Thinking Out of the Box!

No body seems to be serious about Balochistan!

2012-02-16T13:40:00.000-08:00

Placate the Baloch and sideline the sardars...
Already late but it is time to take political action and not succumb like Nawaz Sharif in front of Sardars...

Creative thinking is the need of the hour. Love not hate is the need of the hour. Statesmanship and not vendetta is the need of the hour. Our Baloch brothers our co-citizens and our compatriots who have been badly let down. In the desire to please the sardars we completely forgot about the real Baloch, the son of the soil and our co-citizen, our compatriot, our brother. We both got freedom on the same day August 14, 1947. We have to go back to the basics.

We were not freed so that we be the slaves of some one else. I was infuriated the other day when in a forum some one was of the opinion that we must pay sardars money like the Brits did to buy their loyalty. He was also of the opinion that Balochs were the slaves of Sardars. I took strong objection to it. They are no body's slaves but equal citizens of a proud country called Pakistan.

Balochs are no body's slaves. They are our equal co-citizens and they shall remain like that. We have paid money for the past 60 years to sardars what do we have on hand? All the money eaten up by the sardars, no development what so ever, arms in every body's hands and total anarchy. No safety, no security, no schooling, no hospitals, no roads, nothing. Whatever the Federation gives Balochistan is consumed by the Sardars. Enough is enough. Pakistan has to talk tough to the Sardars and befriend the Baloch. All policies should be aimed to benefit the common Baloch not Sardars.

Regardless of the threats development of Baluchistan should start right away. We need to give them safety and security. The State shall provide that while every body including the sardars surrender their weapons. Otherwise there will be no safety and security to do any thing. The process of education and hospitals and infrastructure development must start now without any delay.

It is time to get into political negotiations with the Baloch or their elected representatives. A Baloch means a Baloch on the street, the common Pakistani in residing in Balochistan. Do not talk to the Sardars they have failed the people of Baluchistan miserably. If Pakistan talks to the sardars, then it is the death knell to the relationship between the Balochis and Pakistan.

Bring the Baloch in the fold of Pakistani fraternity. They have no problem with us. They are there all over Pakistan. Their rights have been usurped by the Sardars and not Pakistan please understand that. I wish I could write in the local Baloch dialect.

Pakistan beats England 3-0 in Test Cricket in Dubai

2012-02-10T00:48:00.000-08:00

Wow what a white wash...
Pakistan Cricket has come of age finally!
I have always maintained when Pakistan decides to win there is no team that can defeat them despite their batting weakness. If one thought that the first test was an aberration the second test was certainly not. Here Pakistan was winning within 3 days and India down under getting a drubbing and conceding a clean sweep to Australia with some tests within three days. The last test no body thought can be won when there were all out in the first innings for 99. But then what a comeback! The clean sweep and a white wash of England was no aberration. Seems like Pakistan cricket has come of age finally. Rest later.

Nawaz Sharif drama of Mansoor Ijaz...

2012-01-24T07:37:00.001-08:00

Today Mansoor Ijaz has refused to come to Pakistan. The nation has started wondering what is Nawaz Sharif up to? He is always locked inunproductive hate, vengeance and rocking the ship activities. He probably thinks only for himself never for the people of Pakistan.People are suffering. He never takes up those issues that affect people. What does he care he has loads of money.Rest later inshallah.

Gruesome murders but we tolerate those who fight and kill our soldiers...

2012-01-07T06:58:00.000-08:00

Why does the media not make an issue of these gruesome deaths of our own men?
The US of Nato did not kill them. So forget about them. That is our media and the political spokesmen of the devils. Did you hear any mention of it except may be casually in press. Sure you may not have seen it on electronic media. Seems like an invisible hand managing our media. Rest later.

The energy crunch and solutions...

2011-12-21T13:36:00.001-08:00

The solutions are neither that difficult nor too expensive...

Listen to Mr. Haroon, Pak ambassador to UN...

2011-11-29T00:57:00.000-08:00

This guy is amazing. Wish we had more like him... What ideas, what aplomb, what delivery, what style, what articulation, what language - wonderful. I have no adjectives to praise him enough. We may differ with him here and there but that does not matter. Listen to him. We are the world biggest Peace Makers. Just listen to the guy and feel good.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7383599n&tag=mncol

If only we had the other two of his stature. They look like little informed minions in front of him really. I am talking of Hina Rabbani Khar - the Foreign Minister whose only credentials is her feudalism and Ms Sherry Rahman's credentials the consistent loyalty not exactly to the country but the party, one who chose to stick on despite all rejections. Just imagine if the trio was of the stature of Hussein Haroon.

US version of Nato attack:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7389863n&tag=cbsnewsMainColumnArea

Pir Mazhar ul Haq nails Zulfiqar Mirza lies...

2011-11-23T03:42:00.000-08:00

Pir Mazhar ul Haq finally speaks up and tells all... exonerates Altaf of the Zulfiqar allegation...

I am surprised not even a fraction of air time of press coverage is given to Pir Mazhar Ul Haq who has finally spoken up and told the truth and categorically told the world what happened when he was present with Zulfiqar Mirza when they met Altaf Hussain.

In no uncertain terms he has said that Altaf never spoke of breaking up Pakistan and he said this in front of God. He also said that Zulfiqar Mirza should ask forgiveness of Allah for lying under oath of the holy book, holding it on his head, although in Sindh it is not considered good and only thieves are required to do so.

Zulfiqar Mirza says he wants to save Pakistan. May one ask from whom and how? How can you possibly be saving Pakistan when he is constantly making noises of creating hatred between citizens. When you divide people you create problems to the extent that it divides. What are you doing Mr. Zulfiqar? Please stop it if you mean what you say. Pakistan bachana, saving Pakistan.

He plays the Sindh card, the Shia card or any card to get even with those who he had differences with of personal nature. Nothing was for substantive issues or any structural reforms or so. He did not do this for better governance or better law and order or better policies for that matter. The law and order was the worst in his tenure. People were robbed and looted at gun points and killed the maximum.

Leaders have people's issues at heart not personal issues. He talks of issuing hundreds of thousands of guns and talks of openly killing people in thousands if given a chance of ministership again. He wants to be the policeman, the judge, the jury and the hangman. See this videos and comment on this blog and these videos below.

Mr. Zulfiqar in his tenure made no reforms to ensure that dacoits were caught or mobile and purse snatechers nabbed all at gunpoint. Every single person in Karachi has been looted at gun point one time or the other. What did he do? Nothing. He did not go after them as he was busy in just putting down some citizens.

Instead of making it difficult for one to acquire a weapon he made it easy and says he will do much more of the same. You did not even make it impossible for any body to buy used, second hand mobiles which would have made snatching mobiles useless. You did nothing. These are people's issues not your seat.

Everyone in the police knows where the ransom guys come from. But you do not take action because you want to pitch them against the people of Karachi. So you took no action. You never chased them and made no plans to stop them. You never took your job seriously. Ransom goes on with gay abandon. As a home minister you were a total failure. What are you trying to achieve by this defamation and vindictive politics sain? For God's sake be positive. I am not talking of blood group.

In Sindh it is not good to take oath on Quran:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHA0gjZ9-_E

Please listen to Manzoor Wassan in Lekin, see how Zulfiqar Mirza blames one and all:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRIMYMlCv28&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Pir Mazhar ul Haque exposes Zulfiqar Mirza:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BP1qN6fMXDU

Zul Mirza's zahar afshani: Given maximum air time for months on end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=478CweGTv2M

Look how much he cares for the law: See his language. Just because he is kicked out of the ministry now he is taking revenge with the country.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJagNWor0a0&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Kamran Khan and Zulfiqar Mirza
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xi-u-7_S-Ls

Also watch the accomplice Sharjeel Memon's interview:

http://www.pkaffairs.com/Play_Show_Sawal-Yeh-Hai-19th-November-2011_17961

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_eyFiCSHhA&feature=related

Memo to Mike Mullen - if true it is dangerous. Army is not going to like it.

2011-11-17T23:43:00.000-08:00

This is an article from Washington Post. Thinker thinks that such messages if at all are given orally and not through a memo to have a record. Seems highly incredible. But if it has happened it shows how stupid the handlers have been...

In Pakistan, a deep civil-military divide

ARIF ALI/AFP/Getty Images - Pakistan’s powerful army has become enraged after a secret memo indicated President Asif Ali Zardari’s government asked for U.S. help to prevent a military coup following the Navy SEAL raid in May that killed Osama bin Laden.

By Karin Brulliard and Karen DeYoung, Thursday, November 17, 1:50 PM

LAHORE, Pakistan — A growing storm over a confidential memo is laying bare the profound division between Pakistan’s powerful army and its civilian government, and the nation’s relationship with the United States is again at the center of the gulf.

At issue are allegations that the government of President Asif Ali Zardari asked for U.S. help to prevent a military coup after the Navy SEAL raid in May that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. The claim is thought to have enraged Pakistan’s army, and the resulting controversy prompted Pakistan’s ambassador to Washington, Husain Haqqani, to offer his resignation this week.

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Video

Following the mission to kill Osama bin Laden, tensions have increased between the United States and one of its top Middle Eastern allies, Pakistan. (Oct. 27)

Graphic

Zardari’s government has nominally been leading Pakistan since 2008. But real power remains in the hands of the military, which has ruled the South Asian nation for half its 64-year existence and was livid after the U.S. operation against bin Laden. Though both the army and the civilian government receive billions of dollars in American assistance, the military views the United States, and its support for Zardari’s unpopular administration, with deep distrust.

That attitude is widespread in Pakistan, where patriotism is equated with support for the military and the United States is often seen more as bully than friend.

Against that backdrop, a column published last month in the Financial Times has proved explosive. In it, Pakistani American businessman Mansoor Ijaz asserted that a senior Pakistani diplomat — whom he identified Thursday as Haqqani — asked him to help relay a request to the then-chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, to stop the military from staging a coup.

The memo, a copy of which was provided by Ijaz to The Washington Post, warns that a military takeover would result in “potentially the platform for far more rapid spread of al Qaeda’s brand of fanaticism and terror.” The upheaval in the wake of the bin Laden killing, it said, provided “a unique window of opportunity” for “civilians to gain the upper hand over army and intelligence directorates.”

It said that in exchange for U.S. “direct intervention” to convey a strong no-coup message to Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, leader of Pakistan’s military, a newly appointed civilian national security team would shepherd an independent investigation of the bin Laden matter and terminate any “active service officers” found to have been complicit in concealing the al-Qaeda leader.

Pakistan, it said, would also move to hand over all remaining al-Qaeda leaders on its soil, as well as Taliban leader Mohammad Omar and Sirajuddin Haqqani of the Haqqani insurgent network. Alternatively, it could give “U.S. military forces a ‘green light’ to conduct the necessary operations to capture or kill them on Pakistani soil,” the memo said.

It said the civilian government would eliminate “Section S” of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency, a unit that handles relations with insurgent groups; bring to justice the perpetrators of the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai; and implement new measures to secure Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal.

Sarkozi, Obama and Netanyahu the liar...

2011-11-10T13:12:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kEnDcNojFg

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/08/us-mideast-netanyahu-sarkozy-idUSTRE7A720120111108

Sarkozy tells Obama Netanyahu is a "liar"

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Analysis & Opinion

Allama Iqbal

2011-11-10T00:17:00.000-08:00

Sad day for Cricket...

2011-11-03T15:01:00.000-07:00

Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory exposed...

The entire spot fixing episode explains many things - how they used to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Kamran Akmal dropping catches in Australia, Afridi always failing to score when needed yet never dropped, Wasim Akram and Saeed Anwer throwing away the 1999 world cup final against Australia despite being the favorites. If PCB is serious in rooting out corruption in cricket which has been tolerated for far too long it will find many skeletons in the closets to deal with.

Yet I feel for Asif the great McGrath of Asia and Salman Butt - what a talented batsman.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/pakistan/content/current/story/539063.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15573463

http://www.dawn.com/2011/11/03/amir-in-the-dock-as-sentencing-process-begins.html

Imran Khan - good show but where are the structural reforms...

2011-11-01T21:38:00.000-07:00

Free the people of Pakistan by land reforms...
You have indeed gathered people. You put up an excellent show. Expectations are aroused. But where is the beef, where are the Structural Reforms? If you in your manifesto do not have Structural Reforms then you will find the same old faces in the parliament. You don't seem to have an idea how to change the status quo. Let me venture to guide you. Do not worry about winning or losing. If you are good in policies you will win.

Now that you have a chance consider what change can one make? That is possible with structural reforms. Where are they? No where. So first Imran Khan should make a good agenda for himself. The most important agenda is freedom that has so far not touched us - not at all.

People of India were not freed in 1947 but 1n1951/52 when land reforms were announced. These land reforms did not allow anybody to have more than 56 acres of land. The excess land was distributed among the landless poor.

The land lords, vaderas, choudhries and sardars were undone with one stroke. If Imran Khan should do something big he must do something like this. Start with land reforms, start with restricting unlimited land holdings. What is this patwari you were talking about? No that is not the right path. Bring in legislation for rural land ceiling and implement it.

You will free the people of Pakistan. Distribute the excess land among the landless poor. They want a leader who gives something to them. You be the one Imran Khan. Free them from the bondage of land lords be it in Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan, KPK or any where.

Zulfiqar Mirza display of weapons in city... but is not arrested yet!

2011-10-11T13:37:00.000-07:00

The visionary passes away...

2011-10-06T01:40:00.000-07:00

Steve jobs who gave us Mac, Apple, PowerBook, G3, G4, G5, iPod, iPhone, iPad is no more. The world is truely poorer by departure.

Pakistan Spat Highlights Bitter Truths Facing the U.S. in Afghanistan

2011-09-27T08:59:00.000-07:00

Pakistan Spat Highlights Bitter Truths Facing the U.S. in Afghanistan

By ROBERT BAER Monday, Sept. 26, 2011

A NATO helicopter flies next to the building taken over by insurgents during an attack near the U.S. embassy in Kabul on Sept. 13, 2011

Ahmad Masood / Reuters

What does Pakistan really want in Afghanistan? That question has become all the more urgent since Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, accused Pakistan of being indirectly responsible for last week's attack on our embassy in Kabul. Reports of a second possible attack, on Sunday, on the building alleged to house the local CIA station will, no doubt, fuel further speculation. Assessing Pakistan's interests in Afghanistan through the prism of honesty and realpolitik rather than wishful thinking may be the only way we're going to get out of this messy war.

For a start, we need to understand that Pakistan intends to bring down the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, even if that means taking on its sometime U.S. ally. Pakistan hates Karzai out of a conviction that he has made common cause with Pakistan's strategic nemesis, India, and a suspicion that the Afghan leader intends to harm Pakistan's strategic interests in other ways. And, of course, the hatred is mutual. Rightly or wrongly, Karzai believes that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI) assassinated his father, and would do the same to him given half a chance.(Read what Pakistan really envisions as an endgame for Afghanistan.)

A second misunderstanding we need to dispense with is that the ISI is somehow a rogue organization outside of Pakistan's chain of command and is pursuing a pro-Taliban agenda all its own. The Pakistani army can remove the ISI director, General Ahmad Shuja Pasha — or any other officer of the organization — at a moment's notice. So, if the ISI did indeed sponsor an attack on the U.S. embassy in Kabul, such a step should be assumed to have been taken with the consent of the power that be in Pakistan, i.e. the military establishment. The idea that to make our Pakistan problem go away, the ISI needs to be "cleaned up" is naive. The Pakistani actions that make life difficult for the U.S. in Afghanistan are driven by a clear-sighted strategic agenda.

As for the Pakistani proxy accused of carrying out the embassy attack, the Haqqani network, we need to understand why Pakistan won't give it up or act against it as the U.S. demands. With up to 15,000 fighters and effective control of large parts of eastern Afghanistan and Pakistan's North Waziristan, the Haqqanis are an indispensible party to a peace settlement in Afghanistan — and a vehicle for securing Pakistan's interests in that country after the U.S. withdraws. To sever relations with the Haqqanis now would mean Pakistan giving up a large degree of influence in Afghanistan after the war is over.

The U.S. has for years demanded that Pakistan mount a sweeping military offensive in North Waziristan to destroy the Haqqanis, but even if they were so inclined, the fact is that the Pakistani military has only ever been able to control the main roads in North Waziristan. The Pakistani army is incapable of occupying and holding this territory, no matter how much money we offer or how dire the threats we make.(See whether Pakistan really wants a stable Afghanistan.)

At the core of the problem stands a simple proposition: Pakistan doesn't trust us with Afghanistan — and from Islamabad's perspective, not without cause. We took a strategic decision to invade a country central to their national-security doctrine without seriously consulting them, preferring to think in terms of an Afghanistan of our dreams. Nor did we take into account their strategic interests and the proxies through which they have pursued them. The Soviet Union made the same mistake when it invaded Afghanistan in 1979.

Having failed to prevail a decade later, we now have two choices, neither of them particularly attractive to Washington. We can attempt to destroy the Haqqani base in North Waziristan by invading Pakistan. But to do that effectively would require more troops than we currently have in Afghanistan. Doing so would obviously destroy whatever relations we still have with Pakistan, with profoundly dangerous consequences in Afghanistan and far beyond.

Alternatively, we could hash out a settlement with Pakistan, which would inevitably mean accepting the Haqqanis and easing out Karzai in any political settlement to the conflict. Such a deal would also potentially bring in Afghanistan's other neighbor with real strategic interests in the country — Iran. Iran can be unpredictable, but it's by no means certain it would accept true Pakistani-American collusion in Afghanistan. In the mid-'90s, Iran was all but at war with the Taliban, and if Iran isn't consulted on a settlement, it could play the spoiler.

Accepting Pakistan's postconflict agenda and backing off on the Haqqanis at Karzai's expense is too bitter a pill for Washington to swallow in an election year, so we'll muddle through for another year. But when the U.S. finally leaves, don't be surprised to see the Haqqanis in Kabul.

Baer, a former Middle East CIA field officer, is TIME.com's intelligence columnist and the author of See No Evil and The Devil We Know: Dealing with the New Iranian Superpower.

A great deal of ruin in a nation...

2011-09-26T04:37:00.000-07:00

Pakistan

A great deal of ruin in a nation

Why Islam took a violent and intolerant turn in Pakistan, and where it might lead

Mar 31st 2011 | ISLAMABAD AND LAHORE | from the print edition

“TYPICAL Blackwater operative,” says a senior military officer, gesturing towards a muscular Westerner with a shaven head and tattoos, striding through the lobby of Islamabad’s Marriott Hotel. Pakistanis believe their country is thick with Americans working for private security companies contracted to the Central Intelligence Agency; and indeed, the physique of some of the guests at the Marriott hardly suggests desk-bound jobs.

Pakistan is not a country for those of a nervous disposition. Even the Marriott lacks the comforting familiarity of the standard international hotel, for the place was blown up in 2008 by a lorry loaded with explosives. The main entrance is no longer accessible from the road; guards check under the bonnets of approaching cars, and guests are dropped off at a screening centre a long walk away.

Some 30,000 people have been killed in the past four years in terrorism, sectarianism and army attacks on the terrorists. The number of attacks in Pakistan’s heartland is on the rise, and Pakistani terrorists have gone global in their ambitions. This year there have been unprecedented displays of fundamentalist religious and anti-Western feeling. All this might be expected in Somalia or Yemen, but not in a country of great sophistication which boasts an elite educated at Oxbridge and the Ivy League, which produces brilliant novelists, artists and scientists, and is armed with nuclear weapons.

Demonstrations in support of the murderer of Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab, in January, startled and horrified Pakistan’s liberals. Mr Taseer was killed by his guard, Malik Mumtaz Qadri, who objected to his boss’s campaign to reform the country’s strict blasphemy law. Some suggest that the demonstrations were whipped up by the opposition to frighten the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government, since Mr Taseer was a member of the party. Others say the army encouraged them, because it likes to remind the Americans of the seriousness of the fundamentalist threat. But conversations with Lahoris playing Sunday cricket in the park beside the Badshahi mosque suggest that the demonstrations expressed the feelings of many. “We are all angry about these things,” says Gul Sher, a goldsmith, of Mr Taseer’s campaign to reform the law on blasphemy. “God gave Qadri the courage to do something about it.”

Pakistani liberals have always taken comfort from the fundamentalists’ poor showing in elections and the tolerant, Sufi version of Islam traditionally prevalent in rural Pakistan. But polling by the Pew Research Centre suggests that Pakistanis take a hard line on religious matters these days (see chart 1). It may be that they always did, and that the elite failed to notice. It may be that urbanisation and the growing influence of hard-line Wahhabi-style Islam have widened the gap between the liberal elite and the rest. “The Pakistani elites have lived in a kind of cocoon,” says Salman Raja, a Lahore lawyer. “They go to Aitchison College [in Lahore]. They go abroad to university…A lot of us are asking ourselves whether this country has changed while our backs were turned.”

The response to another death suggests that the hostility towards Mr Taseer may not have been only about religion. Two months later Shahbaz Bhatti, the minister for minorities, was murdered for the same reason. Yet his killing did not trigger jubilation. Mr Taseer’s offence may have been compounded by the widespread perception that he, like most of the elite, was Westernised. His mother was British, he held parties at his house, and he posted photos on the internet of his children doing normal Western teenage things—swimming and laughing with the opposite sex—that caused a scandal in Pakistan.

The West in general, and America in particular, are unpopular. It was not always thus. Before the Soviet Union left Afghanistan, around a third of Pakistanis regarded Americans as untrustworthy. Since then, a fairly stable two-thirds have done so. The latest poll on the matter (see chart 1) suggests that Pakistanis see America as more of a threat to their country than India or the Pakistani Taliban. It was carried out in 2009, but anecdotal evidence confirms that the views have not changed. “America is behind all of our troubles,” says Mohammed Shafiq, a street-hawker. That may be because America is thought to have embroiled Pakistan in a war which has caused the surge in terrorism; or because many Pakistanis, including senior army officers, genuinely believe that the bombings are being carried out by America in order to destabilise Pakistan, after which it will grab its nuclear weapons.

Four horsemen

From the complex web of factors that have fostered intolerance and violence in Pakistan, it is possible to disentangle four main strands. The first is Pakistan’s strategic position. Big powers have long competed for control of the area between Russia and the Arabian Gulf, and the unresolved tensions with India have dogged the country since its birth in 1947. Nor has Pakistan tried to keep out of its neighbours’ affairs. It was America’s enthusiastic ally in the war to eject the Soviet Union from Afghanistan in the 1980s, which it sold to its people as a jihad. “We used religion as an instrument of change and we are still paying the price,” says General Mahmud Ali Durrani, former national security adviser and ambassador to Washington. Pakistan helped create the Taliban in the 1990s to try to exert some control over Afghanistan. And with much trepidation on the part of its leaders, and reluctance on the part of its people, it has supported America in its war against the Taliban over the past decade.

By trying to destabilise India, Pakistan has undermined its own stability. “When the Soviets went away,” says a senior military officer, “we had a very large number of battle-hardened people with nothing to do. They were redirected towards India. The ISI [Inter-Services Intelligence, the main military-intelligence agency] was controlling them…20:20 hindsight is very good, but this decision was perhaps wrong.” According to the officer, after al-Qaeda’s attacks against America on September 11th 2001 the army decided to wind down the policy. “We started taking them out. But many of them said, ‘Nothing doing.’ They had contact with people in the Afghan jihad, and they joined those people again.” Because the Pakistanis were helping the Americans in their fight against the Afghan Taliban, the Pakistani jihadis turned their fury on the government.

The second strand is the unresolved question of Islam’s role in the nation. Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Pakistan’s founder, made it clear that he thought Pakistan should be a country for Muslims, not an Islamic country. But since then, according to General Durrani, “Every government that has failed to deliver has used Islam as a crutch.” Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, for example, though fond of a drink himself, banned alcohol. Zia ul Haq, his successor, tried to legitimise his military coup by pledging to Islamise the country.

The relationship between religion and the state is not an abstruse question of political philosophy. A treatise on the Pakistani constitution published in 2009 by Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda’s number two (who is believed to be in North Waziristan), argues that the Pakistani state is illegitimate and must be destroyed. This tract is widely read in themadrassas from which the terrorist groups draw their recruits. Its popularity exercises Qazi Hussein Ahmed, the grand old man of the Jamaat-e-Islami, the most fundamentalist of the political parties, for the Jamaat works within the state, not against it. He argues that Pakistan’s failure to adopt an Islamist constitution “has given the Taliban and such extremist elements a pretext: they say the government will not bow to demands made by democratic means, so they are resorting to violent means.”

The third strand is the uselessness of the government. Democracy in Pakistan has been subverted by patronage. Parliament is dominated by the big landowning families, who think their job is to provide for the tribes and clans who vote for them. Except for the Jamaat-e-Islami, parties have nothing to do with ideology. The two main ones are family assets—the Bhuttos own the PPP, and the Sharifs (Nawaz Sharif, the former and probably future prime minister, and his brother Shahbaz, chief minister of Punjab) own the Pakistan Muslim League (N). The consequence is dire political leadership of the sort shown by Asif Ali Zardari, who is president only because he married into the Bhutto dynasty. When Pakistan desperately needed a courageous political gesture in response to the murders of the governor and minister, the president failed even to attend their funerals.

Pakistan’s rotten governance shows up in its growth rates (see chart 2). In a decade during which most of Asia has leapt ahead, Pakistan has lagged behind. Female literacy, crucial as both an indicator of development and a determinant of future prosperity, is stuck at 40%. In India, which was at a similar level 20 years ago, the figure is now over half. In East Asia it is more like nine out of ten.

Given the government’s failings, it is hardly surprising if Pakistanis take a dim view of democracy. In a recent Pew poll of seven Muslim countries they were the least enthusiastic, with 42% regarding it as the best form of government—though, since the country has spent longer under military than under democratic rule, the army is at least as culpable.

The armed forces’ dominance is the fourth strand. Tensions with India mean that the army has always absorbed a disproportionate share of the government’s budget. Being so well-resourced, the army is one of the few institutions in the country that works well. So when civilian politicians get them into a hole, Pakistanis look to the military men to dig them out again. They usually oblige.

Terrorism is strengthening the army further. In 2009 it drove terrorists out of Swat and South Waziristan, and it is now running those areas. Last year its budget allocation leapt by 17%. Nor are the demands on the armed forces likely to shrink. Although overall numbers of attacks are down from a peak in 2009, they have spread from the tribal areas and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), along the border with Afghanistan, to the heartland. Last year saw an uptick in attacks on government, military and economic targets in Punjab and Karachi, the capital of Sindh province. Since then, security has been stepped up; and with the usual targets—international hotels, government buildings and military installations—surrounded by armed men and concrete barriers, terrorists are increasingly attacking soft targets where civilians congregate, such as mosques and markets.

Exporting terror

Pakistani terrorism has also gone global. The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP, or Pakistani Taliban), announced when it was formed in 2007 that it aimed to attack the Pakistani state, impose sharia law on the country and resist NATO forces in Afghanistan. But last year Qari Mehsud, now dead but thought to be a cousin of the leader, Hakimullah Mehsud, who was in charge of the group’s suicide squad, announced that American cities would be targeted in revenge for drone attacks in tribal areas. That policy was apparently taken up by Faisal Shahzad, a Pakistan-born naturalised American who tried to blow up New York’s Times Square last year.

Pakistan’s new face?

That prompted an increase in American pressure on the army to attack terrorists in North Waziristan. The army is resisting. The Americans suspect that it wants to protect Afghan Taliban there. The Pakistani army says it is just overstretched.

“We are still in South Waziristan,” insists a senior security officer. “We are holding the area. We are starting a resettlement process, building roads and dams. We need to keep the settled areas free of terrorists. It is not a matter of intent that we are not going into North Waziristan. It is a matter of capacity.”

The growth in terrorism in Punjab poses another problem for the army. “What we see in the border areas is an insurgency,” says the officer. “The military is there to do counter-insurgency. What you see in the cities is terrorism. This is the job of the law-enforcement agencies.” But the police and the courts are not doing their job. One suspected terrorist, for instance, a founder member of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, was charged with 70 murders, almost all of them Shias. He was found not guilty of any of them for lack of evidence. In 2009 the ISI kidnapped 11 suspected terrorists from a jail in Punjab, because it feared that the courts were about to set them free.

So where does this lead? Not to a terrorist march on the capital. Excitable Western headlines a couple of years ago saying that the Taliban were “60 miles from Islamabad” were misleading: first because the terrorists are not an army on the march, and second because they are not going to take control of densely populated, industrialised, urban Punjab the way they took control of parts of the wild, mountainous frontier areas and KPK.

Yet even though they will not overthrow the Pakistani state, the combination of a small number of terrorists and a great deal of intolerance is changing it. Liberals, Christians, Ahmadis and Shias are nervous. People are beginning to watch their words in public. The rich among those target groups are talking about going abroad. The country is already very different from the one Jinnah aspired to build.

The future would look brighter if there were much resistance to the extremists from political leaders. But, because of either fear or opportunism, there isn’t. The failure of virtually the entire political establishment to stand up for Mr Taseer suggests fear; the electioneering tour that the law minister of Punjab took with a leader of Sipah-e-Sahaba last year suggests opportunism. “The Punjab government is hobnobbing with the terrorists,” says the security officer. “This is part of the problem.” A state increasingly under the influence of extremists is not a pleasant idea.

It may come out all right. After all, Pakistan has been in decline for many years, and has not tumbled into the abyss. But countries tend to crumble slowly. As Adam Smith said, “There is a great deal of ruin in a nation.” The process could be reversed; but for that to happen, somebody in power would have to try.

The Tiger Passes away...

2011-09-22T16:01:00.000-07:00

Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi dies aged 70

ESPNcricinfo staff

September 22, 2011

Comments: 113 | Text size: A | A

'Tiger' Pataudi was Test cricket's youngest captain© PA Photos

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Pataudi's career timeline

December 13, 1961: Makes debut against England in Delhi, scores 13.
January 10, 1962: Scores maiden century in his third Test, 113 against England in Chennai.
March 23, 1962: Leads India in his fourth Test, in Barbados, and at 21 is Test cricket's youngest captain.
February 12-13, 1964: Makes career-best score, 203 not out against England in Delhi.
February-March 1968: Leads India to their first overseas Test in, in Dunedin. India go on to win an away series for the first time, beating New Zealand 3-1.
January 23, 1975: Plays his final Test, scoring 9 in each innings against West Indies in Mumbai.

Pataudi played 46 Tests between 1961 and 1975 and was arguably India's greatest captain. He was given the leadership in his fourth Test, when he was 21, in Barbados in 1962, because the regular captain Nari Contractor was in hospital after getting hit on the head by Charlie Griffith. Pataudi was the youngest Test captain, a record that stood until 2004. He led India in 40 Tests and had a successful career despite impaired vision in his right eye, which was damaged in a car accident. He also captained Sussex and Oxford University.

India won nine Tests under Pataudi and it was during his tenure that the team began to believe it could succeed. He advocated the multi-spinner strategy because he believed India needed to play to their strengths and used it to achieve their first overseas Test win, in Dunedin in 1968. India went on to record their first away series victory, beating New Zealand 3-1. Pataudi was the Wisden Cricketer of the Year that year.

Pataudi scored 2793 runs at an average of 35 and made six centuries, the biggest of which was an unbeaten 203 against England in Delhi in 1964. However, many rate his 75, scored on one leg with one eye, against Australia in Melbourne in 1967-68 as his finest. Pataudi retired in 1975 after West Indies' tour of India. After retirement, Pataudi served as a match referee between 1993 and 1996, officiating in two Tests and ten ODIs, but largely stayed away from cricket administration.

Pataudi was the ninth and last Nawab of Pataudi until 1971, when the Indian government abolished royal entitlements through the 26th Amendment to the Constitution.He was also the editor of Sportsworld, the now defunct cricket magazine, and a television commentator in the 1980s but gradually withdrew from an active role, though he remained a strong voice in Indian cricket.

Since 2007, bilateral Test series between India and England have been contested for the Pataudi Trophy, named after his family for their contribution to Anglo-Indian cricket. Pataudi's father, Iftikhar Ali Khan, represented both England and India in Tests. Pataudi had taken ill since his return from England this summer after presenting the Pataudi Trophy to Andrew Strauss at the end of the four-Test series.

Pataudi was also a consultant to the BCCI from 2007 and part of the first IPL governing council but refused to continue in the role in October 2010, when the BCCI made significant changes to the league following the sacking of Lalit Modi as its chairman. As the spate of controversies increased, Pataudi was the only member of the governing council to admit the body's culpability, saying it "failed in its role to monitor the IPL's administration and be more questioning of decisions taken." In an forceful speech at the 2010 Raj Singh Dungarpur memorial lecture at the Cricket Club of India, Pataudi had said it was the duty of the BCCI to takemoral leadership of the game.

In April this year, Pataudi also took the BCCI to court in April this year, claiming the board had not abided by its contract with him while he was a consultant as well as a member of the IPL governing council.

At the opening ceremony of the 2011 Champions League Twenty20 today, Ravi Shastri called for a minute of silence in honour of Pataudi.

Water is a resource to be used not be scared of...

2011-09-14T01:44:00.000-07:00

Incompetence and corruption is the cause of floods. Nothing else...

10 Years after 9/11... any lessons?

2011-09-10T14:43:00.001-07:00

Zulfiqar Mirza should be reigned in for the good of the people of Karachi...

2011-09-09T01:21:00.000-07:00

Zulfiqar Mirza if he was truthful will not take up the Quran Shareef...

2011-08-29T06:27:00.000-07:00

Only liars do this...

I am reminded of an event of Qaed e Azam and Gandhi. Gandhi had once said that he wanted to meet The Qaed in secret and would go to any place to meet him with folded arms and bended legs and head down. To which The Qaed replied we are talking of the destiny of two nations and there can be no secret about this and if you are a straight man come with straight limbs and head up.

If Zulfiqar Mirza believed in himself and if he knew he was a truthful person himself there was no need for him to lift Quran e Shareef on his head. Only liars do it. It is almost impossible to believe his words particularly after his sectarian and racist remarks all through. In any other country he would be behind bars for "Disaffection", "Slander", "Defamation", and a Threat to Public Order and Peace. He played his Sindh card and as if that was not bad enough also played the Shia card. Went to the extent of calling himself "badboodar shia". What the hell is he doing?

I would have put him in jail long ago for saying "Pakistan Naa Khappay" as if he created Pakistan and had the authority to undo it. He is an extremely imbalanced and a temperamental man. Beats me such a person enjoyed so much of power. No wonder he was singularly responsible for the deaths of so many. Widowed so many women and orphened so many children.

On top of it he says he did not recruit a single person Urdu speaking from Karachi out of 10,000 appointments. Prejudice has no limits. Can this person be called fair? You deprive such a large population of employment and food. Make them jobless. Shame on him and the likes of him.

No wonder you don't find any Urdu speaking in the Home Department in any position. From top to bottom they are all Sindies whether they are fit for it or not. Is this justice? Is this good governance? Shouldn't he be tried and taken to task for this and sent to jail for being so unfair with the citizens he is supposed to serve?

First Altaf Hussain could never in his wildest imagination tell Zulfiqar Mirza that he won't stop the Qatl e Aam of Pathans (genocide of Pathans) as if he was doing the Qatl e Aam of Pathans. Who would ever say this even if that was the intent. This is total rubbish and garbage Only a fool and an idiot would buy his statement. Urdus are getting killed in Karachi by Pathans and Aman Committee goons of Zulfiqar Mirza, left right and center and day in and day out and this guy enjoys speaking this utter nonsense which will only draw ireof the Pathans.

He seems to have deliberately said this by design to incite Pathans and start another orgy of bloodshed. Nothing else. He must immediately be arrested, tried and hanged for creating bad blood between two people otherwise living together peacefully. It was totally peaceful until the recent inciting by ANP and its incendiary statements. He seems to be more stupid than he looks.

I hope PPP and Pakistan does not let him go unpunished. He must carry the maximum penalty.

Anna Hazare gets is anti-Corruption bill passed...

2011-08-27T19:26:00.000-07:00

Finally Anna Hazare gets his way...

Although a straight forward bill. Wonder why Congress Party was balking and made this elderly man to starve for so long.

Who is killing whom and where is governance?

2011-08-18T21:15:00.000-07:00

Coffins, coffins, coffins, coffins, coffins is what is Karachi... Nincompoops are governing!
Regionalism, parochialism and nepotism will give these results only...
When there were riots in England immediate arrests of 1,500 people were made. And here people are dying endlessly since July no arrests are made. Why are they looking elsewhere and not taking action?

Where is our Anna Hazare?

2011-08-16T21:35:00.000-07:00

First get our Vinoba Bhave then think of Anna Hazare...

We are 64 years late. When we gained independence there were two religious figures on the horizon one was Acharya Vinoba Bhave and the other was Moulana Moududi. The former for Hindus and the later for Muslims. Now let us examine how they impacted the two new nations made on the basis of a two nation theory.

What is important and what is urgent...

2011-08-16T21:01:00.000-07:00

Nero is fiddling while Rome is burning!

What is important what is urgent?

Our petty minded politicians have no idea of what is important and what is urgent and what can wait. For example people are being killed in Karachi and they took up the issue of Commissioner-ate System from the middle of nowhere. Looks like they have no idea of what they are doing or must do, forget about important and urgent.

Instead of addressing the root cause of the problem, taking action against those who incite violence openly with racist statements on TV, talk shows and in speeches and moving against the killers and murderers they ignore it. Take no action, let them escape. The result is for months on ends the killings go on - total apathy for problems and law and order. That was one example.

Balochistan is burning. They have not a clue what to do. They go and rake up the name of Khyber Pahktunkhwa as if that could not have waited. This appeasement of a race is not a good idea. Tomorrow they could ask for secession and you wouldn't be able to do anything. The name Sarhad was just fine - at least it was not on a race. Punjab is by the five rivers. Sindh by Indus, Balochistan by Bal. KPK is the only province on a race. So why blame poor Hitler for racism?

ZAB resisted it and so did all the previous administrations stubbornly and not without reason and this government thoughtlessly went ahead and did it only to get ANP support at the Center. These KPK guys don't want any laws and rules for themselves and want to export the same lawless (ilaqa ghair) mindset elsewhere in Pakistan. High time it stopped. It is important it is urgent. But they do nothing about it.

The Urgent and Important issue is Balochistan. The rebellion started not by the people but sardars. People of Balochistan are with Pakistan 100%. I have interviewed scores of ordinary Balochs. They have confided that they are sick and tired of the tyranny of sardars. They want Pakistan to free them from their hold. Surprisingly the media seems to be sold to the sardars as they do not talk about their tyranny, how they have kept Balochistan and Balochis backward.

The rebellion must be put down by force and the people appeased, not sardars. Talk to the people not the rebel sardars. Bring in a law to curtail their power that is land. Take land away from them by introducing strict land ceiling and distribute the excess land among the poor in the area.

As for the armed rebellion by the sardars take a cue from how India crushed the much bigger Khalistan movement.

They do nothing about it. The way these uneducated politicians work reminds me of "Nero is fiddling while Rome is burning". http://history.howstuffworks.com/ancient-rome/nero2.htm . Enjoy some history:

Nero's Fall

Fred Mayer/Getty Images
The Flavian Amphitheatre or Colosseum in Rome, built in 70-80 AD, October 1998.

Mary Francis Gyles offers another interpretation of the story: Nero's fiddling may not have anything to do with music at all, but rather is a metaphor for his ineffectiveness. Fiddling, after all, can also mean that a person is expending energy on something useless or misguided. If the measures Nero took following the fire were perceived as misdirected or inadequate, then saying Nero fiddled while Rome burned takes on a whole new meaning. It's possible that the idea is a relic of propaganda so effective that it's survived 2,000 years.

Although history has cast him in an unfair light regarding the fire, it's difficult to feel sorry for Nero. The emperor has a well-documented history of brutality. He ascended to the throne after his mother killed his uncle; Nero later had her killed. In the face of blame for the great fire, he chose to look for scapegoats. His persecution of the early Christians was the first the religion would endure, and it resulted in the martyrdom of the apostles Peter and Paul, both of whom were executed during the persecutions.

Ultimately, the great fire helped bring Nero down. Discontent with his reign, his infantries threatened mutiny, and he was declared a public enemy by the Senate. Facing execution, Nero pushed a dagger into his throat and took his life four years after the fire [source: New York Times].

For more information on Rome and other related topics, visit the next pages.

The Two Nation Theory... don't forget it!

2011-08-15T01:50:00.001-07:00

When you are not petty and selfish you achieve big...

The Quaed e Azam was a great man and never petty and selfish, if he were so, he could never have accomplished the big thing which he did. One should read "Legend or Reality" published by Army Press Rawalpindi. If you don't get it, go to the Islamabad library, on the foots of the beautiful Margala Hills not far from the President's house and read the book sitting there.

Subsequently we got petty and selfish and see what happened. While one great man with his higher values got a country for the Muslims of the sub-continent the minions later on could not even get a yard of occupied Kashmir despite having a UN Resolution in favor. Nay they with their shortsightedness, selfishness and pettiness lost half of the country with the feudal and tribal mindset playing huge role in the debacle.

When the greater vision and the big picture and the real cause is forgotten and lost and our ideas degenerate into petty regionalism, parochialism and nepotism etc. we get results as we are getting now. It is getting worse by the day. Hate is ruling us rather love and concern for the Muslim Ummah.

Whether you like the bitter truth of history or not Pakistan was made only and only on the basis of a Two Nation theory. Nothing else. Not for any Punjabi, Sindhi, Balochi or a Pathan. Although it was never envisioned as a theocratic state. Muslim State yes. For Muslims yes but it had full guarantees for all minorities. Quaed e Azam envisioned a modern state, he was himself very modern.

The criteria was one and only one. Muslim or Hindu - exactly as Israel, Muslim or a Jew - not an Arab or a Jew. This is a bitter truth of history. Only two nations till recently were made on the basis of a two nation theory one Pakistan and the other Israel. A few years ago it was Aceh and this year South Sudan. You have to swallow this bitter or sweet pill depends on what you believe in - truth or fiction.

If you want to re-construct history it is entirely up to you. Then there is no difference between you and the RSS Hindus who want to reconstruct history of India. Libraries worldwide are being filled with this fictitious history. You want to copy them, go ahead. At least they do not leave their co-religionists in the lurch like we want our to be.

Theories that give birth to a country are never time bound either. Even a Muslim child born today in India and thinks Pakistan is his country, you cannot stop him as per the original vision. Great sacrifices have been made in life, blood and money. All Muslim centers have been destroyed in India like Lucknow, Bhopal or Hyderabad, to name a few at the alter of Pakistan.

If the religious people at that time objected it was not that they did not want a Muslim Country. It is just that they were concerned that Muslim is in every nook and corner of India, what about him? How will you save him? All did not have the resources to move. Even Quaed e Azam always worried about it. When he was in Ziarath nothing else was on his mind. He cried all the time while Fatima Jinnah gave him napkins for his tears. Read it please.

Even the 1940 Allahabad declaration addressed by Allama Iqba called for Muslim majority states. At that time also they did not ask for a Muslim Country. Ask Najam sethi, he will testify to it. Or if you want I will send you the link listen to him yourself.

Now we can't get petty and selfish and all for our self. Some people's allusion to the thought that the writer (this article was written in response to an article and comments) may not be a Pakistani is a moot point. How does it matter even if he is not a Pakistani, a fact we do not know. Sitting in Dublin he must at best be a Muslim and an Irish. He seems to be a Muslim by his name, it is fine. Even that is not important. The important thing is what is he saying. Right or wrong? Truth or fiction? Whoever he may be.

What are you trying to suggest? Let's not stoop low. See what he is writing? There are a lot of historians including Stanely Wolvepert who are not Pakistani so will you say they are all anti-Pakistan? No. That is far too narrow minded a view.

We have to rise above all this pettiness and selfishness as we have been since the death of another great - Liaquath Ali Khan. In any case there have been only two heroes - The Quaed e Azam and Shaheed e Millath. Barring Suharwardy most others are considered as heroes but villains.

Stanley Wolpert in 1983 in fact resurrected and re-built the image of The Quad e Azam after it had taken a battering in the film Gandhi by Richard Attenborough. It was a non-Muslim that came to his rescue. No Muslim or a Pakistani did. "Jinnah of Pakistan" by Stanley Wolpert then restored his image.

The history is full of facts that show the struggle for Muslims of India and no other regional or tribal or racist consideration. Period. Quaed e Azam has repeatedly mentioned a homeland for Muslims of the sub-continent - one of the two nations, now if we we want to twist it for selfish reasons do it.

The history and objective of Pakistan will not change. But it will have its consequences. The only way of retaining Balochistan and reinforcing the claim on Kashmir is with the same Two Nation Theory. Nothing else. Like it or not.

Hina Rabbani Khar - a model par excellence!

2011-07-30T04:10:00.000-07:00

Will at least the charm work this time?

Nothing has so far worked between these two quarrelsome neighbors I hope her charm works on SM Krishna and the Indian Government. India is a big country with lots of natural beauty places. It is now a an economic power too.

I wonder why do they have to hold on to Kashmir very much against the will of the people of Kashmir. Indian democratic credentials are being lost by this forced occupation. Believe me it is no good.

Hina Rabbani Khar although a feudal is likely to give the breakthrough one wishfully wonders. But you never know if the time has come to solve the vexed issues she might very well get the credit. Oh she is so good looking, if nothing for her poise and grace lets hope something comes through.

The Indian media has gone gaga over her fashion and style lets hope the government succumbs to her charm. Lets hope and pray!

In times like these great leadership is the need of the hour...

2011-07-14T03:51:00.000-07:00

Now who will give this leadership?

sdfd

Zulfiqar Mirza's irresponsible statements... why is he not arrested?

2011-07-14T02:44:00.000-07:00

Zulfiqar Mirza is the cause of so much damage and loss of life...

He has been consistent. From the time he took over in Sindh I have yet to see a sensible statement from this guy. He always makes statements that are downright racist. He seems to be a psychic case. His response is never normal and such a person was home Minister?

South Sudan - lessons!

2011-07-09T13:23:00.000-07:00

Bull in the China Shop... Pathans of Karachi...

2011-07-08T07:55:00.001-07:00

Bull in the China Shop... Karachi Pathans?
And no city can take an influx of 25,000 daily for years on, particularly since 2007. It just does not have the resources to accommodate so many people. No water, no food, no roads, no sewage, no power, no housing, how shall we take care of them? Plus no jobs and then they put up a red flag and become tools in he hands of their political agents - the land mafia that just wants to steal and grab land as much as they can.
WhyWh
Plus they are all armed to the teeth. "Hathyar hamara zevar hai" says their leader Shahi Syed. It is like a bull in the China Shop. Can any thing be spared? Please spare our commercial capital.
Develop KPK so that they do not go to Karachi and destroy the city of lights.
And who are these people? The local Pathans we know and been living for ages in peace and harmony together? No they are not. They are basically Afghans which Zia Ul Haq imported 40,00,000 of them. Isn't it time to make them go back and force guys like Shahi Syed etc. to give a lesson on brotherly relations rather than preaching hatred.
He should also be stopped from making incendiary and hate statements on TV! The government should arrest him, try him and punish him for disaffection between compatriots. Time to tell things as they are. No more beating around the bush. People are dying in large numbers. Does any body care? Is anybody listening?
I know one thing. Those who cannot give law and order, peace and prosperity to the people who they are supposed to serve, have lost the right to rule, have lost the right to enjoy the trappings of power, have lost the right to draw salaries paid from our taxes. If they are taking salaries and enjoying perks like houses, cars etc. is all haram. They are not doing justice to their job. If they can't do a job they must in all fairness pack up. Res
And no city can take an influx of 25,000 daily for years on, particularly since 2007. It just does not have the resources to accommodate so many people. No water, no food, no roads, no sewage, no power, no housing, how shall we take care of them? Plus no jobs and then they put up a red flag and become tools in he hands of their political agents - the land mafia that just wants to steal and grab land.
Why don't they do this in their own area thousand miles away from where they come. They have made their own are"Ilaqa Ghair"where no law and order is possible. No development means no jobs. So they just come to Karachi with the same mindset and want to make Karachi also a Lawless Area. I am just calling a spade a spade. It is like that.
Plus they are all armed to the teeth. "Hathyar hamara zevar hai" says their leader Shahi Syed. It is like a bull in the China Shop. Can any thing be spared? Please spare our commercial capital. Develop KPK so that they do not go to Karachi and destroy our city of lights.

What is happening in Karachi?

2011-07-07T14:13:00.000-07:00

Why can't they pin point at the exact problem?

Why is Karachi allowed to be destroyed like this. It is totally unprotected. As seen from three days some people have occupied vantage positions and are firing indiscriminately. Can't the police go there, catch them and bring them to justice? One can clearly see who is killing whom. The political leaders, governor Mr. Nisar Khoro don't seem to have a clue.

The guys like Haji Adeel and Shahi Syed who come from very far don't give a damn about Karachi and openly make racist comments and incite people to violence for their petty political gains. They have made their own area as Ilaqa Ghair - lawless area. And no lawless area can have development. And when you cannot have development you won't have jobs.

So they don't go to nearby Islamabad or Lahore because they are not allowed there but go straight to Karachi where the Karachiites do not stop them. The result is they manifest their lawlessness there. Their leaders say Weapons is their jewellery. Hathyar hamara zevar hai - Shahi Syed.

But the people of Karachi are shy of blaming the Pakhtun racist mindset while Pakhtun ANP leadership does not hesitate in making openly racist comments and allegations. They never talk of co-existence. Even if one family lives in a remote area in Sindh they will have a red flag of ANP hoisted. If they are so racist and do not want to mix with people of Karachi why do they come from so far and make life or Karachiites difficult?

Where are the law enforcement agencies? What are they getting paid for?

Islamabad should stop migration of 25,000 Pakhtoons on a daily basis to Karachi that is taking place since 2007. The city cannot take such an influx. It just doesn't have the water, food, sewage, roads, power and housing to support them. They go and occupy lands creating more problems. Who is going to please stop this lawlessness?

Is there any thing we can do besides praying?

Nuclear Scientists must be kept under wraps...

2011-07-07T13:11:00.000-07:00

Nuclear Scientists must be kept under wraps... Top Secret!

Nuclear scientists are always kept under wraps as state secrets. That is what all civilized nations do. Do you know the nuclear scientists of Israel, South Africa, Russia, UK, France, USA, India and so on? No. If somebody says yes, he has extremely little or no knowledge. Where was the need for us to make a hero of a scientist, swell his head and expose him like this? I am amazed he flew to Dubai that year 48 times. There are only 52 weeks in an year.

He was lucky Musharraf was at the helm then, that he did not hand him over, shudder to think what other govts. could have done. Now this expose. This whole AQK saga sucks.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/pakistans-nuclear-bomb-maker-says-north-korea-paid-bribes-for-know-how/2010/11/12/gIQAZ1kH1H_story.html

Kashmir problem and solution...

2011-06-24T23:14:00.000-07:00

The bag is full of missed opportunities...

You can't abandon Kashmir now after so much loss of life. It is like admission of the fact that we were just not up to it, that we were on the wrong just because we did not pursue it as it should have been at the international level. Our Government, our diplomacy, our media management internationally totally failed us. We never had our priorities right.

We missed many chances of getting it. First opportunity was offered in 1962 when China had attacked India. Ayub Khan missed it. Second 1965 it was done without taking Kashmiris in confidence. They made a public issue in the world of "infiltration" and whatever little we won on the battlefield was lost on the table. Third was as late as 2001 when US needed us soon after 9/11. We should have bargained for help on Kashmir. http://thinker-thinkingoutofthebox.blogspot.com/2007/10/musharrafs-mistakes-2-continued.html

Earlier Kargil was not an opportunity but a debacle. Yet media mileage could have been got from it. Lemonade out of a lemon. We lost Siachen by just not being there (laziness) and India went and occupied it. It was aggression by India. We never made an issue in the world press of Indian aggression. It all adds up against us. We never act in time and love to blame someone else for our inaction and gross mistakes.

In the meanwhile we have got hundreds of thousands killed in Kashmir. We did not move the world. We did not tell effectively of India's State Terrorism. Instead India let the world know that we were doing "Cross Border Terrorism". We did not have the sense to counter that in the first place that it was not a border but just a line of control.

We did not tell the world why India has a million forces in a small place like Kashmir and not in UP or Bihar for instance. This is proof of the fact that all is not well there. People don't want you there. You are ruling against their will by force. We did not repeatedly tell the world and make an issue of it. Finally it is the public pressure internationally we create that matters. If we don't who is to blame.

Our diplomats and Press Attaches are of so low quality that all they want is their salaries and perks. Period. They just do not do their job. They want to enjoy foreign postings. In contrast, Indians in their embassies and consulates do their job. You see the results in the media of the world as well as in the media of most Muslim Countries.

For instance for 40 years Indians have had a total sway on Saudi Arabian and UAE media. All stories that matter are carried from an Indian point of view, not Pakistan's. Tell me when all (non-Muslims included) are reading it, hearing it, what perception does it create? Positive for India and negative for Pakistan. It hurts.

As if that was not bad enough we had this Mid-Eastern issue based terrorism in Pakistan. While the issue is Mid-Eastern, not a single Mid-Eastern country is afflicted by it as we are. Wo log tho saf nikal gaye aur hum phans gaye. Now that has put a huge spanner in the wheel we don't understand. It has impacted the Kashmir problem quite adversely.

We can't give up Kashmir because Pakistan was created on the basis of Muslim majority areas. Kashmir was and is a Muslim majority area. Giving it up is negating our own existence.

Secondly we have a responsibility towards the people of Kashmir who are divided. We have to unite them. They have suffered a lot and we have to alleviate their suffering. If we are selfish we will not.

Thirdly all rivers come from there, we cannot allow India to decide when and how much water we should get. Last but not the least, tourism. India is pocketing all the dollars and Euros while that money belongs to the Kashmiris.

We don't exploit the opportunity because at the appropriate forums and time our leadership does not say what it should. Democracy is much touted about. They went to war in Iraq apparently for democracy. Tell the world "Why not a democratic Solution" in Kashmir as Tony Blair once said. We did not catch it, build on it and cash it.

Now recently they slammed cruise missiles on Libya under the pretext that Gaddafi is killing the citizens. Why did we not go and make a big hue and cry that India is also killing similarly and for God's sake go and save them. Get a million army out of there. If India does not listen, use force.

If we the sovereign Pakistan does not raise this issue, why others will? We kept mum and missed yet another opportunity. This opportunity still exists. Make use of it even now and stop blaming others for our own woes.

Opportunities keep coming our way, we miss them all and love to blame others!

Show the faces of criminals please...

2011-06-24T15:33:00.000-07:00

Why hide the faces of the criminals...

If he gets away by court for lack of hard evidence he will not even have the humiliation of being arrested so that it is deterrence for future budding criminals. It beats all logic not showing their faces. Show them. The whole world does it. Very recently remember that IMF Chief Strauss Kahn, every body knows his face now. I always wondered why don't they show faces. Show it.

Clash of the titans... Zardari replies to Nawaz diatribes...

2011-06-21T16:43:00.000-07:00

The fight has begun "Molvi Nawaz Shareef should learn to be a real tiger".

Zardari had shown lots of patience for three years. Today he burst out in response to what Nawaz Shareef blurted out in Kashmir. And he came on hard. Nawaz Shareef somehow does not forget to attack Musharraf whether the occasion warrants it or not. Wonder why did he make a deal and went away for so long. Today he made scathing attacks on Zardari.

Me no admirer of Zardari is now forced to acknowledge him as a more astute politician more in touch with the ground reality. He is hoisting his flags every where and moving forward. He has this capacity not to rub people on the wrong side quite the opposite of Mian Nawaz Shareef. From where he has acquired this aplomb I have no idea. Khuda jab Husn detha hai tho nazakath aa hi jaathi hai.

Zardari lashed him as a paper tiger. He went on to say if he has forgotten politics that he is welcome to consult him in private or public. It think Nawaz Shareef will put an end to his diatribes against him and Musharraf for good. He will if he is a true politician not if he is the product of the establishment of Zia ul Haq who tried to subdue and kill PPP for 11 years. Couldn't. http://www.dawn.com/2011/06/22/nawaz-trying-to-pit-govt-against-army-zardari.html http://www.thenews.com.pk/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=17404 http://www.samaa.tv/newsdetail.aspx?ID=33295

Pakistan $200 billion can come back...

2011-06-21T14:23:00.000-07:00

Now people cannot hide their ill-gotten wealth in Switzerland...

Pakistan can get its money back...

Some countries have got some of their wealth back. Statesman has reported that the Swiss Parliament has passed the “Return of Illicit Assets Act” (RIAA). "On October 1, the Swiss Parliament passed the historic “Return of Illicit Assets Act” (RIAA)-a significant law that will make it possible for many developing countries, like Pakistan to recover the billions of dollars shifted to the Alpine state by unscrupulous individuals and companies."

That is good news for Pakistan in particular. We have our $200 billion stashed away in Swiss Accounts money that was plundered from the Pakistan exchequer and deposited there. Now is the opportunity for Pakistan to punish the offenders and get back the money. This is a few times the debt Pakistan owes to the world. All our national debts would be cleared and money would be available for development.

Will someone do something please? Is any one who matters listening please? Read all: and comment on this blog.

http://www.thestatesmen.net/news/swiss-return-of-illicit-assets-act-pakistan-can-get-billions-back/

Lessons from PNS Mehran attack... move cantonments out of the cities...

2011-06-03T16:10:00.000-07:00

Move cantonments out of town and rename Abbotabad...

150 years back when Karachi was a sleeping fishing village these cantonments were fine not any more... City has grown all around it... inconvenience for people and the army/navy and airforce all...

Now Karachi is a mega polis sprawling hundreds of square miles. The population is about 20 million. The need to move cantonments out of towns can hardly more emphasised. The cantonments are every where and large tracts are occupied. While it is inconvenient for the forces it is also most inconvenient for the people. They can very easily be moved at least 50 km away from the city North West of Karachi. Vast empty areas are available.

And these areas must not be made concrete jungles but developed into green belts, forests and parks as we see in the West right in the middle of the city. Some parts can be developed though for civilians but by the best town planner in the world invited to compete and bid. Lets make this city unique and one of the best in the world.

Army, Navy and Air Force would also be safe in a lot better place.

Will write in detail later Inshallah.

US bashing will not help Pakistan...

2011-05-27T14:06:00.000-07:00

There was not a smile, it was plain talking, stop bashing US and churning up conspiracy theories...

The surprise visit of The Secretary of State is of great significance under the circumstances. She echoed the sentiments of lots of thinking Pakistanis. She spoke of Pakistan solving its own problems. She spoke of corruption. More later time permitting.

PNS Mehran attack... Pakistan defense compromised!

2011-05-23T15:52:00.000-07:00

High time at least now realize who is our enemy?

Now what Imran Khan, Hamid Mir, Munawar Hasan, Prof. Ibrahim, Gen. Hameed Gul and the likes of him have to say? Will they still continue to be the political spokesmen of the devils?

Time to think and reflect. What more do you want? Will you wait till Pakistan is blown up? When will we put the finger on the real problems. This is not the first attack on Army and Navy. But Navy is most vulnerable. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13514033

Now this reminds me of an event long ago when a member of the JI was exultant at the fact that "hamari zahan ke log bahut bhar gaye hain Navy mein" I was shocked and dismayed.

So now it transpires how well infiltrated this mindset is inside our army, navy and air force. Will someone do something please?

I had written a few days back:

..................................................Please for God’s sake forget what happened with Binladen. He is dead. He is gone although not his ideology. US had repeatedly warned us “either you get him or we will”. We did not and they got them. Period.

Now just ensure that it doesn’t happen again. Now catch hold of Aiman Al Zawahiri before US does and correct our image. They are not going to trust us before action lest we tip off the accused. This is their genuine concern.

And the way media is creating a frenzy and fomenting hatred against US which is our donor and helper in so many different ways is very dangerous. Beggars are no choosers Sir. This hatred will do nothing good for Pakistan and Muslims of the world. Do not pander to the demands of the terrorists in whatever they guise they may appear in.

The Urdu media and the Electronic media is just not doing the right thing by making a hero out of a villain. Terrorism will fetch us nothing. One bit of policy will not change. Palestine is not the issue for Pakistan but Kashmir is.

So let the world know of Kashmir and how they are suffering at the hands of the Occupation Army. Those are our issues. Not Binladen.

Binladen challenged our sovereignty by being here without our consent and US did because quite unawares we were harboring an accused terrorist. Now for God’s sake go and get the other desired foreign nationals – Arabs and Afghanis.
Come clean and let the world know that we do not aid or abet terrorism by silence and inaction. Otherwise be prepared for more Abbottabads ..................................................................................................................

Now today this is the height.
All this is because of siding with the terrorists one way or the other. See what is the result. We cannot defend ourselves. It is an intelligence failure and security failure of untold proportions. The top officers incharge must immediately resign if not kicked out most unceremoniously and given exemplary punishment. Some are even talking of court martial.

We lost the most expensive Navy Air Crafts the Orions that were obtained with great difficulty by Musharraf, that were big deterrents for our enemies. Now they must be rejoicing obviously. We are vulnerable now. If some submarine comes in the Arabian Sea and launches an attack we cannot detect it now. Remember now who is going to pay $280,000,000 or more to buy such equipment and how are you going to get it past the US Congress? Ask Imran Khan, Hameed Gul, Munawar Hasan and the like. Even some are defending these killers listen to the guys like Raheemullah Yousuf Zai who come on TV and sort of defended them. Do they get paid for it or are shit scared and have to speak against their will one wonders.

Read this:

The Pakistani media did the damage through their Urdu Columns and TV anchors. Scared for their lives they pander to the machinations of the terrorists. And the readers and audience are sold to these nincompoop self assumed journalists. They are muddling people's minds with their constant bombardments of baseless conspiracy theories all the time.

Leading the pack is that Hamid Mir who got his credentials from that first interview of Osama bin laden. Then Dr. Shahid Masood is just the same, so is Talat Hussain and almost all with the exception of Najam Sethi and a little moderated Kamran Khan.
All exhort people to somehow empathize with the terrorists and foment US hatred with no benefit to Pakistan in any way. No body talks of the need for Law and Order, Development Plans, Land Reforms long long overdue.
Fed up with PPP, if you look at Nawaz Shareef he is on a one point agenda to punish Musharraf and nothing else. Murghi ki taang ek. Janab ko kuch aur soojhtha hee nahee. He goes to Badeen and foments hatred against people of Karachi and exhorts Sindhis to rise against the people of Karachi. I had happened to listen to this live on Geo. Is this leadership?
A leader unites people not divides them. A leader is all love and affection and forgiveness not hate and revenge. Is this we are taught and are going to teach our children? No. Don't do it.

He again came to Karachi and had a dialogue with those who want to break up Pakistan. They don't talk of the two nation theory that is the basis for Pakistan but talk of regionalism "Ilaqawariath". They talk of Taassub not fair-play and equal opportunity for all. They never ever talk of merit. They don't talk of eliminating the feudal system while themselves being it's worst victims.

You see how mum he is over this terrorism issues too. Is he one with them? I hope not. But he aids and abets them by silence. You rarely see him condemning the terrible blasts and killings all over Pakistan.
Media was freed by Musharraf and he becomes its first casualty. America gives us aid and America is its casualty. Are we a nation of thankless nay "peechay se chura ghonpne walay" people? What are we? please define.
If Pakistan does the job which it should, there is no need for USA to do the job. We have to do it for our own reasons, our own benefit and our own survival and on our own terms. US has all along said "If Pakistan is not able to do it, we will". They did it.
Now at least lets go after the terrorists lest they take over from inside. Don't be afraid of them.

But don't let it happen like the Lal Masjid affair. Media chided the government for inaction and when they did it they changed sidesand sympathised with the gun totting terrorists.

Is not any body other than the state totting a gun a terrorist? Lets face it. You cannot side with anybody fighting the State with arms under any excuse. And who ever talks in the media directly or indirectly criticizing the action done in national interest by the State must be apprehended tried and duly punished.

How else will you stop irresponsible journalism that helps the anti-state elements in the end.
I wonder where are we heading? or is it "Pakistan ka Khuda Hafiz"?.

Rest later.

Mr. Arif Khan wrote: Do you know how hard Bush Tried to have these P-3Orions approved by Congress for Musharraf ..He barely made it!!!! at a cost of $279 Million a copy they are loaded with Sophisticated Electronics and can track any Submarine without a 200Sq Mile area ..and the Talibans blew two of them up with Rocket Launchers...This is a SAD day for Pak Navy these indigents only know how to Destroy not Build? They also knocked down the ancient Buddah Statues and 75% of Pakistanis Support them..in my Opinion Pakisatn is FINISHED, it has too many problems and a incompetant govt to deal with them Do you think these Valuable assets will ever be replaced by USA under these Circumstances? Hell NO!! India is laughing so hard that i can hear them all the way here... This is indeed a Sad day!!! $600 Million worth of near new Aircraft destroyed by ANIMALS Arif Khan

Osama Binladen Dead...

2011-05-01T23:17:00.000-07:00

Khas kam jahan pak...

Obama addresses the world...

http://vodpod.com/watch/7637852-president-obama-announces-osama-bin-laden-is-dead?u=dandelionsalad&c=dandelionsalad

http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2011/05/02/vo.bin.laden.compound.fire.geotv?hpt=C2

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13256791

http://www2.wnct.com/news/2011/may/01/5/new-osama-bin-laden-dead-ar-996049/

http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2010/11/18/us-and-nato-imperialism-in-south-asia-the-developing-pakistan-quagmire-by-fazal-rahman-ph-d/

If he was in Pakistan he should have been captured by us. He would be at least alive today. This is another black spot on the performance of Pakistan. It is not good for Pakistan and US and European nations. We should have done it and claimed the credit at least.

We possibly could have caught him alive. We kept denying his existence in Pakistan. Now you see what is it worth at all in not catching him in time and alive. This is very bad for Pakistan that we did not do it when he was so close in the capital - in Abbotabad.

Now internationally Pakistan is on the backfoot again and on a slippery wicket you know what it does to you.

Moin Akhtar passes away...

2011-04-22T12:25:00.000-07:00

Ah Moin Akhtar, the greatest actor of the subcontinent is no more...

Different people may have different views but for me he was the best actor in the sub-continent beating all else hollow. You give him any role he will excel in it. He studied the characters so well and then will live the role. I only wish more people follow his commitment to excellence. I can only say Inna Lillahi wa Inna Ilaihi Rajioon. Not only Pakistan but the world has lost one of the greatest entertainer of all time. But he went too early. So sad.

Remember what great dramas he has given us which will continue to entertain for generations to come.

An excerpt:

Anwar is a playwright, poet, television host, satirist and painter. He is widely recognised for using satire and wit to shed light on current social issues for all ages. The man behind Studio Dhai (Studio 2:30) and Studio Ponay teen (Studio 2:45) is best known for his plays Angan Tehra and Mehrunnissa, which won him critical acclaim.
Moin, recipient of the Sitara-i-Imtiaz – Pride of Performance awarded by the president of Pakistan – has had a large fan following in the subcontinent for over three decades now. A stage actor, comedian, TV host, writer, singer, director and producer, he is perhaps most famous for his impersonations.

Although Urdu is the national language of Pakistan, it is spoken in many parts of India and is widely understood in all Hindi-speaking regions of the country.
With command over several languages including English, Sindhi, Punjabi, Bengali and Gujarati – Moin is known for his faultless portrayal of characters from everyday life. His most memorable performance was in the role of a female TV artist, Rozie, which was an adaptation of Tootsie featuring Dustin Hoffman.

Some Clips:

http://www.thepakistani.tv/i/2129/pakistani-tv-comedy-shows-and-sitcoms/loose-talk-on-majooda-khalat.htm

India wins the ICC World Cup 2011 ...

2011-04-02T13:11:00.000-07:00

When you do not have a comfortably sailing to the final you win it...

Congratulations to India for winning the world cup 2011. In the end they played better and deserved to win despite their lucky escape in the semi against Pakistan. Forget that.

They played like champions today. Despite loosing two early top gun wickets of Sehwag and Tendulkar they played most methodically to reach the target. Hats off to the Gautam Gambir and Virat Kohli partnership. Then Dhoni played a master stroke, he came himself instead of Yuvraj who could have or could not have played, to lead from the front and see how responsibly he played without being bogged down unlike Misbah neither did he play any non-cricketing stroke like Afridi.

There is something to learn from these boys - unity of purpose, planning and commitment.
I hope our team was watching how they planned their batting up to the point they won. No rash non-cricketing strokes, no T20 strokes and no bogging down unlike our boys on the fateful day.

Srilanka made terrible mistakes by not taking some good bowlers like Ajanta Mendis etc. they had no good pace attack and the best spinners were not playing.

Now coming to the main point. Pakistan topped the tabled and is bundled out in 2011. In 1992 they got into the knockout because Australia beat West Indies and Pakistan sneaked in and went on to become the World Champions 1992. Similarly in 2009 Pakistan won the T20 Championship after being humbled earlier and were about to be eliminated. But when it sneaks in with utmost difficulty it wins the final. But when we top the table we never win. This is an observation. Now you ponder over it.

Same with India, they sneaked in with great difficulty after loosing to South Africa and tieing with England and were not exactly comfortable with others. They beat the minnows. Their most difficult match was against Pakistan. Seems like they kept the best for the final and bravo they did the job. http://samaa.tv/newsdetail.aspx?ID=30243

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Winning-WC-is-proudest-day-of-my-life-Sachin/videoshow/7853426.cms

http://www.ndtv.com/album/detail/the-cup-of-joy-10136?fromphotowidget

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Shahid-Afridi-praises-Dhonis-captaincy/videoshow/7829997.cms

Rest later.

Why did Pakistan loose the semifinal?

2011-03-30T16:58:00.000-07:00

When you make Himalayan Blunders no amount of prayers help...

What are those Himalayan Blunders? Let me be brief.

Not playing the most feared bowler in the world - Shoaib Akhtar. Umar Gul should have been dropped and Shoaib taken. Is there any match between these two bowlers? None. Shoaib is a class apart. He runs through the batting line up and when people avoid getting out to him they give wickets to others. In either case team benefits.
Umar Gul giving away too many runs - 69 runs in 8 overs without any wicket. Afridi gave him many sessions even in the end to have a wicket in his name but he only succeeded in conceding more runs to India. One wonders why Omer Gul is the most favourite with Shahid Khan Afridi at the expense of the team.
Bad field placement and hence leaking runs without a deep third man. Omar Gul was never bowling to the field. Over 20 runs were lost like that.
Very poor fielding at least 30 runs could have been saved.
Four catches were dropped of Tendulkar to the extent he was embarrassed. His luck was such that even after being given out the decisions were reversed thanks to the review.
Such abysmal batting. Hafeez had no business to be out so irresponsibly. Where was the need of a non-cricketing shot? He must be dropped as Kapil Dev was once dropped at his peak by Gavaskar for an irresponsible stroke.
Asad Shafeeq had no business to cut a straight ball from that arrogant Yuvraj.
There was no need to bring upon themselves the pressure which they brought upon themselves. Misbah while trying to save wickets consumed far too many runs.
Mohammed Yousuf was sorely missed in the middle and batting flopped miserably. What was Younis doing if he could not bat? And Afridi and A.Razzak? Why were they taken? I guess to bat.
Kamran Akmal continued to be as bad as possible behind the stumps.
What about power play? It should have been taken when the captain Afridi and vice captain were at the crease.

In short Pakistan could not have had a better chance to make it to the final and possibly the cup. This is too much and it has broken the hearts of millions around the world. Now we have to listen for the next four years that India has never lost to Pakistan in a world cup. Disgusting.

Shoaib Akhtar - The fastest and the best fast bowler the world has produced...

2011-03-20T19:18:00.000-07:00

The world's greatest bowler ever born!

Injustice done to the best bowler in the world...

We will miss him. I still hope and pray he does not retire and continues to play. If not the charm of cricket will be gone. If he goes he will be going without realising his full potential. He was extreme talent but we did not have extreme talent in management to match him. Poor management of Cricket in Pakistan has broken hearts of players and spectators alike.

How dare Naseem Ashraf the then PCB head, not give a Central Contract to a player of Shoaib Akhtar stature. Naturally he protested. Which later became cause of bitter controversy.

Talent has to be well taken care of and nurtured as is done every where in the world. So why not in Pakistan. I am not condoning indiscipline. He later was very good after realising his mistakes. We are all human we make mistakes. We must learn to forget and forgive. Now this guy was doing a lot and giving his best. His potential should be fully realised for Pakistan's sake.

Now it seems Waqar Younus and Afridi have haunted him out. It was a sad day for Pakistan when he announced his retirement. We should have a movement to bring him back. President Asif Ali Zardari should ask him to renounce retirement and be available for the national team. He should do what President Gen. Zia did to Imran Khan.

Shoaib Akhtar is the most feared bowler the world has seen. Even a half fit Shoaib Akhtar is more than all bowlers put together as Intikhab Alam had said. He would send a shiver down the spines of the world's best batsmen when he would be on the run up to bowl them.

He was the first to achieve speeds beyond 100 miles per hour and he consistently did that. In trying to play him out we got they gave away wickets to other bowlers. We benefited both ways.

However much the victory against Australia was cherished millions were sad that they did not see Shoaib Akhtar bowl on that day. I hope and pray they do not drop him in the subsequent matches. If they do then we know what is going on in the team.

Pakistan breaks the winning streak of Australia in the World Cup...

2011-03-19T17:28:00.000-07:00

Pakistan beats Australia Convincingly...

UK and Allies strike Libya... UK at its mischief again!

2011-03-19T17:15:00.000-07:00

If The West is sincere and serious then they should solve decades old problems...

It is most unfortunate - UK again leading in the killing of people in the Arab World. UK never stops. It created Israel right in the heart of Arab Land and we see no solution in sight with Israel's atrocity and continuously defying the world community.

It is Britain that has remained the culprit throughout. It is not international community but UK in disguise. It was Mrs. Thatcher who forced Reagan to act in the first Gulf War. It was Tony Blair who trapped Mr. George Bush. No same thing under one alibi or the other they kill Arabs and Muslims. How many have they killed in Iraq? Where they are suffering they just keep talking and do nothing viz. Israel and India in Kashmir. There they see no oppression and democracy is forgotten.

Remember the Muslim World and The Arab World does not see it with kindness. If the West was sincere it would have done something to restrain Israel in Palestine and restrained India in Kashmir and the rest of the country not to be so ruthless and murderous there. People are dying and democracy goes to the dogs. Cant the West see this? Will of the International Community is just a hogwash for their hidden ambitions.

It is their interests. They are not interested in the people but are driven by the desire to weaken the Arab World so that tomorrow it is no threat to Israel.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/allies-launch-libya-force-as-gaddafi-hits-rebels/2011/03/19/ABKqmkw_video.html

BBC says AlQaeda never existed...

2011-03-08T02:15:00.000-08:00

In case you have missed the documentary here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ_HlmP1aZk

What a match? What a chase? What a tie?

2011-03-01T09:23:00.000-08:00

England needed to be there. But this is the super charged World Cup 2011. Expect any thing.

The batting was good by India but England were no where behind. Tendulkar ofcourse is Tendulkar. He built the platform for India no wonder. Bresnen five wicket haul ensured India did not pile up further.

The reply was equally sprited. Kevin Pieterson was wonderful and Munaf's catch was doubly superb that ended a class innings. The best caught and bold ever as they said.

Strauss and Bell amazing too. Did not think they could play so good. While cruising at will, Zaheer applied brakes along with Munaf.

But the last guy Shahzad of England's six brought England too close. Yet England's victory was not to be. Although some think technically England won. They lost less wickets and India did not bat the full 50 overs. It batted for 49.5 overs.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/icc_cricket_worldcup2011/content/story/503292.html?CMP=NLC-DLY

Is there something to learn from Egypt?

2011-02-12T06:24:00.000-08:00

Yes there is a lot to learn from Egypt as follows:

Rest later.

Egypt makes history...

2011-02-11T11:11:00.000-08:00

The first Technology Revolution... and peaceful!

History made today. 18 days of struggle and 30 years of reign gone. Look at the lady here. She is crying with happiness. In just 18 days the change has come. The important thing is to believe something can be done. And it does. This as a matter of fact the beginning of the revolution.

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/middle-east/2011/02/11/live-blog-feb-12-egypt-protests

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp=41540868&#41538438

Stop corruption in Cricket...

2011-02-05T15:31:00.001-08:00

Shame... Taking moral responsibility Ejaz Butt must resign immediately!

There is nothing to write about. Heads down with shame. Sorry, so long as corruption is accepted is society it will go on. The young boys and girls must get the message that corruption is not acceptable in any circumstance.

Getting banned for 5 years is no small thing. The careers are finished for good. What great talent gone. Butt the class opener and a good enough captain gone, the McGrath of Pakistan - Asif gone and a budding talent Amer gone too. But let this be a lesson for any future adventurers. I hope not only the Cricketing Community but the whole world is listening.

In the meanwhile some one has to take moral responsibility. And if Ejaz Butt has just a bit of conscience still left in him he will at least resign without asking even if he does not offer an apology to the nation. This will be good for the morale of the cricket squad for the 2011 Cricket World Cup. http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci-icc/content/current/story/499614.html

Why the demonstrations on Kashmir do not become news in international media?

2011-02-05T14:38:00.000-08:00

If we continue like this we may be celebrating Kashmir day for ever...

Today is February 5 again it is a Kashmir day in Pakistan. We have been having it for over six decades now. There have been good enough demos in Azad Kashmir. I thought this will be reported in BBC, CNN, ABC or Skynews just to give a few examples.

They did cover the Egyptian demonstrations and even covered a demo on Belgrade. But failed to cover a dispute simmering between the two nuclear armed neighbors. Why is it so? I want reasons other than conspiracy theories and victim psychosis please.

As I see it, the Kashmiris and Pakistan do not make a professional effort in this direction. Their PR is at the lowest ebb. They should ensure through Media, Pressure Groups, Public Relations, Diplomacy and High Profile Statements by Heads of States that News Agencies pick Kashmir events, report and discuss it.

Our reputation is so bad and commitment so low that besides Pakistan internally it is no news even when people die of atrocities by occupying forces. It is barely reported in Pakistan media too. Why? Because no body cares. Dawn did not even report it on 5th Feb. http://www.dawn.com/latest-news . The News reported barely: http://www.thenews.com.pk/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=10676

At every forum 24x7 round the year we must talk of a Democratic Solution so Tony Blair used to say. But do the rulers make any statements or have a diplomatic and media thrust to do that. No. Diplomats abroad just enjoy their salaries and perks without doing their jobs. Why? They just do not care. If people are dying let them. Who cares?

Hey guys get your act together if at all you want Kashmir issue resolved. Make news and ensure it is reported world-wide on a daily basis. Without creating world awareness and pressure on a sustained basis the world is not going to move.

Thinking Out of the Box!

No body seems to be serious about Balochistan!

Pakistan beats England 3-0 in Test Cricket in Dubai

Nawaz Sharif drama of Mansoor Ijaz...

Gruesome murders but we tolerate those who fight and kill our soldiers...

The energy crunch and solutions...

Listen to Mr. Haroon, Pak ambassador to UN...

Pir Mazhar ul Haq nails Zulfiqar Mirza lies...

Memo to Mike Mullen - if true it is dangerous. Army is not going to like it.

This is an article from Washington Post. Thinker thinks that such messages if at all are given orally and not through a memo to have a record. Seems highly incredible. But if it has happened it shows how stupid the handlers have been...

In Pakistan, a deep civil-military divide

By Karin Brulliard and Karen DeYoung, Thursday, November 17, 1:50 PM

Sarkozi, Obama and Netanyahu the liar...

Sarkozy tells Obama Netanyahu is a "liar"

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Nuclear Scientists must be kept under wraps...

Kashmir problem and solution...

The bag is full of missed opportunities...

Show the faces of criminals please...

Clash of the titans... Zardari replies to Nawaz diatribes...

Pakistan $200 billion can come back...

Lessons from PNS Mehran attack... move cantonments out of the cities...

US bashing will not help Pakistan...

PNS Mehran attack... Pakistan defense compromised!

Osama Binladen Dead...

Moin Akhtar passes away...

India wins the ICC World Cup 2011 ...

Why did Pakistan loose the semifinal?

Shoaib Akhtar - The fastest and the best fast bowler the world has produced...

Pakistan breaks the winning streak of Australia in the World Cup...

UK and Allies strike Libya... UK at its mischief again!

BBC says AlQaeda never existed...

What a match? What a chase? What a tie?

Is there something to learn from Egypt?

Egypt makes history...

Stop corruption in Cricket...

Why the demonstrations on Kashmir do not become news in international media?