Of Errant Politicians And The Kashmir Cause

Speaking of politicians with some bold intiatives, the only one I can think of would be of the following scenario:

A leader in Pakistan/India has terminal illness.

It means neither one gives a rats-a$s for opinion.

Both India/Pakistan need a common enemy. Perhaps it could be Al-Queida or Al-anything. We need

al-compassion.

Lately, I noticed Jang reporting casualties in Kashmir as `civilians and ``rebels```. Dawn is reporting `civilians and ``freedom-fighters`` `;

Only nation is reporting `civilians and ``mujaheed``

Anyway, all of them were at one time reporting

them as ``mujaheed``. So, it is getting better.

The real purpose of sending emmisaries rto the four points was not to explain Pakistani policy or high light the ``Kashmir cause`` - The purpose was to elict feedback, to gauge rewards/punishment, of elements of a restructuring, reorientation, of both Pakistan policy towards Kashmir and India and to gauge the level of support Pakistan can expect for initiating a process of dialogue wih India.

Two penny politicians? They did not steal as much as BB and NS? they did not make of Pakistan their property, their booty, which they disburse to their supporters? They all did, they all would - that`s what works in Pakistan - that`s what works in all places where exists neither Iman nor omeed. May Allah keep Mr. Musharraf safe, may He deliver him from the enemies of Pakistan, May He allow Mr. Musharraf to complete the restructuring of the Pakistani State and Economy.

mailk:

[...A Sadat/Gorbachev type figure is needed...]

---also, you might as well have added, one well un-read;)...

[...the costly Kashmir Tamasha has gone on for too long; it doesn’t need promotion or demotion but a complete retirement...]

---ouch!...such precision...

[...Musharaff is a well intentioned chap (so was BB)...]

---leaving the merits of the statement aside for a moment...CHAP?...you know something the world doesn`t;)...

rgds,

t

Thanks Shahnawaz for a beautifully written, truthful and entertaining essay. Hope to see more of your writings. You are the second impressive Khar, the author of Girl Friday column on TFT, Aamina Haq is the other one.

So this feudal brat has the gall to talk about ``errant politicians``. Shahnawaz, can you say ``Ghulam Mustafa Khar``??

Dude, go back to your fiefdom and enjoy life there. (Your kammi women are waiting for chota Malik to return, with their legs wide open). Quit worrying about Pakistan, its none of your business.

This writing certainly has its high points.

``so Mr. Musharraf what are you waiting for?``

Orders my dear chap. Orders!

Ras

Asleep at The Wheel?

As India and neighbor Pakistan put up their nukes, is an ailing and frail Vajpayee the right man to have his finger on the button?

BY ALEX PERRY NEW DELHI

http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/article/0,13673,501020617-260747,00.html

and

TIME talks with Krishna Lal Advani, India`s Home Minister and the man tipped by many as the hardline hand behind Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee:


Nearly 200 policemen died, so I do not think there was any complicity from them. And as for [hardline Hindu nationalist Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra] Modi, if there was any evidence of his complicity or being inactive, he would have been punished. He himself offered to resign, and we all said: Why?

http://www.time.com/time/asia/news/interview/0,9754,260779,00.html

Journalists unhappy with Time magazine article on PM

Shahid K Abbas in New Delhi

Taking strong exception to the report, Vinod Sharma, chief of the political bureau at the Hindustan Times, said, ``It is an insult to the people of India. Healthy or unhealthy, Vajpayee is our prime minister. If the magazine cannot substantiate the questions it has raised, it should tender an unqualified apology and in future refrain from dabbling in such kind of speculative articles.``


However, Rahul Bedi of the UK-based Daily Telegraph said, ``It is not saying anything that is untrue. Most of it was common knowledge and Time magazine only published it.``

Meanwhile, Perry is unapologetic and attributes his sources to `somebody very close to the prime minister`.

``The report speaks for itself and there is no need for me to make any further comment,`` he said.

``I stand by my report,`` he told rediff.com

http://www.rediff.com/news/2002/jun/18pm.htm

ali

Can you actually help being a jerk off or is this something out of your control completely?

Re: Hobbyty

``...May Allah keep Mr. Musharraf safe, may He deliver him from the enemies of Pakistan, May He allow Mr. Musharraf to complete the restructuring of the Pakistani State and Economy...``

And nary a word for the well-being of ordinary people in Pakistan? Musharraf will be OK -- he will retire with a pension. What about the ordinary person?

chap???????

``but Musharaff’s entire sex appeal lies in his booting the politicians and mullahs. The public presently feels cuckolded by his courting the politicians; letting the Mullahs walk after a few days behind bars..``----not quite my simple minded man. his appeal lay in the people`s exasperation with the system and their faith in his ability to deliver. The common man on the street doesnt really care about Kashmir, mullas, politicians, as long as they can make an honest living, feed their kids and themselves three times a day...it all goes to the basics. btw what does daddy have to say about your writing? just curious.

``A Sadat/Gorbachev type figure is needed and it doesn’t matter whether he/she comes from India or Pakistan...``--- Sadat/Gorbachev? you`re kidding right? either you have access to some very strange brand of history or you`re regurgitating something you overheard on the idiot box, but the two had nothing in common. Gorby may have attempted reform but he fell very flat in terms of delivering to the people - he may be the darling in the West and the US university lecture circuit...but...please go back to the books and read some Russian analysis on Gorby. He was no Sadat by a long shot.

``In politics being good is not necessarily good enough; especially when the entire citadel of goodness...``----experience speaketh young scion of punjabi politics?

``Presently the world community is ready to look the other way if a few fanatical rodents are fumigated...`` ---few? o wow. this gets better than an ISI analysis!!!! they are far from few and if anyone has any pretensions that sub kuch theek ho jaye ga...they better think again. they are neither few nor are they rodents. I`m no fundo-lover but one has to give them their due...they are better organized, highly motivated, and very smart individuals to be counted among these ``rodents``; and they know how to execute (no pun intended). While we chill and surf the net and read (and reply to ppl like Mr. Khar), these guys are out there getting their fresh harvest of recruits from the madrassas, training them and sending them to battle. Mark my words ladies and gentlemen things will get a lot worse before they get better. Welcome to Algreia-style Pakistan for a decade to come!

MS Khar, you have many good points. however, it is too late to plead to musharaf or to pray to god for seeing musharaf`s `reforms` through.

dime-a-dozen Generals of Pakistan have proved yet again that they are only capable of hoarding the wealth of the country and hallucinating people with kashmir and thus spurring on a sort of `military-industrial` complex......sorry- i meant `military-feudal` complex with which the feudals along with the dime-a-dozen generals can call all the shots.

all these faujis pissing around in every state institution from WAPDA to sports boards, look very disgusting. even maulvis like fazlur rahman are not as filthy.

ummm...forget my problems with this article, I`m more curious to know why Ali feels he needs to refer to women spreading their legs rather than giving some constructive criticism as to what is wrong with Khar`s article. If this is the only level you`re able to respond at Ali baba, then what pray tell makes you better than Khar?

http://www.theglobalist.com/nor/richter/2002/06-13-02.shtml

Globalist

http://www.theglobalist.com/nor/readlips/2002/04-30-02.shtml

``Handpicked politicians of a politically impotent denomination are flying away

towards foreign skies to promote the Kashmir cause in the world--------Leghari,

Ferrari..``

Are Leghari & Ferrari italians hired as counterweight to Sonia Gandhi?

re: rozaiba # 12

Let us be a bit charitable to individuals, even if they are power-grabbing generals.

Individuals, even incompetent and misguided ones, play only limited roles. For, each institution/system of governance has its set of peculiar/inherent weaknesses that are hard to set right. The infirmities of a military-dominated polity are all too visible in Pakistan. We in India are stuck with ``democratic`` problems - goonda raaj, rampant corruption, crooked religionism, casteism, nepotism, violence, slow growth, and sheer incompetence all around.

I sympathize with Musharraf now. His own militant game has overwhelmed him. Let us hope he is not completely washed off by the forces he nourished. There is a lot to be concerned about in both India and Pakistan. In Pakistan, I am more concerned now by the possibility a semblance of power passing into the hands of incompetent political lackey of the military, like Imran Khan. Democracy, a system bad enough even in the best of times, will get a further bad name then. Well, we will see that too.

Claude Arpi

Homelands in Pakistan

One form of relaxation for me is watching sports programmes on television. On the same sports channel, Pakistan TV beams its daily news and very often I watch it for a short time. The music programmes and the serials, I must say, are not very different from Hindi serials aired on the Sahara channel. If a test were conducted and any foreigner asked which of the two countries a particular programme belonged to, very few would guess right.



The same holds true for the ads. This is no doubt normal for two nations which share 5,000 years (minus 50) of history.

But one thing is radically different and nobody can miss it: the news.

Whatever relaxation I may have enjoyed on the sports channel quickly fades away when I hear (and see) the systematic and constant anti-India propaganda. It seems that this nation (or at least its government) has had for the past 50 years only one obsession: India.

Within this obsession, there is another: Kashmir. You cannot watch a single news bulletin or debate without hearing about the `excesses of the Indian security forces` on the people of Kashmir `struggling for their self-determination`, though it is usually the same footage of security forces facing a mob during one of the Srinagar bandhs shown again and again.

Now, a new topic has recently appeared on PTV: the regrettable riots in Gujarat, which followed the Godhra incident. Since Gujarat saw an outburst of violence, PTV News seems full of delectation. The tone is, `did we not tell you that they would do this?` It is so excessive that it makes one feel Pakistan may not be fully innocent of the incident.

It is not only television but also other media who are enjoying this new occasion for India-bashing. For example, a Pakistani news Web site, Paknews.com, wrote an article titled Thank God we have Pakistan last month.

Not only did they declare that ``genocide against minorities is nothing new in India or in Indian-occupied areas``, but went one step further and announced a partition of India. For the purpose they quote some US media: ``This has led to vocal calls from Information Times, an American Media in Washington DC for the breakup of India into smaller countries where minorities are in the government and are able to protect their rights. This idea of partition has again come up after 55 years because the underlying argument of `Two-Nation Theory`, which was basis of creation of Pakistan, a home and safe haven for Muslims is once again valid and applicable on India. However, this time around, rather than creation of disparity in countries, India is eight times bigger than Pakistan, creation of smaller countries of equal area and resources should be carved out of India.

``In Pakistan as well as overseas, every Pakistani is praying for safety of fellow Muslims in India, and is thinking, `Thank God we have Pakistan`, `Thank God for the farsightedness of Iqbal and Jinnah for creating our homeland`.``

While it is not certain that all Pakistanis are praying for the breakup of India, this article raises a very interesting point: is it not Pakistan which is on the brink of breaking up?

Recently, Fortune magazine published a long article entitled `Kidnapped Nation` by Richard Behar, which is an in-depth look into the catastrophic economic situation in Pakistan. There is no doubt that Pakistan is close to an economic collapse.

Behar was told in Quetta by one of the leaders of the jihadi outfit Sipah-e-Sahaba: ``Sept 11 was all the fault of Jews, God will destroy Bush.`` He also blamed Musharraf for the Taliban`s defeat and happily provided Fortune details about the cash, supplies and soldiers Sipah had slipped across the porous border to aid the Taliban.

Behar analysed: ``Pearl`s death and the mid-March bombing of a Protestant church in Islamabad are only the most visible signs of a dysfunctional nation -- call it Problemistan -- a country that professes to be an ally of the US in its war on terrorism, but probably harbors more terrorists than any place on earth.``

This is only one of the many journalists who have begun to see that the best ally of the US in the region is in fact the largest nest of world terrorism and that Musharraf, despite all his declarations to the contrary, cannot do anything even if he wanted to (and it is not certain at all that he wants to).

Another example of the country`s bankruptcy is Musharraf`s dramatic speech on January 12 when he announced that jihadi groups would no longer be able to operate from Pakistani soil. To give his American mentors proof of his good faith, he arrested 2,000 militants (out of a few millions). Most of them are now free.

It appears that when the Lahore high court directed the Punjab government to furnish details of the records of cases against those who were picked up, the government was unable to substantiate the cases. For example, the leader of the banned Lashkar-e-Tayiba, Prof Hafeez Mohammad Saeed, who had been detained under the Maintenance of Public Order on charges of making inflammatory speeches, has been released as the MPO empowers the government to detain a person for only 90 days.

But more serious problems are in stock for Musharraf; he may pray for India`s breakup, but there are today strong possibilities that it may happen to Pakistan.

First, he has no control over very large regions of his territory, one of the worse being the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. A few of weeks ago, a news item reported the arrest of Osama bin Laden`s senior aide Abu Zubaydah in Faislabad. It appears that the US intelligence agencies had arrested some Pakistanis in Kabul, who tipped off the Americans about bin Laden`s aide.

Another story surfaced a couple of days later: bin Laden himself had been staying in the same house a day or so earlier and had just left (probably informed by one of his contacts in the ISI) when the combined raid by the Pakistani security forces and the Federal Bureau of Investigation flew down to Faislabad. One can imagine the situation in the border areas renowned for their porousness if bin Laden could hide in the heart of the Punjab! (By the way, Musharraf had been announcing for months that bin Laden was dead, but this time he did not comment.)

The district known as the Federally Administrated Tribal Agencies has had a long history of lawlessness. It dates even before the 19th century when the British were the masters of the subcontinent ... except for a piece of land: the land of the Pushtoons (or Pathans). But the empire was always resourceful: a senior British diplomat, Sir Mortimer Durand, was requested to divide this land into two. He did so with a pen and the Pushtoons found themselves in two different countries: Afghanistan and British India. But to this day, the Pushtoon tribes on both sides of Durand`s border do not accept the existence of this stroke of his pen. It is even said that the bonds of tribe and ethnicity amongst the Pushtoons are more important than their Islamic faith.

The division did not help the British much and they had no option but to grant autonomy to these areas. It did not deter the population from dreaming of a reunification of the Pushtoon land. In the first years after the independence of Pakistan, the Government of Afghanistan took up the matter with Pakistan through Washington, which first was in two minds about the validity of the Durand Line. But the US administration knew that if Kabul`s claims were accepted, it would be the end of Pakistan as a state; it was not in their strategic interests to do so.

Apart from the fact that Musharraf has very little control over the area, the return of King Zahir Shah in Kabul leaves very little doubt that the issue of Pushtoonistan will resurface. The struggle between the Northern Alliance mainly composed of Uzbeks and Tajiks (like Ahmed Shah Masoud) against the Pathan regimes in Kabul is also to be seen in this perspective. It was certainly one of the reasons why Islamabad had to `control` Kabul`s regime and why the ISI with the help of the CIA installed the Taliban.

After `Problemistan` and `Pushtoonistan`, the other headache for the Pakistani general is `Sindhistan`. Though a few days ago the Mohajir leader Altaf Hussain said he was `neutral` about the referendum proposed by Musharraf, he has not always been neutral and the separatist tendencies of Sindh are very much present today.

In September last year, Hussain delivered a fiery speech by telephone from London. He said he ``will launch a struggle for self-determination`` in Pakistan`s Sindh province. He was ready to approach ``the United Nations, United States, India and other democratic countries``.

For Hussain, 54 years ``under the colonial yoke of the Punjabi establishment were enough``. He declared that it was the mission of his life to free Sindh.

Hussain, who leads the Mohajirs -- about 20 million Muslims who migrated to Pakistan from India during and after Partition -- feels that his community has received no rights in Pakistan. ``We were deceived in the name of Islam.``

He accused the Punjabi establishment of regarding the Mohajirs, the Sindhis and the Baluchis as security risks when they get government positions and concluded: ``No one will grant you your rights, you will have to take it from the usurpers.``

On top of this, Pakistan has a very serious problem in the northern areas of occupied Kashmir. An announcement from the Chinese Xinhua News Agency reported last week that the Khunjerab pass between Sinkiang and Pakistan will finally be reopened in May for the first time after September 11.

This pass is one of the most strategic regions in the world because of the old US-Pakistan-China axis. (One should not forget that it was Ayub Khan who battered the first Mao-Nixon meeting in the early 70s.) Soon after the destruction of the twin towers, it was reported that jihadi tribes had taken over the pass and no one was allowed to go through. The safest bet for China (and perhaps for Musharraf) was to close the pass.

Just before the Agra summit, the general had a series of consultations with political and religious leaders of Pakistan, including Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, but he did not invite any representative of the Northern Areas (Gilgit and Baltistan) for these discussions. The reason came to be known later: in June 2001, Gilgit and its surroundings were in a serious state of unrest due to protests from Sunni organisations over the decision of the local administration to introduce separate religious textbooks in the schools for the Shias (who are in a majority in Gilgit). Embarrassed by the incident, Musharraf stopped all movement between Gilgit and Pakistan and imposed very strict censorship.

In the ensuing riots thousands of activists from different political Sunni groups blocked the roads to the city of Gilgit to prevent Pakistani reinforcements from reaching the spot. They had finally to be rushed by helicopters and the demonstrators were ruthlessly removed. This is only one of many incidents that have occurred recently.

An attitude similar to the one adopted by Islamabad in Sindh and Baluchistan was noted by an Indian journalist who visited Gilgit in March. He was told by Ali Mardan, the editor of the local weekly Naqqara: ``If the government continues to ignore the grievances of the Northern Areas, it could even end up facing an armed struggle.`` He added: ``Pakistan does not trust the people of Gilgit-Baltistan. To date, we have never had a local chief secretary or police chief. They are either Punjabis or Pathans.`` One of the interviewed persons told the journalist: ``At least in your part of Kashmir, though he is a puppet, a Kashmiri Muslim is at the helm.``

For 50 years these areas have never been administrated by a Kashmiri and even the National Kashmir Committee, recently created by Islamabad under the chairmanship of Abdul Qayyum Khan, has very few Kashmiri members.

Certain quarters in Pakistan may continue to `thank God for the farsightedness of Iqbal and Jinnah for creating our homeland`, but the fact remains that there are today several `homelands` in Pakistan. One does not see how the general, even if he gets a five-year new lease as the master of Pakistan, will be able to contain the centrifugal forces with his cosmetic reforms and grandiloquent anti-India speeches.

http://www.rediff.com/news/2002/apr/26guest.htm

Watch What You Say

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

NEW YORK TIMES

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan — Before recounting how President Clinton burned alive dozens of Christians (this feint is known in the column trade as baiting the right), let me offer a quick historical quiz: What religion were Muhammad`s parents?

You might think that they, like most people in Arabia in the sixth century, probably worshiped tribal gods and idols. It might seem difficult for anyone to have been a Muslim before Muhammad.

If that`s what you think, bite your tongue — if you visit Pakistan.

Dr. Younus Shaikh, a teacher at a medical college, sits in a brick prison here, after being sentenced to death for blasphemy last year. I couldn`t interview him because the warden caught me trying to slip into the prison as a visitor (I didn`t look like a family member). But the issues are clear.

.....more at

http://www.sulekha.com/redirectnh.asp?cid=213153

America must come off the fence and take India`s side in the nuclear standoff between India and Pakistan.

Time`s Up for Pakistan: America Must Side with India

By Robert W. Tracinski (June 5, 2002)

[CAPITALISMMAGAZINE.COM] The Bush administration seems to be twisting itself into a knot of confusion over the nuclear standoff between India and Pakistan, dispatching an array of diplomats to try to ``ease the tensions`` between the two countries -- without doing anything to eliminate the cause of those ``tensions.``

The actual solution is quite simple. Bush has the means to prevent this war, and he is probably the only person in the world who can do so. All he needs to do is what he should have done nine months ago.

He needs to take over Pakistan.

After September 11, as part of the so-called ``Bush Doctrine,`` the president declared to the nations of the world: ``You`re either with us or you`re with the terrorists.`` But Pakistan has been with the terrorists for more than a decade -- and it has not given up that allegiance.

Remember that Pakistan`s intelligence agency helped create the Taliban and put it in power in Afghanistan. Under American threats, Pakistani leader Pervez Musharraf made a halfhearted about-face and cooperated with the United States in the war in Afghanistan. But Musharraf has been playing a double game. While he nominally cooperates against al-Qaeda, Musharraf`s government has supported the same kind of terrorists -- including some members of al-Qaeda -- as they wage a terrorist war against India.

That war started in earnest less than a month after September 11, when Pakistan-backed rebels set off a bomb outside the Kashmir-Jammu state assembly building. In December -- finding that the world did not care about terrorist attacks on India -- the rebels got more ambitious, staging a shooting attack on the Indian parliament in New Delhi. Imagine if Osama bin Laden`s operatives stormed the capitol building in Washington, D.C., and you will get some idea of the seriousness of this attack.

Under U.S. pressure, Musharraf announced a ``crackdown`` on the terrorist groups he sponsored, and he rounded up 200 Islamic militants. This proved every bit as effective as the occasional crackdown Yasser Arafat announces against his terrorist friends. Musharraf kept the militants in jail until the world`s attention wandered -- which doesn`t take long -- then let them out again. Since then, they have bombed a bus full of women and children and attacked an Indian army outpost.

If you wonder what makes Musharraf think he can get away with this, consider President Bush`s most recent statement on the issue: ``He must stop the incursions across the Line of Control. He must do so. He said he would do so. We and others are making it clear to him that he must live up to his word.`` This is exactly how the administration has talked about Yasser Arafat -- who, despite his continued support of terrorism, still gets U.S. funding and political support.

Like the war in Israel, the coming war between India and Pakistan is deeply connected to America`s interests. For example, how did the sponsor of Kashmir`s terrorism, Pakistan`s Inter-Services Intelligence, react when an Afghan warlord declared holy war against the United States on Thursday? Hamid Gul, former head of the ISI, told reporters: ``There is certainly a lot of sympathy for him in ISI, but that doesn`t necessarily translate into material assistance.`` How reassuring.

A dictatorship whose powerful intelligence service is sympathetic to a holy war against the United States is not an ally in the War on Terrorism. To think that they are an illusion, and like all foreign policy illusions, this one has deadly consequences. Millions of people may die in a nuclear war that America can prevent.

America must come off the fence and take India`s side in this conflict. Pakistan`s leaders may delude themselves that they can survive India`s superior conventional and nuclear capabilities. But they will not dare to oppose the United States, especially now that American troops are stationed in Pakistan and American planes fly freely through its airspace. As former ISI chief Gul puts it, ``The Americans are everywhere here right now.``

Pakistan`s time is up. It can no longer be trusted to fight against terrorism. The country should be thoroughly garrisoned with American troops; our military and intelligence apparatus should direct all efforts toward gaining control of Pakistan`s nuclear weapons; we must subject the country to a de facto occupation. We must stop being ``allies`` and start giving orders.

The Bush administration launched its War on Terrorism by abandoning Israel to a massive wave of suicide bombings. America should not continue this policy by abandoning another victim of terrorism, India, to a brutal nuclear war.

http://www.amitavghosh.com/articles/

Durre`sletter.htm

Dear Prem,

On being charitable to individuals.

Yes, each institution or system of governance has it’s own set of problems. However, the policies and tactics of Musharaf’s government have only shown that they will continue to further screw up the very institutions and systems of government which they wanted to reform.

I can tell you many good things done by the Musharaf government. Such as the local bodies governments with union-tehsil-district councilors. In theory such a devolution makes sense – particularly if these lower levels of governance have access to finances. Yet, the Faujis have made the purpose of these reforms clear. It is to firmly protect and root in the power of the Faujis on the land. Like the parasites that the Faujis are, they are and will continue to manipulate the devolved power structure, feed off of it, and thus leave those elected in fairly (unlike most of the union-tehsil-district councilors) held elections in October with little choice but to toe the government line. If the central government was weakened at the expense of local governments, it would have been a good thing. But the center is being weakened to strenghthen the faujis. That stinks.

Even when not in power, the Faujis have manipulated foreign as well as national policies. Now they are in power, and want an official role. So every maimed institution has been awarded to a Fauji to piss on. The Faujis are after all humans. They have joined in the bribery circles. Speak to some WAPDA officals (non-fauji ones of course) and one can know. In any case, the point is that in essence, I feel that independently functioning institutions are the real way forward. EACH INSTITUTION should perform its OWN ROLE. INDIVIDUALS mean NOTHING.

The Faujis have done nothing to show that they have realized that. The exact opposite hs happened. So if this PRIME lesson in governance is lost why should anyone criticizing them be charitable?

What the Faujis should instead be doing is sincerely stepping aside and sincerely offer to shake hands with the civilian politicians and together they accept that there will be no institutional tamperings and there will be independent and impartial accountability commissions and courts who can prosecute any one including faujis at any time. This will take guts on the part of the Faujis as well as on the part of politicians for each knows whose hands have been muddied before and who has screwed the state before. Only impartial institutions can STOP making heroes out of perceived cooks like BB and NS.

However, the Faujis have no guts. Musharaf and the Faujis are only good pissing around.

arun:

...thank you...for the letter link...

[...We are rapidly becoming a Zoo. People can come and see us but we cant get out..most countries have made it impossible to get visas...Inspite of everything, i am struggling with a long standing project ..a book on Islam, a rather crazy Jungian ``reading`` of it which, at the same time is critical of Jung.once it is done, and if published it will, I think, enforce either my departure(if that is possible) or death..sorry for sounding so dramatic Amitav..But that is for later once it is done. It is painstaking work , given other responsiblities and i guess will be done in about a year or so...]

---mark my skepticism...if the book comes out she would be hounded out...another martyr...dead or in exile...

rgds,

t

So glad to see your article on CHOWK.well written articulate and meaningful keep writing you can do a lot better and remember your old teacher in Islamabad!

Tariq Aqil

Pakistan`s President Could Confront Axis of Extremists

Asia: Under a worst-case scenario, three militant groups could link up to try to topple Musharraf.



By TYLER MARSHALL, TIMES STAFF WRITER

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- President Pervez Musharraf faces an ominous new challenge to his rule from three Islamic militant groupings that now stand against him, each clearly capable of using violence to bring him down, diplomats and others following developments in Pakistan believe.

The presence of an undetermined number of fighters from Osama bin Laden`s Al Qaeda terrorist network who fled to Pakistan last winter after the Taliban regime`s collapse in neighboring Afghanistan merely adds to the volatile brew.

Those who track Pakistan`s turbulent domestic political environment worry openly about a nightmare scenario--one in which elements from the three diverse strains of militancy set aside their individual causes, link up with Al Qaeda members and unite around a set of shared objectives: removing Musharraf, a key U.S. ally in the war on terror; destabilizing the country; and driving the United States from the region. Two of these groups--one consisting of Pakistanis who fought with the Taliban in Afghanistan, the other made up of Muslim holy warriors dedicated to capturing all of the disputed Kashmir region for Pakistan and the Islamic cause--were once de facto allies of Musharraf`s government.

The third--extremists from Pakistan`s majority Sunni sect who have waged a bloody, mafia-style war against the minority Shiites--was already at odds with him.

The dangers posed by these extremist groups have increased sharply in recent weeks because of steps taken to ease the crisis with India over Kashmir, diplomats and others following developments in Pakistan believe.

To reduce those tensions, Musharraf intensified a crackdown on militants whom the Pakistani government had for years trained for attacks on Indian-controlled areas of Kashmir.

With this crackdown coming just nine months after Musharraf withdrew his government`s support for the Taliban, angry and disillusioned sympathizers of both the Afghan and Kashmiri causes view the president, a general who took power in a coup, as a traitor to militant Islam.

There are about 1,000 uniformed Americans and a large FBI contingent based here as part of the war on terrorism, so the United States has a large stake in Pakistan`s internal stability.

At a different level, Americans also have a stake in a political struggle being watched across the Muslim world--that of a leader who cast his fate with the West in the wake of Sept. 11 and is now locked in a battle to survive the backlash.

Some observers believe that informal linkups between militant groups may already have begun.

Communications Minister Javed Ahraf Qazi, the former head of Pakistan`s Inter-Services Intelligence agency, or ISI, said that this month`s bombing at the U.S. Consulate in Karachi had the earmarks of cooperation between local religious extremists and Al Qaeda refugees believed to be in the rough port city.

``My suspicion is that sectarian elements did this at the behest of Al Qaeda,`` he said. ``They are [both] ruthless murderers.``

Presidential spokesman Rashid Qureshi acknowledged, ``Some [Pakistani] groups may have developed Al Qaeda links.``

So far, there is no hard evidence that followers of the three militant causes have entered into any formal agreement or established anything as structured as a common underground network to pursue their shared goals.

With Al Qaeda and Pakistani Taliban fighters in disarray, the heads of several large Sunni groups in jail and many Kashmiri militants only now beginning to contemplate an alternative future, organizational leadership is in short supply, according to those who monitor militant activities.

They believe that, instead, little more than a camaraderie among individuals attracts the militants together as small groups explore possible cooperation.

``Al Qaeda elements and others are now in the process of coming together to find a specific-oriented agenda,`` said Aamer Ahmed Khan, editor of the Herald, a Karachi-based monthly that closely follows the activities of Islamic militant groups. ``Some leaders haven`t even met yet, but groups are starting to work together.``

A previously unknown group calling itself Al Qanoon--``The Law``--claimed responsibility for the consulate attack. In a note faxed to local newspapers, it described the bombing as the beginning of a campaign against ``America, its allies and its lackey Pakistani rulers.``

Although no one has claimed responsibility for a bombing last month outside the Sheraton Hotel in Karachi that killed 11 French defense contract workers, authorities talk privately of a possible similar nexus in that attack.

Musharraf`s government pressed its search for Al Qaeda remnants in the wake of the U.S. Consulate attack.

Last week, precinct-level police officers in all four provinces were called to urgent meetings where superiors ordered them to search for possible links between known Sunni militants in their areas and Al Qaeda members who might have found refuge there.

A senior Interior Ministry source said that as part of the search, landlords have been told to report to police any tenants willing to pay conspicuously more than the market rate for accommodations.

The government also has invoked longer-term measures to choke off support for Islamic extremists.

A tough new law announced last week tightens controls on the thousands of religious schools, known as madrasas, and cuts off foreign sources of funding to them. With financial help from foreign-based Islamic fundamentalist organizations, many of Pakistan`s madrasas instilled their students with extremist ideas heavily laced with anti-Americanism.

Authorities have also launched investigations into the activities of several Pakistan-based nongovernmental organizations funded by Arab world money suspected in recent months of providing aid and shelter to fleeing Arab Al Qaeda fighters and their families.

So far, no one has linked Kashmiri militant groups to the string of recent attacks against foreigners in Pakistan, primarily because their break with Musharraf has only just occurred. But many fear that the potential is now there.

``There`s a very serious danger of the government losing control over the Kashmiris,`` said Aamer. ``It`s a major failure that the government didn`t prevent the Kashmiri freedom movement from being infiltrated by these [other] militants.``

Veteran Pakistan-based diplomats claim that Musharraf had already decided before Sept. 11 to end the government`s support of Muslim extremist elements in the country because the price in terms of domestic violence and a growing international isolation had become too high. His strategy, however, had been to take on the militants quietly.

``He wanted to finish them off one by one,`` noted a respected Islamabad-based Arab envoy. ``Now he has been forced to fight on three fronts simultaneously. Politically, this could be dangerous.``

So far, the extremist groups have made no public statements or issued any credible claims regarding their intentions. But previous shared ties could help bring them together despite their different political agendas, diplomats and analysts fear.

Evidence of these ties abounds.

For example, Kashmiri militants and Sunni sectarian extremists from Pakistan were routinely trained at Al Qaeda-run camps in eastern Afghanistan. In fact, there is now evidence that at least one of the terrorist camps in eastern Afghanistan hit by U.S. cruise missiles in 1998 was training recruits for Kashmiri militant groups, not Al Qaeda. The U.S. attack came as a reprisal for the American Embassy bombings in East Africa.

In addition, Pakistani journalists who trekked across the mountains into eastern Afghanistan for a May 1997 news conference with Bin Laden recall that their guides and hosts for the trip were members of the Kashmiri militant organization Harkat Moujahedeen.

``The collective experience of having trained and fought together has led to a camaraderie,`` said a senior member of Musharraf`s government who declined to be identified. ``This camaraderie is now playing itself out.``

U.S. and Pakistani authorities have had some notable successes in the search for Al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan in recent months. A raid in the Punjab city of Faisalabad in March netted a senior Bin Laden aide, Abu Zubeida. U.S. officials say that information provided by Zubeida led to last month`s arrest of Jose Padilla, the so-called ``dirty bomber.``

Despite this, senior Pakistanis worry whether their security forces are up to a major confrontation with militants on the home front. The police, they say, are ill-equipped, overextended and so corrupt that the government has come to rely increasingly on paramilitary units such as the Pakistani Rangers to carry out sensitive tasks.

Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider admitted that his forces aren`t in good shape.

``I have my problems about police capabilities,`` he said. ``I used to get help from the [paramilitary forces], but they are now on the border. So I`m left with a police force which has been tired ever since September, when hundreds of thousands of [protesters] came onto the streets.``

Haider said he had requested additional resources to beef up both the manpower of the police and their investigative capabilities.

``We don`t want the land of Pakistan to be used by any militants, extremists or terrorists,`` he said. ``This is the policy of our president, and we`ll do our best to implement it.``

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-000044433jun25.story

Well done Shahnawaz!So happy to see that you are applying the power of the PEN to use an oft repeated CLICHE ``the pen is mightier than the sword`` keep going and do write something for the local newspapers in Pakistan. I do agree with most of the things you have said but please remember Pervez musharaf is in a very very tight corner!so far he has played his cards very well and he seems to be doing a good job of keeping the country from disintegrating. He appears to be very sincere and loyal and i think his patriotism is above board. From what I know about him he is not bent! he is honest and stright. I wish him the very best of luck. I cannot forget the horrors of the Nawazharif regime. I just hope you read this note do let me have your email adress so that we can communicate.

Tariq Aqil

email:taqil17@hotmail.com

http://www.indian-express.com/full_story.php?content_id=4930

In Genspeak, unity of command means one man gives all orders

Husain Haqqani

``.. All of Pakistan’s military rulers have thought of themselves as saviours of the nation. Their scheme of power has depended on their own central role and the exclusion from the political arena of politicians they took over from. General Musharraf, too, has declared that he will not allow Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto to participate in the October elections. Instead of changing the constitution or excluding leaders from the race, he should try to change the way politics is practised in the country.

Pakistani politicians look upon politics as an arrangement for the distribution of patronage rather than a process of formulating policy. To be able to rob the exchequer themselves, they invite others to share the spoils. Political loyalties are bought by doling out favours. They try and accumulate more and more power instead of exercising the authority vested in them by law. They victimise their opponents with the intention of eliminating them from politics.

Once in power, Pakistani politicians start planning to perpetuate their rule. They tinker with institutions without thinking of the day when they themselves might need the protection from those very institutions. Instead of allowing civil servants, soldiers and judges to do their job, most powerful civilians seek the promotion and appointment of family retainers and personal loyalists.

Pakistan’s political parties behave like warring tribes. Differences in opinion are described as betrayal. Refusal to toe the line is treated as a declaration of war. Disagreement with mutual respect is an important ingredient of democracy. But it is a trait uncommon to those who have entered the political fray in Pakistan. What Pakistan needs to change this is not a general acting, in General Musharraf’s words, as ‘‘over watch’’. It requires a compact among the major politicians that ensures their adherence to democratic ethics.

Losing office while respecting dissent and accepting the role of national institutions is not so bad as risking everything. Instead of trying to impose reform from above, and creating new polarisation, General Musharraf should sit down with major political leaders, including Sharif and Bhutto, and secure an agreement that they will not pursue vendettas against each other. There should also be consensus on non-interference with judicial appointments or independence of the judiciary as well as on amendments in Pakistan’s constitution...``

Pak Chowkies please enlighten - who is the author Malik Khar. Is he somebody famous in Pakistan? There is no intro to him in the article.

Layman..

Observing by the last name, and reading the rantings of Ali1, it is possible to surmise that Khar sahib comes from the Punjabi feudal family of Khars, and is related to Malik Ghulam Mustafa Khar, Punjabi feudal, former cabinet minister as well as former Governor of Punjab, and known as `Lion of the Punjab` (an insult to lions, IMHO). And if I`ve gotten any of this wrong, I`m sure I`ll be corrected either harshly or politely depending on who`s posting. :)

Mr. Musharraf`s `constitutional` amendments are intended to establish -- militarocracy -- not democracy -- in Pakistan -- a government of the military, by the military, for the military -- .

lots of luck Mr. Musharraf -- (you`ll need it) -- like the referendum.

Layman

Khars are a traditional feudal family from South West Punjab - I guess the Muzaffargarh distt.

I have read somewhere that they were among the first South Asians to convert to Islam.

GM Khar was a former CM of Pak Panjab province. He is known for his marriages I guess it runs into the dozens.

One of his divorced wives Tehmina Durrani wrote a book.

There was also somrthing relating to the escapades of Bilal Khar who happens to be GM Khar`s son.

Not sure if Malik Shahnawaz Khar is related to them.

What did I say about the amendments, folks.

Here is -- direct from -- the horse`s mouth -- the brazenly shameless -- master plan -- to perpetuate army control of Pakistan civilian life -- for ever.

The cynical XCUSE -- ``the whole idea behind introducing amendments to the constitution was to block future intervention in the smooth running of the federal democracy``.

Interesting -- it’s like a fox plundering the chicken coup to ``block future intervention`` of the chicken coup by other foxes!!!

Here is Dawn interview with -- that clumsy sophist -- the voluble NRB chief -- General Naqvi:

Army`s role in politics being formalized: Naqvi

By Ihtasham ul Haq & Rafaqat Ali

ISLAMABAD, June 29: Gen Tanvir Naqvi, Chairman, National Reconstruction Bureau, on Saturday said the role of the armed forces in politics was being formalized through National Security Council, as it was an open secret that the armed forces played a part in politics and their de facto role was recognized by the politicians as well.

He said the whole idea behind introducing amendments to the constitution was to block future intervention in the smooth running of the federal democracy.

In a panel interview with Dawn, the NRB chief said:

``The army has an unspecified, unwritten and informal role in the political affairs of the country.``

The politicians have recognized and accepted the role of the army in political affairs and turned to the army in matters of dispute even between the president and the prime minister, he said.

The politicians had been inviting the army chiefs to intervene for defusing crisis situations, he added.

The NRB chief was told that there was a perception that an attempt was being made to give the military a permanent partnership role in the government through some of the proposed amendments.

He was then asked why shouldn`t the army be reformed which had formed political cells in its institutions, he said the role of the army in politics was not because of political cells, but such cells were formed because of the army`s political role.

The NSC idea was to bring all those wielders of power on a discussion table.

``It is a reality, let us recognize it and bring it to a forum,`` he said.

The NSC, he said, was a consultative body and not designed to supersede the parliament. ``Its role will be consultative, not (one of) executive.``

When asked why the leader of the opposition, who also becomes a power broker at times, had not been included in the NSC, he said then it would have led to the demand for inclusion of the provincial leaders of the opposition as well which, he thought, would have expanded the membership to an unnecessary extent.

When it was pointed out that some of the proposed amendments were being thought of as Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif specific, the NRB chief said these amendments were not motivated except by one consideration that Pakistan should have a better qualified legislature......(DAWN)

If the Army thinks that by becoming the HUNTING HOUNDS of al Qaida HUNTERS -- they have the license to HUNT and TEAR APART -- the civilian political system of their country -- any which way they want to -- and the West – AND the people of Pakistan -- will look the other way – Mushy MiaN is in for some rude awakening.

The US MAY -- but the PEOPLE of Pakistan -- MAY NOT.

After the debacle of REFERENDUM -- Mr. Musharraf should have learnt ONE lesson – DO NOT take the PEOPLE of Pakistan -- for GRANTED.

If any lesson are to be learnt from the fiasco called referendum – it is – that Pakistan VOTING public is politically as sophisticated – as their counterparts in India – and they are -- almost fed up with Mr. Musharraf and his army -- treating them as CATTLE.

In fact -- The West is NOT going to look the other way – the Europeans the British and even the USA is keeping Mr. Musharraf under the microscope plus a tight leash for -- any DEVIANT behavior.

Mr. Musharraf and his army are under commitment to RESTORE DEMOCRACY – in FULL -- and in its NORMAL form -- al Qaida or no al qaida – not a BAZTERDIZED version – in Pakistan.

Pakistanis deserve the SAME version of PARTICIPITAORY democracy and EMPOWERMENT -- that its neighbors enjoy -- ALL OVER THE SUBCONTINENT.

and ……………………WHY NOT?.

What did I say about the amendments, folks.

Here is -- direct from -- the horse`s mouth -- the brazenly shameless -- master plan -- to perpetuate

army control of Pakistan civilian life -- for ever.

The cynical XCUSE -- ``the whole idea behind introducing amendments to the constitution was to block future intervention in the smooth running of the federal democracy``.

Interesting -- it’s like a fox plundering the chicken coop -- to ``block future intervention`` of the chicken coop by other foxes?

Here is Dawn interview with -- that clumsy sophist -- the voluble NRB chief, General Naqvi:

Army`s role in politics being formalized: Naqvi

By Ihtasham ul Haq & Rafaqat Ali

ISLAMABAD, June 29: Gen Tanvir Naqvi, Chairman, National Reconstruction Bureau, on Saturday said the role of the armed forces in politics was being formalized through National Security Council, as it was an open secret that the armed forces played a part in politics and their de facto role was recognized by the politicians as well.

He said the whole idea behind introducing amendments to the constitution was to block future intervention in the smooth running of the federal democracy.

In a panel interview with Dawn, the NRB chief said:

``The army has an unspecified, unwritten and informal role in the political affairs of the country.`` The politicians have recognized and accepted the role of the army in political affairs and turned to the army in matters of dispute even between the president and the prime minister, he said.

The politicians had been inviting the army chiefs to intervene for defusing crisis situations, he added.

The NRB chief was told that there was a perception that an attempt was being made to give the military a permanent partnership role in the government through some of the proposed amendments.

He was then asked why shouldn`t the army be reformed which had formed political cells in its institutions, he said the role of the army in politics was not because of political cells, but such cells were formed because of the army`s political role.

The NSC idea was to bring all those wielders of power on a discussion table. ``It is a reality, let us recognize it and bring it to a forum,`` he said. The NSC, he said, was a consultative body and not designed to supersede the parliament. ``Its role will be consultative, not (one of) executive.``

When asked why the leader of the opposition, who also becomes a power broker at times, had not been included in the NSC, he said then it would have led to the demand for inclusion of the provincial leaders of the opposition as well which, he thought, would have expanded the membership to an unnecessary extent.

When it was pointed out that some of the proposed amendments were being thought of as Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif specific, the NRB chief said these amendments were not motivated except by one consideration that Pakistan should have a better qualified legislature.....(DAWN)

If the Army thinks that by becoming the HUNTING HOUNDS of al Qaida HUNTERS -- they have the license to HUNT and TEAR APART -- the civilian political system of their country -- any which way they want to -- and the West –AND the people of Pakistan -- will look the other way – Mushy MiaN is in for some rude awakening.

The US MAY -- but the PEOPLE of Pakistan -- MAY NOT.

After the debacle of REFERENDUM -- Mr. Musharraf should have learnt ONE lesson –- DO NOT take the PEOPLE of Pakistan -- for GRANTED.

If any lesson is to be learnt from the fiasco called the ‘ referendum’ – it is – that Pakistan VOTING public is politically as sophisticated – as their counterparts in India – and they are -- almost fed up with Mr. Musharraf and his army -- treating them as CATTLE.

In fact -- the West is NOT going to look the other way – the Europeans the British and even the USA is keeping Mr. Musharraf under the microscope plus a tight leash for -- any DEVIANT behavior.

Mr. Musharraf and his army are under commitment to RESTORE DEMOCRACY – in FULL and in its NORMAL form -- – not in its BAZTERDIZED version – in Pakistan.

Pakistanis deserve the SAME version of PARTICIPITAORY democracy and EMPOWERMENT -- that its neighbors enjoy -- ALL OVER THE SUBCONTINENT.

and ……………………WHY NOT?

the dckless fauji parasites come out pissing all the way.

nasah:

relax man.

when i first saw the amendments, i could only laugh. i didn`t think the source was correct. i didn`t think the faujis were so demented beyond hope.

after the intial reaction at the proposed amendments, i now feel that it`s all good. let the faujis try their ugly experiments. if after the referendum, musharaf couldn`t learn, then he deserves to live this unhonorable life with an aimlessly self destructive path.

soon enough, one by one, all fauji lovers will quit holding their noses and be willing to smell the filth of the fauji stench. i`m very happy that even the tehrik-e-insaaf has rejected the proposed amendments. since the parties that matter, PPP and PML(N) have done so as well, how I wonder will these new amendments be made part of the constitution?

We can count the hand picked feudals like Legharis and Jatois but will the Faujis be capable of holding around 300 members of the new parliament hostage and forcing them to accept? that will require lots of...guns. perhaps they will succeed there as well.

Right now, a good option for the main parties of Pakistan would be to boycott the elections of october. Even a better option would be to unite with the primary focus of restoring democracy without any of the new amendments (it would not be bad however, if the local bodies governments with functional rights are accepted). A united force of the main parties will scare Musharaf and his faujis and give them all the more reason to rig elections. In the face of unity, very few would be left on the stinking Fauji bandwagon trying to pass off as a chariot to the future.

the parasite faujis need to be put in their place. i liked that word `fundocide`. `faujicide` is even better.

Muslims in Kashmir not seeking Pakistan merger

USA Today

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — In a dramatic about-face, the most influential and hardline Islamic political party in Indian-controlled Kashmir announced on Sunday it was not seeking Kashmir`s merger into Pakistan.

The Jama`at-e-Islami also said it had no links with Islamic militants staging terror attacks and strikes on military targets since 1989 and hinted that it could break ranks with other Kashmiri separatists and consider participation in elections.

The announcement was described as a significant development ahead of state elections in Kashmir. The Himalayan region has been the cause of five decades of tensions between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan and two wars. India accuses Pakistan of sponsoring the 12-year insurgency, which has left more than 60,000 people dead. Islamabad denies the allegation.

For five decades, Jama`at has struggled politically for a merger of Jammu-Kashmir, India`s only Muslim-majority state, into Islamic Pakistan.

However, Jama`at`s president Ghulam Mohammad Bhat said Sunday that there is no mention of merging with Pakistan in the party`s constitution. ``We didn`t ever even pass a resolution demanding accession since we have been working here,`` he told reporters.

The Jama`at is the only one of the hard-line Islamic parties in Jammu-Kashmir that has an organized, disciplined, region-wide network and thousands of members spread across the Kashmir Valley.

Bhat also said he wants to ``make it clear that we have no connection with the militants or militancy, particularly with the Hezb-ul-Mujahedeen,`` the biggest of a dozen militant groups fighting India.

Many Jama`at members have been arrested or detained over the decade on suspicion they were working secretly for Hezb-ul Mujahedeen.

Jama`at also expressed differences with the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, a group of 24 Muslim religious and political groups in Kashmir to which it belongs. The Conference, which opposes Indian control of the region, boycotted the last elections in the Indian state of Jammu-Kashmir.

Indian officials have for months asked Kashmiri separatist parties to take part in the elections planned for September or October if they want to prove that they are the true representatives of Kashmiris.

Bhat said that ``right now`` Jama`at has ``no plans of participating in the polls, but anything can happen in the future.`` He added that his party would not call for a boycott of the elections, which he said would be ``unlawful.``

The ramifications of Bhat`s announcement were unclear. In the past, groups or leaders in Kashmir have made announcements, only to reverse them later. At other times, new factions have formed.

Indian political scientist Haseeb Ahmad described Bhat`s comment as ``the biggest gain for the government of India since the onset of the militancy.``

``This is a clear indication that the Jama`at wants to reaccept ... the basic framework of the Indian democratic setup in Kashmir,`` he said.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2002/06/30/kashmir.htm

Report on Rights Violations in Kashmir by Council of Advocates International - 2002-05-23

The displaced people of Kashmir are suffering from the brutal suppression of Indian and Pakistani security forces, Terrorism of fundamentalist militant outfits, constant torture of local police and unspeakable horrors in the hands of ISI. International rights groups must intervene and extend their assistance to these unfortunate people. This was stated in a report on the violations of rights in Kashmir, here in Toronto.

The report was issued by Carmen Miranda, Co-ordinator, Council of Advocates international. Explaining the background of the report the Council of Advocates international said that in March, it received complaints of massive human rights violations from the refugees and displaced People of Kashmir living in Azad Kashmir and Pakistan. The refugees stated their Plight and said that they were displaced because of cross border shelling between Indian and Pakistan`s military, terrorism and violence.

Most of them were misguided and in some cases forced by the fundamentalist outfits to leave their homes and cross the border. Once they crossed the border to Azad Kashmir, they became Hostage in the hands of ISI and fundamentalist Militant outfits. They were forced to live in those camps with their women and children in horrific and unspeakable situation. These camps were built as showcases for international delegations and fact-finding missions to highlight the Indian atrocities. The fundamentalist militants used these camps for recruitment, shelters for foreign mercenaries, safe-houses and arm Storage. Refugees From the camps are forced to transport arms across the border and most of the times are killed by Security forces. They are unlawfully arrested, tortured and suffer from the gross violations of human rights.

In response, The Council of Advocates International formed a committee, which investigated and prepared this report. Council secretary general Hamid Bashani expressed his deep concern over the situation and said`` the government of India and Pakistan is constitutionally obligated to ensure the safety and security of the people and protect their rights. Their failure to resolve the issue has catastrophic impact and with the passage of time may worsen the situation. Following is the summary of the report: On February 7,2002, Mushtaq Ali and Naseer Khawaja were contacted by a group of Muzaffrabad based militant leaders. During the lengthy meeting they were asked to transport arms across the border. The duo refused to comply and were threatened with dire consequences.

The next day they were arrested by ISI and were transported blindfolded in a house where they were held incommunicado for ten days. They were brutally tortured and humiliated. Every single day, They were severely beaten and kicked with boots. After their release the local police started visiting them frequently and threatened to charge them with theft, arms trading and other criminal acts. During each visit, The police would beat them and ask them for money. They left Muzaffrabad and are now hiding in Pakistan.

Two elderly refugee men and a woman testify that two of their young relatives, Javeed Abu, 23 and Sameer Shaik 19, were contacted by the militants and ISI personnel and them same method was applied to recruit them to transport Arm across the border. After two weeks they received news that they were killed by security forces in an encounter while crossing the border.

Two Kashmiri refugee women testified that over the period of the last four months the local police and other intelligence agencies personnel`s have visited them on regular basis or asked them to go to the safe houses for investigation. Under the pretext of this investigation they were taken to different Places and were sexually assaulted and repeatedly raped. No case was ever registered against them, but they were threatened to charge with criminal offences. They also testified that they knew some other women who went through more brutal situations but never spoke because of the stigma attached to rape and Sexual assault cases Mansoor Butt, a 31-year-old displaced Kashmir reported that he was arrested by the Army (ISI) and accused of spying for Indians Intelligence agencies.

He was beaten with rifle Butts, Punched and kicked in the face. His only crime was that he refused to accompany a group of militants as a Guide to cross the border. He was kept in a Safe-House for one week during which time he was beaten every day. He was released after the promise of full co-operation Muhammad Deen, a fifty one year old refugee, tried to cross the border to go to his home with his wife and 16 year old son. He was shot deadby Pakistani army personnel without any warning or chance to return



http://www.kashmir-hr.net/mainfile.php/articles/111/

New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-southasia-kashmir-pakistan.html

Rebels Aim to Hit Indian Kashmir`s Chief Minister

By REUTERS

Filed at 8:35 a.m. ET

MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) - A pro-Pakistan militant group battling Indian rule in disputed Kashmir said on Tuesday it had set up a ``death squad`` to eliminate Indian-held Kashmir`s chief minister, his son and top aides.

``Our prime target is puppet chief minister Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar Abdullah and ministers of his government,`` Ghulam Rasool, Pakistan-based chief of the radical Jamiat-e-Mujahideen (JM) group told Reuters.

JM is one of the two rebel groups India banned in April under its controversial anti-terror laws and is also a member of the main anti-India United Jihad Council (UJC) guerrilla alliance.

Omar Abdullah is junior external affairs minister in Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee`s cabinet and has recently replaced his father as head of their National Conference party.

layman…the most famous khar is ghulam mustafa khar..and if you’ve ever read ‘my feudal lord’ by tehmina durrani, not a nice guy at all…known for his many marriages…the latest being to a woman who’s about 25 years younger than him….he has many a offspring from his various wives…the most famous being the model, aamnah haq…and the most notorious being bilal khar, who disfigured his wife’s face with acid….

An Indian summer

By Edward Luce

Published: July 1 2002 20:59 | Last Updated: July 1 2002 20:59





American diplomacy has averted the imminent threat of war between India and Pakistan. But senior members of the Bush administration know that it is only a matter of time before military tensions flare up again between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

The prospects of renewed tension were underlined at the weekend with the appointment of L. K Advani as India`s deputy prime minister. Although Mr Advani was already seen as the successor to Atal Behari Vajpayee, the prime minister, his new title is a timely reminder of the hardline, anti-Pakistani elements that surround the ageing - and increasingly frail - prime minister.

``It might be three months, it might be nine months, but we all know that India and Pakistan will go back to the brink again,`` says a senior US official in Washington. ``Maybe next time they will go over the brink.``

Until now, the US has consistently respected India`s adamant refusal of third-party mediation on its core dispute with Pakistan over the divided state of Kashmir. But having sweated through the latest and most intense bout of nuclear brinksmanship, the US and its allies are quietly revising their long-held position.

http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1025534365666&p=1012571727282

````Consultations on amendments soon``: President

By Our Staff Reporter (DAWN)

ISLAMABAD, July 3: President Gen Pervez Musharraf will meet the politicians to try to achieve some consensus over the proposed constitutional amendments prepared by the National Reconstruction Bureau ...... said minister for information Nisar Memon.

Briefing reporters about the decision of the cabinet here on Wednesday, he said that the president wanted to take the nation into confidence before the adoption of new constitutional amendments by the federal cabinet and the National Security Council.

He said the president would meet the opposition leaders including those of the ARD with a view to seek their views over the new amendments.

Asked whether Gen Musharraf will invite the leadership of PPP and PML for consultation or there will be any pick and choose, the minister for information said he did not have the details about it and that he could get back to reporters over the issue some other time.````(DAWN)

Hence -- the 64 dollar question -- rozaiba:

will the Shere Kargil be Shere Dil enough -- to FACE his one time civilian BOSSES -- Benazir and Nawaz?

OR -- will he CHICKEN out?

Otherwise -- this Ship of Fools carrying the Hazardous Amendment Material -- is NOT leaving the harbor -- and if it does -- it will -- at Mr. Musharraf miaN own peril.

Sayings of Chairman Mao Musharraf:

``We,`` the president said, ``must not loose sight of the political history of Pakistan and the unfortunate experience of mis-governance of the past.``

Yes, yes -- ``must not lose sight of political history of Pakistan and the unfortunate experience of misgovernance```` -- by FOUR army dictators -- for 28 years out of 55 years of Pakistan`s existence..

````The president said that the purpose of inviting politicians and leaders of other segments of the society for consultations with him next week was to know their opinion on the constitutional package.````

The Inquiring Mind Musharraf wants to know -- folks.

what a great consensus builder.

here is the world`s ONLY -- politician inviting --DEMOCRATIC DICTATOR!

now that`s called the ``real`` participatory democracy -- `INVITING` the wretchedly poor politicians of -- the ARD to the RAD -- the Royal Army Durbaaaar -- for their 3 cent `opinon`.

magnanimity thy name is Musharraf.

who says Comedian Musharraf is a run of the mill -- Jumhooriat Shikan -- Gaznavi!!

#: 27

Layman

Pak Chowkies please enlighten - who is the author Malik Khar. Is he somebody famous in Pakistan? There is no intro to him in the article

Mt #29

SPM#37

Poor Layman asked about the Author ,& you both Pakistani wrote the biography of Ghulam Mustapha Khar ...How many wives he beat or Nailed?

Musharaff also answers his questions to American reporter which is seldom like that.... until the poor reporter gives up . Hope Layman doesnt stop enquiring about Malik Shahnawaz Khar who wrote this article ...Good luck b/c two MT & SPM have miserably failed!

``The best thing for him [Musharaf] to do is to seek a compromise with the PPP and PML(N) and ally with them. After all, the cost of their joint decade-long corruption is less than the cost of the army’s defense overruns of last year alone resulting from failed national security policies. ``

-Najam Sethi (The Friday Times, July 5th, 2002)

nasah:

First of all, please dont try to put Mao in teh same league as Musharaf. Mao may have been just as power hungry, but Mao struggled to get to that seat. Mao had a vision.

Musharaf should first get a new pair of glasses. These dime-a-dozen dictators are worthless.

to tell you the truth, i am very surprised. the cowardly generals of pakistan who are good at flinching when uncle sam claps, are also good at shooting themselves in the foot. i still can`t believe what i read of Gen Naqvi`s `reforms`. they are the biggest joke of the month- so far.

by the way. Where have all the Fauji-Lovers gone?

A hard hitting editorial in today’s Dawn on -- Chairman Maosharraf -- ‘the consensus builder’ --and his bag of Amendment worms.

To make it meaningful

(Dawn`s editorial)

It is difficult to be sure whether the consultations President Musharraf wants to have with politicians and other sections of opinion on the political and constitutional changes proposed by the National Reconstruction Bureau will serve any useful purpose.

For one thing, with barely four months to go before elections are scheduled to be held in the country, the time available for the purpose is too short to allow for any thorough and meaningful consideration of the issues involved leading to a consensus which is said to be the aim of the government.

Secondly, the political and constitutional amendments proposed by the NRB are much too complex and sweeping, having deep implications for the nation`s political and democratic future, its basic system and institutions, to be dealt with satisfactorily at a few sessions of debate and exchanges of opinion.

Such a process would seem more likely to be an exercise in futility.

No wonder, politicians feel justified when they accuse the government of making such a consultation process a mere formality.

Not without reason do they accuse the generals of ``informing`` them about their decisions instead of seeking their views before vital decisions are made.

Given the sweeping nature of the proposals, there is little surprise that the political parties have already rejected the proposed amendments.

Most political observers and constitutional experts had expected the government to come up with proposals that would remove some of the flaws and anomalies that are there but leave the 1973 Constitution`s federal and parliamentary character intact.

There is a need, for instance, for placing some checks on what is often called prime ministerial despotism. This can be done by injecting some balance in the powers of the president and the prime minister.

However, the first package of the proposals unveiled last week cannot by any stretch of the imagination be called mere amendments;

____________________________________________

they seek to alter the Constitution`s basic character by altering the federal parliamentary system of government that it envisages.

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If made a part of the Constitution, the amendments would make the elected prime minister a dummy in the hands of an indirectly elected president.

Equally undesirable is the proposal concerning the National Security Council.

As we have repeatedly pointed out in these columns, the NSC would make the elected civilian leadership subservient to the military.

To be headed by the president, the NSC will include the services chiefs and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff committee.

It is they who will call the shots and not the prime minister, thus further eroding the concept of civilian control of Government.

The ONLY acceptable role for the proposed NSC is to advise the government on security and other related matters and not to dictate policies to it and certainly not to act in cahoots with the president in deciding the fate of a government or the assemblies.

The best course for the government would have been to consult the politicians BEFORE coming up with the proposals in question.

Consulting them now looks like a formality that would hardly achieve the purpose of developing a consensus between the two sides.

The worst of an ill-advised move may yet be avoided by withdrawing the amendments proposed and developing a new package after meaningful and substantive discussions with the politicians.

Once the amendments are agreed upon, they should be presented in the form of recommendations to the parliament to be elected in October, leaving it free to decide on these. Any other course of action is bound to create controversies and complications that are best avoided.(DAWN)

Question – talking of checks and balances -- what checks and balances are to be placed on -- the ALL Powerful -- the Checkless -- the Redeemer --the Mess-ayaah -- the President and the Chairman Maosharruf – by the way?

None?

it is past time that people quit trying to apologize for musharaf.

he is not well meaning, he is not sincere, he is not a reformer. People like me were stupid to have believed it otherwise. but it`s good to see that the `alliance` of pro-fauji parties is breaking up.

he is merely a demented dictator who wants glory for himself and his incompetent institution- that of the pakistan army- the most visciuos parasite of Pakistan!

to zafar and other interested indian muslim

why are indian muslims so anti - pakistan esp, hyderabadis ..................

``````The best thing for him [Musharaf] to do is to seek a compromise with the PPP and PML(N) and ally with them. After all, the cost of their joint decade-long corruption is less than the cost of the army’s defense overruns of last year alone resulting from failed national security policies. ``(Najam Sethi as quoted by rozaiba)

rozaiba:

Thanks for Friday Times quote.

of course Najm is 100% right.

If NS and BB stole government money – Musharraf STOLE the government itself.

what`s the difference?

On the scale of criminal MORALITY -- MiaN Musharraf is as much a criminal as BB and NS were.

It’s like kettle accusing the pot how black you`re?



So what makes the holier-than-thou Mushrraf saheb think that he is any BETTER than the politicians BB and NS -- at least BB and NS combined represent 80% of the public will.

What does Mr. Musharraf represent?

Divine will?

at east NS and BB are willing to spend their day in the Court of Public Opinion.

Who is Mr. Musharraf -- accountable to?

so why this `takkalluf` in getting together with the two licensed PUBLIC DIAGNOSTICIANS -- before putting -– the PATIENT Pakistan -- under the KNIFE -- for a major heart surgery -- by an UNLICENSED SURGEON -- like `Massihulmulk` Musharraf.

Here is Irfan Husain lending his powerful voice in his latest column -- against that bundle of stupidity called constitutional amendments -- and asking Musharraf to set aside his personal pique/vendetta -- and take aboard Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto for national consensus, unity and democracy -- at this critical juncture.

Is Musharraf listening???

So far doesn?t seem to be.

Well -- besides the reading glasses suggested by rozaiba ? the myopic General ? may need a pair of hearing aids ? as well.

Irfan Husain in Dawn (excerpts)

````Musharraf is thus caught in a triple squeeze: the Americans are demanding that he go after Al Qaeda and generally crack down on religious extremism more effectively; the fundamentalists from whose ranks the jihadis spring want him to repudiate his pro-American stance and to pursue the cause of Kashmir more energetically; and the Indians are threatening war in case he does not rein in the jihadis.

All three sets of demands are inter-linked but cannot be met simultaneously, although Musharraf is promising to deliver on all the three counts.

While carrying on with this highwire act, Musharraf has opened up a fourth front domestically by trying to marginalize the two major political forces through a series of manoeuvres of dubious constitutional validity.



Instead of surmounting his own personal dislike of Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto, he even risked the tainted and tortuous route of a referendum to claim legitimacy.

This tactic backfired to such an extent that he had to apologize publicly for the rigging that took place.

Two important anniversaries are fast approaching: 9/11 will forever serve as a reminder that even the strongest power on earth is vulnerable to desperate people.

For Pakistanis, 12 October, the third anniversary of the coup that brought Musharraf to power, will help us remember that no matter how well-meaning, a dictatorship cannot be a substitute for democracy.(Dawn)

nasah #44:

``If NS and BB stole government money – Musharraf STOLE the government itself. what`s the difference? On the scale of criminal MORALITY -- MiaN Musharraf is as much a criminal as BB and NS were. It’s like kettle accusing the pot how black you`re?``

Nasah, in Musharraf`s defence, no one has accused him of being personally corrupt, which BB and Nawaz Sharif certainly were. Musharraf`s `crime` is that he is messing up the transition to democracy - his personal bias is making him ignore the two biggest political parties.

It was funny watching him talk about `unity of command` in democracy. Spoken like a true military man, with no idea of politics. Politics is all about SHARING power, sharing the cake among various stake holders (or lobbies or whatever you call them), not one person grabbing entire loot for himself / herself. Decisions are taken jointly, by a Cabinet, not by one man.

Of course, Musharraf`s foreign policy is totally messed up (not that it was in good shape before him). He is viscerally anti-India. I think both Pak and India should elect leaders who are not anti each other. It is really worrying to read that October elections in Pak may be postponed. The US may support it as it prefers a pliable dictator in sensitive states, but if it wraps up its `war on terror` by then, it may ditch him.

MUSHARRAF:

- The man is fundamentally a cheat and a dishonest liar. He had no justification for overthrowing an elected government - an overthrow he planned well in advance. He had justification for trashing the constitution of Pakistan and he had no grounds for perperating the Kargil adventure and then not accepting responsibility. He cannot justify turning Pakistan into a Romananian style police state. His so called reforms are crude attempts to prolong his stay in power and to maintain a junta and secret police in an age where juntas are considered out of style and out of fashion. Real reform will start when the defense expenditure will be diverted to more productive avenues like education, health and public and private infrastructure.

Layman wrote:

``Nasah, in Musharraf`s defence, no one has accused him of being personally corrupt, which BB and Nawaz Sharif certainly were. ``

They say former President Ghulam Ishaq Khan was also not corrupt. Reports indicate that the beaurocrat turned presidnet didnt even try to have the public funds sanctioned for the development of his area.

The point is that it doesnt` matter AT ALL if Musharaf isn`t corrupt financially. He`s running the whole structure in an extremely corrupt manner.

Gen Zia wasn`t personally corrupt. Yet through corrupt means like Musharaf is employing, Zia did everything to divide the country in an attempt to manipulate the power structure in his favor.

I find Zia and Musharaf to be very very similar. They are like twins who have some ideological differences. but their respective ideologies are the `right stuff at the right time`. zia with his islamism of the eighties sanctioned by the west after post-russian invasion of afghanistan and mush with his liberalism especially required by west after sept 11.

whatever else your reason for defending Mush maybe, his corrupt method is NOT the way to get rid of BB or NS.

As Nasah and AI have pointed out, there is no well meaning reform or revolution underway in pakistan. it`s only a realignment of the power structure with the most powerful parasite demanding more of the host to devour.

Some people opine that the only thing that can save musharaf and the faujis from their follies is a massively favorable trade package from america. for that one would suppose the defences of the nation would probably have to be `handed over` to them.

If the sell out is completed in that manner, then all these current amedments and other shabby attempts at reform can be forgotten (rather than opposed).

But as we all know, the extremely demented view of the world of the fauji will not accept that. `Our honor and dignity` and pride comes in the way.

It truly is amazing. the same honor and dignity and pride is absent when 150 billion ruppees (plus 26 billion for pensions of Faujis) is spent on defence while millions cannot have access to basic health care. when the people have to travel hundreds of miles away to financially strapped public hospitals already over flowing with thousands of others in unhygenic conditions.

pride, honor and dignity - in countries and nations struck with poverty, these three characteristics are found with great abundance and defended with great vigour in the most superficial and fascist elements of society.

Pakistan Fauj is the prime fascist institution.

A good quote on the disgusting concepts of honor, pride and dignity that Pak Faujis and fauji lovers thump their chests to when explaining their reasons for hijacking the country and forming it`s policies.

``In an interview some time ago with the National Geographic magazine on the subject of women’s oppression in the context of “honour killings”, General Pervez Musharraf was asked by the foreign interviewer why nothing had been done to alleviate the plight of women in Pakistan. Pat came the answer: “We don’t have the money for alleviating poverty and eradicating illiteracy and backwardness”. “But you have the money for nuclear weapons and missiles”, retorted the devious foreigner. “Yes”, said the simple soldier, “we need nuclear weapons and conventional weapons and missiles in order to live honourably”. Should General Musharraf ever get round to watching that anguished documentary, he might look out for the gleam in the interviewer’s eye. It indicts the country and convicts its leader. ``

-The Friday Times (Editorial, July 12, 2002)