Military Action Begins in Afghanistan

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59443-2001Oct14.html

I hope Powell and the US realise how urgent it is that they either put down ground troops(signalling that they are willing to lose lives in this cause not just take lives) or bring this campaign to culmination really FAST.

Calls for nationwide strike in support of Talibans and OB were partly observed in Karachi and other big cities of Pakistan. In my area, Gas stations, shops, and offices were open...

Yesterday, JI organized a large `JALSA` in Nishter Park... Qazi spewed venom against US and praised OB and Talibans for their brave, heroic efforts... He is such a hypocrite! He called for complete shutdown of businesses etc. to show solidarity with OB and Talibans... However, his dream of mass mobilization of ordinary Pakistanis in support of Taliban/OB has failed to materialize.

Despite having mild to strong Anti-US sentiments, why are ordinary Pakistanis not interested in JUI and JI calls?

Layman:

India`s border and LOC with crapistan must be fenced right away.

We have a border and an LOC with Bihar??!!???

Faiz #163 (chowkies, sorry but I have to cross-post this response due to Faiz`s cross posting of his message)

So, according to you, PM should have sided with the taliban. If you are a muslim, you would have read AND UNDERSTOOD the clear message in the Quran. You would then have known that the taliban have in fact violated the fundamentals of Islam and therefore will have a lot to answer for on the Judgement Day. Their long beards will not impress Allah at all. And you threaten PM with OBL`s suicide committing kafirs (suicide is clearly declared to be haram in the Quran, as you would know if you were a muslim).

All patriotic Pakistanis stand united behind PM today. The mullahs hijacked Islam, they hijacked Afghanistan, they failed to hijack Pakistan. The only way PM will let Pakistan down is if he does not put and end to the evil of mullahism and the mockery of state institutions that they have made.

ali1:

(“I DONT WANT ANY MORE AFGHANS IN MY PAKISTAN. PAKISTAN`S BORDER WITH AFGHANISTAN MUST BE FENCED RIGHT AWAY”)``

I dont want any more Pakis/Afghans in my India. India`s border and LOC with crapistan must be fenced right away.

It`s just amazing to observe the congenital incapacity of American war strategists -- to function -- without messing up every credible initiative of their war effort -- and without getting bogged down in the end -- every time.

The strategic stupidity is again on display in Afghanistan.

The Americans are again messing up their campaign in Afghanistan as they did in Vietnam – in the name of “nation building” – ( one thought that was only Clinton’s paranoia).

Instead of attacking the civilians in Afghanistan and then apologizing for the lethal `` coordinate mistakes`` -- Mr. Bush should be attacking the front line Talibani troops who are sitting tight in their tanks on the mountains between the Northern Alliance and Kabul -- in and around Mazare-Sharif -- and in and around Herat.

WITHOUT eliminating the Talibani army -- Mr. Bush can NEVER reach bin Laden and his Al Qaeda gang – because Talibani troops Are his gang.

All this fury against population centers like Kandhar, Kabul and Jalalabad is getting nothing but civilian casualties and in turn -- world condemnation -- which is increasing by every extra day we spend in Afghanistan.

How many times we have to bomb the same rubble? Everything has been and is being bombarded repeatedly in Kabul and Kandhar -- EXCEPT the 40,000 Talibani field troops lounging in broad day light all over Afghanistan.

When are these gentlemen going to receive “their treats from the sky”.

It would appear that right now the SAFEST HAVEN for that one-eyed Cyclop Mulla Omar -- and his crummy monster son-in-law, bin Laden -- is not a CAVE in Afghanistan -- but a Talibani TANK – parked leisurely on the mountains in front of the Northern Alliance troops.

The Talibani troops are waiting in the sun for the shoes to fall -- except that no American shoes will be falling on them any time soon – because it will hurt the “sensitivities” of failed two-faced diplomats like -- Mr. Sattar.

Mr. Sattar NOW wants a “balanced” government in Kabul -- the same kind of “balanced” government of religious thugs that his country had IMPOSED on Afghans for the past several years.

It’s imperative for Mr. Bush to avoid like plague -- the likes of Mr. Sattar – and go on with the business of eliminating Talibans and their bin Ladens as soon as possible – then hand over Afghanistan to UN trusteeship – and get out FAST from the perennial quagmire -- which Afghanistan has been since time immemorial.

Let the “nation building” be done by the UN – not US.

Parvez Musharraf ghaddar hai. He has made Pakistan into a cheap prostitute. For a few dollars more (because there was not much left in the treasury after BB and NS had their way with the country) he has sold the iman of Pakistan and has for4ced namakharami on all of us. do you think the Afghans are ever going to forget this betreyal?

PM must be next on the hit list of OBL.

Well done PM. You have done more damage to the psyche of Pakistan than all the depots before you put togather. Your foreign policy has only one point on the agenda ``Kashmir``, which the Indians do not give a damn!. PM told India to ``lay off``, then called Vajpai to say ``I`m sorry``, but Vajpai did not budge. An Indian Army crackdown has been ordered in Kashmir and the troops are excercizing on the border. Pakistani military is ordered to prioritize the internal threats over Indian aggression in Kashmir. That plan has a serious chance of back firing. Half of Pakistani army is sympethetic to the Afghanistan and Taleban. So, true to his form, PM has asked washington to help him out of nthis sticy situation. Powell is due to visit, but does any body doubt that his trip is going to prove total loss. Good bye Pakistan. It was nice to have seen you on the world map for 50 odd years. You have the privilege of being first quasi democratic nation to be squandered away by inept governments and army generals.

Banjaara / SameerJB:

Thanks for the clarification. Yes, the editor of Dawn at the time of Independence was Altaf Husain, a Sylheti, who was invited by Jinnah to become editor. He served as editor right upto the early 60s, and then in a remarkable turn-around, from being a proponent of democracy, became a Minister in Ayub`s government.

BTW, I know that the Unionist government was ruling in Punjab till 1946 with an alliance of the Congress. What was the extent of popular support though? Also, if the ideological foundation of Pakistan came mainly from Indian Muslims (United Provinces, Bihar and to an extent Bengal) what was the interest of the Muslim elite of Muslim majority provinces to buy into Pakistan? Didn`t they see a threat in future power sharing, as well as the erosion of their culture, language etc?

I only ask these questions from an acadamic point of view, and not to put forth any doubt on the identity of the Pakistani nation state today.

Musharraf a threat to Pakistan?

``In Karachi, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, president of Jamaat-e-Islami, the country`s largest religious party, addressed a rally of 12,000 Sunday and called on Pakistan`s generals to topple Musharraf like he ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif two years ago.

``Musharraf has become a threat to the country,`` Ahmed said. If Musharraf is not removed within a week, he vowed, ``millions of people will march toward Islamabad to kick him out.````(NYT)

Fuzair #155:

[Tariq Ali, the last of the red hot Trotskyites, is the son of the founder of Progressive Papers Limited, Mian Iftikharuddin, which used to own the Pakistan Times, among others. ]

I think Mian Iftikharuddin`s famous son was Mian Arif Iftikhar (and not Tariq Ali) who rose to many prominent positions in federal bureaucracy durign seventies. He was killed in a car accident. Tariq Ali is the son of Mazhar Ali Khan and Tahira. Tahira was his cousin and daughter of Sir Sikander Hayat, the unionist premier of Punjab.

RETURN OF THE GOOD OLD TIMES,

The following is a message from Ramair, raman iyer, the last hindu general of the pak army.

When the americans set foot in the holy land of pakistan, the land of the pure, we in the military know that days paved with green bits of papaer is not far away. I remeber the days, when Powell took off from qretta irpot, and was shot down over ussia, we made a lot of money. Now it is happening again, and who cares where they are going and what they are doing, may be they are bombing russia. Colin Powell, was he not the same chappie who got shot down in U2, may be some other powell, as long as we get the money.

Our troops are very good, they did a great job in bangladesh, controlloing the people, pak army is ferocious to the locals, papaer tiger to the enemy. Again we have a chance to blast the locals to support the americans.

We are the first complete military dedicated for a single cause, sorry we are second, after the panamanian one.``

Stuka #150: Sorry for describing Mazhar Ali Khan as founder of Dawn. Actually he served as editor and columnist for a long time. Yes, Sikander Hayat Khan of Unionist Party.

Here is a summary of Sir Sikander Hayat`s family, just to add to your information.

[

Born in 1892, Sikander was by the early 1920s making a mark on local administration, and had established strong links with the Unionist Party, founded in 1920. The party, essentially a coalition between Hindu farmers in the eastern Punjab and feudal Muslim landlords in the west, attempted to represent both peasants and land owners. It strongly opposed any division of the Punjab, and dominated the province for its first two decades of limited democracy under the British.

Sikander Hyat, appointed a Revenue Member of the Punjab Government in 1929, became the Deputy Governor of the State Bank of India in 1935. In 1936, he succeeded Sir Fazle Husain as the leader of the Unionist Party. The party swept the first election to the Punjab Legislative Assembly in 1937, and Sikander Hyat became the premier of the Punjab - a post he held until his death due to a sudden heart attack in 1942. He was aged 49, and had barely a day earlier organized the last of the marriage functions of three of his ten children, who were wed on successive dates.

Sikander Hyat had acted for some months as Governor of the Punjab in 1932, while the British Governor was on leave, becoming the first Indian to hold the post. He served in a similar capacity again in 1934. Sikander Hyat, who had also served in the military, received a series of titles and awards from the British, and was knighted in 1933.

But Sir Sikander`s main political contribution revolves around the strong Unionist Party opposition to a divided Punjab - a political philosophy that is still poorly understood - and his innovative legislation during his tenure as premier. This included a number of taxation measures, which met initially with fierce hostility. Other measures proved more successful. They included a waiving of debts owed by Muslims to moneylenders and the collection of a one-paisa tax from all Muslims to renovate the then deteriorating Badshahi Masjid. Sikander Hyat is buried within the compound of the mosque as a tribute to his efforts to save it from ruin.

Sikander Hyat`s elder brother, Liaquat Hyat, served as the premier of the then princely state of Patiala in East Punjab till shortly before Partition, at a time when the state was at the height of its colourful glory. The rest of the family remained well represented in government departments. In a curious twist of fate, some of its members found themselves pitted directly against each other. Mazhar Ali Khan and Mahmud Ali Khan, the sons of Sikander Hyat`s paternal cousin, emerged as pro-Independence student leaders in the late 1930s, as the struggle to end imperial rule began in earnest. At one point, to the fury of their mother, also a close relative, Sikander Hyat found himself forced to order the arrest of his young nephews.

In yet another ironic turn of events, Mazhar was later to wed one of Sikander`s daughters, Tahira. The couple continued to play a role in leftist political activism after Partition, with Mazhar, who died in 1993, becoming a leading editor and columnist. ]

Stuka # 150

Tariq Ali`s father Mazhar Ali Khan was the founder of Pakistan Times,Lahore.

Regards.

http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/oct2001-daily/14-10-2001/main/main3.htm

Musharraf among patrons of Rabita Trust: US

By Amir Mateen

WASHINGTON: US authorities say President Pervez Musharraf was one of the patrons of Rabita Trust, a charity organisation whose assets have been frozen by the US because of its links with Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda organisation.

US officials said on Friday they had warned Musharraf of the impending order against the Rabita Trust and encouraged him to disassociate himself from what they described as its founder`s links to Al Qaeda.

The new list of 39 individuals and groups, which adds to 27 identified in a White House executive order last month, also named Jaish-i-Mohammad and four Pakistani individuals. The Rabita Trust has helped resettle refugees from Bangladesh to Pakistan for three decades. It had President Musharraf, among many other prominent Pakistani philanthropists, on its board. The main charge against the Rabita is that its secretary-general, Wael Hamza Jalaidan, was allegedly an original founder of Al Qaeda along with Osama bin Laden.

Some of the names enlisted by US authorities - including those of bakeries and corner honey shops -- may have raised some doubts about its credibility. Nevertheless, the naming of a havala dealer, Haji Abdul Mannan confirms about the impending crackdown on hawala and hundi dealers all over the world, particularly in Pakistan. US authorities are investigating if Al Qaeda used hundi system for their transactions.

Besides, Mufti Rashid of Al Rashid Trust, there are the names of Mohammad Zia and Dr Amin al Haq, described as an Afghan-born doctor practicing in Pakistan. He is believed to be security coordinator for Osama. The diplomatic sensitivity of Musharraf`s relation to the Rabita Trust was evident in the State Department`s handling of news inquiries about his role. A report in The New York Time said US officials initially drafted a standard response noting Musharraf`s involvement and making clear he was a well-respected figure with no knowledge of what it called al Qaeda`s `infiltration` of the trust. But later dropped any reference to Musharraf from its prepared response.

A State Department official said the Rabita Trust is ``a highly regarded Islamic trust with several prominent board members``. ``Our feeling is that Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda deliberately infiltrated the Rabita Trust and corrupted a reputable organization,`` the official said and added: ``We don`t think the prominent people who have their names on it were aware of the infiltration.``

It acknowledges that Rabita Trust is affiliated with a Pan Islamic organisation Rabita Alam-e-Islami, which is known in different countries with different names. In Pakistan, they have links with Jamaat-i-Islami. US authorities claim it has a multibillion-dollar budget financed by many wealthy Saudis.

Many Muslims scholars have protested over the accusation. Mustafa Alani, a British expert on Islamic groups, expressed shock that the US government listed the Rabita Trust, given its ties to a revered, decades-old charity. ``I am surprised, to say the least,`` he told The Times. ``This could turn into a witch hunt. This will make many Islamic foundations very nervous,`` he added.

The Treasury Department said the Rabita Trust`s secretary-general is Wa`el Hamza Jalaidan, whom it described as ``logistics chief`` and co-founder of Bin Laden`s organisation. Jalaidan lived in Arizona in the early 1980s and headed an Islamic centre there before joining Bin Laden in the fight against the Soviets in Afghanistan, terrorism expert Emerson said.

The list also names some of the biggest names in Saudi Royal family and may affect the US relations with Riyadh. It names Yasin al-Qadi, a Saudi businessman who has run a foundation with trustees that have included some of the kingdom`s most prominent families.

The Washington Post points out that the new list puts increased pressure on both Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, two countries whose help the United States has solicited in its war against terrorism. Today`s list, says the report, ups the ante by naming individuals and groups tied to countries considered vital in the alliance against terrorism.

Tariq Ali, the last of the red hot Trotskyites, is the son of the founder of Progressive Papers Limited, Mian Iftikharuddin, which used to own the Pakistan Times, among others. PPL was nationalized by the Ayub govt for being critical of the Martial Law regime and vaguely socialist. Tariq Ali considers himself to be one of the last of the true intellectuals left in the world and is perhaps the last believer (other than Bin Laden, but thats a different type of revolution) in world revolution as a cure to all social ills.

It was in this mode that Tariq Ali helped launch, he was one of the leaders, the student movement of 1968 that culminated in massive rioting in most of Western Europe. Since then Tariq Ali, who should have spent a few years in prison for all his work (incitement to commit murder, riot, grievious bodily harm, destruction of property, etc etc etc) has stuck to writing fawning books on Nehru, venomous diatribes on Pakistan, really bad books on Turkey and regular columns for various Lefty magazines. After reading some of his stuff, both on the West and Pakistan, I`ve come to the conclusion that he really needs to be medicated to help him get a better grip on reality. Its one of the great ironies of life that people like him are allowed to rail against the Western society that protects them and allows them to flourish since everyone knows that if someone like Ali ever came to power, people critical of him would be the first in the `reducation` camps.

Tariq Ali, the last of the red hot Trotskyites, is the son of the founder of Progressive Papers Limited, Mian Iftikharuddin, which used to own the Pakistan Times, among others. PPL was nationalized by the Ayub govt for being critical of the Martial Law regime and vaguely socialist. Tariq Ali considers himself to be one of the last of the true intellectuals left in the world and is perhaps the last believer (other than Bin Laden, but thats a different type of revolution) in world revolution as a cure to all social ills.

It was in this mode that Tariq Ali helped launch, he was one of the leaders, the student movement of 1968 that culminated in massive rioting in most of Western Europe. Since then Tariq Ali, who should have spent a few years in prison for all his work (incitement to commit murder, riot, grievious bodily harm, destruction of property, etc etc etc) has stuck to writing fawning books on Nehru, venomous diatribes on Pakistan, and really bad books on Turkey. After reading some of his stuff, both on the West and Pakistan, I`ve come to the conclusion that he really needs to be medicated to help him get a better grip on reality. Its one of the great ironies of life that people like him are allowed to rail against the Western society that protects them and allows them to flourish since everyone knows that if someone like Ali ever came to power, people critical of him would be the first in the `reducation` camps.