Dr. Israr Ahmed: A Life Well Spent

Aquib Moin | PKKH Editorial Team

Dr. Israr Ahmed was a magnanimous, towering personality in the Muslim World who spent his life in the service of Islam. He was a spiritual intellectual having a true and clear understanding of the meaning of Islam and being a Muslim. For over half a century he lived his life by Quran, he taught Quran, he propagated Quran and preached Quran in most comprehensible way. He made Quranic teachings easy for a common man to understand. He was not only well-versed in Quran and Hadeeth but he also had a very strong grip on various subjects such as philosophy, social sciences and spirituality with true Islamic perspective.

He tirelessly worked to clear the concepts of Muslims of the World in general and Pakistani Muslims in particular on various religious issues and he delivered the knowledge based purely on Quran, Hadeeth, Authentic Islamic literature, and Islamic/World history. He can be regarded as a contemporary scholar as he also had a critical eye on current regional and global affairs. He believed in a non-violent revolution to bring about a positive change and to employ the method of Rasool-Allah (s.a.a.w.s) to establish an Islamic welfare state on the line of Khilafat-e-Rashida.

He was a staunch pro-Pakistani and a strong proponent of Iqbal’s ideology. His dream was to see Pakistan as a prosperous, just and peaceful Islamic state. He spent his entire life in the struggle to make Pakistan what it ought to be and the fulfillment of the promise that we made with Allah. He influenced millions of hearts and he has a very large number of people coming to the straight path to his credit.

Dr. Israr’s struggle, his effort, his mission shall not stop here. His mission to propagate Islam and the teachings of Quran above all ethnic and sectarian differences will go on. His students will march on and his mission to work for the transformation of Pakistan into a true welfare Islamic state and the revival of Islam will go on, Insha’Allah.

“Kia ajab meri nawa haye seher gaahi say
Zinda ho jaye woh aatish kai teri khaak mein hai

Torh daalay gee yehi khaak tilsm-e-shab-o-roz
Garchay uljhee hui taqdeer kai pechaak mein hai”

Singh tried arcane US jargon to malign Pakistan

Rupee News

Bharat (aka India) in the 50s and the 60s used be the champion of the third world, and one of the most ardent critics of the West’s monopoly of Nuclear Technology and Atomic weapons. The speeches of Jawaharlal Nehru and other Bharati politicians opposing the the discriminatory practices against the have-not nations, mainly from the poorer South. Today Delhi, the possible recipient of Civilian Nuclear Technology uses the old language used by America to keep technology from peoples of the third world. Prime Minister Singh tried arcane US jargon to malign Pakistan. He however did not success and was snubbed by President Barack Obama. The US president clearly stated that Pakistan’s Nuclear Program and Pakistani nukes were safe–embarrassing Prime Minister Singh.

Without understanding the complexities of the world’s mood, Mr. Singh seems to be caught in a time warp of the last decade when the blunt tool of “Nuclear Proliferation” was used on a Quixotic hunt for WMDs in Iraq and by extension in Pakistan.

The Bharati diplomatic corps seems to be caught in a blast from the past when Pakistan faced US sanctions for building a Nuclear bomb. That was a long time ago, and a lot of water has gone down the Indus. Bharat’s diplomatic corp for some reason seems to think that that time cna be brought back.

• Pakistan’s accelerated Nuclear program: A response to Indo-US 123 deal
• Is India working towards another snub at Nuclear Summit?

Without naming Pakistan’s A Q Khan operation, India on Tuesday reminded the world of the dangers of “clandestine proliferation networks” and asked the world to join hands to combat trafficking of nuclear materials.

“Clandestine proliferation networks have flourished and led to insecurity for all, including and especially for India,” Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told 47 world leaders gathered at the Nuclear Security Summit here.

“We must learn from past mistakes and institute effective measures to prevent their recurrence,” the prime minister said in his intervention on the concluding day of the summit.

“The danger of nuclear explosives or fissile material and technical know-how falling into the hands of non-state actors continues to haunt our world,” he said.

“India is deeply concerned about the danger it faces, as do other states, from this threat,” he said.

Although he did not name Pakistan, the reference was obvious to world leaders gathered for the summit who, too, have voiced apprehensions about the dangers of Pakistan-origin proliferation.

Announcing the setting up of the Global Centre for Nuclear Energy Partnership in India, Manmohan Singh stressed that “the world community should join hands to eliminate the risk of sensitive and valuable materials and technologies falling into hands of terrorists and illicit traffickers”.

“There should be zero tolerance for individuals and groups which engage in illegal trafficking in nuclear items,” Manmohan Singh stressed.

Indo-Asian News Service, Washington, April 13, 2010. Hindustan Times. Manmohan alerts world about Pakistan’s A Q Khan network

Prime Minister Singh wasted his 45 minutes with President Obama complaining about Pakistan. His rhetoric against Nuclear proliferation surely must have sounded alarm bells in Tehran further jeopardizing the Info-Iranian relationship–which is already at nadir.

Mr. Manmohan Singh should have been a bit more sagacious in Washington. He has forgotten that the mood in Washington and other world has changed. The world has moved–no one is interested in Delhi’s petty squabbles, and her ancient rhetoric. The planet is more interested in building bridges with Pakistan so that the West can extricate itself from Afghanistan.

Pakistan Begins Its Largest Military Exercises In 20 Years

Sabrina Tavernise

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A month of military exercises began in Pakistan this weekend, the country’s biggest drills in 20 years, in what analysts said was a show of military muscle meant mainly to impress a domestic audience.

Pakistan conducts military exercises every year, an event that serves both as conventional warfare training for troops and as a display of force for India, Pakistan’s longtime rival. India, for its part, conducts similar exercises across the border.

But this year’s round is Pakistan’s largest since 1989, a military spokesman said, the year that the Soviet Union withdrew its troops from Afghanistan, and analysts say the timing is related to the military’s confidence and sense of accomplishment.

In 1989, Pakistan — together with its ally, the United States — savored a moment of victory after the Soviet military’s February pullout. The countries had backed Islamic fighters against Soviet troops in Afghanistan for a decade. Now the military wants to burnish its image again, coming off a year of operations against Taliban militants that are broadly perceived by Pakistanis as a success.

“They feel happy that they have succeeded to some extent,” said Hasan Askari Rizvi, a military analyst in Lahore. “Therefore, they want to do public relations work.”

Pakistan’s military had suffered serious setbacks in the public eye after former President Pervez Musharraf, a general who had seized power in a coup, sunk in popularity. Pakistan’s current army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, has worked to reverse that, making public appearances on the front lines, courting the news media, and remaining mostly behind the scenes in political affairs.

The field exercises, scheduled to run through early May, are expected to involve as many as 50,000 troops from most branches of the armed services, according to the Pakistani media. They are scheduled to take place along Pakistan’s eastern border, close to India.

The exercises, Mr. Rizvi said, were also aimed at showing Pakistanis that the military was still focused on conventional warfare on its eastern border. All of the fighting in the recent past has been with the Pakistani Taliban in the country’s west, close to Afghanistan.

India is also holding training exercises, which a military spokesman in New Delhi said included mechanized forces and infantry. “It is a routine exercise conducted every year,” the spokesman said.

New York Times

Militants Attacks Indian Camp In Afghanistan

KABUL: Militants launched a pre-dawn attack on an Indian road construction camp in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, burning vehicles and equipment and sending the crew fleeing, authorities said.

No deaths or injuries were reported in the attack in Khost province’s Domanda district, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. Suspected Taliban, who are active in the mountainous eastern region bordering Pakistan, descended on the camp around 2 a.m.

Such raids seek to discourage foreign involvement in Afghanistan and destabilize the central government, which is struggling to bring development to the impoverished countryside and extend its mandate outside the capital, Kabul.

It wasn’t clear whether the camp was targeted due to Indian involvement, although militants have launched a number of bloody attacks on Indian interests in Afghanistan over recent years.

In July 2008, 58 people were killed in a suicide car bombing on the Indian embassy in Kabul, while at least six Indians were killed in an attack on a Kabul guesthouse in February. Taliban insurgents have claimed responsibility for the attacks, although New Delhi has claimed arch-rival Pakistan may have provided support in the embassy attack.

Elsewhere, two members of a nomadic tribe were killed by a roadside bomb Friday in the southern province of Kandahar, the ministry said. No details were given.

Following a rancorous week, US and Afghan officials have recommitted to their relationship, with President Barack Obama saying in an interview published Friday that Karzai remains “a critical partner” in the fight against terrorism.

That followed Karzai’s recent stern assertions of Afghan sovereignty and accusations that the United Nations and the international community interfered in last year’s fraud-tarnished presidential election in Afghanistan.

The White House called the comments disturbing and had suggested it might cancel Karzai’s planned visit to the White House in May if they continued. However, National Security Adviser James Jones told reporters Friday that the sides had ”gotten through this period.”

Jones said that Obama wrote and had delivered a thank-you note to Karzai for hosting him on short notice during the US president’s trip to Afghanistan on March 28. The note did not mention the recent controversies.

Also Saturday, Nato said it still had no information on what caused the crash of a U.S. Air Force Osprey in which three service members and a civilian contractor were killed. It was the first crash of the costly tilt-rotor aircraft in a combat zone, the US military said.

Numerous other service members were reported injured when the aircraft went down late Thursday seven miles (11 kilometers) from Qalat, the capital of Zabul province about 200 miles (300 kilometers) southwest of Kabul.

A Taliban spokesman said militants shot down the aircraft, but the insurgents often make exaggerated claims. – AP

Kyrgyzstan turmoil: Only the ECO can save Central Asia

News reports from Kabar the Kyrgyz news agency are announcing that the opposition has declared an alternate government announced on the seized TV stations. An emergency has been declared. Opposition leaders are reporting a 100 dead and 400 injured.

The war in Afghanistan is spreading to the Central Asian Republics–namely Kyrgyzstan and also Uzbekistan. The news from the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek is not good.

IF YOU ARE THERE SEND US THE LATEST REPORTS–VIDEOS AND PICTURES

• “Large-scale protests appear to have overthrown the government of Kyrgyzstan, an important American ally in Central Asia,” The New York Times is reporting.
• Russia’s RT news agency writes that Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev “has fled” the capital, Bishkek.
• Reuters reports that “the Kyrgyz government agreed on Wednesday to resign and President Kurmanbek Bakiyev flew to the southern city of Osh,” according to a senior opposition party official.
• 100 dead and as many as 400 injured. This is not a riot–its a revolution in the making.

CNN is reporting that:

The fighting erupted amid political unrest between opposition forces and the government in the cities of Bishkek, Talas and Naryn. Russian state media reported that the Bishkek unrest was triggered by clashes that took place in Talas where some opposition leaders were arrested.

Protesters want detained opposition leaders to be released, and Interfax is reporting that opposition supporters have seized control of Naryn, Talas and others towns, such as Tokmok, Karakol and Cholpanata.

Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev sent a decree to parliament for the imposition of a curfew as demonstrators clashed with police in Bishkek.

The rioters stormed the parliament building under the leadership of the opposition leader Omar Tekab (Russianized into Omurbek Tekebayev). Russian News (rian.ru) agencies are reporting that Kyrgyz “authorities have imposed a state of emergency in Bishkek and Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev has signed a decree imposing a curfew as clashes continue between rioters and police in the capital. At least 21 died with over 140 injured in riots.” The Christian Science Monitor is reporting that “The Kyrgyzstan protests also took place in other cities”. Reuters reports that “Taimur Sariy [Russianized name Temir Sariyev]Temir Sariyev, an opposition party leader, told The Associated Press that a coalition of politicians had agreed on a new prime minister as well as a new interior minister and new security chief. Officials say 40 people have been killed and more than 400 wounded Wednesday in clashes with police trying to quell the anti-government uprising.”

This has serious implications for China, Russia and the region. The SCO was created to assist the Central Asian Republics to maintain their status quo–however the ISAF presence and the NATO supply routes through Kyrgyzstan have brought the war to Kyrgyzstan.

The US base brought the war to Kyrgyzstan.

America relies on Manas Air Base (renamed the “Transit Center at Manas” as 2009) an alternate NATO supply route to Afghanistan. Therefore the US will be all over Bishkek. The Kyrgyz people and the Bakiyev’s parliament voted to throw out the base in 2009–and it remains a demand of the Kyrgyz people–and a bone of contention. Kyrgyztanis see growing Anti-Americanism because of the base.

The alignment of land locked countries to the warm waters of the Arabian Sea will help the Central Asian Republics open up to the world. Dedicated freeways from Dushame and Fergana are being built to Gwader and Port Qasim with the help of the Russians and the Chinese. This economic integration and the SCO block is the future of Central Asia.

We predicted that the Afghan war would move Westward and Northwards. This has not just happened now–it has been happening for years.

Graveyard of Empires: AfPak-TurkTaj-UzbKaz-AzKyr -istan

For years we have shed light on the pull and push theory. Can the $80 Billion Think Tank industry not comprehend the simple truths described by Peter Senge in his seminal book “The 5th Discipline“. They theory goes as follows. When the Police cracks down on drug dealers on 42nd street, the drug dealing does not disappear, it simply moved to 52nd street or gets dispersed over a bigger area out of reach of the police raids. Similarly when the US bombs the insurgents in East Afghanistan, it is but obvious that they will find shelter and hideouts on the Duran Line and beyond. As the US drones bomb FATA, areas in Pakistan are affected destabilizing parts of the NWFP.

The conflict was broadly fought between government forces and the United Tajik Opposition (UTO) – a coalition of Islamists and secular reformists. Al Jazeera

We strongly believe in the Push Theory is in action. In this case, the fear is that because of the actions of the Pakistan Army in Swat, some of the Uzbek militants belonging to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) may have moved back to the Tajikistan and Uzbekistan where they have been active for more than a decade.

The Taliban won the war against the USSR by cutting off their supplies from the same routes that the US will use. The Taliban attacked the supplies coming via Pakistan. According to Russian estimates only about half the supplies made it to Afghanistan. Now the raids on the supplies may be moving to Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

The Christian Science Monitor reports:

Mr. Bakiyev took power in the so-called “Tulip Revolution” of 2005, raising hope for democratic reform. But, as the International Crisis Group put in in 2008, “instead of opening up politics Bakiyev… is creating a system whose hallmarks are overweening control by the ruling family, widespread corruption and, most significantly, a monopoly over economic and political patronage.”

The 2009 US State Department Human Rights report, released this March, listed a litany of abuses by Bakiyev’s government:

Mr. Bakiyev faces a real problem–which could become a horrendous issue for the US. The failed policies of the Bush Administration are fast making Kyrgyzstan another Afghanistan. Unless the US learns from its mistakes from Afghanistan, many Americans will have to learn names of cities that they don’t even want to know about–Bishkek, Namamgan, Tashkent, Andijon. Unless sagacious and sane policies are implemented in the region these names will become household names like Falujah, Helmand, and Mazar e Sharif.

The world does not want to learn new names with atrocities and violence tied to them.

As it is the governments in the Central Asian republics face an onslaught of attacks from the disenfranchised and poor populations. The IMU is a major factor in trying to overthrow dictatorial regimes in the capitals of the Central Asian Republics.

There is another way–economic development and regional groupings to facilitate progress and prosperity in Central Asia.

(Reuters) – Kyrgyz riot police fired tear gas and flash grenades to disperse protesters in the capital Bishkek on Wednesday, witnesses said, the second day of unrest linked to mounting public anger over a weaker economy and corruption.

The Economic Cooperation Organization

Pak Military Exercise: For Pakistan India Is Real Threat, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan Just An Irritant

Sajjad Malik

Islamabad – Pakistan’s security establishment, unmoved by the threat from homegrown Islamic insurgents, is to launch a training exercise this week focused on the scenario of a possible showdown with traditional rival India.

The country’s powerful military is to launch exercise Azm-e-Nau (New Resolve) III to test the capacities of its men against a hypothetical Indian attack, and validate its security strategy.

The war game is the culmination of the new strategies discussed over a period of one and half years at various academic and operational levels, and will be the largest military exercise since 1989.

Director General Military Training (DGMT) Major General Muzzamil Hussain said the forthcoming exercise in the garrison city of Rawalpindi will “focus on India.”

The exercise coincides with renewed efforts against Islamic militants, who last year moved to within 160 kilometres of the capital Islamabad.

They have been since pushed back to mountainous hideouts along the Afghan border, from where they continue to launch attacks against the national armed forces.

Pakistan’s army, over half a billion strong, has been reluctant to move against the rebels, who have previously been groomed by the forces to fight as their proxies, first in Afghanistan and later in India.

Since 2001, the Pakistani army has lost over 2,000 soldiers in skirmishes against the Taliban in the inhospitable terrain along the border, where once Islamabad’s security officials would guide the militants into Afghanistan to fight the Russian occupiers.

The bad blood between army and militants has given hope to local security analysts and US defence policy makers that Pakistan’s army might re-write its security doctrine, replacing India with the Taliban as chief security threat.

The US needs Pakistan’s commitment to fight a focussed war against the Taliban to succeed in Afghanistan and it has been trying to increase Pakistan’s comfort level vis-a-vis India.

But the upcoming war games could put paid to such hopes, as Pakistan puts its military strategy against India through its paces from April 10 to May 13 close to the Indian border.

“The exercise is a concept validation stage of the operational thought process manifested in the form of tactical, operational and organizational aspects which would be validated and refined through the lessons learnt,” military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said.

The two countries have a history of enmity and have fought three major wars since gaining independence from Britain in August 1947. Two of the clashes were over the Himalayan region of Kashmir, which is considered a flash point between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

General Muzzamil justified the manoeuvres, saying India had carried out at least 12 exercises in the recent past to test its cold start doctrine, and that another Indian exercise is scheduled to coincide with Pakistan’s.

India’s new strategy of launching quick strikes across the border will be at the heart of its month-long exercise, known as Yodha Shakti, which is to begin mid-April on the Indian side of the border.

The rival manoeuvres will put soldiers from the two armies – which number a combined total nearly 2 million troops – virtually within shouting distance of each other, in a move likely to give the United States something of a headache.

Washington has worked hard in recent years to soothe tensions between nuclear powers India and Pakistan, in the hope that Islamabad might then divert more of its attention and resources to fighting the Taliban militants.

But Pakistan’s military high command does not appear to be convinced of India’s proclaimed good intentions, and seems to be more concerned by Indian military capabilities and apparent posturing.

“We make our preparation to counter any move by India,” said Abbas. “The intentions are immaterial as they can change over time, but not the potential which matters a lot for us.”

The Pakistani military’s unwavering focus on India indicates that the defence establishment does not consider its operations against the Taliban to be anything more than a momentary diversion in the wider defence scenario.

Monday’s coordinated attacks on a US consulate in Peshawar and a political party, which left 53 dead, were simply “security problems”, said Abbas, and did not warrant a wholesale rethinking of Pakistan’s long-term security strategy.

“We are aware of double jeopardy including trouble on western and eastern fronts but the current exercise is to deal with dangers from east, we have separate plans to counter problems at the west,” Muzzamil added.

Like his boss, army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani who authorized it, Muzzamil believes that the field exercise, involving 20,000 to 40,000 troops, will help to draw up a Pakistani response plan for incidents on the eastern border with India.

Muzzamil also said that internal problems made any nation more vulnerable to external aggressions. “We are training to counter any foreign move from the east at the time of our domestic security problems,” he said.

India Calls Naxalites Greatest Threat, Yet Fight War With Policemen

RAIPUR: A day after 76 troopers were massacred in the worst ever Maoist attack, hundreds of para-military men and state police personnel assigned to track down the killers are scared to enter the jungles of Chhattisgarh Wednesday fearing a repeat of the ‘bloody Tuesday’ incident.

The shell-shocked police incumbent here have ordered nearly 40,000 policemen deployed in the restive Bastar region to retaliate.

But officials posted in the interiors of the region say: “The Tuesday attack has rattled the entire police force engaged in the anti-Maoist operation and they are now reluctant to enter the landmine protected jungle terrain”.

“It’s easy for everyone to dictate to us from New Delhi and Raipur sitting in air-conditioned chambers, but here the situation is completely hostile because Maoists rule the roost in jungles. The forces in Bastar now need urgent motivation,” a police officer based in Dantewada said on phone.

Police officers posted in the sprawling 40,000 sq km Bastar terrain made up of five districts — Bijapur, Narayanpur, Bastar, Kanker and Dantewada where the Maoists staged a bloodbath in the Chintalnar hilly area say — “policemen are suffering high casualties because of an absolute lack of co-ordination between state forces and para-military men who are put in difficult terrains in Chhattisgarh”.

“Despite all efforts at the police headquarters and at the state government level, the CRPF is not taking local police and special police officers (SPOs) along while entering the Maoists’ den and are thus getting killed without a fight,” noted a senior official here.

He remarked that CRPF men are all outsiders and know nothing about the difficult jungle terrain. They were reminded several times by officers at the police headquarters to take along at least the SPOs who are locals but the CRPF men neither followed this suggestion nor did they stick to the 48-point guerrilla warfare manuals.

China to back Pakistan stance on civil nuclear deal

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani reiterated his government’s commitment to take all parliamentary parties into confidence on all national policies particularly defence, Kashmir and nuclear policies.

In his opening statement while chairing a special meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security at the Parliament House Wednesday afternoon, the Prime Minister said Pakistan being a nuclear state was cognizant of its responsibilities.

Pakistan has developed effective nuclear safety, security and non-proliferation measures underpinned by extensive legislative, regulatory and administrative framework, he added.

He further said that as chairman of the National Command Authority, his government fully accepts the responsibility of nuclear security.

The Prime Minister said nuclear power generation offers viable solutions for energy security and addressing the challenge of climate change.

He said that China would support Pakistan demand that the United States also make a civilian nuclear deal with Pakistan like it had done with India.

He mentioned Pakistan had more than 35 years experience of operating nuclear power plants successfully. He further said highly trained manpower and a well established foolproof safety and security culture fully qualifies Pakistan for equal participation in civil nuclear cooperation at the international level which would help in addressing immediate energy problems and would bring greater stability as well.

The Prime Minister said Pakistan is a democratic, progressive and peaceful country.

He added that the socio-economic development hinges on the ability to meet rapidly expanding energy requirements.

He stressed, “we need to explore all options to ensure a reliable energy mix and civil nuclear power generation is therefore an essential part of our national energy security strategy.”

The Prime Minister declared that the government considers nuclear safety, security and safeguards as vehicles for facilitating international civil nuclear cooperation.

He observed that the objectives of nuclear non-proliferation, safety and security can only be served and promoted through a non-discriminatory paradigm for international cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

Earlier Lt. General (Rtd) Khalid Ahmed Kidwai, DG SPD briefed the Parliamentary Committee on Pakistan’s nuclear programme and security of nuclear assets.

He mentioned that Pakistan has one of the best systems of safety and security of nuclear assets and technology both on the defence and civilian side.

Masood Khan, Pakistan’s Ambassador in China who participated in the preliminary deliberations of the forthcoming Nuclear Summit in Washington, apprised the Parliamentary Committee on the objectives of the Summit and the preparations made by Pakistan to be able to positively contribute in the deliberations of the Summit.

The USA, he mentioned, has already made the objectives public which are a manifestation of President Barack Obama’s three point strategy for non-proliferation of nuclear technology in the interest of global security.

The representatives of all the political parties in the Parliament Committee on National Defence applauded the gesture of the Prime Minister for taking them into confidence prior to his participation in an important International Summit.

They assured him complete support and expressed confidence that he would be able to put across Pakistan’s viewpoint forcefully being a democratically elected Prime Minister enjoying complete backing of the entire nation.

The members of the Committee also appreciated the preparations made by the Pakistani side for the Summit. The members also gave suggestions on various aspects of the subject of the Summit which were aptly accommodated.

The special meeting was also attended by General Tariq Majid, Chairman of Joint Chief of Staff Committee and the Foreign Secretary.

Why India hide bodies, secretly buried Mumbai militants

The stories out of Bharat (aka India) are not very clear about Mumbai. Conflicting news reports are still emanating out of Delhi which have shocked the media and given rise to speculation that the attackers were Bharati nationals. What began as simple rumors and fodder for conspiracy theorists have now become part of the mainstream media which is increasingly strident and curious about the unanswered questions.

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India sheepishly admits local connection in Mumbai attacks

MUMBAI: The bodies of the nine 26/11 Pakistani terrorists – which nobody, including Pakistan, wanted – have been disposed of in a top secret operation.

Maharashtra home minister R.R. Patil said on Tuesday the bodies of the nine terrorists, killed by Indian special forces during their three-day bloody siege of landmark areas of the city in November 2008, were quietly buried in January this year.

“I did not see any need to keep preserving the bodies for a longer time. So, we took the decision to bury the bodies,” he told the stunned members of the state legislative council here on Tuesday evening.

In view of the sensitivity of the issue and the fact that many Muslim organisations had opposed giving the dead terrorists a burial place anywhere in India, Patil said adequate care was taken to ensure that the matter remained a secret and the information did not leak out.

However, he did not mention the date on which the burial took place, or even the place where the bodies were buried.

Patil added that the decision was also prompted by the huge ongoing expense incurred on preserving the bodies in an air-conditioned room of the morgue in Sir J.J. Hospital, round-the-clock security deployed at the site, and other aspects.

Delhi lies about Mumbai exposed: All militants were Indian nationals–

For nearly 15 months, there were no claimants for the bodies of the nine terrorists who were killed by the security forces during the Nov 26-29, 2008, Mumbai terror attacks. Only one of their associates – Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab – was captured alive and he is currently awaiting judgment in the 26/11 trial.

The 10 gunmen killed 166 people in a series of coordinated attacks. Kasab remains lodged in the high-security Arthur Road Central Jail in an oval-shaped cell, and Special Judge M.L. Tahaliyani will deliver the verdict May 3.

Keeping the terrorists’ bodies for such a long time was considered without a precedent anywhere in the world. Kasab was the only one captured alive during the terrorist strikes that targeted two luxury hotels, the city’s main, historic train terminal, a hospital and a Jewish centre of worship.

• Mumbai False flag: Indian hawk & Gujarat Chief Minister Modi exonerates Pakistan’s position. Delhi’s fails to prove Pakistan is complicit
• When will India handover terrorists Advani, Thackery, Purohit & 38 other murderers

Early last year, the Muslim Council had flatly refused to allow the burial of the nine killed terrorists in the Marine Lines Bada Qabrastan cemetery. The council had also sent a message to all cemeteries in India that none of the terrorists’ bodies should be buried on Indian soil.

The influential Muslim Jama Masjid Trust, which runs the 7.5-acre Bada Qabrastan in south Mumbai, said it would also not permit the burial of the gunmen “because they were not true followers of Islam”. Since then both the Maharashtra government and police have been caught in a bind over what to do with the bodies. “We had informed the Pakistan government about the bodies long ago. However, there was no response from them so far,” Special Public Prosecutor for the 26/11 terror attacks trial Ujjwal Nikam had said in November 2009.

• India claims CIA knew about Mumbai: US silence seen as collaboration/
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Some outfits had even suggested after the terror siege that the bodies be dumped at the premises of the Pakistan high commission in New Delhi or thrown into the Arabian Sea. Shortly after the attackers were gunned down, their bodies were brought to the hospital where a team of doctors had performed autopsies and filed post-mortem reports with police.

Thereafter, the bodies had been embalmed and shifted to a separate room in the morgue, which was permanently sealed with round-the-clock security and temperatures maintained at a steady four degrees Celsius to prevent decomposition.
The room was out of bounds for all, barring those who had the relevant clearance from police headquarters.

Among those who viewed the bodies were the investigators from Mumbai Police, the state and central agencies, and representatives of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Many have suspected that Bharat has been hiding the facts of Mumbai. How could the gunmen enter the Taj Hotel when the front entrances are all cordoned off with metal detectors. The Taj owners clearly stated an inside job, where the militants were shown into the hotel through a maze of back doors and service entrances. Mr. Kasab the only surviving gunaman has stated that he went to Mumbai on a train and was being used as a patsy. Many of the witnesses were unable to recognize him a police lineup.

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Then there is the whole episode of Mr. Kasab and the miracle of surviving a perilous journey on a red dinghy that was able to evade the most fortified border in the world–hoodwinking the Indian Navy, the Coast Guards, and plethora of animal named forces like the Black panthers. Analysts also wonder who armed to the teeth militants were able to hail cabs and reach downtown Mumbai carrying AK-47s, RPGs, and ammunition.

It is also been alleged that all the other gunmen were Indians and Bharat has hidden their identity and their bodies to dowlplay the local angle of the mayhem in Mumbai.

Afghanistan: Can Obama hammer India to stop interfering in US policy?

The Obama Administration wants a face saving exit from Kabul. Islamabad holds a key to that face saving exit. Islamabad is asking Washington to use its offices to reduce the border tension between Pakistan and Bharat so that Islamabad can concentrate on the Western Frontier. The Obama Administration, and the Civilian and Military leadership seems to have understood this Pakistani point of view–which they find reasonable.

The Obama Administration must make it very clear to Delhi that it must stop its terror activities in Balochistan and its cross-border terror using the TTP and other terror groups. Enough is enough. Unless the Obama Administration can take that tough stand, it cannot bring peace to the land between the Indus and the Amu Darya and beyond. One major issue that many in the Administration are well aware of is the potential and the reality of the destabilization of Central Asia. If peace does not grow in Afghanistan and does not grow quickly, all of Central Asia will be encompassed in the vortex of war. That is why China and Russia want a quick end to violence on their doorstep.

• The directive, issued in December, concluded that “India must make resolving its tensions with Pakistan a priority for progress to be made on US goals in the region,” Hindustan Times
• http://www.hindustantimes.com/Obama-s-secret-directive-Intensify-efforts-to-ease-Indo-Pak-tensions/H1-Article1-527400.aspx
• A debate continues within the administration over how hard to push India, which has long resisted outside intervention in the conflict with its neighbor. WSJ
• To blunt India’s eager courtship of Afghanistan, Pakistan is pouring $300 million of its own money and resources into a nation it also views as key to the stability of volatile South Asia, as well as a potentially lucrative business partner. Emily Wax. Washington Post.
• Pakistan has hosted 3 million Afghan refugees for 30 years and has already spent $500 million in projects in Pakistan. Millions of Afghans have been born in Pakistan and they speak Urdu and have made Pakistan their home–specially in Quetta.

President Obama wants to change Bharati attitudes. The issue in Washington is how to bell the Delhi cat. Bharat feigns nervousness about any third party “negotiations”–and uses the excuse of bilateralism so that it does not have to budge on any issue. Bilateral talks are the victim of Bharati hubris, arrogance, intransigence and obduracy. They always fail.

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The directive concluded that India must make resolving its tensions with Pakistan a priority for progress to be made on U.S. goals in the region, according to people familiar with its contents.

The U.S. has invested heavily in its own relations with Pakistan in recent months, agreeing to a $7.5 billion aid package and sending top military and diplomatic officials to Islamabad on repeated visits. The public embrace, which reached a high point last month in high-profile talks in Washington, reflects the Obama administration’s belief that Pakistan must be convinced to change its strategic calculus and take a more assertive stance against militants based in its western tribal regions over the course of the next year in order to turn the tide in Afghanistan.

According to the Boston Globe Senator “Kerry has become a key architect of a policy shift away from strictly short-term, conditional payments to Pakistan’s military and toward long-term pledges of assistance to its citizens”. Wendy Chamberlain is very popular in Pakistan. The Boston Globe quotes her on Senator John Kerry. “John Kerry has played an enormously positive role,’’ said Wendy Chamberlin, a former ambassador to Pakistan who is president of the Middle East Institute…Kerry hopes the aid will bolster what he calls a “sea change’’ in Pakistan.

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President Barack Obama issued a secret directive in December to intensify American diplomacy aimed at easing tensions between India and Pakistan, asserting that without détente between the two rivals, the administration’s efforts to win Pakistani cooperation in Afghanistan would suffer.

Peter Spiegel and Matthew Rosenberg make some blunt observations in The Wall Street Journal and if the reports are to be believed then Delhi is under a lot of pressure to reduce its presence in Afghanistan, and obtund its military presence along the Pakistani border. While Delhi clamors to proffer the anti-thesis that Islamabad’s perceptions about Bharat are incorrect–Washington’s retort on this line is “deal with the perception”, and “resolve the issues”.

• The Pentagon, in particular, has sought more pressure on New Delhi, according to U.S. and Indian officials. WSJ
• Current and former U.S. officials said the discussion in Washington over how to approach India has intensified as Pakistan ratchets up requests that the U.S. intercede in a series of continuing disputes.
• The directive concluded that India must make resolving its tensions with Pakistan a priority for progress to be made on U.S. goals in the region, according to people familiar with its contents. Times of India
• Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has been among the more vocal advocates of encouraging Delhi to be more “transparent” about its activities along the countries’ shared border and to cooperate more with Pakistan. WSJ

A debate continues within the administration over how hard to push India, which has long resisted outside intervention in the conflict with its neighbor. The Pentagon, in particular, has sought more pressure on New Delhi, according to U.S. and Indian officials. Current and former U.S. officials said the discussion in Washington over how to approach India has intensified as Pakistan ratchets up requests that the U.S. intercede in a series of continuing disputes.

During the Strategic Dialog with Pakistan, the US tacitly, and publicly accepted Pakistan’s Strategic Depth and role in brining peace to Afghanistan. This is anathema to Delhi which wants to pressure Pakistan from both sides.

The Wall Street Journal and major media outlets are portending the thesis that the Obama Administration is asking Delhi to be stop terror activities against Pakistan, listen more carefully to Islamabad’s complaints, and resolve the Kashmir and water disputes with Pakistan. This is not music to the Delhi politicians who usually ignore the Pakistani point of view and take the Kashmir discussion into a cul de sac called bilateral talks. During bilateral talks Delhi then kills all discussion by loudly proclaiming that Kashmir is an integral part of Bharat (aka India) and the topic of boundaries are nut subject to negotiations. Since 1947 dozens of these “talks have been held between Delhi and Pakistan–all ending in abject failure due to obduracy, intransigence and skullduggery of Delhi. Pakistan is not the only country that has faced Bharati tergiversation. Delhi has been unable to resolve its boundary disputes with any of her neighbors, namely Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, Myanmar, China, Bangladesh.

Pakistan has long regarded Afghanistan as providing “strategic depth”—essentially, a buffer zone—in a potential conflict with India. Some U.S. officials believe Islamabad will remain reluctant to wholeheartedly fight the Islamic militants based on its Afghan border unless the sense of threat from India is reduced.

Pakistan does not see the threat from the same prism that Bharat sees the threat. For Pakistan the threat is Bharat–whether from the Eastern of the Western border. Islamabad feels that it can deal with the Pakhtuns through battles, negotiations, and with projects. Delhi wants to dominate Afghanistan as part of its colonial legacy and its flights of fancy headed towards regional power. For Pakistan it is a struggle for survival. For Bharat is it a point of prestige and stature. The Pakistanis will fight with a lot more determination than the Bharatis can ever hope to.

U.S. and Indian officials say the Obama administration has so far made few concrete demands of New Delhi. According to U.S. officials, the only specific request has been to discourage India from getting more involved in training the Afghan military, to ease Pakistani concerns about getting squeezed by India on two borders.

Can President Obama over rule or convince its Bharati constituencies supported on the Hill by the Bharati lobby and their AIPAC allies? This is the question that vexes the Obama Administration. His second term and his presidency depends on the ability to face the onslaught of the lobbies. If he follows the Bush doctrine and does not stand up to the Bharatis, the Afghan war will go on in perpetuity without any chance of ever achieving peace. The Afghan war is not popular with the American people and the US military. They want a face saving exit. Bharat was given a decade, and it cannot deliver peace in Kabul. The US military and the CIA believe that no peace is possible in the Hindu Kush without Islamabad on board. The only way to get wholehearted Pakistani cooperation is to resolve its disputes with Delhi and to give it a major role in Afghanistan.

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“This is an administration that’s deeply divided about the wisdom of leaning on India to solve U.S. problems with Pakistan,” said Ashley Tellis, an analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace who has discussed the issue with senior officials in the U.S. and India. “There are still important constituencies within the administration that have not given up hope that India represents the answer.”

India has long resisted outside involvement in its differences with Pakistan, particularly over the disputed region of Kashmir. But, according to a U.S. government official, a 56-page dossier presented by the Pakistani government to the Obama administration ahead of high-level talks in Washington last month contained a litany of accusations against the Indian government, and suggestions the U.S. intercede on Pakistan’s behalf.

Pakistan has forcefully and unequivocally informed Washington that Bharati dourness about Pakistan stems from its historic inability to accept the reality of Pakistan which it feels was artificially and temporarily “partitioned” from the mother country. Ms. Hillary Clinton and many in the Democratic Party had been unable to see this Pakistani point of view–initially they brushed it off as Pakistani paranoia. However lately there have been signs that the American tin ear has melted and Pakistani concerns about its sovereignty viz a viz Bharat have found some measure of understanding in Washington.

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The official said the document alleges that India has never accepted Pakistan’s sovereignty as an independent state, and accuses India of diverting water from the Indus River and fomenting separatism in the southwestern Pakistani province of Baluchistan.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has signaled that Washington isn’t interested in mediating on water issues, which are covered by a bilateral treaty.

The Bharati media has been reacting to the sagacious and sane Obama initiative which could and would bring peace to Afghanistan. Obviously the sagacious policy has been met with a wall of traditional Bharati inexorability and stubbornness. The Bharati pundits and media wish Pakistan to go away, so that Bharat can reach out to its lands in Afghanistan and beyond. Realpolitik comes in the way of this Bharati revanchism, kleptomania and irredentism. Unable to hold on to its own fraying Union, Delhi is consumed by its desire to extend its borders–on the Eastern, Northern, and Western fronts. IN the North it faces Chinese might, and on the West it faces Pakistan’s Nuclear Mutually Assured Destruction. therefore it wants to use Afghanistan to pressure Pakistan, to aid separatists, and to form road and rail links to “conquer” Central Asia. This is not the Indian Doctrine–the religion requires them to expand into areas which Alexander and Islam had taken from them.

Subcontinental Drift

The White House declined to comment on Mr. Obama’s directive or on the debate within the administration over India policy. The directive to top foreign-policy and national-security officials was summarized in a memo written by National Security Adviser James Jones at the end of the White House’s three-month review of Afghan war policy in December.

Bharat is now trying to blackmail the US by holding commerce, currency, lobbies and other means to make it change its course–and help Delhi as a counterweight to China. Of course Delhi sees this a temporary alliance–’till it can challenge the US itself.

An Indian government official said the U.S.’s increasing attention to Pakistani concerns hasn’t hurt bilateral relations overall. “Our relationship is mature—of course we have disagreements, but we’re trying not to have knee-jerk reactions,” the Indian official said.

According to U.S. and Indian officials, the Pentagon has emerged in internal Obama administration debates as an active lobbyist for more pressure on India, with some officials already informally pressing Indian officials to take Pakistan’s concerns more seriously. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the U.S. government’s prime interlocutor with the powerful head of the Pakistani army, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, has been among the more vocal advocates of a greater Indian role, according to a U.S. military official, encouraging New Delhi to be more “transparent” about its activities along the countries’ shared border and to cooperate more with Pakistan.

Pakistan has made clear to Delhi that it does not just want talks so that Delhi can appease Washington. Pakistan’s Foreign Minister recently told the media that Delhi must initiate a composite results oriented dialog with a schedule. Talks for the sake of talks will not work, and Pakistan is not interested in parleys to show Washington that Delhi is talking.

In interviews, U.S. military officials were circumspect about what specific moves they would like to see from New Delhi. But according to people who have discussed India policy with Pentagon officials, the ideas discussed in internal debates include reducing the number of Indian troops in Kashmir or pulling back forces along the border.

“They say, ‘The Pakistanis have this perception and you have to deal with the perception’,” said one foreign diplomat who has discussed India’s role with Pentagon officials.

An Indian defense ministry spokesman said his country’s army has already moved about 30,000 troops out of Kashmir in recent years.

The State Department has resisted such moves to pressure India, according to current and former U.S. officials, insisting they could backfire. These officials have argued that the most recent promising peace effort—secret reconciliation talks several years ago between Indian Prime Minster Singh and then-Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf—occurred without U.S. involvement.

“Our principal interest has always been to encourage the talks to resume, but we also understand where the Indians are coming from, which is that there has to be some progress on these bilateral counterterrorism” issues, said the official.

During the Strategic Dialog with the US, Pakistan clearly described the Bharati interference in Pakistan and wanted it stopped as quickly as possible. Why would Bharat need so many Consulates in Afghanistan? The number of consulates exceeds the number of visas issued to Afghanis. Pakistan has repeatedly and forcefully proclaimed that these Consulates are the dens of inequity spreading problems for Pakistan. Those Indian sponsored problems then bring pain not only to Pakistanis, but also are an impediment to US interests in the region. The US has asked Delhi to reduce its presence in Afghanistan, and there are signs that Bharat may be reducing its staff and activities that were aimed against Islamabad.

Separately, Pakistan has been more forcefully raising concerns about Indian activities in Afghanistan with the U.S. Senior Pakistani officials allege India is using its Afghan aid missions as a cover to support separatists in Baluchistan and the Pakistani Taliban, and say they have presented evidence of that to U.S. officials. Indian officials deny the accusations.

A Pakistani security official said his government also has pressed the U.S. about India’s ties to the Afghan intelligence agency, the National Security Directorate, and argued that Indian consulates in Jalalabad and Kandahar are outposts for India’s spy agency.

“Something has to be done to stop Afghanistan from being a jumping-off point for Indian intelligence,” said the security official. Washington Post. U.S. Aims to Ease India-Pakistan Tension By PETER SPIEGEL in Washington and MATTHEW ROSENBERG in Kabul

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There are clear signs that the US has in many ways asked Bharat to reduce the tensions by whatever means necessary. The question is what will Delhi do to circumvents US pressure and bypass Washington’s requirements and then work against President Obama’s plans. How will Delhi resist the US military’s demands?