FLASHBACK – India, Israel linked to Pakistan plot

By: PakAlert Press

India, Israel linked to Pakistan plot

 

By Syed Saleem Shahzad

KARACHI – For the past 23 years, Afghanistan has served as a proxy military playing field for different countries,

including the former Soviet Union, the United States and Pakistan. Now, after a year of the US-led war on terrorism, a new proxy war has begun in Afghanistan, this time aimed at Pakistan and involving the intelligence networks of India and Israel.

It has been learned from highly placed intelligence sources that India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and Israel’s Mossad are collaborating to train several hundred militants to be used in an attempt to destabilize the administration of President General Pervez Musharraf.

The sources say that training camps have been established near the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, and the eastern city of Jalalabad, which lies close to Pakistan’s western tribal areas. It is said that RAW has arranged most of the “human resources”, while training is the responsibility of the Special Operations Division (Metsada) of Mossad. Metsada generally conducts highly sensitive assassination, sabotage, paramilitary and psychological warfare projects.

Once trained, the recruits will infiltrate the border areas of Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Balochistan Province, where they will attempt to forge links with local tribespeople and militants in an effort to rally support for an uprising against Musharraf, who is widely discredited in these regions for abandoning the Taliban and siding with the US in its war on terror. These provinces have a strong pro-Taliban history.

Musharraf’s decision to throw in his lot with the US resulted in pressure from Washington to clamp down on militant organizations and to stem the flow of jihadis from Pakistani soil into Indian-administered Kashmir. And since Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had strong (albeit covert) links with the militant organizations, it was able to bring pressure to bear on the leaders for them to back off for the interim.

However, while most of the leaders of these groups have been ready to cooperate with the military government, some of the rank and file have been less accommodating. Although their numbers are not great – a matter of hundreds – they are still a source of concern to Musharraf as they are fully equipped and trained. Nevertheless, the chaos that had been predicted by many for Pakistan, with disgruntled militant groups causing mayhem, never materialized, largely because of the understanding between the militant groups and the ISI.

The move by RAW and Mossad, as indicated by the intelligence sources, will tap into a large section of the population in NWFP and Balochistan that feels betrayed by Musharraf over his ditching of the Taliban. For India’s part, it hopes to stoke the fires of unrest by using those militants who refuse to muzzle their guns despite the entreaties of their leaders. It has long been India’s desire to portray Pakistan as an unstable country that supports cross-border terrorism into Kashmir in order to gain international support for Delhi’s position on Kashmir – that of staging elections.

In recent times, little-known organizations such as the al-Iqwan and the al-Faran have been the brainchild of RAW, the sources said. These groups have carried out a number of relatively minor incidents in Indian-administered Kashmir, such as kidnapping foreign tourists, which New Delhi has used to back its claim that Kashmiri fighters are international terrorists. These organizations have not been heard of since.

RAW has not been capable of setting up groups to carry out larger incidents without its hand being shown, hence its collaboration with Mossad, which is undoubtedly thoroughly professonal and which is thought to have carried out a number of high-profile incidents without leaving a trail.

Within Pakistan, a few small groups are known to be beyond the control of the Pakistani government. Two of them, the al-Saiqa and the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen al-Alami, have revealed themselves through fax messages to newspaper offices in which they have claimed responsibility for incidents.

Al-Saiqa comprises only a handful of men and is based in NWFP. It has claimed responsibility for various attacks on members of different security agencies early this year. More recently, it owned up to an attack on foreign tourists visiting a Buddhist site in NWFP in which a German citizen was killed.

The Harkat-ul-Mujahideen al-Alami is based in the Pakistani port city of Karachi and also comprises only a handful of youths. It is thought to be behind plots to assassinate Musharraf and interior minister Moinuddin Haider.

Similar small groups in Pakistan share the vision of once again turning Pakistan into a paradise for militant groups, and they all operate beyond the apparatus of the Pakistani intelligence network, as well as beyond the control of the mainstream militant groups. All have a footing of some sort in the tribal areas and remote rural regions.

It is into these groups that the new alliance between RAW and Mossad will feed their trained men in the hope of keeping the wheels of unrest moving sufficiently until popular unrest is strong enough to create anarchy in the country.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/DJ08Df06.html

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Declassified FBI file: AIPAC staffer spied for Israel

A newly declassified Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) file indicates that an Israeli intelligence agent was among the staff members of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

“WFO files disclose that AIPAC is a powerful pro-Israel lobbying group staffed by US citizens,” says the August 13, 1984 document- a secret communication from the FBI Washington Field Office (WFO) to the FBI director.

“WFO files contain an unsubstantiated allegation that a member of the Israeli Intelligence Service was a staff member of AIPAC,” it adds.

The secret FBI document was declassified and handed over to the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy (IRmep) after it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

IRmep needed the documents to file a third amicus brief urging Judge T.S. Ellis not to drop the charges brought against AIPAC workers Steve J. Rosen and Keith Weissman under the 1917 Espionage Act.

On May 1, 2009, the Department of Justice dismissed the espionage charges against the two former AIPAC staffers.

Department of Defense Employee Col. Lawrence Franklin who was indicted along with the AIPAC workers in 2005, however, pleaded guilty to the charges, admitting that he had provided classified information about Iran to two AIPAC employees.

Apparently the Israeli agent had promised to facilitate the appointment of Harman as the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee in exchange for the information.

It is widely believed that the 1984 and 2005 espionage incidents were not isolated events.

As part of a defamation lawsuit he has launched against AIPAC, Rosen intends to show that obtaining and leveraging classified US government information in the service of Israel is common practice at AIPAC.

He claims it was unfair for AIPAC to fire and smear him in the press after he was indicted on espionage charges in 2005. AIPAC lawyers, however, are hoping to get the case thrown out on technicalities before it goes to trial in early 2010.

AIPAC, considered the most powerful and connected lobbying group in Washington, is known for the influence that it holds over US foreign policy.

Former US president Jimmy Carter has also accused AIPAC of putting a great deal of pressure on politicians running for office who do not share AIPAC goals.

India as Global Military Superpower?

Experts Call it ‘Dreamy Yearning’

“Weak internal security; corruption and inefficiency, ill equipped and under-paid armed and police force,
bureaucratic red tape, outdated laws 
are few reasons why India cannot,” Sahni said. Reacting to SSI’s claim that India’s defence establishment was 
undergoing an unprecedented transformation, Indian experts countered that it was far from being true.

“India takes decades to buy ultra modern defence equipment, even though it doesn’t shy away from signing defence deals all over. The aircrafts which were inducted in the Indian Air Force two decades ago are still no where to be seen,” he said.

 

Ravi S Jha

NEW DELHI — India’s top strategic experts have scoffed at the idea of the country emerging as a ‘military global super power’.

With India and the United States strongly demonstrating that New Delhi is moving from an era of ‘non-alignment’ to ‘poly-alignment’, and by doing so it is growing from a regional military power to a global power, the Indian defence experts said on Thursday they are far from being convinced.

A top US military think-tank has implied that India’s rise as a regional and future global military power now seems certain. Brian Hedrick of Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) of US Army Department of Defence in a paper “India’s Strategic Defence Transformation: Expanding Global Relationship” has suggested that India is bound to become a global military super power.

But India’s independent strategists aren’t buying this conjecture. They 
suggest that such a discourse is just
eyewash. “It’s a dreamy yearning for India to even think that it will be a 
military super power anytime soon,” said Ajai Sahni, director, Centre for Conflict Studies.

“Weak internal security; corruption and inefficiency, ill equipped and under-paid armed and police force,
bureaucratic red tape, outdated laws 
are few reasons why India cannot,” Sahni said. Reacting to SSI’s claim that India’s defence establishment was 
undergoing an unprecedented transformation, Indian experts countered that it was far from being true.

“India takes decades to buy ultra modern defence equipment, even though it doesn’t shy away from signing defence deals all over. The aircrafts which were inducted in the Indian Air Force two decades ago are still no where to be seen,” he said.

Commenting on SSI director 
Douglas Lovelace’s widely published views on India rapidly modernising its military, and seeking strategic partnerships with the US and other nations, ‘with an aim to expand its influence 
in the Indian Ocean and beyond’, 
Indian experts suggested that this is a mere sweet talk, while the US had allowed to fund billions of dollars, and free military aid to Pakistan.

India has increased the number of countries with which it has defence-specific agreements from seven to 26 by the end of 2008. Also undenyingly India has conducted more joint military exercises with the US than with any other country, and the recent series of joint military exercises have now become an annual affair.

But there is a growing concern in India about the substantial increase in US military and economic aid to Pakistan. “There are concerns that these military equipment and funds are being diverted by Pakistan for anti-India purposes,” said former Indian high commissioner to Pakistan, G Parthasarthy. “If India is really emerging a global super power then why isn’t the US addressing India’s concerns on this,” he asked.

Although he agreed that India and the US have forged institutional mechanisms for counter terrorism cooperation after the establishment of the US-India Counter-terrorism Joint Working Group, Parthasarthy added the Kerry-Lugar bill passed by the US Senate tripling non-military aid to Pakistan to $1.5 billion per annum for the next five years shows why Washington needs to be explicit in its views.

Reacting to comments made by Hedrick, who is a military advisor to the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia at the US State Department, saying that India’s interests have changed over the past decade or more towards attaining the global super power status, the strategic experts pointed out that India will have to stop living in its own imaginary world.

India’s military strategy is entirely made up of Pakistan or China’s counter strategies. India’s military power boasts of offensive, broad front, and highly lethal strategies vis-à-vis China or Pakistan’s counter strategy which is based on comprising war avoidance, counter offensive etc. “Beyond this, India isn’t really global,” said former deputy chief of the army staff Satish Nambiar.

Another veteran Brahma Chellaney, who teaches strategic studies at Centre for Policy Studies, said it is too early to state that India would be a global military power. “India-US strategic partnership appears to be moving towards a higher trajectory. This doesn’t mean India is achieving globally what it should have first achieved regionally,” he said.

India and the US co-operation have been growing in the areas of defence, economy, energy, technology and innovation. “The shared value of democracy has consolidated mutual understanding and partnership with US. The possibility of nuclear use in South Asia increases with the increase in threat to vital interests. There are too many priorities, and India should first address them,” he said.

Pakistan accuses India of sponsoring terrorism

The Pakistani Defense Minister has accused rival India of involvement in terrorist activities inside its neighboring country.

Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar told his Dutch counterpart Eimert Van Middelkoop on Wednesday that the international community should take into consideration what he called India’s involvement in terror activities because they would undermine peace and stability in the region.

He alleged that Indian agents were creating chaos in Baluchistan and Waziristan adding Pakistan has “concrete evidence” to prove the claim.

The remarks come a day after the Pakistani military presented what it called evidence of Indian involvement in supporting the Taliban as well as fomenting unrest in south eastern Baluchistan.

Military spokesman Athar Abbas had earlier told reporters in Islamabad that Indian weapons used by terrorists had been discovered in South Waziristan and more evidence was being gathered.

The Pakistani Foreign Affairs Ministry is set to discuss the issue in a high-level meeting in the next few days.

Italian Jail sentences for CIA-led kidnappings

PressTv

Italy’s counterterrorism prosecutor Armando Spataro at the trial.

In an unprecedented move, an Italian court issues jail terms for former CIA agents involved in the abduction and torture of a Muslim Imam.

The Wednesday ruling saw an Italian judge sentencing 23 former CIA agents to up to eight years in prison for facilitating the 2003 kidnapping of an Egyptian-born cleric, Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, in Italy.

The operation, managed by the CIA and the Italian military intelligence, took place as part of what Washington has called its way of dealing with ‘enemies of the United States.’

Based on the method, euphemistically known as ‘extraordinary rendition,’ the so-called ‘terror suspects’ would be secretly flown to countries where torture-aided interrogation remains within the bounds of the law.

A great number of suspects were accordingly transferred to CIA prisons overseas or the US Cuba-based prison facility in Guantanamo, without formal legal charges, the right to an attorney or any type of defense before suffering torture in order to admit to propped-up charges.

Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, was likewise taken to Egypt, where he says he was tortured and held until 2007 without any charges.

During the Wednesday trial, which was formed in the absence of the Americans, whom the United States has refused to extradite, former head of the CIA’s Milan station, Robert Seldon Lady, received eight years in prison, and the other 22 former CIA agents were handed five-year sentences each.

Clinton revises stance on Israeli settlements

In an attempt to defuse Arab anger over her pro-Israeli remarks, the US secretary of state said Washington does not accept the legitimacy of Israeli settlement activities on Palestinian territories.

Speaking in Cairo after a Wednesday meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Hillary Clinton said that the US wants a complete freeze on Israeli settlement activities in the occupied West Bank.

She had earlier praised the Israeli proposal of temporary suspension of Jewish settlement expansions during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, describing it as an “unprecedented” settlement concession.

She had also called the Palestinian demand for a full settlement freeze before the resumption of peace talks as a ‘precondition obstructing peace process.’

Her remarks appeared to be an endorsement of the Israeli assertion that talks should start before a complete end to illegal settlement activities.

This apparent U-turn in US settlement policy sparked protests among Arab nations and Palestinians who have repeatedly said that they would agree with the resumption of peace talks only after a full settlement freeze

Israeli ambassador welcomed with eggs in Turkey

PressTv

Israel’s ambassador to Ankara has been pelted with eggs during a visit to a Turkish university in the coastal city of Trabzon.

Angry Turkish students threw eggs at Gabi Levy as he arrived at Karadeniz Teknik university on Wednesday.

The students protesting against Tel Aviv’s policies regarding the Palestinians, including the issues of illegal settlement activity in the West bank and the war on the Gaza Strip.

Police detained a group of 20 students and the Israeli ambassador left without getting out of his vehicle, Anatolia reported.

The embarrassing incident came only one day after Gabi Levy, who is on a tour of the region, faced harsh criticism in the nearby city of Rize, where local officials condemned Israel’s “policies of expansion and occupation” and said that the so-called “self-defense” should not involve “killing children.”

Ankara-Tel Aviv re relations deteriorated after Israel’s deadly military offensive in Gaza that killed over 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians, at the turn of the year.

The two side’s bilateral relations further deteriorated last month, after Ankara excluded Israel from an international air force exercise in protest at “the humanitarian tragedy” in Gaza and called for an immediate lifting of Gaza siege, which has put the region’s 1.5 million population in desperate need of basic necessities.

Pakistan’s first Saab 2000 AEW aircraft enters final testing

By: Daily.Pk

Pakistan’s first of five Saab 2000-based airborne early warning and control aircraft has entered final system testing in Sweden, with the work having already demonstrated the capabilities of its integrated self-protection equipment.

Islamabad became the launch – and so far only – military customer for a Saab 2000 derivative when it signed a deal for the Saab Microwave Systems Erieye radar-equipped type in June 2006. Its first example made its flight debut from Saab’s Linköping site in mid-2008.

Saab in early October announced the start of final system tests for Pakistan, and says its first aircraft will be flown to the country later this year to expand the work. The latter process will assess the “aircraft, radar, command and control system, communications and live situation picture into the Pakistan air force’s command and control ground environment”, it says.

Recent tests conducted in Sweden have included the release of flares intended to protect the modified regional turboprop against missile attack.

Saab has previously said that the AEW configuration developed for Pakistan includes five on-board operator stations, with the surveillance aircraft to have an operating ceiling of over 30,000ft (9,150m) and a mission endurance approaching 10h.

The Swedish manufacturer is promoting the AEW version of its Saab 2000 to other potential future customers, and is also offering to supply further variants of the type configured for tasks including maritime patrol and signals intelligence.

How Democracy Is Destroying Pakistan

Will Pakistan be fragmented?

Sandwiched between United States, European, Israeli and Indian designs and Pakistani Quislings.

By Latheef Farook

(November 02, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Will Pakistan, the only Muslim nuclear country, be fragmented as it was done in Iraq? This is the common fear among Pakistanis in view of the forces-United States, Europe and Israel, which turned Iraq and Afghanistan into slaughterhouses, are responsible for the deepening quagmire unfolding in Pakistan.

Pakistanis fear that the US led war on Islam and Muslims, under the guise of fighting war on terrorism, AlQaeda and Taleban, is extended to Pakistan .They are putting the Pakistani government of quislings against Pakistanis threatening the very survival of Pakistan. India remains an active partner in this US led conspiracy to destabilize yet another Muslim country.

President Barack Obama signed the 7.5 billion dollar aid package in mid October 2009 demanding Pakistan to launch military strike against its Pashtun tribes in wild South Waziristan. Pakistanis consider the numerous conditions linked to the aid package as insult to their country and many described the aid package as a Big Bribe that will go into the usual pockets.

Within days President Asif Zardari obediently unleashed a ferocious ground and air attack, using American-upgraded F-16s and helicopter gunships, indiscriminately killing, among the others, innocent civilians and destroying their shelters in the South Waziristan region amidst public outrage accusing the government of betraying Pakistan’s national interests at home, in Afghanistan and in Kashmir.

Hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women, children and the aged were made refugees overnight with no food, water or any other essential as it happened in Swat Valley in April this year.

Under this mercenary military offensive on Washington’s orders, the Pakistani government also permitted US to secretly create a mercenary army inside Pakistan pushing the military to the point of revolt.

United States, European and Israeli designs on Pakistan.

It appears that the American strategy in Pakistan is to Pakistani government against Pakistanis, provoke a civil war and plunge the country into chaos to neutralize its nuclear arsenal that has been US neoconservatives’ urgent priority. The Americans are not interested in Pakistan or its people. They only wanted collaborators and quislings and they found a willing partner in the Asif Zardari government.

Some accuse US of playing double game by financing the Taliban and demanding the government to fight the Taleban . Justifying this fear Pakistani daily “NEWS” stated that the US-led NATO forces vacated more than half a dozen security check posts, together with some posts close to North Waziristan, on the Afghan side of the border, just five days before the Pakistani military offensive began.

This facilitated Afghan Taliban to cross over to Pakistan and support fighters in striking back at the Pakistani security forces in the troubled tribal area-raising many eyebrows in the government and military circles. Shocked and intrigued by its timing the NWFP government and civilian and military officials alerted Islamabad.

Pakistanis consider America to be the greatest threat, worse than the arch rival India, to their sovereignty and independence .They are aware that already a map showing a truncated Pakistan has been in circulation and the ever growing collaborations among India, Afghanistan US, Europe and Israel.

Aggravating this fear, US plans to build the second largest embassy in the world in Islamabad, after its embassy in Baghdad, and reportedly demanding indirect veto power over promotions in Pakistan’s armed forces and intelligence agency-ISI. This crude attempt to exert more US influence over Pakistan’s 617,000-man military has enraged the armed forces and set off alarm bells.

Dealing with the US-European, Israeli and Indian conspiracy to destabilize Pakistan columnist Atif F Qureshi stated that;

* The ’surge’ in American troops in Afghanistan accompanied a ’surge’ in terrorism in Pakistan. While the Afghan Taliban never threatened Pakistani sovereignty, since 2001 thousands of innocents have been killed in a wave of suicide bombings in Pakistan that ‘coincidently’, began only after the US invasion and occupation of Afghanistan in 2001.

* The Afghan occupation is deliberately extended into Pakistan and both countries are treated as a single ‘battlefield’ called AfPak .This is laughable because one is war-torn and primitive while the other has a sophisticated civic society .The purpose is to enable American forces to strike into Pakistan.

* Wave after wave of callous and imprecise drone attacks murdering innocent civilians and riling up the Pakistani public who despair at their feckless government for being complicit in continual violations of the nation’s sovereignty and dignity.

* The never-ending American pressure for Pakistan to “DO MORE!” Though no nation has done or sacrificed more to combat terrorism in its own self-interest. The number of soldiers martyred, wealth spent and tears of widows and orphans shed remain testimony to the truth that those who claim that Pakistan is half-hearted in this effort are liars.

* The CIA-sponsored democratic farce whereby American engineered its puppets to seize the reigns in Pakistan’s recent elections. For those who still deny that the Pakistani elections were engineered, think for a moment how is it possible that the most corrupt and despised man in Pakistan’s entire history, Asif Zardari would become the president of Pakistan if the elections were truly and fairly democratic?

* Even though our ‘popularly elected’ politicians are in the pocket of the Americans, they remain frustrated that certain institutions in Pakistan remain out of their reach. The black propaganda targeting Pakistan’s patriotic armed forces, intelligence services and nuclear weapons arsenal reveals their obvious intent. Well aware that these are the only institutions that truly have Pakistan’s interests at heart, the public do not appreciate the Am-Brit campaign to malign them.

* The exposure of blatant double-standards is evident as America turns on the weapons tap for India, whom it wishes to turn into its 21st century ’slave soldier’ in order to counter China, while Pakistani officials are left dangling and must debase and humiliate themselves in order to ensure the delivery of a trifling number of F-16’s and helicopters to fight the same enemies that America is sponsoring.

* The CIA shield, protect and nurture anti-Pakistan insurgent groups on Pakistani soil. The so-called ‘Baluchistan Liberation Army and ‘Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan’ are only a few of many of these groups base their insidious operations from inside US occupied Afghanistan.

The pockets of resistance demonstrate the existence of an honorable people who are not prepared to compromise on their dignity. The recent polling is cause for great hope. It proves what was never in doubt – the Pakistani population will not stand for these US violations of Pakistan’s sovereignty and national interest for much longer.

We know that we fear Allah more than we fear America, but the nation must now realize another profound truth – salvation does not lie in continued cooperation and debasement in front of America, but only in faith in Allah and is His Messenger (SAW). It is time for this nation to throw off its shackles and re-declare its independence.

Recently, in the officer’s mess in Bajaur, the northern tribal region where the Pakistani Army is tied down fighting the militants, one officer told a visiting journalist that” Osama bin Laden does not exist”.

Explaining the American involvement in Swat Valley in last April columnist Bill Van Auken wrote in the website WSW on 16 September that;

There is mounting evidence that the Pentagon and the CIA are engaged in a war against the population of the region involving death squads, disappearances and torture. Swat Valley, near Afghanistan’s eastern border, provides a gruesome indication of the kind of war that the Pentagon and its local allies are waging.

The Pakistani army offensive in Swat Valley, carried out on the direct and highly public insistence of US envoy Richard Holbrooke, and senior American military officers, unleashed a humanitarian catastrophe. In what amounted to a massive exercise in collective punishment, many civilians were killed or wounded and some 2.5 million people were driven from their homes.

Now, the Pakistani military continues to occupy the area, carrying out a reign of terror in which individuals identified as opponents of the government and the US occupation across the border are being picked up and tortured to death.

New York Times stated on 15 September 2009 that with the military occupation of the Swat Valley “a new campaign of fear has taken hold, with scores, perhaps hundreds, of bodies dumped on the streets in what human rights advocates and local residents say is the work of the military.”

In addition to bearing marks of brutal torture, many of the bodies are discovered with their hands tied behind their backs and with a bullet in the back of the neck. In some cases, corpses have been beheaded. American officials have praised the Pakistani military for its campaign in the Swat Valley, with US Ambassador Anne Patterson visiting Mingora, Swat’s largest town, to congratulate the army.

Now the Pakistani government replicates this bloody campaign in South Waziristan. A similar offensive is already underway in the Khyber Agency, site of the Khyber Pass, a key route for supplies to the US occupation force in Afghanistan.UN officials report that 100,000 people have been displaced by the attack.

There is every reason to suspect that the wave of disappearances, torture and death squad assassinations in Pakistan are also “made in the USA”. US Special Forces “trainers” are operating on Pakistani soil, instructing Pakistani forces in the kind of tactics that yield the bound and battered bodies dumped in the streets of Swat.

Indian design to destabilize and, perhaps, further divide Pakistan

It is common knowledge that India wanted to destabilize and partition Pakistan from the day it came into being in 1947. India played a crucial role in breaking up Pakistan and creating Bangladesh in its eastern wing facilitated by the blunders of the Pakistani’s ruling elite.

India, hand in glove with American installed Hamid Karzai’s puppet regime, has 14 consulates in Afghanistan from which RAW operates and the US has turned a blind eye. Pakistan has stockpiles of evidence against Indian consulates in Afghanistan used to fund terrorism in Pakistan through Baitullah Mehsud’s TTP as well as Brahamdagh Bugti and his Baluch Liberation Army-BLA.

According to DAWN, a dossier containing proof of India’s involvement in “subversive activities” in Pakistan was handed over by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh during their meeting at Sharm el-Sheikh in July 2009.The dossier, broadly covering the Indian connection in terror financing in Pakistan, is also said to list the safe houses being run by RAW in Afghanistan where terrorists are trained and launched for missions in Pakistan.

The dossier also mentions an India-funded training camp in Kandahar where Baluch insurgents, particularly those from Bugti clan, were being trained and provided arms and ammunition for sabotage activities in the Pakistani province. Although the information given to India is being kept highly secret, broad outlines of the dossier available with Dawn reveal details of Indian contacts with those involved in attacks on the Sri Lankan cricket team and the Manawan police station,” the newspaper said.

“Operatives of RAW who remained in touch with the perpetrators of the attacks have been identified and proof of their interaction has been attached,” it added.

A description of Indian arms and explosives used in the attack on the Sri Lankan team has been made part of the dossier, besides which the names and particulars of the perpetrators, who illegally entered Pakistan from India and joined their accomplices who had reached Lahore from Waziristan, have been mentioned, the report said.

Here is what Christine Fair of RAND Corporation had to say about what the Indian consulates are up to in Afghanistan and Iran:

“I think it would be a mistake to completely disregard Pakistan’s regional perceptions due to doubts about Indian competence in executing covert operations. That misses the point entirely. In addition, I think it is unfair to dismiss the notion that Pakistan’s apprehensions about Afghanistan stem in part from its security competition with India. Having visited the Indian mission in Zahedan, Iran, I can assure you they are not issuing visas as the main activity! Moreover, India has run operations from its mission in Mazar (through which it supported the Northern Alliance) and is likely doing so from the other consulates it has reopened in Jalalabad and Qandahar along the border. Indian officials have told me privately that they are pumping money into Baluchistan. Kabul has encouraged India to engage in provocative activities such as using the Border Roads Organization to build sensitive parts of the Ring Road and use the Indo-Tibetan police force for security. It is also building schools on a sensitive part of the border in Kunar–across from Bajaur. Kabul’s motivations for encouraging these activities are as obvious as India’s interest in engaging in them. Even if by some act of miraculous diplomacy the territorial issues were to be resolved, Pakistan would remain an insecure state. Given the realities of the subcontinent (e.g., India’s rise and its more effective foreign relations with all of Pakistan’s near and far neighbors), these fears are bound to grow, not lessen. This suggests that without some means of compelling Pakistan to abandon its reliance upon militancy, it will become ever more interested in using it — and the militants will likely continue to proliferate beyond Pakistan’s control.”

Confirming the Indian support to TTP in Pakistan The Foreign Policy magazine said: “The Indians are up to their necks in supporting the Taliban against the Pakistani government in Afghanistan and Pakistan,” a former intelligence official who served in both countries said.

“The same anti-Pakistani forces in Afghanistan also shooting at American soldiers are getting support from India. India should close its diplomatic establishments in Afghanistan and get the Christ out of there.”

Afghan officials have also confirmed that India is using Afghanistan to stir trouble in Pakistan.“India is using Afghan soil to destabilize Pakistan and Afghan security agencies are unable to stop Indian intervention due to absence of centralized government mechanism”, said Afghan Government’s Advisor, Ehsanullah Aryanzai on sidelines of Pak-Afgan Parliamentary Jirga at a local hotel on April 2, 2009.

Pakistani Taleban using American, Nato, Indian and German weapons

An Islamabad datelined report by Akhtar Jamal Wednesday, 21 October 2009 stated that: Reports reaching here confirm that hundreds of militants from Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and other associated groups are equipped with most sophisticated American, Indian and German weapons.

According to a survey the weapons in the possession of these militants included U.S. made M249 automatic machine guns, U.S.-made Glock pistols, Indian hand guns, FN Browning GP35 9mmx19mm, Indian automatic machine pistols GLOCK 17 9mmx19mm, Indian machine guns Heckler & Koch MP5A3 9mmx19mm, Indian made Sterling L2A1 sub machine guns, Israeli licensed Indian made UZI 9mmx19mm sub machine guns and German Walther-P1 pistols.

During Swat operation, a number of the Indian army used Vickers-Berthier (VB) light machine guns were also recovered. The recoveries of Indian designed weapons were not astonishing for Pakistan. However, what was more surprising is that the U.S. and German weapons were recently introduced in the Waziristan area.

Ruling Elite

Pakistan’s ruling elite comprising the armed forces, bureaucracy, feudal landlords and capitalists never learnt any lesson. In fact, within a quarter century after Pakistan was created they created the conditions, exploited by India and other hostile forces, to create Bangladesh.

Columnist Ahmed Quraishi pointed out that “ fake democrats produce a fake democracy. This is what our westernized Pakistani elite and some of the self-styled ‘liberals’ in our media don’t understand. A Parliament filled with feudal lords who rape the women of the peasants on their lands and operate secret prisons, and then come to the Parliament in expensive shiny cars and jewelry thanks to political parties where another set of feudal run them as family grocery shops – this is no democracy.

Accusing main political parties and their leaderships of undermining the existence of Pakistan Dr. Hasan, co-founder of the Pakistan People’s Party with Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in 1967 said:” over the years, they have failed to understand that the state of Pakistan is unraveling. The administrative structure of the state is no longer capable of ensuring the performance of the basic duties of the state, mainly the protection of life, property and dignity of the people, dispensation of justice to all citizens as equals, semblance of equitability in the distribution of wealth and assuring a sense of belonging to the Balochs, Pashtuns, Sindhis and Punjabis that the Government at Islamabad is their Government.

The gulf between the rich and the poor has widened enormously. Ninety-eight per cent of the population is in a state of despair and frustration and has lost hope. The wealthy 2 per cent, armed with foreign passports and visas with huge wealth stashed abroad, are ready to leave the country any time.

The old grievances among the provinces of Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan and NWFP have reached all time high. Cooperation at the federal level has disappeared; complaints and prejudices have taken the place of patriotic fervor.

What had begun in the early years of Pakistan as grievances and complaints between East and West Pakistan, between the Bengalis and Punjabis, has now been replaced by tensions between Punjabis, Sindhis and Mohajirs and between independence-seeking Balochs and Pashtuns.The absence of cooperation between the provinces has snowballed, making Pakistan a fragile state.

It was under this unfortunate circumstance Asif Zardari was elected as President showing the depth to which the state assemblies had descended. Zardari is neither a politician nor a professional. He was known as the husband of assassinated prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, twice elected as prime minister and dismissed on both times on corruption charges. Zardari, better known as Mr. 10 Percent, has been accused of corruption, fraud, underworld links and even murder. Even after elected president, he was implicated in several scandals including an alleged submarine deal for Pakistan navy.

Eric S. Margolis, a contributing editor to the Toronto Sun chain of newspapers, said in an article that;

“Zardari has been dogged for decades by corruption charges. Washington seems unaware of the fury its crude, counter-productive policies have whipped up in Pakistan. The Obama administration listens to Washington-based pro-Israel neo-conservatives, military hawks, and “experts” who tell it what it wants to hear, not the facts. Pakistan’s military, the nation’s premier institution, is being pushed to the point of revolt. Against the backdrop of bombings and shootings, come rumors the heads of Pakistan’s armed forces and intelligence may be replaced. Pakistanis are calling for the removal of the Zardari regime’s strongman, Interior Minister Rehman Malik. The possibility of a military coup against the Zardari regime grows. However, Pakistan is dependent on US money, and fears India. Can its generals afford to break with patron Washington?

It was in this context one should view Zardari’s military onslaught on his own people to please President Obama who began drone attacks, almost immediately after he assumed office, violating Pakistan’s sovereignty, killing hundreds of innocent civilians in the footsteps of his predecessor George Bush.

In fact in a report presented to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday 26 October 2009 ,UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions Philip Alston described US drone strikes against suspected terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan may well violate international humanitarian law and international human rights law.

” My concern is that these attacks in Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan have often resulted in civilian deaths and drawn bitter criticism from local populations. Since August 2008, around 70 strikes by unmanned aircraft have killed close to 600 people in northwestern Pakistan,” said Philip Alston.

Meanwhile after Pakistan launched its military strike there were several deadly bomb explosions including the one on the International Islamic University in Islamabad and the market place in Peshawar.

Taleban denied responsibility. However, analysts were quick to accuse the notorious US security firm Blackwater, known for its heinous crimes – rape, torture and bombings – in Iraq and Afghanistan, perhaps aimed at putting the government and the so-called Taleban against each other.

Erik Prince, the founder and the boss of Blackwater ,world’s most powerful mercenary army, accused in court papers of seeking to wipe out Muslims, views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the planet, according to a former employee. These Blackwater mercenaries are in Pakistan and the question is why did the Pakistani government allow them into the country?

In the midst, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Pakistan on a stormy three days visit on Wednesday 28 October 2009 to convey the Obama administration’s support, praise the Pakistani government for its military offensive, and tackle rising anti-US feelings among the Pakistani people.

She was greeted with a sophisticated bomb in busy Meena Bazar market in Peshawar killing more than 107 people- most of them innocent women and children. Taleban denied. So the question is who planted such a sophisticated bomb?

She faced sharp rebukes from Pakistani citizens and journalist on the third day of her visit when a woman who chastised the US stating, “Using aerial drones to target terrorists amounted to “executions without trial.” while another journalist said “we’ve been fighting your war”.

US appeared to be trying to push the government go beyond South Waziristan when she warned,” after South Waziristan, the Pakistanis will have to go on to root out other terrorist groups”. She never spoke a word about the devastating impact on the entire civilian population in South Waziristan forced to flee for their lives as villages and towns were literally being bombed into rubble.

The question is what next? Will Pakistan be next Iraq? How far the Pakistani government could go in killing its own people to please US?

It appears a poem by Khalil Gibran written in 1934, and now in circulation in e-mails, suit Pakistan’s current dilemma?

Pity the nation that raises not its voice
save when it walks in a funeral,
boasts not except among its ruins,
and will rebel not save when its neck is laid
between the sword and the block.

Pity the nation whose statesman is a fox,
whose philosopher is a juggler,
and whose art is the art of patching and mimicking.

Pity the nation that welcomes its new ruler with trumpeting,
and farewells him with hooting,
only to welcome another with trumpeting again.

Pity the nation whose sages are dumb with years
and whose strong men are yet in the cradle.
Pity the nation divided into fragments,
each fragment deeming itself a nation.

TEJAS: India’s Continued Embarassment

By: PKKH

A lot can be achieved in two and a half decades. For an individual, its roughly one-third of the average lifespan. For a nation, its enough time for an entire generation to come through. A nation can be transformed from a marshy swamp into one of the largest economies of the world – as in the case of Singapore.

What did Indian Air Force (IAF) achieve in twenty six years while consuming over $2 billion? the answer to that is Zilch; Zero; Nada; Nothing – except a failed project and a continued embarrassment in the shape ‘Tejas’. Tejas LCA (Light Combat Aircraft, also known as Last Chance Aircraft) has gone many trials and tests and there’s no sign of induction as yet. It has now been announced to enter IAF in 2010.

Pakistan’s own ambitious JF-17 project was launched in partnership with China in 1995. In just eleven years and with just $500 million spent, the JF-17 was flying in Pakistani Airspace on March 23rd 2007 – with the maiden flight having taken place much earlier in 2003.

 

The Indian Air Force on the other hand has with significant assistance from France, Israel, and the United States worked on the Tejas (meaning Radiant) LCA project for over two decades and the aircraft is no closer to induction. Infact it gets worse; the unit cost of one JF-17 is $15 million dollars, while a Tejas will cost up to $31 million – which is closer to the far advanced Russian Su-30’s starting cost ($33 million). India would be well advised to buy more of the Russian aircraft instead of wasting billions of dollars in trying to produce its own ‘indigenous’ fighter plane.

In 1983, IAF launched a Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) program to replace its flying coffins, the MiG-21’s. Earlier in 1981, a study was conducted by IAF, the ‘Long Term Re-Equipment Plan’, to make plans for a future aircraft that would not only replace MiG-21’s but also be cheaper option to foreign imported planes. The Indian government created an entire agency to manage the LCA Tejas program. Tejas was to be developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), but Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) was the managing agency of the program.

To develop Tejas, India sought help from Israel and France. The IAF’s Air Staff Requirement for the LCA would not be finalized until October 1985. So, for the first four years, Indian authorities failed to even come up with personnel list who would work on the project. Initially Indian authorities believed they would be able to do a test flight in 1990, and have Tejas induction ceremony in 1995. You would think that 12 years would be enough to produce a fighter plane – however thanks to India’s utter incompetence, Tejas is still waiting to be inducted into IAF as of October 2009.

In 1990 HAL started work on the technology demonstrators but because of the financial crunch in India, full-scale funding was not authorized until April 1993. First technology demonstrator, TD-1, was rolled out in Nov 1995 and was followed by demonstrator 2 in 1998, but they were kept grounded for several years due to structural concerns and trouble with the development of the flight control system. (http://www.aerospaceweb.org/aircraft/fighter/lca/).

The Indian engineers wanted to develop a fly-by-wire system of its own. This is no easy task and requires extensive knowledge of flight control laws and the expensive writing of a considerable amount of software code for the flight control computers, as well as its integration with the avionics and other electronic systems. India tried but failed. With no other option left, India sought help from British Aerospace and Lock Heed Martin for its ‘indigenous’ project, who in turn obliged in 1993.

Until 1998 when India, in an attempt to flex its muscles conducted meaningless nuclear tests which have recently been revealed to have been complete failures, Lockheed Martin was helping India’s failing Tejas project by providing a series of in-flight simulation tests of the integrated flight control software which were conducted on F-16 VISTA until July 1998.

For the Multi-Mode Radar (MMR) of Tejas, India turned to Ericsson, and Ferranti Defense Systems, who make such radars. The Indian engineers disgracefully decided to copy those radars and call it indigenous production. As of 2002, the development of MMR was experiencing major delays and costs escalation. It took India four years just to figure out the problem with the radar. Test results in May 2006 proved that the there was a compatibility issue between radar and the advanced signal processor module. The Indians would be well advised to learn from China – the undisputed champions of reverse engineering – before its own botched and expensive attempts.

India also signed a deal with Rafael of Israel to supply Laser pods, and Sextant of France and Elbit of Israel to supply multi-function displays. Despite all these failures, the Indian authorities still believed they produce the engine on their own. Initially it was decided to equip Tejas with the General Electric F404-GE-F2J3 engine. In 1986, a parallel program was developed to produce an indigenous engine. It was named, Kaveri, but India overconfidence while trying to reverse engineer only managed to ensure the production was slowed because of technical difficulties – followed by the 2004 test of the engine that was a complete failure.

In the end India had to turn to French aircraft company Snecma for technical assistance. The height of India’s false ego and attempts at saving face is evident from them naming the French engine that will be used in Tejas, as Kaveri. On the other hand, the GE engine is still being procured for use in Tejas planes that are going to be produced for induction into IAF. The engine trouble didn’t end there, in 2008 it was announced that Kaveri, is not ready for Tejas, and India announced, in May 2009, a tender for $750 million for more powerful GE engine or Eurojet EJ200 engine. (http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1802/18020420.htm)

As a result of all this rambling the unit cost of Tejas has jumped from $21 million to $30 million. The first batch of Tejas is scheduled to be inducted in IAF in 2010, and will be combat ready in 2012 – or so they say. By 2012, PAF will have at least 60 JF-17’s combat ready fully equipped and prepped up.

The JF-17 Thunder – a joint project between Pakistan and China – was riginally designed to be a small and capable lightweight fighter powered by a single engine to reduce costs – the JF-17 was supposed to be a simple and inexpensive solution for replacing large fleets of obsolete types in the air forces of developing countries. The JF-17 evolved into a more advanced fighter during the later stages of development with revised terms of reference by the Pakistan Air Force and the incorporation of more modern features and technologies.

Being simultaneously manufactured in Pakistan and China, ten JF-17’s have already been inducted in PAF. The Pakistan Air Force plans to make the first JF-17 squadron officially operational by the end of 2009.

Apart from smaller Air Forces, Egyptian and Iranian Air forces have confirmed interest in purchasing these aircraft from Pakistan.
The JF-17 Thunder project has been completed in a record period of four years. China National Aviation Corp officially signed the development contract for the FC-1 airplane in 1999. The project initially suffered a setback due to imposition of sanctions in 1999, which hindered acquisition of avionics and weaponry for the aircraft. The avionics had to be delinked from airframe development in 2001. China National Aviation Corp completes the detailed preliminary design in 2001 and in 2002 the company completed the detailed design structure and the system charts.

On 25 August 2003 the “owlet dragon” FC-1 airplane carried on the initial flight. It flew 17 minutes before it returned to the airport.
The aircraft was intended to be a match for the Indian Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), which is (despite all setbacks) still expected to form the backbone of the Indian Air Force in future. There are, however, some features like advanced and futuristic avionics and cost effectiveness that give the JF-17 an edge over the LC – apart from the fact that it is actually ready and being inducted in the Pakistan Air Force, compared to its Indian counterpart which may take many years, if it is ever finished. There are rumors within official circles in India that a proposal to purchase the 60 JF-17 aircrafts from Pakistan was actually drafted before being vetoed by Air Chief Marshal Pradeep Vasant Naik after the attacks in Mumbai.

SPECIFICATIONS OF THE JF-17 and TEJAS LCA

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JF-17 – Specifications

Role: Multi-role combat aircraft.
Manufacturer: Pakistan Aeronautical Complex.
First flight: 25 August 2003.
Introduced: 12 March 2007.
Status: Under serial production and in active service.
Primary user: Pakistan Air Force.
Produced: In Pakistan: January 2008.
Unit cost: US$20 million (estimated).

General characteristics

Crew: 1
Length: 14.0 m
Wingspan: 9.45 m (including 2 wingtip missiles)
Height: 4.77 m
Wing area: 24.4 m²
Empty weight: 6,411 kg
Loaded weight: 9,100 kg (including 2× wing-tip mounted air-to-air missiles)
Max takeoff weight: 12,700 kg
Power plant: 1× Klimov RD-93 turbofan
Dry thrust: 49.4 kN
Thrust with afterburner: 84.4 kN
G-limit: +8.5 g
Internal Fuel Capacity: 2300 kg

Performance

Maximum speed: Mach 1.8
Combat radius: 1,352 km
Ferry range: 3,000 km
Service ceiling: 16,700 m
Thrust/weight: 0.99

Armament

Guns: 1× 23mm internal GSh-23-2 twin-barrel cannon.
Hard points: 7 in total (4× under-wing, 2× wing-tip, 1× under-fuselage) with a capacity of 3,629 kg (8,000 lb) external fuel and ordnance.

Rockets: 57mm/90mm unguided rocket pods.
Missiles: Air-to-air missiles: PL-5E, PL-9C, PL-12 / SD-10.
Air-to-surface missiles: anti-radiation missiles; anti-ship missiles (AM-39 Exocet); cruise missiles (Ra’ad ALCM).

Bombs: Gravity/Unguided bombs: general purpose (Mk-82, Mk-84); anti-runway (Matra Durandal), Precision guided munitions: laser-guided (GBU-10, GBU-12, LT-2); satellite-guided, Cluster bombs: anti-armour (CBU-100/Mk-20 Rockeye).

Others: Up to 3 external fuel drop-tanks (1× under-fuselage 800 liters, 2× under-wing 800/1100 liters each) for extended range/loitering time, Externally mounted avionics pods for EW, ECM, ELINT, FLIR and targeting, BM/KG300G self-protection jamming (ECM) pod, KZ900 electronic reconnaissance (SIGINT) pod, Blue Sky navigation/attack pod, FILAT (Forward-looking Infra-red Laser Attack Targeting) pod.

Avionics: NRIET KLJ-7 multi-mode fire-control radar.

Production: 10 aircraft already inducted. First full batch manufactured in Pakistan to be inducted by end of the year.  30 planes will be manufactured at Pakistan Aeronautical Complex every year.

JF-17 Planned upgrades: all PAF JF-17 jets will be modified to aerial refueling capable; Subsequent upgrades will be made on PAF JF-17 jets approximately every five years.

PAF JF-17 Order: Pakistan Air force will produce total 350 JF-17 jets excluding export.

The Indian Air Force Tejas LCA

Tejas – Specifications

Role: Multi-role fighter.
Manufacturer: Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.
First flight: 4 January 2001.
Introduction: 2011.
Status: Under development / pre-production.
Primary user: Indian Air force.
Unit cost: US$20 million (estimated).

General characteristics

Crew: 1
Length: 13.20 m
Wingspan: 8.20 m
Height: 4.40 m
Wing area: 38.4 m²
Empty weight: 6,500 kg
Loaded weight: 9,500 kg
Max takeoff weight: 14,500 kg
Power plant: 1× General Electric F404-GE-IN20 turbofan
Dry thrust: 53.9 kN
Thrust with afterburner: 85 kN
G limits: +8.5 g
Internal fuel capacity: 3000 liters

Performance

Maximum speed: Mach 2.0
Range: 3000 km
Service ceiling: 15,950+ m
Thrust/weight: 1.02

Armament
Guns: 1× mounted 23 mm twin-barrel GSh-23 cannon.
Hard points: 8 total: 1× beneath the port-side intake trunk, 6× under-wing, and 1× under-fuselage with a capacity of >4000 kg external fuel and ordnance.

Missiles: air-to-air missiles: Astra BVRAAM, Vympel R-77, Vympel R-73.
Air-to-surface missiles: Kh-59ME TV guided standoff Missile; Kh-59MK Laser guided standoff Missile, Anti-ship missile, Kh-35, Kh-31.
Bombs: KAB-1500L laser guided bombs, FAB-500T dumb bombs, OFAB-250-270 dumb bombs, OFAB-100-120 dumb bombs, RBK-500 cluster bombs.
Others: External fuel capacity: 5×800 liter tanks or 3×1,200 liter tanks, totaling 4,000/3,600 liters.

Avionics: EL/M-2052 AESA radar.

Production: Still in pre-production.

IAF orders: Indian Air force will get total 220 Tejas jets (Expected)