The question of an independent Khorasan state

 Ten years ago, Tajik groups re-introduced themselves as the direct descendants of the Aryans and claimed that all persian-speaking people belong to them. They want to establish an independent Khorasan state and believe Afghanistan is the country of the Pashtuns and not the Afghans.

By Musa Khan Jalalzai

The three decades of civil war in Afghanistan caused state failure, linguistic conflict and the ethnicisation of politics. After the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001, Afghanistan experienced new patterns of ethnicisation, discrimination and violence. The brutal rule of the Taliban from 1996 to 2001 scattered the ethnically embroiled mosaic of the country, undermined the ethnic balance and divided the nation into small pieces. This irresponsible method of governance empowered the voices of those politically alienated ethnic groups who finally demanded the division of Afghanistan along ethnic lines.

Their demand of territorial autonomy and decentralisation of power has received massive support in the northern and central parts of the country. Their leaders, like General Rashid Dostum, Ismail Khan, Atta Muhammad, General Fahim and others are in favour of such a system to defend their political autonomy. After the fall of the Najibullah regime in 1992, they kept intact their military might to keep their territories free of rival groups. As these ethnic warlords received a lot of military and financial support from neighbouring states, they dared to demand greater autonomy, to the extent of changing the name of Afghanistan.

The idea of decentralisation that they proposed was opposed by the majority of parliamentarians. Afghan technocrats believe that decentralisation can move in the opposite direction, or toward separation and secession. They also understand the process of decentralisation and the consequences of the disintegration of the state. In their understanding, a territorial decentralisation plan is not implementable while in an ethnically divided society like Afghanistan, decentralisation could be destabilising, leading to secessionism.

The question is, if we accept the idea of federalism or decentralisation for a moment, one thing is clear: this will further strengthen regional warlords and their capture of regional state structures as foreign military intervention has already changed the traditional balance of power among ethnic players. Today, ethnic groups are more powerful than in the past.

Another problem that enrages civil society in the country is that the leaders, warlords, war criminals and commanders who committed serious war crimes enjoy the political and military support of NATO and the US. They receive money and weapons and enjoy protection. Afghans consider these regionalist and separatist warlords a big challenge for the process of nation building in their country. There are hundreds of political, religious and ethnic problems, which are becoming precarious challenges for the future of Afghanistan. Some issues are decades old, never addressed by the Afghan rulers, and some have newly emerged. Similarly, the lack of modern education, research, political and democratic institutions, reforms and a legitimate functioning state has mainly caused the present wrench.

Sometimes a columnist can become confused among this irksome wretchedness and ask which one is most important to write on. The recent debate on the sanguinary demand of an independent Khorasan state has caused woes for the Karzai regime and its Pashtun partners. Though the demand for an independent Khorasan state has never been considered so strong and sacrosanct before the fall of the Taliban regime, foreign intervention strengthened the resolve of the Tajik, Uzbek and Hazara communities to violently pursue their political agendas. Ten years ago, Tajik groups re-introduced themselves as the direct descendants of the Aryans and claimed that all Persian-speaking people belong to them. Having associated with this interpretation of history, they want to establish an independent Khorasan state and believe Afghanistan is the country of the Pashtuns and not the Afghans.

In their understanding, the demand for Pashtunistan itself is the denial of united Afghanistan and they say that the Pashtuns themselves want the partition of the country in terms of an independent Pashtunistan state. They regret supporting Pashtun political demands in the past because their recent demand for an independent Khorasan receives no support from their Pashtun brothers.

The first formal debate about the Khorasan independent state, according to a Benawa news report, started on the funeral of a Tajik, Syed Khalil, in Kabul last week. Supporters of a Khorasan state within the Afghan government, including Information Minister Dr Syed Makhdoom Raheen, former KHAD chief Amrullah Saleh and Vice President General Fahim, were leading the debate. Before going into the political background of the issue, I want to elucidate some historical facts about the Khorasan state and its geographical location in a few words. Historically speaking, Khorasan is the ancient name of today’s Afghanistan. Emperor Babur has written in his memoirs that Indians used to call all non-Indians Khorasanis.

The big cities of Khorasan, according to this group, were Mashhad, Nishapur, Herat, Ghazni, Kabul and Balkh, Merv, Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva, Khujand and Panjakent. From the 4th to 9th centuries, they believe, a large portion of today’s Afghanistan was known as Khorasan and all four capitals of the state (Herat, Balkh, Merv and Nishapur) are now parts of Afghanistan and Central Asia. The non-Pashtun communities in Afghanistan claim that Khorasan was located in northern Afghanistan, northeast Iran and parts of southern Central Asia. Tajiks were the overwhelming majority and rulers of Khorasan.

During the Afghan jihad, separatism had never been an issue and no ethnic group ever demanded the partition of Afghanistan on an ethnic basis. Neither Pashtuns nor non-Pashtuns accept the partition plan. Neighbouring states like China, Iran, Russia and Pakistan have their own political and economic interests in Afghanistan, but none of them support the partition plan. Keeping in mind that competing ethnoscapes collide, the Panjsheri mafia and their Tajik partners propose that the country be divided into three parts: Khorasan, Pashtunistan, Hazaraistan.

There is another presumed threat of Balkanisation that experts expect after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2014. This was revealed for the first time by Robert Blackwill, a former US ambassador to India. Another proposal comes from some quarters in the north that partition would prevent a full-scale return of the Taliban. Supporters of independent Khorasan believe that there was no such country with the name of Afghanistan until Russia and Britain decided to create it as a buffer state in 1893. To what extent they are right or wrong I am not sure, but as a student of Afghan history I think this interpretation of historical facts is wrong. Yes, Ahmad Shah Durrani, as they say, was born in Multan but he is the man who established the Afghan state in 1747. Moreover, the issue of Balkanisation will not work in Afghanistan and Pakistan will never allow such a partition plan. During the last three decades of civil war, several attempts at division failed and no Afghan government ever succumbed to the partition plan. In my opinion, such a plan for partition can backfire and fuel inter-ethnic wars.

The writer is the author of Britain’s National Security Challenges and Punjabi Taliban. He can be reached at zai.musakhan222@gmail.com

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Recalling spirit of 23rd March Pakistan Day

23rd March 2011, reminds us the contributions of our forefathers, who scarified their comfort for our future and struggled to attain Pakistan for us. Today, after the 71 years of the passage of the historical resolution, and 64 years after the independence, we need to reassess ourselves, as a nation. If our forfathers have given us an idealogocal country, where did we lose sight of?

By Dr Raja Muhammad Khan

In the history of Pakistani nation, 23rd March has a special significance. On this momentous day, in 1940, the historic resolution for the creation of an ideological state (Pakistan) was passed in the Lahore session of All India Muslim League. In the political struggle of the Muslims of the Sub-continent, this was the biggest gathering, attended by over 100,000 people from all parts of the united India. Indeed, under the exploitative British Colonialism in connivance with majority Hindu population, Muslims of India were targeted to the maximum as the former ruler of the India. Through this historic gathering, the Muslims of Sub-continent gave a message to the world in large and the Britain and Hindu majority in particular that, they were determined to have their own homeland in the form of Pakistan. A state; where they can freely live as a nation, while following the glorious principles of Islam.


Adoption of this resolution was exactly ten years after the historical address of the great philosopher, Dr. Allama Muhammad Iqbal, in the Allahabad session of the All India Muslim League, in 1930., This visionary thinker, and poet had indeed, envisioned a separate homeland for the Muslims of South Asia in that address. The Lahore session of Muslim League was indeed the first substantial step towards the implementation of this vision, a dream turning into reality. Struggle for nothing less than a separate homeland (Pakistan) was the agenda of this session of Muslim League in Lahore, as Qauid had specified prior to this historical congregation of the Muslims of Sub-continent. “The watch-words of ‘Faith Unity and Discipline’ were the munitions which the Quaid-i-Azam gave to the nation for waging the battle for Pakistan. The most dependable powerhouse in the struggle for Pakistan was the Muslim nation’s unity.” Following the adoption of this resolution, Muslims of the Sub-continent, devotedly struggled for this God gifted first ideological Muslim state; the Pakistan. Despite difficulties, faced by this newly established country, the spirit of the Pakistan’s Resolution remained alive and this great nation confronted the challenges with great vigour, zeal, and zest. Unfortunately, in 1971, owing to a number of external and domestic problems, we lost half of the country in the form of what we now call the Bangladesh. However, the ideology of Pakistan; the concept of ‘two nations theory’ did not die, as Bangladesh did not become India and follows the Islamic ideology; the very basis of Pakistan.

From its very inception as an independent state, Pakistan has been celebrating this historical day of March 23rd as the Pakistan Day. On March 23rd, 1956, Pakistan formally organized the Pak Day Parade in Polo Ground, Karachi. This practice continued until the capital shifted over to Islamabad in 1960. With this shift, the venue of the Pak Day Parade also shifted to Rawalpindi in the Race Course Ground in 1964. Pak Day Parade has been considered as the best way of inter-connection between the Armed Forces and the people of Pakistan. Through the physical demonstration of the arsenals, the nation indeed, gets to know the potential of its armed forces viz a viz its adversary. Unfortunately, over the last few years, the nation feels deprived of witnessing this jubilant event of the Pak Day Parade. This momentary suspension of the Parade indeed, is because of the unprecedented involvement of the Armed Forces, especially of Pak Army in combating the terrorism and extremism. Starting from the remote areas of Balochistan, Pak Army is deployed all along the Pak-Afghan border, the troubled areas of FATA and even in some of the settled areas of the Khyber Pakhtaunkhawa on anti terror duties.

Since the deployment of Pak Army on counter-terrorism duties, there has been a massive achievement against this erratic and undefined enemy, which has kept the local populace as a hostage for quite some time. There has been intimate support of Pak Air Force available to Pak Army during combating those targets found inaccessible to the ground forces. Since the commencement of the military operation against the terrorists and extremist elements, security forces of Pakistan have lost over 3300 men, whereas, the overall losses during this fight against terrorism have been over 32,000 people. The losses to the economy have been colossal. As per a rough estimate, Pakistan has suffered economic losses of over $64 billion so far, primarily because of its involvement in the global war on terror.

The terrorists, some of them may be operating, disguised as Muslims are indeed, fighting against Islam; the very basis of the Pakistani Ideology. The Armed Forces of Pakistan in fact are fighting a war for preservation of its ideology at the hands of these foreign sponsored militants; may be organized in the form of TTP or any other religious, factional, or any ethnic group. This sacred nature of the war against terrorists, has largely misunderstood by the masses until 2007. However, the human massacres at the hands of these so-called Islamists in the form of suicide bombings, bomb blasts, armed attacks, and through other brutal attacks to the masses, unmasked their true face of conspiring against Pakistan. Terrorists have killed thousands of the innocent citizens of Pakistan throughout in the country during their inhuman acts of terrorism.

Today, the Pakistani nation stands behind its Armed Forces in their derive against all terrorists. The Armed Forces have made a firm commitment that, they will continue their drive until its geographical boundaries are cleared off the terrorists. In this regards, the military operations of Pak Army in Malakand-Swat, South Waziristan Agency, Orakzai, Mohammad and other areas are classical examples of clearing the areas infested with the militants. Pak Army has freed the local Tribal of FATA from the incarceration of the militants. The locals are fully supporting the role of Pak Army against these militants, who have no values, but damaging the traditional values and true teachings of Islam.

23rd March 2011, reminds us the contributions of our forefathers, who scarified their comfort for our future and struggled to attain Pakistan for us. Today, after the 71 years of the passage of the historical resolution, and 64 years after the independence, we need to reassess ourselves, as a nation. If our forefathers have given us an idealogocal country, where did we lose sight of? Let us, trace back the historical mistakes, and put right ourselves. Let us unite ourselves and follow true values of an Islamic brotherhood and Pakistani nationhood by shedding the mutual differences; created by our enemies. Let us respect our sovereignty and secure this God gifted motherland by defeating the evil forces; arising domestically or thrusted upon us by our enemies from across the frontiers. A well aware and educated future generation provided with adequate and identical opportunities of employments would definitely guarantee a stable and peaceful Pakistan, as dreamed by the philosopher and Poet Dr. Muhammad Iqbal and subsequently attained under the leadership Quaid-i-Azam.

The writer is an international relations analyst.

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Who is instigating a new crusade?

The notorious Florida pastor Terry Jones has at last fulfilled his long-cherished dream and participated in a public burning of the sacred Muslim scripture, the Quran.

The auto da fe took place on Sunday in one of Florida’s churches, and the executor was Pastor Jones’ colleague and disciple Pastor Wayne Sapp. The improvised trial took about eight minutes, after which the “jurors” issued a “guilty” verdict. The Quran was declared guilty of numerous crimes and sentenced to public burning. The book itself had already been prepared, having been soaked in kerosene for several hours. Pastor Sapp lit it with a barbecue lighter and after ten minutes the show was over.

It is worth remembering that Pastor Terry Jones who supervised the whole event, first put forward the idea of burning the sacred Muslim book in summer 2010. His intention was to burn as many copies of the Quran on September 11, when the US commemorated the 9/11-2001 anniversary. At that time it went so far that President Barack Obama had to intervene and use all his influence in order to prevent the public execution of the book. Pastor Terry Jones stepped back, called off the burning and even vowed he will never again intend to do it.

But his initiative was not lost in vain. Some other radical protestant pastors did fulfill his intention and organized a public burning of the Quran on September 11, 2010.

Pastor Jones’ name became well-known by the public far beyond the US boundaries. He became an icon for some and a culprit in the eyes of others. When British ultra-nationalist and xenophobic English Defence League invited him to Great Britain early this year to participate in one of its sessions, the British Home Office denied him the right to enter the country.

Despite the promise he gave six months ago, this time Terry Jones decided to revive his long-cherished dream. He even issued a notice to Muslims saying that he is granting them the right to defend their holy book. When no one answered, he went on with the “trial”.

Although the whole incident did not attract much public attention – media largely ignored it, and the “trial” itself was attended by no more than 30 people, those who attended it were rather aggressive.

“These people [Muslims], for me, are like monsters,” said Jadwiga Schatz who expressed her ardent support for Terry Jones. “I hate these people.”

What is also worth mentioning is the fact that Pastor Jones could hardly choose a worse time for burning the Quran. It happened exactly on the day when the western coalition started its operation against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. The operation itself does not enjoy  unanimous support even in the US with memories of the failures in Afghanistan and Iraq being too fresh. More so, Colonel Gaddafi used it as a pretext to present the military action against his regime as a clash of civilizations, calling it a “new crusade”. Definitely, there is no reason to equate the military action (supported, among others, by several Muslim states) against a regime following the policies of genocide against its own people with the clashes between Christian and Muslim civilizations in the Middle Ages.

But cases like the Sunday burning of the Quran can have an extremely negative impact on public opinion in the Muslim world making too many people believe that Muammar Gaddafi may be right. Even if the number of Pastor Terry Jones’ followers might be minimal, the publicity attracted to such cases will definitely picture the US as a “new crusader”. And this is very much unlikely to serve for the success of the work the West is trying to do in Libya.

Barack Obama tried hard to avoid being pictured in the same tones as his predecessor who started two wars against Muslim countries. When eventually he was forced to do it, he still tried to keep as low a profile as possible, letting France and other European countries to play the first fiddle.

And if he is remembered as a person who followed the usual track of US coercive policies, Pastor Jones will be among those Obama should thank for tarnishing his image.

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Karachi on fire once again

The situation in Karachi is defying all expectations as political moves aimed at easing out the situation there have proved to be unproductive. Analysts were hoping that following patch up between PPP and MQM two of the main players would help restore normalcy in the troubled city but so far there is nothing to inspire confidence in this regard. Instead, violence continues unabated with people losing their lives in target killings and protests and arson becoming order of the day.

The latest and fresh wave of killings across the city, said to be mainly on political and ethnic grounds, claimed over a dozen lives on Sunday. The situation is so volatile that now protestors are exchanging fire with personnel of law enforcing agencies, which is indication that things are moving towards a dangerous end. The problem in Karachi has many dimensions and all of them are fully known to the Government and other stakeholders but regrettably there is lack of commitment to address it squarely. Cosmetic measures are taken as a result of which the situation normalises for a day or two but things go out of control even over a minor incident, which means deep-rooted mistrust and chaos. The fast deterioration in security environment requires bitter and hard decision with full backing of all stakeholders but unfortunately we only resort to issuance of statements or shuttling between Islamabad and Karachi or Islamabad and London. Time has come for all stakeholders to sit together and agree on an across-the-board operation to wipe out criminal elements and purge the city of illegal weapons and mafia of all sorts.

March has proved to be a ferociously deadly month for Karachi, a city that bleeds more than it prospers. More than 53 people have died in these 20 plus days with some 16 reported dead in the last 24 hours alone, and the death count continues to rise. Targets include political workers belonging to both the MQM and the PPP. Gunmen fired at a unit office of the MQM indiscriminately and an office of the PPP was targeted with a grenade attack. There are calls from members of the MQM to have the People’s Amn Committee investigated for the presence of criminal elements, who they say are being backed by the PPP. One of the MQM’s key figures and its coordination committee’s Deputy Convener, Farooq Sattar said that dozens of his party members had been shot down by members of the Amn Committee and that President Zardari and Sindh Home Minister Zulfiqar Mirza, despite being shown proof, had not acted on controlling the law and order situation. At the same time, the PPP is making serious and determined steps to strengthen the coalition between itself and the MQM in Sindh. A few days back, the MQM re-entered the Sindh Assembly with much pomp and show announcing that it was no longer boycotting the current session of the assembly.

So why this violent frenzy with most of Karachi whimpering behind closed doors for fear of targeted attacks? This is because Karachi treads on extremely precarious ground because of the political entities in its playing field. Now that the PPP is looking to solidify its partnership with the MQM in Sindh after the many narrow scrapes the coalition has faced, there may be elements sabotaging any hopes of a reconciliation. The issue of the Amn Committee may have led to elements of the PPP and the MQM being at daggers drawn. The irony of this whole situation is that it may not even be the leaders of the political parties who are behind the entire mess in the first place — for a change. Hot-headed political workers (and thugs) seem to have become so conditioned to the use of violence and so desensitised to the bloodshed that has been a regular feature of the city that they may very well have gone on a rampage on their own.

With all the efforts being made by both the PPP and the MQM to re-establish congenial ties and to make stronger the Sindh coalition government, it may not be too far off to say that the leaders of both parties need to take some firm steps against some of their own. If there are some hot-headed elements within both the parties who are targeting each other and bringing Karachi to its knees, those in charge at the helm of both the PPP and MQM need to bring such political workers under control. If this is not done, there is certain danger that, with more violent players in the mix, Karachi may just dive into yet another vicious cycle of ethnic warfare. This is the last thing that this commercial and economic hub needs. What it needs is some solid leadership and, if the Sindh coalition is so keen to govern, it must start doing so by controlling the dismal law and order situation in the city.

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West maintains covert goals through its military interference in Libya

The opposition in Libya has a monarchist and pro-western tilt. A pro-western regime change in Libya will allow the west to lay its hands on the massive oil and gas riches of the country but the western forces have to realise that intervening in a country with superior military power is easy, predicting the outcome is the difficult part. Gaddafi will try to hold out as long as possible. As the war proceeds, it is inevitable that not only will the western bombardment take out Gaddafi`s forces, it will also lead to civilian casualties. Such incidents will only strengthen the religious tight that will play on emotions by dubbing this as another attack on Muslim country. By attacking Libya, the west is making things worse for itself and losing its credibility in the Muslim and wider world. It is also unclear whether anyone has calculated the conseqences and fallout of this attack . The mess in Libya is getting messier by the day. The west`s aggressive posture is not helping anyone`s cause.

While numerous political circles, figures, civil organizations and NGOs had warned against the West's covert goals behind its military interference in Libya, reports have revealed the behind-the-scene aims of Western regimes from waging a war against Libya.
 In this regard, an American daily indirectly admitted that the aim behind the West's onslaught on Libya has not been the materialization of the Libyan people's demand for establishment of freedom and democracy. The US-based daily Time implied that the goal behind West's intervention in Libya has been to gain further economic interests; to be present in the global scene for a showdown; and to present a so-called pacifist and democratic visage. This paper pointed out that West's vested economic interests are without a doubt one of the main reasons behind this offensive against Libya, which maintains almost 2% of the global energy reserves.
Concurrent with revelation of the Western regimes' ill intentions in Libya, the Chairman of US Armed Forces Joint Chiefs of Staff, Rear Admiral Michael Mullen, has announced that the goal behind the US and, in general, Western regimes' interference in Libya is not to topple Muammar Gaddafi's regime. These remarks are made while the world public opinion, especially regional people in Middle East have been enraged with the inhuman and barbaric acts of the Libyan dictator against Libyan nation and demand the immediate ouster of Gaddafi's despotic regime. Meanwhile, Mullen's remarks once again disclosed the US hypocritical policies. Mullen openly said that they are not after ousting Gaddafi, and this stand signals a green light to Gaddafi to remain on power that reveals the concealed ties of the Libyan dictator with Washington's officials, which many pundits have referred to. Given the West's ill intentions in their interference in Libya, the regional unions have also warned against the repercussions of these military interventions. The UN resolutions on Libya and the public opinion emphasize that a military action against Libya should take place within the framework of UN and under its leadership. In this relation, the Arab League Secretary General, Amr Mousa, has emphasized that the West's attacks on Libya are not taking place to materialize the goals of UN Security Council Resolution 1973, which emphasizes on enforcement of a no-fly zone over Libya to prevent the mass murder of Libyan people. In an address to reporters, Amr Mousa said from the very beginning we were demanding the enforcement of a no-fly zone over Libya to protect the lives of Libyan nation. But, currently, we are witness to further carnage of Libyan people.
Meanwhile, the Islamic Republic of Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Ramin Mehmanparast, has said that the stand adopted by Islamic Republic of Iran has always been in support for people and their legitimate demands in any country.
He added that meanwhile the record of conduct of domineering states in occupation of oppressed countries always makes these states' intentions in such actions as dubious. These domineering states usually begin with deceptive mottos in support for people. But, in fact these domineering states pursue their sinister interests in domination of considered countries, in establishment of military bases, and in continuation of their neo-colonial goals. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman called on the people of all countries that are faced with major developments to remain vigilant in making their demands and not to allow foreign states to dominate their soil.

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An allied intervention in Libya

The attacks by the US and European allies in Libya are repetition of aggressions in Iraq and Afghanistan and the escalation of the highest level is feared in the days to come. That would also provide an excuse to the western countries to land their forces in Libya. If that happens, there would be more bloodshed and the devastation would be of unimaginable scale. The people of Iraq and Afghanistan are still suffering and majority of them are openly saying that were enjoying more peace and security before than after the US invasion of their are countries. We fear that a dirty game is being played to destabilize Afro-Arab countries and the attack on Libya is part of the conspiracy to divide the country as had been done in Sudan to occupy the vital sources of energy.

By David Ignatius

Many Americans - and Arabs, too, for that matter - have a visceral sense that if there’s a war in the Middle East, the United States must be in the vanguard. I’m glad that’s not the case this weekend with the Libyan intervention. Americans should be happy to let France and Britain, who live in the neighbourhood, take the lead. President Obama is turning a page, by letting other nations take the first whacks at Moammar Qaddafi, no question about that. But that strikes me as good strategy, not a feckless blunder. What’s increasingly clear watching the play of events over the past week is that Obama really does want to change the narrative about America and the Arab world - even at the cost of being criticised as vacillating and weak-willed. He senses (rightly, in my view) that over the past several decades America, without really intending to, became a post-colonial power in the Middle East. The narrative of American military intervention stretches from Lebanon to Iraq to Afghanistan, with the ghastly interlude of Sept. 11, 2001. Obama seems determined to break with it. He really is the un-Bush. Resisting intervention The administration has gotten criticised for changing course on Libya over the past week - resisting intervention and then supporting it. But the essential point, it seems to me, is that Obama was prepared to intervene only when it was clear there was an international consensus - with the Arab League and then the United Nations voting for action. That strikes me as the proper ordering of things, especially at a time when America still has big armies in two other Muslim countries. The Libyan rebels deserve support, but that should not automatically mean unilateral US military action. We are only beginning to understand who the rebels are and what they want. There may have been an emotional argument for military action on their behalf several weeks ago but not a sound strategic one. How should this war unfold? What’s ahead is some fighting, which isn’t likely to last long, given what we know of Qaddafi’s military; then we’re likely to see a cease-fire and then political-military process - much of it taking place in the shadows - that leads to Qaddafi’s ouster and replacement by some sort of coalition government. This Libya war may be messy and confusing, and it certainly won’t be what Pentagon planners would do if they could dictate matters. But that’s the point: America won’t be writing this script on its own. And that’s a good thing..

Courtesy: Washington Post

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Tripoli under fire

Russia and China have warned against the use of force in international affairs, expressing regret over the West coalition`s military against Libya.

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi says his country is ready for a "long war" with the Western forces targeting his troops with missile strikes.

In an audio address broadcast on state television, Mr. Gadhafi said there is "no justification" for the interference by the United States and European nations.  He said the air strikes amounted to terrorism.

The Libyan leader said he has opened up all weapons depots and that all Libyans are now armed and ready to fight.  He said the foreign forces will be defeated.

The U.S. and European strikes, which were launched Saturday, are aimed at enforcing a United Nations-mandated no-fly zone.

A U.S. Defense Department official said more than 112 Tomahawk missiles were fired from U.S. and British ships and submarines in the Mediterranean.  More than 20 targets deemed a direct threat to coalition forces and Libyan civilians were hit in the attacks.

Libyan state television said 48 people were killed and 150 wounded in the allied assault.

Mr. Gadhafi denounced the strikes as "unjustified crusader aggression."  The Libyan leader vowed to retaliate against military and civilian targets in the Mediterranean, saying the region had been turned into a "real battlefield." 

Thousands of Libyans gathered Saturday in the highly-fortified compound where Mr. Gadhafi lives in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, to form a human shield against possible air strikes.

Anti-aircraft fire could be heard overnight in the capital.

In Brazil, visiting U.S. President Barack Obama said Mr. Gadhafi had given the West no choice but to take military action.  British Prime Minister David Cameron said in London that the action against Mr. Gadhafi was "necessary, legal and right.''

French warplanes were the first to pound Libyan targets Saturday.  The military action was decided at an emergency international summit in Paris earlier in the day.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said representatives of the U.N., European Union, Arab League and Western powers had agreed at their Paris summit to use all necessary means, including military force.  He said they agreed to carry out provisions in the U.N. Security Council resolution, approved Thursday, that declared the no-fly zone over Libya.

Pro-government forces in Libya had advanced against rebels on two fronts Saturday.  Insurgents in their eastern stronghold of Benghazi said government loyalists had been pushing forward, in apparent disregard of a cease-fire Mr. Gadhafi declared Friday.

There were also reports of fighting south of Benghazi in Adjabiya as well as in Misrata, a rebel-held city in western Libya near Tripoli.  The Reuters  news agency quotes residents who say nine people were killed in the city on Saturday as a result of government shelling and sniper fire.

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Davis’s release exposed the reality of Pakistan justice

 Patriotism, nationalism and self-sufficiency are myths created to confuse and distract the deprived and the oppressed. National interests in the last analysis are the interests of the ruling classes. In every nation there are two nations, the exploiters and the exploited.

By Lal Khan

The episode of Raymond Davis’s release has exposed the reality of justice, the myth of sovereignty and the character of Pakistan’s ruling classes. As Hegel once remarked, “Necessity expresses itself through accident.” The whole incident highlights the economic, diplomatic and military crisis the largest imperial power in history is experiencing in this epoch of the senile decay of capitalism on a world scale.

After the debacle in Iraq, the impotence of the military might of US imperialism in Afghanistan is reflected in the failure to combat an insurgency that has become its nightmare. The Afghan jihad that the Americans had launched against the left-wing government of Noor Mohammad Tarakai’s People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) in 1978 has come back with a vengeance. The very forces that the imperialists had unleashed are now a scourge for them.

The ISI that was sponsored by the CIA and the Pentagon is now an antagonising force that they have to rely upon. While being fully aware of the fact that the ISI is playing a double game, giving covert support to the Taliban and other fundamentalist outfits, they have no option but to continue to interact and co-operate with it, at least on paper and as a face saving device.

The CIA and the ISI are playing an ignominious act of mutual deception. In its desperation, the CIA is trying to create its own parallel espionage network to counter the ISI’s capability to double cross. Raymond Davis was part of this covert operation.

The fundamental contradictions that provoke this conflict are the financial assets and massive amounts of black money that are being generated by this exorbitantly profitable war of attrition. These are the real vested interests that motivate and serve to develop the strategy of the ISI and important sections of the Pakistan Army.

Ironically, it was the CIA that instigated and propped up the drug trade and other criminal activities to finance the Afghan jihad in the 1980s. After the Americans abandoned the region with the fall of the Soviet Union, this shadowy accumulation of black money continued unabated. Now it has become institutionalised and it is not an accident that more than two-thirds of Pakistan’s economy is in the informal sector. In other words, it is the black economy that keeps the state and society afloat, albeit on a very fragile and contradictory basis.

It is this section of finance capital that determines the strategic, foreign and domestic policies of the state. The war on terror and the aggression on Afghanistan were also devised to defend the vested interests of US imperialism. But this invasion was a sort of irritating intrusion for the players already in this field, who felt their interests threatened and their financial accumulation at risk.

Although there has been a temporary truce, negotiated by the top bosses from both sides in the negotiations that took place in Oman, it is still fragile and could breakdown sooner rather than later. This war of attrition is a conflict without an end as long as the present socio-economic system exists.

This affair also brings out openly the contradictions within the Pakistani state and paints a bleak picture of conflict and bloodshed as an infinite tragedy for the people of the region. The so-called sovereignty of Pakistan has always been a hoax throughout its history. But with the aggravating socio-economic crisis it has flickered and been extinguished.

Without economic sovereignty no real political or national independence can be attained or envisaged. Patriotism, nationalism and self-sufficiency are myths created to confuse and distract the deprived and the oppressed. National interests in the last analysis are the interests of the ruling classes. In every nation there are two nations, the exploiters and the exploited.

A crisis-ridden ruling class promotes the prejudices of nationalism, religion, sectarianism, caste, all divisive elements that come from the past. But the Pakistani ruling class has failed to create a genuine united nation state. They are forced into imperialist subservience by their historical belatedness and their technological, financial and economic backwardness.

The hue and cry of the Islamic parties and other right-wing forces is a hypocritical farce and a deception. They themselves were propped up by the imperialists and in the wake of class struggle and revolutionary upsurge of the working classes they would stand with the imperialists across the barricades. That is their past and it will be the same in the times ahead.

The masses may be in a state of relative lull at the present time but their instinct tells them the real character of these forces of reaction. It is not accidental that the anti-American rhetoric of the mullahs has not been able to gather much support in spite of a seething hatred of imperialism in society.

It is a disgrace that the Left and the PPP leaders have capitulated to western imperialism in the guise of democracy and liberalism. The PPP’s anti-imperialist traditions have not just been abandoned but its leadership has gone to the extent of unforeseen appeasement to imperialism.

The only genuine war that can be won against imperialist hegemony is through the overthrow of capitalism, the existence of which allows imperialist economic exploitation to continue. This in itself ensures political hegemony.

The judicial charade in the Raymond Davis case will go a long way towards exposing the travesty of justice in a class society. In ancient Greece, Solon of Athens answered the legalistic arguments of the reformists when he said: “The law is like a spider’s web; the small are caught and the great tear it up.”

Fredrick Engels pointed out that all rights presuppose inequality and are therefore bourgeoisie rights. How many ordinary people can go scot-free by paying blood money for murder? Expensive justice is no justice. For the vast majority of the masses to seek justice is beyond their means, hence the illusion of an independent judiciary in a deprived and impoverished society is nothing but a deception.

The French writer Anatole France effectively exposed this hypocrisy when he wrote, “The law in its majesty makes no distinction between the rich and the poor both are forbidden to sleep under the bridges of Paris.” The social and ethical fabric is tearing apart. This obscene system has to be abolished through a revolutionary transformation. It is the only way out.


The writer is the editor of Asian Marxist Review and International Secretary of Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign. He can be reached at ptudc@hotmail.com

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Davis’s departure: ISI-CIA’s dirty deal?

For decades, the people of Pakistan have suffered due to the CIA and ISI `s murky ties. These ties have led to the strengthering of Islamist forces, the natural allies of the GHQ in Pakistan.

By Farhat Taj

Raymond Davis, an American national accused of being a CIA contractor in Pakistan and charged with killing two Pakistani citizens in January 2011, was released by a Lahore court on March 16, 2011. The US authorities said Davis was protected by full diplomatic immunity but the Pakistani government refuted the US claim. He was immediately flown out of Pakistan after his release. Reportedly, Davis was released after paying Rs 200 million as ‘blood money’ to the legal heirs of the deceased.

Who actually ordered the release of Davis in Pakistan and on what grounds? What are the implications of the release for the people of Pakistan, especially in militancy-hit areas like FATA?

It should not be ambiguous that the release came into being due to successful negotiations between the CIA in the US and the ISI in Pakistan. The PPP government, which has long ago surrendered its authority over foreign relations (especially with the US) to the military establishment, has no role in the release. The same is true about the PML-N led government in Punjab where Davis was kept under detention. Without the establishment’s involvement, the Pakistani judiciary could not have ordered Davis’s release. Justice to the heirs of the men killed by Davis is irrelevant in the establishment’s paradigm of national security. There are reports that the heirs of two of the dead men have been forced to accept a compromise for Davis’s release. The brother of the third man, Ibad-ur-Rahman, killed by a US diplomatic vehicle that rushed to Davis’s help, has told the media that his family is not part of the compromise nor has it been taken into confidence by the authorities.

The CIA and ISI have had uneasy relations since the post-9/11 US attack on the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan. The US invaded Afghanistan without having addressed Pakistan’s concerns in Afghanistan vis-à-vis India. Lieutenant General Mahmoud Ahmed, the then ISI Chief, reminded the US of Pakistan’s long history with the Taliban. The then US Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage, categorically told him: “History begins today.” Pakistan was forced into the US-led war on terror against the Pakistan-backed jihadi government in Afghanistan. Pakistan had no choice but to double deal with the US in the war on terror and this is what it has been doing to this day. To address immediate US concerns, some of the pro-Taliban military authorities like Lieutenant General Mahmoud were removed. But this does not mean that the army and the ISI were totally cleansed of the pro-Taliban people. General Safdar Hussain is a case in point. Through him, the Pakistan Army signed deals with al Qaeda-led militants in Waziristan and slaughtered traditional tribal leaders there. This jihadi general even had the audacity to publicly question the US presence in post-9/11 Afghanistan at the time of signing a deal with al Qaeda in Waziristan. Above all, the generals engineered an artificial insurgency in FATA. These generals have always been part and parcel of the ISI’s game to overpower the people of FATA through militants fully backed by military headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi.

It is thus no wonder that the Americans have been constantly questioning Pakistan’s commitment in the war on terror. The CIA has had tense relations with the ISI all throughout the war on terror. “Did Raymond Davis, a CIA contractor, fall victim to this misunderstanding (between the CIA and ISI over the war on terror) and has he been released after the problem was sorted out?” asks Ayesha Siddiqa, a well-known Pakistani defence analyst, in a recent newspaper column. She also hints at the possible understanding whereby the CIA will withdraw its focus on Punjab-based jihadi organisations considered friendly by the Pakistani military, e.g. Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM).

If true, this is very bad news for the Pakhtun on both sides of the Durand Line. The people of FATA complain that the Punjabi Taliban linked with these two organisations, and other Punjabi outfits, run the jihad show in FATA. They — who form an overwhelming majority of the militants — physically control the Pakhtun Taliban as well as foreign al Qaeda terrorists. The Americans should know that they have struck an anti-Pakhtun deal, if this is what they have agreed to in lieu of Davis’s release. For decades, the people of Pakistan have suffered due to the CIA and ISI’s murky ties. These ties have led to the strengthening of Islamist forces, the natural allies of the GHQ in Pakistan. The Davis release deal may be a contribution to these murky ties and may prove to be especially detrimental to the people of FATA, who have suffered only death and destruction since 9/11. Violence in Afghanistan, directed from terrorist centres in FATA, will not ebb as a result of the deal.

It is sickening to see Pakistani TV channels screaming at politicians over Davis’s release and failing to grill the sitting Pakistani generals who are the real force behind the release. The media has never had the courage to question the sitting generals over crimes against the Pakhtun and Baloch citizens of Pakistan. The only thing it is good at is humiliating anti-Taliban political parties and the democratic set up in Pakistan.

Pakistan’s Islamist political forces — long time allies of the military establishment — are boiling over with anger at Davis’s release. Their anger is directed at the spineless PPP-led political government. Ayesha Siddiqa rightly points out that the mighty “GHQ will ensure that this (anger) does not really boil over”. This will once again confirm that the GHQ controls the Islamist forces in mainland Pakistan, just as it commands the militants based in FATA. The GHQ may well just direct their anger to chase out the anti-Taliban PPP and ANP from power and accommodate the Islamists in any future political set up of Pakistan.

The writer is a PhD Research Fellow with the University of Oslo and currently writing a book, Taliban and Anti-Taliban

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Why trim the defence budget?

Pakistan`s Armed Forces are the only entity which is considered major hurdle in the way of Indian designs, and the anti-Pakistan elements,including some of our own so called think tanks, who are demanding a cut in the defence budget. Why? Why, at a time when the country is not only in a state of war, but it is actually fighting the war against terror and has rendered a huge number of sacrifices against terror elements who have made hostage the security, peace and writ of state.

Some elements within the country are hell bent upon distorting the image of the armed forces and the intelligence agencies of Pakistan. They are busy in propagating that the defence budget of the country is a major hurdle in the way of progress. In this backdrop the Pakistan military spokesman, Major General Athar Abbas, has rightly pointed out that the military institution works in accordance with the policies of government and that the Armed Forces have to maintain balance of power in the region particularly in the face of threat and enemies’ war preparedness. To determine the size of the army is also the government’s job, he said, adding the army has to prepare itself according to the defence capabilities of the enemy. He also said that no army in the world can disclose its development budget to the public. “If the civilian government considers that they could diminish the perils to the country through negotiation with India, then reduction in the army could take place.” He said that the budget of defence forces consists of two parts. The portion regarding maintenance funds can be discussed at every forum but the segment of the budget relating to development cannot be publicized as the enemy could get an idea about the areas where development was going to take place, so this portion is always kept secret. Some elements are trying to establish that the Army is a burden on the national development by criticising the armed forces. They are unleashing a well-planned misleading propaganda about high budget of Pakistan Army. The conspirators are saying that the funds related to defence could be used for prosperity of the country. They are creating the misunderstanding that defence takes away 40 per cent of the total budget. The fact remains that the neighbouring hostile India has expansionist designs, which has never accepted Pakistan’s existence and whenever got an opportunity, it has tried to harm the country. Indian intransigence on Kashmir that has been the cause of three wars between the two countries can once again cause another conflict. Therefore, it only makes sense that we should be on our guard against India’s vindictive agenda manifest in unprovoked firing along the LoC, sabre-rattling by its generals, fomenting violence on our soil like Balochistan, and diverting water. It has on record been increasing the defence budget and equipping its Armed Forces with sophisticated weapons. Recently India has added 11 per cent more to its actual defence budget allocated during the fiscal year, which is nine times bigger than that of the Pakistan defence budget. As Spokesman rightly pointed out, we do not intend to get into an arms race with New Delhi that is spending a whopping $36 billion on defence per annum, but we must keep ourselves strong enough for an eventuality of meeting the challenge of an imposed war. Gen Abbas stated that a reduction in spending can be considered in the event of political leadership making peace with New Delhi. This is in consonance with the reality of South Asia, where New Delhi constitutes a constant source of worry for Pakistan. According to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, India tops the list of weapon buying nations. India expects to spend about $80 billion over the next 10 years in order to modernize its armed forces. The Indian defence budget for the next year is $32.5 billion. This is a whopping 40 per cent increase from just two years ago. It imports about 70 per cent of its weapons. A senior fellow at the Swedish institute said: “Just from what they have already ordered, we know that in the coming few years India will be the top importer,” China is developing its own arms manufacturers more quickly than India. As for arms sellers the US remains the largest exporter of arms followed by Russia and then Germany according to the institute. An analyst with Jane’s Defence Weekly said: “India has ambitions to become first a continental and [then] a regional power,” “To become a big boy, you need to project your power.” Russia is now being challenged by other suppliers who want a bigger piece of the Indian purchase pie. These include Britain, the US and France each of which have recently signed deals for fighter jets, trainers, and transport aircraft and even an aircraft carrier and submarines. The global military industrial complex is alive and well. No doubt the myriads of poverty stricken citizens of India will benefit from the military priorities of their government. If we take a look at the latest developments in the region, the Indo-US-Afghan nexus is a threat. The US and NATO forces are present in Afghanistan and on the eastern borders our hostile neighbour India is always poised to violate our boundaries. The former Indian army chief, Gen Deepak Kapoor, had boasted of ‘defeating’ Pakistan and China simultaneously in 96 hours. Afghanistan’s Karzai has also advised NATO to start a hunt-down operation inside Pakistan. While visiting Asadabad, capital of eastern province Kunar, he said that international troops should leave Afghanistan and take their fight against terrorism across the border into Pakistan. He said his government has shown NATO that the terrorists and militants are not in Afghanistan, but instead are hiding in neighbouring Pakistan. In the light of Indian weapon deals and increase in defence budget, Pakistan has to maintain balance of power in the region. On Kashmir issue, both countries have volatile relations. The water issue has further increased chances of armed confrontation between the two. Indian interference in Balochistan and other areas demand us to strengthen our armed forces and its intelligence network. The Armed Forces are not only defending the frontiers of homeland but also fighting insurgents and terrorists hiding in the tribal areas. The security forces have carried out successful operations in Swat, South Waziristan, Bajaur, Orakzai and elsewhere. Most of the areas have been cleared of the miscreants and the writ of government restored; a number of development projects are being carried out by them out of their allocated budget. They did not demand any increase in their budget to do the same. Pakistan’s Armed Forces are the only entity which is considered major hurdle in the way of Indian designs, and the anti-Pakistan elements, including some of our own so called think tanks, who are demanding a cut in the defence budget. Why? Why, at a time when the country is not only in a state of war, but it is actually fighting the war against terror and has rendered a huge number of sacrifices against terror elements who have made hostage the security, peace and writ of state.

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Davis Drama: Long Live Our Leaders!

Now that the drop scene to the whole drama of Raymond Davis has occurred one should have no difficulty in drawing all the right conclustions.

For example Mian Nawaz Sharif true to his record of the past two years succesfully arranged to make himself conspicuous by his absence from Pakistan at a time where new chapter in the history of grand treason was being written.

For example his brother Mian Shahbaz Sharif too found a convenient excuse to stay away from the scene of the crime.

For example it is unthinkable that the west`s media knew that a plase was in a convenient "wait" at an airfield at Lahore for a week, and those who are governing the city and province were in dark.

For example it had been unanimously agreed between all the stake-holders of the drama that the release of Raymond Davis would be made according to plan which would provide each one of them enough excuses to absolve themselves from the responsibility of grand betrayal.

Fore example the only stake-holders who would be left out in the dark would be the people of Pakistan.
And as for as America in concerned, it would be bailed out in a manner that its contention that Raymond Davis was after all enjoying diplomatic immunitywould stand and stick,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Long Live Our Leaders.

The Raymond Davis issue has finally been settled. The CIA contractor who was charged with double murder in Lahore was finally set free on Wednesday after the families of the two victims pardoned Davis and settled the issue by accepting blood money. Each family was paid Rs 100 million in compensation. Davis left the country the same day. The case was settled as per Pakistan’s Qisas and Diyat laws, which are ostensibly shariah laws. Qisas allows retaliation/retribution while Diyat allows the heirs of the victim to grant pardon to the accused in return for blood money. It is ironic to see that the same Islamists and right-wing forces who wanted Davis hanged are now twisting themselves in knots over the court’s verdict that was as per the same shariah laws they have been advocating for decades. Like other shariah laws in Pakistan’s statute books, human rights groups and progressives have been critical of the Qisas and Diyat laws as they are inherently pro-rich and anti-poor. These laws have been misused for a long time, especially when it comes to honour killings. Those who are rich and powerful literally get away with murder because of these laws. The Right has opposed repealing of these laws just like they opposed it in the case of the blasphemy laws. Since they cannot object to the judgement in the Raymond Davis case because of the Islamic element in it, they have now resorted to their tired old mantra of ‘ghairat’ (honour).

The whole ghairat brigade was up in arms over the release of Davis and took to the streets to protest on Wednesday and Thursday. Apart from the usual suspects, i.e. the religious parties, Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) were at the forefront of these rallies. More protest rallies will be taken out today (Friday). The protesting parties are claiming that the federal government, the Punjab government and the military have sold Pakistan’s sovereignty to the Americans for some dollars. There are reports that the families of the victims were coerced into signing the pardon. If this is true, the courts must look into this angle. A petition to this effect has already been filed in the Lahore High Court (LHC).

There is no denying that backdoor diplomacy was used to resolve this complicated matter by US and Pakistani officials. Both countries were keen to get out of this mess as it had complicated their relationship to an alarming extent. Senator Kerry’s trip was a reflection of these manoeuvres. Reportedly, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani and director general ISI Lieutenant General Ahmad Shuja Pasha played a role in the settlement. While the details of monetary compensation to the victims’ families were made public, everyone is wondering about the pound of flesh extracted by the military and the ISI from the affair.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has, understandably, denied that any money was paid by the US government to secure Davis’s release but she has assured that “a Department of Justice investigation has begun into what happened in Lahore”. It is yet to be seen whether Davis will be actually tried in the US for the double murder, but the strained Pak-US relations appear to be now back on track. Those who wanted Davis brought to justice made it a question of national security, honour and prestige, but the problem is that all these people had also vowed to abide by the court’s verdict. Most of all, their patrons in the GHQ were deeply involved in the settlement issue. Thus it is easier for them to blame the government instead of those who actually brought about the settlement. Most people forget that Pakistan is a client state and the stakes for both the US and Pakistan were very high. They both badly needed to get out of this impasse. Pakistan cannot function without military and financial aid from the US. As long as we are financially dependent on other countries, crying hoarse over our lost sovereignty sounds like a plaint in the dark.      

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‘Different war’ against Pakistan

American cooperation with Islamabad, its main aim along with India and Israel remains to de-nucleariseour country whose geo-strategic location with the Gwader port entailing, close ties with China irks the eyes of these power. Hence, they are in collusion to destabilise Pakistan. For this purpose, a well-established network of Indian army, RAW, Mossad and CIA which was set up Afghanistan against Pakistan in order to support insurgency in the Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa and separatism in Balochistan have been extended. 

By Sajjad Shaukat

Unlike the past wars, being fought between two sovereign state actors through the traditional armies with tanks and machine guns, the arena of war has changed. In the ongoing era, non-state actors have made it difficult for the military to serve alone as the automatic dominant sphere in every war, covering all the land, sea and space domains. Now, lethal weapons such as suicide attacks, bomb blasts, targeted killings and similar other tactics used by the terrorists, can be more harmful in damaging the interest of a rival country. As part of the new warfare, these tactics are employed by the foreign enemy inside a rival country, and the phenomenon can rightly be called the ‘different war.’ Judging in these terms, Pakistan has become special target of the ‘different war’ being waged by external powers such as America, India and Israel through their secret agencies like CIA, RAW and Mossad which have also availed the services of foreigners and some Pakistani nationals in order to conduct subversive acts in Pakistan. In this connection, although terrorist events such as suicide attacks, bomb blasts and targeted killings have been conducted by these external enemies intermittently in the last 10 years, yet such incidents have accelerated in the past few months. In this regard, on March 8 this year, more than 30 people were killed when an explosive loaded car exploded near the main gate of a sensitive agency in Faisalabad. According to reports, the occupants of the vehicle parked it near a barrier erected in front of the main gate of the office and left it. On March 9, more than 35 people were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up at funeral prayers in Peshawar. As regards Karachi, in the last few days, a fresh wave of violence sparked by the killings of several political activists have swept the city with the terror-events of targeted killings, burning of vehicles and firings between two groups. Similar wave of terrorism continues in or the other form in Balochistan, especially targeting the Punjabis. If we witness the previous terrorist attacks, we can easily analyse that our foreign enemies have been applying various tactics of subversion inside Pakistan. In this connection, in the past, massive explosion destroyed the Pearl Continental hotel in Peshawar, killing, more than 15 persons in that suicide attack. Sources said that the gunman, sitting in one car, first started firing at the security persons and then exploded their first vehicle to give a safe-passage to other truck which was carrying 500 kilograms of explosives and stormed into the heavily secured hotel. It is notable that on October 15, 2009 at least 16 people, including 12 personnel of the security forces, had been martyred in foiling three separate terrorist attacks by killing nine terrorists at FIA Building, Manawan Police Training Centre and Bedian Elite Police Training Centre in Lahore. Four days before that event, nine militants targeted the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi where in a successful operation of 18-hour, Pak army foiled a major tragedy by rescuing 39 hostages and killing eight terrorists. In the event, 12 soldiers, a Brigadier and a Lt. Colonel had also been martyred. In this context, similar type of terror-attack which had targeted the bus of Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore on March 3, 2009 had killed eight persons in the wake of a continuous gunfire by the militants. Pakistani officials confirmed that “grenades and rocket launchers had been recovered” which were of foreign origin. Afterwards, official inquiry disclosed that RAW was behind that terror incident. However, besides other previous suicide attacks, conducted in the Marriot Hotel in Islamabad, Rescue 15 building in Lahore which also damaged other buildings of the Lahore Capital City Police Office (CCPO) and Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) which was the main target, but could not be hit due to heavy firing by the security guards on the terrorists who came along with the vehicle and arms were some of the other events of the same war against Pakistan. Nevertheless, the terror-incidents, especially in Rawalpindi at GHQ and in Lahore at FIA Building, Manawan Police Training Centre and Bedian Elite Police Training Centre which had involved gun battles between the terrorists and the security forces along with pattern of subversive acts through suicide attacks which have also been intensified in the past few days clearly show that secret agencies like CIA, RAW and Mossad have been waging a ‘different war’ against Pakistan, which also includes guerilla warfare - through their well-trained insurgents who could conduct attacks in major cities despite Pakistan’s successful military operations against the militants and the death of renowned militant commanders. In this respect, a perennial wave of suicide attacks and bomb blasts of the past and present clearly proves that foreign intelligence agencies have modified their tactics of subversion in Pakistan. Apart from direct suicide events, militants, armed with hand grenades, machine guns and other weapons also come to help the explosive-laden vehicles to penetrate the security at the target points and to clear the way for blast. Sometimes, exchange of fire takes place between the saboteurs and the security guards, and sometimes, purpose is directly to kill the security personnel. In this regard, in most of the terror-tragedies, huge quantity of explosives has also been used. Another technique of the foreign-trained terrorists is that they camouflage themselves by wearing the uniform of Pakistani security forces to deceive the security guards and to get inside the targeted point for conducting their assigned task. In 2009, UN’s World Food Programme in Islamabad was attacked by a suicide bomber who was wearing an official uniform. Again, the militants who attacked the GHQ were also wearing army uniforms. It is mentionable that on January 27, 2011, in Lahore, an American national, Raymond Davis shot dead two Pakistani youths, while a third was crushed by the driver of a Parado jeep, who was called by him for help. Davis and persons, sitting in the jeep were also carrying weapons. Police arrested Raymond Davis and registered a case, while loaded weapons, a GPS satellite tracking device, photographs of Pakistan’s defence installations, including tribal areas, were also discovered from him. Afterwards, some suspicious Americans were also detained from various parts of Pakistan. Pakistan’s sources and some American media suggested that Raymond Davis including his companions were agents of the American CIA and were on an anti-Pakistan mission. In fact, he is part of the illegal activities of the Blackwater whose employees entered Pakistan in the guise of diplomats. It is of particular attention that a few days before the arrest of Davis, Pakistani security officials foiled an attempt by the Indian intelligence agency to enact a fake encounter for implicating Pakistan in incidents of cross border terrorism. The plan was unearthed when a suspect, working for the Indian RAW was apprehended at Sialkot border area, while attempting to cross over to India through the border security fence. Entrance points on the fence are locked and controlled by the Indian Border Security Force (BSF). The suspect has confessed to working as an Indian spy who was tasked to recruit agents from Pakistan to work for Indian intelligence. Notably, on March 2, the cold-blooded murder of Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs, Shahbaz Bhatti, distorted the image of the country abroad. It is another tactic of the foreign enemies who want to show that religious minorities are not safe in Pakistan. Particularly during the last three years, a number of times, arms and guns were also captured from Americans traveling in vehicles in various cities of Pakistan, camouflaged with dark mirrors. In fact, in the past 12 months, Pakistan’s security forces have broken the backbone of the suicide bombers by arresting most of their commanders and insurgents, while thwarting a number of suicide missions through pre-arrests. But RAW, CIA and Mossad have succeeded in training the new culprits who are regularly being sent to Pakistan to destabilise our country. Now, this fact is known to everyone that Pakistan is the only nuclear country in the Islamic world. Hence, US, Israel and India are in collusion to weaken it by creating lawlessness for achieving their secret strategic interests. For this purpose, they are waging a ‘different war’ against Pakistan.

sajjad_logic@yahoo.com 

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Flowers of Arab spring will bloom in the desert

Saudi Arabia`s decision to send troops to Bahrain to put down an uprising in the neighboring country is not going to prevent the Arab spring of 2011 from blooming in the dessert kingdom.
 

The Saudi invasion, made on the “invitation” of Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and after the visit of U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, will most probably backfire.

In a full-scale assault on Wednesday launched at dawn in Pearl Square, the center of the uprising against the Khalifa regime, Saudi soldiers, with other foreign and local mercenary security forces, with no previous warning, attacked sleeping, peaceful protesters, killing many and injuring hundreds.

But Saudi Arabia’s dream of becoming a regional power is almost certainly going to turn into a nightmare very soon.

Saudi Arabia is nothing but a client state, like many other Persian Gulf monarchies, whose regimes consider their natural, primarily energy, resources as family property and make little distinction between national and personal wealth. They have used these resources to buy support from their own subjects and influenced politics in some other countries in the region.

For about a century, the family of Abdul-Aziz Ibn Saud, founder of the absolute monarchy, built palaces on sandy hills without knowing that one day there would be desert storms raging in the region. Now they are about to be blown away.

According to a recent Reuters report based on U.S. diplomatic cables leaked by WikiLeaks, the royal stipends in the mid-1990s ran from about $800 a month for the lowliest member of the most remote branch of the family to $270,000 a month for one of the surviving sons of Ibn Saud.

“Bonus payments are available for marriage and palace building,” according to the cable, which estimates that the system cost the country, which had an annual budget of $40 billion at the time, some $2 billion a year.

The king is lavishing the national wealth on members of the royal family while ordinary people are struggling to make ends meet, resulting in widespread resentment.

Saudi Arabia should focus on improving the lot of its own people instead of invading other countries.

The Arab spring of 2011 has arrived, and the rulers of Saudi Arabia must realize that even vast wealth cannot stop the changing of the seasons.

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Afghanistan: the threat of civil war

Strong military leadership is impossible in an environment where political and ethnic affiliations rather than merit are the basis of promotions.

By Musa Khan Jalalzai

The issue of mutual distrust between the US and NATO and the Afghan National Army (ANA) and the killing of innocent civilians by the US-led coalition forces, has been a matter of great concern for Afghan politicians. The rising power of the Taliban insurgency, desertions of Afghan army soldiers, ethnic and sectarian rivalries and massive corruption in the government departments have threatened the US and NATO stabilising strategy for Afghanistan. These are a few reasons behind the rift that caused distrust between the Karzai regime and its NATO allies.

Having expressed deep regret over the recent US killings of innocent children in Kunar province, a source in the Afghan defence ministry told me that the entire military command is highly disturbed and the majority of officers are not willing to further cooperate with the coalition partners. President Karzai urged NATO to stop civilian killings by mistake. “We are very tolerant people but now our tolerance has run out,” he said. The president cried as he held a girl who he said had her leg amputated following an attack. Now the issue of foreign occupation is openly discussed in military units.

Private debates in government offices, political circles and in military headquarters have recently focussed on the point that this unsuccessful war on terror has put in danger the territorial integrity of the country. According to the Afghan Human Rights Commission report, more than 520 children have been killed between 2009 and 2010 and some 200,000 children are living with disabilities as a result of wrongly directed US air strikes and crossfire among warring factions. In 2010, at least 2,800 civilians were killed and over 4,000 injured. The recent US resolve for permanent military bases in Afghanistan is seen by the ANA as a new formula of permanent colonisation of their country.

Nationalists in the defence and interior ministries have showed some reservations and disillusionment. They openly blame the Americans that they are pushing the country to the brink of civil war. A long-term US presence, according to sources in the defence ministry of Afghanistan, will bring further instability and undermine the hope of reconciliation with the Taliban and other militant groups. The Global Security Organisation in its situation report on Afghanistan has stated that the US war in Afghanistan has created many problems, neither addressing ethnicity nor factionalism. The Afghans loathe Americans and Americans are treating the Afghans like slaves. This mutual distrust has increased the importance of mercenaries like Blackwater to play their controversial role in the country.

Notwithstanding the US and NATO’s billions of dollars investment in the Afghan National Army and the police, this army has now turned against the American presence. Traders and truckers complain they are paying monthly $ 1,000-10,000 bribes to the provincial governors, police chiefs, and local military units whose territory they pass through. According to a recent report, warlords pay millions of dollars to the officers of the ANA every month. Business relations between private contractors and the army are thriving. According to the US exit strategy, it wants to equip, train and arm the ANA and the police before the expected military withdrawal in 2014, but the widespread drug addiction within the police and the army ranks is a big hurdle in the way of building a well organised army in Afghanistan.

Some Afghan military officers and soldiers were recently removed from service for their involvement in drugs offences. Some officers are running their own businesses to support their families. Every month, one-fifth soldiers of the Afghan army become absent without informing their commanders. They are not able to pay the rent of their houses, their children are not schoolgoing, and they are not willing to fight for Americans and corrupt Afghan warlords. Soldiers and officers of the army are from three backgrounds and follow three different ideologies. The first group has a communist background, the second group were trained in Pakistan as mujahideen fighters, and the third has an American, NATO and European background. This ideological, sectarian and ethnic division within the Afghan National Army (ANA) and the police department can cause an unending civil war in the near future.

Recruitment on ethnic and sectarian basis has created many problems. In 2002, as defence minister, General Fahim made some appointments on ethnic basis. In these appointments, of 38 generals, 37 were Tajiks and one was Uzbek. In fact, all these generals were associated with the Northern Alliance. If we look at the list of the 100 generals appointed in 2002, 90 belonged to the Northern Alliance. The story has not ended there. These and other appointments in the defence and interior ministries were followed by the removal of Interior Minister Hanif Atmar and intelligence Chief Amrullah Saleh for their non-professional performance. Both these officials had challenged President Karzai on his plans to reconcile with the Taliban insurgents. Mr Amrullah Saleh was found involved in many torture cases of Pakistani and Afghan detainees.

The command selection of the ANA is based on ethnicity and personal connections at the corps, ANA general staff, or ministry of defence level. Strong military leadership is impossible in an environment where political and ethnic affiliations rather than merit are the basis of promotions. Enforcement of discipline is another problem faced by the ANA. According to a recent US military report, units of ANA sell vehicles, weapons, fuel and other military equipment and are involved in outright theft of food provided by the US. The transmogrified ethnic face of the ANA was unveiled in the 2010 ethnic war between the nomadic tribes and Hazara population in Behsood district of Wardak province. Military command in the defence ministry was ethnically divided on the issue.

Generals from both Sunni and Shia groups were trying to arm the nomads and Hazaras respectively. This massive shift in the ethnicnisation and sectarianisation of the Afghan army officers will lead to another civil war between the Pashtuns and Tajik warlords. General David Petraeus’ plan of local defence is widely opposed in the military circles. He wants to copy the idea of the Pakistan Army qaumi lashkars (national militias) fighting Taliban terrorists in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. This plan, military observers say, will not work in Afghanistan.

According to Petraeus’ strategy, 10,000 unemployed Afghans will be put on the CIA payroll and prepared to fight against their countrymen. He wants to give them dollars and arms so that they can form a Pakistani style qaumi lashkar. This plan will not succeed, as the Afghans have now turned against the US presence in their country. Illegal detentions, searches and torture have ultimately changed their mind. Since 2001, hundreds of men, women and even teenagers have been arrested, tortured, and killed by the US forces. At present, NATO is fighting the Taliban, but doing nothing to address the ethnic divide, corruption and bridging the trust. In summation, the long-term US presence in Afghanistan will cause more problems, more casualties, destruction and violence.

The writer is the author of Britain’s National Security Challenges and Punjabi Taliban. He can be reached at zai.musakhan222@gmail.com

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Davis’ drama: Pakistanis People is for sale

According to the Washington Post, the negotiation of Davis`release has been underway for weeks.

"There has been a plan in the works for last three weeks," an unnamed U.S. official told the Post. " The concern was that if the actual murder trial started it would become very difficult to extricate him." 

In a dramatic development which was kept secret till the last moment, CIA Contractor Raymond Davis was released mysteriously on Wednesday, much relief to the US which was struggling to get him out of Pakistan since his arrest on Jan 27.


Davis, who was responsible for killing two Pakistanis, was flown out of the country immediately after an agreement was struck between eighteen relatives and Davis under Sharia law of Qasas and Diyat. They were paid blood money.

Davis’ case had strained Pak-US relations and intelligence agencies of both the countries were on eyeball to eyeball position. President Barack Obama publicly demanded Pakistan to release Davis and rushed John Kerry, Chairman Senate Foreign Relation Committee to Pakistan for negotiations.

His release was imminent as reports were pouring in on converging of two intelligence agencies on the issue of Davis.

The drop scene of Davis’ drama was sudden which stunned Pakistanis.

Political parties reacted sharply and clashes were reported from Lahore and other parts of Pakistan.

The release of CIA contractor Raymond Davis came after meeting of the American officials with the families of the deceased for more than six hours at the jail where the CIA contractor, Raymond A. Davis, was held. The families accepted the money, ending the case.

A five-car convoy from the United States consulate left the Kot Lakhpat jail at 4:20 p.m., local time.

Under Pakistani law, families can demand blood money, or compensation, for slain relatives. Once an agreement is reached between the parties, the state prosecution is closed. They can also demand blood for blood, in the form of a death sentence.

Davis was released from detention after around Rs. 200 million were paid to the affected families as blood money.

Since the arrest, the Obama administration pressed Pakistan to release Davis on a claim of diplomatic immunity. Pakistan’s foreign ministry, however, refused to certify Davis as a diplomat.

Neighbours of the families of the persons killed by Raymond Davis say they “haven’t seen them in two days and their homes are empty and locked.”

Initial media reports surrounding the release of Raymond Davis suggested that the families of the victims killed in the Lahore shooting had left the country on a second plane.

An Additional Sessions judge Wednesday conducted hearing of the case at Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail. The court ordered release of Raymond Davis, after family members of the murdered men appeared in the court and pardoned the US national after an agreement was reached between the two sides.

Raymond Davis who was working as a CIA contractor was arrested on January 27 after he shot dead two Pakistanis in Lahore. Another vehicle of US Consulate had rushed to the scene to rescue Raymond but in this attempt, another Pakistani who was riding a motor-bike died due to hitting by the US Consulate vehicle. US officials denied Pakistan access to the vehicle, and the occupants were widely believed to have left the country.

The killings by Raymond Davis in Lahore in January strained relations between Pakistan and US. The US repeatedly insisted Davis was an embassy employee and enjoyed diplomatic immunity, particularly after it emerged that he was working for the CIA as a contractor. Various parties including Jamaat-e-Islami and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf agitated and demanded punishment to Raymond Davis. The Davis case had sparked protests in Pakistan, with religious groups angrily denouncing the Ameri-can who claimed he acted in self-defence, to fend off an armed robbery when he shot dead the two men.

Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said the court released Raymond Davis after the family members of the murdered men appeared in the court and pardoned the US national. He said the Punjab government had no role whatsoever in the release of Raymond.

It may be noted that blood money or ‘Diyat’ is a provision of Islamic sharia in which compensation can be paid to relatives of those killed to secure a pardon.

The deal ends a long-simmering diplomatic stand-off between Pakistan and the United States.

“The court first indicted him but the families later told court that they had accepted the blood money and they had pardoned him.”

After release of Raymond Davis, the US Consulate officials took him immediately to Lahore airport where a US Air Force plane was ready to take him out of Pakistan.

According to reports Raymond was flown from Lahore at 4.45 PM for Bagram airbase in Afghanistan.

The U.S. concealed that Davis was working for the CIA, calling him a “diplomat,” but London’s Guardian newspaper unmasked him.

Leaders of the political and religious parties emphatically condemned Raymond Davis’ release and showed grave concern over his sudden and dramatic release. Chief, Jamaat-e-Islami, Munawar Hassan said that the US terrorist who was released after payment of blood money was also involved in dubious anti-Pakistan activities and after release his mission would remain unexposed for ever.

The JI has called a country-wide strike against the illegal release of Raymond Davis today (Thursday). Chief Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan said that Raymond Davis release was fixed match. He said the court decision disappointed him.

He held responsible the Punjab and federal governments for the illegal release. He said that PTI would stage a country-wide protest against the Davis release. Leader of opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali khan said, the government has bowed heads of the entire nation with shame by releasing Raymond Davis.

He said that the decision has humiliated the national dignity. Government should have taken the nation into confidence prior to taking such a drastic step, he added. MNA Sahibzada Fazal Karim said the release shocked the entire nation. Pakistan Muslim League Q leader Syed Kamil Ali Agha termed the CIA contractor Raymond Davis release as shameful act.

Former Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that Raymond Davis was released under the ‘Diyat’ (Blood money). He said his stance had been proved right as Davis did not deserve blank immunity. Blood Money is the legal right of the heirs.

Former PPP Secretary Information, Fauzia Wahab said that her statements regarding Raymond Davis proved accurate and the court acquitted him after settlement with the heirs.

The New York Times reported that after meeting with US officials for more than six hours at the jail, the families accepted the money, Asad Manzoor a lawyer for the families told the newspaper.

Shortly after his release, Raymond Davis was flown to Kabul, where he would undergo medical examination and be interviewed by US officials. The lawyer complained that the families of the victims were taken from their homes late Tuesday night by the police and pressed by officials to accept the payment, the newspaper said members of the two families including women were present in jail all day and left in two cars after the Americans left. American newspaper Washington Post reported the US Ambassador Cameron Munter accompanied Raymond Davis in the flight to Kabul, a US official said. He added that there had been a plan in work for the last three weeks. The official confirmed that blood money had been paid. The Post added that three families each received between 700,000 dollars and one million dollars as part of the deal. The Washington Times said that Raja Mohammad Irshad, a lawyer for the families said 19 male and female relatives appeared in court to accept $ 2.34 million blood money.

It may be recalled that Pakistan Observer on March 11 carried front page exclusive news-report that Raymond Davis would be released soon after payment of blood-money to the blood-relatives of the Pakistanis killed by Davis.

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