INTELLIGENCE

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.

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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.

_

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Funny Signs for the Modern Woman!

2012-02-12T11:06:00.001-08:00

FYI - From Mr. Talpur to counter Mike Panagos's Brave Man sayings.Received from Prof. Andre

Signs for the Modern Woman!

From One Gorgeous Gal to Another......

With Very Best Regards

Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur

"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

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.

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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

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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.

--
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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/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

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

India Shining for Corporate Media

2012-02-07T22:26:00.001-08:00

FROM MY DEAR FRIEND AMBASSADOR GAJENDRA SINGH

India shining: Exuberant Indian markets gloss over economic reality

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/analysis/india-shining-exuberant-indian-markets-gloss-over-economic-reality/articleshow/11802049.cms

Economic Times 8 Feb2012

NEW DELHI: Surging capital inflows, booming stock markets and a fast-appreciating currency suggest the India story is again shining after a dismal 2011.

Dig a little deeper, and problems afflicting Asia's third-largest economy remain largely unabated and unaddressed. Inflationary risks remain and a political logjam continues to hem in reforms, clouding the economic outlook.

"Nothing has happened on the policy front to justify this mood," said Andrew Kenningham, an economist atCapital Economics in London. "Growth prospects are not looking good by historical standards."

New Delhi on Tuesday cut the growth estimate for the current fiscal year that ends in March to 6.9 percent from a revised forecast of around 7.5 percent issued in December, sharply below the 8.4 percent growth of the last fiscal year.

Still, the benchmark stock index is up nearly 15 percent this year while the rupee has risen about 8 percent from its 2011 close, with both clocking the sharpest gains in more than a decade.

An improved global funding environment, relatively attractive valuations of Indian equities and hopes for rate cuts by the central bank have lured foreign institutions. They are net buyers of $3.2 billion Indian equities this year after having sold $357 million last year.

"The rally at this stage may be more a reflection of foreign portfolio flows and an appreciation of the rupee," said Sanjay Sinha, a veteran fund manager who founded Citrus Advisors, an investment advisory firm.

"This in itself may be in an anticipation that the twin factors of a rate cut from April and bold economic policies may actually herald the resurgence of the economy. Therefore, data may follow but the markets may have rallied ahead of them."

Valuations at the end of 2011 were 12-13 times estimated earnings for the fiscal year that ends in March 2013, compared with a 10-year average of 15, said Rakesh Arora, managing director at Macquarie Equities Research in Mumbai.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has signalled that it is finished raising interest rates after 13 increases between March 2010 and October 2011, to the relief of companies and banks. A rate cut is widely expected by the end of June, if not sooner.

The rupee's recovery has been fuelled in part by measures the central bank took to stabilize the exchange rate.

"It is a feel-good rally," said Jagannadham Thunuguntla, head of research at SMC Investments and Advisors Ltd.

Macroeconomic indicators are recently looking better. Industrial output has recovered from a record slump and the manufacturing and services sectors continue to pick up pace. Inflation slipped below 8 percent for the first time in two years in December and is on track to fall to the central bank's 7 percent target by the end of the fiscal year.

PREMATURE

Many India-watchers warn the euphoria is premature. Inflation is indeed down smartly, falling to a two-year low of 7.47 percent, but that is due almost entirely to a drop in food inflation that is widely seen as unsustainable.

Non-food manufactured inflation eased by just 0.2 percentage points from 7.9 percent in November to 7.7 percent in December.

All of this means that the RBI may not be in a hurry to slash interest rates.

"We don't expect the RBI to be aggressive in easing rates as inflation worries are still not completely mitigated. We expect it to be cautious in easing interest rates," said Siddhartha Sanyal, an economist at Barclays Capital in Mumbai.

Meanwhile, the policy environment in New Delhi remains muddled, with the Congress party government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh weakened by corruption scandals and facing a tough election in Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state.

A negative outcome for Congress next month in the election could further weaken it and exacerbate political gridlock that has already stalled reforms including a goods and services tax (GST) and foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail.

Before the global financial crisis of 2008, India's growth capacity was estimated at around 8.5 percent. Sluggish capital investment since then means India can now sustain just 7 or 7.5 percent growth without overheating, economists say.

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

Maoist owns up bomb threat

2012-02-07T21:43:00.001-08:00

http://e-pao.net/GP.asp?src=18..080212.feb12

Maoist owns up bomb threat
Source: Hueiyen News Service

Imphal, February 07, 2012: The Maoist Communist Party, Manipur in a press statement claimed that the bomb threat and firing at the house of Thokchom Achouba of Lambal Makha Leikai was carried out by its cadres.

The threat was given to let Achouba know the result of challenging Maoist and siphoning off the mid day meals and other funds meant for the school children.

In the statement, Maoist claimed that Achouba along with some officials of the ZEO Zone I, Sekmai and some other persons were involved in selling rice for mid day meals, adding more names of students in the list, taking bribe in appointing Cook and collecting black money from many persons promising them contract works for school building extensions.

Instead of correcting their mistakes when Maoist gave them time since the past months, he along with some of his accomplices challenged the Maoist with the help of some armed gang.

When the gang group failed to do anything against Maoist, Achouba again plotted to stand against Maoist with the help of one person from Lamdeng Khunou.

Considering such act of Achouba, Maoist has decided not to forgive him anymore for his misdeeds and warned that Maoist will anytime attack him.

It also appealed to the people of the state not to react against any action taken up against Achouba and his accomplices.

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

A KARGIL TROJAN PHISHING MAIL WHICH I RECEIVED

2012-02-07T21:08:00.001-08:00

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Lt Gen Salahuddin Tirmizi <tirmizi1@yahoo.com>
Date: Sun, Jan 29, 2012 at 3:19 PM
Subject: The Book "KARGIL" releases by indian 'MOD' against the APML Leaders
To: oasispine@gmail.com

1. The Book "KARGIL" releases by indian 'MoD' against the "APML" Leaders.

Theme:

The cause of the war was the infiltration of Pakistani soldiers and Kashmiri militants into positions on the Indian side of the LOC......

Download "Book": http;//pakdefence.com/Kargilbook/

With regards

Lt Gen Salahuddin Tirmizi

Kargil War-Major Agha.H.Amin (Retired)

EVEN DRUG SMUGGLERS OF BALOCHISTAN DONT ABANDON THEIR DEAD BODIES LIKE THIS AND THIS PICTURE IS REVOLTING.ALL THESE MEN WERE VOLUNTEERS ALTHOUGH REGULAR SOLDIERS ! THE FAULT LIES WITH AMBITIOUS OPPORTUNISTS LIKE GENERAL MUSHARRAF ALONE !

INDIAN ARMY BURIES PAKISTANI SOLDIERS IN KARGIL

IN NOVEMBER 2003 WHEN I WROTE THE ARTICLE BELOW AND SENT IT TO NATION I WAS CONVINCED THAT THE ONLY SOLUTION OF MUSHARRAF WAS KINETIC ENERGY OF THE G 3 RIFLE BULLET .

NOT ONLY MUSHARRAF , ALL PAKISTANS ELITE NEEDS THIS SIMPLE BUT WONDERFULLY EFFECTIVE TREATMENT.MY ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED IN NATION IN JANUARY 2004.BASICALLY A PHILOSOPHY OF WHY MEN DECIDE TO SACRIFICE THE ULTIMATE , THEIR OWN LIFE !

CLICK ON THIS ARTICLE BELOW TO ENLARGE AND READ.STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART AND WRITTEN AT ONE STRETCH !

MY LETTER AS A CAPTAIN SERVING IN TACTICAL WING SCHOOL OF ARMOUR NOWSHERA TO COMMAND AND STAFF COLLEGE QUETTAS CITADEL JOURNAL ON A RIDICULOUS BOOK FULL OF FACTUAL MISTAKES WRITTEN BY THEN LIEUT COL JAVED HASSAN AND DISTRIBUTED IN THE ARMY IN 1991 OR SO

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ARCHITECTS OF KARGIL JAVED HASSAN (EXTREME LEFT) AND MUSHARRAF !

SO GUILTY WAS JAVED HASSAN THAT WHILE HE WAS COMMANDANT NATIONAL DEFENCE COLLEGE ALL STUDENTS WERE TOLD NOT TO USE THE WORD KARGIL IN ANY DISCUSSION , AT THE PERIL OF THEIR MILITARY CAREER ! AN AIR FORCE OFFICER WHO MADE THIS MISTAKE WAS SENT BACK FROM THE COURSE !

THE DEAD BODY OF THIS BRAVE MAN WAS HANDED OVER TO PAKISTAN WITH GREAT DIFFICULTY BY INDIANS . THE PAKISTANIS WERE DENYING THAT HE WAS AN ARMY OFFICER AT ALL ?

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Lieutenant General Jamshed Gulzar Kiani's forthright revelations on a TV channel about Kargil prove what this scribe stated more than 5 years ago.Lieut General Jamshed Gulzar Kiani called Kargil a debacle.However Jamshed Gulzar Kiani called a spade a spade after enjoying all military perks and privileges as well as civilian post military jobs

The Kargil Conspiracy

The Nation 29 May 2003

A.H Amin

What I wrote in 2003 was when the likes of Jamshed Gulzar Kiani and Shahid Aziz were enjoying all perks and privileges of being corps commander and CGS.

And one fine day these opportunists suddenly discovered that Musharraf was not a good guy ! Opportunism Pakistani Army style !

There is general consensus on the fact that military juntas are convenient agents of change employed by larger powers to bring desired policy changes in smaller countries.

This is more true for Pakistan where the USA has had a record of using the military juntas as agents of change .

Ayub was cultivated in the 1950s and proved his worth as USA's collaborator par excellence in destroying democracy in Pakistan .

The Zia coup was US inspired and had complete US blessings since the USA viewed Mr Z.A Bhutto as a dangerously charismatic leader capable of uniting the Islamic/Third World ! Thus Operation Foul Play of 5th July 1977 !

When Liaquat Ali Khan the then prime minister of Pakistan warned the US Ambassador to Pakistan that the Graham Report on Kashmir must be presented in the UN by 15th October 1951 he was assassinated on 16th October 1951 !

Raja Ghazanfar Ali then Pakistan's ambassador to Iran noted that Liaquat had planned an Islamic conference to discuss Kashmir , Anglo Iranian Oil Company and Palestine !

CLICK TO ENLARGE THIS ARTICLE AND READ PUBLISHED WHEN MUSHARRAF WAS HEIGHT OF HIS POWER IN 2003.HE WAS ENRAGED I AM TOLD BY MY SOURCES THEN IN ISI !

Keeping this background in mind the fact that a deliberate conspiracy with a design to control and manipulate Pakistan's geopolitical future with Kargil as the key point cannot be ruled out.It is possible that Kargil may have been designed as the catalyst to create a civil-military political conflict in Pakistan and as a future launching pad of a military coup.

In 1998 Nawaz Sharif often criticized as a man with limited IQ took one of Pakistan's most decisive strategic command decisions defying USA , not appeasing it as Musharraf took in September 2001 !

It is on record that Nawaz Sharif did not surrender on one telephone call from US president like General Musharraf did and defied US threats not to go on with the nuclear tests despite four telephone call threats from US president Clinton and resolutely went on with Pakistan's Nuclear blasts !

Recently Dr Qadeer Khan speaking at a function in Karachi on 3rd April 2003 stated that Nawaz even refused an offer of bribe from Clinton wherein Clinton had offered to deposite 100 Million USD in Nawaz Sharif's personal bank account !

All evidence proves that Nawaz Sharif's decision to go on with the Nuclear blast was a political decision and the role of the armed forces was merely that of a technocrat consultant !

It appears that from May 1998 the US policy makers came to the conclusion that Nawaz was an irresponsible man and must be taken to task..

By September 1998 it appears that the Americans had succeeded in their manipulations . The then Army chief General Karamat at this stage started pressurizing the political leadership to include the army in the political decision making .

Nawaz had done his homework well.

With the ISI firmly under the prime ministers command under Lieutenant General Ziauddin one senior officer Zulfiqar presently chairman WAPDA had been sent to Ukraine to find details of kick backs given to General Jahangir Karamat in the Ukraianian tank deal with Pakistan.

Full evidence was prepared of Jahangirs complicity in taking kick backs.Once Karamat asserted his political ambitions Nawaz threatened him with prosecution for taking kick backs ! Thus Jahangir Karamat's unceremonial exit from power ! USA's likely agent of change had been removed !

Now comes Kargil. With the appointment of Musharraf as army chief the more Machiavellian geopolitical moves were planned !

Major general Javed Hassan Khan previously military attaché to Washington where many military attaches are successfully cultivated by US intelligence was posted as Commander FCNA incharge of the forces in Gilgit ,Northern Areas including Kargil.

Indian Bofors gun fires on Pakistani position on Tiger Hill

The readers may note that this officer presently the commandant of the Pakistan Army's National Defence College , back in early 1990s made Mughal Emperor Humayun fight in Second Battle of Panipat in his book "India- A Study in Profile €? ! The fact is that Humayun was dead while Panipat was fought and Humayun had no connection with Second Battle of Panipat !

Indians fire rocket barrage on Tiger Hill

MY LETTER TO COMMAND AND STAFF COLLEGE QUETTA ABOUT THEN LIEUT COL JAVED HASSANS BOOK AND ITS HISTORICAL DISTORTIONS IN 1991 WHILE SERVING AS AN INSTRUCTOR AT TACTICAL WING SCHOOL OF ARMOUR NOWSHERA.NO ONE KNEW THEN HOW JAVED HASSAN AND PERVEZ MUSHARRAF WOULD PLAY HELL WITH PAKISTAN ARMY AT KARGIL

Indian map depicting the Kargil War

The men who planned Kargil military operation using Pakistan's 80 Brigade to infiltrate Indian positions in Kargil Sector were instruments of a grand conspiracy to destabilize Pakistans political government which had defied the USA and wanted to make peace with India without US involvement !

Ambition of General Musharraf and his team while planning Kargil had infected the entire military thought process ! The Kargil plan was adventurist,superpower manipulated and its intrinsic violence penetrated and cut open the very arteries of the Pakistani state, spurting out in civil military strife and finally a military coup !

FATHERS OF THE KARGIL FAUX PAS MUSHARRAF AND JAVED HASSAN

The heroes of those rocky pinnacles are all dead ! Sacrificed in vain ! Diabolically launched into the valleys of death by men who now are dead earnest to make peace with India but propelled by promiscuous and unadulterated ambition wanted to sabotage Nawaz Sharif's Lahore Peace move in 1999 ! Once Vajpayee came to Lahore on Nawaz's initiatiave in 1999 he was a vampire but once Musharraf went to Agra later Vajpayee was an angel !

At the super power level Kargil was planned with a view to ridicule Pakistan's political leadership , embarrass the Pakistani prime minister and to create a civil military divide aimed at a military coup in Pakistan ! Why ! Someone may ask naievely ! Because the USA views the military junta in Third World countries as a more reliable collaborator agent of change than a prime minister who repeatedly defies US threats of retaliation and a 100 Million USD bribery offer !

Thus Kargil operation was launched with an ulterior motive to divide Pakistan's political and military leaderships ! It is an unfortunate fact of history that Nawaz Sharif was mot aided by a good defence analyst team ! Those who were with him and supposedly considered defence experts were either in secret league with Nawaz's handpicked military man or too naieve to understand the military intricacies of Kargil !

Kargil in the final analysis stands out as the meticulously planned conspiracy catalyst employed to trigger a chain of events that led to the primacy of the military junta on 12 October 1999 !

So far the Americans have succeeded ! The Pakistani Nuclear programme is in safe hands ! Pakistan , the beautiful woman in words of General Habibullah has sold herself to , not the highest bidder , but the only bidder at a relatively low price !

The military junta has divided the society ! Bought the pillars of state ! Balkanised the political parties ! Marginalised the society introducing unjust ethnic domination in the army , reduced the Sindhis into a political minority , pitched Punjab against Sindh by Machaievellian agreement to Thal Canal and is all set to strike a deal with India which would ensure that Pakistan's military junta is given a permanent share in the political hierarchy simply because it is USA's best and most reliable agent of change ! Life goes on !

Kargil-A Military Analysis
Based on discussion with various direct participants of this faux pas in between 1999 and 2002.

15 June 2003

A.H Amin

Kargil stands as perhaps the final military effort on Pakistans part to settle the Kashmir dispute by military means.

Analysis has mostly centred around political aspects of the operation while the military aspects have been largely left to the imagination of the public.Lately it has been claimed that Kargil was launched to bail out Mujahideen as a last resort ! This is an insult to the memory of the Pakistani armed forces "Volunteers" who died in that Himalayan wasteland without a funeral and in circumstances of unimaginable misery !

Kargil operation cannot be understood unless the personalities and motives of the principal characters are examined ! Every action in history is the final culmination of a personality's self perception,ambition and subconscious as well as conscious urges.

In this context the Kargil operation was born out of two key factors ! One was the personality of general Pervez Musharraf and the second was the unceremonial manner in which Nawaz Sharif ousted General Jahangir Karamat Musharraf's predecessor army chief of Pakistan Army.

Musharraf as those who have served with him know which includes this scribe also has always been an intensely ambitious man ! One hallmark of his personality is that he wants to stand out as a great military commander ! Propelled by an enormous ego wherever he served he endeavoured to do something extraordinary ! However fate did not allow him the glory in battle which his other coursemates like shabbir sharif achieved ! In 1965 Musharraf was a subaltern in an artillery unit which saw little action apart from supporting operatiions by indirect fire ! The 16 SP unlike 3 SP which fired on Indian tanks with direct gunsights at Chawinda stayed in conventional artillery role ! In 1971 Musharrafs commando company was not involved in action !

I Interviewed Musharrafs Commanding Officer in 1971 Lieut Col Iqbal Nazir Warraich in 2002 and he stated that Musharraf did not see any action under his command in 1971 contrary to prevalent myths.

Nevertheless Musharraf compensated for this lack of combat laurels by achieving laurels in army courses and in various command assignments ! His final opportunity came when he ascended to the post of army chief in a situation when the army was in a subservient position vis a vis the civilian head of state , something which was regarded by the military herarchy as worse than blasphemy !

The forced retirement of General Karamat by prime minister Nawaz Sharif was regarded as a personal defeat by the Pakistani military brass and by Musharraf who felt that he would be a far weaker army chief under a strong prime minister who had asserted civilian control over the military machine !

These two factors were the fathers of the Kargil operation ! Ambition accompanied by a perception that the Pakistani public must be convinced that the soldiers were better than politicians.

Kargil at the military level was the brainchild of three men i.e General Musharraf the army chief ,Aziz the then army Chief of general Staff and Mahmud the then corps commander 10 Corps ! Musharraf and Mahmud were motivated by intense ambition to achieve military glory and Aziz was motivated by his Kashmiri ancestry plus military ambition.The person they selected to execute the operation was again one distinguished by out of proportion ambition i.e Major General Javed Hassan , author of a book in 1990s that claimed that India was on its way to disintegration and in which mughal king Humayun was resurrected from the grave to fight at Second Battle of Panipat !

In November December 1998 just one month after Musharraf's elevation to the post of army chief volunteers were asked for at the army level for an operation in Kashmir ! Many thousand volunteered including both officers and men from various units !

At no stage did any Mujahideen enter Kargil ! This is a piece of fiction and has no veracity !

These were attached to NLI units in the 80 Brigade sector for training.The principal idea of the plan was to infiltrate four battalions of NLI (Northern light Infantry) stationed in 80 Brigade Sector into Kargil Heights overlooking and dominating the Srinagar Ladakh road the lone Indian link with the Siachen and Leh Sectors ! The idea being to cut the lifeline of Indian supplies to Leh and Siachen Sectors ! Indian held heights in Kargil were to be occupied in February 1999 while Indian infantry had abandoned these heights at the approach of winter snow as an annual routine since 1948.In occupying the heights no fighting was involved ! The real issue was that of supplying Pakistani troops holding these heights which was far more difficult from the Pakistani side than from the Indian side !

Plans were kept secret and even the Commander 10 Corps Engineers of was not allowed to enter the Operations Room in 10 Corps Pindi.

The distance involved in reaching the heights varied from 15 to 35 kilometres from Pakistan side over mountains as high as 13 to 19,000 feet .To do this each battalion was divided into two parts , one acting as porters taking supplies forward and one half occupying the heights .

The heights were occupied as per the plan but the four units while doing so were severly exhausted ! In March-April the Indians discovered the Pakistani presence and reacted severely ! Severe fighting continued till July once the Indians finally re-captured the heights after Pakistani troops had been left to the mercy of Indian artillery and overwhelming troop concentrations as a result of the Blair House Accord !

A brief military examination of the plan reveals following weaknesses.(1) Failure to assess strategic repercussions of the operation at geopolitic and national strategic level .(2) Logistic failure in incorrect appreciation of supplying the troops . (3) Failure to understand that by occupying the heights the Indians were driven into a corner and had no choice but to retaliate , not for glory as was the Pakistani military's case but for pure military survival . (4) At a more subtle level the use of the Chora-Batalik Sector as a future spring board for Pakistani operations against India was sealed since Indians heavily fortified this sector for any future war.

The Pakistani planners failed to assess that war as an instrument of policy is no longer in vogue at the international level and their temporary military success would only bring greater international censure and a negative war mongering image without any corresponding military gain at the strategic level.

This scribe interviewed a former commander of FCNA and 10 Corps about logistics and General Imtiaz Warraich replied as following :--

" We initiated this operation but failed to support it with comprehensive operational planning and above all buildup for essential logistic support without which no operation can succeed"......'" the principal reason for our heavy casualties and lack of progress was unimaginative and callous logistic operations to support the units".

At one point the sepoys who had volunteered to fight and had come from many other infantry units to the NLI units refused to act as porters carrying supplies over 15 kilometres and were so exasperated that they defied Javed Hassan's personal orders in unit durbars to carry supplies and when Javed Hassn threw his cap on the ground threatened to march over it unless they were not employed as porters ! One such volunteer told this scribe that we had volunteered to fight ,not to act as porters ! The same fact was also mentioned in ISI chief Ziauddin Butt's secret report to Nawaz Sharif prepared by an Engineer officer on Zia's staff in ISI !

The failure to assess the "Enemy" factor was another strategic planning failure at the highest level .I asked General Warraich this question and he stated " Capture of Kargil Heights would totally stop all Indian movement to Leh and Ladakh Sectors unlike Pakistan in Siachen and Indians had no option but to do and die " !

KARGIL BRIGADE COMMANDER MASUD ASLAM WAS AWARDED A GALLANTRY AWARD FOR LEADING FROM THE REAR.HE WAS PROMOTED A LIEUTENANT GENERAL AND CONDUCTED THE DIASASTOROUS WAZIRISTAN OPERATION.

Lust for glory and honour in battle are perfectly reasonable aspirations as long as they are accompanied by commensurate military talent in the generals who are at the helm of affairs ! This was sadly lacking in the Musharraf team who planned the operation. Their egos were many times larger than their real military talent !

By promoting an intensely ambitious man to the rank of army chief Nawaz did a favour which could only be repaid by betrayal ! The plan was based not on sound military reasoning but on burning ambition and an unrealistic desire for glory by men far away from the heat of battle ! No one above major level died , yet in a report to the military secretarys branch Javed Hassan recommended retiring 75 % of officers involved in the operation below colonel level !

The prime minister was not fully briefed because of ulterior motives ! Had the operation succeeded it would have been projected as a proof of Musharraf's Napoleonic brilliance and if it failed as it did Nawaz Sharif would have been made the scapegoat !

MUSHARRAF AS COMMANDER 1 CORPS

The operations planners were distinguished neither by loftiness of thought,nor audacity in the conduct of battle athe operational or strategic level.Thus boldness at tactiacl level was sacrificed because of operational and tactical timidity at the highest level.

No one appreciated that the army men who were employed , and it is a fiction that there was a single Mujahid in Kargil , had flesha nd blood ! These men mourned by a few hundred families were sons husbands fathers and brothers !

GENERAL ZIA UD DIN WAS DG ISI AT THE TIME OF THE KARGIL FAUX PAS AND FEELS WITH IMMENSE CONVICTION THAT MUSHARRAF KEPT THE CIVILIAN PRIME MINISTER IN DARKNESS ABOUT KARGIL

The Kargil operation at the military level is a watershed ! Idealism that propelled many hundred to die in those Himalayan wastes is buried for good ! Now there is a new breed which dominates the army ! The ones who aim at going on lush UN secondments or to KESC,WAPDA or as well paid consulatants !

Karnal Sher Khan was fighting till August 1999 as the plate below his picture at a Pakistan Army mess indicates.This means that these indomitable warriors werefighting like Lions while their shameless opportunist commander Musharraf had abandoned them in July 1999 to die fighting without ammunition and rations

What can one conclude ! It was the human heart that failed in Kargil and this heart which failed was housed in the ribcage of men sitting in the GHQ and not on the rocky pinnacles of Kargil ! Once the supply lines were closed under Indian threat of a counter attack , these brave men all Pakistan Army regulars were abandoned to die , pounded by artillery fire , bayoneted by overwhelming numbers , weakened by starvation ! Who can hear their cries ! Our ears are covered with heaps of lies ! Truth died at Kargil ! What remains is a body guard of lies!

On Sun, Jan 29, 2012 at 3:19 PM, Lt Gen Salahuddin Tirmizi <tirmizi1@yahoo.com> wrote:

1. The Book "KARGIL" releases by indian 'MoD' against the "APML" Leaders.

Theme:
The cause of the war was the infiltration of Pakistani soldiers and Kashmiri militants into positions on the Indian side of the LOC......
Download "Book": http;//pakdefence.com/Kargilbook/

With regards
Lt Gen Salahuddin Tirmizi

Russia's Strategic Moves On The Syria Issue

2012-02-07T20:38:00.000-08:00

Russia's Strategic Moves On The Syria Issue

http://tehrantimes.com/opinion/95256-russias-strategic-moves-on-the-syria-issue

Tehran Times
February 7, 2012

Russia's strategic moves on the Syria issue
Jahangir Karami

Russia's recent veto of the United Nations Security Council's resolution on Syria was based on two main objectives. First of all, Russia is trying to prevent the Security Council from interfering in the internal affairs of sovereign member states, which is clearly a violation of the UN Charter. And protecting the Syrian government is a priority for Moscow because Damascus is one of Russia's most important allies in the Middle East.

The main demand of Russia and China is that the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states should be respected, especially given the current global situation. Military intervention in Syria, like what happened in Libya, would facilitate more interventionism in the future, especially by Western countries, which have a long record of manipulating international law to interfere in other parts of the world.

The strategic importance of Syria for Russia cannot be denied. Russia and Syria have extensive economic and commercial cooperation.

Moreover, Russia is very concerned about the higher profile Turkey is assuming in regional affairs, which could embolden Ankara to interfere in the Caucasus. Thus, protecting Syria is a good way for Russia to curb Turkey's influence in the region.

In addition, Russia has blocked the efforts of certain Western governments and their allies to approve anti-Syria resolutions at the UN Security Council. However, there is a possibility that Moscow could accept a milder resolution in order to resolve the crisis.

The fact that certain Western and Arab countries redrafted the resolution was unusual because such moves are rare at the Security Council.

It seems that the resolution was redrafted to decrease the possibility that Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin would become head of state again, since he apparently wants to settle the Syrian dispute after the March 4 presidential election.

Thus, Russia will probably only accept a milder resolution against Syria in order to postpone the resolution of the issue to a later date, after Putin, who is the overwhelming favorite in the election, officially takes office as president.

Jahangir Karami is a faculty member of the Department of Russian Studies of the University of Tehran.

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

Shah of Iran & Ayatollah Khomeini.

2012-02-07T20:29:00.001-08:00

FROM MR AAMIR MUGHAL A BRILLIANT RETIRED OFFICER FROM THE INTELLIGENCE BUREAU

Shah of Iran & Ayatollah Khomeini.

http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/2012/02/shah-of-iran-ayatollah-khomeini.html

Mawdudi's works began to appear in Iran in the 1960s. They were translated into Persian from Arabic by Ayatollah Hadi Khusrawshahi and members of a translating team working with him. Articles on Mawdudi and excerpts from his works also appeared in various issues of Khusrawshahi's journal Maktab-i Islam. Following the revolution of 1978–1979, a number of Mawdudi's works were translated into Persian from Arabic by Ayatollah Sayyid Muhammad Khamana'i. Interestingly, the first Persian translation of a work of Mawdudi was done in Hyderabad, Deccan, by Mahmud Faruqi in 1946; RJI, vol. 4, 90. REFERENCES: The Vangaurd of the Islamic Revolution - The Jama'at-i Islami of Pakistan Seyed Vali Reza Nasr UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS Berkeley · Los Angeles · London © 1994 The Regents of the University of California - Should we just condemn only Khomeini and condone Mawdudi knowing well that Mawdudi was a close friend of Khomeini and was sympathetic to his course. In a book titled, 'Two brothers - Maududi and Khomeini' page 129, the following statement of Dr Ahmad Farouk Maududi (son of Abul-A'ala Maududi) was published in Roz Naame, Lahore - 29 September 1979, "Allama Khomeini had a very old and close relationship with Abba Jaan (father). Aayaatullah Khomeini translated his (fathers) books in Farsi and included it as a subject in Qum. Allama Khomeini met my father in 1963 during Hajj and my father's wish was to create a revolutionary in Pakistan similar to Iran. He was concerned about the success of the Iranian revolution till his last breath.'

Ronald Reagan on Shah of Iran, Khomeini & Ugly US Role in Iran

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gp0F-SrOhKc

The Iran-Contra Affair was a clandestine action not approved of by the United States Congress. It began in 1985, when President Ronald Reagan's administration supplied weapons to Iran¹ — a sworn enemy — in hopes of securing the release of American hostages held in Lebanon by Hezbollah terrorists loyal to the Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran's leader. This article is rooted in the Iran Hostage Crisis. The U.S. took millions of dollars from the weapons sale and routed them and guns to the right-wing "Contra"² guerrillas in Nicaragua. The Contras were the armed opponents of Nicaragua's Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction, following the July 1979 overthrow of strongman Anastasio Somoza Debayle and the ending of the Somoza family's 43-year reign. The transactions that took place in the Iran-Contra scandal were contrary to the legislation of the Democratic-dominated Congress and contrary to official Reagan administration policy. Part of the deal was that, in July 1985, the United States would send 508 American-made TOW anti-tank missiles from Israel to Iran for the safe exchange of a hostage, the Reverend Benjamin Weir. After that successful transfer, the Israelis offered to ship 500 HAWK surface-to-air missiles to Iran in November 1985, in exchange for the release of all remaining American hostages being held in Lebanon. Eventually the arms were sold with proceeds going to the contras, and the hostages were released. In February 1986, 1,000 TOW missiles were shipped to Iran. From May to November, there were more shipments of various weapons and parts. Eventually Hezbollah elected to kidnap more hostages following their release of the previous ones, which rendered meaningless any further dealings with Iran. REFERENCE: Iran-Contra Affair Foreign Affairs, 1985-1992"Irangate" http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1889.html Iran-Contra Affair Foreign Affairs, 1985-1992 "Irangate" http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1889.html

Mike Wallace and H.I.M Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9_t3UjetM

LETS GO BACK TO HISTORY

Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh, Former Prime Minister of Iran [28 April 1951 – 19 August 1953]Mosaddeq was removed from power in a 19 August 1953 coup supported and funded by the British and U.S. governments and led by General Fazlollah Zahedi.[Secrets of History: The C.I.A in Iran By JAMES RISENhttp://www.nytimes.com/library/world/mideast/041600iran-cia-index.html

Secrets of History: The C.I.A in Iran By JAMES RISENhttp://www.nytimes.com/library/world/mideast/041600iran-cia-index.html

Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, [26 October 1919, Tehran – 27 July 1980, Cairo] with his wife.

The Central Intelligence Agency's secret history of its covert operation to overthrow Iran's government in 1953 offers an inside look at how the agency stumbled into success, despite a series of mishaps that derailed its original plans. Written in 1954 by one of the coup's chief planners, the history details how United States and British officials plotted the military coup that returned the shah of Iran to power and toppled Iran's elected prime minister, an ardent nationalist.

The document shows that:

Britain, fearful of Iran's plans to nationalize its oil industry, came up with the idea for the coup in 1952 and pressed the United States to mount a joint operation to remove the prime minister. The C.I.A. and S.I.S., the British intelligence service, handpicked Gen. Fazlollah Zahedi to succeed Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh and covertly funneled $5 million to General Zahedi's regime two days after the coup prevailed. Iranians working for the C.I.A. and posing as Communists harassed religious leaders and staged the bombing of one cleric's home in a campaign to turn the country's Islamic religious community against Mossadegh's government. The shah's cowardice nearly killed the C.I.A. operation. Fearful of risking his throne, the Shah repeatedly refused to sign C.I.A.-written royal decrees to change the government. The agency arranged for the shah's twin sister, Princess Ashraf Pahlevi, and Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, the father of the Desert Storm commander, to act as intermediaries to try to keep him from wilting under pressure. He still fled the country just before the coup succeeded.

"What's New on the Iran 1953 Coup in the New York Times Article (April 16, 2000, front page) and the Documents Posted on the Web" By Professor Mark Gasiorowski
19 April 2000 http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/

There is not much in the NYT article itself that is not covered in my article on the coup ("The 1953 Coup d'Etat in Iran" published in 1987 in the International Journal of Middle East Studies, and available in the Gulf2000 archives) or other sources on the coup. The most interesting new tidbit here is that the CIA's agents harassed religious leaders and bombed one's home in order to turn them against Mossadeq. The article does not say, but this was probably done by Iranians working in the BEDAMN network, which is described in my article. There are also some new details on how that US persuaded the shah to agree to the coup, including a statement that Assadollah Rashidian was involved in this effort and that General Schwartzkopf, Sr. played a larger role in this than was previously known. There are also a few details reported in the article that I knew about but chose not to reveal, including that Donald Wilber and Norman Derbyshire developed the original coup plan and that the plan was known as TPAJAX, rather than simply AJAX. (The TP prefix indicated that the operation was to be carried out in Iran.) The NYT article does not say anything about a couple of matters that remain controversial about the coup, including whether Ayatollah Kashani played a role in organizing the crowds and whether the CIA team organized "fake" Tudeh Party crowds as part of the effort. There may be something on these issues in the 200-page history itself.

Much more important than the NYT article are the two documents appended to the summary document giving operational plans for the coup. These contain a wealth of interesting information. They indicate that the British played a larger—though still subordinate—role in the coup than was previously known, providing part of the financing for it and using their intelligence network (led by the Rashidian brothers) to influence members of the parliament and do other things. The CIA described the coup plan as "quasi-legal," referring to the fact that the shah legally dismissed Mossadeq but presumably acknowledging that he did not do so on his own initiative. These documents make clear that the CIA was prepared to go forward with the coup even if the shah opposed it. There is a suggestion that the CIA use counterfeit Iranian currency to somehow show that Mossadeq was ruining the economy, though I'm not sure this was ever done. The documents indicate that Fazlollah Zahedi and his military colleagues were given large sums of money (at least $50,000) before the coup, perhaps to buy their support. Most interestingly, they indicate that various clerical leaders and organizations—whose names are blanked out—were to play a major role in the coup. Finally, the author(s) of the London plan—presumably Wilber and Derbyshire—say some rather nasty things about the Iranians, including that there is a "recognized incapacity of Iranians to plan or act in a thoroughly logical manner."

Perhaps the most general conclusion that can be drawn from these documents is that the CIA extensively stage-managed the entire coup, not only carrying it out but also preparing the groundwork for it by subordinating various important Iranian political actors and using propaganda and other instruments to influence public opinion against Mossadeq. This is a point that was made in my article and other published accounts, but it is strongly confirmed in these documents. In my view, this thoroughly refutes the argument that is commonly made in Iranian monarchist exile circles that the coup was a legitimate "popular uprising" on behalf of the shah.

In reply to Nikki Keddie's (UCLA) questions about whether the NYT article got the story right, I would say it is impossible to tell until the 200-page document comes out. Nikki's additional comment that these documents may not be entirely factual but may instead reveal certain biases held by their authors is an important one. Wilber was not in Iran while the coup was occurring, and his account of it can only have been based on his debriefing of Kermit Roosevelt and other participants. Some facts were inevitably lost or misinterpreted in this process, especially since this was a rapidly changing series of events. This being said, I doubt that there will be any major errors in the 200-page history. While Wilber had his biases, he certainly was a competent historian. I can think of no reason he might have wanted to distort this account.

Here are a few other notes. It is my understanding that these documents were given to the NYT well before Secretary Albright's recent speech, implying that they were not an attempt to upstage or add to the speech by the unnamed "former official" who provided them to the NYT. I think there is still some reason to hope that the 200-page document will be released with excisions by the NYT. I certainly hope they do so.

The Last Shah - Iran History BBC Documentary (Part 1)

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

Ayatollah Ruhollah KhomeinI was not an easy man. Stern and vengeful, he was not an easy man to like. Single-minded in his thinking, he was not an easy man to negotiate with. He certainly was not an easy man to interview. I remember the second time I interviewed him, in his exile in a village outside of Paris in the months before the 1979 revolution. He didn't like one of my questions. So he simply stood up from his cross-legged position on the floor and, without a word, wrapped himself in his cloak and left the room. Yet during his lifetime the ayatollah achieved near-mythic status, and he was revered, even worshiped, by Iranians who saw him as their savior on earth. Night after night before the revolution, many people swore that they saw Khomeini's face -- his turban, his eyes, his nose, his beard -- in the moon. In his biography of Khomeini, Baqer Moin describes the harsh side of the cleric who forever changed the course of Iran's history. ''Khomeini had never been particularly interested in discussion and dialogue,'' Moin writes. ''He was an introvert; his dialogue was with himself rather than with others.'' But then Moin, correctly, finds the key to understanding the ayatollah elsewhere: ''His approach was intuitive.'' It was Khomeini's extraordinary intuition, his innate sense that a cleric should be more than a person who leads prayers every Friday and conducts rituals for pay, that propelled him to lead a country into one of the most far-reaching revolutions of modern history. True, Khomeini was a man of religion; but even more important, he was a gifted and shrewd politician, skilled in mobilizing his supporters and isolating his opponents, supple in decision making when it served his goal of making and consolidating a theocracy. He appealed to the masses with promises to liberate them from oppression, surrounded himself with loyal clerical lieutenants and attracted the religious bazaar merchants, who began to offer him money, which in turn increased his following and influence. And he had no patience with the clerics of his day, even his more senior peers, who were determined to stay out of politics and were willing to share power with a traditional Shiite monarchy as their predecessors had done for over four centuries. ''Politics and religion are one,'' Khomeini often declared. Baqer Moin is ideally placed to have written a biography of one of the most complicated political figures of the 20th century. Moin grew up in Iran, where he learned Persian and Arabic poetry, mysticism and philosophy from his father, who was trained as a cleric but earned a living as a farmer. Moin himself studied in the religious seminaries of Mashad before becoming a journalist. He now heads the BBC's Persian service (even Khomeini listened to it). Moin has produced the first serious and accessible examination of the ayatollah's life. The most interesting parts of the book deal with the human side of a man who was little known before his ascent to power and widely misunderstood both before and after. Born into a family of clerics descended from the prophet Muhammad, Khomeini enjoyed a comfortable childhood in the village of Khomein in central Iran, where he was raised in a large fortified compound with a vast garden, courtyards, balconies and watchtowers. He was cared for by servants and protected by armed guards. As a young man, Khomeini developed an interest in poetry and wrote poetry himself, even using the language of love and drink. (''Keep the door of the tavern open for me night and day, / Farewell seminary, farewell mosque, / Let me go my way'' was typical of his style of verse.) Later, dissatisfied with the orthodox version of Islam practiced by the clergy, Khomeini became an intellectual rebel, plunging into mysticism. Moin argues that he owed his fearlessness as a political leader to his mystical sense of oneness with God. ''Intoxicated by the cosmic vision of a mystic and bound by the firm belief of a jurisprudent who carries out God's command, Khomeini the politician was a powerful fusion. As a mystic, Khomeini was an elitist, but as a theologian he was expedient and as a politician a calculating populist to the point of being opportunistic. . . . For Khomeini, there was no distinction between the persona of the jurist, the mystic and the politician.'' In his first news conference in Iran, four days after his return in February 1979, he unveiled the world's first modern theocracy. ''This is not an ordinary government,'' he declared. Rather, it would be ''God's government.'' That meant, he added, that opposition to the government was opposition to God -- in other words, ''blasphemy.'' Moin evokes Khomeini's rigidity through the memories of his host in Turkey, where Khomeini lived for several months in 1964 after the shah sent him into exile. When Ali Cetiner, a Persian-speaking colonel in Turkish military intelligence who was assigned to be Khomeini's minder, couldn't find a suitable place for him to stay he took him into his secular middle-class home in the city of Bursa. Cetiner's wife installed a new bed, bought new sheets and even put a Koran at Khomeini's bedside. She cooked dinner and put on her best dress to greet their Iranian guest. But when Khomeini arrived, he began protesting to Colonel Afzali, the minder from Iranian intelligence who had accompanied him there. ''He says the woman with the uncovered head should leave,'' Afzali explained to Cetiner, whose wife replied: ''I am not his housekeeper here. I am the lady of the house.'' Still, she put on a long nightdress and covered her head. Over time, Khomeini came to respect her, standing up when she entered the room, chatting with her amiably and even smiling as he looked her in the eye. Moin provides a deft account of Khomeini's emergence as a political leader: his writings, the dissemination of his ideas through audiocassette tapes while he was in exile in France and Iraq, his triumphal return to Iran, the hardening of his positions after the revolution. But some of the central chapters in recent Iranian history receive only the most cursory treatment. One of those chapters was the 444-day seizure of the United States Embassy in Tehran, which Khomeini blessed and then used to consolidate his power and purge his enemies. Another was the Iran-contra affair, in which the United States secretly sold weapons to Iran in violation of its stated policy and used the profits to finance anti-Communist rebels in Nicaragua. Iran's purchase of weapons from the country Khomeini assailed as the ''Great Satan'' underscored the regime's pragmatic streak. A third was Khomeini's ambitious but unsuccessful campaign to export his version of Islamic revolution to the rest of the Muslim world. Still, Moin does capture many things well -- for instance, Khomeini's antipathy to Israel. The Ayatollah's early writings and sermons have a distinctly anti-Semitic tone, which he muted as he became more of a political leader. Yet even today, Iran views the United States and Israel as enemies and is uneasy with its Jewish population, as demonstrated by the recent closed trial of 13 Jews on charges of spying for Israel. Not that Jews are the only victims of intolerance in Iran. As Eliz Sanasarian points out in her short but indispensable study, ''Religious Minorities in Iran,'' Iran has been uncomfortable with its other minorities as well, including the Zoroastrians, the Bahais, the Armenians and other Christians, and has repressed and marginalized them to varying degrees over the years. Sanasarian's book is an important contribution to understanding the relationship between Iran's religious minorities and the Tehran government. One can only imagine how Khomeini would deal with the battles being waged on various fronts today -- the press, the courts, the Parliament, the cinema, the universities, the streets. As early as 1942, he wrote in an anonymous tract that he expected the government of Islam to ''follow religious rules and regulations and ban publications which are against the law and religion and hang those who write such nonsense in the presence of religious believers.'' So he would probably approve of the closures of all reformist publications in the last few months and the trials and convictions of some of their editors and publishers. Perhaps Khomeini would also have had them executed. But then, Khomeini once protested the shah's enfranchisement of women, and then encouraged women to participate in his revolution and vote for his government when he needed their numbers. He once promised that clerics would hold only temporary positions in government and then allowed them to hold the most senior positions. He pledged to continue the war against Iraq until its defeat and then abruptly made peace. He once said that the fact that ''I have said something does not mean that I should be bound by my word.'' Indeed, it is that suppleness, that ability to improvise that has outlived Khomeini and that continues to pervade the Islamic Republic, keeping it going. REFERENCE: The People's Shah By Elaine Sciolino Published: August 27, 2000 Khomeini Life of the Ayatollah. By Baqer Moin. http://www.nytimes.com/2000/08/27/books/the-people-s-shah.html?src=pm

The Last Shah - Iran History BBC Documentary (Part 2)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qprhi3zmWag

CHILDREN as young as 13 were hanged from cranes, six at a time, in a barbaric two-month purge of Iran's prisons on the direct orders of Ayatollah Khomeini, according to a new book by his former deputy. More than 30,000 political prisoners were executed in the 1988 massacre - a far larger number than previously suspected. Secret documents smuggled out of Iran reveal that, because of the large numbers of necks to be broken, prisoners were loaded onto forklift trucks in groups of six and hanged from cranes in half-hourly intervals. Gruesome details are contained in the memoirs of Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, The Memoirs of Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, one of the founders of the Islamic regime. He was once considered Khomeini's anointed successor, but was deposed for his outspokenness, and is now under house arrest in the holy city of Qom. Published privately last month after attempts by the regime to suppress it, the revelations have prompted demands from Iranian exiles for those involved to be tried for crimes against humanity. The most damning of the letters and documents published in the book is Khomeini's fatwa decree calling for all Mojahedin (as opponents of the Iranian regime are known) to be killed. Issued shortly after the end of the Iran-Iraq war in July 1988 and an incursion into western Iran by the Iranian resistance, the fatwa reads: "It is decreed that those who are in prisons throughout the country and remain steadfast in their support for the Monafeqin (Mojahedin) are waging war on God and are condemned to execution." It goes on to entrust the decision to "death committees" - three-member panels consisting of an Islamic judge, a representative of the Ministry of Intelligence, and a state prosecutor. Prisoners were to be asked if they had changed loyalties and, if not, were to be executed. Montazeri, who states that 3,800 people had been killed by the end of the first fortnight of executions, includes his own correspondence with Khomeini, saying that the killings would be seen as "a vendetta" and would spark opposition to the regime. He wrote: "The execution of several thousand prisoners in a few days will not have positive repercussions and will not be mistake-free." The massacres, which came just before the Lockerbie bombing, were seen as a sop to the hardliners at a time when Khomeini was already in failing health and the battle for succession had begun between fundamentalists and moderates. He died the following year. According to testimony from prison officials - including Kamal Afkhami Ardekani, who formerly worked at Evin prison - recently given to United Nations human rights rapporteurs: "They would line up prisoners in a 14-by-five-metre hall in the central office building and then ask simply one question, 'What is your political affiliation?' Those who said the Mojahedin would be hanged from cranes in position in the car park behind the building." He went on to describe how, every half an hour from 7.30am to 5pm, 33 people were lifted on three forklift trucks to six cranes, each of which had five or six ropes. He said: "The process went on and on without interruption." In two weeks, 8,000 people were hanged. Similar carnage took place across the country. Many of those in the ruling council at the time of the 1988 massacre are still in power, including President Mohammed Khatami, who was the Director of Ideological and Cultural Affairs. "The massacre may have happened 12 years ago, but the relevance is that these atrocities are still happening", said Mohammad Mohaddessin, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Iranian National Council of Resistance (NCRI), the main opposition group, who was in London last week to present evidence to MPs. The NCRI has prepared files on 21 senior members of the regime whom it alleges were "principal protagonists of the massacre", including Mr Khatami and Ayatollah Ali Khameini, Iran's "Supreme Leader". Mr Mohaddessin will travel to New York to present the files to the UN and call for a tribunal to try them for crimes against humanity. Mr Mohaddessin said human rights abuses were continuing in Iran despite the election of Mr Khatami, who "presents himself as a reformist". REFERENCE: Khomeini fatwa 'led to killing of 30,000 in Iran' By Christina Lamb, Diplomatic Correspondent 12:00AM GMT 04 Feb 2001 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/1321090/Khomeini-fatwa-led-to-killing-of-30000-in-Iran.html

The Last Shah - Iran History BBC Documentary (Part 3)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17F1-v10G8s

The Last Shah - Iran History BBC Documentary (Part 4)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVBYLEdN2hk

The Last Shah - Iran History BBC Documentary (Part 5)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmIZJRQE8yU

Stop Fundamentalism, 4 September 2011 - A group of human rights activists in Iran are calling on international community to form a truth finding committee in order to investigate the 1988 massacre of political prisoners in Iran, reports HRA news agency on the 23rd anniversary of incident. During the summer of 1988, on a religious decree issued by the late Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, thousands of political prisoners were executed during a period of less than two months. Those executed were mostly from among the supporters and members of the main Iranian opposition group, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) Organization. The MEK estimates the number of executions at about 30000. During the said period, political prisoners were executed in groups and mostly were buried in mass graves without any means of identification. Many families of the victims are still unaware of the location where their loved ones have been buried. The executions aimed to physically wipe out the MEK from Iran's political scene. The group later took refuge in Camp Ashraf Iraq. Part of the religious order by the Ayatollah Khomeini stated that, "those in jails all over the country who continue to insist on their political stance, are Mohareb (one who wages war on God) and are condemned to execution." The order clearly stressed on the speed the mass exactions were to be carried out. Most executions of MEK and their supporters took place without any due process of law. Kangaroo courts condemned prisoner to death in matters of minutes before the prisoner was taken for execution. Jeffery Robertson, a well-known law expert, calls the mass executions to be the most horrifying incidents following the World War Two Genocides. The right group called on the United Nations Human Rights Council to stop ignoring the 1988 massacres and establish an investigating commission on the subject. The group also calls on Mr. Ahmed Shaheed, the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran to start a comprehensive look into finding those responsible for the crime. REFERENCE: Mass Execution of Political Prisoners in Iran Left Unanswered Sunday, 04 September 2011 20:52 http://www.stopfundamentalism.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1172:mass-execution-of-political-prisoners-in-iran-left-unanswered&catid=44:human-rights&Itemid=39

The Last Shah - Iran History BBC Documentary (Part 6)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXI0A-A2ZpY

In 1988, the Iranian government summarily and extrajudicially executed thousands of political prisoners held in Iranian jails. The government has never acknowledged these executions, or provided any information as to how many prisoners were killed. The majority of those executed were serving prison sentences for their political activities after unfair trials in revolutionary courts. Those who had been sentenced, however, had not been sentenced to death. The deliberate and systematic manner in which these extrajudicial executions took place constitutes a crime against humanity under international law. On July 18, 1988, Iran accepted the United Nations Security Council Resolution 598, calling for a cease-fire in the eight-year war between Iran and Iraq. On July 24, the largest Iranian armed opposition group, the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO or MEK), based in Iraq since 1986, launched an incursion into Iran in an attempt to topple the government. Although this offensive was easily repelled by Iranian forces, it provided a pretext for the authorities to physically eliminate many political opponents then in prison, including many MKO members captured and sentenced years earlier. In the absence of any official acknowledgement of the 1988 prison massacre, the most credible account of these events comes from the memoirs of Ayatollah Hussein Ali Montazeri, who was at the time one of the highest ranking government officials in Iran and the designated successor of Ayatollah Khomeini, then the Supreme Leader. According to Ayatollah Montazeri, the government formed a three-person committee to oversee the purge in each prison.6 The authorities told these committees to interview all political prisoners and to order the execution of those deemed "unrepentant." These committees became known as "Death Committees" [Heya't Marg]. Each comprised a prosecutor, a judge, and a representative of the Ministry of Information. Mustafa Pour-Mohammadi represented the Ministry of Information on the committee at Tehran's notorious Evin Prison. In a letter of protest addressed to Ayatollah Khomeini, dated August 4, 1988, Ayatollah Montazeri wrote: "The principal role [in determining which prisoners to execute] is played by the representative of the Ministry of Information everywhere and others are effectively under his direct influence."

Ayatollah Montazeri recounts the unfolding events that led to the massacre of prisoners:

A letter was produced on behalf of the Imam [Khomeini] stating that based on the discretion of a panel composed of a prosecutor, a judge, and a representative of the Ministry of Information, imprisoned members of the hypocrites [monafeghin, a term used by the government to refer to the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization] who are still believers in their cause should be executed. Decisions were to be reached based on the majority vote. Thus if two out of the three members reached a decision that a prisoner is still a believer in his cause, even though the prisoner may have already been sentenced to two or five years in prison, he would be executed.

Ayatollah Montazeri further details the arbitrary and summary character of this process:

Visits to prisoners were suspended for a period of time and, according to people responsible for carrying out these orders, approximately two thousand and eight hundred or three thousand and eight hundred – I can not recall exactly – women and men were executed, relying on the authority of [Ayatollah Khomeini's] letter. Even people who practiced religious rituals of prayer and fasting were asked to repent, and they would be offended and refuse. Then [the committee] would conclude that the prisoner is still a believer in his cause and ordered their executions!

In his August 4, 1988 letter to Ayatollah Khomeini, Ayatollah Montazeri gives an example of the process of questioning prisoners and determining their fates, writing:

Three days ago a religious judge from one of the provinces – a man who is trustworthy – came to Qum and complained to me of the way your orders are being implemented. The judge told me: The Ministry of Information representative or the prosecutor – I don't recall which one – in order to determine if a prisoner is a believer in his cause asked the prisoner: "Are you willing to condemn the hypocrites [monafeghin] organization?" The prisoner answered positively. Then, the prisoner was asked: "Are you willing to give an interview?" The prisoner answered positively. He was asked: "Are you willing to go to the war front and fight the Iraqis?" He answered yes. Subsequently, the prisoner was asked: "Are you willing to walk over a mine field?" The prisoner answered, "Not everyone is willing to walk over a mine field." Following this exchange, it was determined that the prisoner is still a believer in his cause. The judge said that he insisted on reaching a decision by consensus and not by majority vote, but his request was not accepted.

Ayatollah Montazeri identified Mustafa Pour-Mohammadi as the representative of the Ministry of Information in charge of questioning prisoners in Evin Prison and saw him as being a central figure in the mass executions of prisoners in Tehran. He recounts a meeting with Pour-Mohammadi and the two other members of the Evin Prison committee:

After my second letter of protest [to Ayatollah Khomeini], there was no change and [the executions] continued. On August 15, 1988, I met with Mr. Nayeri, who was the religious judge in Evin, Mr. Eshraghi who was the prosecutor, and Mr. Pour-Mohammadi who was the representative of the Ministry of Information. I told them that they should stop the executions during the month of Moharram. Mr. Nayeri responded: "We have so far executed seven-hundred and fifty people in Tehran, and we have identified another two-hundred and fifty people. Allow us to get rid of them and then we'll listen to you…!

Montazeri provides a memorandum of protest addressed to Pour-Mohammadi and the other two members of the Evin Prison "Death Committee" that he wrote on August 15, 1988. In this memorandum to Pour-Mohammadi, Montazeri wrote:

Carrying out a massacre of prisoners and captives without due process or trail will certainly help our opponent's cause in the long term. It will also encourage them to carry on armed resistance. The international community will condemn our actions.

With regard to the 1988 mass prison executions, Amnesty International reported in 1990:

The political executions took place in many prisons in all parts of Iran, often far from where the armed incursion took place. Most of the executions were of political prisoners, including an unknown number of prisoners of conscience, who had already served a number of years in prison. They could have played no part in the armed incursion, and they were in no position to take part in spying or terrorist activities. Many of the dead had been tried and sentenced to prison terms during the early 1980s, many for non-violent offenses such as distributing newspapers and leaflets, taking part in demonstrations or collecting funds for prisoners' families. Many of the dead had been students in their teens or early twenties at the time of their arrest. The majority of those killed were supporters of the PMOI [People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran, another English-language name for the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization, or MKO]; but hundreds of members and supporters of other political groups, including various factions of the PFOI [People's Fedayeen Organization of Iran], the Tudeh [Communist] Party, the KDPI [Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran], Rah-e Kargar [Workers Party] and others, were also among the execution victims.

Ayatollah Montazeri, citing officials in charge of carrying out the executions, puts the number of executed prisoners between 2,800 and 3,800, but he acknowledges that his recollection is not exact. Iranian activists have published the names of 4,481 executed prisoners. As long as the government refuses to announce a complete list of those executed or even to acknowledge that these executions took place, the extent of this massacre remains unknown.

The families of executed prisoners have repeatedly written to the government officials asking for the number of executed prisoners and their place of burials. In January 2003, they also wrote to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights at the time, Mary Robinson, and the then-chairman of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions, Louis Joinet, seeking their help in determining the truth behind the mass executions. According to the families of some of the executed prisoners, the bodies of many are buried in unmarked graves and mass graves in the hills of Tehran's Khavaran district. Families often congregate in Khavaran to remember their executed relatives. Families of some of the executed prisoners told Human Rights Watch that in September 2005 the new government started to reconfigure the Khavaran site and that makeshift gravestones, put in place by the families, have been destroyed. They said that the government is preparing for a major overhaul of this area to destroy any evidence of burials. REFERENCE: Human Rights Watch Pour-Mohammadi and the 1988 Prison Massacres http://www.1980smassacre.com/report_hrw.html Ministers of Murder: Iran's New Security Cabinet http://www.hrw.org/legacy/backgrounder/mena/iran1205/iran1205.pdf http://www.hrw.org/legacy/backgrounder/mena/iran1205/2.htm

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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

Truth, lies and Afghanistan How military leaders have let us down

2012-02-07T20:22:00.001-08:00

From an American Friend who I hold in very high esteem

FYI - article referred to me by Colonel xyz who himself has just returned from Afghanistan. The Colonel says Lt. Col. Davis is far enough along that if he gets kicked out for telling the truth he will still get his retirement so caring about other soldiers, he is speaking out and what he saw is what Colonel xyz also observed - if I understood him correctly.

War is good business for a minority, and good for the careers of high-level officers, but when it goes wrong and continues, it puts the lives of our soldiers at grave risk!.

Regards

XYZ

Davis armed forces journal Feb 2012 Truth, lies and Afghanistan How military leaders have let us down

By LT. COL. DANIEL L. DAVIS

http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/2012/02/8904030

I spent last year in Afghanistan, visiting and talking with U.S. troops and their Afghan partners. My duties with the Army's Rapid Equipping Force took me into every significant area where our soldiers engage the enemy. Over the course of 12 months, I covered more than 9,000 miles and talked, traveled and patrolled with troops in Kandahar, Kunar, Ghazni, Khost, Paktika, Kunduz, Balkh, Nangarhar and other provinces.

What I saw bore no resemblance to rosy official statements by U.S. military leaders about conditions on the ground.

Entering this deployment, I was sincerely hoping to learn that the claims were true: that conditions in Afghanistan were improving, that the local government and military were progressing toward self-sufficiency. I did not need to witness dramatic improvements to be reassured, but merely hoped to see evidence of positive trends, to see companies or battalions produce even minimal but sustainable progress.

Instead, I witnessed the absence of success on virtually every level.

My arrival in country in late 2010 marked the start of my fourth combat deployment, and my second in Afghanistan. A Regular Army officer in the Armor Branch, I served in Operation Desert Storm, in Afghanistan in 2005-06 and in Iraq in 2008-09. In the middle of my career, I spent eight years in the U.S. Army Reserve and held a number of civilian jobs — among them, legislative correspondent for defense and foreign affairs for Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas.

As a representative for the Rapid Equipping Force, I set out to talk to our troops about their needs and their circumstances. Along the way, I conducted mounted and dismounted combat patrols, spending time with conventional and Special Forces troops. I interviewed or had conversations with more than 250 soldiers in the field, from the lowest-ranking 19-year-old private to division commanders and staff members at every echelon. I spoke at length with Afghan security officials, Afghan civilians and a few village elders.

I saw the incredible difficulties any military force would have to pacify even a single area of any of those provinces; I heard many stories of how insurgents controlled virtually every piece of land beyond eyeshot of a U.S. or International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) base.

I saw little to no evidence the local governments were able to provide for the basic needs of the people. Some of the Afghan civilians I talked with said the people didn't want to be connected to a predatory or incapable local government.

From time to time, I observed Afghan Security forces collude with the insurgency.

From Bad to Abysmal

Much of what I saw during my deployment, let alone read or wrote in official reports, I can't talk about; the information remains classified. But I can say that such reports — mine and others' — serve to illuminate the gulf between conditions on the ground and official statements of progress.

And I can relate a few representative experiences, of the kind that I observed all over the country.

In January 2011, I made my first trip into the mountains of Kunar province near the Pakistan border to visit the troops of 1st Squadron, 32nd Cavalry. On a patrol to the northernmost U.S. position in eastern Afghanistan, we arrived at an Afghan National Police (ANP) station that had reported being attacked by the Taliban 2½ hours earlier.

Through the interpreter, I asked the police captain where the attack had originated, and he pointed to the side of a nearby mountain.

"What are your normal procedures in situations like these?" I asked. "Do you form up a squad and go after them? Do you periodically send out harassing patrols? What do you do?"

As the interpreter conveyed my questions, the captain's head wheeled around, looking first at the interpreter and turning to me with an incredulous expression. Then he laughed.

"No! We don't go after them," he said. "That would be dangerous!"

According to the cavalry troopers, the Afghan policemen rarely leave the cover of the checkpoints. In that part of the province, the Taliban literally run free.

In June, I was in the Zharay district of Kandahar province, returning to a base from a dismounted patrol. Gunshots were audible as the Taliban attacked a U.S. checkpoint about one mile away.

As I entered the unit's command post, the commander and his staff were watching a live video feed of the battle. Two ANP vehicles were blocking the main road leading to the site of the attack. The fire was coming from behind a haystack. We watched as two Afghan men emerged, mounted a motorcycle and began moving toward the Afghan policemen in their vehicles.

The U.S. commander turned around and told the Afghan radio operator to make sure the policemen halted the men. The radio operator shouted into the radio repeatedly, but got no answer.

On the screen, we watched as the two men slowly motored past the ANP vehicles. The policemen neither got out to stop the two men nor answered the radio — until the motorcycle was out of sight.

To a man, the U.S. officers in that unit told me they had nothing but contempt for the Afghan troops in their area — and that was before the above incident occurred.

In August, I went on a dismounted patrol with troops in the Panjwai district of Kandahar province. Several troops from the unit had recently been killed in action, one of whom was a very popular and experienced soldier. One of the unit's senior officers rhetorically asked me, "How do I look these men in the eye and ask them to go out day after day on these missions? What's harder: How do I look [my soldier's] wife in the eye when I get back and tell her that her husband died for something meaningful? How do I do that?"

One of the senior enlisted leaders added, "Guys are saying, 'I hope I live so I can at least get home to R&R leave before I get it,' or 'I hope I only lose a foot.' Sometimes they even say which limb it might be: 'Maybe it'll only be my left foot.' They don't have a lot of confidence that the leadership two levels up really understands what they're living here, what the situation really is."

On Sept. 11, the 10th anniversary of the infamous attack on the U.S., I visited another unit in Kunar province, this one near the town of Asmar. I talked with the local official who served as the cultural adviser to the U.S. commander. Here's how the conversation went:

Davis: "Here you have many units of the Afghan National Security Forces [ANSF]. Will they be able to hold out against the Taliban when U.S. troops leave this area?"

Adviser: "No. They are definitely not capable. Already all across this region [many elements of] the security forces have made deals with the Taliban. [The ANSF] won't shoot at the Taliban, and the Taliban won't shoot them.

"Also, when a Taliban member is arrested, he is soon released with no action taken against him. So when the Taliban returns [when the Americans leave after 2014], so too go the jobs, especially for everyone like me who has worked with the coalition.

"Recently, I got a cellphone call from a Talib who had captured a friend of mine. While I could hear, he began to beat him, telling me I'd better quit working for the Americans. I could hear my friend crying out in pain. [The Talib] said the next time they would kidnap my sons and do the same to them. Because of the direct threats, I've had to take my children out of school just to keep them safe.

"And last night, right on that mountain there [he pointed to a ridge overlooking the U.S. base, about 700 meters distant], a member of the ANP was murdered. The Taliban came and called him out, kidnapped him in front of his parents, and took him away and murdered him. He was a member of the ANP from another province and had come back to visit his parents. He was only 27 years old. The people are not safe anywhere."

That murder took place within view of the U.S. base, a post nominally responsible for the security of an area of hundreds of square kilometers. Imagine how insecure the population is beyond visual range. And yet that conversation was representative of what I saw in many regions of Afghanistan.

In all of the places I visited, the tactical situation was bad to abysmal. If the events I have described — and many, many more I could mention — had been in the first year of war, or even the third or fourth, one might be willing to believe that Afghanistan was just a hard fight, and we should stick it out. Yet these incidents all happened in the 10th year of war.

As the numbers depicting casualties and enemy violence indicate the absence of progress, so too did my observations of the tactical situation all over Afghanistan.

Credibility Gap

I'm hardly the only one who has noted the discrepancy between official statements and the truth on the ground.

A January 2011 report by the Afghan NGO Security Office noted that public statements made by U.S. and ISAF leaders at the end of 2010 were "sharply divergent from IMF, [international military forces, NGO-speak for ISAF] 'strategic communication' messages suggesting improvements. We encourage [nongovernment organization personnel] to recognize that no matter how authoritative the source of any such claim, messages of the nature are solely intended to influence American and European public opinion ahead of the withdrawal, and are not intended to offer an accurate portrayal of the situation for those who live and work here."

The following month, Anthony Cordesman, on behalf of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, wrote that ISAF and the U.S. leadership failed to report accurately on the reality of the situation in Afghanistan.

"Since June 2010, the unclassified reporting the U.S. does provide has steadily shrunk in content, effectively 'spinning' the road to victory by eliminating content that illustrates the full scale of the challenges ahead," Cordesman wrote. "They also, however, were driven by political decisions to ignore or understate Taliban and insurgent gains from 2002 to 2009, to ignore the problems caused by weak and corrupt Afghan governance, to understate the risks posed by sanctuaries in Pakistan, and to 'spin' the value of tactical ISAF victories while ignoring the steady growth of Taliban influence and control."

How many more men must die in support of a mission that is not succeeding and behind an array of more than seven years of optimistic statements by U.S. senior leaders in Afghanistan? No one expects our leaders to always have a successful plan. But we do expect — and the men who do the living, fighting and dying deserve — to have our leaders tell us the truth about what's going on.

I first encountered senior-level equivocation during a 1997 division-level "experiment" that turned out to be far more setpiece than experiment. Over dinner at Fort Hood, Texas, Training and Doctrine Command leaders told me that the Advanced Warfighter Experiment (AWE) had shown that a "digital division" with fewer troops and more gear could be far more effective than current divisions. The next day, our congressional staff delegation observed the demonstration firsthand, and it didn't take long to realize there was little substance to the claims. Virtually no legitimate experimentation was actually conducted. All parameters were carefully scripted. All events had a preordained sequence and outcome. The AWE was simply an expensive show, couched in the language of scientific experimentation and presented in glowing press releases and public statements, intended to persuade Congress to fund the Army's preference. Citing the AWE's "results," Army leaders proceeded to eliminate one maneuver company per combat battalion. But the loss of fighting systems was never offset by a commensurate rise in killing capability.

A decade later, in the summer of 2007, I was assigned to the Future Combat Systems (FCS) organization at Fort Bliss, Texas. It didn't take long to discover that the same thing the Army had done with a single division at Fort Hood in 1997 was now being done on a significantly larger scale with FCS. Year after year, the congressionally mandated reports from the Government Accountability Office revealed significant problems and warned that the system was in danger of failing. Each year, the Army's senior leaders told members of Congress at hearings that GAO didn't really understand the full picture and that to the contrary, the program was on schedule, on budget, and headed for success. Ultimately, of course, the program was canceled, with little but spinoffs to show for $18 billion spent.

If Americans were able to compare the public statements many of our leaders have made with classified data, this credibility gulf would be immediately observable. Naturally, I am not authorized to divulge classified material to the public. But I am legally able to share it with members of Congress. I have accordingly provided a much fuller accounting in a classified report to several members of Congress, both Democrats and Republicans, senators and House members.

A nonclassified version is available at www.afghanreport.com . [Editor's note: At press time, Army public affairs had not yet ruled on whether Davis could post this longer version.]

Tell The Truth

When it comes to deciding what matters are worth plunging our nation into war and which are not, our senior leaders owe it to the nation and to the uniformed members to be candid — graphically, if necessary — in telling them what's at stake and how expensive potential success is likely to be. U.S. citizens and their elected representatives can decide if the risk to blood and treasure is worth it.

Likewise when having to decide whether to continue a war, alter its aims or to close off a campaign that cannot be won at an acceptable price, our senior leaders have an obligation to tell Congress and American people the unvarnished truth and let the people decide what course of action to choose. That is the very essence of civilian control of the military. The American people deserve better than what they've gotten from their senior uniformed leaders over the last number of years. Simply telling the truth would be a good start.

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