LOW INTENSITY CONFLICT

BBC ardent follower of Joseph Goebbels

2012-02-13T21:47:00.001-08:00

http://info-wars.org/2012/02/13/bbc-are-corporate-paid-propagandists/

BBC are Corporate-Paid Propagandists

13/02/2012
Featured , Globalists , International , Media , State Terror
No comments

The Independent exposes what we already knew.

February 14, 2012 – It has been recently reported by the Independent, that the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) "will today apologise to an estimated 74 million people around the world for a news fixing scandal, exposed by The Independent, in which it broadcast documentaries made by a London TV company that was earning millions of pounds from PR clients which it featured in its programming."

While The Independent focuses on scandals revolving around the Malaysian government, members of Egypt's Hosni Mubarak's regime, and corporations like Microsoft, the reek of propaganda wafting off from all that BBC involves itself with has been a case study for years.

Three overtly suspect projects BBC recently backed immediately come to mind, including "Thailand: Justice Under Fire" together with "Secret Pakistan," and "The Lady," regarding US and British-funded Myanmar proxy, Aung San Suu Kyi. These three "works" have been exposed as overt propaganda, peddling an agenda rather than anything resembling objective documentaries. BBC's "Secret Pakistan," for example, literally attempted to rewrite 10 years of history where Pakistan, rather than Al Qaeda or "Bin Laden" was retrospectively made responsible for the ongoing violence in Afghanistan and the death of Western troops.

And while The Independent offers up their handful of negligible admissions regarding Malaysia, Egypt, and Microsoft, exposing how special interests compromised BBC's "integrity," the special interests behind other BBC "documentaries" are easily identified, granted you do not watch them in suspended disbelief, accepting everything as truthful, and fully trusting in BBC's obviously non-existent credibility.

BBC is not only guilty of making fraudulent, deceitful propaganda dressed up as "documentaries," but their general "reporting" is also a breathtaking daily assault on truth, objectivity, and journalistic integrity. No where can this be seen better than in BBC's coverage of the events in Egypt and Libya last year, and in particular illustrated in an excerpt from February 2011′s "Libya Conquered in the Dark: BBC's Breathtaking Propagandizing:"

Unlike in Egypt, where US International Crisis Group trustee Mohamed ElBaradei was talking daily to international reporters on the ground, and AlJazeera provided 24 hour coverage, Libya is a virtual blackhole. The mainstream media is relaying hearsay from "Libyan" bloggers and protesters on the ground. The tell-tale quotation marks peppering reports coming out of BBC and AlJazeera and a litany of weasel words indicate that the "revolution" will be feed to the public in the most disingenuous and unsubstantiated manner possible.

Unfortunately, when all we have to depend on during a crisis is the honor of the corporate owned media, where BBC itself is a major corporate member of the globalist nexus Chatham House, nothing can be trusted and we are left in confusion and uncertainty. Far too many people, however, will still fall for the thin veneer of legitimacy the mainstream media's slick graphics and well-dressed shills lend it.

BBC's latest article regarding Sayf al-Islam's address to the nation gives us an astounding example of the mainstream media forcing the scant facts coming out of Libya into a predetermined narrative to suit the global-combine's interests. In his address to the Libyan nation, Sayf al-Islam accused opposition groups and outsiders of trying to transform Libya, that the foreign media was grossly exaggerating the government's response to protesters, and compared the unrest to an Egypt-style Facebook revolution.

Corporate propagandist John Leyne of the globalist Chatham House's BBC

While BBC concedes that "verifying information from Libya has been difficult," within the text of the article they refer to the speech as a "rambling TV address." In the side bar, we hear from BBC propagandist Jon Leyne, who covered the "bazillion-gagillion man march" in Egypt and told viewers it seemed as if "all of Egypt" had turned out in Tahrir Square. Best estimates of the crowd range from 50,000 to no more than 100,000 (0.1% of Egypt's population.) Leyne says the following regarding Sayf al-Islam's address, in an unprofessional bravado we should only have come to expect from the BBC:

"That was one of the strangest political speeches I think I've ever sat through. He was completely and utterly detached from the reality of what is going on in his country. To put it bluntly, most Libyans will just treat it as gibberish – it was completely meaningless to them. The idea that they're somehow going to sit down and have a national dialogue with a government that's brought in foreign mercenaries to shoot at them is laughable."

What qualifies Leyne to speak on behalf of the Libyan people on a crisis his own network concedes isdifficult to report on, thus "utterly detached" themselves, is beyond understanding, unless of course it is pure propaganda aimed at discrediting the address.

What the mainstream media and Sayf al-Islam seem to agree on is that Libya's eastern city of Benghazi has been overrun by mobs who have seized military tanks and weapons. For BBC and AlJazeera to call the government's response to arsonists, looters, vandals, and now dangerously and overtly armed mobs, a "massacre," seems somewhat disingenuous and very similar to their coverage of the US-backed mobs that took to the streets in Bangkok in May, 2010.

While BBC's recent outing as a corporate-paid propaganda operation may seem to many as a simple statement of the obvious, it will hopefully begin to undermine the unquestioned credibility many still seem to believe these large corporate-media outfits possess. It will also hopefully spur many to begin researching, discovering, and attempting to understand the world around them, themselves, without the corporate-paid propagandists guiding them along.

If Thomas Jefferson was correct when he stated, "an informed citizenry is the only true repository of the public will," one must wonder where the public will is currently reposited so long as the citizenry is "informed" by corporate-paid propagandists like the BBC.

_______

Tony Cartalucci is a regular contributor to Infowars Ireland. Read more of his articles here, or visit his website Land Destroyer Report.

Zardari, Telephone Tapping, & Swiss Case.

2012-02-13T21:12:00.001-08:00

FROM MR AAMIR MUGHAL A RETIRED INTELLIGENCE BUREAU OFFICER

Zardari, Telephone Tapping, & Swiss Case.

http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/2012/02/zardari-telephone-tapping-swiss-case.html

ISLAMABAD: Hours after being indicted by the Supreme Court over a disputed contempt charge, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani seemed winning some moral support across party lines in the National Assembly on Monday before opposition leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan jumped in to share the day`s honours by pulling off a unanimous, though belated, condemnation of a US Congressional hearing on Balochistan. The prime minister`s arrival during the early part of the question hour to louder than usual desk-thumping from the ruling coalition enlivened a dull house and then lawmakers from both the opposition and treasury benches went to him to shake his hand or say a few words of possible support in the case he has to fight in the apex court for not writing mainly to Swiss judicial authorities to reopen withdrawn money-laundering charges against his party`s dead and living leaders in cases instituted by their political rivals in 1990s. PPP-S chief Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao was the first opposition figure to walk to Mr Gilani`s to hug him — and later say he expressed his solidarity to the man who "conducted himself well in the court" â€" and then lawmakers of other parties, including some female members from the opposition PML-N, made a beeline to the prime minister`s desk during his brief stay in the house. REFERENCE: Moral support for Gilani, ire at US hearing in NA Raja Asghar http://www.dawn.com/2012/02/14/moral-support-for-gilani-ire-at-us-hearing-in-na.html Guilty? asks court; No, will contest charge: PMNasir Iqbal http://www.dawn.com/2012/02/14/guilty-asks-court-no-will-contest-charge-pm-offence-carries-six-month-jail-next-hearing-on-22nd-some-analysts-discount-disqualification.html

Intense U.S. pressure has forced Musharraf to resign from the army to keep his presidency, and he is soon to lift martial law. Still at issue is how free the election will be and whether Bhutto will take office with a large governing majority. When Musharraf still resisted Washington's demands last week that he end his state of emergency, I asked Bhutto how an election could be conducted under those conditions. Her message: "Elections under martial law cannot be free or fair." It remains an open question whether an election could still be rigged by Musharraf without martial law. He has appointed local electoral officials who will take orders. Twenty million names have disappeared from the national voters list, whose preparation was financed with U.S. aid. When this was discovered, the government said that anybody on the old list would be permitted to vote. But the new list is flawed, with millions of names repeated to permit multiple votes by individuals. All this attempts at least to minimize Bhutto's majority and force her into taking a coalition partner. Musharraf's efforts to keep Bhutto out have been orchestrated for two years by retired brigadier Ijaz Shah, who left Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) to become the president's chief of civilian intelligence. The ISI, a state within a state, is aligned against Bhutto and would be at the heart of any vote-rigging. REFERENCE: Rigging Pakistan's Election? By Robert D. Novak Monday, December 3, 2007http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/02/AR2007120201637.html

CNN: The Secret Bhutto File on Election Rigging in Pakistan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlcWfQ1P6Mk

Courtesy: videocafeblog January 01, 2008 - CNN's report on the secret Bhutto file that accusses the Pakistani government of consipiring to rig the upcoming elections before her death.

Attorney General of Pakistan Malik Mohammad Qayyum Admits Rigging

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2faziDhmA_Q

Transcript

Leave Nawaz Sharif(PAUSE)....I think Nawaz Sharif will not take part in the election (PAUSE).... If he does take part, he will be in trouble. If Benazir takes part she too will be in trouble(PAUSE)... They will massively rig to get their own people to win. If you can get a ticket from these guys, take it (PAUSE).... If Nawaz Sharif does not return himself, then Nawaz Sharif has some advantage. If he comes himself, even if after the elections rather than before, …..yes…. REFERENCE: Audio - "Pakistan Goes to the Polls" http://www.hrw.org/legacy/audio/2008/urdu/pakistan0208.htm Qayyum 'was aware of rigging plan': HRW releases tape By Iftikhar A. Khan and Masood Haider February 16, 2008 Saturday Safar 08, 1429 http://archives.dawn.com/2008/02/16/top6.htm Pakistan: Attorney General Aware of 'Massive' Election-Rigging Plans Audio Recording Calls Into Question Government's Commitment to Fair Elections FEBRUARY 15, 2008 http://www.hrw.org/news/2008/02/14/pakistan-attorney-general-aware-massive-election-rigging-plans

London-based Brad Adams, director Asia region-HRW, was asked by The News to comment on Malik Qayyum's view that the release of the audio just two days before the elections was a conspiracy. Brad replied that his organisation had got this audio recording some three days back and as being an international NGO, it had first confirmed the voice signatures of Malik Qayyum and then tried its best to contact him for his version. Brad, however, refused to mention or give any hint regarding the source from which it had taken the audio. Tom Malinowski, Washington advocacy director of HRW, when asked by The News that whether his NGO had got this recording from some of its staff here in Pakistan or from some intelligence agency, said that he could not speak about the source. To a question that Pakistani government sees the release of the recording as a conspiracy, he said: "Its silly to talk like that, the government should feel sorry what it has planned for elections." Malik Qayyum told The News that HRW did not take his version and that it did not know about the identification of the person to which he was talking, which automatically raised questions about the authenticity of the recording. REFERENCE: Malik Qayyum in new row over rigging By Muhammad Ahmad Noorani AG caught on tape again; denies HRW report Saturday, February 16, 2008 http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=12981&Cat=13&dt=2/17/2008 http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=12981&Cat=13&dt=2/17/2008

Arshad Sharif Exposes Swiss Case of Asif Ali Zardari - 1 (KYUN Duniya News 13 Feb 2012)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1AqxlJQM3g

Arshad Sharif Exposes Swiss Case of Asif Ali Zardari - 2 (KYUN Duniya News 13 Feb 2012)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqZ4F2Lifug

LAHORE: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was annoyed over delay in the Lahore High Court's decision in President Asif Ali Zardari's case during his tenure, according to a transcript of conversation between Justice (r) Abdul Qayyum and National Accountability Bureau's (NAB) former chairman Saifur Rehman, aired on a private news channel. The audiotape was provided by Senator Faisal Raza Abdi. The channel also aired a conversation between Pervez Elahi, Shahbaz and Justice Qayyum. Following is the transcript of the conversation. Justice (r) Abdul Qayyum: Your task will be done in a day or two. I had to request an adviser (Peerzada) for you. I told him that I am very ill and I have to leave abroad and I have asked him to end up the matter for my sake. Peerzada has told me that he will do it and it will be done. He told me that he would compensate for all the mistakes I have, adding that Mian Sahib (Nawaz Sharif) would be happy as well. REFERENCE: Audiotape reveals Sharifs manipulated verdict in Zardari's case Daily Times Monitor Sunday, November 21, 2010 http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\11\21\story_21-11-2010_pg7_21

WAY BACK IN 2001

ISLAMABAD, Feb 4: The guilty verdict handed down to Benazir Bhutto and her husband by the Lahore High Court in 1999 in the SGS/Cotecna reference case was rendered highly suspect by startling disclosures made in a report published by a respected British newspaper on Sunday. Benazir's appeal against the verdict sentencing her to imprisonment for five years and nearly $10 million fine is coming up for hearing in the Supreme Court on Feb 26, 2001. Justice Malik Qayyum of Lahore High Court had allegedly announced a pre-written judgment in the case, the Sunday Times story revealed quoting tape recorded conversations between the judge and the former Law Minister, Khalid Anwer, the former chief of Accountability Bureau, Saifur Rehman and the former Chief Justice of Lahore High Court, Justice Rashid Aziz. The newspaper story has claimed that it had obtained the copy of a letter along with the tapes sent by an officer of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) to the President of Pakistan on Jan 29, 2001. The newspaper said that on being approached Justice Qayyum said he could not remember the conversations recorded by the IB. "I don't recall any such calls," he said. "I don't know anything about it."

Abdur Rahim, a deputy director in the IB, who said he was told to monitor the office, home and mobile phones of Justice Qayyum at the very start of the Cotecna case, has explained, according to Sunday Times story, that following a crisis of conscience, he had decided to send an affidavit and hour-long tape to the President, with copies to Gen Pervez Musharraf, the chief justice and others. The bugging allegedly disclosed that the former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, was intent on securing Benazir Bhutto's conviction at any cost. Rahim is quoted to have said in his letter to the President that during the process he was astonished that the judge was being dictated to obtain a judgment of their choice against Benazir Bhutto and Asif Zardari by Khalid Anwer, Saifur Rehman and Justice Rashid Aziz. All the three men, Rahim alleged, were acting on the orders of Nawaz Sharif and the tapes allegedly showed that the judge was threatened with removal if he did not agree to conclude the trial quickly. According to Sunday Times Rahim was presently outside Pakistan and has appealed to the President for protection, saying he feared for his life and for his family. The tape transcript reproduced by the newspaper shows that Justice Qayyum even asked Saifur Rehman for advice on the sentence. "Now you tell me how much punishment do you want me to give her?" REFERENCE: UK paper's report on Benazir's conviction M Ziauddin DAWN WIRE SERVICE Week Ending: 10 February 2001 Issue:07/06 http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/2001/feb1001.html#ukpa

WHAT the publication of the Hamoodur Rahman Report did for the army, the Justice Qayyum tapes as revealed by the Sunday Times have done for the higher judiciary. We had a fair suspicion of what the Eastern Command did in 1971 but the message was really brought home by the details in the Hamood Report. So too with the judiciary. We all knew such things went on. But for the cameras to catch a revealing episode: this is the value of the Qayyum tapes. The light they cast throws in sharp relief the judiciary's feet of clay. Are the tapes genuine or doctored? There shouldn't be any doubts on this score because authenticity is writ large over them down to His Lordship Justice Malik Qayyum addressing Khalid Anwer, Nawaz Sharif's then lord chancellor, as "sir" and declaring himself to be his servant (khadim). Read the lines carefully. The tone and inflection are genuinely Pakistani. No one, not even a Booker Prize author, could have invented them. Need we be surprised by the audacity of the interference and the readiness of Justice Qayyum to oblige his interlocutors? Not really. Prolonged authoritarianism has taken its toll, even on judges sworn to uphold the cause of truth and justice. After all who appoints judges? The executive, acting in all cases through the law minister. Security of tenure (as in established democracies) encourages independence. Insecurity breeds pliant and sycophantic behaviour. It's nothing more complicated than this.

When Zia promulgated his Provisional Constitution Order in March 1981 some judges were asked to take the oath while others were dropped. The same happened with Gen Musharraf's PCO in 2000. A few judges were again quietly dropped. Civilian rulers have treated the judiciary no better, each one of them seeking pliant judges. Judges too have demeaned themselves by seeking small favours. Such a state of affairs hardly encourages independent behaviour. As for high court judges, the years have dealt more harshly with them. Although still attended with outward pomp, it does not stretch belief to imagine them sirring the lord chancellor of the day. For far too long has the judiciary sought refuge behind a narrow interpretation of the law of contempt. But the old barriers have broken down. Just as repeated military interventions have demystified the military, repeated invocations of the doctrine of necessity have damaged the judiciary. The ISI no longer commands the awe it once did. A similar fate has befallen the other holy cows whose shadow once fell on the county.

With regard to Justice Qayyum, moreover, these subtle considerations in any event do not apply. In the sacred precincts of the Lahore High Court he has enjoyed a special standing because of his identification with the personal problems of the Sharif dynasty. Anything affecting the family's interests has come to him for adjudication, almost as if he alone possessed the requisite delicacy to handle these matters. The division of the family's assets between its contending factions, cases involving the family's huge bank loans, and even the banking loans of Nawaz Sharif's principal errand boy, Saifur Rehman, were all attracted, as if by a powerful magnet, to Justice Qayyum's court and no other. This no doubt was the preferred style of the Sharifs, not only fashioning a personalized administration, with loyalists at key positions, but also arranging for a personalized form of justice. When their name was involved in the cooperatives' scandal of 1991, the Supreme Court judge selected to hold a judicial inquiry into the affair was Justice Lone who exonerated the Sharifs of any wrongdoing. Later, during Nawaz Sharif's second stint as prime minister, Lone became a PML senator.

Justice Qayyum (whose brother, incidentally, was a PML MNA) is a throwback to those interesting times. Small wonder if it was he who was chosen to be Benazir Bhutto's and Asif Zardari's principal nemesis. All the important cases against them were heard by him. To Justice Qayyum also belongs the triumph of reducing Benazir Bhutto to tears in open court, so zealous was he in the pursuit of justice. All this forms the backdrop to the tapes revealed by the Sunday Times. Justice Qayyum had been hand-picked to hear the cases against Benazir Bhutto because, as the contents of the tapes make clear, he was considered a loyalist who could be counted upon to do what was expected of him. And yet Nawaz Sharif not only kept the pressure on Justice Qayyum through Khalid Anwer and Saifur Rehman. He also ordered all of Justice Qayyum's telephones to be bugged, probably just to make sure that his zeal did not flag.

In this saga the then chief justice of the Lahore High Court, Justice Rashid Aziz, also makes a cameo appearance. He too carried word from the prime minister that the axe should fall swiftly on Benazir. What did Nawaz Sharif want? He had everything going for him. Benazir was no threat and wanted merely to be left alone. Why this obsession with vengeance? Benazir and Asif were no angels (we can say that again) but in having them prosecuted Nawaz Sharif was not seeking justice. He was pursuing a vendetta (just as Benazir was pursuing a vendetta when she had the Sharifs in the dock). None of the above, however, is surprising: not the fact that Justice Qayyum listened to Khalid Anwer and called him sir; not the fact that Saifur Rehman was acting as the prime minister's errand boy, after all this being one of his duties; not even Chief Justice Rashid Aziz's brief appearance. By Pakistani standards all this is fairly tame stuff. What I find surprising, although hardly distressing, is to see Khalid Anwer, erudition and all, to be performing the role of prime ministerial pressure-boy. Why did he have to do it? Hanging on to office (and worthless office at that) when Nawaz Sharif was having the 13th and 14th amendments raced through a pliant Parliament was bad enough. But holding a clock to Justice Qayyum's head and urging him, at the prime minister's bidding, to dispense justice fast is a reflection less on the hapless Justice Qayyum than on the learned Khalid Anwer.

Peter Mandelson is out of office in the UK on the basis of what to Pakistani ears would sound a quibble. Over here Khalid Anwer, who can quote Cicero and I daresay Demosthenes, is engaged in something far more serious and when caught out, takes refuge behind a lapse of memory. He does not remember having had such a conversation. Then goes on to say that even if such a conversation took place all he is alleged to have said is that the case should be disposed off quickly, which suggestion on his part was strictly in accordance with the requirements of the law. It is hard to say which is worse: the original sin or this prevarication? Anyhow, there is nothing in this whole affair which would really startle anyone even remotely familiar with the nexus between the judiciary and the founts of executive authority in Pakistan. The Nusrat Bhutto case which enshrined once again the doctrine of necessity; the hanging of Bhutto; the various judicial decisions validating Benazir Bhutto's dismissals from power; the one decision invalidating Nawaz Sharif's dismissal from power; the judges' revolt against Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah; the Supreme Court's inability to give any clear-cut verdict in the Supreme Court storming case (in which PML storm-troopers were involved); and the readiness of judges to abide by various provisional constitutional orders: these events do not constitute the judiciary's finest moments.

None of this makes the judiciary any worse than other institutions. It only goes to show that in the Turkish bath of Pakistani politics everyone is naked, including, let me say for the record, the press which too often has taken a self-serving view of where its true duty lies. In this humid arena there are no heroes, nor even any outstanding villains, great villainy requiring some qualities of head or heart. Read the transcripts of these conversations again and what comes across most strikingly is the mediocrity on display. Despotism being put to what uses? So much effort being expended to what end? REFERENCE: In this hammaam who is covered? Ayaz Amir DAWN WIRE SERVICE Week Ending: 10 February 2001 Issue : 07/06 http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/2001/feb1001.html#inth

IN a country that has witnessed so many political, financial and judicial scandals over the years, we ought to have become fairly shockproof by now. But as the recently published transcripts of the taped conversations between Justice Qayyum, ex-Law Minister Khalid Anwar and Nawaz Sharif's chief enforcer Saifur Rehman showed, there are some depths of depravity we had still not explored. The pressure applied by various powerful figures in Nawaz Sharif's government on the judge in the corruption case against Benazir Bhutto and her spouse is scarcely believable. In most countries, resignations would have been tendered, warrants of arrest issued and suo motu notice taken by the Supreme Court. Here, hardened as we are to the sight of the higher judiciary constantly bending to the will of the executive, all we are likely to see are a few editorials and articles plus a couple of weak denials by the actors in this new drama, and we will then sit back and wait for the next episode.

In his evasive defence, Khalid Anwer, once respected as an upright constitutional lawyer, said: "...I am alleged merely to have asked that the case be decided expeditiously in accordance with the provisions of the law." In the transcript, however, there is more than a hint of steel in the ex-law minister's words: "...But the gentleman [Nawaz Sharif] is very unhappy, because of the situation. There was discussion regarding this issue and I was wondering that a problem might arise. Now I am thinking if you could reach the final result within the outside limit of two weeks..."

In his letter to the president (said not to be received in the Presidency, but reproduced in The Sunday Times), Abdul Malik, the deputy director of the Intelligence Bureau, who had been given the task of bugging the High Court judge, has quoted from his tapes, and alleged that Justice Qayyum had discussed the sentence to be passed and confirmed that the judgment had been written before the defence had even concluded its arguments. Most Pakistanis would be ready to believe that this is not the first instance of blatant interference by the executive to obtain favourable judgments. However, reading the alleged words of those then in power reminds us yet again how precious a thing judicial independence is, and how its absence has shaped our tortured political history. Predictably, there have been proforma denials of varying degrees of conviction from Justice Qayyum and Khalid Anwar. Both claim to have no memory of any such conversations. However, the genuineness of the tapes can be easily established: everybody's voice has a specific and unique audio signature, and it would be a simple matter to compare the voice prints of the principal actors with the tapes made by the IB. Although tapes on their own are not normally accepted as evidence in our judicial system, the Supreme Court could order such a comparison given the magnitude of the can of worms opened under its nose.

Khalid Anwar has sought to cast doubt on the IB deputy director's motives by saying that if he had the tapes for two years, why has he chosen to release the tapes to the media now, merely three weeks before the Supreme Court is due to take up Benazir Bhutto's appeal against Justice Qayyum's judgment? She and Asif Zardari had been awarded seven-year jail terms each plus a huge monetary fine, including confiscation of their property in Pakistan. In his letter to the president, Abdul Malik has claimed that his conscience was shaken by the events he has described. Unfortunately, we have become too cynical to accept a "crisis of conscience" as a reason to stick one's neck out over anything. And the timing of this bombshell is too close to the hearing of the appeal to be entirely coincidental. In the murky world of Pakistani politics, we have to stir the muck below the surface in an attempt to get at the truth. Apparently, Malik and his family are currently abroad to escape official or political reprisals. Now flying off and living abroad takes a fair amount of money, and a deputy director in the IB is by no means well off.

One possibility is that the PPP discovered the existence of these tapes, and persuaded Malik to transcribe them and leak them to the press. In this scenario, he would have been promised a comfortable exile until the party returned to power and rewarded him suitably. However, knowing the PPP's unerring instinct to trip over its own feet, one feels the whole thing is too complex and subtle for the party's capability; indeed, it has all the hallmarks of an intelligence operation. Just supposing that with Nawaz Sharif out of the way and elections due next year, it had been decided at the highest level to do a deal with Benazir Bhutto to enable her to return to power. The first step needed would be to rehabilitate the ex-PM, and lift the ban restraining her from holding public office for ten years imposed by Justice Qayyum. This could be done by giving Benazir Bhutto's appeal before the Supreme Court greater substance. If the tapes are found to be genuine - and the Sunday Times would have been unlikely to print the transcripts if they had any doubts on this score - then a verdict of mistrial could well be the outcome.

Whatever the truth, Benazir Bhutto's claim to be a victim of a vindictive Nawaz Sharif and a pliant judiciary has been vindicated. Most of her supporters are hardly likely to make the distinction between the accuracy of evidence provided before the court and the judge's rush to pass a verdict under pressure. In the case in question, a wealth of documentary evidence, duly certified by a Swiss judge, was produced by the prosecution to link Benazir Bhutto and her spouse to kickbacks paid by the Swiss inspection company Cotecna. Had Nawaz Sharif not been in such a hurry to get a conviction, chances are that the judge would have reached the same verdict. As it is, the sudden appearance of the tapes has cast a doubt on the entire trial. Basically, Sharif's impatience with procedures and due process has proved to be a boon to his rival.

This can only be good news for Benazir Bhutto and her party. Suddenly, she has been rehabilitated in her supporters' eyes. Even non-partisan Pakistanis are beginning to doubt the validity of the charges against her. The biggest loser is the judiciary as public confidence in this crucial institution - never very high - has now hit rock-bottom. All eyes will now be fixed on the Supreme Court when it begins to consider Ms Bhutto's appeal later this month. REFERENCE: Rush to judgment Irfan Husain DAWN WIRE SERVICE Week Ending:10 February 2001 Issue : 07/06 http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/2001/feb1001.html#rush

Arshad Sharif Exposes Swiss Case of Asif Ali Zardari - 3 (KYUN Duniya News 13 Feb 2012)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aji-kbaDyOQ

Mr Khalid Anwer is a renowned 'Lawyer' and as per his Legal Firm Profile " Khalid Anwer & Co. is a premier law firm having a total strength of eleven lawyers in Karachi and associate firms in Lahore and Islamabad. It was formerly known as A.K. Brohi & Co. It is one of the oldest and most prestigious law firms in Pakistan." Everybody who know Pakistan History also know that "The Law of Necessity" was basically the brainchild of Late. A.K. Brohi who used this at the behest of General Zia/Jamat-e-Islami to commit the judicial murder of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

Once again it is proven beyond doubt that Human Memory is very weak particularly of Jang Group/Kamran Khan when they discuss PPP/NRO/Zardari and that's what happen during a talk show on NRO with Legal Wizzard Mr Khalid Anwer

RAWALPINDI: Any case can be initiated against President Zardari under Section 4 of Article 248 of the Constitution, but neither the Supreme Court has mentioned it nor the media discussed it, said former Law Minister and constitutional expert Khalid Anwar on Wednesday. He was talking to Kamran Khan in Geo News programme 'Aaj Kamran Khan Kay saath'. He said there should be no doubt that the Supreme Court's decisions should be implemented. He said the government made a mistake by not implementing the short order of the SC. Now the apex court can take a suo moto notice on why the government didn't act as the short order was announced a month earlier. Khalid Anwar said under the Constitution, the Supreme Court cannot issue notice to the president of Pakistan, but it can order the government to get the court verdict implemented. On this the government would apply in the court that the president has got immunity under the constitution, and the SC can issue a stay order in this regard after receiving the government's application to review the decision. On this application the court will decide whether the president has got the immunity or not. REFERENCE: Any case can be filed against Zardari, says Khalid Anwar Thursday, January 21, 2010 News Desk http://thenews.jang.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=26800

Thursday, January 28, 2010, Safar 12, 1431 A.H
http://www.jang.com.pk/jang/jan2010-daily/28-01-2010/main3.htm

Mr Kamran Khan/Jang Group/GEO TV/Mr. Khalid Anwer "conveniently" forget as to what the same Jang Group had published 9 years ago on the "Dirty Role of Barrister Mr. Khalid Anwer" and that news was published on 05-02-2001 on its front page.

"QUOTE"

LONDON: The ``Sunday Times`` has published transcripts of conversations in 1999 between top minions of the Nawaz Sharif government and a High Court judge hearing the case of PPP leader Benazir Bhutto, bugged by an intelligence official who later fled Pakistan with the tapes. The disclosure came from a senior Pakistani intelligence officer who has said in a letter to the president, obtained by The Sunday Times, that he was told to bug the Justice Abdul Qayyum`s phones. The bugging allegedly revealed that Nawaz Sharif, the former prime minister, was intent on securing Bhutto`s conviction at any cost.

In Pakistan Justice Qayyum challenged the veracity of the tapes saying they could have been concocted or doctored. He refused to comment on the merits of the case as it was being heard by the Supreme Court but said he gave all decisions according to the dictates of his conscience and the requirements of the law. By coincidence, the judge who sentenced him to hang was Qayyum`s father. Since she left Pakistan the government of Musharraf has intensified efforts to track assets Bhutto is suspected of having acquired illegally. Many were received by Zardari, who is in prison.

Transcript (I)

PA to Khalid Anwar: Is Justice Qayyum at Home?

Girl: Who is going to talk?

PA to Khalid Anwar: Khalid Anwar - the federal law minister - would like to talk.

Girl: Please hold on

Justice Qayyum: Hello!

PA: Please hold I`ll connect you with Khalid Anwar.

Khalid Anwar: Asalam-o-Alaikum

Qayyum: Salam-o-Alaikum, how are you sir.

Khalid Anwar: I rang you earlier but you were not at home. Where are you now?

Qayyum: I am in Lahore at the moment

Khalid Anwar: Frankly speaking, I have to discuss two, three issues which

Saif has discussed with me.

Qayyum: Who did?

Khalid Anwar: Saif Sahib has. I can`t talk clearly but in my opinion you would understand it. The fact is that I really respect you and also Saif Sahib does.

Qayyum: Yes, it is all right.

Khalid Anwar: Somebody [Nawaz Sharif]is unhappy over the delay of hearing of his case to Saif that nothing has been done so far and why has it not been concluded. In return Saif defended you and said there is no such delay. There should be no misunderstanding because he is trying his level best. But the gentleman [Nawaz Sharif] is very unhappy, because of the situation. There was discussion regarding this issue and I was wondering that a problem might arise. Now I am thinking if you could reach the final result within the outside limit of two weeks.

Qayyum: Apparently there is no problem we will have to complete the procedure. Cross-examination has been completed entirely. Now their statement under 432 has to be recorded.

Khalid Anwar: So get it done on Monday.

Qayyum: It is being done on Monday. After this we have to give them some time for defence evidence and then the matter will be closed.

Khalid Anwar: What we should do is to start the hearing day to day.

Qayyum: We were hearing it day to day but they have requested for two days time, as there are 356 documents. Now you tell me when we will have to fix the date for defence evidence, some time will be required.

Khalid Anwar: If you are giving them two days so after that you should proceed without any break and stay in Islamabad for the full week instead of two days so that this case is completed within two weeks.

Qayyum: I have been there nearly every day of the last two week.

Khalid: You should just take up this case for the whole week.

Qayyum: I am doing nothing else.

Khalid: I am the one who keeps on asking you all the time and by the Grace of God you have done a good job in banking cases. Whenever I meet the World Bank people you are... Last time you sent me a fax. I was in meeting so I showed it to everybody and said this is what you call performance.

Qayyum: Regarding this, when I come this time , I shall meet and tell you. Our Chief Justice is already there. I also told him that a slight delay is inevitable. For, example, if you ask them for defence evidence, then you will have to give them time, you just cannot say bring that tommorow.

Khalid: Kindly try that the work is done. And next time you call me so that we can have a quiet cup of tea.

Qayyum: I shall definately do it. But I had to tell that the others like me are nowhere close to me.

Khalid: I know how much I respect you.

Qayyum: By the Grace of God we shall conclude this very soon.

Khalid: Kindly do it because from reading between the lines I could gather that there is a lot of pressure on Saif.

Qayyum: No, no... I shall definitely do it.

Khalid: Thank you.

Qayyum: No, sir, I am at your disposal.

Khalid: Allah Hafiz

Qayyum: Thank you sir.

Transcript (II)

Saif-ur-Rehman and Justice Qayyum:

Saif: Aslam-o-Alaikum sir

Qayyum: Same to you. REFERENCE: `Nawaz put pressure to convict Benazir` By our correspondenthttp://www.chowk.com/interacts/4959

"UNQUOTE"

"QUOTE"

"Ms Bhutto won a major court battle when a seven-member Supreme Court bench upheld her appeal, suspending the five-year jail sentence awarded to Bhutto and Zardari, and ordered a fresh trial into the Cotecna bribery case. The couple was accused of accepting millions of dollars in kickbacks from a Swiss firm. In addition to the jail sentence, the special accountability court headed by Justice Malik Abdul Qayyum had fined them 8.6 million dollars each and disqualified them from public office for five years. The Supreme Court ruling overturning the sentence did not come as a surprise after it was established that trial by the accountability court was manipulated. Bhutto's legal position was strengthened after the disclosure of a taped conversation between Justice Abdul Qayyum and Saifur Rehman, chief of Mr. Sharif's accountability cell. The sensational disclosure of 32 tapes which revealed that the judge was pressured to convict the former prime minister and her husband, left the superior court with no choice but to overturn the controversial verdict. However, the retrial order makes it apparent that the bribery charge has not been quashed. REFERENCE: The Judgement and After By Zahid Hussain May 2001 The Newsline [Monthly]http://www.newsline.com.pk/NewsMay2001/coverstory1.htm

"UNQUOTE"

"QUOTE"

The Friday Times, Editorial by Najam Sethi, Feb. 15, 2001 - The Sunday Times of London has recently published a story that damns politicians and state institutions alike in Pakistan. The report suggests that an official of the Intelligence Bureau was ordered in 1998 by the head of the Accountability Bureau, Mr Saif ur Rehman, to tap the telephones of Justice Abdul Qayyum of the Lahore High Court (illegal order by politicians, illegal implementation by IB). The IB official later pocketed the tapes and decamped to London, eventually handing them over to the British newspaper. If true, the conversations between Justice Qayyum and Saif ur Rehman, Khalid Anwar (then law minister), Mrs Abdul Qayyum and others are fascinating because they reveal the political bankruptcy of the system and those who are elected or nominated to make it work. The tapes suggest that Justice Qayyum was bullied by the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his minions into convicting former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and her spouse Asif Zardari for corruption in 1998. This means that - irrespective of the substantial evidence laid against the two accused - the trial wasn`t conducted entirely in a free or fair manner as required by law. Ms Bhutto shrieked as much during and after the trial but critics, including TFT, dismissed her allegations against Justice Qayyum as inconceivable. Hence when the review petition comes up for hearing before the Supreme Court on February 26, the court will be hard put to choose between acquitting the couple or ordering a fresh trial. If it clings to a third option - upholding the verdict - it risks being tarred by the same brush.

The role played by each of the actors merits comment. Nawaz Sharif ordered Saif ur Rehman to bug the judge and Mr Rehman had no qualms in barking compliance to the head of the IB who did likewise to his subordinate staff. Everyone acted illegally down the chain of command. Mr Rehman, in particular, stands out like a sore thumb. He is earlier known to have boasted that the ``judges were in his pocket``. Apparently, Mr Sharif also leaned on the then chief justice of the Lahore High Court, Justice Rashid Aziz, to advise Justice Qayyum to do the needful or else. The Supreme Judicial Council needs to take a careful look at this allegation.

The law minister, Khalid Anwar, acted in a deplorable manner. What is wrong with asking a judge to hurry up, he asks. Nothing, if this is done in open court and in a transparent fashion. But it is immoral it if it is done amidst dire threats brandished by officials at the Prime Minister`s behest. Mr Anwar also claims that his government never authorised the IB to wire-tap the judges. Nonsense, says former chief justice Sajjad Ali Shah, who reports that when a bug was discovered on his phone, Mr Anwar advised him not to make an issue of it. We might also recall that this is the same gent who, as President Farooq Leghari`s council in 1996-97 in the Bhutto dismissal case before the Supreme Court, cited phone tapping of judges by the Bhutto regime as a major justification for her government`s ouster. Finally, there is the judge in the dock. By all accounts, a most competent and learned man, indeed one on whom undue reliance has been thrust by politicians and judges alike in politically sensitive or legally complex cases. But the tapes have compromised his position. He could try and ride out the vicious gossip or he could call it a day and quietly fade away. If he chooses the first route, the law would require him to face the Supreme Judicial Council and explain his situation.

One last matter. The timing of the revelations - just before the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear Benazir Bhutto`s review petition - and the dubious role of the IB Deputy Director (how has he suddenly acquired a conscience?) is thought to cast doubts about the veracity of the tapes and the allegations flowing from them. Not so. The tapes are authentic enough. If they weren`t, every one of the alleged culprits would have tripped over the others to sue the Sunday Times for millions of pounds in criminal defamation and the judges involved would have hauled up everyone in sight for gross contempt of court. Nor should it matter whether the spook in question received a hefty cheque or a promise of some lucrative posting in the future for allowing his conscience to get the better of him. The fact is that Ms Bhutto has cunningly exploited the counter-evidence at her disposal for maximum effect like a true politician who may be down but refuses to be out. This case could have far-reaching repercussions. It might give Ms Bhutto a new lease of life. It might stiffen the resolve of lawyers and politicians to agitate for democratic revival and accountability. And it might embolden the judiciary to redeem itself by standing up a little bit to the government. REFERENCE: Democracy in Pakistan: The Missing Link? The Friday Times, Editorial by Najam Sethi, Feb. 15, 2001http://www.chowk.com/interacts/4948/1/0/a

"UNQUOTE"

EVEN MORE DIRT FROM MR KHALID ANWER'S EXCELLENT LEGAL HISTORY

LETS HAVE LOOK AT HISTORY AS COMPILED BY MR. ABDUS SATTAR GHAZALI On the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of Pakistan, ISLAMIC PAKISTAN: ILLUSIONS & REALITY A comprehensive and detailed political history of Pakistan - The author is a professional journalist, with Master's degree in Political Science from the Punjab University. Started his journalistic career as a sub-editor in the daily Bang-e-Haram, Peshawar in 1960. Later worked in the daily Anjam and the Tourist weekly Peshawar. Served as a News Editor in the Daily News, Kuwait from 1969 to 1976. Joined the English News Department of Kuwait Television as a News Editor in December 1976. Also worked as the correspondent of the Associated Press of Pakistan and the Daily Dawn, Karachi, in Kuwait. At present working as the Editor-in-Chief of the Kuwait Television English News.

Excerpts from the book:

"QUOTE"

NEW LAW TO CURB PRESS FREEDOM

Less than one month after taking power, the government of Nawaz Sharif, on March 10, issued "the Registration of Printing Press and Publication Ordinance, 1997" to curb the press and freedom of expression. Article 29 authorizes magistrates and low-ranking police sub-inspectors to interfere in the working of the Press and to initiate executive actions including the forfeiture of newspaper copies without the process of judicial review and restraint.

The ordinance says that the copies of newspapers or books can be forfeited if they publish any material which tend to incite willful obstruction to public servants or servants of local authorities in the discharges of their public duties. Any police officer or any other person empowered to seize and destroy the newspaper or magazine or book can do so after showing warrants issued by any first call or sub-divisional magistrate or any authorized police officer.

The ordinance also bars the newspapers from publishing any account of the proceedings of the National Assembly or the Senate or a provincial assembly if such account contains any matter which is not part of the proceedings of such an assembly and which is prejudicial to the maintenance of public order or is opposed to morality, or amounts to contempt of court, defamation or incitement for the commission of an offence.

The government has also been authorized to forfeit the copies of a newspaper if it contains any material which can incite to the commission of an offence or violence or amounts to false rumors, is critical of the creation of Pakistan, brings into hatred or contempt the government established under the law with the intent of causing defiance of the authority of such government.

The 13th Constitutional Amendment

At midnight on April 2, 1997, all rules and procedures of the parliament were suspended and in the middle of the night, the 13th amendment Bill was rushed through both houses, signed by the president the next day, and notified on April 4. By this amendment, the president was disempowered and the Prime Minister further empowered. The President cannot dissolve the National Assembly, he cannot appoint governors at his discretion but on the advice of the prime minister, the provincial governors cannot dissolve their assemblies, the president, though he remains supreme commander of the Armed Forces, no longer has the power to appoint or sack the services chiefs.

Rules dictate that a constitutional amendment is an extraordinary measure involving a great deal of deliberation on the part of the ruling party, consultation with the opposition, and an objective study of public opinion on the subject. Thereafter, according to the rules of procedure governing parliamentary proceedings under the 1973 constitution, a bill (other than a finance bill) upon its introduction in the House stands referred to the relevant standing committee, unless the requirements of Rules 91 and 92 are dispensed with by the House on a motion by the member-in charge. The standing committee is required to present its report within 30 days and, on receipt of this report, copies of the bill as introduced, together with any modifications recommended by the standing committee, must be supplied to each member within seven days. Two clear days then must elapse before the bill can be sent down for a motion under Rule 93.

Ever since Nawaz Sharif assumed power on Feb. 17, he had been apparently not feeling very comfortable with several developments. President Leghari forced him to give PML ticket for the Senate elections to his cousin, Mansour Leghari, who had contested the National Assembly on a PPP ticket and was defeated. The President appointed Hamid Shahid as the Governor of Punjab against the wishes of his brother Shahbaz Sharif, who happened to be the Chief Minister of the province. Gen. Moinuddin Haider was appointed the Governor of Sindh against the wishes of PML and MQM. The president was also reluctant to replace the Governor of Baluchistan, General Imaraullah Khan. At a parliamentary meeting PML MNAs demanded repeal of the 8th amendment in order to get rid of the presidential interference in day-to-day affairs of the government.

The 8th amendment had made more than 40 changes in the constitution. However, Nawaz Sharif opted to remove only those parts of the 8th amendment which were a potential threat to his government but has failed to touch those parts which pose a threat to society, particularly the weaker and disadvantaged sections like women and minorities. There are several constitutional and legal distortions created by the 8th amendment and several black laws, such as the Hudood Ordinances, under its protection which need to be removed. Thousands of innocent women are languishing in jails under the notorious Hudood laws. Some other article which deserve immediate attention and action by the parliament are:

1. Article 51(1) that was amended to establish separate electorate for minorities.

2. Article 51 (2)b that was amended to increase the age-limit for votes from 18 to 21 years.

3. Article 51(4) that abolished the reserved seats for women in the National Assembly.

The 14th Constitutional Amendment

Less than three months after this transgression, on June 30, in the Senate, the rules of procedure were again suspended, the 14th Amendment Bill went through like a shot, passed in less than a day, without one single protest or dissent being recorded. On July 1, the bill was presented to the National Assembly, again rules of procedure were suspended, and the bill was passed immediately, again without a single protest or dissent. It went up to the president, on July 3 he put his signature to the bill, and on July 4 the 14th Amendment Act of 1997 came into force.

This amendment admittedly has the aim of putting an end to lucrative defections. But 'lotaism' only existed because all our political parties were in the business of buying and selling bodies. However, that was not deemed to be sufficient. The Prime Minister had to be further empowered, and so he was. A member of a parliamentary party will also be deemed to have defected if he breaches any declared or undeclared party discipline, code of conduct or policies, or if he votes contrary to any direction issued by his parliamentary party, or if he abstains from voting as instructed by his party on any bill. The prosecutor, defense counsel, judge and jury who will decide the member's fate is the head of the party, whose decision is not justifiable in any court of law.

Ehtesab (Accountability) Law

The National Assembly, on May 29, 1997, amended the Ehtesab Ordinance to introduce major changes in the accountability process. The most significant amendment was the shifting of the starting date for accountability from the original 31st December 1985 (when General Zia lifted the martial law) to 6th August 1990 (when the first government of Benazir Bhutto was dismissed). The amendment also transferred the power of investigating charges of corruption from the Chief Ehtesab Commissioner to the Ehtesab Cell set up by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. "The Ehtesab Bill steam-rolled through the National Assembly makes a mockery of accountability. The amendments incorporated in the bill before it was presented in parliament for adoption render it an extremely flawed piece of legislation." (1)

BBC Documentary on Nawaz Sharif (PML - N) Corruption

Although the amendment excluded the first Benazir government from the purview of accountability but the exemption for the 1985-90 period is significant since it was during this period that Mr. Nawaz Sharif, in his capacity as the Chief Minister of the Punjab, was strengthening and consolidating his industrial and political base. At the time of passage of the Ehtesab Law, there were reports that there were 167 cases of major loan default which include 107 cases involving top leaders of the PML(N) who got the benefit of huge write-offs and rescheduling during 1985-1990.

The transfer of the power of appointment of the Chief Ehtesab Commissioner from the president to the federal government reduced the office of the CEC to a mere post office. The real power was transferred to the accountability cell in the Prime Minister's secretariat. The head of the Cell, Senator Saifur Rehman Khan, was accountable only to the PM. The amendment also extends ex post facto legal sanction to the PM's accountability cell, which was under attack in a number of writ petitions in the Lahore High Court.

The original ordinance had empowered the CEC to initiate a case on a reference received from the appropriate government, on receipt of a complaint or on his own accord. Under the new amended law, if the CEC deems a reference necessary, he must refer it to the accountability cell for investigation. With all the accountability functions and powers concentrated in a cell functioning in his secretariat, the prime minister will be able to keep a strict check not only on the opposition and the bureaucracy but on his own party-men also.

Ehtesab officials get SHO's power

The federal government, on Feb. 4 1998, amended the Ehtesab Act, replacing the name, "Ehtesab Cell", with "Ehtesab Bureau", and provided powers of an SHO to the chief of Ehtesab Bureau or any other official designated by him for the purpose of investigation. The amendments were introduced into the Ehtesab Act through a presidential ordinance, the first by President Rafiq Tarar, under clause 1 of Article 87 of the constitution.

The chief of Ehtesab Bureau or any officer designated by him will enjoy all the powers of an officer-in-charge of a police station. The chairman or designated officer will be empowered to require the assistance of any agency or police officer. The amended law provides indemnity to officials of the Ehtesab Bureau on acts deemed to have been done on "good faith".

By amending Section 3 of the Ehtesab Act, the government has again brought in the original definition of "corruption and corrupt practice". In the original Ehtesab Ordinance, corruption by a government official was defined as "favors or disfavors to any person." Through a subsequent amendment in the original Ehtesab Ordinance of 1996, the words "any other person" were replaced with the words "his spouse or dependents." The government has again restored the original meaning that any favor by a government official to other person other than his/her spouse or dependents would also fall in the definition of corruption, and he would be held responsible for that.

A reference made to the Ehtesab Bureau will now be treated as a report under section 154 of the code. After the reference of any case to the Ehtesab Bureau by the Ehtesab Commissioner, it would be an exclusive responsibility of the bureau to examine all the material, evidence and proof. No other agency will have a power to look into the matter. For the purpose of inquiry into any matter referred to the Ehtesab Bureau, the chairman and the bureau will have the powers of an officer in charge of a police station, including the power to ask any citizen to appear before it. Every government agency, police official or any other government official would be bound to assist the Ehestab Bureau in investigation.

After the amendment, the Ehtesab Bureau is also empowered to ask the Chief Ehtesab Commissioner to make a request to any court for the withdrawal of any case pending in a court. If the court grants the application, the case will be transferred to the Ehtesab Bureau.

The Chief Ehtesab Commissioner will have the powers at any stage of proceedings against an accused under the Ehtesab Act, to order the arrest of the accused. A reference to the court by the Chief Ehtesab Commissioner shall contain the substance of the act of corruption and corrupt practice alleged to have been committed by the accused. The amendment has provided a right of appeal to the Chief Ehtesab Commissioner if the Ehtesab bench acquitted any accused. Earlier this right was only with the accused. After the amendment, the Ehtesab Act provides that on the grant of pardon from the CEC, a magistrate appointed by the CEC himself will examine an accused.

What the Bureau now becomes is an independent investigating agency with teeth of its own and therefore not dependent, as it formerly was, upon the powers of the FIA. This may be a sequel to the turf war between Senator Saifur Rehman's Ehtesab machine and Ch. Shujaat Hussain's interior ministry, both of whom were vying for control over the FIA. The first and most striking change of course was to strip the original law of its neutrality and place the powers of investigation and prosecution firmly in the Prime Minister's Secretariat.

In Pakistan, the word 'accountability' has only one meaning: to malign and persecute political opponents. Glimpses of the full story can be culled from the report of the Mehran Bank commission along with the evidence provided by General Asad Durrani and Hameed Asghar Qidwai, as well as the jailed chief executive of the failed bank, Yunus Habib. (2)

Several references have been filed against the former Prime Minister and her husband but they are still far from having run their full course. The rest of the Ehtesab Bureau's record is even more patchy. The 87 senior bureaucrats suspended hastily amidst a blaze of publicity have still to see any firm action taken against them. Indeed, some of the more notorious faces in this crowd have either been let off completely or have been allowed to go abroad. Meanwhile, the list of bank defaulters is as long and potent as ever with hardly anything having been returned to the public purse. (3)

The annual 1997 Human Rights Report of US State Department said the Accountability Commission, established by the caretaker government and headed by a retired judge, had been overshadowed by an "accountability cell," headed by a close associate of the Prime Minister. This cell had been accused of conducting politically motivated investigations of politicians, senior civil servants, and business figures, designed to extract evidence and, in some cases, televised confessions of alleged wrongdoers. The report gave the examples of televised confessions extracted from Salman Farooqi, secretary of commerce under Benazir Bhutto; Ahmed Sadiq, Benazir Bhutto's principal secretary; and Zafar Iqbal, chairman of the Capital Development Authority. It said most politicians and bureaucrats, who had been charged with corruption or other crimes, were out on bail (in addition to murder, Benazir Bhutto's husband, Asif Zardari, had also been charged with corruption).

Anti-terrorism Act or a license to kill?

On August 13, one day before the nation celebrated 50th anniversary of its independence, the Anti-Terrorism Act was bulldozed through parliament without so much as a debate. The Act has justifiably been criticized by almost across the board, even from within the ranks of the ruling party and its coalition allies. Yet on the day that it was introduced in parliament, the ATA was endorsed within three hours. Its numerous critics maintained that the ATA turns the country into a police state and it violates the constitution. The ATA, in effect, gives the law enforcing agencies and army a license to kill as it empowers the police to kill a person on mere suspicion. It also empowers the police to search a house and arrest a person without warrant.

The ATA provides an appeal against the special court judgement to a government-notified tribunal consisting of two High Court judges. The High Court has now power of appeal against the special court decision. A person accused under the ATA cannot be freed on bail even by the High Court.

The judiciary also opposed the ATA and many feared that the law would be grossly abused. Punjab Chief Minister, Shahbaz Sharif, failed to convince Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, on August 20, of the need to establish special courts under the ATA. The bar associations also condemned the law.

Adding to the credibility problem of the anti-terrorism law was the attitude of law minister Khalid Anwer who first surprised his colleagues by allowing the government to push through this piece of dubious legislation. Khalid Anwer then proceeded to distance himself from the ATA a few days after it was enacted. He even went so far as to declare that he would have opposed the law, had he been in the opposition. This was then followed by the claim that the law would be phased out once the situation was under control.

Six special courts started work in the Punjab province on August 25 while the special courts were established in the Sindh province on August 25. The critics fears came true when the police started sending cases to special speedy trial courts set up under the ATA. The Punjab Forensic Science Laboratory was reported under pressure from the government to issue 'positive results' about weapons used in cases being tried by the special courts set up under the ATA.

According to a press report (4) weapons used in more than 1,000 cases were sent to the Punjab Forensic Science Laboratory to ascertain whether or not they were used by the accused during the terrorist or sectarian act for which he was being tried. Interestingly, all the weapons tested positive with the experts, providing sufficient evidence for the prosecution to obtain maximum punishment for the accused.

These reports formed part of the evidence against the accused and on its basis as many as 55 people have been sentenced to death, including three sectarian accused. Some 32 people have been sentenced to life imprisonment or for seven years rigorous imprisonment.

Following the establishment of anti-terrorist courts police started sending cases of sectarian and terrorist incidents to these courts for speedy adjudication. However, in a majority of cases sufficient evidence was not available to establish the guilt of the accused and the government feared that the courts might acquit them.

The officials of the Forensic Science Laboratory were reportedly directed by the government to issue 'positive results' in all cases involving sectarian incidents. After every incident police collected shells of the weapons from the scene of crime. Whenever an accused was arrested, police claimed having recovered automatic weapons from his custody. In some cases the bullet shells collected from a crime scene years ago matched with the weapons recovered from the accused on arrest. It was ironic that some officials insist on matching the shells recovered from a scene of crime in 1990 with that of a weapon recovered from the custody of the accused in 1997. (5)

1997 Constitutional Crisis

The crisis with judiciary began in August 1997 when the chief justice recommended elevation of five named judges to the Supreme Court. On Sept. 5, the Supreme Court suspended a government notification to reduce the number of judges from 17 to 12. The federal government, on Sept. 16, withdrew its notification. However, from around August 20 up to the middle of October there was practically no other issue in contest -- publicly. And the resistance to the recommendation, in fact not-so veiled refusal to comply with it, was coming from Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif and not the parliament.

Former Chief Justice Supreme Court of Pakistan, Syed Sajjad Ali Shah narrating details as to how Mian Nawaz Sharif and PML - N had attacked the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 1997.

Nawaz Sharif (PML - N) Attacked Supreme Court 1

On October 10, the aggrieved judges took the opportunity of a brief absence of Justice Sajjad from the country to call a full court review under the chairmanship of the acting chief justice. Justice Sajjad returns home in haste on October 13, calls off the full court meeting and transfers all dissident judges to the outposts of the apex court in Quetta, Karachi, Peshawar and Lahore.

Nawaz Sharif (PML - N) Attacked Supreme Court 2

Nawaz Sharif (PML - N) Attacked Supreme Court 3

The breach was now clearly in the open. The resentment of the dissident judges -- respected members of the judiciary -- must have been intense. The Chief Justice was master of the house, but a bitterly divided house. In an unprecedented move, on October 21, five honorable judges of the Supreme Court sent a letter to the President of Pakistan, to complain about the behavior of the Chief Justice of Pakistan and distance themselves from some of his actions. This letter was originally written to the chief justice, and later sent to the president. Never before in Pakistan's history had such an incident occurred.

Nawaz Sharif (PML - N) Attacked Supreme Court 4

Nawaz Sharif (PML - N) Attacked Supreme Court 5

On November 3, a petition of contempt of court is entertained by the CJ against the PM and his close associates. A charged atmosphere was super-charged by summoning the PM to appear in the court on November 17 and demanding the Speaker of the National Assembly to turn over the expunged record of the assembly proceedings. Yet, another breach of the assembly's privilege.

A three-member Supreme Court bench, headed by the then chief justice "directed the president" on Nov 20 not to give assent to the Contempt of Court (Amendment) Bill 1997, as under: "In the circumstances we deem it fit and proper to direct respondent No. 1 (President of Pakistan) in constitutional petition No. 4 43 of 1997 not to give assent, and if assent has already been given the operation of the Contempt of Court (Amendment) Act of 1997 is hereby suspended until further orders." There was no precedent, nor apparent ground in law, for the chief justice to prohibit the president's assent to that bill, and even less to rule the bill suspended if the assent had already been given.

The bill amending the law of contempt was innovative in that it provided for an appeal against a Supreme Court conviction for contempt, for automatic stay of the conviction, and for that appeal to be heard by another set of judges of the same court.

On Nov. 26, the Supreme Court, Quetta Bench, declared Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah's appointment in abeyance and the Prime Minister sends to president the name of the new Chief Justice for approval. This case was the strangest of the strange, indeed, one in which not only the little-known petitioners but even the federation stated that the appointment of Justice Shah by superseding three senior judges was illegal. The next day, a five-member Supreme Court bench annuls Quetta bench's verdict over CJ's suspension while; the Supreme Court Peshawar bench endorses Quetta bench's order.

The ruling political party was not far behind in ugliness when the party's rabble attacked the Supreme Court premises on November 28. It was one of Pakistan's saddest days. There is no doubt the disgraceful attack on the Supreme Court was completely premeditated.

On December 2, by suspending the 13th Amendment in a total arbitrary manner, the stage was set for the dismissal of the government of Nawaz Sharif. The grant of temporary restoration of the presidential power to dissolve the National Assembly (the repealed Article 58(2)b on the ground of a break-down of the constitutional machinery was obviously an act of desperation to prevent a feared collapse. It was virtually the last throw of the dice in a do-or-die game.

After weeks of machinations and Machiavellian scheming aimed at ousting Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from power, the country's partisan president had finally to resign on Dec. 2. Mr. Leghari had never relished the fact that Mr. Nawaz Sharif should have taken away his powers to dismiss the government through the 13th Amendment. In fact, President Leghari and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif both used the Pakistani judiciary to establish their personal authority. In this power game, Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah was very much with Mr. Leghari. But this power struggle could not be carried on because of the effective intervention of the Army Chief, General Jehangir Karamat.

Mr. Leghari apparently had ruthless dictatorial ambitions and was never content with the ceremonial role that he was constitutionally assigned. He dismissed the duly elected government of Ms Benazir Bhutto and came very close to dislodging another. He engineered an unholy alliance with Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah to carry out a constitutional coup and the Chief Justice was a willing ally in the conspiracy to subvert the people's mandate. Chief Justice Shah relentlessly attempted to provide Mr. Leghari the dictatorial powers under the Eighth Amendment to deliver the proverbial coup de grace to the Sharif regime.

Mr. Leghari had never relished the fact that Mr. Nawaz Sharif should have taken away his powers to dismiss the government through the 13th Amendment. In fact, the Pakistani judiciary was used both by Mr. Leghari and Mr. Nawaz Sharif to establish their personal authority. In this power game, Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah was very much with Mr. Leghari. But this power struggle could not be carried on because of the effective intervention of the Army Chief, General Jehangir Karamat.

When Justice Sajjad Ali Shah was removed from the office, on Dec. 2, the crucial issues pending before the Supreme Court were:

1. Contempt of court action against Nawaz Sharif and seven others.

2. Petition regarding the unlawful allotment of thousands of plots by him when chief minister of Punjab.

3. Petition regarding the unlawful ISI distribution of Rs. 140 million of the people's money to him and others.

4. Petition regarding award of wheat transport contract by him to his crony Saeed Shaikh.

5. Petition regarding his misuse of power in pressurizing banks to settle loan cases out of court.

6. Petition challenging his Anti-terrorist Act 1997.

7. Petitions regarding suspension of 13th and 14th Amendments. ]

Judiciary damaged

Victory of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been at the expense of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and indeed superior judiciary as such. The SC judges have not held their image and prestige by becoming controversial. It is a settled principle that no writ will be issued by one judge to another. It was a pathetic spectacle to see two Supreme Court benches suspended the chief justice of their own court while the chief justice retaliated by recommending disciplinary action against all four of five judges involved. Repeatedly, order by one bench was overturned by another. Then political workers invaded the Supreme Court several times and abused the judges and indulging in violence. This was the darkest hour for the judiciary in the country. Gone were the days when it was universally respected as the cleanest and the most upright institution. Both sets of judges have been accused by their detractors of being motivated by personal and other extraneous considerations in their mutual bickering and tussle.

The irony of the crisis was that, eventually, it was not the executive that gave the final and, perhaps, fatal blow to the chief justice. It was his own peers who let him down. The very institution they wished to strengthen fell to the ground by their own actions. No one is left with any doubts that the judges are far from impartial.

The law and its traditions have since long become a fiction in courtrooms. The only difference this time was that the decay in the judiciary unfolded for all to see. The price paid by the superior judiciary is certainly very high. The crisis with judiciary have only served to confirm that, irrespective of how "stubborn" or "vindictive" a chief justice may be, he is no match against a government that excels in the art of wheeling and dealing. (6)

Nawaz Sharif has succeeded in achieving what General Zia set out to do when he was cut short by destiny. In fact, the late dictator could not have hoped for a more competent lieutenant. General Zia had no patience for independent judges and thought nothing of replacing the ones who did not agree with him. Sharif has demonstrated the same tendency and, as in everything else, has surpassed his mentor in achieving his objectives. The judiciary today lies in ruins, devastated by the kind of power politics that was once the domain of political parties. (7)

The repercussions of the rulings given in haste or in anger will long dog the course of justice. During the crisis, the people have seen the Alice in Wonderland spectacle where the judges pass the judgment first and hear the witnesses later. Inevitably the feeling has arisen that the superior courts exist only for the seekers and brokers of power while the ordinary litigants languish into generations before their cases appear on the "cause list" which appeared quickly and abundantly when political power was at stake. (8)

Why the Army did not intervene?

It was apparently failure of the army to sustain the president's position -- the presidents have always depended on the army for their actions against the government -- that President Leghari was forced to resign. Theoretically, in a Westminster-style democracy that this country has tried to emulate, there are four pillars of the state -- the legislature, the executive, the judiciary and the press. But our country rests imbalanced on five. The fifth pillar, the most powerful, the richest, the most organized, is the army which has governed Pakistan for half its 50-year existence. (9)

Fortunately, at present the chances of a direct take-over by the army seem remote because of economic factors and the international environment. There is a renewed emphasis on democracy worldwide in the aftermath of the Cold War and Pakistan cannot be immune to these global trends. Now it will be difficult for the Pakistani armed forces to sell a coup to the world in general and to the United States in particular.

Some political analysts believed that the army simply could not intervene for fear of a division within its own ranks. The army's involving itself in politics, at this stage, would have meant taking sides. Which would have made the army controversial and opinion within the forces would have strongly differed. That threat was all too real as numerous press stories had mentioned it. Therefore the fact that the army did not participate in political matters by siding with the president or anyone else and that he in fact refused to bail out the president and the CJP bespeaks the fear that the leadership had of the consequences of upholding any of them.

Moreover, Mr. Nawaz Sharif was no pushover like Benazir Bhutto was. It could legitimately be foreseen and feared that there would be a backlash in Punjab and the situation may not be easily controllable even by the army. And of course, there was the danger of the army being divided within itself. In fact the limits to army's political power have become visible even to ordinary citizens. (10) However, thanks to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the turn of events - especially those in the third week of November - have, by default, made the army establishment's dream come true: It now has a much greater say in the affairs of the government without its concomitant responsibility.

According to the Washington Post, the army sided with Sharif today by making clear that it would not back President Leghari if he dismissed the prime minister. The Post reported that Leghari had informed the army chief, General Jehangir Karamat, that he intended to dismiss Nawaz Sharif and was drafting an explanatory speech. But General Karamat delivered a message of his own: The army would not back Sharif's ouster, in effect making any such order meaningless. (11)

Looming economic crises in Pakistan prevented the army from taking over control of the country during the current political crisis, according to the Times, London. "In another era the army would have taken over. This time, the looming economic crisis doubtless deterred it from dosing so, given the certainty that international financial institutions would have shunned a nation led by military dictators." The generals were bound to engineer the Prime Minister's survival because the only alternative was martial law, a fact that emboldened Mr. Sharif to take on two such important institutions. (12)

In a comment the New York Times said: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has won a constitutional battle with the president and supreme court chief justice, but he had to get the army's support to prevail. "The army behaved responsibly by insuring the continuation of an elected government. Still, it is discouraging to see the army remains such a powerful arbiter." Mr. Nawaz Sharif had become the most powerful Prime Minister since Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. (13)

According to the Financial Times, London, General Jehangir Karamat, the army chief, has intervened twice in the growing constitutional crisis, apparently in both cases to save Nawaz Sharif from premature downfall. On this occasion, Pakistan's military has chosen to side with an elected parliament rather than bring the tanks on to the streets. But the very fact that it took the chief of staff's interventions shows how qualified a victory it is for Pakistan's democracy and how politically important the military remains. (14)

Senator Tarar elected as President

Senator Rafiq Ahmad Tarar, a retired judge of the Supreme Court, was elected president on December 31, 1997. Amid speculations that the presidency would go to a smaller province since the Prime Minister and the Army Chief of Staff are from the Punjab province, the presidential race had narrowed down to Senator Sartaj Aziz and Acting President Wasim Sajjad when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif dropped his bombshell: "Justice (retd) Rafiq Ahmed Tarar was to be Pakistan's next president. " Over the next two days, it became apparent that even Sharif's cabinet knew nothing about the decision while this unexpected announcement left many Muslim Leaguers bewildered.

For his remarks in press interviews against the judiciary, Justice of the Supreme Court, Mukhtar Ahmad Junejo, who also held the post of Acting Chief Election Commissioner, rejected Tarar's nomination on December 18. A petition was filed against Junejo's order in the Lahore High Court. Justice Qayyum admitted the petition on December 19 and suspended Junejo's order, allowing Tarar to "participate in the election provisionally subject to further orders." Justice Junejo was removed and replaced by retired Justice Abdul Qadeer Chaudhry as the Chief Election Commission.

It is no mere coincidence that he was on the Supreme Court bench that reinstated Nawaz Sharif as Prime Minister on May 26, 1993. Also casting a dark shadow on him is the referendum of December 1994 when, as a member of Zia's election commission, he solemnly assured the people that 55 per cent and not just five per cent of the electorate had turned out to confer legitimacy on Zia's dictatorial rule. Mr. Tarar also has to dispel the widely insinuated impression that he was involved in the "Quetta Shuttle" which divided the Supreme Court and wrote the saddest chapter in Pakistan's constitutional history. (15)

The selection of Senator Tarar as a presidential candidate was a surprise to all and not too well received by a broad section of society. The Prime Minister, of course, had his own reasons that he explained in his interview with the BBC. He said Senator Tarar was a patriot and a man of integrity and belonged to the middle class section of society. This could, of course, be said for millions of others as well. When asked why the presidential candidate was not selected from a smaller province as was being expected by the people, the Prime Minister said that such "petty matters" should not be given any consideration. The full participation by all the provinces in the federal decision-making process in Islamabad is essential for the unity and solidarity of the federation and is certainly not a "petty matter." (16)

LHC upholds Tarar's plea

The Lahore High Court accepted, on Feb. 9 1998, the constitutional petition filed by Rafiq Tarar against his disqualification by the (former) Acting CEC and declared him qualified to contest for and hold the office of President. The acting CEC, Justice Mukhtar Ahmed Junejo of the Supreme Court, had found Tarar, a former Supreme Court Judge, guilty of propagating views prejudicial to the integrity and independence of the judiciary at the time of his nomination as a presidential candidate under Article 63(G) of the Constitution and debarred him from the December, 1997 contest.

The short verbal order did not deal with the question of fact involved in the case - whether Tarar in his interview of the weekly Takbir of June 27, 1996, and statement to the daily Jang, Rawalpindi, of Dec 4, 1997, propagated views prejudicial to the judiciary. Neither before the acting CEC nor in the LHC did Tarar or his counsel categorically denied the allegedly contemptuous statements in their entirety.

Tarar's counsel, Barrister Ijaz Hussein Batalvi told the LHC that the interview carried by Takbeer did not fully convey the views of Tarar. In any case, Tarar was elected senator after the interview and was not debarred from the senatorial contest. The Jang interview did not refer to any judge as no judge left in disgrace on Dec 2. Besides, a penal action could not be based on newspaper reports. Again, a presidential candidate who is also a sitting member of parliament cannot be disqualified under Article 63. Article 41(2) says that a candidate should be qualified to be elected a member of parliament under Article 62 and disqualification under Article 63 cannot be read into it.

SC issues detailed judgment in Sajjad's appointment case

The Supreme Court on Feb. 9, 1998 issued detailed judgment on the petitions challenging the appointment of Justice Sajjad Ali Shah as the chief justice of Pakistan. The ten-member bench headed by Justice Saiduzzaman Siddiqui in its short order on Dec 23, 1997 had declared the appointment of Justice Sajjad as the CJ, illegal and unconstitutional.

The court in its 391-page judgment rejected the argument that if the appointment of Justice Sajjad as the chief justice was held unconstitutional; its application would be with retrospective effect. The court held that doctrine of de facto would apply to the appointment of Justice Sajjad as the chief justice of Pakistan till Nov 26, 1997, when a division bench of the Supreme Court restrained him from performing his administrative and judicial functions.

Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, the counsel for the former chief justice, had argued that if the appointment of Justice Sajjad Ali Shah as the chief justice was declared invalid, it would lead to serious consequences as except three judges of the Supreme Court - Justice Ajmal Mian, Justice Saiduzzaman Siddiqui and Justice Fazal Illahi Khan - the appointment of all the Supreme Court judges and a number of high court judges would become invalid as all of them were appointed by the president in consultation with Justice Sajjad Ali Shah who was then the Chief Justice of Pakistan.

The ten-member bench after discussing the doctrine of de facto observed: "the principle of de facto exercise of power by a holder of the public office is based on sound principle of public policy to maintain regularity in the conduct of the public business, to save the public from confusion and to protect the private right which a person may acquire as a result of exercise of power by the de facto holder of the office."

The court also dismissed the argument that the appointment of Justice Sajjad as the chief justice of Pakistan was a past and closed chapter after the apex court judgment in Judges case. Responding to the argument of Hafeez Pirzada that no judge affected by the appointment of Justice Sajjad as the CJ had objected to his appointment and they continued to function, the court said it was incorrect.

The court maintained that three judges senior to Respondent No 2 (Justice Sajjad) in spite of invitation by the president of Pakistan did not attend the oath-taking ceremony of Justice Shah as the CJ to express their resentment. Justice Saad Saood Jan, the senior most judge of the apex court who had legitimate expectancy to become the chief justice of Pakistan after the retirement of Justice Nasim Hasan Shah, the court observed, proceeded on leave for three months and until his retirement on June 30, 1996, spent most of his time at the apex court branch registry at Lahore. The court also referred to the speech of Justice Saad Saood Jan on the occasion of his retirement and a press statement issued by him, to show that he had resented his supersession by a junior judge.

Justice Ajmal Mian, another judge who was affected due to the violation of the principle of seniority in the appointment of the CJ, had also expressed his opinion on the appointment of a junior judge as the chief justice. The court referred to the two judgments in Al Jehad Case 1, and Al Jehad Case II, in which Justice Ajmal Mian had expressed his views on the subject.

Justice Ajmal Mian and Justice Saad Saood Jan did not surrender their right of legitimate expectancy to the office of the chief justice of Pakistan in favor of respondent No. 2, the court observed. "It must be borne in mind that judges of the superior courts by tradition maintain high degree of comity amongst themselves. They are not expected to go public on their differences over any issue."

The court observed that it was not expected of the superior court judges to litigate in courts like ordinary litigants in case of denial of a right connected with their offices as the code of conduct for the superior court judges enjoined upon them to avoid as far as possible any litigation on their behalf or on behalf of others.

It held that the principle of seniority in the appointment of the CJ since the establishment of the Supreme Court in 1956 was upheld. It was only violated in 1994 when the Respondent No 2 (Justice Sajjad Ali Shah), fourth on the seniority list, was appointed the chief justice of Pakistan.

The court rejected the argument of Hafeez Pirzada that no writ could be issued against a judge, the court held that judgments delivered by a judge or group of judges were the functions which were covered under Article 199(5) of the Constitution. "The difference between a judge acting as court and a judge acting in his personal and individual capacity is not only real but is necessary to preserve, otherwise a judge will not be answerable for wrong done by him in his individual capacity."

Action taken or orders passed by him in his capacity as a judge of the court cannot be brought under challenge under Article 199 of the Constitution but his action as ordinary individual would be subject to ordinary law of the land including Article 199 of the Constitution, it was maintained. When the appointment of a judge is challenged that he did not possess the qualification prescribed by the Constitution, the relator was not asking the court to strike down any of his action which he had performed or was performing as judge but was asking for examination of personal qualification. "We are therefore of the view that such an attack on the validity of the appointment of a judge of superior court through collateral proceeding is not proper remedy."

The court held that petitions challenging the appointment of Justice Sajjad Ali Shah as the chief justice were maintainable. The SC reacted to the objections raised by Justice Sajjad Ali Shah against six judges on the bench, accusing them of bias. The court rejected the objections. The court also rejected the objection to the presence of Justice Saiduzzaman Siddiqui, Justice Fazal Illahi Khan, Justice Irshad Hasan Khan, Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid and Justice Khalilur Rehman Khan on the bench hearing the petitions. The court also rejected the objection of bias against Justice Saiduzzaman Siddiqui that he was prejudiced against Justice Sajjad for the reason that he had recommended to the president to refer his (Justice Siddiqui's) case to the Supreme Judicial Council.

The Supreme Court converts 'charge sheet' against Nawaz Sharif into notice

A supreme court bench headed by Chief Justice Ajmal Mian agreed on Feb. 17, 1998 to treat as a mere "show cause notice" a "charge sheet" issued to Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif by a bench headed by the former chief justice, Justice (retd) Sajjad Ali Shah, for alleged contempt of court. S.M. Zafar, counsel for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, took 90 minutes to persuade the court that the charge sheet issued to the prime minister was not a charge sheet as required under the law, and the court was still at the stage of "show cause notice".

When the proceedings started, Chief Justice Ajmal Mian observed that the previous bench had charge sheeted the prime minister, and the only question for the court to decide was what procedure to follow.

S.M. Zafar contended that no charge sheet had been "issued", but admitted that a charge sheet had been "drafted". He said unless a charge sheet was read out to an accused asking him whether he pleaded guilty or not guilty, there was no charge sheet. He said under rule 7 of the 1976 Contempt of Court Act, the attorney general had to act as a prosecutor, and it was his duty to read out a charge to an accused. He said no such thing had happened in this case, and the so-called charge sheet was handed down to representatives of the respondents at the office of the deputy registrar.

When the chief justice observed that a mere formality of reading out a charge sheet to an alleged contempt was not performed, the counsel for the prime minister stated that reading out the charge sheet to the accused was not a "mere formality", but an "essential formality."

Mr Zafar argued suspending the potency of the 14th Amendment through an interim order without hearing the Federal Government or the attorney general, had upset parliamentarians who raised the issue in the parliament and this necessitated an explanation by the respondent. He contended that by virtue of section 8 of the Contempt of Court Act, Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, after having taken cognizance, could not proceed with the case. REFERENCE: Chapter X Nawaz Shrif's second stint in Officehttp://ghazali.net/book1/chapter_10.htm Nawaz Shrif's second stint in Office Page 2http://ghazali.net/book1/Chapter10a/page_2.html Nawaz Shrif's second stint in Office Page 3http://ghazali.net/book1/Chapter10a/page_3.html [Excerpts from ISLAMIC PAKISTAN:ILLUSIONS & REALITY By Abdus Sattar Ghazali]

1. Dawn 31.5.1997

2. Herald - October 1997

3. Dawn - 8.2.1998

4. Dawn - 13.2.1998

5. Ibid.

6. Herald - December 1997

7. Herald - January 1998

8. Saving judiciary from politics by Kunwar Idris - Dawn 28.12.1997

9. Fascism on the march by Ardeshir Cowasjee - Dawn - 7.12.1997

10. Prospects after the crisis by M.B.Naqvi - Dawn 15.12.1997

11. The Washington Post - 3.12.1997

12. The Times, London 3.12.1997

13. The New York Times - 7.12.1997

14. The Financial Times - London 7.12.1997

15. Kunwar Idris - Dawn 20.12.1997

16. Selecting the Head of State by Sardar F.S. Lodi - Dawn 25.12.1997

17. Colonial NWFP or Pakistani Pakhtoonkhwa? By Prof. Em. Dr Ahmad Hasan Dani [Frontier Post, Peshawar - 15-2-1998]

18. Ibid.

19. Ibid.

20. Ibid.

21. Ibid.

22. New hopes, old fears by M.B.Naqvi - Dawn 12.1.1997

"UNQUOTE"

--
http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/

http://www.scribd.com/doc/61839666/Indo-Pak-Wars-A-Pictorial-History

http://www.scribd.com/doc/21686885/TALIBAN-WAR-IN-PAKISTAN-AFGHANISTAN-A-WRITERS-PERCEPTIONS-FROM-2001-TO-2011

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22457862/Military-Decision-making-and-leadership

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22151765/History-of-Pakistan-Army-from-1757-to-1971-PRINTING-ENABLED-Do-acknowledge-to-the-author

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22455178/Letters-to-Command-and-Staff-College-Quetta-Citadel-Journal

http://www.scribd.com/doc/23150027/Pakistan-Army-through-eyes-of-Pakistani-Generals

http://www.scribd.com/doc/23701412/War-of-Independence-of-1857

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22107238/HISTORY

http://www.scribd.com/doc/21693873/Indo-Pak-Wars-1947-71-A-STRATEGIC-AND-OPERATIONAL-ANALYSIS-BY-A-H-AMIN-THIS-BOOK-CAN-BE-PRINTED-FROM-THIS-SITE

AN AMERICAN FRIEND ON US BIASES AND FUTURE OF ISRAEL

2012-02-13T11:13:00.001-08:00

I am frightened by my country - When you listen to the UN or U.S. TV - they say in Syria it is the Assad regime causing the problems and killing/torturing people. Russian (RT) TV says it is radical factions within Syria and al Qaida. The UN lady on human rights - a Pillay (suppose she is Indian) lambasted Syria today on TV (Aljazeera & France 24) but the Syrian UN Rep gave a rebuttal along - both divided the same lines as Western vs. Russian TV media. RT says the Arab League is in the pockets of the West.

You don't know who to believe since each side has its propaganda. We have a saying - I'm from Missouri (the show me state) - Show me! I can't tell you how many times I read reports by NGOs, experts and consultants - and in the field it was nothing like what they reported - their agenda being to get more contracts so they played along with the politics of the donor and or their home office. If we go after Iran or Syria - my guess is it could be the beginning of a WWIII and the world/humanity will lose. How to you read it and what is behind it all - oil, Israel/geopolitics - our politicians are arrogant and dangerous - get us into no-win situations.

Take Iran - so if they have a bomb - Israel has 100 nukes, Pakistan, India, China, Russia, USA, & I suppose France & Germany & I don't know who else - one can argue having a nuke is a deterrent to aggression like during the Cold War. So why are Israel and the U.S. so worried about Iran - do you think Iran would be so foolish as to use a nuke against Israel. Time is against Israel anyway - from what I have read by 2020 Israeli Palestinians will be in the majority. If the Israeli Jews don't work something equitable out ultimately they will be on the outside looking in. Going after Iran rather than working out a solution with the Palestinians and the rest of the Arab/Muslim world will only make things happen quicker on the negative side!

Senator Saifur Rehman Swiss Money of Zardari & Swiss Case of Zardari:) Duniya News 13th Feb 2012

2012-02-13T10:30:00.001-08:00

FROM MR AAMIR MUGHAL A RETIRED INTELLIGENCE BUREAU OFFICER

Arshad Shareef on Swiss Case against Zardari

KYUN? Latest on Duniya News 13th Feb 2012 p1

http://youtu.be/1hsxhT8DmT0

KYUN? Latest on Duniya News 13th Feb 2012 p2

http://youtu.be/fESuX51qqsM

KYUN? Latest on Duniya News 13th Feb 2012 p3

http://youtu.be/oViOklasKXs

--
http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/

An Intellectually dishonest Hungarian Frenchman called Sarkozy ‘using public funds for campaign’

2012-02-13T06:32:00.001-08:00

http://www.pretorianews.co.za/sarkozy-using-public-funds-for-campaign-1.1233172

Russia to Develop Potential Dual-Use Laser

2012-02-13T06:28:00.001-08:00

Russia to Develop Potential Dual-Use Laser

Moscow, Feb 13 (Prensa Latina) Russia will invest around 1.5 billion dollars to build a facility to emit the world''s most powerful laser with 2.8 mega joules, official sources said in this capital.

The Russian government made the decision to have the world's most powerful laser in the near future, because the United States also has its own, with a power of two mega joules, Ildar Ilkaev, director of the Federal Nuclear Center, pointed out.

On one hand, it is the hot plasma physics used in the development of thermonuclear weapons, and on the other hand, we value the energetic aspect, because thermonuclear synthesis with laser could be the energy of the future, the specialist said.

Russia is planning to build a facility that will be 30 meters long and will have a ten-story building, Ilkaev explained, although it is not known when and in which terms the project will be carried out.

jg/cmf/ocs/to

KOMINFORM
http://www.kominform.eu

Russia To Deploy New Air Defense Systems On Border

2012-02-13T06:08:00.001-08:00

Russia To Deploy New Air Defense Systems On Border

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012/02/13/65938764.html

Russian Information Agency Novosti
February 13, 2012

New S-400 air-defence systems to be deployed on Russian border

Several new air-defence systems S-400 Triumph are due to be deployed on the Russian border this year, the Russian Air Force Commander, Alexander Zelenin, has told the RIA Novosti news agency. He failed to specify the regions of deployment.

Earlier, the Commander of the Russian Baltic Fleet, Vice-Admiral Victor Chirkov, has made public the Defence Ministry plan to deploy an S-400 system in the country's westernmost exclave, Kaliningrad region, in April this year.

----------------------------------------------------------

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012/02/13/65962024.html

Vesti
February 13, 2012

More S-400 Triumf systems to enter service in Russia by year-end

More units of the S-400 Triumf missile defense system will be put on service in the Russian Armed Forces before the end of this year, Air Force chief Alexander Zelin said on Monday.

A new generation anti-aircraft system, the S-400 Triumf is designed to protect Russia's major political, economic and military infrastructure facilities, Zelin said.

This mobile system is capable of tracking over 100 targets at ranges of over 400 km, he added.

KOMINFORM
http://www.kominform.eu

Assad wins out against opposition as Russia and Iran strengthen ties

2012-02-13T05:44:00.001-08:00

FROM MY DEAR FRIEND AMBASSADOR GAJENDRA SINGH

Situation in Syria and the region

These events /wars and near wars are but continuation of the Cold War , which never ceased for US led Western block .Franchised street revolutions in early 2000s were resisted and stopped by Sanghai Cooperation Council members , when West entered Russia's near abroad , inspite of promises to Gorbachev ( Do not trust any one when strategic interests are concerned) .Regime changes in Serbia ,Georgia,Ukraine were successful but failed in Belarus and Uzbekistan.They have been reveresed in Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan.Georgia was bashed up by Russia and Azerbaijan is uneasy with its close relationship with the West .

US led Imperialist powers have tried to leverage peoples revolts against Western supported dictators /puppets in N Africa and Middle East by trying to take over the movements .They have helped bring in Muslim exremists into influence and power in Tunisia and Egypt , a policy West ( British before WWII) have always followed against national, socialist regimes of say Nasser, Mossadeq, Saddam and others .

After regime change failures in Eastern Eurasia ,the regime changes in NAf &ME is their desperate attempt to maintain and regain power in the region , with total support from such pillars of democracy as Saudi Arabia , Qatar ( mostly petrodollars) .Turkey , now almost in Riyadh's pocket has followed a very unwise policy .It has upset its armed forces by jailing its last Military chief and many other senior officers laying the foundations for a Cols coup at some stage .Turkey's population has 10% Alevis ( victims of Sunni pogroms from time to time ) similar in belief to Syria's ruling elite and Turkey's Kurds are up in arms . Instaed of zero friction with neighbours , a much announced policy , Turkey has bad relations with almost all its neighbours , Syria ,Isarel ,Greece,Armenia ,and worsening with Iraq ,Iran,Russia .

In US-Russian strategic balance of power, Moscow needs naval bases ( in Tartus in Syria ) and military base ( after losing in Libya) , so it is not going to let Syria be in hostile hands , whatever be the cost .Russia is the rising power with some support from China to face off USA and its allies now in ME , while US and EU are just about bankrupt .

There have been nothing but lies from US media , a corporate handmaiden and British Gvt propaganda machine called BBC , which are now finding again echo in Indian media like CNN-IBN, Times, NDTV , all owned by Indian corporate interests .

Situation still very troubling seems to be jelling in Syria .Debka is close to Israel .Tel Aviv is not sure if a Libya like situation in Syria , which has kept peace on borders ,since 1973 , will be in its interests . .

Two related pieces

Veto on Syria 'Diplomatic Gain' for Russia

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20120206/171182777.html

Run-up to proxy war over Syria

http://atimes.com/atimes/China/NB07Ad01.html

Assad wins out against opposition as Russia and Iran strengthen ties
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report February 11, 2012

http://www.debka.com/article/21729/

Intelligence sources reporting in real time found Saturday night, Feb. 11, that Bashar Assad's loyal military and security forces had by and large managed to subdue the rebellion against the regime. They are now purging the last pockets of resistance, especially in Syria's third largest city, Homs. Still to come are possible flare-ups here and there and inevitably more horror stories of atrocities, but to all intents and purposes Syria's eleven-month uprising is all but over.

In recent days, mass demonstrations and battles with armed rebels have virtually disappeared from the streets of the main protest centers of Daraa, Hama, Deir al-Zour, Abu Kemal, Zabadan and the restive outskirts of Damascus, which armed rebels briefly captured last month.
In Homs, soldiers of the 40^th and 90^th mechanized brigades are hunting down rebels hiding in the town and shooting them on sight.
A new name joined the gallery of Syrian mass murderers this week: Gen. Zuhair al-Assad, commander of the brutal six-day tank-backed assault and siege of Homs. This kinsman of the president had no qualms about gunning down hundreds of civilians in order to liquidate a small armed rebel group.
**DEBKA*file***'s military sources report that without outside armed intervention to halt the bloodbath – and there is no sign of any repetition of the NATO action which cut short Muammar Qaddafi's long reign – Bashar Assad will soon finish crushing the popular and armed resistance against him, helped by arms and military backing from Russia, Iran and Hizballah.

Military intervention is not on the cards for the United States - Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmed Davutoglu was told Friday, Feb. 9 when he arrived in Washington to request US participation in organizing a Turkish-Arab operation in Syria or, at least, the supply of Western and Arab arms to the Syrian rebels.

Of the six revolts against Arab autocracies in the past year, two were crushed. The King of Bahrain was saved by Saudi and Gulf military support and now Assad looks like being the second survivor. The difference between them is that the Al-Khalifa House of Bahrain was rescued by Arab forces while the Syrian president is stamping out the uprising against him with the help of non-Arab powers, Iran and Russia.

Both powers sent important officials to Damascus last week: Iran's al Qods Brigades commander Gen. Qassem Soleimani was there Sunday and Monday (5-6 Feb.) at the head of a large military-intelligence delegation. No sooner was it gone when Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and SVR intelligence chief Mikhail Fradkov were deposited at the door of Assad's presidential palace.
According to **DEBKA*file***'s military and intelligence sources, both were on missions to finalize Russian-Iranian-Syrian collaboration in Syria and the Middle East after the regime finally suppresses the revolt.

Saturday night, Moscow pledged to continue to shield the Assad regime at the United Nations
Although fighting continues in some places, Bashar Assad is at the threshold of a major success. His victory may be short-lived but it is significant all the same, offering kudos for the Iranian-Syrian-Hizballah alliance and a contretemps for the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Patriarch of Antioch: Syrian Unrest Instigated by Foreigners

2012-02-12T20:26:00.001-08:00

Patriarch of Antioch: Syrian Unrest Instigated by Foreigners

RIA NOVOSTI, 12.02.2012

Ongoing Syrian unrests are being instigated by foreigners, The Supreme Head of the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church, His Holiness Moran Mor Ignatius Zakka said on Sunday at a meeting with Russian political experts visiting the country.

"The tumult is being instigated by external forces, not members of the Syrian society," the patriarch told Russian experts who arrived at his residence in Damascus.

He also ruled out the possibility of any repressions against Christians living in Syria. "There are no security guards in the Patriarch's Office, the situation is calm. Christians in Syria stand secure, in contrast to Egypt and Iraq."

"There are no anti-Christian spirits in the Syrian society," the patriarch added.

The meeting with the Patriarch was organized by Syrian state news agency Sana.

Russia has firmly supported Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during the uprising against his regime. Russia and China vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on Syria, backed by the Arab League and Western nations, to prevent a repetition of "the Libyan scenario."

During a visit to Damascus last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said President Assad was ready for dialogue with all political forces.

Human rights groups say more than 7,000 people have died since the nationwide uprising began in March last year.

On Friday, violence spread to Syria's second largest city of Aleppo with two bomb blasts that killed at least 28 people and wounded more than 200 others.

KOMINFORM
http://www.kominform.eu

Belarus snubs the Arrogant Germans

2012-02-12T20:22:00.001-08:00

Foreign Ministry: No need for German human rights official to visit Minsk personally

09.02.2012 16:07

MINSK, 9 February (BelTA) – The Belarusian side sees no need for a personal visit of Markus Loening to Minsk, said Maria Vanshina, Deputy Head of the Information Office, Head of the Press Service of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, when asked about the possible visit of Markus Loening, Plenipotentiary for Human Rights Policy of the German federal government, to Belarus.

Maria Vanshina said that unfortunately Markus Loening's contribution to Belarusian-German relations was not a positive one. She remarked the Belarusian side had also taken into account multiple refusals of Germany to grant entry to Belarusian officials, including those with a valid Schengen visa, who were intent on taking part in international events.

"There is no need to send a messenger to deliver the letter mentioned by Mr Loening. Generally recognized diplomatic channels are fit for that. By the way, the German side used them today and delivered the letter," said Maria Vanshina.

© BelTA. A hyperlink to the main page of the website www.belta.by must be provided when materials of the website are used for electronic publications, website pages, electronic files or other electronic forms of use.

_

KOMINFORM
http://www.kominform.eu

British Special Forces Sabotage Terrorists In Syria

2012-02-12T07:30:00.001-08:00

Report: British Special Forces In Syria

http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=139779

Pakistan Observer
February 12, 2012

British Special Forces in Syria
Akhtar Jamal

-Daily Telegraph reported that former terrorist turned Libyan rebel leader Abdulhakim Belhadj, now head of the Tripoli Military Council, "met with Free Syrian Army leaders in Istanbul and on the border with Turkey," after being sent there by Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the interim Libyan president.
Belhadj is the former front man for the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), designated as a terrorist organization by the US State Department. Belhadj was captured by the CIA in Malaysia in 2003 and extradited to Libya where Colonel Gaddafi had him imprisoned.

Islamabad: According to a report by Israeli intelligence outfit DEBKAFile British Special Forces are on the ground in Syria directing rebel fighters in a repeat of how Libyan rebels were aided in the overthrow of Colonel Gaddafi.

DEBKAfile's exclusive military and intelligence sources were quoted as saying that foreign units are not engaging in direct combat but are acting in an advisory capacity, while also relaying requests for arms outside of the country.

The report claimed that "British and Qatari special operations units are operating with rebel forces under cover in the Syrian city of Homs 162 kilometers from Damascus.

The report suggested that the situation in Syria is developing in an almost identical manner to how rebels in Libya were aided by British and French Special Forces.

The report added that the same Al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorists who fought U.S. troops in Iraq and helped NATO powers overthrow Colonel Gaddafi were airlifted into Syria to aid rebels there in attempting to topple President Bashar al-Assad in November last year.

Meanwhile the British Daily Telegraph reported that former terrorist turned Libyan rebel leader Abdulhakim Belhadj, now head of the Tripoli Military Council, "met with Free Syrian Army leaders in Istanbul and on the border with Turkey," after being sent there by Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the interim Libyan president.

Belhadj is the former front man for the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), designated as a terrorist organization by the US State Department. Belhadj was captured by the CIA in Malaysia in 2003 and extradited to Libya where Colonel Gaddafi had him imprisoned.

Belhadj is a committed jihadist who fought with the Taliban against U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Libyan rebel leader Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi admitted that Belhadj's LIFG fighters were the second-largest cohort of foreign fighters in Iraq.

KOMINFORM
http://www.kominform.eu

Expanding Pakistan-Russia Partnership Within SCO

2012-02-12T07:28:00.001-08:00

Expanding Pakistan-Russia Partnership Within SCO

http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2012/02/engaging-russia/

Pakistan Today
February 12, 2012

Engaging Russia
By Qudssia Akhlaque

A move in the right direction

====

Pakistan considers Russia as an engine for increased economic growth and a factor of peace and stability in the SCO region. Both the countries seem equally keen to broaden and diversify mutually advantageous cooperation, particularly in the energy sector.

The two countries have also been discussing the possibility of developing rail links with Iran and other areas in the SCO region from Pakistan. Russia had shown some interest in Pakistan's keenness to develop rail links to Central Asia from Gwadar.

Reaffirmation of Russian support for Pakistan's request for full membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is another encouraging sign.

Notably in June 2005, Pakistan supported Russia's bid for observer status in the OIC and in turn Russia helped Pakistan obtain the observer status in the SCO.

Both share the view on the need for a multi-polar world and the centrality of the UN role in the world affairs.

The growing presence of US and Nato forces in the region and Pakistan's active cooperation with both had made Moscow somewhat uneasy. However, Pakistan's gradual distancing from the US has encouraged the Russians towards closer cooperation.

====

Pakistani diplomats at the Envoys Conference in Islamabad a couple of months back had advocated more proactive engagement with Russia. Some promising signs of renewed engagement, including the recently concluded visit of Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar to Russia, are visible. This visit also signals to the US Pakistan's greater activity within its Asian neighbourhood. Russia has, alongside China, become more assertive in demonstrating multi-polarity as opposed to uni-polarity on the global power scene.

The overriding message of Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani's joint press conference with her Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov after talks in Moscow Wednesday was that the two countries are ready to expand and intensify political as well as economic cooperation as a step towards developing a strategic partnership.

The fact that the press conference addressed by the two foreign ministers was telecast live on the state and private TV channels here underlined the importance Pakistan attached to this visit.

While at the press conference no question was raised or any mention made about the prospects of cooperation in civil nuclear technology and defence sector between the two countries, such a possibility cannot be ruled out.

Understandably such cooperation is often discussed on the quiet.

Pakistan and Russia have growing convergence of interests bilaterally and on issues of regional and international importance. Russia attaches great importance to her relations with Pakistan as it is mindful of its significant role both in the region and in the Islamic world as a whole.

Last year in September when the two foreign ministers met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in New York, Lavrov told Khar that he was looking forward to her visit to Moscow.

A major international player, being a permanent member of the UNSC and of the G-8, Russia's clout and influence has been considerably enhanced in the last few years. Pakistan considers Russia as an engine for increased economic growth and a factor of peace and stability in the SCO region. Both the countries seem equally keen to broaden and diversify mutually advantageous cooperation, particularly in the energy sector.

Pakistan is now seriously looking towards Russia to meet its energy requirements and this was discussed in Moscow when the foreign minister separately met with the Russian Minister of Energy during her visit.

While the Russian investors are interested in investing in the Thar coal project, Russia is also keen to participate in the Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline project. Moscow has already indicated to Islamabad that it wants its gas company Gazprom, the world's largest gas company, to have a role in the project. Pakistan has conveyed that it would welcome Russian participation in this project. Russia's readiness to participate in the energy projects of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India as well as Central Asia and South Asia 1000 (CASA) is also significant and welcomed by Pakistan as it faces an acute energy deficit.

Another good development is that the two countries are now close to firming up a MOU on the expansion and modernisation of the Pakistan Steel Mills, a key state enterprise.

There are tremendous opportunities for joint collaboration in various projects. Russia has expressed interest on several occasions in building on business ties with Pakistani partners in sectors such as oil and gas, railways, power generation, agriculture and metallurgy. The two countries have also been discussing the possibility of developing rail links with Iran and other areas in the SCO region from Pakistan. Russia had shown some interest in Pakistan's keenness to develop rail links to Central Asia from Gwadar.

Reaffirmation of Russian support for Pakistan's request for full membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is another encouraging sign.

Earlier on Russia had been non-committal on this question.

Moscow re-established a political dialogue with Islamabad in February 2003 when President Musharraf visited Russia. Notably in June 2005, Pakistan supported Russia's bid for observer status in the OIC and in turn Russia helped Pakistan obtain the observer status in the SCO.

Pakistan and Russia have had increasingly intensive interaction at the political fora at various international summits including the SCO. Both have shared similar positions on key international issues, particularly on the overall strengthening of the role of the UN and other international organisations on the basis of the international law. Moscow and Islamabad have been cooperating in the UN and on key international issues such as Iran, Iraq and the Middle East they have similar views. Both share the view on the need for a multi-polar world and the centrality of the UN role in the world affairs.

The common threats of terrorism and drugs have also compelled the two countries to strengthen security cooperation. Russians have been concerned about the presence of Al-Qaeda elements and Taliban in the border areas between Pakistan and Afghanistan and drug trafficking. The growing presence of US and Nato forces in the region and Pakistan's active cooperation with both had made Moscow somewhat uneasy. However, Pakistan's gradual distancing from the US has encouraged the Russians towards closer cooperation.

While in the past few years there have been regular contacts between the two countries at the diplomatic and political levels and a framework for consolidating economic cooperation has laid the basis of a strategic partnership, practical follow-up steps have yet to be taken, specifically to boost bilateral trade.

Russian investors who are virtually knocking at Pakistan's door now, may walk away discouraged by our own problems. Therefore unless Pakistan's slow moving bureaucratic machine becomes more responsive and domestic political turmoil settles down, this Russian initiative is unlikely to translate into any concrete benefits for Pakistan.

The writer is a senior journalist and has been a diplomatic correspondent for leading dailies. She was an Alfred Friendly Press Fellow at The Chicago Tribune in the US and a Press Fellow at Wolfson College, Cambridge, UK. She can be reached via email at qudssia@hotmail.com

KOMINFORM
http://www.kominform.eu

Atrocities in Pakistan continue without any gap

2012-02-12T05:31:00.001-08:00

"I know that I am prejudiced on this matter, but I would be ashamed of myself if I were not."

Mark Twain

"A cynical, mercenary, demagogic press will produce in time a people as base as itself." - Joseph Pulitzer

COMMENT: Taking cognizance —Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur

Surely Balochistan is not going to become independent due to Congressional committee meetings. The only positive outcome of this meeting for the Baloch is that it has highlighted their plight and this may encourage other western countries to pay more attention to the human rights abuses in Balochistan

Sadiq Umrani, President PPP Balochistan, while condemning the cowardly murder of Brahamdagh Bugti's sister and niece in Karachi by the intelligence agencies on the Balochistan Assembly floor made a shocking disclosure that he and two other ministers, Yunus Mullazai and Zafar Zehri, in November 2011 saw Frontier Corps (FC) personnel holding two blindfolded and handcuffed men at the roadside on a highway near Mangochar. He said that the FC men gunned them down and their bodies were found from the area the next day. Equally shocking is Umrani's four month silence on the incident.

This shocking disclosure like all other known atrocities against the Baloch has fallen on deaf ears and gone unnoticed. Atrocities against the Baloch have come to be accepted as a normal state of affairs by all and even the inhumanly gruesome murder of Brahamdagh's sister and niece has evoked minimal response from civil society or the media.

Murdering women to settle scores is the lowest ebb that establishments can reach and it has been reached here. Banok Zamur Bugti was not Brahamdagh Bugti's sister alone — she is a sister of all honourable and conscientious Baloch. It is an outrage and a wound which all the Baloch will forever remember.

A national daily reported that these murders were a message for Brahamdagh Bugti to desist from resisting Pakistan. Apparently the establishment overlooked the fact that the message they gave by killing his grandfather Sardar Akbar Bugti went unheeded, so why would he heed these chilling murders and give up resistance now.

The state and its representatives forget that it was they who initiated the hostilities against the peaceful Baloch and the Baloch are exercising their right to defend themselves and to secure their rights. Ironically, Baloch resistance to atrocities and injustices is considered a crime while state atrocities are deemed legal.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik in the National Assembly said the government had taken cognizance of the killings of Bakhtiar Khan Domki's family. He was in turn castigated by the assembly members for his remarks relating these killings to those of the FC personnel killed in the recent attacks. Incidentally, the Domki family killings followed and also prompted attacks on FC personnel in Balochistan by militant groups. After the killings of the FC personnel in Margat area, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) spokesperson stated these were in retaliation for the killings of the Baloch ladies.

The Baloch understand how utterly worthless and meaningless Rehman Malik's cognizance taking is but interestingly someone else too has taken cognizance of the situation in Balochistan. Yes, the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs took cognizance and convened a Congressional hearing for an exclusive discussion on Balochistan.

Amid the deteriorating mutual relationship between Pakistan and the US, this is an important development. This powerful House of Representatives Committee oversees the US's foreign assistance programmes and experts believe it can jeopardise US assistance to Pakistan over human rights violations in Balochistan and this worries Pakistan no end. It follows the US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland's expression of concern over human rights abuses in Balochistan on January 15. The world is slowly waking to the atrocities in Balochistan.

Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, who recently co-authored an article with Congressman Louie Gohmert expressing support for an independent Balochistan, chaired the hearing. In his piece he had written: "Perhaps we should even consider support for a Balochistan carved out of Pakistan to diminish radical power there (in Pakistan)."

At the Committee meeting in his opening remarks, Mr Rohrabacher said that Balochistan is a turbulent land marred by human rights violations "by regimes that are against US values". He outlined the history of Pakistan's creation, and highlighted Balochistan's grievances vis-à-vis natural resources, and said that the province's wealth was being taken by the dominant Punjabi elite.

Ali Dayan Hasan, the Pakistan director for Human Rights Watch (HRW), in his submitted remarks, said that the cases documented by the HRW show that Pakistan's security forces and its intelligence agencies were involved in the enforced disappearance of ethnic Baloch. He termed the military's role in the province as brutal, and an occupying one.

In his testimony, analyst Ralph Peters, who had in his June 2006 article 'Blood borders: How a better Middle East would look' published a map of free Balochistan, called Pakistan a supporter of terrorism. In his submitted testimony, Amnesty International's Advocacy Director T Kumar called on the US to "apply the Leahy Amendment without waivers to all Pakistani military units in Balochistan". The Leahy law prohibits US military assistance to foreign military units that violate human rights with impunity.

Dr M Hosseinbor, a Baloch lawyer and witness at the hearing, quoting Baloch sources said that nearly 4,000 people have disappeared in the province since 2001. In his submitted remarks, he called on the US to support an independent Balochistan "in case Pakistan or Iran or both collapsed from within".

This meeting has naturally evoked an adverse reaction here from the Foreign Office and the Senate where it was condemned as 'direct intervention'. The senators across the divide consider the meeting as an affront for Pakistan's sovereignty and have expressed anger. It just goes to show how misplaced their priorities are, as there is hardly a squeak from them when atrocities are committed against the Baloch but if someone highlights the atrocities, it is resented.

Surely Balochistan is not going to become independent due to Congressional committee meetings. The only positive outcome of this meeting for the Baloch is that it has highlighted their plight and this may encourage other western countries to pay more attention to the human rights abuses in Balochistan. Balochistan is slowly emerging on the world scene not only because of the state atrocities but also due to valiant and relentless Baloch resistance.

This meeting is also fraught with adverse consequences for the Baloch; some people in the world would not hesitate to cut off their nose to spite their face. The Pakistani establishment falls into this pathetic category and I fear that just to show to the US that it does not care for what its committees say or do, it will increase the atrocities and human rights abuses against the Baloch.

It really does not matter if the US or Rehman Malik take cognizance of the abuses in Balochistan; what really matters is that the Baloch have taken cognizance of the injustices against them and have decided to resist the same with all resources and energies that they can muster and this is what will eventually tilt the balance in their favour.

The writer has an association with the Baloch rights movement going back to the early 1970s. He can be contacted at mmatalpur@gmail.com

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012\02\12\story_12-2-2012_pg3_2

Hafiz Saeed's Memory Loss on Osama, Saddam & Bin Baz.

2012-02-10T21:55:00.001-08:00

FROM MR AAMIR MUGHAL A RETIRED INTELLIGENCE BUREAU OFFICER

Hafiz Saeed's Memory Loss on Osama, Saddam & Bin Baz.

http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/2012/02/hafiz-saeeds-memory-loss-on-osama.html

LAHORE: Announcing to hold public gatherings across the country, Difa-e-Pakistan Council (DPC) has said that US must be told to steer clear of Pakistan as it (Pak) were not an easy prey, Geo News reported. During Council's media briefing here in Lahore, Ameer Jamiat-e-Ulema Pakistan, Maulana Samaiulhaq said that US must refrain from attacking our sovereignty and recognize Pakistan as an atomic power just like India. Terming it a clash of civilizations Maulana Samiulhaq said that it was an armageddon between good and evil. Talking on the occasion Ameer Jamat-ud-Dawah, Hafiz Saeed said Nato's attack on a Pakistani outpost in Mohmand was a dangerous message conveyed to Pakistan. - Chairman Difa-e-Pakistan Council (DPC) an alliance of various religious parties Maulana Samiul Haq has said that all religious parties will guide the nation on national issues and they will hold Difa-e-Pakistan Conference at Minar-e-Pakistan on December 18. He was talking to media after presiding over a meeting held here at Jammia-e-Manzoorul Islamia. Jammiat-e-Ulama Islam (S) Chief Mulana Sami ul Haq presided over the meeting. Leaders of some 24 religious groups including Jammat-ud-Dawa Chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, Sipah-e-Sahaba Punjab President Maulana Shamsul Haq, Jammat-e-Islami Niab Amir Dr Muhammad Kamal, Maulana Abdul Jabbar, Mulana Rashid from JUP, Qari Hanif Jalandhari, Abdul Qadri Ropri and Pir Saif Ullah and large number of workers of the religious parties were present on the occasion. He said Nato air strike on Pakistani posts and killing of 24 soldiers was the grave violation of international laws and basic human rights. He termed the Nato attack on Pakistan sovereignty and said nation would not allow the US aggression in future, Mulana Samiul Haq added. JUI chief also endorsed the government decision to get vacate Shamsi airbase and block Nato supply route but stressed that government should withdraw all the logistic facilities provided to US forces. Maulana Samiul Haq also criticised government decision to make friendship with India and said that Pakistan was facing real threats from Eastern borders and we can not secure from Eastern borders. In response to a question he said Dafa-e-Pakistan Council would invite different political parties including PPP, PML-N, MQM, PTI leadership for Minar-e-Pakistan public gathering. REFERENCES: US told to stay away from Pakistan http://www.geo.tv/GeoDetail.aspx?ID=28824 Difa-e-Pakistan conference on December 18 DECEMBER 05, 2011 http://www.brecorder.com/general-news/single/599/172/1257956/ Sunday, December 18, 2011, Moharram-ul-Haram 22, 1433 A.H. Updated at: 1200 http://jang.com.pk/jang/dec2011-daily/18-12-2011/u90522.htm

Ahl-e-Hadith Scholar Issues Fatwa Against Jihad in Kashmir

http://youtu.be/HyAcRg4YQ3k

Why the Pakistani Military used to Support Taliban, Several Sectarian Outfits and Lashkar-e-Tayyaba before 911? And while the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan and the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi stand officially disbanded, their most militant son and leader, Maulana Azam Tariq, an accused in several cases of sectarian killing, contested elections from jail - albeit as an independent candidate - won his seat, and was released on bail shortly thereafter. Musharraf rewrote election rules to disqualify former Prime Ministers Mohammed Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto, and threatened to toss them in jail if they returned from abroad, which badly undermined both Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League and Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP). Musharraf has plainly given the religious groups more free rein in the campaign than he has allowed the two big parties that were his main rivals. In Jhang city, in Punjab province, Maulana Azam Tariq, leader of an outlawed extremist group called Sipah-e-Sahaba, which has been linked to numerous sectarian killings, is being allowed to run as an independent despite election laws that disqualify any candidate who has criminal charges pending, or even those who did not earn a college degree. "It makes no sense that Benazir can't run in the election," says one Islamabad-based diplomat, "and this nasty guy can."

References: And this takes me back to Pervez Musharraf's first visit to the US after his coup. At a meeting with a group of journalists among whom I was present, my dear and much lamented friend Tahir Mirza, then the Dawn correspondent, asked Musharraf why he was not acting against Lashkar-e Tayba and Jaish-e Muhammad. Musharraf went red in the face and shot back, "They are not doing anything in Pakistan. They are doing jihad outside." Pakistani neocons and UN sanctions Khalid Hasan This entry was posted on Sunday, December 28th, 2008 at 6:00 pm. http://www.khalidhasan.net/2008/12/28/pakistani-neocons-and-un-sanctions/ For The 'General' Good By Sairah Irshad Khan Monthly Newsline January 2003http://www.newsline.com.pk/newsJan2003/cover1jan2003.htm - General's Election By TIM MCGIRK / KHANA-KHEL Monday, Oct. 07, 2002 http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,361788,00.html - MORE DETAILS: General Musharraf, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, Brigadier [R] Usman Khalid & Deobandi Taliban. http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/2009/02/general-musharraf-colonel-muammar.html

Pakistan's chief spy Lt. General Mahmoud Ahmad "was in the US when the attacks occurred." He arrived in the US on the 4th of September, a full week before the attacks. He had meetings at the State Department "after" the attacks on the WTC. But he also had "a regular visit of consultations" with his US counterparts at the CIA and the Pentagon during the week prior to September 11. REFERENCE: Cover-up or Complicity of the Bush Administration? The Role of Pakistan's Military Intelligence (ISI) in the September 11 Attacks by Michel Chossudovsky Professor of Economics, University of Ottawa Centre for Research on Globalisation (CRG), Montréal Posted at globalresearch.ca 2 November 2001http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO111A.html

Michel Chossudovsky is Professor of Economics at the University of Ottawa. TFF Associateshttp://www.transnational.org/SAJT/tff/people/m_chossudovsky.html

AFTER 9/11.

In the afternoon, Mahmood was invited to CIA headquarters at Langley, Virginia, where he told George Tenet, the CIA director, that in his view Mullah Omar, the Taliban chief, was a religious man with humanitarian instincts and not a man of violence! This was a bit difficult for the CIA officials to digest and rightly so as the Taliban's track record, especially in the realm of human rights, was no secret. General Mahmood was told politely but firmly that Mullah Omar and the Taliban would have to face US Military might if Osama Bin Laden along with other Al-Qaeda leaders were not handed over without delay. To send the message across clearly, Richard Armitage held a second meeting with Mahmood the same day, informing him that he would soon be handed specific American demands, to which Mahmood reiterated that Pakistan would cooperate. {Bush at War by Bob Woodward, published by Simon & Schuster, 2002, New York}, p 32. {Pakistan: Eye of the Storm by Owen Bennett Jones, published by New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2002}, p. 2.

General Mahmood on September 13, 2001, was handed a formal list of the US demands by Mr. Armitage and was asked to convey these to Musharraf and was also duly informed, for the sake of emphasis, that these were "not negotiable." Colin Powell, Richard Armitage, and the assisstant secretary of state, Christina Rocca, had drafted the list in the shape of a "non-paper". It categorically asked Pakistan:

Stop Al-Qaeda operatives coming from Afghanistan to Pakistan, intercept arms shipments through Pakistan, and end ALL logistical support for Osama Bin Laden.

Give blanket overflight and landing rights to US aircraft.

Give the US access to Pakistani Naval and Air Bases and to the border areas betweeen Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Turn over all the intelligence and immigration information.

Condemn the September 11 attacks and curb all domestic expressions of support for terrorism.

Cut off all shipments of fuel to the Talibans, and stop Pakistani volunteers from going into Afghanistan to join the Taliban. Note that, should the evidence strongly implicate Osama Bin Laden and the Al-Qaeda Network in Afghanistan, and should the Taliban continue to harbour him and his accomplices, Pakistan will break diplomatic relations with the Taliban regime, end support for the Taliban, and assist the US in the aforementioned ways to destroy Osama and his network.

Having gone through the list, Mahmood declared that he was quite clear on the subject and that "he knew how the President thought, and the President would accept these points." {Bush at War by Bob Woodward, published by Simon & Schuster, 2002, New York}, p 58-59. Interview: Richard Armitage, "Campaign Against Terror," PBS (Frontline), April 19, 2002}

Mahmood then faxed the document to Musharraf. While the latter was going through it and in the process of weighing the pros and cons of each demand, his aide de camp that Colin Powell was on the line. Musharraf liked and respected Powell, and the conversation was not going to be a problem. He told him that he understood and appreciated the US position, but he would respond to the US demands after having discussed these with his associates. Powell was far too polite to remind him that he in fact was the government, but did inform him that his General in Washington had already assured them that these demands would be acceptable to the government of Pakistan. {Pakistan's Drift into Extremism : Allah, the Army, and America's War on Terror by Hassan Abbas, published by An East Gate Book , M.E. Sharpe Armonk, New York. London, England.}. NOTES/REFERENCES - Pakistan: Eye of the Storm by Owen Bennett Jones, published by New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2002. Interview: Richard Armitage, "Campaign Against Terror," PBS (Frontline), April 19, 2002; last accessed June 2, 2003, athttp://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/campaign/interviews/armitage.htm Bush at War by Bob Woodward, published by Simon & Schuster, 2002, New York. Pakistan's Drift into Extremism : Allah, the Army, and America's War on Terror by Hassan Abbas, published by An East Gate Book , M.E. Sharpe Armonk, New York. London, England

WAY BACK IN 2000 (DAILY DAWN) MUZAFFARABAD, Aug 8: Prof Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, chief of Markaz Dawa Wal Irshad, the parent organization of Lashkar-i-Taiba, asked Islamabad to send its troops across the Line of Control to liberate Kashmir. "It is the duty of the armed forces of Pakistan to cross the bloody line for the liberation of their Kashmiri brethren," he told a "Takmeel-i-Pakistan conference" held here at Upper Adda under the aegis of the Lashkar. India, he said, was blaming Pakistan for being behind the Kashmir liberation movement but it had forgot that it itself had sent its troops into East Pakistan in 1971 in violation of international laws to dismember Pakistan. "If Indian troops can cross the international border then why the Pakistan troops cannot cross the so-called LoC?," he said. It is not an appropriate time for holding negotiations with India because Delhi has always deceived the Kashmiris and Pakistan, he said. "We are not opposed to dialogue but we cannot favor it at this critical juncture of the liberation struggle because we believe that it will, as usual, provide India an opportunity to gain time to continue massacre of the Kashmiris." He said talks should be held only after the withdrawal of the Indian troops from Kashmir, otherwise, he declared, the Mujahideen would evict them by themselves. This was the unanimous stand of all Mujahideen groups, he added. "If any other stand is taken, I am afraid the sacrifices rendered by the people of Kashmir and the Mujahideen will be wasted." Hafiz Saeed declared that all Mujahideen groups, including the Hizbul Mujahideen, would strengthen mutual coordination and cooperation to continue Jihad till the liberation of Kashmir. He rejected Indian allegations that the Lashkar was involved in the recent massacre in occupied Kashmir. He said he was ready to prove before any international court that no Mujahideen group was involved in the killings. REFERENCE: Pakistan troops urged to liberate Kashmir Tariq Naqash DAWN WIRE SERVICE Week Ending : 12 August 2000 Issue : 06/30 http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/2000/aug12.html#paki

Back to present days:)

Reality of Lashkar-e-Tayyba & Hafiz Muhammad Saeed as per Deobandi Maulana Ilyas Ghumman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ses_6GBCoSo

RAWALPINDI, Feb 7: A group of men claiming to be members of an intelligence agency took into custody four armed activists of the banned Jamaatud Dawa detained by Rawalpindi police on Tuesday afternoon, Dawn has learnt. The four men brandishing weapons were on a double-cabin vehicle which was intercepted by police at an army-police picket on Airport Road a few minutes before the convoy of an Iranian dignitary was to pass through the area. According to sources, the suspects were questioned by police and senior police officers arrived at the place when the four were identified as members of the banned group. An official said police had to hand over the men after some senior agency officers arrived there and sought their custody. It was not clear if the JuD men were freed by the intelligence officers or taken away for interrogation. Two of the suspects were identified as Azhar and Qadhafi. City police chief Azhar Hameed Khokhar told this correspondent that the weapons were licensed, but the licences were yet to be verified. "We don't know where they were going because they were taken away by another agency for further investigation," he said. REFERENCE: Armed JuD men intercepted by police, taken away by intelligence personnelMohammad Asghar http://www.dawn.com/2012/02/08/armed-jud-men-intercepted-by-police-taken-away-by-intelligence-personnel.html

Status of Jihad in Kashmir in the scale of Islam by Saudi Salafi Sheikh Tauseef ur Rehman Rashidi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bGyhf7HD6o

Hafiz Muhammad Saeed in Dawn News with Azaz Syed - 1 (10-02-12)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3jJWxFWUIQ

KARACHI, Aug 4: The Federal Investigation Agency is learnt to have initiated a thorough investigation into the financial affairs of all banned organisations and the Taliban across the country. Sources in the interior ministry told Dawn that while other intelligence agencies were already gathering the details of bank accounts of the banned sectarian and Jihadi organisations, the FIA was assigned to locate and identify the financiers and donors of these organisations. They said the FIA had started gathering details of the accounts maintained by Lashkar-i-Taiba, Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan, Harkatul Mujahideen, Al-Rashid Trust, Al-Badar, Saif-ul-Mujahideen, Tehreek-i-Jafferia Pakistan and Jaish Mohammed. The sources said each proscribed organisation had been maintaining several local and foreign currencies accounts with different nationalised and commercial banks, including Habib Bank, National Bank, Allied Bank, Muslim Commercial Bank and Faysal Bank. The sources said the new assignment to the FIA, reportedly given on the insistence of the Federal Bureau of Intelligence (FBI) of the United States, was also aimed at cross-checking the data so far collected by other intelligence agencies in this regard. An official of the interior ministry said the FIA was the only agency which had trained expert investigators to detect the financial and economic crime. The FIA detectives are well-versed in the entire local and foreign banking procedures and are capable to gather the micro details of the financial transactions, he said. The official said the commercial banks circles of the FIA, which mainly deal with the offences in the banks and financial institutions, had been assigned to gather the details of the accounts, maintained by the proscribed outfits. Meanwhile, the sources in the FIA said the letters, seeking information about the accounts, had already been dispatched to the concerned banks and the investigators were still waiting for the banks' replies. They said the investigators had sought from the banks the information on the account opening forms along with the specimen signature cards of those operating these accounts on behalf of their respective organisations during a period between Feb 2000 and June 2002. The sources said the photocopies of all bank instruments, such as checks, pay orders, demand draft and telex transfer, were also sought from the banks to detect the funds generating sources of the banned sectarian and Jihadi organisations. Meanwhile, banking sources told Dawn some sensitive agencies had already obtained the information on the financial transactions of the banned organisations through the top officials of the concerned banks. At that time, the banks were told by the authorities that it was a policy matter and they must release the information. They said now the banks would be reluctant to provide the required information to the FIA investigators, who would eventually have no legal cover for seeking such information from the banks. The investigation officer can issue such order requiring production of any document or other thing which is in the custody of a bank or banker as defined in the Bankers' Books Evidence Act, 1891, and relates, or might disclose any information which relates to the bank account of any person only for the purpose of investigating an offence under sections 403, 406, 408 and 409 and section 421 to 424 and section 465 to 477-A of the PPC either with prior permission in writing of a sessions court or a high court. REFERENCE: Inquiry begins into banned groups' finances DAWN WIRE SERVICE Week Ending: 10 August 2002 Issue : 08/32 http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/2002/aug102002.html#inqu

Hafiz Muhammad Saeed in Dawn News with Azaz Syed - 2 (10-02-12)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=093ALBXPKQU

ISLAMABAD, Jan 5: The process of withdrawal of Pakistani troops from the Line of Control (LoC) has now been completed to significantly improve relations with India, says a senior government spokesman. "The withdrawal of troops from the LoC has been completed from our side. It is a classified information to tell the exact number of troops that have been withdrawn but I can tell you that this number is quite substantial," said the Press Secretary to the chief executive, Maj-Gen Rashid Qureshi. Speaking at a news conference here on Friday, he denied that there was any incident of heavy fighting along the LoC between Pakistani and Indian troops. "I have read some of the statements emanating from India about firing and heavy fighting on the LoC which are absolutely untrue," he asserted. Qureshi regretted that whenever there was pressure from world community on India to hold talks with Pakistan, the Indian leaders dragged their feet by saying that the environment was not conducive for talks. The situation, he said, was rapidly improving on the LoC which had also been appreciated by the international community. He expressed the hope that Indians would not be adamant to hold talks with Pakistan in order to remove tensions between the two countries. He, however, expressed satisfaction over the latest moves including the decision of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) to visit Pakistan and to resolve long-outstanding disputes including the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir. "There is a clear shift in the situation and there are some encouraging signs to see improvement of relations between India and Pakistan," said Maj-Gen Rashid Qureshi, who is also the Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations. Responding to a question, the ISPR director general said that the government of Pakistan was investigating reports that Lashkar-i-Taiba was behind the killing of some people at Red Fort in Delhi. Similarly, he pointed out, the government agencies were also trying to know as to which Kashmiri organization had planned murder attempt against Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. "We are not sure whether these statements were made by anyone from Pakistani soil or were issued by those who are fighting with Indian forces in the occupied Kashmir," he added. The CE's press secretary accused Indian security forces of killing their own citizens and then putting the blame on Pakistan. "What happened in Taripura in the occupied Kashmir is before you, where a number of innocent Sikhs were killed by the Indian security forces but Pakistan was held responsible for it." Asked about the prospects of talks, he said some of the leaders within the APHC were expressing their serious concern over the continued repression in the occupied valley by the Indian security forces. "Some of the APHC leaders have rejected talks under these circumstances and India should take notice of it so that some meaningful talks could be held among the parties concerned," he added. To a question, he said that the National Security Council (NSC), which met on Thursday, had discussed Pakistan-India relations with special reference to arrival of the APHC delegation. Also, he said, the foreign minister had issued a detailed statement over the issue. REFERENCE: Islamabad hopes for talks: Pullout of troops from LoC completed Ihtashamul Haq DAWN WIRE SERVICE Week Ending : 06 January 2001 Issue : 07/01 http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/2001/jan0601.html#isla

Hafiz Muhammad Saeed in Dawn News with Azaz Syed - 3 (10-02-12)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feovq3hnePw

LAHORE, Aug 24: Demanding removal of Interior Minister Lt-Gen (retd) Moinuddin Haider, Punjab chapters of seven leading Jihadi organizations announced starting a fund-raising and mass contact campaign in the province. "We are starting the campaign from today," announced the Punjab leaders of the seven Jihadi outfits after a meeting at the provincial headquarters of one of them, Tehrikul Mujahideen. A joint committee was constituted in the meeting under Tehrikul Mujahideen Punjab Amir Shakilur Rehman Nasir to start a dialogue with Ulema and leaders of political parties and to "apprise them of their responsibilities in the present situation." The committee will also counter the propaganda campaign of the government against the Jihadi outfits, the leaders informed reporters, adding they were disappointed with the silence of the politicians over the Jihad issue. They said there was no ban on any of their activities including the fund-raising in Punjab but they were starting the campaign here in view of the "expected future conditions." When asked about their reaction to any such ban in Punjab, they said it will be known to everybody and they will not hold the traditional demonstrations. Replying to a question about the indication of a ban on all Jihadi outfits, they said President Gen Pervez Musharraf had been supporting Mujahideen's cause here in Pakistan and during his recent visit to India. Right now it was the interior minister who was talking different things and his removal will settle the entire controversy. They said the ban will "push the things much forward as we move with the speed of the government." REFERENCE: Jihadi groups demand Moin's removal Staff Reporter DAWN WIRE SERVICE Week Ending : 25 August 2001 Issue : 07/34 http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/2001/aug2501.html#jiha

RAWALPINDI, Aug 23: The federal minister for Religious Affairs, Dr Mehmood Ahmad Ghazi, said on Thursday that the government had no plans to ban Jihadi organizations and religious seminaries. Speaking at a Meet the Press programme of the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Press Club here, the religious affairs minister said that only public display of arms and open soliciting of contributions for Jihad had been restricted. About religious seminaries, the minister said the government wanted only to put these institutions on modern lines by preparing their texts as had been mentioned in the recently-promulgated ordinance. According to the ordinance, a board would be established to prepare the text and control the Madaris. But those institutions which would like to remain independent would not be interfered in, he said. The Board would only prepare the text for and award degrees to those private institutions which opted for affiliation and other affairs would be run by the institutions concerned, he said.

Apart from the religious subjects, the other subjects to be included in the syllabus of the Madaris are: English, Math, General Science, Social Studies and computer science. These subjects will only form 35 per cent of the total studies of these schools. The minister denied there was any international pressure to bring these changes in the affairs of the Jihadi organizations and religious seminaries. He said the religious ministry was planning to establish three model religious institutions one each in Islamabad, Karachi and Sukkar in the Haj buildings in these cities. The Board meant for the Madaris will devise their system and plans to run their affairs. He said the ministry would also request the NWFP government to hand over the charge of four Madaris being run by it to the Board. A women Madressah would be opened in the Haji Camp, Rawalpindi, he said. Dr Ghazi said these Madaris would produce such scholars and ulema who, apart from the religious studies, would be well-versed in the modern education and be in a better position to preach the religion in the West and other countries of the world. About the holy war in Kashmir, he said Pakistan had always supported the Kashmiri Mujahideen and it would continue to do so in future also. "We condemn India and Israel for resorting to terrorism and support the ongoing Jihad there." REFERENCE: No plan to ban Jihadi groups: minister Staff Reporter DAWN WIRE SERVICE Week Ending : 25 August 2001 Issue : 07/34 http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/2001/aug2501.html#jiha

Hafiz Muhammad Saeed in Dawn News with Azaz Syed - 4 (10-02-12)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNDC3ZIVOcc

KARACHI, Aug 23: The State Bank has asked all the banks and non-bank financial institutions "to take immediate steps to freeze the accounts" of Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and Sipah-i-Muhammad. It has also asked them to furnish by Aug 31 a statement of frozen funds of the militant groups that were banned on Aug 14 for being involved in sectarian terrorism. The SBP, instructed all the banks and NBFIs to include in the required statement the names of the banks/NBFIs, the title of the accounts frozen and the amount deposited in them. Senior bankers said they would start scanning the accounts being operated by Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and Sipah-i-Muhammad from Friday. But they clarified that since both militant outfits were believed to be operating underground they might not be operating their bank accounts under their own title. Officials of the leading local banks reached by Dawn said they had no idea whether the two organisations were maintaining any account with their banks under their own title. "Maybe they have bank accounts under different titles...but we will have to scan our books thoroughly to see if they maintain an account with us," said an executive of a state-run bank. REFERENCE: Accounts of banned outfits to be frozen By Mohiuddin Aazim DAWN WIRE SERVICE Week Ending : 25 August 2001 Issue : 07/34 http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/2001/aug2501.html#jiha

KARACHI, Aug 22: In a day-long crackdown in the city, the police sealed dozens of offices of Jihadi organizations and arrested scores of activists. The crackdown follows a government decision banning the display of signboards at the offices of the Jihadi organizations and placing of fund-raising boxes at public places. A senior police official said the orders for crackdown had been received on Tuesday night. About 250 activists were arrested by the afternoon, but the "situation" then changed and those arrested were subsequently released. The representatives of Al Badar, Jaish-i-Mohammad, Lashkar-i-Taiba and other Jihadi organizations said that although they had removed signboards and donation boxes from public places, yet the police raided their offices and sealed them. Senior police officials were divided on the issue of conducting raids on the Jihadi groups' offices and about the number of arrests. REFERENCE: Jihadi groups' offices in Karachi sealed Staff Reporter DAWN WIRE SERVICE Week Ending : 25 August 2001 Issue : 07/34 http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/2001/aug2501.html#jiha

KARACHI, Aug 22: In a day-long crackdown in the city, the police sealed dozens of offices of Jihadi organizations and arrested scores of activists. The crackdown follows a government decision banning the display of signboards at the offices of the Jihadi organizations and placing of fund-raising boxes at public places. A senior police official said the orders for crackdown had been received on Tuesday night. About 250 activists were arrested by the afternoon, but the "situation" then changed and those arrested were subsequently released. The representatives of Al Badar, Jaish-i-Mohammad, Lashkar-i-Taiba and other Jihadi organizations said that although they had removed signboards and donation boxes from public places, yet the police raided their offices and sealed them. Senior police officials were divided on the issue of conducting raids on the Jihadi groups' offices and about the number of arrests. REFERENCE: Jihadi groups' offices in Karachi sealed DAWN WIRE SERVICE Week Ending : 25 August 2001 Issue : 07/34 http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/2001/aug2501.html#jiha

KARACHI, Aug 21: The Jihadi organizations have refused to comply with the Sindh government orders banning placing of fund-raising boxes at public places and installing signboards at their offices. A day after the provincial home department announced a set of curbs against the Jihadi outfits, DIG Karachi Tariq Jamil said, "we have not yet received any notification to take action against those disregarding these orders." "No action has yet been taken," Mr Jamil told Dawn, adding that although the orders had been reported in a section of the press, these were yet to be notified. However, police mobiles reportedly went to some of the offices of jihadi organizations and asked them to take the fund- raising boxes inside their premises. They, however, did not object to signboards. REFERENCE: Jihadi outfits angry over Sindh govt curbs DAWN WIRE SERVICE Week Ending : 25 August 2001 Issue : 07/34 http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/2001/aug2501.html#jiha

KARACHI, Aug 20: The Sindh government has restrained the Jihadi organizations from displaying signboards and placing donation boxes at public places. A spokesman for the Sindh home department said that "it has been noticed with grave concern" that the Jihadi organizations were displaying their signboards and collecting contributions by placing boxes at shops and roadsides. "It has been decided that no Jihadi organization will from Aug 20 onwards display signboards on their offices and collect financial contributions by placing boxes on public places," he said, adding any deviation from the order would be seriously viewed. REFERENCE: Curbs placed on Jihadi outfits DAWN WIRE SERVICE Week Ending : 25 August 2001 Issue : 07/34 http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/2001/aug2501.html#jiha

FAISALABAD, Aug 19: The police arrested over two dozen activists and leaders of outlawed Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and Sipah-i-Muhammad. Police teams raided the residences of suspects in various parts of Faisalabad, Jhang and Toba Tek Singh districts. A majority of the arrested were booked under Anti-Terrorism Act. Toba Tek Singh police arrested over a dozen leaders and activists including Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan district president Qari Muhammad Owais. Sources told this correspondent that the operation would continue for two more days in the districts.. REFERENCE: Over two dozen LJ, SMP activists arrested DAWN WIRE SERVICE Week Ending : 25 August 2001 Issue : 07/34 http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/2001/aug2501.html#jiha

JAMMU, June 3: Police claimed 14 Mujahideen belonging to Lashkar-i-Taiba, Jaish-i-Mohammed and Hizbul Mujahideen were killed in a gunbattle with Indian troops in Poonch district. "Up to now, we have information that 14 militants have been killed," Kamal Saini, superintendent of police in charge of Poonch district said. In another incident, three militants were killed by Indian troops near Surankote, in Poonch district.-Reuters/AFP REFERENCE: 17 fighters killed in Valley DAWN WIRE SERVICE Week Ending : 9 June 2001 Issue : 07/23 http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/2001/jun0901.html#17fi

WASHINGTON, Nov 3: A senior US official responsible for counter- terrorism on Tuesday directly accused Pakistan of supporting training of militant groups in Afghanistan as well as providing "material support" to some of the Kashmiri militants. "There are numerous Kashmiri separatist groups and sectarian groups involved in terrorism which use Pakistan as a base...We have repeatedly asked Islamabad to end support of terrorist training in Afghanistan," Michael Sheehan, State Department's coordinator for counter-terrorism, told a Senate Foreign Relations sub-committee. The sub-committee hearing was called and presided over by Senator Sam Brownback and the list of experts who testified included a former CIA officer in Pakistan Milt Bearden, president of Stimson Centre Michael Krepon, John Hopkins University Central Asia Institute chairman Dr Fredrick Starr and a Pakistani- American businessman and columnist Mansoor Ijaz. Mr Sheehan recently visited India to coordinate US-Indian responses to terrorist threats but when asked whether he would also visit Pakistan soon, he said: "Hopefully." "Pakistan has frequently acknowledged what it calls moral and diplomatic support for militants in Kashmir who employ violence and terrorism against Indian interests. We have continuing reports of Pakistani material support for some of these militants," Mr Sheehan said. He named several Pakistan-based militant Islamic groups including Lashkar Taiba, Harkatul Jehad Islami and Hizbul Mujahideen, which, he said, "operate freely in Pakistan and support terrorist attacks in Kashmir." Asked by Indian and Pakistani journalists after his hearing whether he found any change in the policy after the overthrow of the Nawaz government, Mr Sheehan said: "We are still waiting for their responses and it is too early to judge whether there is any change." When a correspondent pointed out whether it was "business as usual" with the military government, he crisply said "no" but added: "We hope to work with them on all these issues." REFERENCE: US says Pakistan training militants Shaheen Sehbai DAWN WIRE SERVICE Week Ending : 06 November 1999 Issue : 05/45 http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/1999/06nov99.html#ussa

KARACHI, Aug 1: The process of talks between New Delhi and the Hizbul Mujahideen was set in motion on Tuesday as Indian home ministry officials contacted the outfit's nominee for negotiations here. Fazal Haq Qureshi, a veteran freedom struggle leader heading the Jammu and Kashmir People's Political Front, nominated as the negotiator by Hizbul Mujahideen, confirmed that officials of the home ministry spoke to him on phone on Tuesday morning. However, Qureshi refused to divulge details of his interaction with the officials but said: "I told them that I am available for anybody," according to a PTI report monitored here. He said he was waiting for "guidelines" from the Hizbul Mujahideen to go ahead with the talks with New Delhi. Qureshi said he had been in touch with the Hizbul Mujahideen prior to its announcement of unilateral ceasefire for three months. "I am in touch with the Hizbul Mujahideen as before. Even before they (Hizb) announced the ceasefire, I was in contact with them".

APPEAL: The Hizbul Mujahideen appealed on Tuesday to other groups to lay down their weapons and urged Indian forces to suspend operations in occupied Kashmir, says an AFP report from Srinagar. In its statement, the Hizbul Mujahideen said: "We appeal to other groups to support the ceasefire and we expect the Indian troops to suspend their offensive operations against all the groups." The statement said authorities had been asked to contact a leader, Fazal-Haq Qureshi.

BREAKTHROUGH: The sudden and unprecedented truce between India and the Hizbul Mujahideen has kindled a flicker of hope for peace in occupied Kashmir. Some believe the developments that have unfolded so rapidly in recent weeks could culminate in a meeting between Chief Executive Gen Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee at the UN Assembly next month. That would indeed be a breakthrough given that since last year's undeclared war in Kargil, New Delhi has refused to hold talks with Islamabad. But analysts say such hope could easily be snuffed out by New Delhi's reluctance to include Islamabad in negotiations on Kashmir, and its unwillingness to make concessions on sovereignty. There could also be an escalation of violence as diehard groups - such as Lashkar-i-Taiba and Jaish-i-Mohammad - try to undermine the unilateral ceasefire implemented by the Hizbul Mujahideen last week. The first evidence came quickly, with the Lashkar-i-Taiba launching a fierce attack on an Indian army camp in occupied Kashmir on Sunday night.

CURFEW: Meanwhile, an indefinite curfew was imposed on Tuesday in a district of occupied Kashmir after the killing of 23 people, including five Hindu pilgrims at a crowded marketplace, a police official said. The official said a group of unidentified gunmen swooped on a market in Pahalgam, 97kms south of Srinagar, and fired indiscriminately at shoppers. "The Pahalgam market which was targeted lies on the Hindu pilgrimage route to the holy Amarnath cave in southern Kashmir. That is why the dead and the injured are mainly from the Hindu community," said the official. "This incident could spark off a lot of communal violence. That is why we have cordoned off the area and stepped up security." A team, led by a senior police officer, rushed to the spot as people from the Hindu community thronged the streets shouting anti-Muslim and anti-government slogans outside police stations, hospitals and government buildings. REFERENCE: New Delhi begins talks with Hizb nominee: 30 killed in Kashmir Monitoring Desk DAWN WIRE SERVICE Week Ending : 5 August 2000 Issue : 06/29 http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/2000/aug05.html#newd

ISLAMABAD, Dec 14: Pakistan put its armed forces on high alert following threatening statements by Indian leaders in the wake of an armed attack on parliament in New Delhi. President Gen Pervez Musharraf presided over a meeting, which decided to keep vigil to meet any eventuality. The chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, the three service chiefs and vice chief of the army staff attended the meeting at the GHQ in Rawalpindi. Official sources told Dawn the meeting had regretted that without having inquired and investigated the attack on parliament, the Indian leaders had started pointing the finger at Pakistan. The meeting reviewed the situation and decided to take "all necessary steps" to counter any threat coming from across the border. Pakistan, the president told the meeting, had condemned the attack and sympathized with the Indian Prime Minister over the issue. However, he added, it had become a routine for India to implicate Pakistan in every matter without giving any proof. Referring to Islamabad's relations with Delhi, the president said that Pakistan was continuously making sincere efforts to normalize relations with India despite provocations. "Why have the Indians rejected the US government's offer to send an FBI team to investigate the attack on parliament?" asked a senior official. India, he said, was facing internal problems and had failed to manage its affairs. That's why, he maintained, it was putting the blame for every thing on Pakistan.

"How did the suicide bomber enter the parliament premises and was it not a big security lapse for which its own people needed to be held responsible?" asked the official, privy to the GHQ meeting. He said that failure in getting its Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance passed by parliament, and Coffins' Scandal were, in fact, the issues worrying the Indian government. He said the whole incident was a propaganda stunt by India itself. "The attack on parliament is a drama staged by Indian intelligence agencies to defame the freedom struggle in occupied Kashmir," he said. "It has never been our policy to attack civilian targets. Lashkar and other Jihadi organizations are not involved in the recent attack. "Those (Indians) who can kill thousands of defenceless people in Kashmir can resort to such tactics to gain international sympathy. We demand the international community probe this attack independently to know the truth." REFERENCE: Pakistan forces put on high alert: Storming of parliament By Ihtasham ul Haque DAWN WIRE SERVICE Week Ending : 15 December 2001 Issue : 07/50 http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/2001/dec1501.html#paki

NEW DELHI, Dec 14: A day after suspected Muslim militants launched a blistering attack on India's well protected Parliament House, New Delhi accused Pakistan of harboring the masterminds and said that Islamabad must arrest the leaders and freeze their accounts. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee led a mourning meeting of the two houses of parliament and later said that the objective of the five armed men who attacked the building from outside before being killed, was to take some 700 members of parliament gathered in the British-built legislature hostage to press for unspecified demands. "Their intention was to indulge in large-scale killing and/or take hostages to make demands," Vajpayee said at a function to commemorate 10 years of the revamped Pioneer newspaper. "It was a well-thought-out plan, perhaps planned for months. Otherwise the attack on a soft target like parliament with such deep awareness of the place would not be possible."

He denied opposition charges that the attack resulted from a serious security failure. "Had it been a security failure we would not be sitting here today," Vajpayee said. "We are being mean with praise for the security men who saved our lives, fought for democracy." Home Minister Lal Krishan Advani, present at the function, put the blame on Pakistan although he did not directly name it. "In a way, a neighbouring country is responsible for the attack, in so far as that is where the (militants) were trained." The foreign ministry was more explicit although there were reports that the cabinet itself was divided over Advani's apparent demand
to go for a "hot pursuit" of the militants who India says are armed and trained across the border. The foreign ministry blamed the Pakistan-based Lashkar-i-Taiba for Thursday's terrorist attack on Parliament, asserting it has "credible evidence." New Delhi has also formally asked Islamabad to arrest Lashkar and Jaish-i-Mohammad men and freeze the assets of both organisations. Foreign Secretary Chokila Iyer summoned Pakistan High Commissioner Ashraf Jehangir Qazi and made out a demarche, setting out three demands.

Qazi told Dawn that Pakistan had not been directly blamed for the attack which has been condemned by President Pervez Musharraf. "It was a polite request to look into the various issues raised by the Indian government." External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh, coming out of a meeting with the visiting Afghan counterpart, Abdullah Abdullah, told reporters that "India has technical evidence that Thursday's terrorist attacks on not only the symbol but also the seat of Indian democracy and sovereignty was the handiwork of a terrorist organisation based in Pakistan - the Lashkar-i-Taiba." Declining to go into the "credible evidence" the government has on the outfit's involvement, Singh said there were "obvious difficulties" in making it public as government agencies had many means of obtaining intelligence. "This is technical intelligence, entirely credible," he said. Qazi was summoned by Foreign Secretary Chokila Iyer and a demarche was made to him. Singh told reporters that the demarche had set out three demands - arrest of the leadership of Lashkar and Jaish-i-Mohammed, stopping their activities and freezing their assets. Speaking from Islamabad, the Lashkar denied any role in Thursday's attack. The President's spokesman, Rashid Qureshi addressing a question on whether India would pass on evidence to Pakistan if it is sought, he said: "It really is a decision that will have to be weighed against the requirements and the interest of the agencies that collect technical intelligence. I don't think any country reveals the methodology unless the intelligence collected has no further use there. That is the standard procedure."

Asked whether India would consider military retaliation, Singh said New Delhi's position was outlined in a Cabinet resolution and "it is not open for me to speculate." On whether New Delhi has received any response from Pakistan to its demands, Singh said the demarche had been made out only on Friday evening. About reports that Pakistan has put its troops on high alert, he said: "We have no reports on this," adding that he has been in regular touch with the Defence Minister and the service headquarters. Asked if India had any evidence of Islamabad's involvement in any manner in Thursday's attack, he said one had to reflect on the origins of LT, its funding and patronage of both the LT and JM. Asked what would be the next step if Islamabad chose to ignore the demarche, he said a diplomatic demarche cannot be ignored. "Pakistan asserts that it is with the rest of the international community in its fight against terrorism. That it does not promote or encourage terrorism. It is our expectation that it will certainly abide by what it says itself," he said.

Later, asked about the response of the Pakistani High Commissioner after the demarche was made out to him, an external affairs ministry spokesperson told reporters that Qazi said he would refer its contents to his government. To a question whether the Indian government had set a deadline for Islamabad to act on the demarche, she said, "We have not set a deadline but we expect them to act early." Asked whether any US team had come to Delhi in connection with Thursday's attack, she said: "No FBI team has come." India is in touch with a number of countries on the terrorist attack, she said, when asked about the support from various nations on the issue. Authoritative home ministry sources have reaffirmed that LT and JM terrorists carried out a joint operation in attacking Parliament on Thursday morning. The sources noted that while initial investigation had pointed towards the involvement of LT alone, as External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh said earlier on Friday, subsequent evidence indicated that the JM too had participated in the operation. Security personnel had gunned down five militants, who had stormed into the Parliament complex in a white Ambassador car, after a prolonged exchange of fire on Thursday morning. The identities of these militants are yet to be established. The sources noted that since each of the militants was carrying three to four identity cards each, the police was finding it difficult to establish their true identity. One of these identity cards belonged to the man who had bought the car used in the operation. The sources quoted one of the injured security personnel as saying that the militants talked to each other in Urdu. In the meanwhile, the Delhi Police is on the lookout for the "sixth" militant who went missing after the operation. The closed- circuit TVs installed in Parliament clearly showed six people getting down from the car which carried the militants inside the complex. REFERENCE: Delhi blames Lashkar for attack: India wants militants' arrest By Jawed Naqvi DAWN WIRE SERVICE Week Ending : 15 December 2001 Issue : 07/50 http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/2001/dec1501.html#delh

MUZAFFARABAD, Nov 4: Mutahidda Jihad Council (MJC), an alliance of Mujahideen groups battling the Indian rule over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, condemned the US for freezing the accounts of another freedom-fighters' group. The MJC said that the US decision to freeze the accounts of Lashkar-i-Taiba was "unrealistic, unwise and biased, providing a base to strengthen India's unending repression in Kashmir." The Bush administration had imposed stringent financial sanctions on the Harkatul Mujahideen organization, fighting Indian rule in Kashmir. REFERENCE: Freezing of Lashkar accounts condemned Staff Correspondent DAWN WIRE SERVICE Week Ending : 10 November 2001 Issue : 07/45 http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/2001/nov1001.html#free

WASHINGTON, Dec 26: The United States has formally placed Lashkar- i-Tayyaba and Jaish-i-Mohammad on the state department's list of officially designated terrorist organizations. The move was widely expected after the US last week blocked the financial assets of the two groups following the Dec 13 attack on the Indian parliament. The organizations were also publicly named by President George Bush as being responsible for terrorist activities against India, seeking to harm Indo-Pakistan relations, and working to undermine the authority of President Gen Pervez Musharraf. India has been blaming Jaish and the Lashkar for the parliament attack. Another organization with links to Kashmir, Harkatul Mujahideen, is already on the US list of designated terrorist organizations. In a statement, Secretary of State Colin Powell said he was designating the two as "Foreign Terrorist Organizations under US law. These groups, which claim to be supporting the people of Kashmir, have conducted numerous terrorist attacks in India and Pakistan. As the recent horrific attacks against the Indian parliament and the Srinagar state legislative assembly so clearly show, the Lashkar-i-Tayyaba, Jaish-i-Mohammed, and their ilk seek to assault democracy, undermine peace and stability in South Asia, and destroy relations between India and Pakistan." By designating these groups as foreign terrorist organizations, Mr Powell said, "we implement the provisions of the Anti-terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act. This act makes it illegal for persons in the United States or subject to US jurisdiction to provide material support to these terrorist groups; it requires US financial institutions to block assets held by them; and it enables us to deny visas to representatives of these groups. I made this decision in consultation with the attorney general and the secretary of the treasury after an exhaustive review of these groups' violent activities. The United States looks forward to working with the governments of both India and Pakistan to shut these groups down". The state department's latest move amidst a tense standoff between Pakistan and India over New Delhi's demands for action against Pakistan-based militant organizations is interpreted here as a step designed to mollify India and restrain it from precipitating any military adventure. REFERENCE: US declares LT, Jaish groups terrorist By Tahir Mirza DAWN WIRE SERVICE Week Ending : 29 December 2001 Issue : 07/52 http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/2001/dec2901.html#usde

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 27: The UN security council's sanctions committee on Afghanistan ordered its members to freeze the finances of Ummah-Tameer-i-Nau (UTN) and three Pakistanis accused by the United States of offering to help Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda network to make nuclear weapons. Seeking to punish the Taliban, Afghanistan's then rulers, for harbouring Osama, the Security Council voted a year ago to require all UN members to freeze any funds or financial assets under their control belonging to Osama or any group linked to him. The 15-nation council asked the committee to designate which groups and individuals should be covered by the vote. US blames Osama and Al Qaeda for the Sept 11 suicide attacks on the United States that killed more than 3,000 people. The United Nations has been working closely with the United States in a campaign to cut off the funding of suspected "terrorist" organizations. Washington announced that it was blocking the assets of Ummah Tameer-i-Nau and the three Pakistani nationals - UTN founder Sultan Bashir-Ud-Din Mahmood, nuclear fuels expert Abdul Majeed, and industrialist S.M. Tufail. Announcement by the UN sanctions committee tracks the US move. Mahmood was formerly the director for nuclear power at the Pakistani Atomic Energy Commission, and Majeed was a former high- ranking commission official. REFERENCE: UN move to freeze UTN accounts Staff Correspondent DAWN WIRE SERVICE Week Ending : 29 December 2001 Issue : 07/52 http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/2001/dec2901.html#unmo

KARACHI, Dec 24: The State Bank has advised all banks and non-bank financial institutions to freeze the accounts of Lashkar-i-Tayyaba and Ummah Tameer-i-Nau (UTN). Last week, the Bush administration had frozen the accounts of these organizations. An SBP spokesman said the State Bank had asked banks and NBFIs to furnish within a week the details of the assets of the two groups. Senior bankers said the SBP had also asked them to identify the holders of the assets belonging to the two outfits. REFERENCE: Accounts of Lashkar, Ummah frozen Staff Reporter DAWN WIRE SERVICE Week Ending : 29 December 2001 Issue : 07/52 http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/2001/dec2901.html#unmo

WASHINGTON, Dec 21: The action taken by the Bush administration against the Lashkar-i-Tayyaba and Umma Tameer-i-Nau (UTN), an organization linked to two Pakistani Atomic Energy Commission scientists, is seen here as being largely symbolic, but it is considered likely that the Lashkar may also soon be placed on the list of officially designated terrorist groups. President George Bush has blocked the financial assets of the Lashkar and UTN, but since neither has assets here, the move is meant more as a signal directed at both India and Pakistan. India had been complaining ever since last week's attack on the Indian parliament building that the United States had not taken a firm stand against so-called Pakistan-based militancy in Kashmir, and Thursday's decision is meant to soothe Indian sensibilities and prevent an India-Pakistan flare-up that may divert attention from the campaign against Al-Qaeda. At the same time, it is a firm hint to the Musharraf government to take action against extremist groups based in Pakistan or having strong affiliations in the country. It is believed that in his telephone conversation with General Musharraf, Secretary of State Colin Powell had informed the general in advance of the action against the Lashkar and UTN, which is alleged to have supplied information on nuclear weapons to Al-Qaeda. The only organization with ties to Kashmiri militancy on the US State Department's list of designated terrorist organizations so far is Harkatul Mujahideen. But the Lashkar and Jaish-i-Mohammad have been on a "Watch List" for some time.

The Lashkar is described in the official Patterns of Global Terrorism report issued last April as the "armed wing of the Pakistan-based religious organization, Markaz Dawa-wal-Irshad, a Sunni anti-US missionary organizations formed in 1989." It is defined as "one of the three largest and best-trained groups fighting in Kashmir against India." It has "several hundred members in Azad Kashmir, Pakistan, and in India's southern Kashmir and Doda regions." It financial assets, according to Patterns of Terrorism, include donations from the Pakistani community in the Gulf, the UK, Islamic NGOs, and Pakistani and Kashmiri businessmen. It is possible that the US might put pressure on the Gulf and European countries to block the group's accounts and clamp down on remittances sent to it. Jaish-i-Mohammad, another organization that could be targeted for inclusion on the State Department's list of designated terrorist groups, is described an Islamist group based in Pakistan that has rapidly expanded in size and capability since Maulana Masood Azhar, a former ultra-fundamentalist Harkatul Ansar leader, announced its formation in February. Lashkar-i-Tayyaba was characterized by President Bush as a "stateless sponsor of terrorism" in remarks in which Mr Bush had underlined US desire to protect Indian democracy. But he had also said the organization wanted to destroy relations between India and Pakistan and "undermine" President Musharraf. REFERENCE: Lashkar may be declared a terrorist group by US By Tahir Mirza DAWN WIRE SERVICE Week Ending : 22 December 2001 Issue : 07/51 http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/2001/dec2201.html#lash

NEW YORK, Dec 16: The United States plans to increase pressure on Pakistan to curb the activities of two Mujahideen groups after a suicide attack on the Indian Parliament that killed seven people, said the New York Times quoting American officials. The paper says that in its efforts to obtain the continued cooperation of Pakistan in the fight against Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, the Bush administration had refrained from pushing too hard for it to clamp down on the two organizations, Lashkar-i-Taiba and Jaish-i-Muhammad, which operate openly in Pakistan and advocate violence to drive India out of Kashmir. But India's accusation that Lashkar-i-Taiba was behind the dramatic shootout and Jaish-i- Muhammad claim of responsibility for a similar attack on the Indian Legislative Assembly in Kashmir that killed 40 people in October has forced a tough re-evaluation by Washington, the paper said.

Pakistan has "told us that they are planning on moving gradually to curb this kind of extremism," a senior State Department official told the Times. "I think what this means is if these groups are indeed carrying out these kinds of attacks, that process will have to be accelerated." A Western diplomat in Islamabad concurred, saying the Bush administration will push Pakistan to restrain militant groups to try to reduce tensions with India over Kashmir, a predominantly Muslim border region that India considers a state in its union. India has demanded that Pakistan shut down both groups. The Times noted that Pakistan has long identified Islamic groups fighting against Indian control of Kashmir as freedom fighters and tolerated their activities even in the post-Sept 11 era. The government has started to crack down on radical religious schools, which provided training grounds for fighters who joined the Taliban, and has begun to purge its powerful intelligence service
of pro-Taliban elements in response to American pressure. But Kashmiri Mujahideen groups retain strong backing from elements of the military dictatorship and the public, so the government has been reluctant to restrain them and risk internal problems.

The leader of one such group in an interview with the paper said that his organization was told by government officials to move its headquarters to Azad Kashmir region and lower its profile, but he said nothing was mentioned about stopping its attacks on Indian outposts. "All they told us to do was move our visible means of operation out of the spotlight," said the leader. Similarly, Lashkar-i-Taiba recently moved its offices out of
Islamabad and took down the signs at its huge training compound near Lahore, but foreign intelligence officials said the organization continues to train freedom fighters there. Lashkar-i-Taiba, or Army of the Pure, is led by a former university professor, Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, who has continued to give fiery public speeches denouncing the American-led coalition's war in Afghanistan and warning President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan not to "sell out" Kashmir the way he sold out the Taliban, the paper said. The group, the Times noted has taken credit for many attacks on Indian soldiers in Kashmir, but a spokesman said that it was not responsible for the attack on the Indian Parliament, which shook the world's largest democracy. Jaish-i-Muhammad, which means Army of the Prophet Muhammad, also operates openly despite American requests that Pakistan freeze its bank accounts and curtail its activities after the Oct 1 suicide attack in Srinagar in Kashmir. REFERENCE: US may seek increased pressure on Jihadi groups DAWN WIRE SERVICE Week Ending : 22 December 2001 Issue : 07/51 http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/2001/dec2201.html#usma

NEW DELHI, Dec 24: Indian Home Minister L KAdvani on Sunday indicated the possibility of talks with freedom fighters groups such as Hizbul Mujahideen and did not rule out dialogue with Pakistan after an "assessment" of its behaviour during the extended ceasefire peace initiative in occupied Kashmir. "That possibility is there," he said when asked about the chances of the Centre starting a dialogue with freedom fighter groups in occupied Kashmir in the wake of its bold peace measures. In an interview to PTI, the minister said the situation with regard to the ceasefire would be reviewed after the Republic Day when the extension is set to end. On the possibility of talks with the Mujahideen groups, Advani said "I would like to emphasise that dialogue with our people in Jammu and Kashmir would naturally have to include all sections like the ruling National Conference, the main opposition Congress, BJP and leftists and representatives from Jammu and Laddakh." "And if militant organizations like the Hizbul Mujahideen are prepared to lay down arms and become part of the dialogue, they are also welcome," the home minister said. Hurriyat Conference on Sunday denied playing any "mediatory role" between India and Pakistan in resolving the Kashmir issue but said it wants to apply the "keys with a purpose of unlocking the doors of goodwill and understanding." "I do not agree (to the role of mediator), we are a party to a dispute and no party to a dispute can pass for a mediator. We would, however, as the principal party choose to apply keys with a purpose to unlocking the doors of goodwill and understanding," Hurriyat chairman Abdul Gani Bhat said.

HIGH ALERT: Indian airports were put on high alert on Sunday to guard against strikes by freedom fighters who stunned the nation with a shock attack on New Delhi's historic Red Fort, agencies add. A spokesman at India's Bureau of Civil Aviation Security said 15 airports across eastern India including Calcutta international were on their "highest state of alert" after Friday night's shooting, in which Mujahideen killed three people. "The home ministry has asked us to maintain 'all-out vigilance'," he said, adding that a security cordon has also been put in place at all domestic and international airports. The Red Fort attack sent a message to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee that his Kashmir ceasefire initiative held little meaning for freedom fighters. Abu Usama, commander of the Lashkar-i-Toiba which staged the attack at Red Fort, summarised the Mujahideen's position in an interview to The Pioneer newspaper on Sunday. "It is immaterial whether Pakistan, India or Kashmir have appreciated the Indian prime minister's ceasefire gesture. We are working for the freedom of Kashmir from Indian security forces," Usama said. Asked if groups such as his would face difficulties if Pakistan changed tack on Kashmir and came down on the militants, Usama said: "I really do not see it happening." Lashker-i-Toiba chief Hafiz Saeed on Saturday told India to expect more attacks. "There will be more (attacks) on soldiers, army installations but not civilians," Saeed said. On Friday night, two Lashkar gunmen killed a soldier, an army barber and a civilian as the military garrison held a party at the Mughal-built fort. Red Fort is the venue from where prime ministers address the nation on India's annual independence day celebrations on Aug 15. It has also housed hundreds of captured Kashmiri freedom fighters. REFERENCE: Advani sees possibility of talks with Pakistan Monitoring Desk
DAWN WIRE SERVICE Week Ending : 30 December 2000 Issue : 06/50 http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/2000/dec3000.html#adva

NEW DELHI, Dec 26: Guns have fallen silent in Siachen, the world's highest battlefield, after 16 years of relentless firing between Indian and Pakistani troops, but Mujahideen groups still deeply suspicious of New Delhi's peace initiatives have stepped up their armed campaign - stretching from the heart of the Indian capital to the heart of the matter, in Kashmir, officials and news reports said on Tuesday. "There are claims by the media and the government that people in Kashmir are tired of fighting - that they want peace," Syed Ali Shah Gilani, a senior leader of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) told the Dawn. "These attacks serve to remind all concerned that Kashmiris have little or no interest in the peace of the grave. There is no constituency for a ceasefire in Kashmir. There is a struggle on for a just solution." At least 10 people, most of them army personnel, were killed in Srinagar on Monday when a suicide car bomber blew himself up near the army's heavily guarded headquarters. Another audacious attack was carried out on Friday night right inside Delhi's Red Fort, now serving partly as a high security army interrogation centre, when two Lashkar-i-Taiba Mujahideen killed three army personnel there. The Jamiatul Mujahideen and the Jaish-i-Mohammad, the outfit which Maulana Masood Azhar currently heads, have both claimed responsibility for the Srinagar blast. The latter identified the bomber as Abdullahbhai, a resident of Birmingham in the United Kingdom.

Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes was visiting Srinagar on Monday, but he did not go to the blast site. Fernandes earlier in the day flew over the Siachen glacier where more Indian and Pakistani troops have died from frost bite than howitzer firings that began in 1985. The NDTV news channel, whose correspondent apparently travelled with Fernandes, said: "The firing had come to a complete halt. "The Ramazan ceasefire has had a lot of impact on the ground," NDTV correspondent Sanjay Ahirwal reported. "For the first time in 16 years, guns are silent at Siachen. In the last one month, there has not been any firing from the Indian side. Firing from the Pakistani side has also been negligible." He quoted Fernandes as saying that talks with Pakistan appeared to be a distinct possibility. "Whatever indications we have received till now, it appears that Pakistan is also stepping towards peace," Fernandes said. Pakistan had responded recently to Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's announcement of a ceasefire in occupied Kashmir first with an order to its troops to observe maximum restraint on the Line of Control and later by announcing a partial withdrawal of its forces. The NDTV quoted a senior Indian army official on Tuesday as questioning the veracity of Pakistan's move. It quoted Major General Sheru Thapliyal, GOC, Northern Command, as saying: "Troop withdrawal is not as simple a thing as telling your people, 'Just go back'. It takes time and it has to be planned as to who will move, from which area, how many. So it is a complex problem. It is not so simple that he tells his people, 'pack up and move out'. We have not seen any withdrawal." REFERENCE: Guns fall silent in Siachen Jawed Naqvi DAWN WIRE SERVICE Week Ending : 30 December 2000 Issue : 06/50 http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/2000/dec3000.html#guns

Hafiz Muhammad Saeed in Dawn News with Azaz Syed - 5 (10-02-12)

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

ISLAMABAD: Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the chief of Jamaat ud Dawa (JuD) a charity organisation accused by West and India for exporting terror from Pakistan, has confessed for the first time about his meeting with al Qaida founding father Osama Bin Laden and said that he studied from the same scholar who taught bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri. "Yes once I had met Osama Bin Laden but that is an old story I met him probably in 1982 in Saudi Arabia and in that meeting we just waived at each other," said Saeed in an interview with Dawn.com. Saeed's organisation was banned by the United Nations Security Council days after the Mumbai attacks in November 2008 for its alleged involvement in the attacks and extremists activities. However local courts have allowed the organisation to work in Pakistan. Saeed, the most wanted man by India, is a holder of double master's degree in Islamic Studies and also is a former teacher at Engineering University, Punjab. He said he was a proud student of Sheikh Bin Baz. Bin Baz was the grand mufti (scholar) of Saudi Arabia from 1993 to until his death in May 1999. AfPak head and a retired CIA officer, Bruce Riedel in his book titled "The Search for Al Qaeda" has described Bin Baz as one who "preached a very reactionary brand of Islam, proclaiming earth is flat, banning high heels for women as too sexually provocative, barring men from wearing Western suits and imposing other restrictions on behavior." When asked is it not a coincidence that he studied under the same cleric who taught Osama Bin Laden and Aiman al al-Zawahiri? Saeed said it was the honour for both the students and the teacher. When asked about the reports regarding the financial help by Osama Bin Laden for establishing Lashkar-i-Taiba back in 1989-90, Saeed denied by calling it "baseless allegation." Asked how it was possible that he could not have met Bin Laden in neighboring Afghanistan while he was waging Jihad next door in Indian administered Kashmir, Saeed brushed aside the question saying, "put this matter aside." Saeed declared the killing of Osama Bin Laden as extra judicial act and in the same breath he said that it was yet to be verified if the al Qaeda chief was in the Abbotabad compound or not. He said that US was the biggest terrorist who did not prove anything against bin Laden in any court of law. When asked if his men or he himself were helping the jihad in Afghanistan, Saeed said that the Afghanis were doing well themselves and they did not need anybody's help. "We are doing what we can do for them," he added. Saeed who used to hide from cameras has started appearing on television screen these days, when asked about the reason behind this change of mind he said that he has taken this decision to counter the propaganda against himself and his organisation. REFERENCE: Osama, Zawahri and I had same teacher: Hafiz Saeed By Azaz Syed http://www.dawn.com/2012/02/07/bin-laden-zawahri-and-i-had-same-teacher-hafiz-saeed.html

Saudi Salafi Shiekh Ibn Baz Fatwa of Apostasy against Saddam Hussein

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUor52ke7pE

Late. Abd al-Aziz ibn Abd Allah ibn Baaz [Saudi Grand Mufti who issued Fatwa against Saddam and then against Osama Bin Ladin] Let me be blunt and allow me to say that since the first day of arrival of First Oil Rich Pedophile/Pederast Arab Rascal Sheikh in Pakistan our Rulers from General Ayub to Zardari [Bhutto is included] played the Role of Pimps and Paddlers for them e.g. Wild Hunting Parties [with every kind of vice] in the most poor areas of Pakistan i.e. South Punjab – The Seraiki Belt – or you may say the HQ of Punjabi Taliban. They way these Rascals Treat Working Class [Educated Middle Class] from Pakistan, India and Bangladesh could only be called worst kind of slavery and cruelty because from Airport to Work Place these Arabs [from Executive to Citizen] insult them and violate every Law given in the book particularly the Labour Laws. And these very Arabs are Financing the Khawarijs in Pakistan, let me show all of you their real face:

King Fahd presented Kalashnikov to another pervert Saddam Hussein [Fahd ordered Mutawwas to Issue Fatwa against the Same Saddam when Saddam fingered Wahabi Kuwait [Kuwait is even worst than Saudi Arabia] Enjoy the picture and after the pictutre read about the Debauch, Womanizer, Gambler Khadimul Haramian Sharifain.
http://cache.boston.com/bonzai-fba/Third_Party_Photo/2006/12/29/1167409329_2813.jpg

Khadim ul Harmain Sharifain - Shah Fahad The Debauch - In reality, it was a test of the ebullient Fahd's capacity to govern. The Crown Prince would have to live down his personal reputation as a reckless womanizer, drinker, and gambler. REFERENCE: King Fahd's Saudi Arabia by Harvey Sicherman August 12, 2005 http://www.fpri.org/enotes/20050812.middleeast.sicherman.fahdsaudiarabia.html

Real Face of King Fahd: There were stories of all night sessions at seedy clubs in Beirut, of affairs with belly dancers, and of the wife of a Lebanese businessman paid $100,000 a year to make herself available. Then in 1969, Fahd was said to have lost $1,000,000 in a single dusk-to-dawn marathon of Scotch-fuelled gambling at the tables of a MonteCarlo nightclub. He was summoned back to Riyadh by his brother, the then King Faisal Abdul Aziz ibn Saud. REFERENCE: Life and legacy of King Fahd By Paul Wood BBC defence correspondent Last Updated: Monday, 1 August 2005, 10:14 GMT 11:14 UKhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/4734505.stm

Saudi Arabia's King Fahd: [The Mutawwa in Chief due to his fingering Streets of Pakistan are burning] Real Face: His visits with his retinue of 3,000 had earned the local tradesmen riches indeed. It is estimated that an extra €30,000 (£21,000) a day was spent just in Puerto Banus. As heir apparent, Fahd first visited Marbella in 1974 and stayed at the Incosol hotel and spa. He booked 100 rooms but some of the princesses didn't like the decor so he ordered the dark carpets to be changed to white. As a reward, Fahd left the hotel a tip of $300,000 — enough for the entire staff to receive, in effect, an extra year's salary. He told one Spanish journalist that he liked Marbella because "it was a land blessed by Allah", referring to the Arab occupation of most of Spain from the 8th to the 13th century. In the early 1980s he started the construction of his Mar Mar Palace, a replica of the White House. Because of increasing ill health (he suffered a stroke 10 years ago), he last visited in August 2002, just after a £134m refurbishment of the palace. REFERENCE: Marbella mourns its own King Midas King Fahd's epic spending enriched his favourite part of Spain, says Deirdre Fernand From The Sunday Times August 7, 2005http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/article552402.ece

Vice-President George H. W. Bush returns from his trip to the Middle East, where he has passed along a message to Iraq to step up its air war against Iran (see July 23, 1986). The covert machinations nearly become public knowledge when US embassy officials in Saudi Arabia, learning of the Saudi transfer of US arms to Iraq earlier in the year (see February 1986), question the Saudi ambassador to the US, Prince Bandar. Bandar, fully aware of the arms transfer, tells the officials that the transfer was "accidental" and the amount of arms transferred was negligible. The State Department is also curious about the transfer, warns that the arms transfer violates the Arms Export Control Act, and says it must inform Congress of the transfer. Such a notification would endanger the entire process, and possibly short-circuit another arms deal in the works, a $3.5 billion transfer of five AWACS planes to Saudi Arabia, of which Congress has already been informed. But after the White House notifies the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Richard Lugar (R-IN), and mollifies Lugar by telling him the arms sales to Iraq were "inadvertent," "unauthorized," and involved only a "small quantity of unsophisticated weapons," Lugar agrees to keep silent about the matter. Another senator later approaches Lugar about rumors that Saudi Arabia is sending US arms to Iraq, and recalls that "Dick Lugar told me there was nothing to it, and so I took his word." [NEW YORKER, 11/2/1992] REFERENCE: August 5, 1986: Covert Arms Sales to Iraq Nearly Revealed http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=us_iraq_80s_134#us_iraq_80s_134 Profile: Bandar bin Sultan a.k.a. "Bandar Bush", Prince Bandarhttp://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=bandar_bin_sultan

Shaking Hands: Iraqi President Saddam Hussein greets Donald Rumsfeld, then special envoy of President Ronald Reagan, in Baghdad on December 20, 1983. REFERENCE: US NATIONAL SECURITY ARCHIVE Shaking Hands with Saddam Hussein: The U.S. Tilts toward Iraq, 1980-1984 National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 82 Edited by Joyce Battle February 25, 2003http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/

What a joke that Aal-e--Saud and Saudi Muttawwa Abd-al-Aziz ibn Abd-Allah ibn Baaz issued a Fatwa of Takfeer [Apostasy] against Saddam Hussein [that too after he was no more of any use to Corrupt Aal-e-Saud and Wahhaabi Muttawwas whereas an Anarchist Pakistan Ahl-e-Hadith Scholar Late. Ehsan Elahi Zaheer [who was on the payroll of Aal-e-Saud and Saudi Muttawwas rather he was student of Salafi Islamic scholars such as Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani and Abd-al-Aziz ibn Abd-Allah ibn Baaz] had addressed Sddam Hussein and his Ba'ath Party Member [as per Saudi Fatwa "Apostate, Secular, Socialist i.e. KAAFIR] REFERENCE: Ehsan Elahi Zaheer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ehsan_Elahi_Zaheer
صدام حسين مع إحسان إلهي ظهير رحمه الله - فيديو نادر

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P68GstP37go

Really sometime "This Muslim Ummah" is so hypcortie that one wants to puke.

Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney, accompanied by senior aide Paul Wolfowitz and US CENTCOM commander-in-chief General Norman Schwarzkopf, visits Saudi Arabia just four days after Iraq invades Kuwait (see August 2, 1990). [SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, 8/3/2000; DUBOSE AND BERNSTEIN, 2006, PP. 100] Cheney secures permission from King Fahd for US forces to use Saudi territory as a staging ground for an attack on Iraq. Cheney is polite, but forceful; the US will not accept any limits on the number of troops stationed in Saudi Arabia, and will not accept a fixed date of withdrawal (though they will withdraw if Fahd so requests). Cheney uses classified satellite intelligence to convince Fahd of Hussein's belligerent intentions against not just Kuwait, but against Saudi Arabia as well. Fahd is convinced, saying that if there is a war between the US and Iraq, Saddam Hussein will "not get up again." Fahd's acceptance of Cheney's proposal goes against the advice of Crown Prince Abdullah. [SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, 8/3/2000; DUBOSE AND BERNSTEIN, 2006, PP. 100-101] With Prince Bandar bin Sultan translating, Cheney tells Abdullah, "After the danger is over, our forces will go home." Abdullah says under his breath, "I would hope so." Bandar does not translate this. [MIDDLE EAST REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, 9/2002; HISTORY NEWS NETWORK, 1/13/2003] On the same trip, Cheney also visits Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, who rejects Cheney's request for US use of Egyptian military facilities. Mubarak tells Cheney that he opposes any foreign intervention against Iraq. [SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, 8/3/2000] US forces will remain in Saudi Arabia for thirteen years (see April 30-August 26, 2003). REFERENCE: August 5, 1990 and After: Cheney Secures Permission for US Forces to Attack Iraq from Saudi Arabia http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a080590cheneysaudi#a080590cheneysaudiProfile: Bandar bin Sultan a.k.a. "Bandar Bush", Prince Bandar http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=bandar_bin_sultan

USA/Great Britain/King Fahd financed Iraq Iran War but when Saddam Hussein entered Kuwait [Worst than Saudi Arabia] Fahd ordered Saudi Retard Toady Mutawwas to Issue Fatwa against the Same Saddam. Debauch Saudi Wahabi Somersault Fatwa of Takfeer against Saddam Hussein. In 1996 then-UN Ambassador Madeleine Albright was asked by 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl, in reference to years of U.S.-led economic sanctions against Iraq, "We have heard that half a million children have died. I mean, that is more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?" To which Ambassador Albright responded, "I think that is a very hard choice, but the price, we think, the price is worth it." - BAGHDAD, Oct. 10 — A team of American and Iraqi public health researchers has estimated that 600,000 civilians have died in violence across Iraq since the 2003 American invasion, the highest estimate ever for the toll of the war here. The figure breaks down to about 15,000 violent deaths a month, a number that is quadruple the one for July given by Iraqi government hospitals and the morgue in Baghdad and published last month in a United Nations report in Iraq. That month was the highest for Iraqi civilian deaths since the American invasion. But it is an estimate and not a precise count, and researchers acknowledged a margin of error that ranged from 426,369 to 793,663 deaths. It is the second study by researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. It uses samples of casualties from Iraqi households to extrapolate an overall figure of 601,027 Iraqis dead from violence between March 2003 and July 2006. REFERENCE: Iraqi Dead May Total 600,000, Study Says By SABRINA TAVERNISE and DONALD G. McNEIL Jr. Published: October 11, 2006http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/11/world/middleeast/11casualties.html

Donald Rumsfeld meets Saddam Hussein 1983

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaP7ZrmkcuU

Late. Abd al-Aziz ibn Abd Allah ibn Baaz [Saudi Grand Mufti who issued Fatwa against Saddam and then against Osama Bin Ladin] - When Saddam invaded Kuwait - [Immediately a Fatwa was issued against Saddam - "During the Iran-Iraq war, Saudi Arabia bankrolled the Saddam Hussein regime with the express approval of Washington DC which at that time saw Saddam Hussein as a bulwark against Shia fundamentalism. It came as a terrific shock to the Saudi Royals when Saddam Hussein turned his attention to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Again, the Royal family turned to the Ulema and obtained (with difficulty) a Fatwa, permitting the use of non-Muslim foreign troops on Saudi soil to defend Saudi Arabia against a foreign invader - one the Ulema regarded as a secular apostate. Thus the Saudi Royal family invited the USA to send it its troops for Operation Desert Storm- the operation to defend Saudi Arabia and liberate Kuwait - largely at Saudi expense." As per 9/11 Commission Report "In August 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait. Bin Ladin, whose efforts in Afghanistan had earned him celebrity and respect, proposed to the Saudi monarchy that he summon mujahideen for a jihad to retake Kuwait. He was rebuffed, [Saudi Fatwa issued in 90s against Osama Bin Ladin - http://abdurrahman.org/jihad/binlaadin.pdf Usama Ibn Ladin Al-Kharijee (our position toward him and his likes) - By Abdul Aziz Ibn Abdullaah Ibn Baz [PDF] - Taken from http://www.troid.org/] and the Saudis joined the U.S.-led coalition. After the Saudis agreed to allow U.S. armed forces to be based in the Kingdom, Bin Ladin and a number of Islamic clerics began to publicly denounce the arrangement. The Saudi government exiled the clerics and undertook to silence Bin Ladin by, among other things, taking away his passport. With help from a dissident member of the royal family, he managed to get out of the country under the pretext of attending an Islamic gathering in Pakistan in April 1991."

"QUOTE

Misconception: The Islaamic Threat

In recent years, a great deal of attention in the media have been given to the threat of "Islaamic Fundamentalism". Unfortunately, due to a twisted mixture of biased reporting in the Western media and the actions of some ignorant Muslims, the word "Islaam" has become almost synonymous with "terrorism". However, when one analyses the situation, the question that should come to mind is:

Do the teachings of Islaam encourage terrorism?

The answer: Certainly not!

Islaam totally forbids the terrorist acts that are carried out by some misguided people. It should be remembered that all religions have cults and misguided followers, so it is their teachings that should be looked at, not the actions of a few individuals. Unfortunately, in the media, whenever a Muslim commits a heinous act, he is labeled a "Muslim terrorist".

However, when Serbs murder and rape innocent women in Bosnia, they are not called "Christian terrorists", nor are the activities in Northern Ireland labeled "Christian terrorism". Also, when right-wing Christians in the U. S. bomb abortion clinics, they are not called "Christian terrorists". Reflecting on these facts, one could certainly conclude that there is a double-standard in the media! Although religious feelings play a significant role in the previously mentioned "Christian" conflicts, the media does not apply religious labels because they assume that such barbarous acts have nothing to do with the teachings of Christianity. However, when something happens involving a Muslim, they often try to put the blame on Islaam itself - and not the misguided individual.

Certainly, Islaamic Law (Sharee'ah) allows war - any religion or civilisation that did not would never survive - but it certainly does not condone attacks against innocent people, women or children. The Arabic word "jihaad", which is often translated as "Holy War", simply means "to struggle". The word for "war" in Arabic is "harb", not "jihaad". "Struggling", i.e. "making jihaad", to defend Islaam, Muslims or to liberate a land where Muslims are oppressed is certainly allowed (and even encouraged) in Islaam.

However, any such activities must be done according to the teachings of Islaam. Islaam also clearly forbids "taking the law into your own hands", which means that individual Muslims cannot go around deciding who they want to kill, punish or torture.

Trial and punishment must be carried out by a lawful authority and a knowledgeable judge. Also, when looking at events in the Muslim World, it should be kept in mind that a long period of colonialism ended fairly recently in most Muslim countries. During this time, the people in these countries were culturally, materially and religiously exploited - mostly by the so-called "Christian" nations of the West. This painful period has not really come to an end in many Muslim countries, where people are still under the control of foreign powers or puppet regimes supported by foreign powers.

Also, through the media, people in the West are made to believe that tyrants like Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Moamar Qaddafi in Libya are "Islaamic" leaders - when just the opposite is true. Neither of these rulers even profess Islaam as an ideology, but only use Islaamic slogans to manipulate their powerless populations. They have about as much to do with Islaam as Hitler had to do with Christianity! In reality, many Middle Eastern regimes which people think of as being "Islaamic" oppress the practice of Islaam in their countries. So suffice it to say that "terrorism" and killing innocent people directly contradicts the teachings of Islaam. .......... Prepared by: Abu 'Iyaad REFERENCE: Misconception: The Islaamic Threathttp://www.fatwa-online.com/aboutislaam/0020221.htm http://www.fatwa-online.com/index.htm http://www.fatwa-online.com/worship/jihaad/jih009/index.htm

Question: O esteemed Shaykh, what is happening now (in Iraaq) so what is the position of the Muslim towards this trial, and is there a Jihaad, and are do those soldiers who are in the Gulf have the ruling of being mujaahideen, and may Allaah reward you.

Shaykh Ubayd al-Jaabiree: I dont know why this question (is asked) when, when we have just ended the speech with what I consider to comprise the answer to it and to its likes. However, despite this, just so that it is said, that Ubayd has neglected some of the questions.

So I say: Firstly, not all of the Iraaqi society is Muslim. Rather, amongst them is the Marxist, amongst them is the Ba'athist Heretic, and amongst them are numerous orientations. And there are Muslims amongst them...

And amongst them are the Raafidah. And the positions of the Scholars towards the Raafidah is well known, amongst them are those who declared them Disbelievers.

Secondly, we have Rulers and those who have authority, and it is obligatory to give them hearing and obedience, and around our rulers are those who have knowledge, and experience, and speciality in the political affairs. So we do not undermine them, and we have already mentioned previously that the general affairs are not for just any person. Rather, they are for whom? For those in authority.

And as it is appropriate, I also say that those who call to cutting off from the products of America and Britain and others, then those people have a resemblance to the Raafidah. Shaykh ul-Islaam Ibn Taymiyyah mentions in Minhaaj us-Sunnah, in the first volume, and I believe it is page 38, "From the stupidity of the Raafidah is that they do not drink from the river that was unearthed (i.e. dug out, like a well) by Yazeed". So those Harakiyyoon and Hizbiyyoon, have resembled the Raafidah. And what an evil model (that is). And the most repugnant for a person that his model, and way is that of the Raafidah.

Thirdly, the banner of fighting in Iraaq, who is carrying it? It is carried by Saddaam Hussain at-Takreetee, and he is the leader of the Ba'athi Party in his land...and the Ba'athi Party, is secularist, disbelieving, heretical. Its foundation is upon mixing and not differentiating between a Sunni Muslim, Guidance from the Scholars Concerning Iraaq and between the Jew, Christian, Communist, and others. They are all the same, equal. And for this reason, their slogan is, as their poet has said:

I believe in, -- (Shaykh Ubayd): I seek refuge in Allaah --
I believe in al-Ba'ath as the Lord which has no partner
And in Arabism as a religion, which has no other (religion)

This is their religion, qawmiyyah (nationalism) and shu'oobiyyah, and their religion is not Islaam. So built upon this, the one who fights under the banner of the Iraaqi government, then he is fighting under a banner of disbelief. And we do not dispute that the people of Iraaq have the right to defend themselves. They can defend themselves, their blood, their honour and their wealth, they can defend those who transgress upon them, whether America or Britain or other than them.

So it is obligatory upon us, the community of Muslims that we ask Allaah in our supplication that He delivers the Muslims amongst the people of Iraaq. So whoever said O Allaah save the [Iraaqi Society]1 , then he has erred. This supplication of his reaches even the Marxist and the Communist. And the Ba'ath Party is at the front of the [supplication of the] one who supplicates for the Iraaqi society (in general). No, but supplicate to Allaah that He delivers the Muslims amongst the people of Iraaq. And that he relieves them of their distress. This is what I can add now. .......... Translated by: Abu 'Iyaad REFERENCE: NEWS\ Monday 31 March 2003
Shaykh 'Ubayd al-Jaabiree on the Position Towards Iraq From a Paltalk Session today 31/03/2003 at 8:30pm UK Time http://www.fatwa-online.com/news/0030331.htm

"UNQUOTE"

Saudi Arab's Fatwa (Religious Edict) against Al-Qaeda & Osama Bin Laden

http://www.scribd.com/doc/61839666/Indo-Pak-Wars-A-Pictorial-History

http://www.scribd.com/doc/21686885/TALIBAN-WAR-IN-PAKISTAN-AFGHANISTAN-A-WRITERS-PERCEPTIONS-FROM-2001-TO-2011

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22457862/Military-Decision-making-and-leadership

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22151765/History-of-Pakistan-Army-from-1757-to-1971-PRINTING-ENABLED-Do-acknowledge-to-the-author

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22455178/Letters-to-Command-and-Staff-College-Quetta-Citadel-Journal

http://www.scribd.com/doc/23150027/Pakistan-Army-through-eyes-of-Pakistani-Generals

http://www.scribd.com/doc/23701412/War-of-Independence-of-1857

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22107238/HISTORY

http://www.scribd.com/doc/21693873/Indo-Pak-Wars-1947-71-A-STRATEGIC-AND-OPERATIONAL-ANALYSIS-BY-A-H-AMIN-THIS-BOOK-CAN-BE-PRINTED-FROM-THIS-SITE

http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/

Russia And Syria: Laboratory For Testing Advent Of Multipolar World

2012-02-10T10:54:00.001-08:00

Russia And Syria: Laboratory For Testing Advent Of Multipolar World

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/opinion/article/russia-gets-bad-rap-over-syria/452713.html#ixzz1lyDIriqK

Moscow Times
February 8, 2012

Russia Gets Bad Rap Over Syria
By Sreeram Chaulia*

====

Those who berate Russia for being an openly acknowledged supplier of weapons to the Assad regime ignore the fact that the rebel Free Syrian Army is being clandestinely armed and financed by the authoritarian Arab League members.

With Russia and China exercising vetoes for a second time on Syria in the Security Council, a Western-endorsed shadowy Saudi-Qatar invasion to dethrone Assad and a tit-for-tat Iranian repulsion are on the cards.

Syria is now a laboratory for testing the advent of a multipolar world with a broad balance of power in international institutions like the UN and in the Middle East region.

The real "travesty" — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's term to attack the Russian and Chinese vetoes — is the camouflaging of ulterior objectives like cornering Iran in the name of the human rights of Syrian citizens.

====

As the violent standoff between Syria's security forces and armed opposition groups roils the country, the crisis has opened heated divisions at the United Nations Security Council. Western powers, backed by the Arab League, pressed last week for the adoption of a Security Council resolution that demanded Syrian President Bashar Assad step down. A watered-down version of this resolution was vetoed by Russia and China— both contending that the Security Council must not abandon neutrality by siding with one party to a conflict — that is, the Syrian rebels.

Since then, Western politicians and human rights organizations have been painting Moscow and Beijing as "disgusting" accomplices to Assad's brutal "killing machine." This narrative expects independent great powers like Russia to deny the obvious reality that an armed insurrection aided by foreign powers is plunging Syria into greater turmoil. Russia's ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, repeatedly criticized the lack of "balance" and the "one-sided" nature of the Security Council resolution. His language needs to be carefully understood.

The Arab League's member states baying for Assad's downfall include harsh dictatorships like Saudi Arabia and softer ones like Qatar and Morocco. They would not be far behind Assad's police state in a morality competition. Those who berate Russia for being an openly acknowledged supplier of weapons to the Assad regime ignore the fact that the rebel Free Syrian Army is being clandestinely armed and financed by the authoritarian Arab League members.

The Arab League publicly touts a nonmilitary solution at the UN, but it is adding fuel to the fire on the ground in Syria. Riyadh and Doha carry the Western mantle in Syria to unhinge Damascus from Iran's sphere of influence. The Free Syrian Army is detaining Iranian agents operating inside Syria, and Iran's Revolutionary Guards, in turn, are assisting the Assad government in techniques of controlling public protests.

Although the real issue at stake is dynastic rule of the Assads, the situation has degenerated into a proxy war. In the past, the Arab League contained diehard supporters of Assad such as Algeria, Lebanon and Iraq, but this fundamentally flawed grouping is now tilting more toward the Western agenda of toppling Assad to weaken Iran.

Four decades is an unacceptably long period for the Assad dynasty to lord over the Syrian people, but the chances of democratization through indigenous struggle are being scuppered by naked power politics of foreign stakeholders. With Russia and China exercising vetoes for a second time on Syria in the Security Council, a Western-endorsed shadowy Saudi-Qatar invasion to dethrone Assad and a tit-for-tat Iranian repulsion are in the cards.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has hinted at a UN-circumventing coalition of the willing when he announced that European and Arab allies are putting in place a Group of Friends for the Syrian People. This group will presumably intensify the militarization of Syria by aiding the Free Syrian Army more aggressively with the aim of tilting the balance against Assad's regime.

Resolving the Syrian crisis needs an Iran-Saudi Arabian modus vivendi to avoid going down such a disastrous path. Russia and a regional peace broker like Turkey could offer their good offices toward a constructive Syrian endgame whereby Tehran and Riyadh step back from arming different sides.

Members of the Security Council, which voted in favor of the botched resolution last weekend, also need to rethink their limited conception of a regional institution to steer Syria toward democracy. They should look beyond the heavily compromised Arab League and prevent a partisan result in Syria that serves Saudi or Western interests and traps Syrian people between the jaws of an expanded war.

Averting an imbalanced finale in Syria is the geostrategic objective motivating Russia's stance. Crude portrayals of the Russian position — that it is driven by calculations of revenue from arms sales to the Syrian government — gloss over the big picture. Syria is now a laboratory for testing the advent of a multipolar world with a broad balance of power in international institutions like the UN and in the Middle East region.

The real "travesty" — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's term to attack the Russian and Chinese vetoes — is the camouflaging of ulterior objectives like cornering Iran in the name of the human rights of Syrian citizens. The timing and nature of the end of Assad dynasty rule should remain in the hands of Syrian people alone, but they can freely determine their political destiny only when vested international actors cease playing favorites and back off.

*Sreeram Chaulia is vice dean of the Jindal School of International Affairs in Sonipat, India, and author of "International Organizations and Civilian Protection: Power, Ideas and Humanitarian Aid in Conflict Zones."

http://www.scribd.com/doc/61839666/Indo-Pak-Wars-A-Pictorial-History

http://www.scribd.com/doc/21686885/TALIBAN-WAR-IN-PAKISTAN-AFGHANISTAN-A-WRITERS-PERCEPTIONS-FROM-2001-TO-2011

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22457862/Military-Decision-making-and-leadership

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22151765/History-of-Pakistan-Army-from-1757-to-1971-PRINTING-ENABLED-Do-acknowledge-to-the-author

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22455178/Letters-to-Command-and-Staff-College-Quetta-Citadel-Journal

http://www.scribd.com/doc/23150027/Pakistan-Army-through-eyes-of-Pakistani-Generals

http://www.scribd.com/doc/23701412/War-of-Independence-of-1857

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22107238/HISTORY

http://www.scribd.com/doc/21693873/Indo-Pak-Wars-1947-71-A-STRATEGIC-AND-OPERATIONAL-ANALYSIS-BY-A-H-AMIN-THIS-BOOK-CAN-BE-PRINTED-FROM-THIS-SITE

Russia Confirms British and Qatari commandos presence in Syria

2012-02-10T10:16:00.001-08:00

Russia Confirms British and Qatari Presence in Syria

Moscow, Feb 10 (Prensa Latina) Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov confirmed on Friday the presence of British and Qatari commandos in Syria, whose government faces violent actions by armed groups.

Bogdanov's statements came after an Israeli online newspaper admitted such a possibility on Thursday, Itar-Tass reported.

Itar-Tass also referred to the creation of four special operations centers in the troubled region of Homs to facilitate raids by mercenary groups from neighboring Turkey.

According to the state televisión channel Rossiya-1, British troops avoid direct participation in combats, but they are responsible for guaranteeing arms supply to armed groups that the government calls terrorists.

The supplies are moved by the commandos from Turkish territory, according to the Israeli online newspaper Debka-file.

Bagdanov also said that he hopes that part of Syrian opposition, interested in a peaceful solution to the internal conflict in the country, will condemn the twin bomb attacks in the city of Aleppo, where 28 people were killed and 235 were wounded.

The Duma (Russian lower house) approved a resolution that calls on all parties in the dispute to immediately lay down their weapons, and advocated to avoid repeating the Libyan scenario.

In March 2011, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) began bombing Libya under the pretext of protecting the people, and created a no-fly zone, but seven month of NATO attacks resulted in hundreds of civilians killed.

The Russian parliament's resolution also proposes sending lawmakers as observers to Syria, where the Arab League suspended the work of its mission in that Middle Eastern nation.

A statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry called to renew the mission of observers, which in addition to verifying the situation on site, is a restraining factor in the Syrian dispute.

ir/jg/cgm/oda/to

http://www.scribd.com/doc/61839666/Indo-Pak-Wars-A-Pictorial-History

http://www.scribd.com/doc/21686885/TALIBAN-WAR-IN-PAKISTAN-AFGHANISTAN-A-WRITERS-PERCEPTIONS-FROM-2001-TO-2011

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22457862/Military-Decision-making-and-leadership

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22151765/History-of-Pakistan-Army-from-1757-to-1971-PRINTING-ENABLED-Do-acknowledge-to-the-author

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22455178/Letters-to-Command-and-Staff-College-Quetta-Citadel-Journal

http://www.scribd.com/doc/23150027/Pakistan-Army-through-eyes-of-Pakistani-Generals

http://www.scribd.com/doc/23701412/War-of-Independence-of-1857

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22107238/HISTORY

http://www.scribd.com/doc/21693873/Indo-Pak-Wars-1947-71-A-STRATEGIC-AND-OPERATIONAL-ANALYSIS-BY-A-H-AMIN-THIS-BOOK-CAN-BE-PRINTED-FROM-THIS-SITE

Why do men die before their wives

2012-02-10T09:54:00.001-08:00

FROM DR ANDRE

100 % Chauvinist...................

VERY, VERY, VERY, VERY BRAVE MAN JOKES....

How do you turn a fox into an elephant?
Marry her!

What is the difference between a battery and a woman?
A battery has a positive side.

What are the three fastest means of communication?
1) Television
2) Telephone
3) Telawoman

What should you give a woman who has everything?
A man to show her how to work it.

Why is the space between a woman's breasts and her hips called a waist?
Because you could easily fit another pair of breasts in there.

How do you make 5 pounds of fat look good?
Put a nipple on it.

What do you say to a woman with 2 black eyes?
Nothing, she's been told twice already.

If your wife keeps coming out of the kitchen to nag at you, what have you done wrong?
Made her chain too long.

How many men does it take to open a beer?
None. It should be opened when she brings it.

Why is a Laundromat a really bad place to pick up a woman?
Because a woman who can't even afford a washing machine will probably never be able to support you.

Why do women have smaller feet than men?
It's one of those 'evolutionary things' that allows them to stand closer to the kitchen sink.

How do you know when a woman is about to say something smart?
When she starts a sentence with 'A man once told me...'

How do you fix a woman's watch?
You don't. There is a clock on the oven.

Why do men pass gas more than women?
Because women can't shut up long enough to build up the required pressure.

If your dog is barking at the back door and your wife is yelling at the front door, who do you let in first?
The dog, of course. He'll shut up once you let him in.

What's worse than a Male Chauvinist Pig?
A woman who won't do what she's told.

I married my 'Miss Right'.
I just didn't know her first name was Always

Scientists have discovered a food that diminishes a woman's sex drive by 90% ...
it's called a Wedding Cake.

Why do men die before their wives?
They want to.

--
This message has been scanned for viruses and
dangerous content by Pinpoint Securemail,
and is believed to be clean.

Kurdish Tigresses-SALAM PKK

2012-02-09T22:17:00.000-08:00

Romania’s Capitalist Dream Turns into Nightmare

2012-02-09T09:14:00.001-08:00

FROM AMBASSADOR GAJENDRA SINGH

For publication .Cheers Gajendra

http://tarafits.blogspot.in/2012/02/romanias-capitalist-dream-turns-into.html

Romania's Capitalist Dream Turns into Nightmare

Another Victim of Neo-liberal Capitalism

Romanian President Traian Basescu accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Emil Boc, heading a centre –right coalition on Monday, 6 February following massive street protests for weeks, first such ones after the fall of Communist leader Nikolai Ceausescu 22 years ago .Boc joins a list of European leaders felled by public fury at massive spending cuts introduced at IMF 's behest , as part of neo-liberal reforms medicine. The IMF had rescued Romania's state finances in 2009 with a 20 billion-euro ($26-billion) loan on condition of deep cuts in government spending,

Mihai-Razvan Ungureanu, former foreign minister and foreign intelligence service chief will form the new government. Ungureanu's statement that he will continue the unpopular economic reforms will do little to calm popular anger and unrest. The people are distrustful of intelligence chiefs as it reminds them of Ceausescu's dreaded Securitate (secret police). But as elsewhere in Communist countries say Vladimir Putin in Russia , the security services attracted the best brains and after the collapse of the communism , being well placed in the corridors of powers , most former spooks have done well and even flourished, except a few at the very top who were toppled .

In spite of enough petroleum, gas, water and land and other resources, the loot under the Washington led policy of neoliberal capitalism has transformed Romania into the second poorest country in Europe Union (EU)

Finally the truth is coming out , the suffering masses have risen against neo-liberal capitalism enforced under US domination in Romania as they have elsewhere , across north Africa , the Middle East , except perhaps in Gulf Cooperation Council led by Saudi Arabia and egged on by Qatar two feudal kingdoms like others in GCC promoting democracy in Syria after having bloodily implanted it in Libya , with western energy and other interests taking over the resources .How about some freedoms and democracy in Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

The author who was ambassador at Bucharest in 1981 -84 , then entering a most difficult phase , spent nearly 10 years ( 1997 -2007) as an independent freelance journalist in Romania under the spreading wings of neoliberal capitalism , a Wall Street and the City, London gift to humanity. Soon after reaching Bucharest , an old grizzled Romanian engineer told the author that financiers were taking over the country and soon everyone will be indebted and spend the rest of lives in repaying the loans , which really benefitted the corrupt ruling class.

Strategically located on the Black Sea, Romania is a large country with a population of 23 million in the region, where population of most of its neighbors is less than 10 million. Its military importance was brought home when US war planes used Romania's airport near Constanza and other facilities after March, 2003 after NATO ally Turkey's parliament turned down US request for use of its land bases and airports to attack Iraq. There have been reports of Romania having allowed use of its military and other facilities for US rendition for torture.

Romanians , who consider themselves as Latin people in Slav lake were never happy being part of the mostly Slav Communist block and followed an independent line in foreign affairs , somewhat like de Gaulle's policies in Western block .After the breakup of the Soviet Union and Communist bloc, Romania assiduously cultivated Europe for entry into Europe Union (EU) and USA for Nato membership .The latter efforts bore fruit in November 2002 when its admission into Nato was approved at the Prague summit in spite of many institutional deficiencies.

For whatever the strategic configurations in Eurasia between USA, Europe Union, Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia and now destabilized Middle East, Romania will remain an important strategic asset. Its vast rail and road network linking it to central and Western Europe and the seaport of Constanza on western shores of the Black Sea would provide a commercial hub across the Black Sea for Europe Union's export to energy rich countries like Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan after oil and gas starts flowing out the Caspian Basin. But following US policies blindly and its total dislike of the Russians has stopped Romania from benefitting, say in the transport of energy from central Asia, Caspian region and Iran to Europe.

The Romanian leadership was very exultant when joining NATO. "it would be a new beginning," said Romanian President Ion Iliescu. It will allow Romania "to be integrated into the civilized world, and to receive necessary support for internal reform." Indeed, many Romanians saw entry into NATO almost as a divine gift that will transform the country after a decade of post-communist bungling and looting by its politicians.

The Legend of Dracula

For centuries, Romania was ruled by the Ottoman Turks, and Romanian Prince Vlad Tepes, the Impaler, on whom the Dracula myth is based learnt some of his blood-curdling tactics when he was held as a hostage in the Ottoman capital Istanbul in the late 1400s. Tepes is a greta national hero . The Romanians in general dislike the Russians, and have little love for other Slavs too. Lying in the path of marauding hordes and armies from the Eurasian steppes and elsewhere throughout its history, it possesses an ethnic mix of a richness and beauty that few other countries can match.

Romanians claim that they are a Latin island in a Slav lake, with their cultural moorings in France . Two millennia ago, for two centuries, Roman legions were garrisoned here; some were from Catalonia in Spain and even Palestine . Their mixing with the local Dacian people gave the Romanian language its Latin character - in fact it is quite close to Italian, and even the Catalan dialect.

If Romania is described as a part of the Balkans, Romanians demur: "We are north of the Danube River, and entirely European," as Traian Basescu, a former mayor of Bucharest, then said. And they were reluctant communists. The system was forced on them by the invading Soviet army after World War II. Many Romanians confided to the author in the early 1980s that they wished that they had been liberated from the Nazis by the Americans, and not by the Soviet Russians.

Romania is fortunately self-sufficient in oil and gas, unlike its neighbors. It has rich agriculture land and was known as the "bread basket" of the Balkans. But now only 60 percent of the land is cultivated and land ownership laws are not clear or fully implemented; nor has land been distributed, with collective farm mangers from the past still making hay. Except for the summer months when vegetables and fruits sprout from the rich fertile soil, beans, tomatoes, cucumbers and other simple fruits and vegetables are imported from Holland, Greece, Turkey, Spain and Italy. If state farms could be leased to agriculture and horticulture entrepreneurs from Turkey , Israel or India , Romania could not only feed itself, it could flood Europe with its fruit, vegetables and flowers.

The massive tourist infrastructure built by Ceausescu has been eroded, dismantled and destroyed over the past decade. In the absence of maintenance, hotels parceled among cronies have fallen apart, but room rates are on a par with West Europe . This discourages businessmen and keeps tourists away from Romania 's legendary fresco-painted churches and monasteries, scenic sights, Black Sea beaches and winter holiday resorts. Before being admitted in 2007 in to EU conditionally (along with Bulgaria), mafias from neighboring countries like Greece, Italy, Turkey had infiltrated the country's economic and political life. Despite making some progress in fighting corruption and organized crime, both Romania and Bulgaria have been severely criticized in by EU over a catalog of failings, which could delay the two nations from joining Europe's passport-free Schengen travel zone. The objections are only to semiskilled and unskilled labor, not to their doctors and engineers.

After the collapse of Communism in end 1990, the hapless masses were required to transform themselves into free marketers, entrepreneurs and agriculturists, a herculean task for those where the state controlled everything. Before the masses could learn even the ABC , they were thrown at the mercies of Mafias and corporate .Then big cooperates like Metro , Carrefour etc were allowed in 2006 , the small shop keepers and retailers were stopped in their tracks and had to close shop .

Neo-Liberal Attempts in India for SDI in Retail must be Resisted and Stopped.

The western retailer's chains were not interested in promoting agriculture in Romania and had earlier closed its fine textiles manufacturing and readymade export business, creating misery and unemployment all around. The consumer is happy to begin with, buying vegetables imported in winter from Holland, Spain, Turkey, Syria and even Jordan .After monopoly control, the consumers feel the pain too ,like the local producers .But it too late

Ceausescu; the most influential leader in Romanian history; Soros Poll 2007

A Soros Public Opinion Barometer made public in end 2007 showed that Romanians put Nicolai Ceausescu as the most influential leader in Romanian history ahead of post Ceausescu era leaders like presidents Basescu and Ion Iliescu, as well as Kings Carol I and Mihai I and others .Although after capture of Ceausescus and their Kangaroo Court trial and murder , the authorities did not disclose the place ( in Bucharest where he is buried ) but poor and misery laden people have traced it and regularly place flowers and candles at the supposed tombs of the Ceausescu couple .

After a year's stay in Bucharest in end 1998, I had written the article below on Romania under capitalism and globalization, the buzz words then.

ROMANIANS' AMERICAN DREAM COMES UNSTUCK

TRANSITION IN POST- CEAUSESCU ROMANIA

(Published slightly edited by Khaleej Times as Romania's Capitalist Dream Turns into Nightmare 3 January, 1999)

Like Count Dracula, if Romanian dictator Nikolai Ceausescu could rise from the dead, he would not complain about his comrades executing him after a sham trial. He would understand that, but letting US and Capitalist symbols pollute Romania , known as Dacia in ancient days, for even under communism, recourse to its national past and a Foreign policy diverging from Communist block provided acceptance and the underpinning for his regime .The symbols of victorious power, glittering neon lights of Coca Cola. KGC, MacDonald's, and even Sony and Daewoo would have hastened his return to the nether world.

Western media led by Radio Liberty and Free Europe during the Cold War had convinced most Romanians that they were the lost Christian brothers whom West wanted to liberate from the tyrannical and atheist communist regime .Those who could go to the West returned with glowing stories of freedom and of shops full of undreamt goodies. To counteract this, when his regime televised a Hollywood soap opera to highlight Western decadence, Romanians instead took it that once they had democracy and capitalism everyone would live in luxury with only board-room and bedroom battles to take care off and life would be a round of night clubs, casino bars, soda fountains and bowling alleys. But the reality has turned out to be very bitter, harsh and brutal leaving them confused and disoriented, selfish and even unfriendly.

It was preached and fervently hoped that market driven economy will usher in unlimited prosperity. Yes, for 5/6 % of the population, (who live as in European Union and think Euro-currency); wheeler dealers and unscrupulous smart Alecs, most entrenched in power since Communist era, exploiting old party networks and newly elected ones. But for the majority, victims of a free fall of 40/% in GDP since 1990, life is a dreary unmitigated misery with falling employment, rising inflation .Pensions of retired professors military officers, engineers have been reduced to $50 per month while prices are at par with West Europe .Yes, the shops are full of imported goods but, only to watch for the majority. And the country is now aglitter with symbols of victorious superpower and its ideology instead of huge wall sized posters of a youthful looking Nicolai Ceausescu staring at you. Romanians can have passports for the asking but get no visas. They are unwanted in West and if they do reach there are promptly deported back. An industrialized Romania is fast getting Africanized into an exporter of semi-finished goods .Social engineering in reverse has reduced a socialist middle class and intellectual elite to penury and starvation. Yes, there is a democratic constitution, multiparty system, liberal and global economy

Being the most Stalinist regime with an omnipresent Securitate force (most still in place .A health Minister, an ex- Securitate informer, was made to resign) no dissent or alternate leadership emerged as in Poland, Czechoslovakia or Hungary. So the same old nomenklatura controls the levers of power .State enterprises are run as personal fiefs as in the past. Barring transfer of flats to tenants (more than 80% of population lives in flats built during Ceausescu era) for nominal sums to win the elections, until end 1996, under President Iliescu there was not even a pretense of reforms. So there is little change in old economic structures. There is a 'dog in the manger' policy. Incapable of handling complex business and industrial activity they would not let others in. Foreigners want to buy it cheap, perhaps sometimes true, but the cash gobbling inefficiently run enterprises with massive current account deficits are corroding the entrails of national economy while apparatchiks are eating into national wealth and undermining future prosperity.

Except for those from foreign trade ministry and state export enterprises the rest had no idea at all of how to trade, run a business or industry. So they are learning by doing -the hard way. Many set up rows after rows of snack shops, Casino bars and kiosks selling the same soft drinks, beer and hard liquors with fancy names like Sheriffs, Texas , Hollywood , Bingo Pall-mall or Chez Gabi. But unlike Hollywood serials there are few customers. Many which had opened with great fanfare and glittering facades have downed shutters. Now deserted and abandoned along with silent and rusting industries they have become symbols of the vanquished in the Cold War. And living examples of Romanians' American dream come unstuck.

Since last two years the so called reform coalitions are perpetually squabbling in and out of Parliament, fighting for jobs for their cronies (govt servants can be party members) Barring few, professors like President Constantinescu and others who are hapless and ineffective, others have joined in the privatization of public assets into their own names or their friends and relatives with everyone looking for a fast buck. There is little transparency in privatization or elsewhere leading to unfair practices. With insider trading the stock exchange has become moribund. Even in acute economic austerity, a minister wanted to order Bell Helicopters for $ 2 Billion, even embarrassing USA .When accused of kickbacks he fished out the draft contract on TV showing that it did not include any commission clause. President's own Security chief was involved in large scale systematic smuggling of aircrafts full of contra-band cigarettes through a military airport. A well meaning President and Prime Minister, another professor, unable to comprehend, lacking the will or resolution prefers travelling abroad to avoid facing problems at home...

There is little regulation and rule of law. The swindling of life savings of millions in get rich quick pyramid scheme in Club up North with the regime's connivance if not participation are living examples. But lotteries still do a thriving business. Mafias attracted from Italy , Greece , and Turkey and elsewhere have linked up with officials and are spreading its tentacles. Little has been done to establish property laws, banking regulations or stock market, a necessity for the Milton and system of laissez faire. The banks are being used to enrich the politicians and their cronies. Visas are difficult even for businessmen because some Romanian diplomats trade in them. The first interface for visitors and tourists are the taxi drivers of Bucharest , always ready to make a killing, Reasonable cabbies charge only four times, many extorting $100 from the airport for a $10 trip. And there is no recourse or law the establishment seems to imply OK you wanted freedom, democracy and capitalism. You have it.

Romania started with many natural and built in advantages to soften the pains of transition to market economy. It has a strategic location on Black Sea for NATO and as cross roads for trade between energy rich Caspian countries and Europe . Almost self sufficient in oil and gas unlike its neighbors, Romania has rich agriculture land and was known as the "bread basket' of the Balkans. But now only 60% of the land is cultivated. Land ownership laws have not been passed nor land distributed with collective farm mangers from the past making hay. Romanian wheat is more expansive than from neighboring Hungary. Except for a few summer months when some vegetables and fruits sprout from rich fertile soil, year round even beans, tomatoes, cucumbers and other simple fruits and vegetables are imported from Holland , Greece , Turkey , Spain , or Italy .

The massive tourist infrastructure built by Ceausescu is being eroded, dismantled and destroyed fast. In the absence of maintenance, hotels parceled among cronies, are falling apart but rents are at par with West Europe which discourages businessmen and keeps tourists away from Romania 's legendary fresco painted churches and monasteries, scenic sights, Black Sea beaches and winter holiday resorts. And now with economies collapsing in ASEAN, Russia and elsewhere, investors are wary of investing any where, more so in Romania. Still inspite of many problems, because of big market of 23 million and hopes to join NATO and EU, it offers good opportunities for investors. Imports from the Gulf, are on the increase with many Iranians and Arabs doing retail business. There are over two hundred thousand Muslims mostly of Tatar and Turkish origin, whose freedoms were more or less suppressed during the Communist era. But they are now much freer to worship and getting organized .So are the Gypsies, who were persecuted earlier. With their inborn flair for trade they are doing exceedingly well in marketing of flowers, vegetables and fruits. But there is a growing emergence of racism against Arabs and Asians and anti-Semitism, for the latter Romania was known even in the past but it had been kept in check under communism

Unfortunately the most devastating development with long term consequences is the precipiticious fall in educational standards. Romania was rightly proud of its exacting high standards in technical and medical education and tens of thousands mostly from Arab countries but even from the West and USA used to study in its polytechnics and universities. But shrinking budgets for education leave little money for labs or books with Professor's salaries declining to $100 per month. Life is a struggle and there is little teaching .Instead teachers try to earn money otherwise and elsewhere neglecting their duties .So the new engineering and medical graduates might be literate but will be uneducated. Similarly health and culture, with a very high reputation in music, ballet and theater, have also suffered. With no role models and no discipline or regulation, the young have taken to enjoying themselves. More than 60% failed their high school examinations. Tall, slim and beautiful , some stunningly so, a result of multiethnic mixture ,the new generation presents a pleasing sight ; the effervescence of sheer youth, joie de vivre bubbling up after decades of communist uniformity and drabness .If any one wanted , like in Venezuela , one beauty Queen after another could be chiseled out year after year.

Indo Romanian Relations

Traditionally Romanians have been fascinated by India ,its history, culture, religion and spirituality .Over centuries thousands of Indian classics or books on India have been translated .Rabindra Nath Tagore, who visited Romania in 1926 is a household name. Sanskrit has been taught at Universities since last century. Poets and intellectuals like M.Eminescu, M.Eliade and S.Al-George have brought Indian philosophy, religion, art, history and poetry to Romania and acted as interpreters to the West. The Indian Embassy has done a splendid job in keeping the flame of Indian culture alive by holding seminars, exhibitions, publication of books with a bust of Tagore having been recently unveiled at the prestigious National Theater.

But the new generation is Western consumer oriented. The story of Dr Amita Bose, who had taught Sanskrit, Bengali and Indian culture in Bucharest for twenty years is a tragic example. In the new era she was confident and enthusiastic to do even more, but the authorities under the spoils system dismissed her without much ado and appointed instead one of her own but inadequate pupils. Heartbroken, Dr Bose died soon after, unwanted in her country of adoption and unsung in India, whose cultural ambassador she had become. But she has left behind thousands of students, many still pursuing Sanskrit studies and Indian philosophy. But one wonders if some who after a few years of Sanskrit and philosophy translate Gaeta and other India classics into Romanian do it for love or to earn publishers royalties.

India always had a strong economic relationship with Romania, which helped her in oil and refining industry in 1950s. Romania was a major buyer of iron ore and supplier of urea, chemicals and steel products. Inspire of many problems , because of its location ,a big market of 23 million and a candidate for NATO and EU, it offers good opportunities to Indians to invest in pulp and paper, pharmaceuticals, furniture ,textiles, steel, petrochemicals and fertilizers (with 30 million tons of refining capacity). Currently India is a major buyer of Romanian products which at US$ 177 million in 1996 ($239 million in 95), were more than its combined exports to China , Japan and Korea or total exports to Latin America . But there are unnecessary hurdles in grant of visas to Indian businessmen, simply because some Romanian diplomats were trading in visas in its missions in Amman and Bonn etc. During Ceausescu era Romania always supported India on Kashmir but now it takes an equivocal stand, not on merits but perhaps to please USA , while it badly treats its own Hungarian minority in Transylvania, even objecting to setting up a Hungarian language university.

While it took communism 50 years to discredit itself (and 80 years in Russia) unbridled capitalism let loose on hapless and unprepared populace has done so here in 8 years only, which could make capitalism the most tortuous and hardest path from Communism to authoritarianism or worse. Romanians continue to suffer as they have done throughout history, ever obedient to the powerful. The youth who had sparked the 1989 December spontaneous revolution, stolen by the older nomenclature, have lost faith and become disheartened. Not that people want communism back, but there is nostalgia for Ceausescu among the elderly who miss the social equality and security system; almost free medical aid, subsidised food and housing Regrettably the Capitalist world glorying in the defeat of Communism has proved to be very short sighted and has been hypnotized by its own propaganda of the victory and efficacy of Capitalism

Of course unlike after the WWII there was no alternative political and economic system to frighten the USA and thus there was no Marshal Plan. (And the money? considering the cost in East Germany alone!) Also it is doubtful if it would have succeeded everywhere in the absence of a receptive economic soil. (How money seeped out from Russia) It takes a generation and more to establish respect and obedience for laws on property, commerce, banking, stock exchange and to have the requisite economic institutions and infrastructure in place. With the very concept of capitalism as panacea for all being questioned now, even in the West, because of its collapse even after its prescriptions were followed under IMF tutelage in South East Asia for decades and its being in trouble even in Korea, Japan, Brazil, it could only further strengthen the suffocating control of the old guard in Romania and elsewhere taking a cue from Prime Ministers Mahathir, Primakov and others. While Bill Clinton and Parrot quibble about a few thousands jobs in election debates , West expects reformers or former Communists turned 'democrats and free marketers ' to let millions down the poverty line-only a dip in the prosperity curve drawn by Business school shock therapists - and get re-elected democratically. It is not an easy dilemma for most former communist's states. The least the West ought to have done and can still do is to organize and implement a massive' Marshal Plan 'for training and retraining of managerial cadres.

K.Gajendra Singh; Bucharest, Romania. 18 December , 1998

http://tarafits.blogspot.com/2011/08/amb-rtd-k-gajendra-singh-cv-post.html

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22151765/History-of-Pakistan-Army-from-1757-to-1971-PRINTING-ENABLED-Do-acknowledge-to-the-author

http://www.scribd.com/doc/21693873/Indo-Pak-Wars-1947-71-A-STRATEGIC-AND-OPERATIONAL-ANALYSIS-BY-A-H-AMIN-THIS-BOOK-CAN-BE-PRINTED-FROM-THIS-SITE

Argentina To Appeal To UN Against British Military Buildup

2012-02-08T19:58:00.001-08:00

Argentina To Appeal To UN Against British Military Buildup

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-02/08/c_131398358.htm

Xinhua News Agency
February 8, 2012

Argentina seeks UN help to demilitarize Southern Atlantic

BUENOS AIRES: Argentine President Cristina Fernandez on Tuesday accused Britain of militarizing the Southern Atlantic, vowing to ask the UN for help to remove British troops from the region.

It is disturbing that Britain maintains a military presence in the waters around the Malvinas islands, known as the Falklands in Britain, Fernandez said, adding that the British deployment risks triggering war games in the region.

She said her government would present once again its arguments to the UN De-colonizing Committee in June, and expressed the belief that with these arguments the sovereignty of the Malvinas would be given to Argentina.

International courts have on numerous occasions ruled against Argentina's sovereignty claim.

Tensions between Argentina and Britain over the islands have recently increased as the 30th anniversary of a 1982 war that saw Argentina defeated by Britain is approaching.

Prince William's posting at the islands and Britain's reported deployment of an advanced warship to the waters have also stoked the tensions.

Also Tuesday, the president signed a decree to fully declassify a report on the sensitive events regarding the 1982 war. She said that she made the decision because the Argentine people have the right to know more of what led up to the war.

Russia to Expand Navy

2012-02-08T19:26:00.001-08:00

Russia to Expand Navy

Moscow, Feb 8 (Prensa Latina) Russia will add 15 new ships to its Navy by the year 2020, including six Varshavianka diesel submarines to the Black Sea fleet, says Adm. Vladimir Visostki, commander of Russia´s Armed Force branch.

Based in Sevastopol, Crimea, Ukraine, the Black Sea Fleet will deploy one or two ships every 12 months, said Visostki, while its commander, Alexander Foditerkov, said the Rubin Institute designed the subs in 1980s and were built in Almiraltskie Velfi shipyard.

The Varshavianka Submarines (project 636) may sail up to 300 meters deep. They may house 52 sailors and are fitted with "Caliber" type missiles, whose 1,500km fire range matches The US Tomahawks after some enginery correction, said Defense Ministry sources.

This model of submarine is simple, quiet, least traceable and is further successful in chasing down the Los Angeles counterparts from the United States.

The Fleet at the Caspian Sea will be supplied as of the year 2020 with 16 additional ships , including supply boats, said military sources.

sgl/emw/mem/to

http://www.scribd.com/doc/61839666/Indo-Pak-Wars-A-Pictorial-History

http://www.scribd.com/doc/21686885/TALIBAN-WAR-IN-PAKISTAN-AFGHANISTAN-A-WRITERS-PERCEPTIONS-FROM-2001-TO-2011

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22457862/Military-Decision-making-and-leadership

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22151765/History-of-Pakistan-Army-from-1757-to-1971-PRINTING-ENABLED-Do-acknowledge-to-the-author

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22455178/Letters-to-Command-and-Staff-College-Quetta-Citadel-Journal

http://www.scribd.com/doc/23150027/Pakistan-Army-through-eyes-of-Pakistani-Generals

http://www.scribd.com/doc/23701412/War-of-Independence-of-1857

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22107238/HISTORY

http://www.scribd.com/doc/21693873/Indo-Pak-Wars-1947-71-A-STRATEGIC-AND-OPERATIONAL-ANALYSIS-BY-A-H-AMIN-THIS-BOOK-CAN-BE-PRINTED-FROM-THIS-SITE

KOMINFORM
http://www.kominform.eu

Warning for Takfiri Sectarian Suicidal Mullahs‏

2012-02-08T19:20:00.001-08:00

FROM MR AMIR MUGHAL A RETIRED INTELLIGENCE BUREAU OFFICER

A very detailed and informative lecture on Takfiri Mullahs and violence which results after Fatwa Bazi

Warning for Takfiri Sectarian Suicidal Mullahs

فضیلۃ الشیخ عبد اللہ ناصر رحمانی حفظہ اللہ

تنفیر، تکفیر اور تفجیر

AUDIO: http://islamfort.com/index.php?option=com_muscol&view=song&id=292

LOW INTENSITY CONFLICT

BBC ardent follower of Joseph Goebbels

BBC are Corporate-Paid Propagandists

The Independent exposes what we already knew.

Zardari, Telephone Tapping, & Swiss Case.

Zardari, Telephone Tapping, & Swiss Case.

AN AMERICAN FRIEND ON US BIASES AND FUTURE OF ISRAEL

Senator Saifur Rehman Swiss Money of Zardari & Swiss Case of Zardari:) Duniya News 13th Feb 2012

KYUN? Latest on Duniya News 13th Feb 2012 p1

KYUN? Latest on Duniya News 13th Feb 2012 p2

KYUN? Latest on Duniya News 13th Feb 2012 p3

An Intellectually dishonest Hungarian Frenchman called Sarkozy ‘using public funds for campaign’

Russia to Develop Potential Dual-Use Laser

Russia To Deploy New Air Defense Systems On Border

Assad wins out against opposition as Russia and Iran strengthen ties

Run-up to proxy war over Syria

Assad wins out against opposition as Russia and Iran strengthen ties DEBKAfile Exclusive Report February 11, 2012

Patriarch of Antioch: Syrian Unrest Instigated by Foreigners

Belarus snubs the Arrogant Germans

British Special Forces Sabotage Terrorists In Syria

Expanding Pakistan-Russia Partnership Within SCO

Atrocities in Pakistan continue without any gap

Hafiz Saeed's Memory Loss on Osama, Saddam & Bin Baz.

Hafiz Saeed's Memory Loss on Osama, Saddam & Bin Baz.

Russia And Syria: Laboratory For Testing Advent Of Multipolar World

Russia Confirms British and Qatari commandos presence in Syria

Why do men die before their wives

Kurdish Tigresses-SALAM PKK

Romania’s Capitalist Dream Turns into Nightmare

Argentina To Appeal To UN Against British Military Buildup

Russia to Expand Navy

Warning for Takfiri Sectarian Suicidal Mullahs‏

Assad wins out against opposition as Russia and Iran strengthen ties
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report February 11, 2012