Breaking News: September 11, 2001 http://a188.g.akamaitech.net/f/188/920/15m/www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21490-2001Sep12.html

...In the days ahead, as we analyze how to go after bin Laden and other terrorist cells, certain considerations stand out. First, in addition to the Taliban, the government of Pakistan must be held accountable for what has happened. For almost two years Gen. Pervez Musharraf has maintained the pretense that Pakistan has no influence on the Taliban -- an outrageous position on its face. Even setting aside for a moment the huge military support provided over the years to the Taliban by Pakistan`s Inter-Service-Intelligence agency, bear in mind that Afghanistan is land-locked. Pakistan is the principal airhead and land route through which people and commodities come and go into Afghanistan. Pakistan is vital to the survival of the Taliban and to its continued provision of safe haven to bin Laden. It is time for Pakistan to lead, follow or get out of the way...

The writer was national security adviser to President Reagan.

Chowk - Ek Katha anNy,

welcome back! hope you are fully recovered.

Chowk - Ek Katha urstruly,

well, its like what you guys are very fond of saying - one man`s terrorist is another man`s freedom-fighter...

with that in mind, you will get the answer to your q.

Chowk - Ek Katha awww...come on tahmed saheb, nobody`s name is worthless here...and dost-mittar is one of the tenors.

Chowk - Ek Katha hello all,

wow, seems like chowk is in a mood to publish new articles at a manic pace.

on a lazy afternoon, i typed in a few random thoughts...and i was only on my third cup of fine darjeeling when the `submit` button got clicked. perhaps should have waited till the fourth cup to put this `katha` in a more refined manner.

as a result, many worthy ones were presented in a clumsy manner (sorry, sadna) and many were left out (sorry pankaj, hobbyty,...). and veeresh, nothing makes sense to me as well at times. thanks sameer for your explanation to scout (does she realize her part in the story?) and everything else. sac, you are quite right. and temporal...well, no thanks for diminishing the literary value of my piece by putting one of your own right here... ;O)

No Fault Of Mine dear x-prayydent,

now that we have succeeded in exiling you to chappurabia with your mule, allow us to say a chappufilled goodbye.

should you decide to come back in a new avatar (as we hope you will), please be assured of a little piece of chappuland for yourself and your mule.

best chappuwishes!

No Fault Of Mine x-Payydant Chappu,

typical drivel of the politicians, scum of the earth! legal options? our feet! bringing in totally irrelevant and alien concepts to the great nation of chappustan! the chappucourts and the chappujudges have already taken chappuoaths to stand by us, nothing you or the ShireeRamjanmabhoomiJethMalaniji, who btw, is already counting his goats in the chappu fort, can do. shows how much you know!

and what d:/drive constitution? the constitution is just a piece of paper which any chappu can write or type on any drive on any tops, lap or otherwise, in 30 minutes or less. preferably less. dil mein khot nahin honi chahiye, that`s all.

and what did you say? there are only two chappustanis? shows once again that you, in your elitist ways, never considered the millions of impoverished people of our great chappuland, true chappustanis. let us tell you that the true chappustanis may be currently demoralized and muted, but they will soon rise like chappuphoenixes. under our great leadership, of course. some of the finest chappufighterpilots the great chappuland has ever produced are with us as well. your fake chappucracy has failed before, and has once again failed now.

further, as of today, we have banned all measures, pro-active or otherwise, to be taken against us. any pursuits, hot or cold, shall be firmly countered with our recently acquired chappusodiumglutamates (CSG).

long live chappustan!
jiye chappus!

No Fault Of Mine dear chappustaniyon,

the citizens of chappustan are hereby informed that the chappu-forces have taken over. this is being done in the national interest of chappustan and chappustani people who are loved dearly by the chappu-forces.

chappustani people will be horrified, indeed chappufied, to know that The Prayydantji and the Dipteepramminshterji have shamelessly looted the great chappustani nation in its very short history, and illegally allotted themselves hundreds of acres of prime chappustani land and several chappustani goats for their perverted pleasures. they will be made accountable, inshachappu!

a six-point chappugenda will soon be announced which will restore real chappucracy in chappustan, not the sham chappucracy that has robbed chappustan and made the lives of chappustani people miserable.

long live chappustan!

A Medley of Internal Contradictions ylh,

how many of the 500 pakistanis at rutgers are graduate students?

No Fault Of Mine studebaker #230,

i take it that you are pointing to the futility of the summit(s). i agree with you. my concerns, unfortunately, will do nothing to change the situation.

dilip wrote `we need leaders who will take an unpopular decision and tell us why it was in our best interests`. i was curious to know if he felt the decision to invite musharraf (when it was made) would fall in the `unpopular` category?

i am not at all surprised by his latest response.

No Fault Of Mine [...all said and done...]

dilip,

do you mean it is an unpopular decision now, or it WAS an unpopular decision when the invitation was made?

No Fault Of Mine dilip,

[...we need someone who will take an unpopular decision and explain to us why it is in our best interests...]

the invitation to musharraf would fall in the `popular` or `unpopular` category, in your opinion?

No Fault Of Mine yaar, ferozk, one would think that will all those contacts in the state dept/pentagon and other such interesting places, YOU would be the one telling us the secrets.

An Aside on Benazir temporal,

a font change is recommended. or, is that a clever ploy to hide the millions of mistakes...er...`typos` that would inevitably result? :O)

A Medley of Internal Contradictions sameer,

thanks a lot.

nuclear power as well? hmmm...reminds me of oppenheimer`s famous quote from the gita `i am become death, destroyer of the worlds` which he made during manhattan project`s subsequent trial.

rgds

No Fault Of Mine dilip,

`i have won several awards` left a bad taste in my mouth leading to `what has the world come to`. not because of the awards themselves (those are almost expected). why do journalists need to tell us that they are `widely read` or `have won awards` while introducing themselves?

then mr siddiqui, in his infinite wisdom, concluded that the only possible reason for my reaction could be `handing over`. btw, you didn`t really count up to line 27, did you? i could have written line 78 or 93 or 107. no, i did not want to OR read `handing over`.

however, i do dislike sentences like `As patriotic Indians, we must believe the worst about Pakistan, we must hate its citizens...As patriotic Indians, we must stand toe to toe with those patriotic Pakistanis, screaming so loudly...`, etc. for these statements exclude the possibility that people (esp overseas indians) may have the capability of independent thoughts and actions. articles (like this one) also imply that overseas indians are in dire need of the penetrating insight of award-winning journalists.

do share with us your experiences in `violent patriotism of NRIs` while you were here. how long ago was that? i thought all this hoopla was a post-kargil phenomenon. in my eleven years of stay here, i had never found any indians mentioning the word pakistan(is) in any serious conversations till kargil.