FATA Situation

[Anwar2]

AgNoStIc MuSliM:
There is a saying of Hazrat Ali Karam-allah Wajh "Iflas (Poverty) is half of Kufr".
I thought this applied to individuals only. Now I realize this applies to nations too.

 

[waraich66]

Our nation is almost dead , we have sold our IMAN for few dollars

 

[waraich66]

AgNoStIc MuSliM:
There is a saying of Hazrat Ali Karam-allah Wajh "Iflas (Poverty) is half of Kufr".
I thought this applied to individuals only. Now I realize this applies to nations too.

No Doubt Iflas (Poverty) is greatest curse (lanat) .

I love those mujahdeens who still fighting with kufar in Afghanistan ,Kashmir,Palestine without modren weaponary only for sake of their independence and reward from Allah .

 

[ejaz007]

Forces succeeding in FATA, says Rehman Malik

ISLAMABAD: Adviser to Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik on Tuesday at the Parliament House, said forces were succeeding in the fight against terrorism in FATA and Swat. "We have taken control of Mingora and you will see a clear change soon," he said. He added that the law and order situation was improving across the NWFP and FATA. About the increase in Lashkar-e-Jhangvi activities in Punjab, he said the situation was under the government’s control. Referring to the Taliban’s new lists of targets, he said politicians had been targeted in the past so the new list was no surprise. app

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

What Pakhtuns think​

Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Farhat Taj

There are many Pakhtun who argue that some elite state intelligence agencies and the Taliban, as of Swat for example, are 'natural allies' and feed on each other. The Taliban want a besieged and helpless population whom they can rule with impunity. The ISI, they claim, is facilitating this rule and in return the Taliban create chaos and violence. Some may ask the obvious question: why would any one want chaos and violence in the area?

Two arguments are put forward by many Pakhtuns in this regard. Some refer to the well-known but often-discredited theory of strategic depth, which envisions that Afghanistan will become the fifth province of Pakistan and that the central Asian Islamic states will become its client states. Thus Pakistan will become a robust regional power vis-a-vis India in South Asia and acquire a leadership role in the Muslim world. Therefore, by having a region close to Afghanistan which is full of violence and chaos is a way of preventing the US, India and Iran from establishing a firm foothold in the area. Also, US and NATO forces are in Afghanistan, which means that it is important to have a kind of a buffer between Afghanistan and the rest of Pakistan. Furthermore, many American think-tanks are of the view that a chaotic FATA is bad for both US and NATO forces because it allows the militants a haven to launch attacks inside Afghanistan, and then retreat back to Pakistan.

There are of course many other Pakhtuns who do not give credence to the theory of strategic depth. Their view is that if the conflict in FATA were to end and the region became peaceful, the flow of dollars from America would stop. There are also Pakhtuns who believe that foreign intelligence agencies such as RAW, Mossad or the CIA are involved in the violence. But they too primarily blame local state actors and their pursuit of the doctrine of strategic depth or of an unhindered flow of aid money from America as primary motives for what is happening in the area. They are just not ready to accept that the Taliban can and are able to occupy large parts of Pakistan without the tacit consent or support of these state actors. Of course, one has to only look at the past and see that it is a part of the public record that people like Nek Mohammad were welcomed with open arms by the then Peshawar corps commander or that some Taliban leaders were given funds in exchange for changing their ways – and which they did not!

One man said: "Look at the ease with which the Taliban have been occupying Waziristan for years and now Swat. How is that possible given that we have one of the largest and well-trained armies in the world?"

What I have written in the two parts of my article are views gained from travelling very recently across NWFP and parts of FATA. I spoke to internally displaced people of FATA in NWFP, daily wage-earners, public transport drivers, shop-keepers, low-ranking government employees, journalists, lawyers, students, teachers and housewives. Almost everywhere people were resentful of the military leadership and the ISI and held them responsible for the brutal excesses of the Taliban. They were not even willing to give the benefit of the doubt to the ISI. Many people said that if the ISI was sincere with the Pakhtuns it must target-kill the entire Taliban leadership just like the Taliban have done in the case of over 200 tribal leaders and must restore the writ of the government in the Taliban-occupied areas.

People are especially angry over the presence of so many foreign Taliban militants and refer to them as no better than 'mad dogs'.

I would humbly request the army chief and the ISI director-general to pay heed to what the people of NWFP and FATA are saying and to act to remove their grievances. This is crucial both for both Pakhtun society as well as for the survival of the state. It should be remembered that although an ethnic minority, the Pakhtuns are better integrated in the state structure than other minorities such as the Baloch or Sindhis. They have served the nation with their blood in times of war and also in other state-related duties. If the current violence is left unchecked, and given the perception – right or wrong – among many Pakhtun that certain state institutions are behind it or are acquiescing in it, the further integration of the community with the rest of the country will be put at risk.

Last, but by no means least, I would also request fellow citizens to build up pressure on the government and the military to decisively deal with the Taliban and restore the government's writ in FATA and NWFP. The armed forces are financed by taxpayers hard-earned money and we all have a right to demand that the army provide us security and protect us from extremists who want to butcher us and destroy are way of life.



The writer is a research fellow at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Gender Research, University of Oslo and a member of Aryana Institute for Regional Research and Advocacy. Email: bergen34@yahoo.com
What Pakhtuns think

-----------------------------------------------

"Many people said that if the ISI was sincere with the Pakhtuns it must target-kill the entire Taliban leadership just like the Taliban have done in the case of over 200 tribal leaders and must restore the writ of the government in the Taliban-occupied areas."

I say the Military should fulfill that demand a hundred and ten percent.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

An excerpt from the same author on why the situation in Swat is going bad, and the Army apparently doing nothing;

Local residents complain that while the military has killed hundreds of civilians, it has killed only a few hardcore Taliban. The brother of a serving minister of the NWFP, who was in the police and was well-known for standing up to the Taliban, was killed in broad daylight in Mingora, and the perpetrators succeeded in escaping. How then can the people believe that the military is serious in its operation against the Taliban? The result is that an increasingly people in Swat see the Taliban and the Army as two sides of the same coin.

To crosscheck the views of the local people I had a long discussions with two Army offers, a colonel and a major. (Neither was stationed in Swat but the said they were aware of the situation of their colleagues in Swat.) They denied any notion of the army supporting the Taliban. They emphasised that the militants hid among the civilian population and the Army had to move very carefully to avoid civilian damage. They said the Army is constrained by its sensitivity to media reaction: there is media uproar when civilians are killed in military operations and almost complete silence when militants kill civilians. They also pointed out that the civil administration has abandoned the people of Swat. There is almost no one in areas cleared by the army--the police or the administration--to resume routine work. They also said that Army commanders in Swat had requested key federal and provincial political leaders to come to areas cleared by it, under full military protection, to restore the confidence of the people of Swat in the government and the Army, but to no avail.

Following my meeting with the two army officers I also met an NWFP journalist who had had had long discussions with the military commanders in Swat. The journalist more or less confirmed the views expressed by the two army officers.

There seem to be a lack of confidence between the Army in Swat and the politicians and this is to the disadvantage of the people of Swat. The two sides have to remove the lack of confidence in each other if they wish to retain respect among the people of Swat, who now feel abandoned by both the army and the political leaders.

The media should be robust in its response to the violence used by the Taliban. Many people in Swat also believe they have been abandoned by the media as well. One person told me he had been contacting famous media persons like, Hamid Mir, Kamran Khan and Dr Shahid Masood to as them to highlight in their TV shows the daily violence committed by the Taliban, but none of them ever replied.

Any civilised society would have come to a complete standstill upon an incident like the disrespect to the dead body of Pir Samiullah. But in Pakistan it has been business as usual. When the holy warriors insulted the dead body of Dr Najibullah the society in Pakistan remained indifferent. Now this act of disrespect has been committed well inside Pakistan--Swat has no border with Afghanistan. I am afraid that in future such acts could be repeating themselves in Lahore and Islamabad. People across Pakistan must send--for their self-interest, if not for moral reasons--a strong message to the Taliban that their brutal means of violence are not acceptable. Otherwise, we must be ready to see more such kicks to the face of civilisation in our country.

pashtunpeaceforum.org - Farhat Taj Articles

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Quit trolling suresh. You got an answer on the other thread.

 

[waraich66]

Mr PM, go to Swat and FATA not Davos
By Dr Shireen M Mazari • Jan 23rd, 2009 • Category: Politics, Worth A Second Look • 8 Comments •
Yes, many of us have been guilty of ignoring the escalating crisis in Swat as well as across the FATA region which has now spread to the settled areas right up to and into the provincial capital of Peshawar. Like many other commentators, I have written on the ongoing destructive US-led war on terror but have not actually gone to the FATA region and seen for oneself the actual state of terror and killings that are going on – both at the hands of the drones, the militants and the Pakistan military. Perhaps each of us sticks to familiar areas and hopes others with greater knowledge and expertise on FATA and the Frontier province will focus on the increasing despair and devastation being visited on our fellow Pakistanis in these areas. But the truth is that all of us as Pakistanis should look more closely at what is happening in our own land.

There are those who have pointed out that Swat is not an area where the US military has intervened to kill with their drones and missiles, so one cannot lay the blame for what is happening at their doorstep. To some extent that is certainly the case. The problem in Swat can be dated to the time the local administrative system with its free Qazi courts was abolished and the national administrative model with all its failings and corruption was implanted in Swat. But the issue now is far beyond the restoration of the Qazi courts since criminal elements have become enmeshed with various brands of militant extremism and the fallout of the US “war on terror” into the areas bordering FATA, to enforce a reign of terror in the region. But perhaps the worst aspect of it all has been the abrogation of governmental responsibility by the provincial and federal governments. Everything has effectively been handed over to the military which has neither the capacity nor the mandate for establishing governance. Surely the provincial government should have taken charge and called the paramilitary or even the military forces simply to maintain law and order and protect ordinary civilians till the police was bolstered – and these coercive forces of the state should have been under civilian control in terms of their operations, as provided for in the Constitution. Instead, the civilian order moved out and handed everything over to the military – or that is simply what seems to be evident. And so we have seen the Army rushing from one area to another putting out bush fires! While the Taliban – and it is interesting to note that the Tehreek-i-Taliban-Pakistan only emerged after 2004 so the roots can be traced to the US’s murderous war on terror – are destroying schools for a warped ideology, the army has also chosen to use schools as their trenches and their shelters thereby making them military targets.

It is time the provincial government, with adequate resources provided by the centre, move back into control and begin establishing the writ of the government by reinstating the Qazi courts and providing effective governance and rule of law to the people of the area. The much maligned process of dialogue needs to be established but with the backing of force on the part of the government. And by definition, dialogue has to be with militants since they are the source of the problem and they are our citizens. Paramilitary forces should be there to provide the security for schools and to the local people including the local political leadership. It is inconceivable that if the media can access the militants and those terrorising the populace, the state cannot bring the guilty to justice and the military and paramilitary forces, with all their intelligence and physical resources cannot identify, isolate and arrest those guilty of murder, mayhem and terrorisation of the people of Swat. Clearly, deliberate games are being played by various powerful elements within the state while the people of Swat bleed on.

The same is true of FATA. The military should never have gone in simply because the US wanted it so. In any case, no military can function effectively without a political and economic policy framework since it cannot do an endless holding operation as it is being made to do in FATA. It is time to take the military out while bringing in political and economic measures as well as instituting a political dialogue with all Pakistani stakeholders without preconditions as was done in Northern Ireland. As for citing earlier failed dialogues, the fact of the matter is that all dialogues were destroyed by US military attacks whenever dialogues had taken place or were taking place. This is what turned the locals against the military also- since the latter began to be viewed as fighting the American war.

In any case, it is time to take the military out of FATA and replace it with paramilitary forces – again under civilian control. The civilian government, in this case the federal government, has to take ownership and direction of policy for re-establishing peace in the area. Why has no political leader visited these troubled areas in all these years, especially after the February 2008 elections? There is a need to bring the Political Parties Act into FATA as well as numerous small businesses, without waiting for the US funded ROZs which will then not be needed. So what if some of that money goes to waste; some will be used effectively and set the ball rolling. If the locals see they have a stake in the system, they will isolate the militants and the foreigners. As for the suicide bombers, as has been stated in more detail in earlier columns, these are not the ideologically dedicated bombers of the Palestinian variety, or part of any military fighting cadre as in the case of the LTTE. Instead these are brainwashed, extremely poor young men (between the ages of 16-22 it would appear from some of the data) who are removed from local madrassahs to remote areas and brainwashed by professionals. But if the FATA population isolates the foreigners and militants, the brainwashing centres will also suffer a setback. Meanwhile the state needs to ensure that the DPIs from Bajaur and other areas are not kept in such miserable conditions that they become breeding grounds for future militants.

Sound too fanciful? Not really. In fact, only when militancy and chaos are at a peak does the state find itself able, if it has the gumption, to move drastically in an “out of the box” mode. But the first beginning that needs to be made is to create space between ourselves and the US so that we can effectively implement a policy of space denial to the terrorists in our midst. The alliance with the US has to go. As for some Pakistanis’ excitement over the Obama presidency, we should get real. Obama has already committed more soldiers to Afghanistan, so the US military centric approach is going to continue in this region. Additionally, his silence on the Gaza crisis was a chilling reminder of the non-value of Muslim lives in the face of state terrorism by Israel. And let us not forget that Obama has repeatedly voiced his justification for US forces coming into Pakistan – and also Indian military forays into Pakistan in pursuit of “terrorists”.

On the nuclear issue also, the hype is once again building up against Pakistan. The point is that with Obama, Pakistan has to revise its disastrous alliance with the Bush Administration. Bases need to be reclaimed; logistic routes need to be re-examined given the mayhem NATO supplies cause for the local population in Peshawar; and our military presence in FATA needs to also be reviewed. New rules of the game need to be put in place. Nothing has dented the military’s standing in Pakistan’s civil society more than its present actions in FATA and Swat. We cannot afford the mistrust that is being generated between the nation and the military – which may be part of the long term US agenda.

As for the Obama Administration supporting democracy, that will only happen when the Americans can distinguish between institutions and rule of law on the one hand, and individuals in power on the other, and move towards supporting the former rather than the latter. In US history so far that has not happened in terms of the Muslim world (remember toppling of Iran’s Mossadaq, support for Zia, Musharraf, brokering of the NRO and rejection of the democratically elected Hamas). So let us look inwards for our own solutions, even if they begin with rejecting our present alliance with the US. Therein lies the real challenge. Let the President, Prime Minister and his cabinet members go to Swat and FATA and meet the people – instead of traipsing off overseas at the slightest opportunity. It is the Pakistanis in these beleaguered areas that need you right now – not Dubai, Washington or Davos.

 

[Anwar2]

Pak Army in FATA / Swat is facing a traumatizing situation.

The soldiers and officers are committed Pakistanis, they don’t want to kill their own people on Pakistani soil. It rips them apart from inside when they are operating on their own soil.

Only a small percentage is “professional” soldiers (mercenaries); whose forefathers were equally at ease fighting for the crown in Mesopotamia and Palestine in 1915, or in FATA as part of British garrisons. The majority is just not part of it.

They know in their heart that they are fighting America’s war. They are being used as Camp followers to a Power that bombs their own country.

They see their senior Generals visibly taking dictation from the US officials and Centcom Generals.

Some of them have faced the agony of handing over Pakistani men / and women to CIA to face torture, and disappearances.

When they get the pep talks from the Senior officers that now the primary job of the Army is to fight “Terror”, as the external border have now become irrelevant.

That’s like dying several deaths every day.

 

[Salahadin]

The Obama administration's threat to make Pakistan more accountable in the war on terror is materialising fast, with Washington now

withholding $55 million from the latest tranche of reimbursement of expenses Pakistan claims to have incurred while fighting against terrorism.

The decision was taken after auditors raised objections about some of the bills handed over by Pakistan for expenses incurred in the war on the Pak-Afghan border.

Financial advisor in Pakistan PM's office Shaukat Tarin, confirming the development, put down the US decision to a change in accounting procedures. He added that Pakistan has demanded a re-assessment from Washington to enable release of the remaining amount.

But the decision assumes significance in view of Obama administration's known stance that Islamabad must deliver on its commitment as a member of the coalition against terror in order to receive assistance.

The move is being seen as toeing the line of Obama's overall plan to instil accountability in Pakistan, a reluctant partner in the war against terror. It comes on the heels of the first foreign policy document released by White House under the new administration where the Americans warned that the flow of non-military aid to Pakistan would be made conditional to how it performs as US's ally in the fight against Taliban.

The insistence on accountability, in fact, started during the fag end of Bush administration which Obama, during his campaign, had attacked for being derelict in ensuring Pakistan's compliance with its anti-terror pledge.

The Bush administration had, in December, presented then president-elect Obama's advisors with a study on the lapses in the 7-year-old war on terror which mostly highlighted wastage of roughly $10 billion provided to Pakistan since 2002 for its war on terror expenses.

India, however, was keeping its fingers crossed, not sure whether the development, coming amid signs of Obama administration's inclination to link J&K to the wider regional problem of Afghanistan, marked a clear shift in US stance towards Pakistan.

Strategic affairs expert Brahma Chellaney sought to down play the development, saying that aid cut was no reason for India to feel elated. "I would say India needs to be cautious. This action in any case predates Obama as it was initiated by the Bush administration last year. They have also not said that they are not going to pay the amount. They have only withheld it till Pakistan provides more evidence to back the claim," said Chellaney.

According to a report in New York Times last year, despite having provided $10 billion as expenses on war against terror, the US did not even have the basic capacity for counter-insurgency operations.

The report also highlighted how Pakistan, while promising to destroy al-Qaida and Taliban, actually kept its main focus on India and concluded that the military aid might have been used to arm its forces against India, not just the army but also LeT which has often acted as a force multiplier for Pakistan. Many of the equipment bought by Pakistan from the aid were bought keeping India in mind, said the report.

The media in the US has often highlighted comments from American military officials saying that most of the money had not reached the men who needed them. Men in Frontier Corps, according to these reports, were still carrying weapons which were barely functional and did not even have proper shoes.

Chellaney, in fact, is not very hopeful about the Obama administration vis-a-vis India's interests. "They have announced that non-military aid to Pakistan would be increased. As for non-military aid, the US is trying to condition it to specifics like Pakistan's performance against al-Qaida and Taliban only on its western border. The Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act 2008, which advocates more aid for Pakistan and is sponsored by Joe Biden, doesn't in any way suggest that that US will try to penalise Pakistan," said Chellaney.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

They know in their heart that they are fighting America’s war.

I hope that they see the elimination of takfiris who have destroyed close to 200 schools , butchered innocent civilians and soldiers alike as a war that must be fought for Pakistan, and not one for the US, since it is a war being fought for Pakistan.

The Swatis maight be upset with the Army currently, but it is not becasue they have attacked the Taliban, rather becasue they have not eliminated them yet.

Your lies are becoming more and more apparent with the reporting from the region by various journalists and news organizations - all of it is a validation that the people of Swat do not care for the Taliban (distributing sweets when the military was deployed the first time and retook taliban occupied areas).

They resent the military for not doing enough, and to that effect we also have plenty of analysis indicating that the current deterioration is linked to not having enough troops on the ground (possible redeployment to Bajaur for the operations there, and to the Eastern front as a response to the Indian warmongering) and a lack of coordination between the ANP and the military in terms of providing services in and securing the cleared areas - and not because there is some sort of silent mutiny going on.

 

[waraich66]

Main factor is that there is difference in opinion not only in local public but also in army ,i know few army officers refused to fight in fata,bajour,wana and swat .

Untill unless whole nation dont fight with complete unity and strength we could not win this WAR .

How local comunity will support PA if they dont have electricity,gas,clean water,justice and fear of drone attacks ?????

 

[All-Green]

Agreed that Bhutto was rejected by west but he was trailed and hanged fairly for murder of Nawab Kassuri .

My only point is that we should not blame west for his death, if it was deserved (as per your assessment) then justice was served. If it was politically motivated (my point of view) then still it was internal power struggle and so we cannot blame west.

Gen Zia can not be blamed for killing of Bhutto as stated above but he rejected final appeal from Bhutto for pardon which he rejected with concent of all core cammanders

Please understand that i am well aware of the way things worked in Zia's era, my father is a retired veteran soldier who was serving at the time...when i asked his views he answered briefly...
"Son, you are The ARMY Chief (and Marshall Law administrator) and you mention to your Corps Commanders that i think Bhutto should be hanged...what are they going to say?"
To me that maybe very close to what would have happened.
Since it is not a military matter they would have considered this the personal opinion of the Chief who was all in all at the time and no one would have dared to oppose the opinion, knowing fully well that it would result in conflict with the Chief and Marshall law administrator. Therefore the assumption that it was not an individual decision is not entirely accurate, Zia could have chosen to pardon Bhutto (heads of state have the power to pardon).
Question is why he did not do it, whether it was to further his political agenda or Zia was the paragon of Justice and equality; we can only conclude based on his personality as perceived by us.
To me it was a politically motivated step to cement his position at the helm of the country. To you he was serving justice.
Maybe it was bit of both to some other people but the irrefutable fact remains that if he had chosen to pardon Bhutto it could have been possible for him.

Agreed but Zia implemented the idea of Bhutto so credit goes to both.

Do understand that I am not a fan of either, i am just stating my personal opinion that for someone to take such an initiative a big credit must be given, for the leaders who came afterward it was followup of a very bold initiative by Bhutto. To my mind therefore Bhutto was the chief architect of our Nuclear program.

Musharaf down graded pakistan by accepting threat of Bush on WOT.I graded him most coward general in history of Pakistan.I am sure he made agreement with US for surgical strikes inside pakistan

I doubt what other leaders could have done in place of Mush since they are all Lions when they are in opposition but as soon as they are elected by the the nation, they all turn cowards. Anyways I maintain that we should not blame everything on Musharraf and praise Zia whereas both essentially overthrew the government and prolonged their rule with severe repercussions. Musharraf made many mistakes but Zia initiated many problems which our country is paying a heavy price for since the 90s.
The only way to reduce such actions is to let constitution be supreme and punish those who breach it, regardless of who they are and what they did for the country.

Pakistan is world seventh atomic power not a third world power less country.But what we did with our heros AQ KHAN ,we should be ashamed on that .

If AQ Khan was guilty of sharing our secrets then regardless of his previous achievements he should be held accountable along with any accomplice, if he was not guilty then there should not be any punishment.

Regarding all our current perils also remember the true justice of Islam; whereby the greatest general in our history (and one whom the west fails to give due respect) Khalid bin Waleed (RA) was removed from his command because he was spending lavishly on rewarding poets and this was not deemed appropriate behavior by the Caliph. It was not even a crime.
Did he rebel against his cousin Caliph Omar (RA) even though it was deemed as quite a harsh punishment by many Muslims?
No, he accepted it as the decision of state and for Muslim Unity fought as an ordinary soldier. In hindsight both these greatest of Muslims did something extraordinary which serves as a lesson for all the Muslims.

Regardless of the debate of democracy vs dictatorship, the vision of Quaid e Azam was raped by constant coups, extremely self centered and corrupt politics etc. by many leaders in our history. It is time we at least try to ensure that these things are not repeated; in order to do so we should accept that mistakes of all leaders and should not tolerate the breach of constitution by anyone.
I think if some inquiries are carried out into past tragedies we can at least make them public and tell the nation the names of all the persons responsible for the loss of the nation.
A compromised sense of Justice will not work in the long run if we want to be a truly emancipated society.
At least in our thoughts we should stop accepting things such as necessary evil and maybe decades down the line we do manage to create the Pakistan our forefathers wanted.

Pakistan is strongest country of central asia and muslim world and remain ,what we need is visionary leadership to make it world super power.Pakistan is on top of target of Israel,india and Zoinist regime ,which are our real enemies.

We are not the strongest economically, actually quite weak in our economy.
Central Asia is a big place, aren't you being too unrealistic?
Please understand that i want our nation to realize what we need to do, if we say we are the strongest then that kills the whole purpose of defining a real strategy to solve our problems.

China is big power silently observing US but actually dont want US presence in Central asia , playing important role in defeat of US in Afghanistan .

Here ,I appreciate Musharaf for help to iran for development of missile technology .Now Iran is very much stronger country that is why Israel not attacked on its nukes assets.Credit goes to Musharaf.

Good to know you saw some good in him as well.

Remember pakistan has world best irrigation system and planty of water resourses future war will be faught for waters in world.
We should look toward china and russia and EU for future development.US economy is now disintegrating could not be able to act as super power in next decade.

I wanted to mention this before but glad you have come to it.
We had the most developed irrigation system courtesy the British and yes we then made more advancements and did a good job but after the Ayub Era we again became slack and now are in such a pathetic state that we are totally becoming dependent on India when it comes to water, they are more and more in control as evident in recent Chenab river fiasco.
My point is that we had a huge huge resource at our disposal in the form of extensive irrigation system, we did not make additional water storage systems dispersed through out the country to achieve a much better reliance on our own stored water. This is the failure of leadership and has landed us in a very precarious position. Still we are not doing anything about it.

China is a good ally so they will help us but Russia and EU need to be convinced that cooperating with us is in their benefit.
For this we shall need more incentives for them and like i said Gwadar is a key here if we manage to tackle the menacing insurgency within our borders.

Do be optimistic but please be realistic as well...
Understand your situation better than your enemies to outmaneuver them on the global arena...
Those who fool themselves are the biggest fools of all...
Identify and admit your mistakes to enable your whole nation and future generation to learn from it...
We as a nation have to think on these lines.

waraich66, please do not treat this as a personal post whereby i am locking horns with you, you are entitled to your opinions and i respect that.
I just want us to progress as a people and attain our true place in the world as a respectable, successful and emancipated society with moral values that reflect why we chose to create Pakistan, i love this country and genuinely want it to be a torch bearer for humanity.

I shall like to conclude by saying that Allah helps those who help themselves.


Mods.
Please forgive me for derailing a bit off topic here but i felt that to understand our current situation we needed more insight into our past as well. This was done in the best of intentions

 

[waraich66]

I appreciate your sentiments ,we need to know what are our strengths and weekness to continue our travel as great emerging nation.

We should remember the dream of Allama Iqbal

Aik hu muslim haram ki pasbani ka lia
Nile ka sahil se la kar tab ka ke kasgar.

Again i want to say when you do analysis present external and internal problems of muslims and pakistan also consider the US unilateralism and dreams of zoinist regime of promised land and also be aware of few traitors(leaders of muslim countries) in our nations playing in their hands.

Muslim nation is great nation which is again getting strength ,US and allies should realise this fact financially and technologically muslims are week but their greatest strength lies in their faith and IMAN ,who ever try to fight and try to defeat them , Allah will break their strength(present down turn of imperialism) and made them history.

 

[peter chamberlin]

US/Pakistan Showdown/Throwdown July12 By: Peter Chamberlin

Obama has begun the tedious work of separating himself from the failed policies of his predecessor. He has halted pending Bush regulations and executive orders and reversed CIA policies on torture and secret prisons. If the President was sincere in his interview with Al-Arabiya, about wanting to assure Muslims that “Americans are not your enemy,” then he must be willing to reexamine all elements of the rogue agency’s terror war, especially the more controversial elements of it.
If President Obama really seeks a fresh start with the Muslim world --establishing a humane new foreign policy for the United States to guide us to an acceptable conclusion of the war-- then he must make a visible clean break with all the failed Bush policies. A fresh start with Pakistan, our most important ally in the terror war, would begin by ending CIA Predator strikes and cutting-off all support for their gangs of criminals and terrorists who now plague the country. The illegal CIA actions extend far beyond the widely known abductions and torture, to far more sinister dark programs of abductions and murderous attacks which are indistinguishable from “terrorism.” Obama should understand what most every citizen of Pakistan understands, that the CIA is the source of most of the “terror” that comes out of that region. The CIA is also the source of the terror that our soldiers fight against.

The Bush presidency was an aberration, a deviation from our historical path. Undoing the many mistakes that have been made will represent a long overdue repudiation of a wrong response to a violent attack by, as yet, undetermined organizations. This cannot be avoided or sugar-coated. The United States treated the 911 attack as an opportunity to plunder, in effect, declaring war upon the world because of a militant organization with deep roots in the CIA. The spy agency proceeded to shape the forthcoming military actions by US and coalition forces, setting into motion the plan for total world conquest that Cheney had been carrying-around since 1992. Obama must demolish this war plan and begin the process of rebuilding the destruction left in its wake.

The repercussions from the illegal CIA torture and prison programs have reverberated throughout the world, turning all free-thinking individuals against us. Covert operations in Afghanistan and Iraq to enlist local gangs and tribal militias actually fuel the greater wars, serving to amplify natural anger at American brutality, driving the opposition and guaranteeing a never-ending supply of resisters to our war plans. Other CIA actions, such as “targeted assassinations” using Predator drones and the creation of new terrorist groups such as “Tehreek e-Taliban Pakistan” (TTP), completes the repertoire of crimes and double-crosses which fuel the militant movements involved in fighting against American troops. Reining-in the CIA’s war-making authority completely is the first and most important step towards ending this war or establishing a saner more moral foreign policy.

The CIA program for victory through the maximum abuse of human rights is patterned after the Israeli Mossad model of counter-terrorism which has failed so miserably in Palestine, Lebanon and throughout the Arab world. The Israeli model is based on intimidation through the merciless application of technological superiority, creating a state of permanent conflict in the process. There is no room for “peace” in this version of “counter-terrorism.” One need only look as far as the destruction and suffering inflicted upon Gaza to understand where the Israeli war-fighting policies (abduction, torture, targeted assassinations, walls and waves of genocidal fury) inevitably lead.

We have joined the Israelis in the club of pariah nations because of our inhumane attacks upon Muslim civilians and those by our proxy forces, making us outcasts who vainly seek allies to salvage our losing battles. If Obama insists on following Bush, Cheney, Wolfowitz and Olmert down this road, then he is marking himself as a moral equal to those mental midgets.

If Obama is serious about finishing the wars, he will not continue the invasion of Pakistan that Bush began with last July’s order to escalate covert actions in the Frontier region. The evidence so far speaks volumes about Obama’s plans for our unfortunate ally.
“MIRANSHAH, Pakistan (AFP) – Missiles fired from suspected US drones on Friday slammed into presumed militant dens in Pakistan killing 15 people, including three children and at least four civilians, officials said.
The strikes, which pulverized two houses in the northwest tribal belt, were the first since US President Barack Obama took office and one day after he appointed a brand new special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan...
The town, a known Taliban and Al Qaeda hub, is also the main stomping ground of Maulvi Nazir, a key Taliban commander accused by the United States of recruiting and sending fighters to Afghanistan to attack US and NATO forces.”

The secret war in Pakistan, referred to euphemistically as the “counter-insurgency,” is an immoral series of criminal actions. The counter-insurgency is indistinguishable from other “terrorism.” Pakistani civilians and Army personnel are attacked with Predator drones and by groups of CIA-sponsored terrorists (called “neo-Taliban”), in order to terrorize the targeted areas, while the Pakistani Army carries-out a US-induced war in the north, sowing even more terror and creating floods of refugees. The effect is a populace that besieges its own government, seeking relief.

The most visible manifestation of this secret war upon our trusty ally is the ongoing Predator airstrikes in FATA. The new administration is currently trying to ignore the issue by refusing to comment.

Both VP Biden and the new White House Press Secretary, Robert Gibbs have refused to comment on the Obama-ordered airstrikes.

The only thing new about the Obama position is this blatant attempt to hide administration intentions in the “war on terror” behind this challenge to First Amendment rights of the free press to report vital truths to the American people. Truth cannot be denied by simple edict or by dismissals from high officials in the age of the Internet. The foreign press is providing grist to American reporters who are brave enough to ask the relevant questions. The reporters in the two press conferences were seeking clarification about the attacks based on the foreign press reports.

The big problem with studying foreign media is in learning to get past the national filters, to get past the clarifying lenses of the national character that shapes each report, in order to understand the facts contained therein. This has probably never been truer than it is in reading the foreign press reports on the Predator attacks in Pakistan. Consider the following report on the target of Obama’s Predator attack from Dawn:

“Khalil Dawar was reported to be associated with the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan of Baitullah Mehsud.”
It may be understandable that a reporter for a local newspaper like Dawn would not understand who’s who in the local militancy and confuse Maulvi Nazir and Baitullah Mehsud, or fear to report the truth in the dangerous Frontier region, but for the military intelligence of the world’s only superpower to consistently mistake known enemies is inexcusably shoddy spymanship, or worse, sheer deception. What does this say about the American/Western media that promotes the fiction that our forces are attacking “public enemy number one” in Pakistan, afraid to do a reporter’s job and ask the question—why are Predators targeting his enemies instead?
Most of the recent Predator attacks in Pakistan have been in South Waziristan against Maulvi Nazir’s forces. Why are the Western media and subservient Pakistani press outlets reporting that these attacks are upon Mehsud’s rivals? That is the question that Obama’s White House must answer. Why carry-on with the failed Bush policies that have squandered the war that was nearly won?
Baitullah Mehsud is “public enemy number one.” According to Army investigators, he is considered to be responsible for 75-80% of all suicide bombers in Pakistan and has been implicated in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto and the bombing of the Islamabad Marriott.
Baitullah Mehsud
Approximately 12,000 civilians and 200 security forces have died in Pakistani Army operations against Mehsud and his allies in Swat and Bajaur, while killing only 75 “neo-Taliban” in the process. Curiously, the United States has sent no Predators to attack him or allied militant leaders since Bush proclaimed the Frontier region to be the new “third front” in the terror war, not even when Pakistan provided the exact coordinates for Mehsud.
Brigadier Mahmood Shah, who served as secretary of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and chief of security until 2005, says Mehsud is unimpressive. Brig. Mahmood Shah,

"He is not much of a man, inconsistent government policy has made him so important. I don't think people respect him because they think that all their troubles are because of him.”
"He is very clever, he is very cool-minded, he is very calculating. He is not a jumpy character."
Shah believes that Mehsud has been able to rule over fellow tribesmen who are sick of conflict through a campaign of intimidation.
Baitullah has built his reputation as a powerful warlord by building on the work of his predecessor, distant cousin, Abdullah Mehsud. An early veteran of Guantanamo’s torture and indoctrination program, Abdullah was mysteriously released back onto the battlefield in early 2004, where he somehow managed to immediately muster a small army of well-equipped Afghan and Uzbek mercenaries (“neo-Taliban”) around him. He moved back to Pakistan and began serving American/”al Qaida” interests by kidnapping Chinese engineers working in FATA. Because of the military heat that Abdullah’s actions brought down on the region, the real Taliban leadership in Afghanistan rebuked him, forcing him to turn-over command of his “new Taliban” force to Baitullah. He returned to the fight in Afghanistan in shame.
According to defense analyst Hassan Abbas:

“Baitullah Mahsud, the most powerful pro-Taliban commander in that area, is unlikely to play the kind of role played by Maulvi Nazeer. He was publicly blamed by President Musharraf for sending fighters to Afghanistan against US-led coalition forces, and warned him to desist from the practice.”
Baitullah came into conflict with neighboring Waziri warlord Nazir because of Sharia-enforcing attacks that were being carried-out by his Uzbek “al Qaida” forces under Mehsud’s command. The foreigners under his command appear to be the “al Qaida” forces that the US insists it is seeking to eliminate in FATA.

Maulvi Nazir
After laying down his arms in the 2004 amnesty program, Nazir became Pakistan’s great hope in 2006. He is an ally of the Pakistani government and has helped it by evicting Uzbek militants from his territory around Wana. He failed to fill the role that the Army had anticipated for him by refusing to lead further attacks on “al Qaida” forces outside of his home turf. The Army had hoped to replicate the “Sunni awakening” anti-Qaida movement from Anbar province in Iraq. All the elements were in place, Sharia enforcers, terrorist attacks, Sunni militants, military support; only one thing was missing, tribal division. Unlike the tribal situation in Iraq, the Pashtuns are one people, with very tight familial loyalties.

Even though Nazir did not step into the leadership of the counter-insurgency, the pattern he had set, of tribal self-defenders forming tribal lashkars to confront foreign troublemakers has been somewhat effective at bringing peace and order to parts of their wild land.

“The organizers of these lashkars were further discouraged when the Taliban began targeting all those tribal elders who had been part of the militias. Since then, more than 300 tribal elders have been killed in targeted killings in the tribal belt alongside the Afghanistan border, stretching from South Waziristan to the Bajaur area (Aaj TV, October 28).”
Nazir’s great mistake was in challenging Baitullah Mehsud’s “neo-Taliban” Uzbek forces in South Waziristan and by extension, the powerful forces who sponsor him. Was it Maulvi’s attacks upon the fake “Taliban” that put him in the CIA’s sights, or was it his willingness to make peace with the Army?

Other than Nazir, only Jalaluddin Haqqani in North Waziristan has come under CIA Predator attack since last summer. Both men share a common guilt for having opted for peace with the Pakistani government. The other thing that these two warlords have in common is that each of them occupies land on the Pakistani side situated in the headlands of one of only two mountain passes that lead into south-eastern Afghanistan. The US has judged people as terrorists simply because militants pass through their neighbourhoods, once again, following the Israeli model of scapegoating entire populations for events beyond their control.
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Pakistan has been set-up as the “fall guy,” the all-purpose excuse for the failed war in Afghanistan. Afghanistan was lost because of the foolish decisions made by the previous administration. Obama cannot win this war with an Iraqi-type surge; he can only add to the death and the destruction of the nation that so many people have invested so much in its survival over the past thirty years. Pakistan has been a faithful and steadfast ally through the entire thirty year “war on terror.” It is time to end this war by reaching across the borders and calming the beast that we have together unleashed.
If Obama is serious about all the reassuring things that he has said, then he will stop the terror and turn the money saved into reconstruction funds. He will stop offensive actions on both sides of the Durand Line and place the troops in defensive positions at the mouths of the handful of mountain passes which slope down into Afghanistan. If the Taliban choose to mount an offensive against these defensive positions then they will meet the full force of combined US/Pakistani forces, with all available satellites and attack drones focused on the real leaders of the false “Taliban” by the Pakistani Army. Instead of accepting the will of Pakistan and maintaining a defensive posture along the border (guarding the Afghan side of the narrow passes more efficiently to eliminate the infiltration into Afghanistan), we prefer a bloodier more simple solution.
Haqqani is an old veteran of the Soviet war and an old friend of the CIA. At the beginning of the current Afghan war he made a peace offer to his old friends, only to witness the kidnapping of his brother Ibrahim by US Special Forces, under pressure from another local warlord rival, Pacha Khan Zadran.

Zadran is a powerful Pashtun leader, who bears a grudge against Pakistan over an arrest and against the US for killing one of his sons and sending another one (plus a brother and a neighbour) to Guantanamo. Even though he was somehow elected to the Afghan legislature in 2005, Zadran is considered by US forces to be a troublemaker, known for setting-off fire fights with local rivals and setting-up illegal checkpoints on local highways to extort money from truckers. If the US Army “intelligence” squelched the rapprochement with Haqqani on Zadran’s word, then their motives are even more foolish, or more sinister than those of the CIA.
Haqqani was targeted because he too, like Maulvi Nazir, dared to express an interest in peace negotiations, instead of fighting against us. The Predator and terror attacks are psywar experiments in the strategy of tension, part of the diabolical plan to destabilize Pakistan.
The covert war plan began to fall-apart on June 11, 2008, when the TTP forces of Baitullah Mehsud staged a preemptive attack on US Special Forces who were attempting to set-up a secret command post near the Pakistani Frontier Scout outpost at Gora Prai. The US forces called in a Predator airstrike which killed 11 Pakistani soldiers.

One month later, on July 11, unidentified coalition forces fired up to sixty mortar rounds into Angoor Adda, South Waziristan. The turning point in US/Pakistan relations came the next day on July 12, 2008, when military and intelligence officials from both governments sat down in Rawalpindi to confront their counterparts with proof that the other side was supporting terrorism in the area. Pakistan did their best to get US technical assistance:
“The top US military commander and the CIA official were also asked why the CIA-run predator and the US military did not swing into action when they were provided the exact location of Baitullah Mehsud, Pakistan’s enemy number one and the mastermind of almost every suicide operation against the Pakistan Army and the ISI since June 2006.

One such precise piece of information was made available to the CIA on May 24 when Baitullah Mehsud drove to a remote South Waziristan mountain post in his Toyota Land Cruiser to address the press and returned back to his safe abode.”
The US side made another serious error that day by presenting “evidence” from an Indian source of Pakistani involvement in the Jul 7, 2008 bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul.

On July 13, the day after the fateful meeting, over 200 militants attacked a US outpost, Forward Operating Base Blessing, in a battle near Wanat, Afghanistan, killing 9 US soldiers. After that “the gloves came off” and a series of cross-border incidents took place, culminating on September 3 in a Special Forces helicopter assault of Angoor Adda in South Waziristan, killing 20 Pakistani citizens. On Sept. 25, Army forces fired on the next helicopters to enter the area.
Since the day of confrontation, all CIA Predator attacks have been against the peace-seeking Pashtun leaders of North and South Waziristan, not against the forces allied with Baitullah Mehsud, even though TTP’s actions in the north had just embarrassed the US, extracting a heavy toll on US forces. Making new enemies in the terror war seems to be so much more important to American commanders than dealing decisively with the hardcore killers who terrorize Pakistan. It is much easier to point fingers of blame than to admit our own errors.
The biggest error in the Afghan conflict has been Pentagon/CIA insistence that the Pashtuns in Pakistan are all guilty of providing material support to terrorists, Taliban, or “al Qaida.” Taliban commander Zabihullah Mujahid set the record straight when he denied to a reporter from Dawn that the Taliban had expelled Baitullah Mehsud, separating themselves from the actions of his TTP:
“Baitullah is a Pakistani and we as the Afghan Taliban have nothing to do with his appointment or his expulsion. We did not appoint him and we have not expelled him,”
“We do not support any militant activity and operation in Pakistan,”
peter.chamberlin@yahoo.com


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