Pakistan: We're ready for war with India

[BanglaBhoot]

Pakistan warned it is ready for war with India if it is attacked following the strike by the Mumbai terrorists.

The remarks by Pakistan's foreign minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who also insisted he would not hand over any suspects in the Mumbai attacks, come amid mounting tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

India has said it is keeping all options open following last month's carnage by the Mumbai terrorists, who killed more than 170 people.

"We do not want to impose war, but we are fully prepared in case war is imposed on us," said Mr Qureshi.

"We are not oblivious to our responsibilities to defend our homeland. But it is our desire that there should be no war."

Indian officials say the hardline Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) group, which is based in Pakistan despite being banned by the government, is behind the bloodshed, and Indian media have suggested there could be Indian strikes on militant camps.

Mr Qureshi said he was sending "a very clear message" that his country did not want conflict with India.

"We want friendship, we want peace and we want stability - but our desire for peace should not be considered Pakistan's weakness."

The minister also said that India's demands for the extradition of suspects in the Mumbai attacks were out of the question and that Pakistan, which has arrested 16 people since Saturday, would keep them on home soil.

"The arrests are being made for our own investigations. Even if allegations are proved against any suspect, he will not be handed over to India," Qureshi said. "We will proceed against those arrested under Pakistani laws."

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since independence from Britain and nearly came to a fourth in 2001 after an attack on the Indian parliament that was blamed on LeT.

Under international pressure to act, Pakistan raided a camp run by a charity, Jamaat-ud-Dawa, that many believe has close links to LeT, and arrested 15 people.

The authorities are questioning Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the alleged mastermind of the Mumbai attacks, who was among those arrested at the weekend.

Pakistan: We're ready for war with India - Telegraph

 

[metalfalcon]

We want peace For sure but Peace is not our Weakness, If India wants to Check her Might let it be but i don't think India will take such a step Because of the aftermath Especially the Fatal Blow Indian Economy will get Which is struggling to Survive in the ICU.

 

[Flintlock]

What's with the chest thumping?

Relax - India is not going to attack.

 

[IceCold]

We are brothres there is no need for war. Just kill of all the terrorist in your soil..peace...
Om shanthi Om...

Really? When did this happen or did i miss something out here

 

[fatman17]

In Pakistan, Little Fear of Hostilities

By USMAN ANSARI

Published: 8 Dec

ISLAMABAD - As Indian officials and media began to point fingers at Pakistan after the late-November terror attacks in Mumbai, Pakistan raised defenses along vulnerable parts of the Indo-Pak border, manning the Line of Control in Kashmir, setting up check posts in sensitive areas, and putting military units on one hour's notice to move.

But few South Asian analysts foresee hostilities. Pakistan has reacted similarly in past periods of tension, and such defensive measures have proved to carry their intended deterrent effect: sending the message that any Indian strikes, even those intended to be punitive or limited, are unlikely to go unchallenged.

Observers did suggest that the tension might give pace to various defense procurement efforts.

"The Pakistani armed forces, and the PAF [Pakistan Air Force] in particular, will now push even harder to complete the ongoing projects with much greater urgency," said defense analyst Usman Shabbir of the Web-based think tank the Pakistan Military Consortium.

"PAF has many force-multiplier projects, such as induction of AEW&C assets (Swedish and Chinese), and airborne refueling aircraft in the pipeline, some of which are just one to three years away from completion," he said.

But Shabbir noted that various other Pakistani programs are currently bearing fruit - a new medium-altitude surface-to-air missile system, more UAVs, ground-based medium- and long-range radars - and therefore no serious changes are necessary to policy, organization or procurement.

Diplomacy also would keep tensions from become hostilities, said Fahmida Ashraf, who directs the South Asia unit at the Institute of Strategic Studies here.

Ashraf noted efforts by the international community, including a visit to India by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. She also noted that, unlike the 2001-02 standoff that followed a terrorist attack on the Indian parliament, India and Pakistan now have a crisis hot line and other ways of ratcheting down hot tempers.

But South Asia analyst Shaheen Akhtar of the Institute for Regional Studies here said the outcome of the present situation "really depends on the Indian political hawks, because there is an ongoing election in India, so if they really push the situation, then we may see a conflict."

But she also noted that India and Pakistan "have had two crises that show deterrence works, and we have a government that is offering full-scale cooperation against a common enemy."

She added that "both countries know they cannot afford a full-scale conflict."

Defence News

 

[metalfalcon]

We are brothres there is no need for war. Just kill of all the terrorist in your soil..peace...
Om shanthi Om...

All wars are Civil wars Because All Men are Brothers

I totally agree with you on this point we are Taking actions on our soil and i think India also needs to take action on her soil as well, and Indians operating from Afghanistan.

 

[TOPGUN]

We dont want war we want peace and friendship !! but to my fellow indian friends here tell that to your pagal gov its a shame if they would want it to come to this war so therefore we have to protect or land and people just like you would !! but hence it will be a mind blowing experence for India i promise u that now.

 

[Goodperson]

No one in government of India or Pakistan wants war, you see public demand and outcry in media.

 

[TOPGUN]

Well this time India will pay the price if they dont want peace war is not the answer millions will die on boith sides are u all gone insane ??

 

[BanglaBhoot]

Mumbai Attacks: An Al-Qaida attempt to provoke India-Pakistan War?

Farooq Sulehria
9 December 2008


The butchery unleashed on Mumbai by a team of 10 black-hooded terrorists came to an end on November 29 at around 8.30 am. This is the sixth time Mumbai has come under some kind of attack since 1993.

This latest 60-hour drama left 183 people dead. Nine terrorists were also killed and one, Amir Kasab, was arrested.

According to media leaks, his revelations have confirmed Indian suspicions about a Pakistani link. Amir was trained by Laskar-e-Tayyaba /Army of Pious (LeT), a Jihadi outfit that has also been blamed for an attack on the Indian parliament in 2002.

Both times the alleged LeT actions have precipitated tension between Pakistan and India. According to Pakistani journalist and the author of Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia, Ahmed Rashid, the attack was a strategic decision directed by Al-Qaida in the hope of drawing
Pakistan’s focus away from Afghanistan.

“They are facing relentless attacks by American missiles and from Pakistan forces in the tribal areas [on the Afghan-Pakistan border]. They want to relieve the pressure. The one way to do that is to revive India-Pakistan tension”, argued Rashid in the November 29 Toronto Star.

Zahid Hussain, a seasoned Pakistani journalist, confirms this argument. “Of late, [the] Pakistan army had renewed its efforts against [the] Taliban on the western front and Taliban were under pressure’’, he told Green Left Weekly.

“What is equally important is the fact that every time India-Pakistan relations are improving, some such incident happens”, Zahid pointed out. He argued that Islamists are also against a normalisation of India-Pakistan relations.

Zahid’s recently published book Frontline Pakistan, which documents Pakistan’s Jihadi outfits, takes us inside the LeT network.

Founded in 1990 by Hafiz Saeed, LeT was a military arm of the Wahabist Markaz Dawa al Irshad (MDI). Saeed fought against the Russians in Afghanistan and there came in contact with bin Laden.

LeT’s sprawling headquarters outside Lahore houses a university, a farm, a clothing factory, and a carpentry workshop. Its main publication Al Dawat had 80,000 copies printed and sold across Pakistan per issue. Some 10,000 to 30,000 youth have been trained at LeT camps. It also runs a huge network of hospitals and schools.

Officially, it opposes bin Laden claiming that “we do not agree with his call to overthrow the rulers of Muslim countries”.

However, Abu Zubaydah, a high ranking member of Al-Qaida, was arrested in 2002 in a house rented by a LeT member. LeT has also been active in Indian-held Kashmir since 1993 and moved into mainland India in 2000 when three LeT men attacked Indian troops at the historic Red Fort in Delhi. It was officially banned in Pakistan in 2002 but the ban was mere a fig leaf as it simply changed its name while all LeT networks have remained functional.

Zahid, however, rules out an India-Pakistan war as “ties have improved in last few years and the Indian government has not blamed the Pakistan government for the attacks”.

His optimism, however, is not shared by Seema Mustafa, an Indian journalist, nor by A B Bardhan, secretary general of the Communist Party of India.

“India is not an imperialist country. But it is behaving like one”, said Seema while pointing out “how right-wing hawks in India are busy advocating US-style attacks on ’terrorist camps’ inside Pakistan”.

She, like Bardhan, thinks the situation is alarming. Asked how the Left Front (an alliance of Indian left wing parties) will react in case there is an escalation, Bardhan told Green Left Weekly: “The Left Front has called on the government not to fall victim to any hawkish misadventure. We want the government to take this matter to the Security Council in line with the UN resolution, passed after 9/11, on terrorism emanating from another country.”

Meanwhile, Pakistan is busy making self-serving denials and the Pakistani media are busy spinning fantastic conspiracy theories.

Every one of these conspiracy theory blames India itself for plotting the Mumbai attacks to defame, implicate and damage Pakistan. This is a notion that Bardhan describes as rubbish while Seema thinks “no government in India would do it”. Zahid also thinks that no government can afford to plan such an act against its own people.

It is hard to say how many in Pakistan would buy this sort of conspiracy theory, but the on-the-ground reality is: not merely have India-Pakistan relations suffered a setback, but the Taliban may also get a breathing space as the Pakistani military has clearly hinted at moving troops from the Afghan border across to the Indian.

India, on the other hand, has placed her air force on high alert. At the time of writing these lines, official spokesman in Pakistan has declared next 24 hours as “crucial” while Condoleeza Rice is reaching New Delhi to defuse what can easily become a nuclear stand-off.

[Farooq Sulheria is a member of the Labor Party of Pakistan, resident in Sweden].

Green Left - INDIA: Mumbai Attacks: An Al-Qaida attempt to provoke India-Pakistan War?

 

[kingfisher99]

we dont need no war rhetoric, just simple action from both sides.. wipe out the terrorist and concentrate on economic developement.. the world is laughing at us..

 

[T-Rex]

Plenty of Indian messages have been deleted, I wonder why ? It is true that these Indians have a habit of posting irrelevant replies. The Indian government has blinked because Pakistanis have made it clear that they are ready for a war.

Indian Leader Says Country Won't Be Provoked Into War - WSJ.com

 

[BanglaBhoot]

Hurtling towards a precipice


After the recent terror attack on Mumbai, India and Pakistan are hurtling towards a precipice. They must stop before it is too late, before attitudes harden and there is no going back, writes Rahul Singh

AFTER the recent terror attack on Mumbai, India and Pakistan are hurtling towards a precipice.

They must stop before it is too late, before attitudes harden and there is no going back.

Accusations and counter-accusations are being flung, and the atmosphere gets murkier by the hour. The terrorists came from Pakistan by sea and were trained and indoctrinated in Pakistan, says New Delhi. Give us proof that they are Pakistani and where the training camps are and we will take necessary action, says Islamabad.

Here is a list of 20 fugitives being harboured by you we want sent back to India, says New Delhi. If they are in Pakistan, we will try them ourselves, responds Islamabad.

And so it goes on, getting us nowhere.

The US secretary of state lands in New Delhi, expressing her support for India and then flies to Islamabad to urge the Pakistan government to nail the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attack and the outfit - or outfits - behind them.

Meanwhile, after declaring that it too has been a target and is also fighting the terrorist menace in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan and has lost several hundred troops in the process, Islamabad issues a thinly veiled threat: if India''s belligerence continues, we will be compelled to move some of our troops from near the Afghan border to the border with India.
In other words, we will have to shift our attention from helping you (the US) in taking on the Taliban, to confronting the Indian threat. Is blackmail too strong a description of that?

At the same time, there are mad voices making themselves heard in India. A panellist on a popular TV programme seen by millions, advocates bombing Pakistan, to the applause of the audience. Even the Indian foreign minister does not entirely rule out such a course of action, saying that "appropriate steps" will be taken to protect India''s sovereignty.

US president-elect Barack Obama virtually echoes the Indian minister when he says that nations have the right to defend themselves. His choice of Hillary Clinton as his secretary of state must also have dismayed Islamabad. Both Hillary and Bill are known to have a soft corner for India, having made several unofficial visits to the country. And Pakistanis must recall when in 1999 during the Kargil war a furious Bill Clinton summoned the then Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif to Washington and virtually compelled him to withdraw Pakistan troops from the conflict zone, thereby humiliating Islamabad.

No wonder Pakistan feels beleaguered, with its back to the wall, nursing the sentiment that not only India but just about everybody is pointing an accusing finger at it.

I should add here that currently in India there is a strong backlash against our politicians in the wake of the Mumbai terror attack. A certain distaste among the Indian public for the political class was always there - for its corruption, its inefficiency and its arrogance. But it was hidden. Now it has come out in the open.

Politicians make sure they have plenty of security, even when some of them don''t need it, with armed bodyguards and commandos constantly surrounding them. But what about our, the common man''s, security? Why aren''t we being adequately protected?

Insensitive remarks and thoughtless actions by Indian politicians after the Mumbai terrorism have also cost them dear. The Maharashtra chief minister was sacked after he went on a tour of the devastated Trident hotel, with his actor son and a well-known film director in tow. How about terror tourism, with a little bit of Bollywood thrown in? India''s feisty news channels attacked him mercilessly, repeatedly showing the damning film footage.
His deputy chief minister suffered the same fate after he tried to play down the attacks by saying that such "small things" tend to happen in big cities and that the terrorists were planning to kill 5,000 people (so only about 200 killed was not such a bad deal).

After the incensed father of one of the commandos killed in the Mumbai carnage refused the chief minister of Kerala entry into his residence, the chief minister had the gall to hint that the father was mentally ill and that "even a dog" would not go to his house. A demonstrator had a fitting answer to that with a placard reading, "We would prefer a dog visit our house than a politician".

Just as Pakistan feels on the defensive, so do India''s politicians. The best way to deflect criticism is to grandstand, to posture and talk tough. That is exactly what some of India''s leaders have been doing and will continue to do in the days to come: yes, we will consider a strike on Pakistan, to take out the terrorist-training camps - and to hell with the consequences.
The tragedy of it all is that just before these terror attacks on Mumbai, the peace process between India and Pakistan was well on course. Numerous cultural and sporting exchanges were taking place, beginning with the cricket one-day internationals in Pakistan in 2003.

I was in Lahore and Islamabad then as part of a tennis team playing with our Pakistani counterparts. We were greeted with such warmth and affection that it often brought tears to my eyes. Taxi drivers would refuse to take fares when they realised we were from India.

At the Lahore ODI where I was present the spectators cheered the Indian players. I could not believe my eyes. I was looking at a new generation, a generation that was not carrying the bitter baggage of Partition but which nursed hope and friendship in their hearts.

The deranged beasts that struck Mumbai on Nov 26 want to return the two countries to an era of hopeless despair and festering hatred. Let us vow that they will not succeed.

The News Today

 

[Black Stone]

Pakistan doesn't want war, but they have the right to be ready for anything. Just like any other nations should be.

 

[araz]

We dont want war we want peace and friendship !! but to my fellow indian friends here tell that to your pagal gov its a shame if they would want it to come to this war so therefore we have to protect or land and people just like you would !! but hence it will be a mind blowing experence for India i promise u that now.

Topgun.
Brother no one needs to tell the Indians anything because they know the ground realities. This is a bit of wind blowing towards which PA has responded cautiously. This is entirely prudent on PAkistan's part. The reasons for not going to war would be the same as 2002. ie, flight of capital from India, implausability of a limitedstrike withoput adequate response from Pakistan. The unpredictable dynamics of war, which means you can start it thinking of achieving one aim, but you end up having a totally different aim.Lastly presence of Nuclear weapons with both sides means total and utter devastation of both countries. Frankly I see a few arrestsa in Pakisatn, a few people being sent to jail, criticism of investigatve procedures in India(Drawing room visits ala Pakistan) and then Indian el;ections and every thing will settle dwn again.Frankly Indians are becoming very predictable.
My2 Ps worth
WaSalam
Araz