…for India.
Picked this up y’day morning…(Courtesy Paul Kedrosky) ” Pakistan, The Land That Financial Bad News Forgot: Part II“. The really scary bit is towards the end…(in bold - emphasis mine):
Given all the pain in markets last week, I thought it would be a good time to check in again on The Land That Financial Bad News Forgot. Yes, Pakistan.
If you recall, the wise folks running the Karachi Exchange decided back in August that they would put a floor under the KSE at 9100. After watching stocks tumble 40% in the preceding six months, no longer would investors have to worry about their stocks falling further. They could only drop enough to take the index to 9100, and then … well, they couldn’t fall further. Bad news be damned!
…After a few palpitations, the Karachi market has now flat-lined. …Volumes have collapsed, going from a healthy 186-million shares a day to a comatose million shares a day, a 99.4% decline. It is simply no longer a viable exchange, with companies unable to raise money and investors unable to get liquidity or — heaven forfend — buy shares. Nothing. Traders are reduced to sleeping and playing video games.
…At the same time, the “badla” rate, a sort of interest rate at which investors can borrow money, soared to 100% on Friday, making the record-high Libor look positively like a giveaway. It is, in short, really, really bad.
But the news gets even worse.
The country’s debt has been downgraded by S&P deep into junk status; it has just enough foreign reserves to pay for two months of imports; and Pakistan looks increasingly like it will default on a major loan on Friday, plus it has $3-billion more in upcoming debt payments. Unless something happens quickly, we are about to see what happens when you have a systemic collapse in a nuclear power next door to a terrorist hotbed.
Paul slightly amended his last sentence in one of the comments to:
…Let’s call it a systemic collapse of a country containing a sizable terrorist faction.
Also stumbled on this earlier today: Pakistan’s “Macabre” Economics in which Desh has this memorable sentence:
Aid was Pakistan’s “monetary and fiscal policy”. When it was absent, then it was Nuke and military sales.
Adjacent Posts:
Terrorism and Public Opinion in Pakistan
India - Pakistan: Notes from an Island
Emergency in Pakistan: Opportunity or Headache? Part-II and finally,
The “Raja-Mandala” approach to containing Pakistan
October 14th, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Current Affairs, Geo-Strategic Issues (incl. Nuclear, Oil, Energy), Global Terrorism, Pakistan related |
6 comments
From a BBC report: “‘Another US strike’ hits Pakistan“ (emphasis mine)
Five civilians and seven militants have been killed in north-west Pakistan in a suspected US missile attack, local officials say. Missiles hit two buildings near Miranshah, the main town in the North Waziristan region on the Afghan border.
It has emerged that President Bush recently authorised US raids against militants in Pakistan without prior approval from Islamabad.
There is growing concern in Pakistan over unilateral US military action.
…It is the fifth time since the beginning of this month that US forces have carried out cross border strikes, according to local people.
…The attacks follow persistent US accusations that Pakistan is not doing enough to eliminate Taleban and al-Qaeda sanctuaries in the border region.
An unnamed senior Pentagon official told the BBC that at some point within the past two months President Bush issued a classified order to authorise US raids against militants in Pakistan…
Contrast this with:
(National Security Adviser) Mr. Narayanan said the government had proof of how terrorism was controlled from Pakistan and in this regard mentioned the arrest of two foreign nationals in the aftermath of the Mumbai blasts…
…”What (evidence) we have is stronger than what the US had (against Taliban) after 9/11″ which prompted America to launch a war on Afghanistan. [ link ]
But thats nothing new…we have been saying this for almost 10 years now and Pakistan has consistently rejected “…(the) baseless Indian allegations of support for so called cross-border terrorism”.
Related Posts:
We know its Pakistan but we hope its not!
Blasts? What Blasts? ‘Yeh to hota hi rahta hai’
Now You See Him, Now You Don’t*
September 13th, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Current Affairs, Global Terrorism, India & Its Neighbours, Jammu & Kashmir related, Pakistan related, Politics and Governance in India, Terrorism in India |
one comment
Courtesy, this article on the CounterTerrorism Blog, I came across this fascinating survey conducted almost exactly a year ago which has some revealing insights. A small sample:
- 33% Pakistanis view Taliban, Al-Qaeda and radical Pakistani Jihadi groups favourably (while 43% oppose them)
- 38% favour Taliban (while an equal percentage oppose it)
- 37%-49% favour local radical Pakistani Jihadi extremist groups (only 24%-29% oppose them)
- 46% of Pakistani’s view Osama bin Laden favorably (only 26% have an unfavourable view of him) and finally,
- 76% of those polled believe that implementing strict Sharia law throughout Pakistan is either a “very important” or “somewhat important” long-term goal for the government of Pakistan.
Read the full report here: http://www.terrorfreetomorrow.org/upimagestft/Pakistan%20Poll%20Report.pdf
August 11th, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Global Terrorism, India & Its Neighbours, Jammu & Kashmir related, Pakistan related |
3 comments
Some good links for the weekend:
Excerpts from the Pak army and the jihadi’s second coming: Read in the context of recent incidents of ceasefire violation along the LOC and the controversy surrounding Gen Kapoor’s remarks.
Excerpts from [The Islamist-Leftist] Allied Menace
and how California alone uses more gasoline than any other country in the world (including India and China!)
.
Keep Reading…
August 9th, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Current Affairs, Distortions, Misrepresentations about India, Enviroment Related, Geo-Strategic Issues (incl. Nuclear, Oil, Energy), Global Terrorism, Islam & Terrorism, Jammu & Kashmir related, Pakistan related |
no comments
Excerpts from a great article by Prof Walid Phares, “The Deobandi Fatwa Against Terrorism Didn’t Treat the Jihadi Root” underscoring some of the points I had made in an earlier post (Thanks to Krishen-ji for alerting me to this)
*** Excerpts Begin (emphasis mine) ***
Many in the West and in other regions of the world were impressed by the issuing of a fatwa (Islamic theological edict) condemning Terrorism by one of the leading religious centers in the Muslim world, the Darool-Uloom Deoband in India. An Islamic seminary said to have ‘inspired’ the Taliban has, according to the said document denounced “terrorism” as against Islam, calling it an “unpardonable sin.”
…The Deobandi School, a classical third branch for Salafi Islamism (along with Wahabism and Muslim Brotherhood), has significant weight in the South Asia Theater. Its teachings based on a strict interpretation of Islamic law have reached many countries, including Afghanistan and Britain, where they are said to have indoctrinated the Taliban. “If they change course, al Qaeda and the Taliban are finished,” I heard in Europe and the United States.
So the question now is have they changed doctrinal direction and is this fatwa the evidence? I regretfully conclude that it is not the case yet.
Keep Reading…
July 29th, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Current Affairs, Global Terrorism, Islam & Reform, Islam & Terrorism, Terrorism in India |
3 comments
In an eerily prescient post a few weeks back, I had written: Our Kurukshetra is approaching fast.
The terrorist attacks in Ahmedabad and Bangalore are merely the latest consequences of a mis-guided, half-hearted approach to tackle terrorism and ignoring the root of the problem - which is the ideology of “Jihad”…and Islamism…This is the ideology that led to 9/11, the massacre of Beslan and numerous attacks since then - a disturbingly large number of them in Bharat.
As long as we don’t recognise this, we will be fighting the wrong enemy (not terrorists but innocents)…on the wrong front (not at the level of ideas, but at the level of physical force)…and with the wrong weapons (not better policing and quick, efficient justice but Dharnas, Bandhs, Satyagraha etc..)
The FIRST STEP though has to be the realisation that this is WAR - nothing less.
At least someone has realised this…
Terror attacks are a war against India…
I salute Shri Modi for having the courage to speak out.
He at least has more spine than the hundreds of others who claim to represent India. But as Radha-ji of Vigil pointed out in an email to me: “His spine is not in question here, it is his understanding of the nature of the threat - jihad…” I think she has hit the nail on its head.
As I had promised to myself, I will say no more on this until such point when I have some idea of how to deal with this menace.
In the meantime, here are some extracts from a letter written by a concerned father* (in teh US) to his sons back in 2004. Pl. read and think (emphasis mine).
*** Excerpts begin **
…To get out of a difficulty, one usually must go through it. Our country is now facing the most serious threat to its existence, as we know it, that we have faced in your lifetime and mine (which includes WWII).
The deadly seriousness is greatly compounded by the fact that there are very few of us who think we can possibly lose this war and even fewer who realize what losing really means.
Keep Reading…
July 27th, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Current Affairs, Global Terrorism, Godhra, Islam & Terrorism, LeT, SIMI etc., Pakistan related, Politics and Governance in India, Politics of Minority Appeasement, Post Independence History, Terrorism in India |
6 comments
Apparently, when it becomes a training ground for Jihad.
Chinese authorities have…closed down 41 “illegal” places of worship (in the Muslim dominated Xinjiang province).
These places of worship were used as training ground for conducting a “holy war”, Chen Zhuangwei Chen, the police chief of Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang province, said. Xinjiang, which borders central Asia and Pakistan, has been the scene of a pro-independence movement by a section of the eight million Uighurs living there for a long time. [ link ]
What about these Madarsasthough? and what about the Deobandi madarsas where the Taleban were trained?
Highly Recommended: Mosque Demolition meets Deathly Silence
Related Posts:
When is it OK to storm a place of worship?
Chinas Afzal Guru
July 17th, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
China related, Current Affairs, Global Terrorism, Human Rights and Legal Issues, India & Its Neighbours, Islam & Terrorism |
4 comments
About two weeks ago,the Royal Society of Arts in UK, together withTehelka, organised a Summit on India and Pakistan in London. It had a stellar line up of speakers and panelists (Jaswant Singh, Farooq Abduallh, Arun Jaitley, Mushahid Husain, Imran Khan, Asma Jehangir, Ram Jethmalani…et al) and I am sure it generated a lot of animated discussions…
I am delighted to present a guest post by my dear friend Ashutosh who attended the summit and graciously agreed to pen down his thoughts to share with everyone on this blog…Ashutosh has a blue-chip CV and he left McKinsey a few years ago to start his own consulting firm in London…Needless to say, he also has a deep and abiding interest in politics and international affairs. Without further ado, here are Ashutosh’s thoughts…in two separate posts…This is the first one (emphasis is mine).
*** POST BEGINS ***
Allow me to begin by saying that I attended the events over two days wearing essentially two separate hats- one that of a politically aware global citizen (after all vasudhaiva kutumbakam has not been a more relevant concept that today and best describes the world view of us expat desis) and the second more practical hat of a energy geo-politics analyst (and there is probably no other region than the sub-continent where geo-politics of nuclear- natural gas- renewable energy and climate change is most relevant, fragile and least appreciated); my thoughts on the meeting therefore are in that sequence…
As a relatively more aware follower of international affairs- I question the need to have any reconciliatory relationship with Pakistan. What follows is a brief summary of my thoughts…
A]Pakistan wants India to forget the recent past (and in my view the most important past of the last 60 years) and reflect on our much longer history before…when we were one country.
If the meeting was about burying the past and moving forward- well it was a very good first step but we have barely scratched the surface in establishing trust at a human level. One example of self contradiction- Mushahid Hussain opening his speech by greeting (read insinuating) the audience in every other language and style but (conspicuously) avoidinga single hindu greeting like namaskaar and then closing his speech (suggesting to India) by - Thoda Dil Bada Karein- this was just one example of several self contradictions in Mushahids speech. Grow up dude, look at that inexperienced Sachin Pilot, measured and moderated responses in face of insinuations- logical and consistent- through out.
B]Search for that sameness - another theme that came out…We are similar so there is no reason we cannot move forward.
Well- I challenge this notion of sameness- yes , we have common food habits, similar languages and to some extent a common civilization but our life experiences of the last 60 or more years driven by our national ethos have been totally different. Tolerance versus Fanaticism- and so have emerged our relative positions as a function of our individual national ethos.
Why should we desperately seek out that same-ness and struggle in this relationship? When we deal with China, be it at a Governemnt level or in business, the first thing we do is recognize our differences- much stronger footing to craft our way forward. Pakistan and India may have common history and gene pool but our ethos is totally different- we will not only struggle but even get frustrated more easily in making this relationship work. Lets recognize our differences first- tolerance v/s fanaticism then figure out what is the relative value at stake for each of us!
C] Dont Use the T-word. If you do, then at least dont use it as IT (Islamic Terrorism)…
Will someone please explain to me why not? Speaker after speaker mentioned that terrorism has no place in Islam. Good passionate rhetoric but frankly this is the 800 pound gorilla in the room and calling it militancy or freedom struggle aint any good, any more. Well done Tarun Vijay, for bringing it out into the open, chapter and verse with examples included. Of course no answer/response was forthcoming except a Humphrey Appleby-esque Dont use the T word and if you do dont call it IT
Keep Reading…
July 9th, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Debates & Discussions, Geo-Strategic Issues (incl. Nuclear, Oil, Energy), Global Terrorism, Identity, India & Its Neighbours, Jammu & Kashmir related, Miscellaneous, Pakistan related, Politics and Governance in India, Post Independence History, Terrorism in India |
4 comments
French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lvy on thecrisis inDarfurquoted inGuernica, June 2008:
…I was there (in Darfur)…just one year ago nearly to the day, smuggling myself across the border with Chad, crossing 500, 600 kilometers of a devastated Darfur. And I must say what I saw then, what I experienced there never left my mind and my heart since. I was deeply shocked in the most intense sense of the word by this experience, even if I lived many others in my life since my youth in Bangladesh, in Pakistan. What I saw in Darfur in a way bypassed, overwhelmed a lot of things which I experienced before.
I would like to sum up the conclusion I did draw from this journey. My first conclusion was and still is that we should stop speaking of the crisis of Darfur or even the war in Darfur. It is not a crisis. It is not a war. A war presupposes of course a frontline, presupposes organized battles, and presupposes, even more, two real armies. It is not a war between two armies. It is a war by an army against civilian populations. It is not a civil war, it is a war against civilians.
…My second conclusion, which I drew from this journey, is that we should get rid of at least … part of the myth of the Janjaweed. There are a lot of big stories about the Janjaweed, these horsemen of the devil, ill-equipped themselves, arriving in the villages burning the huts, spreading fear, like in the Middle Ages. What I saw is not exactly that. I saw huge holes in the ground, craters from bombs which were the result of a bombing…This is not Janjaweed. This is a real bomber. What everybody told me is that these Janjaweed when they arrive, generally in lorries, in trucks, they are commanded by people in uniforms or have uniforms that happen to belong to the Sudanese Army.
…Another thing which I never saw to this extent (and which makes the polemic about genocide completely outrageous and frivolous) is the impossibility of giving the real number of dead. Nobody knows if it is 200,000 dead, the number which has been given on and on for years, if it is, which is my evaluation, closer to 300,000 or 350,000; some human rights organizationsserious onessay 400,000, maybe 500,000. From 200,000 to 500,000nobody being able to decide which is the right figure? Which means that there might be in Darfur hundreds of thousands of children, women, men, raped, killed, burnt without any memory, without any inscription anywhere, without graves, without a face, without a name, without a number.
The question now is to know why. My last, or nearly last remark: why? And why is the international community so passive? For more than 4 years [facing] this situation, why this passivity? Why this inability to [make] decisions or, when they are made, to make them respected? Of course, there are some obvious reasons: the regime in Khartoum, the regime of murderers has some oil.
…You have also the reason (which is true) that the Khartoum regime managed to make the Western countries, and especially America, believe that they had a card to play, theyKhartoumin the war against terrorism.
…And to end, what can we do facing that? Facing this devastation? Facing this uncomparable mass murder?
First of all, of course to try to make it visible…
Number two: we can and we should, and it is possible, to ask for real sanctions on the state of Sudan, despite the oil…
…And last but not least, there is one weapon which we have pleaded for, Mia Farrow in America and myself in Europe, for months and months. There is one actor in this terrible game, who has huge power, and can do a lot if it wants. This actor is China.
…China provides the weapons. China buys a big portion of the oil. China protects the Sudanese regime in the Security Council of the United Nations.
So the real pressure, the most efficient pressure should be and is still today the pressure on China.
And we have a tool, as you know, on China. We have a real weapon, which would prove to be very efficient if we tried. It has been tried for a few days about Tibet. It has already given results: the resuming of the dialogue with the Dalai Lama. It should be implemented [against] the Darfur tragedy, [and it] is the weapon of a boycott of the Olympic Games. …If we accept going to Beijing for the games, it will belike in Berlin in 1936games of blood and shame.
…all this should prevent us from saying that we are impotent, unable, that there is nothing to do. There is a lot to do to save what is still savable in Darfur.
Here are some shocking photographs of the tragedy.
The question is who will bell the cat?
Related Posts:
Chinas investments and expansion in Africa
India and China: Apples and Oranges
P.S. As many of you would know, China’s role in Sudan is well documented and its critics range from the George Clooney to Steven Spielberg…
June 27th, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
China related, Current Affairs, Geo-Strategic Issues (incl. Nuclear, Oil, Energy), Global Terrorism, Politics and Governance |
one comment
On Bal Thackeray and his call for Hindu suicide squads/ Hindu terrorists: Nip it in the bud by Offstumped. A short excerpt:
Bal Thackerays remarks are reprehensible. There is no moral sanction for Terrorism by any tenet of Hindu Dharma. Those responsible for the Thane bomb blast must be brought to trial and any attempts by them to appropriate moral sanction under Hindu Dharma must be denounced unequivocally. There is no room or place for Terrorism by Hindus for Hindus with Hindu Dharma as moral cover.
Terrorism is Adharma let there be no ambiguity on this.
On Narendra Modi’s comment re. taxes and aid: Two curious legal cases by BarbarIndian. Excerpt:
The first involves the following statement by Narendra Modi:
“I want to tell the government in Delhi, lets sign a year-long pact, you don’t take any money from us and dont give us any aid. And then we will show the Centre how we run the state. You all tell me, am I not right,” he was quoted as saying. [link]It is not known if these were the exact words uttered by Modi, but calling these statements seditious is quite ambitious. As a matter of fact, Congress bigwigs have not made any public statements, leaving the hatchet job to foot soldiers like Manish Tewari.
Given that the UPA top brass have basically maintained a wall of silence about the Gujjar and Gorkha issues, one can only imagine the seriousness of this regime about the nation’s security. Perhaps this is a moot point, since many of UPA’s partners are unabashedly seditious, especially the communist factions.
As a side point, Congress claims that the Government does not have “any system to determine how much a state government contributed in taxes to the Centre”. This is quite funny. Evidently the Government does not have any mechanism to determine which castes qualify for OBC privileges either. The Government does not even have a mechanism to determine how much of social spending actually go to intended recipients (15% if you believe the late Rajiv Gandhi, 5% if you believe Rahul).
The center-state resource allocation issue is nothing new. A plethora of studies have been done on this issue, as an example - here. The fact of the matter is, there is a well defined system that determines these issues. That system is called “electoral opportunism”.
I will try a summary of the study in a future post.
On Jihad Against Freedom of Speech at the United Nationsby Jeffrey Imm. Excerpt:
The United Nations’ Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has no problem with its members suggesting that the 9/11 attacks were an “inside job” perpetrated by the United States on itself. …
Denying the role of Jihadists in the 9/11 attacks is apparently perfectly acceptable freedom of speech for the UNHRC, but criticizing Sharia law is another story.
On June 16, 2008, UNHRC president Doru Romulus Costea announced that criticism of Sharia law will not be tolerated by the UNHRC, based on the complaints and pressure by Islamist delegates to the UNHRC. In effect, the Islamist nations represented at the UNHRC have effected a Jihad against freedom of speech at the United Nations when it comes to criticizing Sharia or Islamic supremacist (aka Islamist) theocratic ideologies that threaten the freedom and lives of innocents around the world.
On Pakistan Army fires strategic broadsides at United States and Indiaby Dr Subhash Kapila. Excerpt:
General Ashfaq Kiyani, Pak COAS has been quoted by the respected Pakistan journalist, Ahmed Rashid in a Los Angeles Times feature as follows:
- General Kiyani has told US military and NATO officials that the Pakistan Army will not retrain or re-equip its troops to fight the counter-insurgency war on the Afghan frontier as demanded by the Americans.
- Pakistan will deploy the bulk of its troops on Pakistans borders with India and prepare for possible conflicts with traditional enemy India.
Related observations emanating in this report are as follows:
- More than 80% of the $ 10 billion aid provided by USA to Pakistan was diverted to buy advanced major weapon systems for the Indian front.
- Pakistan Army after its peace deals with Taliban leaders has virtually withdrawn from the seven districts of FATA
- Posts vacated by Pakistan Army now stand occupied by Taliban cadres.
- The peace deal with the Taliban has only one proviso that they will not attack Pakistan Army troops. There is no proviso that they will not attack US/NATO troops in Afghanistan and therefore the Taliban has now a free run against them.
Have a thoughtful weekend.
Related Posts:
Some good links for weekendreading
*Must Read* links for theweekend
Recommended weekendreading
June 22nd, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Current Affairs, Distortions, Misrepresentation about Hinduism, Global Terrorism, Hindu Dharma, Human Rights and Legal Issues, India & Its Neighbours, Indian Economy, Jammu & Kashmir related, Pakistan related, Politics and Governance in India, Terrorism in India |
one comment
Came across this news-report yesterday and wondered whether there is now sufficientevidence todeclare Pakistan a state-sponsor of terrorism?
…Elements of Pakistan’s ISI and its paramilitaries are actively backing Taliban insurgents and if their sanctuaries in the country are not eliminated, the efforts of the US and its allies to stabilise and rebuild Afghanistan will be in jeopardy, a leading US think-tank has warned.
The study by Rand Corporation, funded by the US Department of Defence, finds that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate and Frontier Corps have failed to root out Afghan insurgent groups…in some cases, individuals from these Pakistani organisations have provided direct assistance to such groups as the Taliban and Haqqani network.
…Pointing to the growing list of terrorist attacks and foiled plots in the US, UK, Germany, Denmark, and Spain, US intelligence agencies have identified terrorist plots stemming from the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region as perhaps the single most important threat to America’s security. [ link]
Not that any of this isnew…
I have been harping on this theme for more than two years now but, as they say in French, plus ca change..
From an unrelated report, I learn that “…there are at least 200 entities in Pakistan raising funds for terror operations…”
…According to the IB, there are at least 200 entities in Pakistan raising funds for terror operations. The afore-mentioned document suggests that the nexus between Indian gangsters and Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence, the ISI, agency is also getting stronger by the day.
…The government document also notes that the ISI has been stoking increased militancy in Punjab and the north-eastern states.
Since 2006 several terror cells set up by the ISI have been neutralised in Kashmir, forcing it to look beyond. The ISI then re-launched its Operation Pin Code and Operation Topac with a view to destabilising the entire country. That is where Punjab and the north-east come in.
…The first stage in Topac and Pin Code involves low-level insurgency through placing operatives in key locations across the country with a view to subverting the police force, communication networks, and financial institutions.
Phase two, which is underway, deals with stepping up terror in the border areas and elsewhere, through the Afghan mujahideen and Bangla militants who will have entered the country to carry out terror strikes.
Knowing the way the UPA government functions, I do not expect to see any action on this or other similar reports…Where does that leave us?
As I mentioned in one of my earliestposts on this subject (”All roads lead toIslamabad“),
Sadly, the prevalent atmosphere in New Delhi and a government obsessed with bhai-chara and peace process suggests that the government either does not believe in facts on the ground or is being driven by a different agenda.
Thanks to modern technology though, we, as common citizens, are more empowered today to try and influence behaviours and perceptions than ever before.
Let us put these resources to good use and spread the message Hopefully a point will be reached when no government will be able to ignore the groundswell of public opinion.
The message that we must forcefully repeat is this:
-
Pakistan isa state-sponsor of terrorism
-
It is responsible for nuclear proliferation in Iran and North Korea
-
The ISI has been the god-father of Al-Qaeda and continues to support and sponsor jihadi activities, including in Kashmir
-
Pakistans madrassas harbour a growing number of jihadi terrorists and fanatics who will stop at nothing in their quest for total domination*
It is high time that the regime in Pakistan is recognised for what it is a supra-terrorist organization and dealt with appropriately.
Related Posts:
Pakistan, Taliban & the War onTerroryawn
All roads lead to Pakistan(onceagain)and
All roads lead toIslamabad
For an unusual perspective, read: The Raja-Mandala approach to containingPakistan
*P.S. If you thought I am being dramatic, read how schools in Pakistan are turningintonurseriesof bombers
London, May 20 (2008): Al-Qaeda-linked militants have transformed a Government-run school in the restive tribal region of Pakistan into a nursery for suicide bombers, training children as young as nine-year-old.
It was like factory that had been recruiting nine to 12-year-old boys and turning them into suicide bombers, Maj Gen Tariq Khan, the commander of the division that captured the area, was quoted in The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday as saying.
The camp was located in a territory in South Waziristan where the notorious Pakistani Taliban commander, Baitullah Mehsud, operates.
At another location, military investigators found film footage on a DVD that they believed depicts children at the school being trained in suicide bombing.
Maj Gen Athar Abbas, the armys chief spokesman, said that the school and a hospital had been taken over by militants to prepare children for suicide attacks and for making improved explosive devices (IEDS).
June 11th, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Geo-Strategic Issues (incl. Nuclear, Oil, Energy), Global Terrorism, India & Its Neighbours, Jammu & Kashmir related, LeT, SIMI etc., Pakistan related, Politics and Governance in India, Terrorism in India |
7 comments
Yesterday, I was alerted to this news-report from earlier this week in whichIranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejadwasquoted as saying:
the state of Israel will cease to exist with or without the involvement of his country.
‘This will happen whether we are involved in it or not,’ the Iranian leader told a news conference…..
He had been asked to explain his statement earlier this week in which he said the Jewish state would soon disappear from the map.
This isnot the first timethat Mr Ahmedinejad has expressed similar sentiments…But the reason this particular report caught my eye was an interviewI had just finished reading whichhad actually discussedthe broader context around such remarks.
The interview was withpolitical scientist and thinker, Matthias Kntzel (currentlya research associate at the Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism (SICSA) in Jerusalem and author of several books including, Jihad and Jew-Hatred: Islamism, Nazism and the Roots of 9/11).
I am reproducing some excerpts below (emphasis mine)in which Mr Kuntzel talks about Iran, anti-semitism and the world view that appears to underpin and support the violent ideology of Islamism.
*** Excerpts Begin ***
Alan Johnson: Let’s turn to Iran. In a stream of articles and lectures presented around the world, you have pleaded with us to ‘take the Iranian leader’s Weltanschauung [worldview] seriously as a specific outlook with its own principles and history‘. You have invited us to ‘look inside Ahmadinejad’s fantasy world and seek to grasp the immanent logic behind his attacks, even if this involves insights which may send a shiver down the spine‘. You see the regime’s ideology a ‘mish-mash of Jew-hatred, Holocaust denial and Shiite death-cult messianism‘ as the real context for its pursuit of nuclear weapons.
Let’s begin with that aspect that most observers find frankly bizarre Holocaust denial. What is the meaning and import of what you call ‘this new form of Holocaust denial: creative, modern, unrestrained, and extremely self-assertive‘?
Matthias Kntzel: I should say first that I am convinced that they believe what they say. It’s not just propaganda for their public. They are also trying to influence UN debates, suggesting that Israel should not be allowed to ’spread the lie of the Holocaust’ and so on. Iran is pushing its own ‘truth’ within institutions. And this is little understood.
Keep Reading…
June 5th, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Current Affairs, Debates & Discussions, Geo-Strategic Issues (incl. Nuclear, Oil, Energy), Global Terrorism, Human Rights and Legal Issues, Islam & Reform, Politics and Governance |
no comments
Unfortunately this is one list which does not stir any pride:Dawood 4th ‘most wanted’ criminal on Forbes list
Somebelieve naming and shaming the criminals and the countries that harbour them will help
Referring to the Forbes list, former CBI director U S Misra (said)…”These lists will put pressure on such countries which will have to answer their own people in due course for giving shelter to the fugitives.”
Misra, a former Interpol vice-president, said details of such fugitives…will tell the world how the country concerned was not cooperating with Interpol by failing to deliver on the promises made to the global police body.
The Forbes list has, in fact, mentioned the possible hideouts of Dawood (in Pakistan), Osama (in Pakistans Waziristan region)…Interpol secretary general Ronald Noble…told Forbes.com, “…their crimes have been so significant that they should be pursued globally.”
But I doubt that Dawood Ibrahimis on the agendaduring Shri Pranab Mukherjees visit to Pakistan next month.
Also from the Forbes report:
“…Though the Pakistani government denies it, the 52-year-old Ibrahim is probably in Pakistan. He is believed to have close links to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency and travels on passports from India, Yemen, Pakistan. There are rumors that he has had plastic surgery to alter his appearance.”
Related Post: Now You See Him, Now YouDont*
See also: Dawood Ibrahim is a global terrorist: US
and a much nicer list…Forbes Special Report on The World’s Billionaireswhich has Lakshmi Mittal, the Ambani brothers and K P Singh in the Top 10.
April 29th, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Current Affairs, Global Terrorism, India & Its Neighbours, Pakistan related, Politics and Governance in India, Terrorism in India |
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Fellow blogger Pastorius posted this great piece over at the Infidel Blogger’s Alliance. It touches on euphemisms and “media labels” regarding Asians, something�on which I have commented before.
Excerpt:
“…There is a group of people in Britain who have distinguished themselves by setting off bombs in subways, preaching hatred of Infidels in Mosques, and carrying placards in the streets calling for a “real Holocaust” against Jews.
The media calls these people “Asians”.
In other words, the media uses a racial classification to name a group of people who are
1) driven by ideology, not race
and
2) more time than not, NOT ASIAN.
…And, really race is beside the point. I can not think of anything more racist than to blame Jihadi violence, which is driven by the ideology of the Koran, and various Islamist groups (Muslim Brotherhood, Wahabbism, Hizbollah, Hamas, etc.) on Asians.
…The PC Media, under the guise of fairness, are blaming the misdeeds of a few ideologically-driven people on a group of people designated by their racial characteristics.
That is racism.
Can you imagine how Chinese people, and Indians, and Filipinos feel about that?”
Now you may understand why some British Hindus do not want to call themselves “Asians and why some of them are very angry.
For the latest example of this, see this report (emphasis mine):
A priest has been attacked in the grounds of his church, in what police described as a “faith-hate” crime. Canon Michael Ainsworth, 57, was injured by two Asian youths at the church, in Tower Hamlets, east London.
although a later BBC report noted that
Tower Hamlets in east London, where the church is located, has a large Muslim community and Mr Khan said the incident should not affect “the hard work of communities in Tower Hamlets to create social harmony.
See also:
Please, no “M-word” here
and Avoiding the M-word from which comes this short excerpt:
The obfuscation is sometimes almost comical.
The New York Times, reporting the Glasgow attack on Page 1, carefully avoided using the M-word to identify Britain’s Muslim terrorists. Instead it attributed the 7/7 bombings to Britain’s disenfranchised South Asian population and reported that the terrorists in Glasgow were South Asian.
(As Joel Mowbray pointed out for Powerline, Indian Hindus are Britain�s largest South Asian demographic.)
UPDATE (Nov 2nd ‘08): Courtesy Sh Kak, this Op-Ed from The Hindu which mentions how “forced marriages” - routinely mentioned as an “Asian” problem is actually more of a problem amongst Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities (emphasis mine):
According to the British reckoning, the figures for this sordid practice (forced marriages) are around 3,000 per year. Unofficial estimates suggest that the tally may be even higher. Most victims are known to be women aged between 15 and 24. Another 15-20 per cent of cases involve young men. About 65 per cent of known cases involve those of Pakistani origin, another 25 per cent are of Bangladeshi origin, and the rest are of Indian or various African and Eastern European origins.
March 20th, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
A Hindu Identity, An Indian Identity, Distortions, Misrepresentations about India, Global Terrorism, Identity, Islam & Terrorism |
no comments
and my inferences are based on...
