal and informal networks,” said the clause dealing with international cooperation. Another clause directed specifically at South Asia, noted: “Regional stability is important for nuclear security. We believe that Pakistan’s proposals on a Strategic Restraint Regime in South — with its three elements of nuclear and missile restraint, a balance in conventional forces, and conflict resolution — will go a long way in making our region secure and stable.” The document reminds the world leaders that Pakistan had already concluded with India several CBMS. These include pre-notification of ballistic missile testing, establishment of a hotline, prevention of attacks on nuclear installations and facilities, and an agreement on reducing the risk of accidents relating to nuclear weapons. “These efforts must continue. And our two nations — Pakistan and India — must continue to invest in a sustained and constructive dialogue.” After sharing with the world leaders its ‘competence’ in the fields of nuclear security and fuel production, Pakistan reminds the rest of the world: “To meet its growing demand for energy for economic development, Pakistan plans to produce 8,800 Megawatts of nuclear energy by 2030.” But this would “constitute only 5.4 per cent of the total energy mix.” The document then moves to the moot point: “We urge all relevant forums to take steps to enable Pakistan to access civil nuclear energy and technology, in a non-discriminatory manner, under IAEA safeguards.” The entire document reflects Islamabad’s new confidence in promoting itself as a state not only capable of protecting its installations but also ready to offer services and goods to others. In the process, Pakistan also got rid of the apologetic posture it had adopted since February 2004 when Dr A. Q. Khan confessed to running a proliferation ring. http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/pakistan-also-offers-nuclear-security-skills-to-world-640

Bin Laden's tape delivered from India??

2010-04-09T14:06:00.002+05:00

Abu Dhabi—Diplomatic and media sources in the Gulf have traced the dispatch of Osama bin Laden’s recent audio statement to Indian city of Bangalore. According to a senior journalist the audio message of Osama bin Laden which was received last week by Al Jazeerah TV was sent via a courier from India. In his recent message Osama bin Laden had warned to kill American hostages if any of Al-Qaeda men was executed after summary trial by the U.S. court. Area specialists confirm that at least one more such audio tape released in 2006 was also handed over to a courier in Hyderabad India who delivered it to contact in an Arab TV office in the Middle East. Although no one is sure about the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden but some anti-terror experts have traced his last footprints and they say that he was last seen in India in the year 2003. Area specialists also confirm that the last time places Osama had visited his two wives was in Hyderabad (India) and Bangalore making detour through Assam, Hyderabad and New Delhi. Experts are confused as to how in 2003 when he was most wanted man of the world he could visit India without the blessings of the Indian government and Indian Intelligence RAW. It is important to note that in 2003 Indian newspaper Hindu had reported presence of Osama in Indian-held Kashmir but the Indian General Deepak Kapoor had swiftly denied his presence there while some Western intelligence had confirmed his presence in South India in 2003. It is believed that the visit must have been facilitated by Indian government/RAW and the decision to allow him at least one visit showed that India did not consider Osama bin Laden to be a threat to Indian interests. Area watchers maintain that keeping in view the enhanced strategic relations between Indian and the United States and the American huge intelligence monitoring capabilities it was not possible that at least some of the American diplomats in New Delhi were unaware of the visit of Osama bin Laden to India and his meetings with his wives. Anti-terror experts puzzled that instead of tracing him further from India, they keep making frivolous allegations of his presence in Pakistan. The fact of the matter is that India government and RAW are in a better position to throw light on his exit from India if any and his present location. http://andhralekha.com/news/11-27165-Bin%20Laden's%20tape%20delivered%20from%20India??

Secular India?

2010-02-12T08:55:00.000+05:00

Secular India has been no stranger to religious-oriented fractures; among others, Muslims and Christians, both, have suffered the scourge of Hindu Fascists/Hindu Zionists. India’s neighbor, and often its scapegoat for violence within, has been no stranger to ethnic disturbances either. However, in recent years, the exception with the latter is that ethnic minorities, particularly Hindus and Christians, remain protected. If there is violence against these minorities, the matter is never hushed up. This is remarkable for a country that is always touted by the West and anti-Pakistan forces as one with a hardliner ideology. If we look at the recent upheaval that took place in Mumbai, for example, we observed a huge difference in institutional and public reaction; In India, violence broke out against Muslims in the streets. Many Muslim men and women faced insults, and many youth were physically assaulted by mobs. While the Indian media took an aggressive stance that only exacerbated the situation in the streets and did little to uncover any truth, in Pakistan, the feeling was different; the media were placid and awaited input from India as well as the international media. Some voices have been critical of the Pakistani media’s apparent lack of patriotic initiative. However, the people in the streets in Pakistan did not resort to violence, and our Hindu population was unharmed. Isn’t that quite surprising for a nation that is believed to support Talibanisation? It is understandable that there would be fury in India in the aftermath of the Mumbai carnage. However, one must also take into account that out of the 187 lives that perished, 147 were Muslims. Shouldn’t Muslims back home in Pakistan have been more irate about this, particularly when reports began to filter through suggesting that all this had ‘Indian conspiracy’ written all over it? Yes, conspiracy! Among a plethora of facts that can be furnished that expose the RAW and Indian Fascist/Zionist hand in the Mumbai drama, I will present one that is most glaring: Hemant Karkare was gunned down with 9 mm pistols; he was shot in the back within the first 15 minutes of the Mumbai Mayhem. As opposed to this, the terrorists carried 0.30 mm firearms. It’s hard to believe that the terrorists on the rampage killed Hemant Karkare. To understand why Karkar was killed, we will have to indulge in another discussion. However, it is important to say that it was none other than Karkare who was in pursuit of a fascist Hindu Nexus that was responsible for a series of terrorist attacks in India. These attacks included the gruesome attacks on the Samjhota express as well as the drive against Christians in the town of Orissa. Indeed, to the dismay of many in India, among those involved in these acts were people in strategic positions, such as Colonel Prohit. So, we do have an idea about who all could have gained from Karkare’s death. Now, let it be known that these are not my own statements or those of any other Pakistani writer. Instead, it is Indian Journalists themselves who have come forth with information about the RSS-RAW-Musad nexus that they suspect staged the Mumbai Drama. Writers such as Amaresh Misra are to be lauded for trying to reveal the truth in times when risks and feelings run high. It is because of writers such as Amaresh along with brave anti-terrorist operatives like Karkare that India manages to hold on to whatever secular threads it has left. One cannot help but fear what could happen should the Indian nuclear arsenal fall into the hands of Hindu fascists/Hindu Zionists. With a solid base formed under the Indian secret service in tandem with Hindu fundamentalists, religious tolerance is low. This is only exacerbated by media support with the exception of a few who dare to speak the truth. Zainulabedin Ameer

http://www.daily.pk/secular-india-15970/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailypk+%28Pakistan+Daily%29

Pakistan acts to counter Indian influence in Afghanistan

2010-01-27T13:20:00.001+05:00

Pakistan has successfully mobilised the defunct six-plus-two talks formula to counter the US pressure regarding giving India a “greater role” in warn-torn Afghanistan’s rehabilitation. Afghanistan’s immediate neighbours – Pakistan, Iran, China, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, as well as the US, are meeting today (Tuesday) in Turkey to discuss the situation in Afghanistan and to take stock of measures for the restoration of peace in the country.The original “six-plus-two” also included Russia, but in the new set up Moscow representation has been replaced by the United Kingdom.The Chinese foreign minister and senior officials from Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan and Afghanistan will attend the conference, which will also be attended by British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and US Special Envoy Richard Holbrooke’s deputy, Paul Jones.Diplomatic sources said Pakistan has been lobbying for the renewal of talks among Afghanistan’s neighbours in order to foil Indian designs of gaining a foothold on Afghan soil. Pakistan believes India is not an immediate neighbour of Afghanistan and therefore should have limited role in the country.Turkey has been asked to convene the meeting, as it enjoys the backing and trust of Pakistan and is accepted as a neutral party for promoting a common approach to the conflict. The conference will urge regional players to work together in order to stabilise Afghanistan and the region.The revival of the talks group has come at a crucial juncture – on Thursday, around 50 nations will be meeting at the London Conference to discuss the Afghan issue and deliberate on measures to help the war-ravaged nation.The organisers of the London Conference, like the US, are trying to convince Pakistan on accepting the greater Indian role in Afghanistan.Destabilisation: “It is not possible for us to give India a role in Afghanistan as it is using Afghan soil to destabilise Pakistan. Also, India has been traditionally aligned with Russia and played a part in the destruction of Afghanistan,” sources said. They said the last meeting of the six-plus-two group was held before the 9/11 attacks and the Taliban had agreed to give 80 percent of representation in the Afghan government to the Northern Alliance. “Since then, fortunes have reversed and the Taliban have lost the government. Now the six-plus-two group will try to pave the way for the participation of the Taliban in the new government,” sources said. The coalition forces badly need breathing space in Afghanistan following a deadly 2009, in which the force lost at least 504 soldiers, including 305 US and 108 British troops. Sources said US-led forces were giving a thought to Pakistan’s viewpoint on the Afghan conflict, an idea substantiated by US Defence Secretary Robert Gates’ statement during a recent visit to Pakistan that said that Washington was with Pakistan and supported its efforts for peace in Afghanistan.The presence of both the UK and the US at the Turkish initiative speaks volumes about their interest in a regional solution.

http://pak1stanfirst.com/Current-Affairs/Latest-News/pakistan-acts-to-counter-indian-influence-in-afghanistan.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Pak1stanfirstcom+%28Pak1stanFirst.com%29

Indians Kill ‘Aman Ki Asha’ Campaign At IPL Auction

2010-01-21T08:54:00.002+05:00

· None of the 11 Pakistani cricketers hired by Indian celebrities in IPL auction

· Chhota Rajan’s mafia Gang of RAW, Shiv Sena forced bidders, organizers to ignore Pak cricketers

· IPL Chief Lalit Modi dances to the tunes of Hindu Extremists, drug racketeers & match fixing mafia

· Modi emerges as Mafia’s top facilitator for drugs trafficking —IPL Chief convicted in drug cases while charged for cheating, forgery

· Shiv Sena men torched Modi’s home for pressurizing him to arrange slaying of Pak cricketers from IPL-3

· Rajan Gang’s Ramesh Gupta alias Pappu remained attached with Modi in South Africa edition of IPL http://www.daily.pk/indians-kill-%e2%80%98aman-ki-asha%e2%80%99-campaign-at-ipl-auction-15039/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailypk+%28Pakistan+Daily%29

India underestimates Pakistan’s defence capability

2010-01-20T08:58:00.001+05:00

Gen Kapoor realises Pakistan forces superiority by retracting his rhetoric; Proposes celebrating Pakistan Armed Forces Day Former Prime Minister of AJK and President of ruling All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference, Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan said here on Monday that the recent statement by Indian Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor was ridiculous as the Indian General under-estimated the defence capability of Pakistan. In an exclusive interview, he said Pakistan armed forces had proved their mettle in 1965 war. As for 1971 war, he said it could not be termed as a war in real sense. It was a conspiracy against Pakistan. Sardar Attique said, General Kapoor’s statement is in fact a message to the US and European countries that it is India which has picked up the courage to challenge any country in the region including China. It is an indication of India’s inner wishful designs to conquer neighbour-ing countries. He said, India is faced with grave internal crisis and Ka-poor’s statement is to divert the attention of Indian people through such tall talks. “Another aspect of the statement is that India wants to take advantage of Pakistan’s domestic situation at a time when it is faced with political instability and engaged in the war against terror. But it should dawn upon India that the people of Pakistan are fully committed as ever to defend the country.” The former AJK Prime Minister said through issuing threatening statement by General Kapoor, India was testing the political muscles of our leadership. The people of Pakistan have demonstrated their will and skill in such like situation. The people of Pakistan have proved this in the past and are ready to defend their motherland. They have and will always stand like a rock behind their armed forces, which are fully capable of repelling any aggression. “Let there be no doubt in anybody’s mind” he warned. He regretted that Pakistan’s political leadership has not come up to the level, as they remained silent over General Kapoor’s warmongering. “That was why the country’s military leadership had to take the notice of the Indian threat.” In this context, he mentioned the response to Kapoor’s threatening posture by Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Tariq Majid and Chief of Army Staff General Kayani who were the first to warn India against any misadventure. They also warned India not to underestimate the capability of Pakistan armed forces and that India would get a befitting and hard hitting swift response to its misadventure. Sardar Attique said, General Kapoor’s claim to take on Pakistan and China simultaneously is ridiculous as he has deliberately overlooked the size and military might of China. “India would be well advised to refrain from such warmongering and issuing jingoistic statements which only serve to vitiate the atmosphere in the region.” He regretted that it was unfortunate that during the Zardari regime efforts were being made to create a distance between the people and the army. “By their attitude and their actions, they are sending silent message through their speeches at party meetings and by asserting that there is and there will be no threat to Pakistan from India,” he added. Sardar Attique asked if there is going to be no threat to Pakistan, then what is the need of maintaining a huge army with nuclear arsenal. He said Pakistan army which is engaged in fighting terrorism and defending the country’s borders is not even getting the moral support from the political leadership. The President is on the other hand engaged in party politics instead of maintaining the sanctity of the President’s office which used to be the symbol of the federation and unity of the country. Sardar Attique said at this critical juncture he would appeal to the collective leadership to demonstrate solidarity of the people with the Pakistan army. He said “going ahead a step further, I would suggest that Pakistan Army Day should be annually celebrated throughout the country. This would demonstrate complete solidarity of the people with the Army and at the same time send a strong message to the Indian leadership and other extremist elements in that country that in case of any misadventure by India, the whole nation from Khyber to Karachi will stand with the army like a rock and defend every inch of Pakistan against any aggression. He said Pakistan is passing through most critical juncture in its history. But unmindful of the threat posed to the country, President Zardari addresses the party leaders from his official drawing room. As opposed to it, the Chief of Army Staff General Kayani has been frequently visiting the battle field in South Waziristan and other terror affected areas holding “Darbar” in the open to boost the morale of the soldiers. He said this is food for thought for the common man to think about the present leadership and its approach and commitment to address defence issues. Sardar Attique Ahmed said Indian General Kapoor has realised the hollowness of his threat to Pakistan by stating that Pakistan armed forces have overwhelming night vision fighting capability and in better fighting position than India. He said he was glad that China has ignored Kapoor’s warmongering statement with the contempt it deserved. Tanvir Siddiqi

http://www.daily.pk/india-underestimates-pakistans-defence-capability-14995/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailypk+%28Pakistan+Daily%29

India underestimates Pakistan’s defence capability

2010-01-20T08:58:00.000+05:00

China tried to hack our computers, says India’s security chief

2010-01-19T08:36:00.000+05:00

Chinese hackers are believed to have attempted to penetrate India’s most sensitive government office in the latest sign of rising tensions between the two rival Asian powers.M. K. Narayanan, India’s National Security Adviser, said his office and other government departments were targeted on December 15, the same date that US companies reported cyber attacks from China. “This was not the first instance of an attempt to hack into our computers,” Mr Narayanan told British newspaper in a rare interview. He said that the attack came in the form of an e-mail with a PDF attachment containing a “Trojan” virus, which allows a hacker to access a computer remotely and download or delete files. The virus was detected and officials were told not to log on until it was eliminated, he said. “People seem to be fairly sure it was the Chinese. It is difficult to find the exact source but this is the main suspicion. It seems well founded,” he said, adding that India was co-operating with America and Britain to bolster its cyber defences. China has denied any role in the hacking attacks, which began on December 15 and also targeted US defence contractors and finance and technology companies, including Google. “Hacking in whatever form is prohibited by law in China,” said Jiang Yu, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman.

http://www.daily.pk/china-tried-to-hack-our-computers-says-india%e2%80%99s-security-chief-14947/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailypk+%28Pakistan+Daily%29

Afghan soil being used against Pakistan: DG ISI

2010-01-15T13:11:00.001+05:00

Source: Dawn News KARACHI: Director General ISI Ahmad Shuja Pasha said on Tuesday that Afghan soil is being used for terrorist activities in Pakistan, adding that peace cannot be established in Pakistan unless infiltration from Afghan border is stopped. Pasha's statement came in the backdrop of increased US pressure to launch a parallel operation in North Waziristan. Briefing the parliamentary committee on national security, the DG said that the drug mafia in Afghanistan is supporting terrorists who are creating unrest within Pakistan. According to reports, the committee members believe that the Pak-Afghan border should be fenced and movement across the border should be strictly monitored. The members also called for the need to enhance security along the Pak-Afghan border. After the meeting, Senator Raza Rabbani the chairman of the Parliamentary committee on national security briefed the media during which he informed that the committee members condemned the screening of Pakistani citizens at US airports, terming it a 'violation of international Human Rights Declarations.' –DawnNews

India Terror: Indian RAW targets Nato forces

2010-01-11T11:07:00.000+05:00

There is no doubt that while fighting against the occupying forces, the Taliban have been conducting assaults and suicide attacks on the Nato forces and claim responsibility. Last year, Western commanders and high officials have admitted that level of insurgency has increased in Afghanistan. In fact, Indian intelligence agency, RAW has been availing this golden opportunity of perennial militancy — to target the Nato troops and military installations in Afghanistan. Such acts of sabotage are also being conducted inside Pakistan, which also include attacks on the Nato’s supply-trucks and containers passing through Pakistan. A question arises in the mind of people as to how RAW can conduct subversive activities against the US-led Nato interest both in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The reply is quite clear, which can better be understood by students of international relations. All the developments in Afghanistan cannot be seen in isolation because they have a co-relationship with Indian other regional designs. India is determined to become a greater power of Asia, and wants to go even to the extent of war with nuclear power like Pakistan and China. In this context, Indian Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor vocally said on December 29, 2009 that Indian Army “is now revising its five-year-old doctrine” and is preparing.

Source: http://www.daily.pk/india-terror-indian-raw-targets-nato-forces-14472/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailypk+%28Pakistan+Daily%29

Indeed Gen Kapoor lacks strategic vision

2010-01-04T08:32:00.000+05:00

AFTER the statement of COAS General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Tariq Majid has very rightly described the utterances of Indian Army Chief, portraying that his army can take on Pakistan and China simultaneously, as rhetoric and showing his lack of strategic acumen. The Chairman JCSC, who has complete command, in-depth knowledge and fuller grasp of the defence capabilities of the two countries told the Indian General that he (Kapoor) knows very well what the Indian Armed Forces cannot and Pakistan Armed Forces can pull off militarily. People of Pakistan and India want peace and resolution of their problems through dialogue and not by wars. It is strange that the Indian leadership did not take any notice of the boasting of warmongering army chief. General Tariq, though doubted the veracity of Indian media report attributed to General Kapoor by saying that he could not be so outlandish in strategic postulations to place India on a self destruct mechanism. By this the worthy Chairman JCSC was definitely referring to the lethal nuclear deterrence that Pakistan has at its disposal. Pakistan has made tremendous sacrifices and acquired mastery over the sophisticated technology not to keep it as a show–piece but for the preservation of national sovereignty and territorial integrity. Any how, General Kapoor’s ignorance of Mutually Assured Destruction and his inability to grasp the consequences of rash actions across borders shows his juvenile mindset and vacuity of thought. At the same time the new Indian doctrine along with the earlier restructuring of the Command structure, particularly the operationalisation of South West Army Command has increased manifold threats to Pakistan. Therefore we believe that the whole security paradigm for Pakistan has to be revisited in the light of the emerging threats to face any aggression due to folly of an insane Army Commander on our eastern front.

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West ignores Pakistan sacrifices

2010-01-04T08:31:00.000+05:00

Whenever any terror-incident takes place or any plot is foiled in Europe and America, their high officials deliberately links it with Pakistan in one or the other way. Notably, when more than 12 Pakistani students were arrested in UK last year in connection with terrorism, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown had sated that the most dangerous plot had been foiled by the police. Afterwards, British authorities admitted that the students had no link with terrorism. A few months ago, some suspected white nationals were arrested in Germany. Again, German and American intelligence agencies tried to link them with the tribal areas of Pakistan, despite the fact that there was no such evidence. It is pertinent note that on December 26, 2009, a Nigerian, Umar Farouk-the alleged Al-Qaida agent tried to blow up a plane as it was about to land in Detroit, America. US law enforcement officials have shown his connections with Yemen. The government of Yemen also confirmed that he was in the country earlier this month. After this terror-attempt, US President Barack Obama pledged to “disrupt, dismantle and defeat the violent extremists who threaten” Americans, adding that whether they are from Afghanistan or Pakistan, Yemen or Somalia.” Every one knows that Umar Farouk has no connections with Pakistan, but Obama also mentioned the name of this country without any logic. In the last three years, western leaders and media have continuously been propagating against Islamabad through various concocted stories. Besides other accusations, sometimes they say that white terrorist’s training camps exist in Pakistan’s FATA regions, and sometimes they indicate that a plot to attack American homeland and Europe has been planned in these areas. In the recent series of allegations, American and British high officials have blamed that Osama and top leadership of Al Qaeda have taken shelter in Pakistan’s tribal areas and Balochistan. To what extent, Osama could be used to gain political aims against Pakistan can be judged from the statement of British PM Brown who revealed on November 29, 2009, “We believe, he is in Pakistan.” As a matter of fact, in line of Obama’s new Afghan strategy, Brown wanted to justify 500 additional troops for Afghanistan in face of demestic pressure. Meanwhile, the US National Security Adviser Gen. James Jones has also expressed similar view. Pakistan while refuting west’s accusation, remarked that the US and UK should share evidence with Islamabad regarding bin Laden’s presence in Pakistan, but they did not provide any proof in this respect. In the recent days, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki admitted that Osama Bin Laden’s daughter Iman is currently staying in Tehran. In this connection, The Bangkok Post revealed on December 23, “six of Osama bin Laden’s children and one of his wives, missing since the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, are under house arrest in Iran.” Bin Laden was a wealthy national of Saudi Arabia, who also lived in Yemen and Qatar. In this context, it is also of particular attention that all the alleged terrorists who planned the 9/11 catastrophe were from Arab countries. The posters of the most wanted terrorists regarding that tragedy were Arabic in appearance. Quite contrarily, US and European leaders only want to use Osama Bin Laden as a scapegoat to target and destablise Pakistan because it is the lonely nuclear country in the Islamic World. While Mullah Omar including other core leadership of Al Qaida cannot take shelter in Pakistan where CIA-operated drone strikes have killed a number of renowned commanders of the Taliban, especially Naik Muhammad and Baitullah Mehsood. Moreover, since 9/11, Pakistan’s security agencies have also killed or captured many militant commanders which also include the masterminds of Al-Qaeda, namely Khalid Sheikh and Abu Faraj entailing other key leaders. Owing to these developments Taliban leaders had already decided to go to Afghanistan where they have control over more than 70 percent of the territory. Especially, during the successful military operations in Swat and Malakand Division, the Taliban commander, Maulana Fazalullah escaped to Afghanistan who was recently seen in a video-tape, telecasted by some TV channels. Since the recent military action started in South Waziristan, various middle and lower level commanders of the insurgents have also run to Afghanistan. In this respect, question arises as to how Osama could be hiding in Pakistan, while Al Qaeda or Taliban commanders prefer to live in Afghanistan where they are more safe, and where they have been fighting against the US-led NATO forces, and where level of militancy has increased in 2009 as admitted by the western military commanders. Nevertheless, if we judge the losses of any country regarding war against terrorism in the last eight years, Pakistan as a frontline state has given great sacrifices in terms of human life, collateral damage and economic losses. In this context, on November 14, 2008, a statement of Pakistan’s Finance Division indicated that the country’s economy suffered a loss of Rs2.1 trillion due to the global war on terror. It elaborated that the economy suffered direct and indirect losses in terms of exports, foreign investment, privatization and industrial production. Chairman Pak-US Business Council and VP SAARC CCI Iftikhar Ali Malik had pointed out on March 24, 2009: “Pakistan’s economy has suffered irreparable loss of $68 billion due to turmoil in Afghanistan—more than three million Afghan refugees harbouring in the country are also posing security risk.” According to an estimate, Pakistan’s national economy is exclusively suffering a net loss of $7 billion annually as fallout of the war against terror, which has displaced thousands of people. No doubt, Pakistan has sacrificed more than NATO and USA owing to this new style conflict. Besides other losses like suicide attacks and lawlessness in the country, more than 2000 personnel of the security forces have been martyred during war against militancy. In fact, Indian secret agency, RAW which has established its clandestine networks everywhere in Afghanistan in connivance with the Indian army and additional consulates has regularly been sending well-trained militants in Pakistan so as to target the security agencies and to commit suicide attacks. Perennial support to separatism in Balochistan, and insurgency in the Frontier Province are part of this plot against Pakistan. During the Swat-Malakand and South Waziristan operations, ISPR spokesman, Maj-General Athar Abbas has shown to the media, huge cache of arms and ammuniton, entering Pakistan from Afghanistan. Recently, Pakistan’s prime minister and foreign minister have disclosed that India is backing the militancy in our country. India whom America wants to make a super power of Asia has spent millions of dollars in Afghanistan to strengthen its grip, and to get strategic depth against Pakistan, while also acting upon anti-China policy. For these secret strategic goals, India is determined to keep its security agencies there permanently under the cover of the US-led allied forces. While, the US and some western countries praise the successes achieved by Pakistan’s armed forces during the military operations against the Taliban militants, but still emphasise to do more in this regard. They also propagate that the nukes of Pakistan are unsafe. Meanwhile, by ignoring the role of Hindus and western nationals in relation to the nuclear black market, revival of blame game about Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan’s network is also part of deliberate campaign against Islamabad. In this context, The Washington Post, citing a previous account of Dr. Khan reported on December 27, “Pakistan helped North Korea with vital machinery and technical advice for enrichment of uranium in addition to making plutonium for bombs.” On the other side, Islamabad has strongly denied these accusations about Khan and North Korea. However, these false allegations are part of a conspiracy against our country. Particularly US which tactically favours anti-Pakistan campaign of India has been playing a double game with Islamabad. It could also be assessed from some latest developments. In the aftermath of Obama’s decision to increase additional 30,000 troops for Afghanistan, on December 27 last year, America’s B-52 heavy bomber aircraft which can carry nuclear and conventional ordnance was again seen hovering over Pakistan’s tribal areas. Furthermore, Obama did not consult Islamabad for new Af-Pak strategy. All these moves against Islamabad indicate that some US-led countries can conduct full-fledged air strikes on our FATA regions. Although fact remains that in the last eight years, unlike other countries, Pakistan has borne the brunt of major losses during war on terror, yet America and its western allies ignore the sacrifices of our country. Sajjad Shaukat

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‘Israel looks like a Failed State’

2009-12-30T09:35:00.003+05:00

One year has passed since the savage Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip, but for the people there time might as well have stood still. Since Palestinians in Gaza buried their loved ones — more than 1,400 people, almost 400 of them children — there has been little healing and virtually no reconstruction. According to international aid agencies, only 41 trucks of building supplies have been allowed into Gaza during the year. Promises of billions made at a donors’ conference in Egypt last March attended by luminaries of the so-called “international community” and the Middle East peace process industry are unfulfilled, and the Israeli siege, supported by the US, the European Union, Arab states, and tacitly by the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Ramallah, continues.

Policy of destruction Amid the endless, horrifying statistics a few stand out: Of Gaza’s 640 schools, 18 were completely destroyed and 280 damaged in Israeli attacks. Two-hundred-and-fifty students and 15 teachers were killed. Of 122 health facilities assessed by the World Health Organization, 48 per cent were damaged or destroyed. Ninety per cent of households in Gaza still experience power cuts for 4 to 8 hours per day due to Israeli attacks on the power grid and degradation caused by the blockade. Forty-six per cent of Gaza’s once productive agricultural land is out of use due to Israeli damage to farms and Israeli-declared free fire zones. Gaza’s exports of more than 130,000 tonnes per year of tomatoes, flowers, strawberries and other fruit have fallen to zero. That “much of Gaza still lies in ruins,” a coalition of international aid agencies stated recently, “is not an accident; it is a matter of policy”. This policy has been clear all along and it has nothing to do with Israeli “security”.

Destroying resistance From June 19, 2008, to November 4, 2008, calm prevailed between Israel and Gaza, as Hamas adhered strictly — as even Israel has acknowledged — to a negotiated ceasefire. That ceasefire collapsed when Israel launched a surprise attack on Gaza killing six people, after which Hamas and other resistance factions retaliated. Even so, Palestinian factions were still willing to renew the ceasefire, but it was Israel that refused, choosing instead to launch a premeditated, systematic attack on the foundations of civilised life in the Gaza Strip. Operation Cast Lead, as Israel dubbed it, was an attempt to destroy once and for all Palestinian resistance in general, and Hamas in particular, which had won the 2006 election and survived the blockade and numerous US-sponsored attempts to undermine and overthrow it in cooperation with US-backed Palestinian militias. Like the murderous sanctions on Iraq throughout the 1990s, the blockade of Gaza was calculated to deprive civilians of basic necessities, rights and dignity in the hope that their suffering might force their leadership to surrender or collapse. In many respects things may seem more dire than a year ago. Barack Obama, the US president, whom many hoped would change the vicious anti-Palestinian policies of his predecessor, George Bush, has instead entrenched them as even the pretense of a serious peace effort has vanished. According to media reports, the US Army Corps of Engineers is assisting Egypt in building an underground wall on its border with Gaza to block the tunnels which act as a lifeline for the besieged territory [resources and efforts that ought to go into rebuilding still hurricane-devastated New Orleans], and American weapons continue to flow to West Bank militias engaged in a US- and Israeli-sponsored civil war against Hamas and anyone else who might resist Israeli occupation and colonisation.

Shifting public opinion These facts are inescapable and bleak. However, to focus on them alone would be to miss a much more dynamic situation that suggests Israel’s power and impunity are not as invulnerable as they appear from this snapshot. A year after Israel’s attack and after more than two-and-a-half years of blockade, the Palestinian people in Gaza have not surrendered. Instead they have offered the world lessons in steadfastness and dignity, even at an appalling, unimaginable cost. It is true that the European Union leaders who came to occupied Jerusalem last January to publicly embrace Ehud Olmert, the then Israeli prime minister — while white phosphorus seared the flesh of Gazan children and bodies lay under the rubble — still cower before their respective Israel lobbies, as do American and Canadian politicians. But the shift in public opinion is palpable as Israel’s own actions transform it into a pariah whose driving forces are not the liberal democratic values with which it claims to identify, but ultra-nationalism, racism, religious fanaticism, settler-colonialism and a Jewish supremacist order maintained by frequent massacres. The universalist cause of justice and liberation for Palestinians is gaining adherents and momentum especially among the young. I witnessed it, for example, among Malaysian students I met at a Palestine solidarity conference held by the Union of NGOs of The Islamic World in Istanbul last May. And again in November, as hundreds of student organisers from across the US and Canada converged to plan their participation in the global Palestinian-led campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions modeled on the successful struggle against South African apartheid in the 1980s.

‘Bankrupt’ state This week, thousands of people from dozens of countries are attempting to reach Gaza to break the siege and march alongside Palestinians who have been organising inside the territory. Each of the individuals traveling with the Gaza Freedom March, Viva Palestina, or other delegations represents perhaps hundreds of others who could not make the journey in person, and who are marking the event with demonstrations and commemorations, visits to their elected officials, and media campaigns. Against this flowering of activism, Zionism is struggling to rejuvenate its dwindling base of support. Multi-million dollar programmes aimed at recruiting and Zionising young American Jews are struggling to compete against organisations like the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, which run not on money but principled commitment to human equality. Increasingly, we see that Israel’s hasbara [propaganda] efforts have no positive message, offer no plausible case for maintaining a status quo of unspeakable repression and violence, and rely instead on racist demonisation and dehumanisation of Arabs and Muslims to justify Israel’s actions and even its very existence. Faced with growing global recognition and support for the courageous non-violent struggle against continued land theft in the West Bank, Israel is escalating its violence and kidnapping of leaders of the movement in Bil’in and other villages [Muhammad Othman, Jamal Juma and Abdallah Abu Rahmeh are among the leaders of this movement recently arrested].

Travel fears In acting this way, Israel increasingly resembles a bankrupt failed state, not a regime confident about its legitimacy and longevity. And despite the failed peace process industry’s efforts to ridicule, suppress and marginalise it, there is a growing debate among Palestinians and even among Israelis about a shared future in Palestine/Israel based on equality and decolonisation, rather than ethno-national segregation and forced repartition. Last, but certainly not least, in the shadow of the Goldstone report, Israeli leaders travel around the world fearing arrest for their crimes. For now, they can rely on the impunity that high-level international complicity and their inertial power and influence still afford them. But the question for the real international community — made up of people and movements — is whether we want to continue to see the still very incomplete system of international law and justice painstakingly built since the horrors of the Second World War and the Nazi holocaust dismantled and corrupted all for the sake of one rogue state. What we have done in solidarity with the Palestinian people in Gaza and the rest of Palestine is not yet enough. But our movement is growing, it cannot be stopped, and we will reach our destination.

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Why True Pakistani Loves Pakistan?

2009-12-29T11:18:00.000+05:00

If you are a Pakistani Parent, a Pakistani Teacher or Professor or anyone else who has a responsibility to guide the future generations of Pakistan, then i beg you to transmit the message of this video to our younger generations as much as you can. There is a need to convey the importance and the value of this great gift of Pakistan which is given to us by our elders after crossing an ocean of Fire and sword. Nobody had given us this Pakistan on a plate, our forefathers had snatched the blessings of liberty from the jaws of slavery for us. Today it looks very easy to sit in an Air conditioned room and point out the problems of Pakistan one by one without doing an effort to solve them out. In my opinion just taking birth in Pakistan is not good enough reason to entitle yourself as a Pakistani. This is not just a nationality, this is the name of a title, honor and respect which could only be achieved after deserving it. Our elders left their everything to call themselves a Pakistani, what we have done till now???? Think please !!! Today if you hold the right to call yourself a Pakistani. Then Never betray this holy land, This Pak sar zameen So that on the day of Judgement you could save yourself from Humiliation in frount of it’s Martyrs and ALLAH the Almighty…. Pakistan Zindabad http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcj8TrrHRA4

Worlds biggest ring for peace created in Pakistan

2009-12-24T15:28:00.001+05:00

Pakistani goldsmiths have created what they claim to be the worldsbiggest ring.The goldsmiths from Suha Bazaar in Lahore have made the 50 x 57 inchesThe Global Peace Ring.Seven goldsmiths toiled for 577 days to create 50 x 57 inches TheGlobal Peace Ring, weighing 74 kilograms, Dawn.com quoted Amin Saleemas saying at a news conference at the Lahore Press Club.The ring bears flags of 120 countries and its prominent white colouris a symbol of peace. It has a 4.650 gram crystal, while 80 per centof the rings mass has been prepared manually by Salahuddin Saleem,Faisal Ashfaq, Qamar Siddiq, Waseem Muhammad Ali, Imran Saleem andKaleem Saleem, he added.He asked for the feat to be enlisted in the Guinness Book of WorldRecord as it had become the biggest ring made so far.Earlier, a Saudi Arabia company had made the worlds biggest ring,which weighed 64 kilograms, he said.http://www.littleabout.com/news/47037,worlds-biggest-ring-peace-created-pakistan.html

Zardari sets record in keeping foreign gifts

2009-12-24T09:11:00.000+05:00

President Asif Zardari has set a new record within a year by taking one-third of all the expensive gifts presented to all Pakistani presidents and prime ministers. Of the gifts totalling Rs160m, Zardari has taken gifts worth Rs62m during the first year of his presidency, official records reveal. In his foreign visits so far, Zardari has been given 27 gifts worth Rs62m, which is one-third of the accumulated cost of the 3,039 gifts, which were given to presidents and prime ministers in three decades. Zardari is said to have got two BMWs and two foreign manufactured Toyota Jeeps as gift by Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi during his visit to Tripoli, which he took to his home, after paying a sum of only Rs9.3m as retention cost. These figures have been produced before the Senate standing committee on cabinet division by the cabinet secretary this week during a presentation to its members. Zardari is now richer by Rs50m within one year in the presidency, without doing a single rupee irregularity as this all was done under the law as he paid 15 percent of the total cost of two BMWs and two jeeps and retained them. Zardari took the largest share within a year of his presidency. Others including Haq, President Ghulam Ishaq, President Rafiq Tarar, Junejo, former Prime Ministers Benazir Bhutto, Balakh Mazari, Zafarullah Jamali and Shujaat Hussain got gifts worth Rs10m. This extraordinary list does not contain names of hundreds of ministers, federal secretaries, officials and military officers and generals who, too, received gifts from foreign dignitaries and took them home. According to an official copy presented to the National Assembly committee members, the record of similar gifts received and retained by two prime ministers, Yousaf Gilani and Zulfiqar Bhutto, was not produced before the committee. Sources said Tosha Khana (gifts repository) was transferred from the ministry of foreign affairs to the cabinet division in 1973 and the rules were changed from time to time to accommodate the top guns of the country so they could retain them without paying significant amounts.

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No Neighbor is Safe from Rogue State India

2009-12-24T09:10:00.000+05:00

ONLY IF NEIGHBOURS COULD BE CHANGED THERE WOULD BE PEACE IN THE WORLD 16th December is the day of tragic memory when Pakistan was dismembered, a wedge was driven between two brothers as part of Indian intrigue which still continues. At present, New Delhi has been supporting separatism in Balochistan, Sindh, and insurgency in the Frontier Province in order to further weaken the federation of Pakistan. Here I would not spare the Pakistani leadership to have provided the Indian wolves an opportunity on the plate. India has a long-gone history of many centuries, based upon religious prejudice against the Muslims. In this respect, Indian intelligence agency, RAW which was founded in 1968, has assumed a significant status as invisible actor in formulation of India’s domestic, regional and global policies, particularly directed Pakistan. Hindus give credit to Indira Gandhi who in the late 1970s gave RAW a new role to suit her Indira Doctrine specifically asking it to undertake covert operations in neighboring countries, especially Pakistan which comprises majority of Muslims. RAW was given a green signal to mobilise all its resources by exploiting political turmoil in East Pakistan in 1971 which this agency had created through its agents who provided Bengalis with arms and ammunition for conducting guerrilla acts against the Pakistani defence forces. As regards the separation of East Pakistan, Indian RAW had unleashed a well-organized plan of psychological warfare, creation of polarisation among the armed forces, propaganda by false allegations against West Pakistan, creation of differences between the political parties and religious sects of East and West Pakistan, control of media, manipulating linguistic, political and econmic disputes in order to keep maligned the Bengalis against Islamabad. There is no doubt that one can note political, economic and social disparities almost in every Third World country. India itself contians these disparities on larger scale. In seven states of India, separatist movements are at work. But New Delhi which has not recognized the existence of Pakistan since partition, left no stone unturned in planting and exploiting differences between the people of East and West Pakistan. RAW has a long history of sinister activities in the East Pakistan, backing secular areas of Hindu minority who had played an important role in motivating Bengali Muslims against West Pakistan. RAW’s well-paid agents had activated themselves in East Pakistan in the 1960’s so as to dismember Pakistan. For this aim, it took the responsibility of funding Mujib-ur-Rehmans’ general elections in 1970 and the members of the Awami Party. It colluded with the pro-Indian persons and had paid full attention in training and arming the Mukti Bahnis. RAW, playing with the bloodshed of the Muslims, succeded in initiating a civil war in East Pakistan. Meanwhile, India welcomed the refugees from East Pakistan, providing them with every facility to provocate them against West Pakistn. However, huge quantity of arms started entering East Pakisan along with the guidline of Indian army and RAW. In this connection, Asoka Raina in his book, ‘Inside RAW: The Story of India’s Secret Service’, reveals, “Indian intelligence agencies were involved in erstwhile East Pakistan…its operatives were in touch with Sheikh Mujib as the possible ‘Father’ of a new nation-Bangladesh, who went to Agartala in 1965. The famous Agartala case was unearthed in 1967. In fact, the main purpose of raising RAW in 1968 was to organise covert operations in Bangladesh. Indian army officers and RAW officials used Bengali refugees to set up Mukti Bahini. Using this outfit as a cover, Indian military sneaked deep into East Pakistan. The story of Mukti Bahini and RAW’s role in its creation and training is now well-known.” Asoka further explained, “Indian sources including journalists have put on record how much RAW had established the network of a separatist movement through ‘cells’ within East Pakistan and military training camps in Indian territory adjoining East Pakistan…carring out acts of sabotage against communication lines so that Indian forces simply marched in at the ‘right’ time. RAW agents provided valuable information as well as acting as an advance guard for conducting unconventional guerrilla acts against the Pakistani defence forces.” Nevertheless, India had played a key role in the debacle of Dhaka, which culminated in dismemberment of Pakistan. Even at present, Indian RAW which has been implementing Indian hidden agenda against other countries such as China, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bhutan in order to maintain Indian dominace in the region has made Pakistanan—a special target to disintegrate or weaken it. India has established more than 200 foreign offices and training camps in Afghanistan where RAW’s intelligence officials with the help of Khad are doing their utmost to destabilise Pakistan by sending weapons to the separatist elements in Balochistan and the insurgents of FATA regions. Very young boys including Afghans, training recruits are mostly from Central Asia, bordering Afghanistan. Thus more than 20,000 ideologically motivated terrorists are regularly being infiltrated into troubled spots of Pakistan. They join the Taliban militants to fight against Pakistan’s security forces. These miscreants also conducted a number of suicide attacks and bomb blasts in Pakistan, killing a number of innocent people and personnel of the security forces. In Kurram Agency, RAW’s Afghan agents have also been actively involved in the sectarian conflict. However, their aim is also to create unrest in our country. It is mentionable that Pakistan’s prime minister, interior minister and foreign minister have repeatedly stated that they have concrete evidence of Indian involvement in the terrorist activities in Pakistan. Pakistan’s army spokesman, Maj-Gen. Athar Abbas disclosed in wake of the military operation in South Waziristan that huge cache of arms and ammunition of the Indian origin, entering our country from Afghanistan was captured. A few days ago, two containers loaded with Indian-made weapons were caught in Balochistan after entering into Chaman, bordering Afghanistan. In this regard, in its editorial on December 7, 2008, The New York Times wrote, “India’s growing investment and intelligence network in Afghanistan is also feeding Islamabad’s insecurity and sense of encirclement”. On September 20, 2009, NATO commander, Gen. McChrystal admitted: “Indian political and economic influence is increasing in Afghanistan including significant development efforts…is likely to exacerbate regional tensions.” Nonetheless, after the separation of East Pakistan, India is fully backing the Baloh separatists who have been waging a low-level insurgency by destroying gas-pipelines and eliminating Pakistani citizens from other parts of the country including targeted-killings. RAW’s agents are regularly helping them in conducting the subversive acts. Notably, On July 23, 2008, in an interview with the BBC, Brahmdagh Bugti, while replying to a question regarding the acquisition of arms, remarked that they “have the right to accept aid from India.” In the recent past, by assassinating the Baloch nationalist leaders, Indian elements wanted to fulfill a number of clandestine aims. In Balochistan, people, openly, began to blame Pakistan’s intelligence agencies for the abduction and killing of these leaders. This is what the external plotters intended to achieve. Another aim was to gain the sympathies of general masses for Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) which has been fighting for secession of the province with the logistic support of RAW. One of the major purposes of this agency was not only to create a rift between the center and Balochistan, but also to give a greater impetus to the people of the province so as to intensify their separatist activities through acts of sabotage against the federation and Punjabis. Besides, another CIA and Indian-supported separatist group, Jundollah (God’s soldiers) is also working against the cordial relationship of Pakistan with China and Iran. It is pertinent to note that Balochistan is replete with mineral resources. Its ideal geo-strategic location with Gwadar Deep Seaport alone could prove to be Pakistan’s key junction, linking the rest of the world with Central Asia. However, besides separation of East Pakistan and perennial wave of suicide attacks in other regions, the largest province of Balochistan has become center of Indian intrigue. To avoid further disintegration, our politicians, armed forces and the general masses need a strong sense of unity in thwarting RAW’s sinister designs against the federation of Pakistan. Now if you look at the Indian atrocities, no neighbour is safe from her. Even Bangladesh that she carved out of Pakistan is a victim of her aggression. Sri Lanka suffered for 28long years, Nepal paid through her nose; Maldives and Bhuttan etc, are too scared o talk. India, A Rogue State: No Neighbour is Safe, Sajjad Shaukat

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World Bank refuses to accept Kashmir as Indian Territory

2009-12-23T10:43:00.001+05:00

—Says ‘NO’ to release funds to India for project in disputed region NEW DELHI, India—The World Bank has refused to accept Indian Occupied Kashmir as an integral part of India and has rather insisted upon a disclaimer from the Jammu and Kashmir government that funding for a project will not be seen as recognition of India’s territorial claim on the state.The agency has put a ‘disclaimer clause’ for bankrolling a key project in the disputed state which indicates that funding of projects in disputed areas should not be used to endorse territorial claims. “If you have a query on World Bank’s decision on J&K, Ask Prabhu now”. This has been communicated to New Delhi by the occupying state government which wants the World Bank-funded Rs 740 crore ‘Participatory Watershed Management Project’ to be completed. Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir’s Forest Minister Mian Altaf Ahmad, along with MPs from the state met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee recently in New Delhi to discuss the issue. Jammu and Kashmir’s occupying government wants the New Delhi to settle issue with the World Bank, which has refused to fund more projects in the state, treating it as disputed territory between India and Pakistan. Ahmad said the World Bank had raised the disclaimer issue last year after assessment of the project which was then at the funding stage. He said if the Centre pursued the matter; the bank could be convinced to give up the disclaimer condition. Despite Ahmad’s views to the contrary, this is a shocking development. The World Bank was instrumental in committing India to allow the waters of the state’s three principal rivers – the Indus, the Jhelum and the Chenab – to flow unimpeded under the Indus Water Treaty of 1960. Article XI of the treaty is quite emphatic in that it will deal with only the water-sharing issue and its implementation will not acknowledge or waive any other rights other than those specified in the treaty. In other words, it will have nothing to do with the territorial dispute between the two parties. In the troubled history of India-Pakistan relations, the Indus Water Treaty stands out as a major success for which the World Bank, the third signatory to the treaty, deserves great credit. As party to the treaty, the bank created an $895 million Indus Basin Development Fund to which India contributed some $174 million. This is the second time this year that India has had friction with a multilateral development agency over project funding in a state that has a border dispute. An Asian Development Bank (ADB) country loan to India had run into trouble because it included funding for a watershed development project in Arunachal Pradesh – a point that was objected to by the Chinese at the ADB meeting. The World Bank had funded two projects in Jammu and Kashmir under the integrated Watershed Development Programme with Rs 90 crore from 1990 to 1999 and Rs 198 crore from 1999 to 2005 without bringing up the disclaimer issue. A team of the World Bank headed by Norman Piccioni had visited the occupied state from May 5 to May 12 last year to assess the feasibility of the Participatory Watershed Management Project. The project is likely to cover 3,14,705 hectares for adopting integrated watershed management to reverse the degradation of the natural resource base and improve the livelihood of poor rural households in the project area. The World Bank will finance 80 per cent of the project and the state government 17 per cent. Participatory communities will contribute 3 per cent. If implemented 1,74,250 households will be covered while 50,675 households will directly benefit from the project. Overall, it is expected to benefit over 10 lakh people and generate 45 lakh person-days of wage employment besides providing jobs to 2,000 people regularly for seven years. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah first raised the issue in a June 24 letter to the Union finance minister. He said the project was appraised by the World Bank for international development assistance credit of US$ 120 million equivalent in May 2008. After the appraisal, the director of the World Bank sent a letter on May 21, 2008 announcing the tentative dates of negotiation for the project in June last year. But no final date was conveyed by the bank. The Chief Minister said the state government also did not get any communication from the department of economic affairs of the government of India in the matter. “I therefore request you to have a special consideration for the state of Jammu and Kashmir and ask the department of economic affairs to immediately take up the issue with the World Bank so that the project can be negotiated and taken up for implementation during the current financial year itself.” Efforts to contact World Bank officials in Delhi on Sunday failed.

Source: http://pakistankakhudahafiz.wordpress.com/2009/12/22/world-bank-kashmir-is-not-indian-territory/

First Arabic-speaking robot built in UAE

2009-12-23T10:40:00.001+05:00

A laboratory in the UAE has built what it says is the world’s first Arabic-speaking robot which could soon go into mass production to serve as staff in shopping malls. Ibn Sina, named after the 11th century Islamic philosopher and scientist commonly known in English as Avicenna, was designed by a team at UAE University in the city of Al-Ain, which is part of Abu Dhabi emirate. “It is the world’s first Arabic-speaking conversational humanoid robot,” Nikolaos Mavridis, assistant professor of computer science at the university who led the team, told AFP in an interview. “He enables us to do research and he is also quite an educational tool because the students love to do projects on him.” Mavridis, a Greek expat who has worked with a team of about 12 people, including Emiratis and international students, said the robot could be used as a receptionist, sales staff or shopping assistants in malls. “There is a number of things he can do on his own: answer a couple of questions, connect to the Internet to get information and show you things on the screen regarding what you want to buy,” he said. “We’re very close to being able to get him to work as a receptionist or a helper in a mall. If we work on it in a group of five people, we will be able to develop those skills in six months to make him ready for full operations. “Already we have had him work for a full day in Al-Ain Mall,” he said. Ibn Sina sports a white cloak, golden-trimmed robe, a turban and grey beard — a look Mavridis said aims to reflect the appearance of the original character, who was born near Bukhara in then Uzbekistan. Speaking in classical Arabic, he answers questions with human-like facial expressions. The artistic and mechanical design of Ibn Sina, including motors which allow it to make facial expressions, was carried out by Hanson Robotics, while the software was devised by Mavridis and his team. The team worked for more than a year on developing the software system that consists of the mind of the robot, including developing his vision, speech, memory and motion. Ibn Sina has software modules that enable it to see, detect faces and objects, as well as subsystems to conduct dialogue, transcribe speech to text, understand and talk back, Mavridis explained. He said the lab has already been approached by companies interested in the robot either for shopping malls or as receptionists. “We have some basic interest. Things are in progress,” he said. Ibn Sina was developed using funding that was injected to set up the lab and the College of Information Technology at the university, which came directly from the ruler of Abu Dhabi. About 200,000 dollars was spent on developing the technology behind the robot that is also used for other projects in the lab. “Given all the growth that is happening right here at this moment, it’s important that apart from building the largest tower in the world and all of these beautiful buildings, to try to do something that has to do with scientific and intellectual achievements,” Mavridis said. “For that reason we chose Ibn Sina as the character from which our robot was inspired in order to bring back his values to our students … He brings together a lot of traditions, ancient and more recent traditions.” According to the global market intelligence firm Information Data Corporation (IDC), expenditure on information technology services in the United Arab Emirates is expected to grow 12.4 percent between 2008 and 2013. It will surpass 1.83 billion dollars by the end of that period, it says. Source: http://www.daily.pk/first-arabic-speaking-robot-built-in-uae-12931/

A Dirty American Game In Pakistan !

2009-06-29T09:59:00.002+06:00

US weapons have mysteriously landed in the hands of terrorists in Pakistan. Now we have the Al Qaeda leadership freely accessing the foreign media in Afghanistan saying it would use Pakistani nukes against America. What is the US up to with Al Qaeda? Post-9/11 the world has had a memory lapse over the US-Al Qaeda connections especially when Sudan offered Bin Laden to the US but the latter allowed the Al Qaeda leader to move to Afghanistan. Pakistanis cannot be allowed to savor joy and success peacefully. Just when the nation was tumultuously enjoying the magical victory of our cricket team, the hard reality of our hostile environment post-9/11 clouded over us once again.For anyone who thought the US was not targeting our nuclear assets, the screaming headlines from the Afghan-based Al Qaeda leadership's interview to Al Jazeera brought the issue to the forefront once again with claims that, " Al Qaeda would use our nuclear assets against the US if they could. " ............... The absurdity of the statement notwithstanding, it can be explained only if seen as part of the campaign to legitimize a US/NATO takeover of our nuclear assets since our security prevents the US from taking them out physically.We have also seen US weapons mysteriously land in the hands of militants in Pakistan now we have the Al Qaeda leadership freely having access to the foreign media in Afghanistan. What is the US up to with Al Qaeda? Post-9/11 the world has had a memory lapse over the US-Al Qaeda connections especially when Sudan offered Bin Laden to the US but the latter allowed the Al Qaeda leader to move to Afghanistan!

Full Story: http://www.daily.pk/politics/politicalnews/10557-a-dirty-american-game-in-pakistan-.html

Suicide bomber kills 2 troops in Azad Kashmir

2009-06-26T11:29:00.001+06:00

Associated Press Writer= ISLAMABAD (AP) A suicide bomber blew himself up early Friday near an army vehicle, killing at least two soldiers in the first such assault in Pakistan's part of divided Kashmir, the military said, marking a possible escalation in the militant campaign against security forces. The attack took place in Muzaffarabad, the region's capital. The military said in a statement three other soldiers were wounded and rushed to a nearby hospital. Although Pakistan has witnessed scores of such attacks in recent months, Friday's blast was the first in its portion of Kashmir, which is divided between Pakistan and archrival India. Both nations claim the mountainous region in its entirety.

Full Story: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/8577854

Dhoni Guilty of Match Fixing T- 20 World Cup 2009

2009-06-25T10:10:00.001+06:00

Without Pakistan's ISI !!!

2009-06-24T14:29:00.000+06:00

Everyone in Washington and New Delhi mentions ISI when talking about terrorism. Really? What about the Israeli Mossad, the Indian RAW, and the American CIA? Who had links with Al-Qaeda all along? Certainly not the ISI. The fact is that ISI never had links with Al-Qaeda. Others did. And yes, ISI has links with some people inside the Afghan Taliban. But without this link, U.S. soldiers and others in Afghanistan would have been in a worse situation than they are in now.

Strategic Forecasting, Inc., the American private intelligence gathering company better known as STRATFOR, seems to have deviated from its policy of terse insightful articles by putting out a long rambling unsubstantiated tirade against the ISI, one of Pakistan's three major intelligence agencies.Recently the company produced a report that was immediately quoted in the western media, dubbing the ISI as a ‘rogue agency’ and a list of other accusations that accurately mirror the motivated and unsubstantiated statements made by the Indians, the U.S. officials and their puppet regime of Hamid Karzai in Kabul.

Full Story: http://www.daily.pk/politics/politicalnews/6765.html?task=view

Taleban commander rival Qari Zainuddin killed in Pakistan

2009-06-23T15:47:00.001+06:00

A pro-government tribal leader opposed to the Taleban chief Baitullah Mehsud was shot dead earlier today, dealing a serious blow to the Pakistani military's offensive against the militants in the lawless tribal region bordering Afghanistan. Qari Zainuddin, the leader of a rival faction of Mr Mehsud’s tribe inhabiting the troubled South Waziristan region, was shot dead in his house in Dera Ismail Khan by a lone gunman, who escaped after firing. The murder came as the military prepares an offensive against Mr Mehsud, who has been accused of a string of bomb attacks, including the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007. Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6559525.ece

Celebrations in Indian Kashmir after Pakistan win

2009-06-22T09:45:00.000+06:00

SRINAGAR, India (AFP) — Residents in Indian-ruled Kashmir Sunday fired crackers in the region's main city after Pakistan beat Sri Lanka to win the World Twenty20 championship, witnesses said. Srinagar -- the Kashmiri summer capital -- erupted in celebration after Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by eight wickets and as scores of Kashmiri youth poured on to the streets and lit firecrackers. The youths also chanted pro-Pakistan and pro-freedom slogans as Indian paramilitary troops stayed in their bunkers, witnesses said. Thousands of Kashmiris, including women and children, were glued to their televisions sets to watch the tense final. "It is a great victory and one day I hope we will merge with Pakistan," said a die-hard Pakistani cricket fan, Mohammed Yaseen. Residents in Muslim-majority Kashmir valley traditionally support Pakistan in sports events. Indian Kashmir is in the grip of a nearly 20-year insurgency that has so far claimed more than 47,000 lives by an official count. Islamabad denies Indian allegations that it funds and arms the insurgency. Most militant groups want Indian-ruled Kashmir to merge with Pakistan, and a few want the region to become independent.

Source AFP : http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ji-1WhB2QqpM4y2xH8FaodP8uwVA

SRI LANKA THANKS PAKISTAN!!!

2009-06-22T09:04:00.001+06:00

Friends need no thanks. Friendship is one of the most precious passions which can never be weighed and estimated in worldly terms. Lucky are the friends who have a common enemy; because this common enemy strengthens the depth of their relation. Pakistan and Sri Lanka are two friends sailing in the same boat. A violent torrent of terrorism vitally supported by the foreign forces has been trying to push these two friends to the brink of destruction. A lot of killings, a lot of blood-shed, economic catastrophe, political unrest and a warlike situation has ruptured the whole social fabric in these two countries but still they are determined to crush the menace of terrorism; really in a marvelous and stunning manner. Pakistan and Sri Lanka have so many things in common. Both the lands got independence against the will of India in 1947 and 1948 respectively. Since then the Indian intelligence agencies are doing their utmost to weaken the social, political and economic fiber of the two countries. The reshaping and detracting of the Taliban in Pakistan and the illegal nurturing of LTTe in Sri Lanka are two masterly designed and heinously acted upon plans of the Indian agencies..................

Full Story: http://www.daily.pk/local/other-local/10503-sri-lanka-thanks-pakistan-.html

Pakistan Army tightens noose around Bait Mehsud

2009-06-19T12:42:00.000+06:00

The patriotic Mehsud leaders Qari Zain and Turkistan Bittani have now brought in two other Musud leaders of South Wazirisitan Mullah Nazir and Hafiz Gul Bahadur. We had previously reported that Turkistan had joined Qari Zain now that alliance has been expanded. Using the latest surveillance techniques the Pakistani Law agencies had monitored and taped the calls made by Bait Mehsud. This led to the tracing and tracking many terrorists. This warned the authorities of bomb attacks in Peshawar, Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad and some other cities.

Full Story: http://rupeenews.com/2009/06/19/pakistan-army-tightens-noose-around-bait-mehsud/

UK based Kashmiris blame India for inciting violence in Pakistan

2009-06-19T10:23:00.000+06:00

LONDON (SANA): Blaming India of being behind the recent wave of terrorism in Pakistan to destabilize the country and deflect the world attention from occupied Kashmir, UK based Kashmiri parties have called upon Pakistani government to take up the issue with international community with the evidences of Indian involvement in terrorist acts. Addressing a joint Press Conference in London, President All Parties Kashmir International Coordination Committee, (APKICC), Mohammad Ghalib, Secretary General Dr. Misfar Hussain along with other heads and representatives of Kashmiri groups demanded that Pakistan must share with International community the documentary evidences that were presented in the in camera session of National Assembly.

Full Story: http://www.sananews.com.pk/english/2009/06/19/uk-based-kashmiris-blame-india-for-inciting-violence-in-pakistan/

Osama bin Laden Is a Dead Man

2009-06-18T09:12:00.000+06:00

Almost exactly three years ago I predicted the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. And a month later he was dead. Sometimes you can see the handwriting on the wall. Zarqawi had gotten careless and had also turned the local population against him, which I figured would eventually catch up with him. And it did. Now, I see similar handwriting on the wall for Osama bin Laden. Full Story: http://www.theyoungturks.com/story/2009/6/17/131635/285/Diary/Osama-bin-Laden-Is-a-Dead-Man

Baitullah Mehsud exposed and denounced by Afghan Taliban!

2009-06-18T08:58:00.002+06:00

“Activities within Pakistan led to differences with Baitullah Meshsud, we are Tehreek-e-Taliban Afghanistan and we have nothing to do with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan” – says Qari Zainuddin, representative of Afghan Taliban in an interview to a local news channel today. PKKH has been writing that Baitullah Mehsud is a foreign asset with assigned responsibility to create chaos in FATA for destabilizing Pakistan. In earlier days of conflict, PKKH presented full coverage on Baitullah Mehsud in “Who is Baitullah Mehsud?“, then on April 5, 2009 PKKH wrote “Agent Mehsud on a mission to prove his worth” and the most latest report presented is during on-going successful operation rah-e-rast “Saving Agent Mehsud“.

Full Story: http://pakistankakhudahafiz.wordpress.com/2009/06/18/baitullah-mehsud-exposed/

Pakistan's army chief takes part in air operation against militants

2009-06-15T16:34:00.003+06:00

ISLAMABAD, June 15 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan's army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani Monday took part in an air operation against militants in the country's northwest, local TV channels reported. Kayani flew an F-16 fighter jet himself to hit positions of the militants in Swat and Malakand of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP). Kayani, who wore the uniform of a pilot, was accompanied by a co-pilot during the air operation. It is the first time in Pakistan's history that an army chief directly took part in an operation. Earlier, speaking at an operational base at Sargodha in the eastern Punjab province, Kayani said that the operation "Rahe Raast" (true path) in Swat and Malakand had been launched to guide the astray people to the right track.

He said that the operation was not a solution to the problem and a solution would be hammered out in accordance with the traditions and culture of the tribal area. He said that Pakistan did not require advice from anywhere. Describing it as an important war, the army chief said that the utmost care was being made to avoid civilian casualties in the operation. He said that more than 100 soldiers had lost their lives in the war but their sacrifices would not go in vain and the militants would completely be wiped out. Kayani said that some misguided elements had nothing to do with Islam and rather they were maligning the name of Islam and creating problems for the country. He said that salaries of troops engaged at the western borders were being enhanced from the first of next month while others would receive the benefit from January next year. Pakistani security forces launched the military operation against Taliban militants late April after militants in early April entered the Buner district from the neighboring Swat district and refused to vacate the area despite their pledge to do so.

Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-06/15/content_11546119.htm

Pakistan orders manhunt for Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud

2009-06-15T15:21:00.000+06:00

The Pakistan government has ordered the army to hunt down the Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud in his mountain hideout in South Waziristan. "Baitullah Mehsud is the root cause of all evils," said the governor of North-West Frontier province, Owais Ghani, announcing the operation in Islamabad. The precise details of the Mehsud manhunt remain unclear and the military said it was "evaluating the orders". But the operation promises to be a tough campaign against a determined enemy in some of the world's most difficult fighting terrain. South Waziristan is a rugged mountainous area that was the scene of fierce battles between British colonial forces and tribal rebels during the 1930s and 40s. It is considered a possible hiding place of Osama bin Laden. Mehsud, a former bodybuilder and border smuggler, is the most prominent of Pakistan's Taliban leaders. His Tehrik I Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group has allies across the tribal belt and has participated in recent battles against the army in the Swat valley....

Full Story: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/15/pakistan-taliban-leader-mehsud-manhunt

China drug body investigates fake "Made in India" drugs

2009-06-15T13:15:00.000+06:00

The State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) of China is investigating the allegation that a consignment of drugs labeled "Made in India" were, in fact, fake pharmaceuticals produced in China. According to a report in China Daily, SFDA spokesperson Yan Jiangying said: "We are highly concerned about the case and are sending investigating officials to the Chinese provinces involved, including Guangdong." Yan added the SFDA would continue working with the police in the joint war against fake and inferior drugs in terms of technological support and the handing-over of cases. Last week the Nigerian Government Drug Regulatory Authority (NAFDAC) reported about the detention of a large consignment of fake anti-malarial generic pharmaceuticals labelled 'Made in India' but produced in China. "After a laboratory analysis by NAFDAC, the drugs have been found to be fake and had it not been intercepted, about 64,2000 adults would have been affected," it said. According to the Indian High Commissioner in Nigeria, the consignment containing Maloxine and Amalar tablets, used for the treatment of Malaria, were valued at 32.1 million Naira and were produced, packed and shipped from China. Quoting SFDA's drug safety inspection bureau director Cui Enxue, the China Daily said overseas pharmacy companies should deal only with registered Chinese drug producers and traders that are recognised by SFDA.

Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=HomePage&id=9e563abb-9572-4e12-a97b-cbf2f582bc0e&Headline=China+drug+body+probes+fake+Made+in+India+drugs

Four including Dr Sarfraz martyred in Lahore blast

2009-06-12T15:38:00.000+06:00

Updated at: 1514 PST, Friday, June 12, 2009

LAHORE: At least four people including Jamia Naeemia principal Dr Sarfraz Naeemi were martyred and several others injured in a suicide blast at Jamia Naeemia situated in Garhi Shahu area of Lahore, Geo News reported Friday.The blast occurred after the Friday prayers when the people were making their way out of the mosque after offering the Friday prayers.Jamia Naeemia principal Dr Sarfraz Naeemi was present at his office at the Jamia Naeemia at the time of blast, the eyewitnesses said.The blast was so powerful that the outer walls of the Jamia Naeemia Masjid collapsed. The nearby buildings were harmed in the blast. The blast occurred when a lot of people were present in the mosque.The personnel of the security forces cordoned off the area and started the relief operation. The injured are being rushed to the Meo Hospital. Emergency has been declared in the hospitals of the Lahore.The security forces are searching the building on the apprehension of another bomb.There are reports that the blast was suicide attack.

Source: http://www.geo.tv/6-12-2009/44020.htm

After US, Indian Nuclear Security Breached!

2009-06-12T11:52:00.001+06:00

Both India and the United States have been quite vocal in the recent past voicing ‘concerns’ about Pakistan’s nuclear security and raising false alarms about Pakistan’s nuclear weapons ‘falling to the Taliban’. In an ironic twist, the nuclear safeguards of both these nations have been breached within days of each other, raising fresh doubts about the safety of their own nuclear weapons. Pakistan’s nuclear command and control system, on the other hand, continues to be one of the most advanced in the world.....

For full story plz visit: http://pakistankakhudahafiz.wordpress.com/2009/06/11/after-us-indian-nuclear-security-breached/

Late-night gunbattle rocks Peshawar

2009-06-12T09:44:00.001+06:00

PESHAWAR: A heavy exchange of fire took place between law-enforcement agencies and unidentified attackers in front of the Corps Commander House on the Khyber Road on Thursday night, police said. An official of the Eastern Police Station told Dawn that two unidentified attackers were killed after troops guarding residence of the Corps Commander opened fire. ‘We are not sure why they (troops) started firing. Only soldiers can offer comments on the incident,’ the official said. Big flames were seen on the main road in front of the Corps Commander’s residence and the fire brigade was called in to extinguish the fire. Officials said that identity of the dead had not been ascertained. ‘It is premature to say that the dead were attackers or passersby,’ an official source said. Soon after the incident, army and police sealed the Khyber Road and started a search operation in an area that houses Governor House, Chief Minister House, Judicial Complex and Civil Secretariat and sensitive installations. The firing lasted more than 20 minutes. Witnesses also confirmed that two bodies were lying on the road. The residence of the Corps Commander is located near the Pearl Continental Hotel, which was bombed on Tuesday night. Police said the search operation was in progress and surrounding areas had been cordoned off.

Source: http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/metropolitan/09-late-night-gunbattle-rocks-peshawar---05

Indian Atomic Scientist Goes Missing from Kaiga Atomic Energy Station

2009-06-11T17:39:00.001+06:00

CHENNAI/KARWAR: A nuclear scientist, who is a native of Chennai, has gone missing from Kaiga Atomic Energy station. L Mahalingam, who is from Anna Nagar, Chennai, was reported missing since Monday morning. His wife Vinayaka Sundari has lodged a police complaint, saying her husband who had gone out jogging had not returned home. He had left behind his wallet. The Mallapur police is undertaking a search. ‘‘We cannot rule out the possibility of a kidnap. His wife told us that they never had any problems at home and there are no police records on an threat perception to Mahalingam,’’ a police officer from Karwar said. Police told TOI that Mahalingam who was a scientist with the training section at Kaiga, had access to the nuclear plant and to sensitive data. ‘‘The colony residents, where Mahalingam and family lived, are not cooperating with the police. They are not refusing to give details. This colony in Mallapur is surrounded by 1,000-odd acres of dense forests. There are lots of man-eating leopards in this forest. Police with the help of CISF is planning to comb some portion of the forest,’’ the official said.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Scientist-goes-missing-from-Kaiga-atomic-energy-station/articleshow/4642458.cms

Help Sawat..........A Poem !!!

2009-06-11T13:11:00.001+06:00

Aid agencies seek urgent funding for relief work

2009-06-11T09:30:00.001+06:00

ISLAMABAD: International agencies working for the people displaced by fighting in Malakand division are facing a shortage of funds and have warned of a major cut in relief work if immediate financial assistance does not arrive. The agencies have called upon the UN system in Pakistan to speedily arrange funds for frontline non-government organisations working in the affected areas. According to a joint statement issued here on Wednesday, nine international agencies said they were facing a shortfall of over $42 million which might affect their work of helping over one million internally displaced persons. The agencies are: ActionAid, CAFOD/Caritas, Care, Concern Worldwide, Islamic Relief, Merlin, Oxfam, Save the Children and World Vision.

Full Story: http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/provinces/12-aid-agencies-seek-urgent-funding-for-relief-work--bi-13

Strike ends, protests continue in Ocupied Kashmir

2009-06-10T15:14:00.002+06:00

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Police fired warning shots and tear gas to quell demonstrators Tuesday in Indian Kashmir even as schools, shops and government offices reopened as separatist groups ending a weeklong strike called to protest the deaths of two young women. At least 69 people were injured in two separate clashes between government forces and Kashmiri people near Shopian, the hometown of the two women, officials said. The unrest erupted May 30 after the bodies of a 17-year-old girl and her 22-year-old sister-in-law were found in a shallow stream in Shopian, south of Srinagar. Locals claim the women were raped and killed by Indian soldiers, sparking angry demonstrations that spread across the Kashmir valley and clashes with security forces.

Full Story: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gODsnIpXr4aFN7X26tSFsUJrpFLAD98N7FI80

Operation in Bannu 70 Militants killed

2009-06-10T15:09:00.002+06:00

PESHAWAR: Military is reportedly shelling Taliban hideouts in Bannu district killing 70 militants. Bannu’s district co-ordination officer, Kamran Zeb Khan, tells the forces shell the militants hideouts on the second day of operation killing 70 militants after a deadline given to tribal leaders in the region to hand over militant suspects had expired. Bannu sits alongside South and North Waziristan, two semi-autonomous tribal districts bordering Afghanistan where al Qaida and the Taliban are believed to be entrenched. Indefinite curfew has been imposed in Bannu and Swat ahead of expected operation in the area. Pakistan has launched an offensive against the Taliban in Swat and Bannu. It was not immediately clear if the shelling in Bannu and Swat signalled the opening of a new front against the militants.

Source: http://www.apakistannews.com/operation-in-bannu-70-militants-killed-125179

15 dead in Pakistan hotel blast, Taliban blamed

2009-06-10T10:59:00.002+06:00

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) — Pakistani police have scoured the charred rooms of a luxury hotel in northwest Peshawar for clues after a suicide car bomb killed 15 people in the city troubled by Taliban violence. A top provincial official said the massive blast at the Pearl Continental Hotel late Tuesday was likely the latest in a string of revenge attacks by Islamist militants over a six-week offensive against them in the northwest. Hunting for the dead, police moved from room-to-room in the five-star hotel, large parts of which were reduced to rubble when at least two attackers shot security guards and then slammed an explosives-laden truck into the building. Four more bodies were pulled from the dust and rubble early Wednesday, bringing the death toll to 15, police said, with more victims feared trapped under the debris........

Full Story: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ganK4yD-MEMvCEZm_zq4SqjZL6Iw

COAS, Air chief visit Mingora

2009-06-09T09:41:00.002+06:00

RAWALPINDI: Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Kayani and Chief of Air Staff (CAS) Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman visited Mangora in Swat on Monday. The General Officer Commanding briefed them on the current operations and the future consolidation strategy. The Malakand commissioner briefed them on the emerging civil plan for the division. staff report

Source: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C06%5C09%5Cstory_9-6-2009_pg1_7

Pakistan Tribesmen Battle Taliban

2009-06-08T13:57:00.002+06:00

Hundreds of tribesmen are continuing an offensive against Taliban militants in north-west Pakistan, officials say. At least 11 Taleban are said to have been killed in the three-day offensive. It follows the bombing of a mosque on Friday, which killed 38 people in Upper Dir district. Villagers blamed the bombing on Taliban fighters. Nearby Swat valley has been the scene of heavy fighting between the Pakistani military and Taliban militants. Upper Dir has also seen sporadic clashes......

Full Story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8088621.stm

Indian intelligence service RAW is interfering in Pakistan

2009-06-08T09:41:00.001+06:00

BERLIN: Former President Pervez Musharraf has said he felt there was conspiracy to weaken Pakistan but nothing could happen to the country as long as the armed forces were intact and strong. In an interview with German Magazine, he said anyone who wanted to weaken and destabilize Pakistan just had to weaken the Army and their intelligence service, ISI, and that was what was happening. Lots of articles have been written claiming that Pakistan will be divided, that it will fall apart or become Balkanized. Musharraf said he was totally against the Obama’s term “AfPak”. He said he did not support the word itself for two reasons: first the strategy puts Pakistan on the same level as destabilized Afghanistan, second there was an Indian element in the whole game. “We have the Kashmir struggle, without which extremist elements like Lashkar-e-Taiba would not exist,” he added. He said there were many Indian extremists who had links with extremists in Pakistan. So if the world was serious about combating terrorism, he said, they should not leave India out. Originally, he said, Richard Holbrooke was supposed to be the US special representative for all three countries, but the strong Indian lobby in America prevented that. To another question Musharraf said Indian intelligence service RAW was interfering in Pakistan. One of the most brutal insurgents against Pak forces, Brahamdagh Bugti, the grandson of the late Nawab Bugti, was sitting in Kabul, protected by the Afghan government and provided with weapons and money by the Indian intelligence agency RAW, he said. He said he had his own training camps and sent his fighters to Balochistan where they terrorized people and damaged the civil infrastructure. “RAW is also interfering in the Swat Valley,” he said adding all these Taliban fighters in Swat got their arms and money from Afghanistan.

Full Story:http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=22609

FSL report confirms gang-rape

2009-06-08T09:40:00.000+06:00

SRINAGAR (SANA): Report of the Forensic Science Laboratory has confirmed gang rape of a teenager and her pregnant sister-in-law in south Kashmir’s Shopian district last week. They said that the report about the cause of death of the victims would be presented to the authorities on Sunday after experts hold deliberations with the team of doctors who conducted the postmortem. “The FSL report confirms the initial postmortem report which had said that the victims were gang raped,” sources added. They said doctors held a closed door meeting with the chief and the deputy chief medical officer, Dr Ghulam Qadir Sofi, Pulwama this afternoon. “Later the report was handed over to the top police officials,” they added. It’s in place to mention here that Dr Sofi had headed the team of doctors which conducted the postmortem of the victims on May 30 after the bodies were recovered. In their initial report, the doctors had stated that Asiya Jan, 16, and her pregnant sister-in-law, Neelofar, had been gang raped. “Doctors had mentioned in their initial report that there were local violent marks on the lower body parts of Asiya and Neelofar. Their body parts were swollen, and there were visible bloodstains.” The initial report had also stated that there were bruises over the bodies of the victims. “Doctors could easily make out that Asiya had been raped as she was unmarried. As Neelofar was pregnant the doctors faced difficultly in establishing gang rape in her case. However, the violent marks over her lower parts made doctors believe that she too was gang raped. But they took her vaginal samples for FSL investigations,” sources said, adding, “ Now the FSL report too has confirmed that she was also gang raped.” A top police official said, “ FIR in this case is likely to be registered on Sunday as doctors have submitted the FSL report.”

Source: http://www.sananews.com.pk/english/2009/06/08/fsl-report-confirms-gang-rape/

Sufi Muhammad along with other Leaders including three Afghan fighters arrested

2009-06-05T11:04:00.003+06:00

Sufi Muhammad, the cleric who brokered a now defunct peace deal in Pakistan's Swat valley, has been arrested along with his aides, Pakistan and India media have said. He was reportedly arrested during a raid in the town of Amandara in Malakand district along with five leaders of his banned organisation, Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariah Muhammadi. Pakistan's government gave no confirmation of Sufi Muhammad's arrest but the military said his deputy, Mohammad Alam, and his spokesman, Ameer Izzat, had been arrested. Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) information minister, told the AFP news agency that the aides were "holed up in the compound of a seminary when they were arrested along with a few militants". Cleric Mohammad Wahab and three Afghan fighters were also arrested, Major-General Athar Abbas, the military's chief spokesman, said. "The army raided the seminary on an intelligence tip-off that a meeting of terrorists was in progress there," Athar Abbas told AFP. Sufi Muhammad struck a deal with the NWFP government in February to restore peace to Swat and surrounding areas by proposing to put three million people under Islamic law. But the deal collapsed in May when Taliban fighters advanced to districts within 100km of Islamabad more than six weeks ago. Under US pressure, Pakistan launched an offensive against Taliban fighters in the districts of Lower Dir, Buner and Swat after what Islamabad called violations of a ceasefire. The military has since said it has retaken large swaths of the region from the Taliban and is close to routing the group. But some residents have expressed anger at what they say is the high civilian toll and massive destruction from the army offensive.

Source: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/06/2009650038989984.html

US envoy urges more aid for Swat

2009-06-04T15:01:00.003+06:00

US envoy Richard Holbrooke has urged European and Muslim nations to send more aid to those displaced by fighting in north-west Pakistan. Mr Holbrooke visited refugees and said the task "requires security and assistance from the rest of the world". The US has already pledged $110m and hopes to provide an extra $200m for people who fled their homes as the Pakistani army battles the Taliban. The army says several former militant strongholds are now under its control. A statement on Wednesday said Charbagh - about 20km (12 miles) north of Mingora, the main town in Swat valley - had been retaken. Troops had also "successfully secured Pir Baba and Bhai Kalay" in neighbouring Buner district, where heavy fighting has gone on for weeks.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8082545.stm

Pakistan: Last batch of school abductees found

2009-06-04T14:36:00.000+06:00

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani officials say that the last batch of students and staff kidnapped in the northwest after leaving their school this week have been rescued. Deputy Interior Minister Tasnim Qureshi told state-run Pakistan Television Thursday that 46 students and two teachers had been recovered from their militant abductors. Lawmaker Saleh Shah told The Associated Press that tribal elders had negotiated their release. The army said the rescued students were being taken to the Bannu district. The students were abducted earlier this week from the North Waziristan tribal region and were believed to have been held there or in nearby South Waziristan. There have been wildly ranging reports on the number of captives involved.

Full Story: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hkiMxbHNH0BqgpWA2ZG6VD6wVTmAD98JNOFG0

Indian terrorist suspect involved in Rescue 15 attack arrested

2009-06-04T09:29:00.002+06:00

LAHORE: Police on Wednesday arrested a suspected terrorist, said to be an Indian-national, allegedly involved in attack on Lahore Rescue-15 Building. He was identified as Beram Khan s/o Jhurai Khan and said to be the citizen of Badmir, an Indian city. The police and law enforcement agencies are interrogating the suspected to track down the terror network, reported a private TV channel. According to the intelligence agencies the suspected entered Pakistan from India on 24 March and lived in Hyderabad. His other accomplices have managed flee from Pakistan. A training camp, run by India, has been unearthed in Afghan city of Mazar Sharif where terrorists are being trained to target the security forces and sensitive government buildings of Pakistan, intelligence sources were quoted as saying by the TV channel. Later, addressing a news briefing Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Lahore said that a suicide bomber of Lahore attack has been identified as Iftikhar who was dweller of Mandi Bahauddin, adding that he was associated with a banned outfit. The officer told that the killed bomber had been missing from his house for six years. He said that 18 suspects have been arrested as yet in connection with rescue center attack. At least 26 people, including an ISI colonel and 15 police officials, were killed and around 400 people injured when an explosive-laden vehicle rammed into the Rescue-15 building.

Source: http://www.onlinenews.com.pk/details.php?id=146236

100 injured as protests paralyse Kashmir valley

2009-06-04T09:15:00.000+06:00

At least 100 people were injured as violent protests over the death of two women under mysterious circumstances paralysed Kashmir Valley for the third day on Wednesday with authorities detaining chairman of hardline Hurriyat faction Syed Ali Shah Geelani and two other separatist leaders. Fierce clashes were witnessed between protesters and security personnel in Shopian town, 52 kms from here, where the bodies of Nelofar (22) and Asiya (17) were recovered on Saturday after they went missing from their orchard, as thousands of people poured into the streets.

Full Story: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/100-injured-as-protests-paralyse-Kashmir-valley/470714/

Pakistan rejects idea of outside nuclear help

2009-06-03T14:30:00.004+06:00

Pakistan has rejected a media report according to which Islamabad receives outside help for its nuclear security mechanisms. Commenting on a report that Pakistan ensures the security of its nuclear arsenal only with the help of its allies, the spokesman of Pakistan's Foreign Office, Abdul Basit, described his country's nuclear security, in general, and Islamabad's nuclear weapons, in particular, as completely indigenous. Basit said Tuesday that Islamabad has a well-established nuclear command authority which is, among other things, responsible for the security of Pakistan's nuclear program. "Our command, control, safety and security systems are equal, if not better than other nuclear weapons states. In the civilian realm, Pakistan has benefited from international best practices and we maintain close interaction with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)," he insisted. According to Basit, Pakistan is also a member of the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism where Islamabad interacts with all member states to enhance mutual understanding.

Source: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=96860&sectionid=351020401

Hafiz Saeed says he is against suicide attacks

2009-06-03T09:51:00.001+06:00

LAHORE: Chief of the banned Jamaatud Dawa, Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, and his close aide Colonel (retd) Nazir Ahmed were released from house arrest on Tuesday on Lahore High Court orders. He and other key members of Jamaat were put under house arrest on December 11 last year after the United Nations declared the JD a terrorist organisation in the wake of Mumbai attacks. Senior Superintendent of Police (operations) Chaudhry Shafeeq Ahmed said that police personnel had not been called back for security reasons, but both men could move freely. Talking to newsmen after his release, Hafiz Saeed opposed suicide attacks and said he considered it his responsibility to persuade all elements fighting within Pakistan that maintaining peace was necessary.

Full Story: http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/13+hafiz+saeed+says+he+is+against+suicide+attacks-za-15

Dozens of Kashmiri protestors detained

2009-06-03T09:10:00.004+06:00

SRINAGAR: Police in occupied Kashmir detained a senior politician and dozens of others on Tuesday for protesting the deaths of two young women who were allegedly raped and killed by Indian soldiers. Anti-India sentiment runs deep in Kashmir, where about 200 people have been injured in clashes between security forces and angry protesters since Saturday, when the bodies of a 17-year-old and her 22-year-old sister-in-law were found in a stream. Human rights groups and Kashmiri leaders have long accused the Indian military of using rape and sexual molestation to intimidate the local population. The military and paramilitary groups have not responded to the allegations, but police have said the women appear to have drowned.

Full Story: http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/13+dozens+of+kashmiri+protestors+detained-za-09

Killings provoke Kashmir protests

2009-06-02T10:50:00.002+06:00

Violent protests are continuing across Indian-administered Kashmir, following the deaths of two women who many believe were raped by Indian troops. The bodies of the two women were recovered on Saturday morning after they went missing on Friday. A general strike called by separatist groups in response to the deaths of the women brought life in the Kashmir Valley to a standstill.

Full Story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8076666.stm

Razmak Students recovered: ISPR

2009-06-02T10:13:00.001+06:00

Tuesday, June 02, 2009 MIRANSHAH: Pakistan Army and FC recovered all the students and staff of Razmak Cadet College, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said Tuesday.Commissioner Bannu Sardar Abbas said Pakistan and FC launched a joint operation 20 kilometer to East of Razmak in Garium and recovered at least 73 students, two professors and a clerk of the cadet college.Bannu Commissioner said the police also recovered 10 vehicles in the operations.

Source: http://www.geo.tv/6-2-2009/43282.htm

Indian troops martyr 30 Kashmiris in May

2009-06-01T15:20:00.000+06:00

ISLAMABAD: Indian troops, in their continued acts of state terrorism, martyred 30 Kashmiris, in occupied Kashmir including three woman and four children, in the last month of May.According to Kashmir Media Service, the total of Kashmiris martyred included four killed in custody. The killings rendered three women widowed and 13 children orphaned while two women including an eleventh class student were molested by the troops during the period. Seventy-two civilians were arrested and 499 injured as a result of troops' use of brute force against peaceful protestors while one youth went missing in custody. One residential house was also damaged by the troops with heavy mortar shelling during siege and search operation.

Source: http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=79231

Police: Taliban suspects among Pakistani refugees

2009-06-01T11:31:00.003+06:00

Soldiers of Pakistan army display arms and ammunition confiscated from militants in Mingora, capital of Pakistan's troubled Swat Valley, where military is fighting with Taliban militants Thursday, May 28, 2009. Police have arrested 39 suspected Taliban fighters hiding among refugees from a military offensive to rout militants from Pakistan's Swat Valley, a senior officer said Friday.

Full Story: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/world/AP/story/1071329.html

Locals greet security forces in Bahrain

2009-05-29T12:08:00.002+06:00

RAWALPINDI: Troops entered Bahrain town in the Swat Valley early on Thursday as the Operation Rah-e-Raast continued, and were welcomed by locals holding national flags.Troops destroyed an explosives-laden vehicle and killed two Taliban at Sattal, near Bahrain, and killed two Taliban in Malam Jabba. They consolidated their positions in Mingora, Qambar, Kanju and Kabal areas, and carried out cordon and search operations in Nawagai, Nawan Killi, Gulabad and Landaikas.Seven Taliban and four soldier were killed in the fighting in 24 hours, the ISPR said in a statement.The forces also carried out a cordon and search operation in Peochar village. They ambushed a group of 15 to 20 Taliban at Mano Derai and killed three of them and arrested four. The Taliban ambushed a convoy of eight Army trucks carrying relief goods and food for Chakdarra, Barikot and Mingora near Barikot and killed four soldiers.

Source: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C05%5C29%5Cstory_29-5-2009_pg1_8

Lt Atif Shaheed Pakistan Army (Sawat Operation)

2009-05-29T11:27:00.002+06:00

PAF capable of destroying drones: Air Chief

2009-05-28T15:40:00.002+06:00

Updated at: 0957 PST, Thursday, May 28, 2009 RISALPUR: Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman Thursday said that air force destroyed several hideouts and caches of ammunitions of militants and paved the way for the military to make advance in the troubled areas of Swat.He said that air force is completely supporting the military in its ongoing efforts in the tribal areas and Swat, adding F-16, F-7 and Mirages are taking part in the Swat operation.The Air Chief maintained that Pakistan armed forces are grappling with not only the greater external enemies but also the problems of extremism and terrorism within the country.Later talking to journalists, he said targeting the drones and taking them down is not a problem and Pakistan Air Force is fully capable for the purpose; however, any decision in this regard rests with the parliament and the government.However, the Air Chief added that the action could lead Pakistan to confrontation with Nato or US.Air Chief Marshal Rao said that Pakistan shot down Indian UAV drone during the 2001-02 standoff with India.He hoped that Pakistan is likely to receive AWACS planes in November or October, adding India was given the same aircrafts which could lead to fresh escalation and arms race in the region.Rao Qamar Suleman said that the country has a lot of expectations from the Air Force, which it will try to fulfil at all cost without fail.

Source: http://geo.tv/5-28-2009/42963.htm

Religious parties to stop acting on their “dual policies” about operation against militants

2009-05-27T10:56:00.003+06:00

PESHAWAR: NWFP Minister for Information Mian Iftikhar Hussain has asked the religious and political parties to stop acting on their “dual policies” about operation against militants and settlement of IDPs as the time was not ripe for gaining political mileage but to cleanse the country of insurgency.Briefing journalists on the latest situation in Malakand division and exodus of local population, the minister said that until top leadership of militants were killed or nabbed, the apprehension of general public about operation might increase.“Keeping in view the plight of displaced families and those stranded in the troubled areas, the NWFP government wants successful completion of the operation at the earliest and elimination of top leadership of the militants in Swat, Lower Dir and Buner districts,” he said, adding, the credibility of the ongoing operation was dependent on the killing of prominent militant leaders.

Full Story: http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=179611

Every Pakistani flag raised on Indian occupied territory or mainland is a slap on 'secular' India's face.

2009-05-25T12:31:00.002+06:00

With the Cooperation of DAN............... Thanks Dan Bahi

India faces a greater threat from China than Pakistan

2009-05-25T09:15:00.000+06:00

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India faces a greater threat from China than Pakistan because New Delhi knows little about Beijing's combat capabilities, India's air force chief told a newspaper in an interview published on Sunday. The world's two most populous nations fought a brief but brutal war over their 3,500 km (2,200 mile) Himalayan border in 1962, and both sides claim the other is occupying big but largely uninhabited chunks of their territory. India has also been pursuing closer relations with the United States, something that worries China............

Full Story: http://in.reuters.com/article/topNews/idINIndia-39840120090524

Martyrs Of Rah-E-Rast 4 - Pakistan Army

2009-05-22T09:33:00.002+06:00

Officers Of Pakistan Army Who Laid Down Their Lives In Operation Rah-E-Rast 4. Maj Abid SHAHEED (19th Punjab) Maj Azhar SHAHEED Capt Bilal Zafar SHAHEED (BALOCH\SSG) 108 PMA L\c Capt Najam Riaz SHAHEED (SSG) 108 PMA L\c Capt Asim SHAHEED Lt Saifulla SHAHEED 117 PMA L\c Lt Zia Long Live

After drama of Mumbai attacks - SINGH proved to be the KING…

2009-05-20T11:24:00.001+06:00

With the Cooperation of SMT

4 Indian spies arrested in Lahore

2009-05-20T09:41:00.000+06:00

LAHORE: Intelligence agencies are reported to have arrested four persons on suspicion of working for Indian spy agency Research and Analyst Wing (RAW) during raids at different places of the provincial capital on Tuesday.According to sources, the suspected agents, residents of Sheikhupura, Nankana and Kamonke, have been identified as Khalid, Abid, Karamat and Khizar. The sources said initial investigation revealed that the accused used to enter India from the border area of Bado Malai where Indian agents would take them to Amritsar.They were being paid Rs.40, 000 in exchange of completing one task.The sources further said that agencies were carrying out more raids at other places in order to apprehend their accomplices.

Source: http://www.geo.tv/5-19-2009/42456.htm

Children developing behavioural problems

2009-05-20T08:47:00.005+06:00

In spite of the relatively short duration of their dislocation, children who have been displaced from their homes in the wake of the military operation around their homes in NWFP, are exhibiting behavioural problems and experiencing sleep disturbances.Talking to ‘The News’ here on Tuesday, Dr. Rizwan Taj, focal person of the mental health programme of the Ministry of Health and head of the Department of Psychiatry at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), shared that parents of children as small as a few months to 11 years of age are complaining of the sudden development of behavioural problems in their children, not to mention frequent sleep disturbances. “Living in tents, these children represent the real short- and long-term horror of this tragedy,” he commented on his return from a camp. He said, “A majority of the displaced children is aged between 3 months to 11 years. These children can, over a period of time, develop a wide range of psychological problems including depression, phobias, acute stress disorder, post-traumatic stress syndrome, and poor academic performance,” he calculated............

Full Story: http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=178516

US paper urges India to resolve Kashmir

2009-05-20T08:40:00.001+06:00

NEW YORK: A US newspaper on Tuesday called on India to work towards resolving the decades-old Kashmir dispute with Pakistan. “Ignoring Kashmir is no longer an option,” The New York Times said. It added, “It is past time for India... to find a way to resolve tensions with Pakistan over the Kashmir dispute. If that festering sore cannot be addressed directly... then broader regional talks on environmental and water issues might be an interim way to find common ground.” app

Source: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C05%5C20%5Cstory_20-5-2009_pg1_13

Kayani meets Sarkozy: France wants to be Pakistan’s strategic partner

2009-05-20T08:39:00.001+06:00

ISLAMABAD: French President Nicholas Sarkozy expressed his country’s desire for a strategic partnership with Pakistan during a meeting with Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Kayani in Paris on Tuesday.According to APP, the French president told the army chief that Paris would help Pakistan build the capability to meet the challenges it was facing.Gen Kayani also met the French foreign minister, defence minister, chief of defence staff and chief of army staff, and visited the French Army Headquarters. Later on Tuesday, the army chief briefed NATO’s top officers in Brussels about the fight against the Taliban in northwestern Pakistan, AP said.Officials discussed plans to provide training for Pakistani officers in NATO training centres, and reviewed the status of NATO’s main supply route to landlocked Afghanistan, NATO spokesman James Appathurai said. Gen Kayani also held talks with Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. agencies

Source: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C05%5C20%5Cstory_20-5-2009_pg1_6

Every PML-N MNA to donate Rs500,000 for IDPs

2009-05-19T13:39:00.000+06:00

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Monday announced that every MNA of the party would donate Rs500,000 for the rehabilitation of the internally displaced persons (IDPs). The decision to this effect was taken in a meeting of the party’s central working committee. PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif presided over the meeting. Nawaz said the Punjab government would run a camp for the IDPs in the province. “The whole nation should take this humanitarian responsibility to meet this challenge,” he added.

Source: http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=215011

No linkage between US aid and Pak nuclear program: State Department

2009-05-19T13:23:00.000+06:00

WASHINGTON: Chairman US Joint Chiefs Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen on Monday said Pakistan has not diverted any US assistance to advance its nuclear weapons program as his remarks quashed apprehensions cited in an American newspaper report. The State Department also categorically stated that there was no linkage between the US aid and Pakistan’s nuclear capability. The top US military officer also acknowledged that Pakistan has bolstered the security of its nuclear assets, saying it made use of American aid specifically targeted toward that end in the recent years. “I am not aware of any US aid that has gone towards nuclear weapons, save that which is very focused in the last several years, last three or four years on improving their security, which is exactly what we would like. And they have done that,” he said in response to a question. Mullen’s comments came after a story in The New York Times claimed that members of US Congress are concerned that Islamabad might divert US aid to it nuclear program. Mullen, who spoke on wide-ranging security issues at a leading Washington think tank, also rejected characterizations that the key anti-terrorism partner somehow might near a failure. He said both civilian and military leadership in Pakistan is conscious of the extremism threat to their country and advocated a long-term US relationship with Pakistan. At the State Department, spokesman Ian Kelly advised against drawing “any links between the issues of our assistance package and their nuclear capability.” “We shouldn’t connect these dots..Because this assistance package is for very specific purposes and we’re going to work very closely with the government of Pakistan for us to meet our joint goal...Of helping them re-establish stability. I don’t see necessarily a connection between the two,” he said. “We’re going to work closely with Pakistan to make sure that the money is spent for the specific purposes that the US Congress had in mind,” he said at the daily briefing.

Source: http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=78094

Tamil Tigers’ surrender

2009-05-19T09:22:00.001+06:00

It would be premature to assert that the final chapter has been written in a conflict that has claimed over 70,000 lives in nearly three decades of resistance and all-out war. Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers surrendered on Sunday and their leader Velupillai Prabhakaran has apparently been killed along with other commanders. Yet, the Sri Lankans who are celebrating these days must be aware that a rout of the LTTE fighters does not necessarily signal the end of Tamil resistance. There is every possibility that remnants of the Tigers or their sympathisers, now deprived of an army, will shift their focus to more terrorist attacks and perhaps even sporadic guerrilla combat. The grudge, to put it mildly, runs deep and only the brazenly partisan can deny the institutional discrimination that Sri Lanka’s Tamils have faced for decades. Their rights have been denied and it must be recognised that the LTTE, for all its atrocities, was a reaction to the politics of ethnicity — if not outright racism — practised by many Sinhalese and their leaders.

Full Story: http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/16-tamil-tigers-surrender-hs-02

Ashfaq Parvez Kayani Rejects Propaganda Against Pakistan Army

2009-05-18T14:59:00.001+06:00

Reacting to comments from various quarters on the ability of the troops to handle low-intensity conflict (LIC) and the reported need for army men to be moved away from the country’s eastern borders and near the western frontier, he said the army had developed a full range of counter-insurgency training facilities tailored to train troops for anti-terrorism operations. In a statement released here by the army spokesman Gen. Kayani said that the Pakistan Army generally didn’t need foreign training, except in the case of some specialised weapons and equipment. Owing to its vast experience, the army was suited to operate in Pakistani territories. He said uncalled for aspersions from various quarters on the army’s training methods and orientation were apparently due to lack of knowledge and understanding of its training system. He reaffirmed that strategic decisions regarding where, when and how many troops should be deployed were for Pakistanis to make, based on objective analysis and full understanding of the threat spectrum. The decisions were made in accordance with national interests by the leadership, keeping in view the aspirations of the people of Pakistan. “Any outside advice or subjective comments towards this end are counter-productive and divisive in effect, rather than being helpful,” he remarked.

Source: http://www.daily.pk/local/other-local/10167-ashfaq-parvez-kayani-rejects-propaganda-against-pakistan-army.html

Aey puttar Hetta tay nahee vickday…………………

2009-05-18T12:06:00.004+06:00

Suicide attacks are un-Islamic: Ulema

2009-05-18T10:50:00.002+06:00

ISLAMABAD: Leading Ulema of the country declared on Sunday that suicide attacks and beheading of people were ‘un-Islamic’ acts and said that militants in Swat and Fata were pursuing the agenda of Pakistan’s enemies. The edict was issued at a convention of Ulema and Mashaikh from different parts of the country. This is the first time that prominent Ulema and religious scholars, mostly belonging to the Sunni school of thought, have denounced the Taliban and their inhuman acts in such a categorical manner. A unanimous resolution adopted at the convention said: ‘The assassination of Ulema should be stopped and sacred places, including shrines, should be cleared of extremists. Suicide attacks and beheading is Haram’. The convention also condemned the killing of innocent people in the US drone attacks and urged the government to raise the issue at the United Nations. The Ulema said the US drone strikes were challenging the country’s sovereignty. ‘The government must take effective measures to force the US to halt these strikes.’ They supported the military operation in Swat and other parts of Malakand and declared it a ‘war for Pakistan’s integrity and sovereignty’. The elements engaged in creating a state within the state must be crushed, they added......

Full Story: http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/12-suicide-attacks-are-un-islamic-ulema--bi-10

Pakistan’s N-weapons are safe: Obama

2009-05-18T10:48:00.000+06:00

NEW YORK: US President Barack Obama has expressed confidence that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons are safe and said that the Pakistani military is equipped to prevent extremists from taking over the nuclear arsenal. In an interview with Newsweek published on Sunday, the president stressed that ‘Pakistan’s sovereignty has to be respected’ and said he felt strongly that Pakistani military was up to the task. He was asked if he would be willing ‘to keep the option alive to have American troops secure those nuclear weapons if the country gets less stable’? President Obama said there was ‘decided shift’ in Pakistan army’s recognition that ‘the threat from extremism is a much more immediate and serious one than the threat from India’. ‘We are trying to strengthen them as a partner, and one of the encouraging things is, over the last several weeks we’ve seen a decided shift in the Pakistan army,’ he said.

Source: http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/12-pakistan-sn-weapons-are-safe-says-obama--bi-13

General Ashfaq Kayani visits Swat frontlines

2009-05-15T10:47:00.003+06:00

RAWALPINDI: Chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Kayani on Thursday expressed his resolve to eliminate militancy from the country. “The COAS reiterated the army’s resolve to flush out militancy from Swat and defeat the militants as a whole,” ISPR quoted the COAS as telling the operation commanders during his first visit to Swat since the launch of the military operation. staff report.

Swat operation is completely planned and carried out by Pakistan army: ISPR

2009-05-15T10:05:00.002+06:00

ISLAMABAD: Director General Inter-Services Public Relation (ISPR), Major General, Athar Abbas has said that Swat operation is completely planned and carried out by Pakistan army. While addressing a joint press conference along with State Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Sumsam Bukhari and State Minister on Finance Hina Rabbani Khar here in Press Information Department, he said that taking of foreign support so far is incorrect. Operation is fully planned and executed by Pakistan army. He said that Operation Rahe-e-Haq going in right direction. So far 54 militants including three militants commander killed in the last 24 hours while nine security forces personnel also martyred. 15 militants’ hideouts destroyed in Shangla. Two militants killed by snipers in Mingora. 13 militants killed in outskirt of Mingora Major Gen. Athar Abbas said that army is trying to avoid collateral damage as per the instructions of COAS. In this connection, sometimes operation is delayed or operation plans are changed.

Full Story: http://www.onlinenews.com.pk/details.php?id=145306

Pakistan needs no certification from India on its nukes

2009-05-14T12:01:00.005+06:00

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan says that it does not need certification from India or for that matter from any other country about the status of its nuclear arsenal. Texas based think-tank Stratfor, in its latest report released on Wednesday, said: “The United States works very closely with India on the issue of Pakistan’s nuclear security. It also maintains that India remains comfortable with Pakistan’s command and control structure.” The Strarfor report adds: “New Delhi is a key source of intelligence on the status of that security, and a good — albeit imperfect — measure of valid concern is the degree to which India is worried about it, since it stands the greatest risk of being targeted by Pakistan-based nukes.” When put to the spokesman at the Foreign Office, he responded, “We certainly do not need any certification from India and for that matter from any other country. We have enough confidence in our own foolproof mechanism of control and command structure, which is second to none.” Stratfor said although India continued to underscore the threat it faced from Pakistan-based militants, it remained comfortable with Islamabad’s nuclear command-and-control infrastructure. “This would explain to a considerable degree the current US comfort level,” it said.

Source: http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=177437

As the battle heats up: Dawn Editorial

2009-05-14T11:52:00.006+06:00

The battle for the Taliban heartland in Swat moved up a gear on Tuesday as crack commando units were airlifted to mountains ringing Peochar, the district headquarters of militant chief Fazlullah and his band of fighters. It is much too early to predict the outcome but the result will have a huge bearing on the wider fight against militancy. A rout here of the Taliban — and, ideally, the capture or surrender of Fazlullah — may demoralise the militants who still control Mingora, Swat’s largest city, and lead to desertions in other areas as well. If the military is to be believed, this is already happening in Malakand Division as a whole, where new recruits and ‘criminal elements’ who had sided with the Taliban are said to have lost their appetite for battle. The military also maintains that nearly 750 militants have been killed so far in the ongoing operation. Unfortunately, there is no way of independently verifying these claims or, in some cases, distinguish-ing between dead fighters and civilians caught in the crossfire.

Full Story : http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/provinces/16-as-the-battle-heats-up-hs-01

پاکستان ایک صدی بعد 3009میں

2009-05-07T12:22:00.001+06:00

امریکہ میں ای۔بی۔ایم کے دو ذہین افراد کے درمیان چیٹ ۔جوزف : ہیلو مارک ۔ کل تم آفس نہیں آئے تھے ؟ خیریت؟مارک: ہاں یار۔ میں پاکستانی ایمبیسی گیا تھا۔ ویزہ لینے۔ جوزف : اچھا واقعی ؟ پھر کیا ہوا ؟ میں نے سنا ہے آجکل انہوں نے بہت سختیاں کردی ہیں ۔مارک : ہاں ۔ لیکن میں نے پھر بھی کسی نہ کسی طرح لے ہی لیا۔ جوزف: بہت اچھے یار۔ مبارک ہو۔ یہ بتاؤ کہ ویزہ پراسیس میں کتنا وقت لگا ؟مارک : بس کچھ مت پوچھو یار۔ تقریباً مہینہ بھر لگ گیا۔ پہلی بار جب میں پاکستان ایمبیسی گیا تھا تو صبح 4:30 پر وہاں پہنچا۔ پھر بھی مجھ سےپہلے 10 لوگ کھڑے تھے۔ لمبی قطار۔ اور ہاں مجھ سے کچھ آگے بل گیٹ بھی اپنا پاسپورٹ اور بنک سٹیٹمنٹ ہاتھ میں لیا لائن میں کھڑا تھا۔ جوزف : اچھا۔ بل گیٹ کو ویزہ مل گیا ۔مارک : نہیں۔ انہوں*نے خطرہ ظاہر کیا ہے کہ بل گیٹ پاکستان جانے کے بعد وہاں سلپ ہوجائے گا اور امریکہ واپس نہیں آئے گا۔ جوزف : یار ۔ پاکستانی ایمبیسی کو ایسا نہیں کرنا چاہیئے۔ اسلام آباد میں ہماری امریکن ایمبیسی تو پاکستانیوں کو ایک گھنٹے میں ویزہ دے دیتی ہے۔ پھر یہ کیوں*ایسا کرتے ہیں ؟مارک : ارے یار ۔ تمھیں تو پتہ ہے پاکستان اس وقت دنیا کی سپر پاور ہے۔ اسکا ویزہ لینا گویا مریخ کا ویزہ لینے کے برابر ہے۔ اور پھر قصور ہمارا امریکیوں کا بھی ہے۔ ہم بھی وہاں وزٹ ویزہ پر جاکر واپس نہیں آتے نا۔ جوزف : اچھا یہ بتاؤ ۔ تمھیں ویزہ کیسے مل گیا ؟مارک : میں نے وہاں کی مشہور فرم 'پھالیہ شوگر ملز لمٹیڈ' سے بزنس وزٹ کا انویٹیشن منگوایا تھا۔ بس اسی بنیاد پر کام بن گیا۔ جوزف : ایک بار پھر مبارک ہو۔ یہ بتاؤ کب جا رہے ہو پاکستان ؟مارک : جیسے ہی ٹکٹ ملا۔ دراصل میں نے دنیا کی مشہور ترین اور اعلی کلاس کی ائیر لائن میں* ٹکٹ کے لیے درخواست دی ہے۔ میرا بچپن سے خواب تھا کہ کسی دن پاکستان انٹرنیشنل ایر لائنز PIA میں سفر کر سکوں۔ اگر ٹکٹ مل گیا تو میرا دیرینہ خواب پورا ہوجائے گا۔ جوزف : پاکستان میں کتنا عرصہ رکو گے ؟مارک : کتنا عرصہ ؟ کیا مطلب ؟ مجھے کسی پاگل کتے نے کاٹا ہے جو پاکستان چھوڑ کر واپس امریکہ آنے کی سوچوں گا۔ حقیقت یہ ہے کہ میں نے انٹرنیٹ پر چیٹ کے ذریعے پاکستان کے دوسرے بڑے شہر لاہور کے مضافات میں ایک صحت افزا مقام 'کامونکی' کی ایک لڑکی سیٹ کر لی ہے۔ میں اس سے شادی کرکے گرین پاسپورٹ اپلائی کردوں گا اور وہیں سیٹ ہوجاؤں گا۔ جوزف : یار تم بہت خوش قسمت ہو۔ لیکن تمھارے ماں باپ کا کیا ہوگا۔ مارک : پاکستانی گرین پاسپورٹ مل جانے کے بعد میں ماما-پاپا کو بھی وہیں بلا لوں گا۔ جوزف : کس شہر میں رہنا پسند کرو گے ؟مارک : کامونکی والی لڑکی نے مجھے کہا ہے کہ پنجاب سٹیٹ صحت و صفائی کے اعلی معیار کی وجہ سے ویسے تو دنیا میں پہلے نمبر پر ہے۔ لیکن ہم کراچی سیٹل ہوں*گے۔ وہاں آپرچیونٹیز بہت ہیں۔ پتہ ہے نا ؟ کراچی اس وقت دنیا میں ٹریڈ اور ٹیکنالوجی کے لحاظ سے اول نمبر کا شہر ہے۔ اور وہاں کا 660 منزلہ حبیب بنک پلازہ دیکھنا بھی میری زندگی کی بہت بڑی خواہش ہے۔ سنا ہے اسکی اوپرکی 200 منزلیں بادلوں*میں ڈھکی رہتی ہیں۔ واؤؤؤؤؤؤؤؤؤؤو واٹ آ ڈریم یار۔ جوزف : اچھا یہ بتاؤ اپنے ساتھ کتنے ڈالرز لے کر جاؤ گے ؟مارک : ڈالرز ؟ وہاں کون پوچھتا ہے۔ تمھیں پتہ ہے ایک پاک-روپے کے مقابلے میں آجکل 210 ڈالرز بنتے ہیں۔ یعنی میری اگر وہاں 10 ہزار پاکستانی بھی تنخواہ نکل آئی تو امریکہ میں چند مہینوں میں لاکھوں پتی بن جاؤں گا۔ جوزف : میں نے سنا ہے پاکستان کا لائف سٹینڈرڈ بہت اعلی ہے۔ مارک : ہاں۔ ایسے ہی ہے۔ وہاں پر BMW لکژری کار 25 ہزار پاک روپے میں ، جبکہ مرسٹڈیز 32 ہزار میں مل جاتی ہے۔ لیکن مین تو سوزوکی یا چنگچی لوں گا۔ خالصتاً پاکستانی میڈ آٹوز ہیں۔ کچھ مہنگی ہیں لیکن بہت اعلی کلاس کی ہیں۔ البتہ کراچی میں فلیٹ بہت مہنگے ہیں۔ اور کوئی بھی بلڈنگ 100 فلور سے کم تو ہے ہی نہیں۔ انسان ہر وقت خود کو فضاؤں میں اڑتا محسوس کرتا ہے۔ جوزف : اچھا یہ بتاؤ کہ وہاں کام کیا کرو گے۔ مارک : میں نے معلومات کی ہیں۔ وہاں پر آئی-ٹی میں بہت سکوپ ہے۔ لیکن تم تو جانتے ہو وہ ہمارے ملک کے تعلیمی معیار کو اپنے برابر نہیں سمجھتے اس لیے مجھے شروع میں وہاں کسی کسان کے ' گدھے' وغیرہ نہلانے پڑیں گے۔ یا پھر ہوسکتا ہے کسی مشہور پارک کے دروازے پر 'جوتے پالش ' کا کھوکھا ہی کھول لوں۔ کچھ نہ ہوا تو ٹیکسی کا لائسنس کرلوں گا۔ امریکہ سے تو پھر بھی کئی گنا بہتر کما لوں گا۔ اورہاں اگر میں وہاں کا گرین پاسپورٹ ہولڈر ہوگیا تو پھر ساری زندگی حکومت مجھے بےروزگاری الاؤنس اور میڈیکل سہولیات فری فراہم کرے گی۔ اور گرین پاسپورٹ کی بنا پر مجھے دنیا کے 80 فیصد ممالک میں بغیر ویزے کے وزٹ کرنے کی سہولت مل جائے گی۔ جوزف : بہت خوب ۔ یہ بتاؤ ۔ تمھیں انکی زبان کیسے آئے گی ؟مارک : اوہ بھائی ۔ میں پچھلے 10 سال سے اردو لینگوئج سیکھ رہا ہوں۔ کالج میں آپشنل سبجیکٹ بھی اردو ہی لیا تھا۔ اور ہاں میں نے TOUFL بھی A گریڈ میں پاس کیا ہے۔ جوزف : یہ TOUFL کیا ہے ؟مارک : Test Of Urdu as a Foreign Language جوزف : تم بہت خوش قسمت ہو یار۔ کاش میں تمھاری جگہ ہوتا۔ سنا ہے وہاں پر ٹرین سسٹم بہت اچھا ہے۔ مارک : ہاں ۔ کراچی سے لاہور اور وہاں سے پشاور اور کوئٹہ کے لیے دنیا کی تیز ترین اور آرام دہ ترین ٹرین 'تیز گام' چلتی ہے۔ اس میں سفر کا بھی اپنا ہی مزہ ہے۔ اور لاہور میں ہی دنیا کا مشہور فلم سٹوڈیو لالی وڈ بھی ہے۔ جہاں پر میں دنیا کے عظیم اداکاروں سلطان راہی ، شفقت چیمہ اور ریما کے مجسمے دیکھوں گا۔ سنا ہے آجکل انکے بچے بھی فلم انڈسٹری میں ہیں۔ اور راولپنڈی میں دنیا کی سب سے بڑی اور گہری جھیل 'راول ڈیم' بھی ہے۔ اس میں بوٹنگ کرنا بھی مجھے ہمیشہ سے ہی خواب لگتا ہے۔ لیکن اب یہ خواب بھی حقیقت بن جائے گا۔ جوزف : سنا ہے ہمارا صدر اگلے مہینہ امداد لینے پاکستان بھی جائے گا ؟مارک : ہاں۔ ایسا ہی ہے۔ اور قرضے بھی ری-شیڈول کروانے ہیں۔ پچھلے دنوں پاکستان کے محکمہ نسواریات کا منسٹر پختون خان ، وہائٹ ہاؤس آیا تھا تو 10 لاکھ روپے کا ڈونیشن تو صرف یہاں چلنے والے ایک منشیات کے ادارے کو دے گیا تھا۔ تاکہ ہماری نوجوان نسل کو زیادہ سے زیادہ منشیات باآسانی مہیا ہوسکیں۔ جوزف : اچھا تمھیں یاد ہے ہمارا پرائمری سکول کا کلاس فیلو 'پیٹر' ۔ وہ بھی تو کہیں پاکستان میں سیٹ ہے۔ مارک : ہاں۔ وہ کوئٹہ کے قریب ایک وادی ' پوستان' میں سیٹ ہے۔ سنا ہے پوسٹ کے کھیت سے پوست اکٹھی کرنے کا کام ہے اسکا۔ ایک ہی سیزن میں اتنا کما لیتا ہے کہ باقی 6 ماہ بیٹھ کر کھاتا رہتا ہے۔ عیش ہے اسکی تو۔ جوزف : یار میں بھی پاکستانی ویزہ کے لیے اپلائی کرنا چاہتا ہوں۔ مجھے کچھ انسٹرکشن تو دو ؟مارک : پاکستانی ایمبیسی میں ہمیشہ شلوار قمیض پہن کر جانا۔ وہ لوگ اپنے قومی لباس کو بہت اہمیت دیتے ہیں۔ اور کوشش کرنا کہ ویزہ کی درخواست انگریزی کی بجائے اردو میں پُر کرنا۔ اس سے بھی اچھا تاثر ملے گا۔ اور ایمبیسی میں داخل ہوتے ہی 'السلام علیکم ۔ جناب کیا حال ہے ؟' کہنا مت بھولنا۔ اس سے پتہ چلے گا کہ آپ کتنے مہذب ہو۔ جوزف : تھینک یو یار۔ مارک : تھینک یو نہیں شکریہ ۔ اب میں پاکستانی ویزہ ہولڈر ہوں۔ مجھے شکریہ کہنے میں فخر ہے ۔ خدا حافظ ۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔ کہیے دوستو ! کیسا لگا 3009 کا پاکستان ؟

“LOUD & CLEAR from Islamabad” Episode 01

2009-04-22T15:26:00.002+06:00

Ahmed Quraishi discusses the CIA backed game in Balochistan, Swat peace deal, the recent aid promised to Pakistan and the conditions attached to it - with strategic defence analyst Zaid Hamid. Please visit: http://www.pakistankakhudahafiz.com/

You Know I am Actor???

2009-01-06T15:06:00.009+05:00

Its me again :)

2008-06-30T17:06:00.001+06:00

During WHO-TOT Workshop Participant's Trip at Murree, Ayubia and other hill view places, participants, Waqas and me................

Images captured during Muree/Ayubia Trip

2008-06-30T16:54:00.001+06:00

Salute to a WONDERFUL student who did a great JOB!

2008-06-24T16:26:00.000+06:00

Mr. Samad Khurram, a student of a private school in Islamabad refused to accept his an award of academic excellence from the American Ambassador Anne W. Patterson. The academic excellence award was being given to him for his admission to Harvard, a world distinction in thinking skills, a regional distinction in chemistry and 7 A grades in A level. The student said that he did so because of the United States attacks on the tribal regions of Pakistan in which innocent children and the people are dying, and the US continuous support for the dictator Pervez Musharraf.

The face of Anne W. Patterson turned red and for 5 long seconds she stood there motionless with shame and anger. When the student was called to receive the certificate on the stage from the US ambassador, he just passed her and went to dice and cited the reason. As he passed the American ambassador, the principal also became flabbergasted, she tried to take hold of the student by the sleeve, but he moved on, while the American diplomat watched in horror and embarrassment.

The video could be seen on cited below youtube link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUR1YUwisrI&feature=related

Most Emailed & Viewed Pictures on Yahoo Photos!

2008-06-10T14:08:00.000+06:00

HIV/AIDS & Our Religious Conviction

2008-05-30T12:43:00.003+05:00

This is a recurring fact that every country in the world has been affected by HIV/AIDS epidemic, including Muslim countries as well as Pakistan. However, the intensity of this epidemic is not much severe in Muslim countries except some African states, but this should not be taken for granted. The situation can grow worse. The UNAIDS estimates are that since the start of the global HIV/AIDS pandemic, around 29.4 million people have already been infected with it. HIV/AIDS infections are being reported in every country day-by-day. According to the National AIDS Control Programme, there are 4,000 registered HIV/AIDS cases in Pakistan but that more accurate estimates show that total cases are around 80,000, with 15,000 cases occurring among women. HIV/AIDS spreads mainly through sexual relations with an infected person. The virus is also transmitted through the sharing of needles by intravenous drug users. Therefore, HIV/AIDS can affect anyone who engages in such kinds of activities, and religion can only play the role of a resistor.We are talking about misconceptions, which keep us away to talk about the reproductive health and sexual issues with each other. Parental care does not include brain streaming of the youth about their sexual health issues before they can get affected by them. Islam as a religion of nature advocates removing misconceptions, but our social structure does not allow us to discuss sexual issues because Pakistan is a conservative society. Our society influences all elements of our life such as politics, legislation, customs, beliefs and attitudes. Strict social and cultural norms of our society inhibit discussion on sexual behaviour not only at public forums but also among family members. Human life is highly valued in Islam, it is considered a gift from Allah. As per the Islamic view, Muslims are not supposed to think that it is their life with which they can do whatever they want. Instead, individuals have been entrusted with life by Allah. We are supposed to look after life and not abuse it. A healthy body is a gift from Allah, we are the trustees, and therefore we have no right to misuse and abuse it.Our Holy Prophet (PBUH) has stressed the importance of health on many occasions. He once said to his companion, "O' Abbas, ask Allah for health in this world and in the next" (Al-Nasa`i). "No supplication is more pleasing to Allah than a request for good health" (Tirmidhi). The Prophet Dawud (PBUH) also said, "Health is a hidden kingdom." Our bodies are trust from Allah that must be returned one day and we will be asked how we looked after it. Therefore, we should avoid any act which will harm our physical or spiritual health.Discussing HIV and AIDS would involve discussing sexual and intimate matters. Islam has always encouraged discussions on matters which help us protect our health and life. The Holy Prophet (PBUH) has said, "Blessed are the women of the Ansar (citizens of Madina), shyness did not stand in their way for seeking knowledge about their religion" (Bukhari and Muslim). The Holy Quran and hadith have repeatedly stressed the importance of getting knowledge. "Are those who know equal with those who know not?" (Quran 39:9, Pickthall). It is through knowledge that we can achieve closeness to Allah, marvel at his creative work, and appreciate the divine rules of conduct given in the Holy Quran and practiced by the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and his companions. We should not feel embarrassed or shy when discussing or reading about HIV/AIDS.Islam is a religion that is very close to human nature. It advocates and encourages marriage, so that through marriage sexual desires can be fulfilled. However, marriage is not only a pure life way, but pure and strong foundations for the continuation of the chain of human beings. Like other heavenly religions, Islam provides us with a moral code for having sexual relations. Islam also prohibits the use of substances, which may impair senses. Therefore, the use of narcotics such as heroin and alcohol is strictly prohibited. Islam means the submission or surrender of one's will to Allah, and therefore it follows that a Muslim should not be involved in any act that is prohibited by Islam. Accurate information about HIV and AIDS will help control the spread of the disease in our communities. It will also reduce the fear and discrimination against people who become HIV positive. Information will also help us challenge any myths surrounding the disease. There is a need to accept reality and develop HIV and AIDS educational programmes for all our communities. These programmes must emphasise Islamic moral values and should also inform people about methods of protection from this life-threatening illness.

The writer is associated with development sector

This artical has been published on cited below news papers and news portals

http://thepost.com.pk/Previuos.aspx?dtlid=161577&src=Mansoor%20Qaisar&date=17/05/2008

http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?200479

http://pakobserver.net/200805/18/Articles04.asp

http://news.pakistanway.com/letter_to_editor.aspx?optionid=511

Pakistan's Junoon light up Kashmir

2008-05-28T09:26:00.001+05:00

People had waited anxiously........

Kashmir has never seen a music event like it........

Junoon, a Sufi pop band, is the first international group to perform in the conflict-torn Kashmir for the past two decades.

How to remeber your wife's birthday?

2008-03-19T13:44:00.000+05:00

The best way to remember your wife's birthday is to forget it once ;) :)