Strike in Sindh on Census Issue, 30th April, 2011
– You Tube
Monthly Archives: April 2011
Drones: theirs and ours – by Pervez Hoodbhoy
Vocal as they are about being bombed from the sky, most Pakistanis – including many on the Left – suddenly lose their voice when it comes to the human (Muslim/ [Suicide bomber]) drone.
A drone – of the kind discussed here – is a programmed killing machine. By definition it is self-propelled, semi-autonomous, and capable of negotiating difficult local environments. Remote handlers guide it towards an assigned target. A drone does not need to know why it must kill, only who and how. They have drenched Pakistan in blood, both of fighters and non-combatants. …
Read more : View Point
Sindhi talent
Directed By: Farhan Baloch, Singer: Asif Siyal, Uploaded By: Asim & Zohair. SONG LAILA, YRICS WITH ARABIAN MUSIC.
– You Tube
Afghan insurgents have lifeline in Pak: Pentagon
WASHINGTON: Nato-led forces are making “tangible progress” in the Afghanistan war, with Taliban insurgents under pressure and forced out of key southern strongholds, the Pentagon said on Friday.
Although, the US military acknowledged battlefield gains over the past six months were tentative and “fragile”, it painted a more positive picture than the Pentagon’s previous reports to Congress.
The findings come at a crucial moment in the nine-year-old war as the United States prepares to begin a drawdown in July of its 100,000-strong force and as the Afghan government plans to take over security in some districts.
The Pentagon, however, warned that the insurgents still enjoyed a crucial lifeline through safe havens in neighbouring Pakistan, that the Afghan government was plagued by corruption and that a shortage of trainers for Afghan forces could hold back efforts to hand over security.
“Insurgent capacity continues to be supported by sanctuaries and logistical support originating in Pakistan, and insurgents will likely retain operational momentum in areas where these support structures exist,” it said. To consolidate progress in security, Pakistan needed to do more to eliminate the sanctuaries, the Pentagon said.
The presence of the safe havens threatens to undermine the war effort and has strained relations between Washington and Islamabad, with US officials frustrated at the Pakistan Army’s reluctance to crack down on militants based in North Waziristan. …
Read more : The News.com.pk
Mehmood Khan Achakzai – Address to the Pukhtoon peace Jirga Peshawar
The language of the speech is Pashto.
– You Tube
Move to C.I.A. Puts Petraeus in Conflict With Pakistan
By JANE PERLEZ and ERIC SCHMITT
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The appointment of Gen. David H. Petraeus as director of the Central Intelligence Agency puts him more squarely than ever in conflict with Pakistan, whose military leadership does not regard him as a friend and where he will now have direct control over the armed drone campaign that the Pakistani military says it wants stopped.
Pakistani and American officials said that General Petraeus’s selection could further inflame relations between the two nations, which are already at one of their lowest points, with recriminations over myriad issues aired publicly like never before.
The usually secretive leader of the Pakistani Army, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, has made little secret of his distaste for General Petraeus, calling him a political general. General Petraeus has privately expressed outrage at what American officials say is the Pakistani main spy agency’s most blatant support yet for fighters based in Pakistan who are carrying out attacks against American troops in Afghanistan.
Officials on both sides say they expect the two nations’ relationship to become increasingly adversarial as they maneuver the endgame in Afghanistan, where Pakistan and the United States have deep — and conflicting — security interests.
Repairing the frayed ties between the C.I.A. and Pakistan’s primary spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, will be difficult, American officials say. “In its current form, the relationship is almost unworkable,” said Dennis C. Blair, a former American director of national intelligence. “There has to be a major restructuring. The ISI jams the C.I.A. all it wants and pays no penalties.” ….
Read more : The New York Times
Then spoke Aafia
By Aziz Akhmad
I sat among the audience in the courtroom of federal judge Richard Berman, in Lower Manhattan, watching the sentencing proceedings of Aafia Siddiqui, on September 23.
Before Aafia Siddiqui spoke, her lawyer made what sounded, at least to me, a compassionate plea for a minimum sentence. She argued that Aafia Siddiqui was not mentally stable, or words to that effect, because of the impossible circumstances she had been through. That she needed professional care and compassion rather than a long term in prison. The lawyer concluded her plea by asking for a sentence not more than 12 years.
All this time, Afia Sidddiqui sat quietly, clad in a beige niqab, only her eyes visible. At times she would place her head on the table in front of her, as if not interested in what her lawyer was saying, or would stretch back into the chair clasping her head in both hands, as if exasperated. Soon after her lawyer finished, she stood up and asked the judge if she could say something. The judge said yes.
Then Aafia spoke. It was as if a dam had been breached; the words came gushing out of her mouth like a torrent. She spoke in a sharp voice and flawless English. Every once in a while she would pause and ask the audience, like a teacher in a classroom: “Do you understand what I am saying?” At one point the judge had to say, yes, we all understand you very clearly. Sometimes during the course of her speech she would break into a short, agitated laughter. Once, she even made a humorous comment about her trial referring to the court as Manhattan Institute of Theatrics, a pun on MIT, her alma mater.
She declared at the outset that she was not tortured or mistreated in jail (in Texas). She said if you hear people saying otherwise don’t believe them. She then quoted a verse from the Quran to the effect that when you hear something, verify it before you believe it. She said she was not mentally unbalanced, as her defence lawyers had tried to make out and that she did not trust them.
Several times she said she loved America and had no hostility against Americans or anyone. She also thanked the soldiers who, she said, did not harm or mistreated her daughter in captivity (in Afghanistan?).
The End (of Religion) Is Near, Scientists Say
– Scientists often have a funny way of talking about religion.
By Louis Ruprecht
A case in point concerns a new study that was discussed at the American Physical Society meetings in Dallas, Texas, in late March. Religion, it seems, is going extinct. You heard me: extinct. Dead and gone. Like the dinosaurs.
The data that a team of mathematicians used to reach this rather surprising conclusion were census reports of religious affiliation. Using a complicated means of mathematical analysis called “nonlinear dynamics”—complicated, ironically, because its purpose is to make complicated things simpler by reducing them to one variable—the team attempted to extrapolate from data on religious affiliation in nine countries: Australia, Austria, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand and Switzerland.
Turns out, every case of self-reported religious affiliation is trending downward: 40% self-identify as religiously non-affiliated in the Netherlands, as do 60% in the Czech Republic. The mathematicians seem far more surprised by these numbers than most religionists would be. ….
Read more : Alternet.org
ALAM LOHAR’S JUGNI
THIS IS ONE OF ALAM LOHAR’S CLASSIC HITS: WHICH IS ORIGINALLY HIS, CALLED JUGNI: THIS UPDATED VERSION WAS ORIGINALLY SUNG IN 1965, AND HE RECEIVED A GOLD L.P FOR THIS SONG, AND SINCE HAS BEEN SUNG BY MANY OTHER SINGERS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.
– You Tube
Britain: Royal wedding exposes deep class divisions
by Alan Woods
On Friday 29 April the people of Britain will be invited to participate in the joyful celebration of the marriage of Mr. William Windsor and Ms. Katherine Middleton. At the same time that the government is cutting billions from unnecessary extravagances such as hospitals, schools, teachers, nurses, the old and the sick, the unemployed and single parents, the Coalition has had the good sense to spend a lot of money on something as essential to the Public Good as the nuptials of Willy and Kate.
One can see many advantages in this. At a time of falling living standards for everyone who is not either a member of the royal family or a banker, it can take the minds of the British public off unpleasant thoughts of unpaid debts and unemployment. It might even make them forget the recent mass demonstration that brought half a million of them onto the streets of London to protest the vicious cuts being implemented by the ruling Conservative-Lib-Dem Coalition. …
Read more : Marxist.com
The establishment’s twelfth man – Dr Mohammad Taqi
Excerpt:
The fact remains that Imran Khan has always been the establishment’s twelfth man — called upon to field as needed. He claims that the establishment cannot buy him, but do they need to? He has always volunteered for them and it is no different this time.
The citizens of Hayatabad, Peshawar, have finally breathed a sigh of relief after the two-day long sit-in organised by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) has ended. Whether NATO supplies were halted because of this so-called protest remains moot, but life in one of Peshawar’s largest residential districts was certainly brought to a grinding halt by the chapli kabab-fed 5,000 people herded from outside the city by the PTI and various sectarian and religio-political parties allied with it. The idea, ostensibly, was to block one of the delivery routes through which the NATO forces in Afghanistan are supplied, thus forcing the US to halt its drone attacks. ….
…. To this end the deep state is trying to stir up hysteria against the US, through Imran Khan and his ilk and, in the process, build pressure on the PPP and ANP et al to fall in line as well. By letting the twelfth man warm up now, the establishment wants to elbow out Mian Nawaz Sharif — whom they mistrust deeply — as potentially the next premier. They know that a savvy politician like Mian sahib may actually play ball with the US, against their diktat.
While milking the Saudis for funds, and allowing mercenaries to be recruited for the Gulf, the establishment is getting its domestic ducks in a row, in preparation for a showdown with the US over its Af-Pak endgame. What can serve them better in this than a conglomerate of the martial law’s perennial B team like the Jamaat-e-Islami, pro-jihadists like Sami-ul-Haq and assorted opportunists? The twelfth man has always hoped that the establishment will grant him the political test cap one day. His hypocrisy may actually earn him the captaincy of the junta’s ‘B’ team this time.
To read complete article : DailyTimes.com.pk
Why US and NATO Fed Detainees to Afghan Torture System
by Gareth Porter
Starting in late 2005, U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan began turning detainees over to the Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS), despite its well-known reputation for torture. ….
Read more : Antiwar.com
Pakistan: Blast strikes Pakistan naval bus
Pakistan: Karachi naval bus bomb kills five
Suspected militants have killed at least five people in a bomb attack on a navy bus in the port city of Karachi.
Four of those who died in the roadside bombing were navy personnel. The fifth was a passing motorcyclist, officials said. Several others were wounded.
It is the third such attack this week. Four people died when two navy buses were bombed on Tuesday.
Officials believe the same group is behind the attacks. The Taliban say they carried out the bombings.
Correspondents say security officials in Karachi, the main base for Pakistan’s navy, are also not ruling out a possible link to local Islamist groups.
Militant groups linked to the Taliban and al-Qaeda have carried out attacks in the southern city in the past.
The spate of bombings in Karachi is being seen as retaliation for an offensive against the Pakistani Taliban and their allies in the north-west of the country.
Taliban claim
Thursday’s bomb went off in the early hours of the morning in the Karsaz area of the city, along the busy Faisal Avenue. It tore through the bus and left a huge crater in the road. …
Read more : BBC
Four Bahrain protesters sentenced to death
A court in Bahrain has convicted four demonstrators and sentenced them to death over the killing of two police officers during pro-democracy protests.
Three others were sentenced to life in prison by the military court.
Bahraini authorities have responded harshly to protests which began in February, following uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.
Hundreds of people have been detained for taking part in protests, many unable to communicate with family.
The seven defendants were tried behind closed doors on charges of premeditated murder of government employees – allegedly running two police officers over in a car. …
Read more : BBC
Sindhi Song Pere Pawandisaan by Shilpa Rao
– You Tube
Interesting and true comments of Najam Sethi on Imran Khan’s politics
The language of the program is urdu (Hindi).
Courtesy: GEO TV (Apas ki baat with Najam Sethi and Muneeb Farooq – 26th April 2011)
The Issue Of New Provinces in Pakistan
PML-N in bid to protect PPP from `blackmail`?
By Amjad Mahmood
LAHORE: As a power-sharing deal between the People`s Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Q is maturing, the PML-N has indicated that it may save the PPP-led government from “blackmail of its present and would-be allies” during the approval of the forthcoming budget.
Sources told Dawn that a message to this effect had been conveyed …
Read more : DAWN
14 bus passengers burnt alive near Sibi
Mushtaq Minhas and Nusrat Javaid discussing an incident in which 14 bus passengers burnt alive including children and women.
Courtesy: Aaj TV News (Bolta Pakistan with Mushtaq Minhas and Nusrat Javaid, 26th April 2011-2)
Pakistani Hell
A man dies and goes to hell. There he finds that there is a different hell for each country. He decides he’ll pick the least painful to spend his eternity. He goes to the German Hell and asks, “What do they do here?”
He is told “first they put you in an electric chair for an hour. Then they lay you on a bed of nails for another hour. Then the German devil comes in and whips you for the rest of the day“.
The man does not like the sound of that at all so he moves on. He checks out the AMERICAN Hell as well as the Russian Hell and many more. He discovers that they are all similar to the German hell.
Then he comes to the PAKISTANI hell and finds that there is a long line of people waiting to get in.
Amazed, he asks, “What do they d here?”
He is told “first they put you in an electric chair for an hour. Then they lay you on a bed of nails for another hour. The PAKISTANI devil comes in and whips you for the rest of the day.
“But that is exactly the same as all the other hells so why are there so many people waiting to get in?” asks the man.
“Because there is never any electricity, so the electric chair does not work. The nails were paid for but never supplied, so the bed is comfortable to sleep on. And the PAKISTANI devil used to be a civil servant, so he comes in, signs his time sheet and goes back home for private business.” SO YOU SEE… IT PAYS TO BE A PAKISTANI!!
Source – Internet.
Pakistan, India & China: A tale of triplets
COMMENT: A tale of triplets — by Shahab Usto
Pakistan’s utmost priority should be to follow the Chinese model: shun external engagements and turn inwards to focus only on economic, social and human development. Remember, we have missed the bus twice
Independent Pakistan, India and China were born at almost the same time, inherited the same decrepit state structures, and shared the same trajectory of international wars and civil strife. But they do not share the same present. China is the fastest growing economy. India is catching up fast with it. But Pakistan lags far behind both.
As it is, China (closely followed by India) is all set to dominate the Asia-Pacific region, if not the world. The US-led West is jittery. Stuck in a financial crisis, the West has lost faith in its economic philosophy based on unregulated markets. “The teachers are in trouble,” as one Chinese minister put it, referring to the ideologues of the failing Anglo-Saxon corporate and financial models. …
Read more : Daily Times
Opposition leader, Ch. Nisar accuses Imran Khan as pawn of intelligence agencies
– Opposition leader alleges agencies involved in politics
He said he usually avoid criticising agencies but they were responsible for alliances and sit-in.
Leader of the opposition in the National Assembly Ch. Nisar Ali said politicians without a single seat in assembly were staging sit-in on someone’s prodding.
He said he usually didn’t criticise agencies but they were responsible for alliances and sit-in. He demanded the prime minister should direct agencies to work in their legal framework. …
Read more : via Siasat.pk, – Dunya TV News
Pakistan’s ISI spy service listed as terrorist group
– Guantánamo Bay files: Pakistan’s ISI spy service listed as terrorist group
Anyone linked to Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate should be treated like al-Qaida or Taliban, interrogators told
by Jason Burke
US authorities describe the main Pakistani intelligence service as a terrorist organisation in secret files obtained by the Guardian.
Recommendations to interrogators at Guantánamo Bay rank the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI) alongside al-Qaida, Hamas and Hezbollah in Lebanon as threats. Being linked to any of these groups is an indication of terrorist or insurgent activity, the documents say. …
Read more : via Siasat.pk — guardian.co.uk
More details : BBC urdu
Our textbooks and the lies they teach
By Raza Rumi
Due to the 18th Amendment, a momentous shift in Pakistan’s governance arrangements is taking place through a politically mediated and largely consensual manner. The federal government is being trimmed and 10 ministries have already been devolved to the provinces. A key development pertains to the devolution of education — lock, stock and barrel — to the provinces. Most notably, the odious era of setting poisonous, centralised curricula in the name of a ‘martial’ nationalism is finally over. Whether the past practices of turning Pakistan into a jihad project will end is uncertain, unless the provinces take the initiative and reverse the regrettable trajectory of the past.
Pakistani textbooks have preached falsehoods, hatred and bigotry. They have constructed most non-Muslims, especially Hindus, as evil and primordial enemies, glorified military dictatorships and omitted references to our great betrayal of the Bengali brothers and sisters who were the founders and owners of the Pakistan movement. It is time to correct these wrongs. ….
Read more : The Express Tribune
Siraiki Province: PML-N Falling Into Zardari’s Trap; To Be Limited To Central Punjab
By: Aziz Narejo
In a glaring example of cynical, reactionary and unprincipled politics, Punjab CM Shahbaz Sharif the other day demanded that Sindh be divided and Karachi be made a province. His statement justifiably created furore in Sindh and the parliamentary parties including PPP, MQM and ANP as well as other politicians and activists swiftly condemned the unimaginative and unscrupulous statement by the PML-N leader.
The PML-N government and Punjabi nationalists seem to be under considerable pressure as the demand for a separate Siraiki province is gathering momentum in southern Punjab but this was most crooked and uncalled for response that could ever come from anyone with even the slightest political wisdom. PML-N leader was obviously trying to get back with the PPP. It may be noted that PM Gilani has suggested the creation of a new province in southern Punjab and PPP manifesto committee is deliberating to make it a part of the PPP manifesto for next elections.
No Sindhi would have any objections if Shahbaz Sharif, other PML-N leaders and Punjabis as a whole turn into nationalists but all the Punjabis and others should understand that Sindh and PPP are not ONE and the same. They are two separate entities. PML-N can’t and shouldn’t get back with the PPP by hurting Sindh. It must agree or disagree with the Siraiki people’s demand for a separate province with the force of arguments and not by playing tit for tat, conspiratorial and ugly politics.
PML-N should also realize that with this kind of politics they will be completely routed out from Sindh and their aspirations to become a “national” party or to form next government will die for ever.
Do they understand that this is exactly what PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari wants the PML-N to do? Are they willingly falling into the trap set by Zardari ..? Do they realize that with this kind of politics, they will forever become a Central Punjab party? Are there any sane elements in PML-N who would rein in Shahbaz Sharif and the likes of him in their party? Guess not. Good luck to them on their journey to doom.
Courtesy: Indus Herald
A political revolution
By Rasul Bakhsh Rais
The passage of the 18th Amendment has set into motion, a remarkable, though slow, political revolution in restructuring Pakistan’s polity. This is far more momentous than restoring the parliamentary character of the constitution, or even granting provincial autonomy. The word autonomy cannot capture the true letter and spirit of the new federalism that is unfolding before us. Rather, it is about remodelling Pakistan’s political system according to a new principle of distribution of power, with the provinces as new centres of authority, power and resources.
Thinking of provinces as new centres of power and laying something down into the constitution to make them powerful, runs counter to both, the colonial tradition of supervising political evolution, and the centralised state and nation-building strategy followed for the past six decades. It goes to the credit of political parties and their leadership that they have realised that the old ways of governing Pakistan have failed and they needed to give a greater part of the power and resources of the centre, which had grown arrogant, paternalistic and insensitive to the provinces.
This structural change in the political order has created new conditions in which some groups and sections are bound to lose, while others will make gains. Who loses and who gains is an issue that will greatly impact the ongoing process of shifting power to the provinces, as the old, deeply entrenched political and bureaucratic groups fight to the last to save their little turfs and fiefdoms. In our case, the federal bureaucracy is the loser, as it cannot hope to rule the provinces under the guise of national integration, solidarity and security anymore. It will take a great deal of internal reflection on the part of the federal bureaucracy, as well as time, to adjust to the power shift. …
Read more : The Express Tribune
Watch between 3min and 4min to know whose Imran Khan frequently meeting with and from where he gets instructions!
Courtesy: Duniya TV (POLICY MATTERS with Naseem Zehra, 08-01-2011-Pt2/3), You Tube
My Sindh, memoirs by urdu speaking journalist, Najmul Hasan
My Sindh: By Najmul Hasan
“My Sindh”, memoirs by journalist, Najmul Hasan. His family travels from India to Shikarpur in Sindh, first impressions of his new hometown, the welcome, hospitality & the help his family receives from Sindhis, his father’s first job through Shams-ul-Ulama, Dr Umar bin Mohammad Daudpoto & the story of a “potli ….
Read more : Indus Herald
ANP, MQM, PPP reject Shahbaz’s statement on provinces
SINDH – KARACHI: In response to the Punjab CM’s statements on Sunday, PPP, MQM and ANP said that they will not accept the distribution of Sindh, DawnNews reported. Earlier, Shahbaz Sharif had stated that PML-N would support the idea of creating new provinces in Pakistan, including the establishment of Karachi as a separate province. …
Read more : DAWN
More details : BBC urdu
London Demonstration against Killings of Sindh’s patriot leaders
London – (Press release) : “World Sindhi Congress (WSC), Baloch Human Rights Council (BHRC) UK and International Voice for Missing Baloch Persons (IVFMBP) have announced a joint protest rally against the abductions and killings of Sindhi and Baloch people.
Heinous crimes by agencies on Sindhi and Baloch people are widespread and increasing day by day. Recently, on 21st April Sirai Qurban Khuhwar, and Roplo Choliani, prominent workers of Jeay Sindh were first wounded in firing by agencies on their car and then their bodies were set on fire by pouring petrol on them. In last four months alone more than one hundred mutilated bodies of Baloch political leaders and activists have been thrown. WSC requests human rights activists and peace loving people to join in the protest rally to raise their voice against killings, abductions and torture and show solidarity with the genuine cause of Sindhi and Baloch people. The rally will be held in front of 10 Downing Street on 1st May 2011 from 2 – 4pm. At the end of the rally a memorandum will be presented to British Prime Minster Rt. Hon. David Cameron to request him to press upon government to stop these gross violations of human rights against the people of Sindh and Balochistan people.
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