Pakistani media publish fake WikiLeaks cables attacking India

[Yeti]

They read like the most extraordinary revelations. Citing the WikiLeaks cables, major Pakistani newspapers this morning carried stories that purported to detail eye-popping American assessments of India's military and civilian leaders.

According to the reports, US diplomats described senior Indian generals as vain, egotistical and genocidal; they said India's government is secretly allied with Hindu fundamentalists; and they claimed Indian spies are covertly supporting Islamist militants in Pakistan's tribal belt and Balochistan."Enough evidence of Indian involvement in Waziristan, Balochistan," read the front-page story in the News; an almost identical story appeared in the Urdu-language Jang, Pakistan's bestselling daily.

If accurate, the disclosures would confirm the worst fears of Pakistani nationalist hawks and threaten relations between Washington and New Delhi. But they are not accurate.

An extensive search of the WikiLeaks database by the Guardian by date, name and keyword failed to locate any of the incendiary allegations. It suggests this is the first case of WikiLeaks being exploited for propaganda purposes.

The controversial claims, published in four Pakistani national papers, were credited to the Online Agency, an Islamabad-based news service that has frequently run pro-army stories in the past. No journalist is bylined.

Shaheen Sehbai, group editor at the News, described the story as "agencies' copy" and said he would investigate its origins.

The incident fits in with the wider Pakistani reaction to WikiLeaks since the first cables emerged.

In the west, reports have focused on US worries for the safety of Pakistan's nuclear stockpile, or the army's support for Islamist militants such as the Afghan Taliban and Lashkar-e-Taiba, the group blamed for the Mumbai attack.

But Pakistan's media has given a wide berth to stories casting the military in a negative light, focusing instead on the foibles of the country's notoriously weak politicians.

Editors have pushed stories that focus on president Asif Ali Zardari's preoccupation with his death, prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani's secret support for CIA drone strikes and tales of a bearded religious firebrand cosying up to the US ambassador.

Among ordinary citizens, the coverage has hardened perceptions that Pakistani leaders are in thrall to American power.

Pakistan has become "the world's biggest banana republic", wrote retired diplomat Asif Ezdi last week.

Military and political leaders, portrayed as dangerously divided in the cables, have banded together to downplay the assessment.

"Don't trust WikiLeaks," Gilani told reporters in Kabul last weekend. Beside him president Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, also tarred in the dispatches, nodded solemnly.

On Saturday the army, having stayed silent all week, denied claims that army chief General Ashfaq Kayani "distrusted" the opposition leader Nawaz Sharif. Kayani "holds all political leaders in esteem", a spokesman said.

Meanwhile conspiracy theorists, including some journalists, insist Washington secretly leaked the cables in an effort to discredit the Muslim world; the Saudi ambassador described them as propaganda.

But senior judges favour their publication. Dismissing an attempt to block WikiLeaks last week, justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed said the cables "may cause trouble for some personalities" but would be "good for the progress of the nation in the long run".

The lopsided media coverage highlights the strong influence of Pakistan's army over an otherwise vigorous free press.

This morning's stories disparaging Indian generals – one is said to be "rather a geek", another to be responsible for "genocide" and compared to Slobodan Milosevic – is counterbalanced by accounts of gushing American praise for Pakistan's top generals.

The actual WikiLeaks cables carry a more nuanced portraits of a close, if often uneasy, relationship between the US and Pakistan's military.

But the real cables do contain allegations of Indian support for Baloch separatists, largely sourced to British intelligence assessments.

Pakistan's press is generally cautious in reporting about its own army. But some internet commentators said the latest WikiLeaks story was a bridge too far.

Noting that the story was bylined to "agencies" – a term that in Pakistan means both a news agency and a spy outfit – the blogger Cafe Pyala asked: "How stupid do the 'Agencies' really think Pakistanis are?"

Pakistani media publish fake WikiLeaks cables attacking India | World news | The Guardian

 

[GentlemanObserver]

Yeti this has already been posted and discussed to death.

 

[LaBong]

It was bound to happen. Those loonies don't know what shame they brought to their nation and how less credible they made whole Pakistani media scene to the rest of the world.

The guys who'd be cursing them most must be people from Dawn etc.

 

[Yeti]

Yeti this has already been posted and discussed to death.

oh really I thought it was new i did check the threads but didnt see it.

 

[WAQAS119]

Read This !!!!!

Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai, has been sheltering a Pakistani rebel for several years, much to the annoyance of Pakistan's generals, US embassy cables show.

Brahamdagh Bugti, a leader of the nationalist insurgency in Balochistan province, emerges as a pawn in often stormy relations between Kabul and Islamabad that are spiced with intrigue and failed American efforts to broker a solution.

A stream of Pakistani demands for Bugti's return are stonewalled by Karzai; Bugti is accused of kidnapping a senior UN official; and the Islamabad CIA station chief is roped into an initiative to move Bugti to Ireland that turns out to be based on a false promise.

Bugti's case was a "neuralgic" one for Pakistani generals, Americans believed. The Bugtis are at the forefront of a rebellion that seeks greater economic and political autonomy for Balochistan, Pakistan's largest but least developed province.

The 20-something rebel fled Pakistan in 2006 after surviving a military assault that killed his grandfather, Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti. Since then Pakistani generals have frequently accused Kabul of secretly sheltering the young rebel.

In 2007, General Pervez Musharraf said Bugti was "enjoying freedom of movement to commute between Kabul and Kandahar, raising money and planning operations against Pakistani security forces".

When the US assistant secretary of state, Richard Boucher, said Karzai had promised that nobody would be allowed to use Afghan territory to attack Pakistan, Musharraf replied: "That's bullshit."

The controversy touches on one of the Pakistani military's core fears: that India could use Afghan-based proxy forces to foment upheaval in Pakistan.

In 2007 Musharraf said he had "ample proof" of Indian and Afghan support for Bugti; the prime minister, Shaukat Aziz, said Bugti had travelled to Delhi on a fake Afghan passport. Note the indian connection , Bugti would not get travel documents wihtout Karzai's knowledge and also india's knoweldge to where he was heading

American analysis suggests the fear of Indian meddling helps explain Pakistan's support for militant proxies such as the Afghan Taliban; a view supported by a veiled threat Musharraf issued through a US diplomat. "If India wants to continue, let's see what our options will be," he reportedly said.

Karzai, meanwhile, has refused to bend to Pakistani demands to surrender Bugti, accusing Islamabad of using the issue to deflect attention from its support of the Taliban. "Fomenting uprising does not make one a terrorist," he said in one meeting before asking US officials to stop taking notes because the matter was "too sensitive".

In public, Afghan officials have consistently denied sheltering Bugti, but in a meeting with a senior UN official in February 2009, Karzai "finally admitted that Brahamdagh Bugti was in Kabul", the cables recorded.

The admission followed the kidnapping of a senior American UN official, John Solecki, in Balochistan. After Solecki was snatched from Quetta, Balochistan's capital, in early February, Pakistan's army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, told the US he had phone intercepts that proved Bugti had orchestrated the kidnapping.

If we can reliably intercept Bugti's calls on kidnapping of the American then we surely must have other intercepts also regarding bugti getting support from india

On 15 February, the US asked the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, to call Karzai , urging him to speak with Bugti and have Solecki released. Karzai agreed, but said he doubted Bugti was involved. US officials later complained that Karzai was blocking American contact with the rebel.

Solecki was released on 4 April in Balochistan. Speaking to the Guardian by phone later that year, Bugti denied any role in the kidnapping, but admitted he was leading the fight against Pakistan's army.

"We want ownership of our own resources, our land, our coastal belt – nothing else," he said. "We want to solve this problem politically; nobody wants to use the gun. But because of what is happening the armed struggle is necessary." Bugti declined to say where he was speaking from.

Bugti supporters say he is under tight Pakistani surveillance in Kabul and so, fearing for his life, they tried to move him to safer exile last December, the cables showed.

In Islamabad, one of Bugti's uncles told US and UN officials that the "deputy prime minister" of Ireland had unofficially agreed to grant Bugti asylum. This information triggered a meeting between a senior UN official and the US ambassador.

Subsequently the CIA station chief met with the head of Pakistan's intelligence service (ISI), General Shuja Pasha, to discuss the matter. But Pasha blocked the initiative, saying Bugti should be forced to "return to Pakistan to stand trial for his crimes", and the US and UN dropped the idea.

"While getting Bugti out of Afghanistan is still a good idea, we do not believe UNHCR should be involved," the cable noted, referring to the UN refugee agency.

However, the entire scheme may have been based on nothing. The uncle told the Guardian he had never claimed to have secured asylum for his nephew in Ireland. "This is news to me," he said. "I have no knowledge or information about this."

The substantial, if publicly underplayed, US strategic interest in Balochistan is reflected in the number of cables on the province. Balochistan contains vast and largely untapped mineral resources, Taliban training camps, and is a major route for US military supplies being trucked into Afghanistan, second only to the Khyber Pass. Balochistan is also home to a secretive desert airstrip used by the CIA to launch drone attacks on al-Qaida and Taliban targets in the tribal belt.

By removing Bugti from Afghanistan US officials believe they could remove an "irritant" in Pakistan-Afghanistan relations. They also fear he could be traded against other militants of greater interest.

Last February, after the arrest of the senior Taliban leader Mullah Barader in Karachi, US diplomats said to "watch out for consideration of some type of exchange of Barader with Bugti".

But Barader remains in Pakistani custody and Bugti may no longer be in Afghanistan. A senior western official in Islamabad said the rebel had applied for asylum in France, which was refused, and in Norway, where the application was pending. A senior UN official said Bugti was sheltering in the United Arab Emirates; a human rights official said he sometimes travels to Geneva. Also, the diplomats said, Pakistan's military chiefs – Kayani and Pasha – would be reluctant to lose a "huge potential propaganda pawn in Barader".

The cable said that while Bugti may be a core issue at some political level, the "truths Barader could tell about ISI not to mention a host of other Pakistani notables, likely outweigh any potential wins in bringing Bugti to Pakistani justice".

The allegations appear to be accurate. In a January 2007 meeting with assistant secretary of state Richard Boucher, Karzai said that more than 200 Bugtis had fled Pakistan into Afghanistan. He had advised them to seek asylum with the UN but many were frightened and had gone into hiding.


WikiLeaks cables reveal Afghan-Pakistani row over fugitive rebel | World news | The Guardian

This is the Guardian itself!

 

[Solomon2]

It was only a matter of time before somebody started creating faked cables, and I'm not at all surprised that one of the first culprits seems to be Pakistan.

I am no fan of Wikileaks - not since its founder leaked that list of strategic targets - but I'll say this for them: so far, nobody doubts the information released is genuine. If Julian Assange stuck in a few fake and very damaging cables in with the genuine ones, the subsequent damage to U.S. policy would have lasted decades. But either J.A. thought the current lot was damaging enough, or else he is principled enough not to do such a thing.

 

[Kinetic]

Read This !!!!!

Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai, has been sheltering a Pakistani rebel for several years, much to the annoyance of Pakistan's generals, US embassy cables show.

Brahamdagh Bugti, a leader of the nationalist insurgency in Balochistan province, emerges as a pawn in often stormy relations between Kabul and Islamabad that are spiced with intrigue and failed American efforts to broker a solution.

A stream of Pakistani demands for Bugti's return are stonewalled by Karzai; Bugti is accused of kidnapping a senior UN official; and the Islamabad CIA station chief is roped into an initiative to move Bugti to Ireland that turns out to be based on a false promise.

Bugti's case was a "neuralgic" one for Pakistani generals, Americans believed. The Bugtis are at the forefront of a rebellion that seeks greater economic and political autonomy for Balochistan, Pakistan's largest but least developed province.

The 20-something rebel fled Pakistan in 2006 after surviving a military assault that killed his grandfather, Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti. Since then Pakistani generals have frequently accused Kabul of secretly sheltering the young rebel.

In 2007, General Pervez Musharraf said Bugti was "enjoying freedom of movement to commute between Kabul and Kandahar, raising money and planning operations against Pakistani security forces".

When the US assistant secretary of state, Richard Boucher, said Karzai had promised that nobody would be allowed to use Afghan territory to attack Pakistan, Musharraf replied: "That's bullshit."

The controversy touches on one of the Pakistani military's core fears: that India could use Afghan-based proxy forces to foment upheaval in Pakistan.

In 2007 Musharraf said he had "ample proof" of Indian and Afghan support for Bugti; the prime minister, Shaukat Aziz, said Bugti had travelled to Delhi on a fake Afghan passport. Note the indian connection , Bugti would not get travel documents wihtout Karzai's knowledge and also india's knoweldge to where he was heading

American analysis suggests the fear of Indian meddling helps explain Pakistan's support for militant proxies such as the Afghan Taliban; a view supported by a veiled threat Musharraf issued through a US diplomat. "If India wants to continue, let's see what our options will be," he reportedly said.

Karzai, meanwhile, has refused to bend to Pakistani demands to surrender Bugti, accusing Islamabad of using the issue to deflect attention from its support of the Taliban. "Fomenting uprising does not make one a terrorist," he said in one meeting before asking US officials to stop taking notes because the matter was "too sensitive".

In public, Afghan officials have consistently denied sheltering Bugti, but in a meeting with a senior UN official in February 2009, Karzai "finally admitted that Brahamdagh Bugti was in Kabul", the cables recorded.

The admission followed the kidnapping of a senior American UN official, John Solecki, in Balochistan. After Solecki was snatched from Quetta, Balochistan's capital, in early February, Pakistan's army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, told the US he had phone intercepts that proved Bugti had orchestrated the kidnapping.

If we can reliably intercept Bugti's calls on kidnapping of the American then we surely must have other intercepts also regarding bugti getting support from india

On 15 February, the US asked the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, to call Karzai , urging him to speak with Bugti and have Solecki released. Karzai agreed, but said he doubted Bugti was involved. US officials later complained that Karzai was blocking American contact with the rebel.

Solecki was released on 4 April in Balochistan. Speaking to the Guardian by phone later that year, Bugti denied any role in the kidnapping, but admitted he was leading the fight against Pakistan's army.

"We want ownership of our own resources, our land, our coastal belt – nothing else," he said. "We want to solve this problem politically; nobody wants to use the gun. But because of what is happening the armed struggle is necessary." Bugti declined to say where he was speaking from.

Bugti supporters say he is under tight Pakistani surveillance in Kabul and so, fearing for his life, they tried to move him to safer exile last December, the cables showed.

In Islamabad, one of Bugti's uncles told US and UN officials that the "deputy prime minister" of Ireland had unofficially agreed to grant Bugti asylum. This information triggered a meeting between a senior UN official and the US ambassador.

Subsequently the CIA station chief met with the head of Pakistan's intelligence service (ISI), General Shuja Pasha, to discuss the matter. But Pasha blocked the initiative, saying Bugti should be forced to "return to Pakistan to stand trial for his crimes", and the US and UN dropped the idea.

"While getting Bugti out of Afghanistan is still a good idea, we do not believe UNHCR should be involved," the cable noted, referring to the UN refugee agency.

However, the entire scheme may have been based on nothing. The uncle told the Guardian he had never claimed to have secured asylum for his nephew in Ireland. "This is news to me," he said. "I have no knowledge or information about this."

The substantial, if publicly underplayed, US strategic interest in Balochistan is reflected in the number of cables on the province. Balochistan contains vast and largely untapped mineral resources, Taliban training camps, and is a major route for US military supplies being trucked into Afghanistan, second only to the Khyber Pass. Balochistan is also home to a secretive desert airstrip used by the CIA to launch drone attacks on al-Qaida and Taliban targets in the tribal belt.

By removing Bugti from Afghanistan US officials believe they could remove an "irritant" in Pakistan-Afghanistan relations. They also fear he could be traded against other militants of greater interest.

Last February, after the arrest of the senior Taliban leader Mullah Barader in Karachi, US diplomats said to "watch out for consideration of some type of exchange of Barader with Bugti".

But Barader remains in Pakistani custody and Bugti may no longer be in Afghanistan. A senior western official in Islamabad said the rebel had applied for asylum in France, which was refused, and in Norway, where the application was pending. A senior UN official said Bugti was sheltering in the United Arab Emirates; a human rights official said he sometimes travels to Geneva. Also, the diplomats said, Pakistan's military chiefs – Kayani and Pasha – would be reluctant to lose a "huge potential propaganda pawn in Barader".

The cable said that while Bugti may be a core issue at some political level, the "truths Barader could tell about ISI not to mention a host of other Pakistani notables, likely outweigh any potential wins in bringing Bugti to Pakistani justice".

The allegations appear to be accurate. In a January 2007 meeting with assistant secretary of state Richard Boucher, Karzai said that more than 200 Bugtis had fled Pakistan into Afghanistan. He had advised them to seek asylum with the UN but many were frightened and had gone into hiding.


WikiLeaks cables reveal Afghan-Pakistani row over fugitive rebel | World news | The Guardian

This is the Guardian itself!

Read it perfectly don't highlight some parts intentionally. This never said India's involvement with Bugti but pakistan's as usual allegations but the point is there might be a relation between Karzai and Bugtis not India. This is the Guardian.


Some people made extraordinary stories on fake wikileaks and some people buying them. lol

 

[Kinetic]

It was only a matter of time before somebody started creating faked cables, and I'm not at all surprised that one of the first culprits seems to be Pakistan.

I am no fan of Wikileaks - not since its founder leaked that list of strategic targets - but I'll say this for them: so far, nobody doubts the information released is genuine. If Julian Assange stuck in a few fake and very damaging cables in with the genuine ones, the subsequent damage to U.S. policy would have lasted decades. But either J.A. thought the current lot was damaging enough, or else he is principled enough not to do such a thing.

Don't they fear that their stories can be easily caught as the cables are easily accessible!!!! I think they made these stories for some people who who believe in extraordinary stories.

 

[StingRoy]

Kinetic... who knows they might claim to have access to exclusive cables outside of Wikileaks stash. Anything is possible coming from the green media.

 

[Veeru]

Now International media is criticizing pakistani media the works of few fools on India bashing mission is bringing bad name to pakistan.

 

[Irfan Baloch]

Yeti this has already been posted and discussed to death.

Yeti really needs a rest from the forum now.. Mass AOE spell is required to stop him from debuffing the whole place.

I will raise a ticket to the GM .. I mean Mod..
in the mean time please camp him

 

[GentlemanObserver]

Yeti really needs a rest from the forum now.. Mass AOE spell is required to stop him from debuffing the whole place.

I will raise a ticket to the GM .. I mean Mod..
in the mean time please camp him

Lol... Love the WOW reference.

 

[jbond197]

Yeti this has already been posted and discussed to death.

I believe this news appeared on Guardian like an hour back then how come its possibly be posted and discussed to death without anybody noticing it. Care to provide the link and we will ask Mods to merge this to the original thread.

 

[justanobserver]

No surprises here people

Lol... Love the WOW reference.

Steel your heart and your soul will shine brighter than a thousand suns. The enemy will falter at the sight of you. They will fall as the light of righteousness envelops them!

^ WoW fan eh?

 

[Yeti]

why would the Pakistani media make up such lies? and try to fool the public by making absurd claims that India's government is secretly allied with Hindu fundamentalists and supporting Islamist militants in Pakistan's tribal belt and Balochistan. This paints a negative picture of the credibility of the press in Pakistan im glad this news is being reported in the western media so the world wakes up to the lies against India from certain elements hell bent on hatred for Indians.