Mothers Day: 'It wasn't dream, my sons had come'

Sunday, 08 May 2011 19:02 Bandipora - Shazia Khan (Pictures Yawar Kabli)

It was dark and silent at midnight. At one of the mud houses in Aloosa village, silence was broken by a loud bang at the door. A group of men knocked and called for Saida. Muaji, mauji they shouted in Kashmiri (Muaji is mother in local parlance). Saida was jubilant, her sons had returned. There was no electricity in the village, she looked for a candle, but the calling grew louder and she groped towards the direction. A wooden door stood between the much waited encounter. With feeble hands she tried to unbolt the door and in the event fell down and injured her knee. The sound of her falling woke her daughter, Shakeela, who immediately rushed to her. Saida insisted on opening the door. A dark silence was all she could feel.

“It was not a dream, my sons had come. I heard my sons outside the door. They were calling me.....but when I tried to open the door, my knee got hurt and I fell down," Saida says, while applying ointment to her knee that has turned blue. Then she murmurs and Shakeela, who sits besides, says, “No one was there outside last night.”

Shakeela slowly moves closer to her and in a consoling voice says, “you dreamt about them again because you don’t take medicines properly these days.”

But, Saida insists she heard her sons. Shakeela points towards a piece of land fenced with rusted wire at a few meters distance from their house. "They have been buried there...... don't you know that?" she questions her mother. Saida nods and replies, "My sons are resting there, how could I forget they are buried in mounds of mud."

With an injured knee and a crumbling gait, she walks towards the graveyard. "All of them were killed by army... some in encounters, and some in custody," she says and stops at a grave. “Here lays my elder son Bilal. He was born in 1965, but only after 29 years his father laid him to rest here. At the extreme left of Bilal's grave, a distance of few feet, is his younger brother Ayoub’s grave. He was killed by army too,” she says.

Between the graves of her two sons there is an empty space where she sits. "I have asked village heads not to bury anyone in between the graves of my two sons. I want my third son Aazad who has also been killed by army to be buried here. He was killed at border but police did not handover his dead body to me,” she says amid sobs. Aazad was seventeen year old when he was killed, she adds.

From last sixteen years Saida is in a state of disturbed bereavement - a mental ailment, her daughter Shakeela informs. "She is under treatment from past decade but medicines only help in reducing the intensity of her pain but  cannot cure her trauma."

Her doctor says she is physically fit but psychological she is depressed and there isn’t much possibility of recovery. “She has reached a stage now where she is neither ready to forget her past nor she able to accept the reality of her dead sons,” he says.

Saida, 67, had three sons. At the inception of armed insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir, her sons Bilal and Ayoub hailing from Bandipora decided to join militant outfits in 1990. “For about four years both of them were actively involved in militancy,” Shakeela says.  However, in August 1994, Ayoub was killed in an encounter at Kursu. “There was around more than ten bullets in his chest. We received his bullet ridden body from Bandipora police station,” she says.

That was the beginning of Saida’s mental illness. After Ayoub’s death, she forced Bilal to quit the militant ranks. “But he refused and only three months after Ayoub’s death, army arrested and killed him at Koyal Muqaam,” says Shakeela.

Saida was distraught; her only hope was her youngest son Aazad. But  Aazad at that time was training with the militant ranks in Pakistan administered Kashmir. “My mother after the death of her two sons started spending her days waiting for his third son’s return,” says Shakeela. Her wait ended with the news of Aazad’s death while he was crossing the Line of Control.

Aazad’s death paralyzed Saida mentally. “My old father was shattered after he shouldered the coffin of my third brother. There was nobody left in our house to take responsibility. We were facing the wrath of conflict and there was no source of income. To earn a living became hard,” says Shakeela.

In 1995, Saida’s husband Abdullah Bhat sensing the vacuum married Shakeela to Riyaz Ahmad Lone. Riyaz, a laborer, quickly filled the vacuum and supported the family for more than a year. “I was pregnant in 1996 and he also joined a militant outfit and a year later was killed in an encounter near LoC,” says Shakeela.

Lone’s death added to their agony. Saida lost the capacity to hear. "My father developed heart complications but to run the house he started working again and after five years he died of a cardiac attack,” she says.

The family since Abdullah’s death has been living in abject poverty. As Saida leaves the graveyard, she says with a sigh, “I do not know am I most fortunate mother or most  unfortunate mother in the world. Almighty bestowed me four sons including my son in law but they all got killed. I am waiting for the moment when I will close my eyes forever and will be together with my sons in heaven.”(Kashmir Dispatch)

Drones fuel terrorism, says Imran

KARACHI: Tehrik-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan has said that the “war on terror” is not Pakistan’s war and it is harming the country’s integrity. 

Addressing thousands of supporters at a rally held on Saturday at the Natives Jetty bridge leading to the Karachi harbour, he said that drone and other such attacks were breeding terrorism.

Imran Khan said had the leaders heeded his advice, taken a stand against the attacks and opted out of the American-led coalition, this situation would not have emerged.

He termed the sit-in the harbinger of a revolution and vowed to lay the foundation of a new Pakistan with the support of the people after emancipating them from plunderers of national wealth and honour.

He said the protest would convey to the US that “we will not be cowed down by drone attacks”. He said that if and when his party came into power it would finish the terrorists and assimilate the tribal people into the mainstream. He said it was the worst time for the country and the nation had been made subservient to the Americans.

Imran Khan said the drone attacks were being carried out with the connivance of the government and it was only making protests to hoodwink the people.

“It is a fixed match between the government, army and America,” he said. 

Representatives of some other parties and civil society groups also joined the sit-in held in protest against American drone attacks and to call upon the government to change its policy towards the US. The sit-in will continue till Sunday evening.

“Whenever the government wants, drone attacks will stop,” he claimed.

The PTI’s campaign is not only against drone attacks and Nato supplies through the country, but is also aimed at forcing mid-term elections as Imran says the government is not truly democratic and has capitulated to the 

US. He terms the drone attacks a breach of Pakistan’s sovereignty.

Imran Khan also mustered the support of some of the right-wing parties, including the Sunni Tehrik and Jamiat-i-Ulema Islam, and the Sindh National Front. Because of a strong line taken by him against American attacks that have killed people in the tribal areas, a large number of people from the northern region of the country who eke out their living here were also seen at the rally.

They were carrying PTI’s flags and photographs of Aafia Siddiqui and chanting anti-America slogans.

Kashmir’s ‘missing girls’

SRINAGAR,  India’s only Muslim-majority state is seizing ultrasound scanners and enlisting religious leaders in an effort to save unborn baby girls from a shocking rise in female foeticide, reports AFP.

The issue has united politicians, clerics and social activists in Jammu and Kashmir, a state best known for the deep, blood-stained divides caused by a 20-year-old Muslim separatist insurgency against Indian rule.

Provisional 2011 census data released at the end of March painted a bleak picture of India’s gender imbalance, with a national child sex ratio of just 914 females to 1,000 males, the lowest figure since independence in 1947.

By far the most dramatic decline was in Jammu and Kashmir, where the ratio plunged to 859 girls for every 1,000 boys in the 0-6 age group, down by 82 points from 10 years ago.

“We never expected such a drop,” admitted Yashpal Sharma, the Kashmir head of the National Rural Health Mission.

The global sex ratio is 984 girls to every 1,000 boys, according to United Nations population data.

But married women in India face huge pressure to produce male children, who are seen as breadwinners while girls are often viewed as a financial burden as they require hefty dowries to be married off.

The sharpest declines in the ratio were in the towns of the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley, heartland of the armed insurgency against Indian rule that began in 1989.

“It is a matter of shame that Kashmiri Muslims are aborting their girl children,” said Kashmir’s top cleric, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, who heads an alliance of moderate political separatists.

Stressing that the practice was profoundly “un-Islamic” Farooq said everyone in the valley had to be conscripted in the battle against this “moral corruption.” Yasin Malik, head of the pro-independence Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, was equally forceful in denouncing an “undesirable and unethical trend” which he said was dragging the region back into the Stone Age.

“According to the Koran and traditions of Islam, foeticide is a grave unpardonable sin equivalent to murder. We cannot claim to be Muslims while indulging in this heinous crime,” he said.

The first reaction of the Kashmir authorities to the census figures was a crackdown on the unlicensed use of ultrasound scanners.

Determining the sex of a foetus is illegal in India, but many clinics offer the service for a small fee, fuelling the demand for sex-selective abortions.

Lightweight, portable ultrasound machines mean tests can be carried out even in the most remote villages.

Sharma said close to 100 scanners had been seized in the initial crackdown, but added that long-term solutions were also needed.

“We are roping in religious and community leaders in our campaign. We have already sent 700 letters to various leaders – both Muslims and Hindus,” Sharma said.

Kashmir’s chief minister, Omar Abdullah, promised harsher penalties for anyone aiding or abetting female foeticide.

“It is civil society as a whole, and religious, political and social activists in particular, who have to play their part and make the people aware of this crime,” he said.

But Nusrat Nazir, a college lecturer, said efforts to empower women and overcome the social bias towards sons were often undermined by the dowry system, which brought a stark financial factor into the equation.

“These are not issues of governance but ethos, culture and values that our society holds. We have to make efforts to change society, for the better,” Nusrat said. “Dowry is a resident evil.”

Roundup: Iran's intelligence ministry claims to identify, dismantle U.S.-linked spying network

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TEHRAN, May 21 The Iranian Intelligence Ministry announced Saturday that it has identified and dismantled a large spy network linked to the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), reports China Daily.

The elite and faithful forces of the Intelligence Ministry were able to arrest a number of 30 American-linked spies in their confrontation with the CIA agents and through numerous intelligence and counter-intelligence operations, the statement said.

Also, 42 CIA operatives linked to the network have been identified in various parts of the world, the ministry said in the statement.

It said that not only did the Intelligence Ministry defuse the CIA's heavy aggressive operations but the intelligence ministry's agents have succeeded in feeding false information to the CIA through a number of double-agents.

The ministry's Public Relations Office added in the statement that the U.S.-related spy network was operating under the cover of the so-called job-finding centers to attract Iranian citizens to cooperate with them, by promising them jobs and education opportunities, and deceiving them with visa and entry permission to the United States.

The network was "established by a number of the leading CIA operatives" in some countries, and due to the massive intelligence and counter-intelligence work, the Iranian intelligence agents succeeded in discovering and completely dismantling the network, said the statement.

"The network used a wide range of data bases and U.S. embassies and consulates in several countries, specially in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Malaysia and Turkey, to collect information on Iran's scientific, research and academic institutions in the fields of nuclear energy, air and defense industries and biotechnology," the Iranian Intelligence Ministry said.

The statement further pointed out that the U.S. network also spied on Iran's oil and gas pipelines, power and telecommunication grids, airports, customs departments, network security and banks for future sabotage operations.

In the past years, Iranian authorities have been accusing the United States and Israeli intelligence services of spying on Iran' s military and nuclear programs.

In January, Iran said it had dismantled an Israeli spying network and arrested a group of its terrorist- spies who were linked to the assassination of its nuclear scientist.

An Iran's Intelligence Ministry announcement said then that, " In order to carry out its non-human, anti-Islamic and anti-Iranian wills, the Mossad (Israeli intelligence agency) has used its bases in some European, non- European and some neighboring states of the Islamic Republic to conduct the terror attack against Dr. Massoud Ali-Mohammadi."

In January 2010, Massoud Ali-Mohammadi, the nuclear scientist from Tehran University, was killed by a remote-controlled bomb attached to a motorbike parked near his house.

In November 2010, another Iranian nuclear scientist Majid Shahriar was also killed by a bomb attached to his car on the way to his work.  

Also, Iranian nuclear officials have accused the United States and Israel of cyber-attacks on Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant computers but they have denied any serious damage to the facilities.

Osama brings China, Pakistan, US closer

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Srinagar, 21 May: US Navy SEALs launched a secret operation in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad to kill Osama bin Laden which, the US says, is a victory in its war on terroris, reports China Daily 05/20/2011

The killing of bin Laden, however, has made many people question the legality of the US' unilateral action in Pakistan, Pakistani "support networks" for the Al-Qaida leader, and future US-Pakistani partnership in the fight against terrorism.

While discussing the reported row between the US and Pakistan, some US media outlets have unnecessarily dragged China into the debate. They have even speculated about China's reaction to bin Laden's death. 

 

Quoting Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Jiang Yu's statement, one US newspaper said that China initially welcomed bin Laden's death as a positive development but later went "out of its way to praise Islamabad for its anti-terrorist stance". The report concluded that the tension between the US and Pakistan had offered "Beijing a chance to wean its oldest regional ally off its dependence on US security assistance".

To begin with, Jiang's defense of Pakistan has nothing to do with Washington's doubts over Islamabad's commitment in the hunt for bin Laden. Jiang's affirmative reply to a question about whether Beijing believed Islamabad's claim that it didn't have prior knowledge of the US operation shows China's consistent stance on Pakistan. And that should not be interpreted as China's attempt to dissuade Pakistan from supporting the US in its war on terrorism.

Indeed, China and Pakistan have enjoyed an "all-weather" friendship for six decades, and the death of bin Laden will not change that. China is aware of the dangers of extremism and Talibanization spreading across Pakistan, but it appreciates Pakistan's determination to combat terrorists and militants and recognizes the sacrifice Islamabad has made in the war on terrorism.

Sino-Pakistani friendship reflects China's "good neighborhood" policy. It's this policy that has strengthened China's ties with all its neighbors, including countries in South Asia.

As a country facing terrorist threats itself, China has worked and coordinated with the US, which is leading the war on terrorism. Since 2001, Beijing and Washington have cooperated in anti-terrorism activities, even though they have somewhat different views on the concept of "terrorism" and the approach that the anti-terrorist strategy should take.

The US lays more emphasis on military raids and strategic operations, whereas China prefers economic development, which Chinese people believe is the only way terrorism can be eradicated from the roots. But China and the US both want a stable and moderate Pakistan.

In the post-bin Laden era, Sino-Pakistani cooperation in the fight against terrorism will continue. Washington, on its part, is likely to continue its cooperation with Islamabad, because terrorism has not died with bin Laden and the US still needs Pakistan's logistical and military support in its campaign against Al-Qaida and Taliban.

US Senator John Kerry was in Islamabad a couple of days ago to try to restore the "damaged" US-Pakistani relations. And US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will visit Islamabad soon to reassure Pakistan of her country's commitments.

So instead of creating a gulf in relations, the death of bin Laden has offered a chance to Pakistan, the US and China to work together to combat terrorism. After all, the three countries' anti-terrorism mission is still very much on.

The author is an associate professor at Peking University's School of International Studies.(Writer-South Asia)

16 killed in NATO fuel truck blast in Pakistan

LANDIKOTAL, Pakistan - May 21:  At least 16 people were killed in northwest Pakistan on Saturday after a bomb attack claimed by a militant group hit a truck carrying fuel supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan, the latest attack in an upsurge in violence since Osama bin Laden was killed, reports Agencies/AIP.
People walk around a burnt tanker, part of a NATO convoy that was attacked in Landikotal near the Afghanistan border, in this still image from a May 21, 2011.

It took place near the Torkham border crossing in the Khyber region, the main route for moving supplies to NATO and American forces in Afghanistan.

"The tanker was on fire because of a blast late in the night. There was another blast early in the morning in the same tanker and 16 people who gathered near it to collect oil were killed," a senior local administration official in Khyber told Reuters.

In another attack in the same region, a bomb struck 16 NATO fuel trucks late on Friday, setting them on fire. No one was hurt. 

Militants have stepped up attacks in Pakistan, an unstable US ally, since US special forces killed al Qaeda leader bin Laden in the garrison town of Abbottabad this month.

Abdullah Azzam Brigade, a militant group affiliated with Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for both attacks on the NATO trucks.

"It is our jihad against Americans. We want to stop supplies for NATO from our territory," Abu Musa'ab, a spokesman for the group, told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.

The attacks on the NATO trucks in Khyber came hours after the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for a bomb attack on a US consulate convoy in the city of Peshawar. 

One Pakistani was killed and 12 people were injured, including two lightly wounded US nationals.   

Routes through Pakistan bring in 40 percent of supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan, according to the United States Transportation Command. Of the remainder, 40 percent come through Afghanistan's neighbours in the north and 20 percent by air.

The Pakistani Taliban are pressing ahead with their campaign of suicide bombings designed to de-stabilise the unpopular government, despite several army offensives against their strongholds along the lawless border region with Afghanistan.

Eight suspected militants were killed on Saturday when army gunship helicopters attacked their hideouts in Orakzai region, adjoining Khyber, local officials said.

I Dont Want My Teen Age Queen, Just Give Me My AK-47

REMEMBERING SHOPIAN RAPE AND MURDER OF MAY 29, 2009. WAITING FOR JUSTICE ! 

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China Gives Pakistan 50 Fighter Jets

JF-17 Fighter

ISLAMABAD, May 19 : Pakistan — China has agreed to immediately provide 50 JF-17 fighter jets to Pakistan, a major outcome of a visit by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani to Beijing this week, Pakistani officials said Thursday, reports New York Times.

China and Pakistan have jointly produced the JF-17 aircraft, but the new planes would be equipped with more sophisticated avionics, the officials said. The latest jet fighters would be paid for by China, they said.

The announcement came as Pakistan’s already tense relations with the United States soured further after the killing of Osama bin Laden deep inside Pakistan on May 2.

Last week, Pakistan’s spy chief denounced the United States in a rare briefing before Parliament in which he condemned the American raid for breaching Pakistan’s sovereignty. Parliament, in turn, called for the government to revisit relations with the United States.

Mr. Gilani’s visit to Beijing served as a pointed reminder of Pakistani suggestions that the government might seek to recalibrate relations with the United States, using China to offset what many here view as an overdependence on Washington.

The United States has provided Pakistan with some $20 billion in aid, mostly military, for its cooperation in fighting terrorism since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Much of that aid has come in the form of reimbursements for Pakistani counterterrorism operations.

Both the aid and the effectiveness of Pakistan’s cooperation have been called into question by the discovery that Bin Laden had lived for years in a large compound adjacent to a top military academy in the city of Abbottabad, a two-hour drive from the capital, Islamabad.

While the Obama administration would still like Pakistan’s cooperation to wind down the war in Afghanistan and to root out terrorist groups, some American lawmakers are now calling for aid to Pakistan to be cut or suspended.

For their part, Pakistani officials were incensed that the Obama administration gave them no notice of the raid until helicopters bearing a Navy Seal team had already left the country.

Mr. Gilani’s four-day visit to China may help Pakistan as it tries to regain leverage with the United States. During his visit, Mr. Gilani met with Premier Wen Jiabao of China, who bolstered Pakistan by saying the United States should respect Pakistan’s sovereignty.

The news about the JF-17 aircraft is clearly a signal that Pakistan is shopping for alternatives to Washington, though the value of the deal may be more symbolic than decisive in terms of Pakistan’s military capacity.

Pakistani military officials have consistently complained that American aid, which they would nonetheless like to keep flowing, falls short on many essential military items that the Americans have been reluctant to offer.

The United States provides Pakistan with F-16 fighter jets to help the country match the air power of its archrival India, but Pakistani military officials have complained that their F-16 fleet is aging.

The deal is another sign that Pakistan’s relations with China are frequently far less encumbered than those with the United States, and that in many ways the interests of Pakistan and China coincide more easily.

The United States may be Pakistan’s largest benefactor, but China is Pakistan’s largest trading partner, and for years the Chinese have heavily invested in building a deep-water port in the Pakistani city of Gwadar.

China is often referred to as Pakistan’s “all-weather friend,” a contrast to the common depiction of its up-and-down relationship with the United States, which is deeply unpopular here.

The United States has invested in a special relationship with India. Both China and Pakistan, on the other hand, view India as a rival. They share an interest in containing India’s regional influence, particularly as the United States draws down its forces in Afghanistan, a process the Obama administration says it will start this summer.

At a landmark meeting on April 16 in the Afghan capital, Kabul, top Pakistani officials suggested to Afghan leaders that they, too, needed to look to China, an ascendant power, rather than align themselves closely with the United States, according to Afghan officials.

“You couldn’t tell exactly what they meant, whether China could possibly be an alternative to the United States, but they were saying it could help both countries,” an Afghan official said afterward.

Respect Pakistan's sovereignty : China to US

Islamabad, 19 May:  China has told the US to respect Pakistan's sovereignty and understand its problems, it was reported here.

The daily Dawn reported that during a meeting with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday in Beijing, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said he had taken up the issue with US officials at a recent strategic and economic dialogue in Washington.

Gilani began a four-day official visit to China on Tuesday. The trip comes amid strained ties between the US and Pakistan after Osama bin Laden was shot dead on May 2 by US Navy SEALs in Pakistan's Abbottabad city. The US said it had taken unilateral action to take out the al Qaeda leader.

He said China and Pakistan would forever remain good neighbours and good partners.

China most-trusted friend of Pakistan: PM

Islamabad, May 18: Pakistan sees China as its most-trusted and all-weather friend, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said as he began his four-day visit to China Tuesday, reports Wang Zhaokun Global Times.


"We appreciate that in all difficult circumstances China stood with Pakistan, therefore we call China a true friend and a time-tested and all-weather friend," Gilani told the Xinhua News Agency in Islamabad before flying to Shanghai.

The Prime Minister also appreciated that China recognizes Pakistan's contribution and sacrifice in the war on terror.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters Tuesday that China will "unswervingly continue to support Pakistan's efforts to fight terrorism."

Leaders from both countries will witness the signing of agreements concerning trade, finance and culture. They will also participate in a reception to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties, Xinhua said.

 The two governments are also reportedly planning to seal a extending of the Saindak gold and copper mining project.

Gilani's visit has long been planned as part of the anniversary celebrations, but the timing also coincides with the ongoing diplomatic spat between Islamabad and Washington over the killing of Osama bin Laden.

Tuesday, NATO helicopters originating from Afghanistan wounded two Pakistani soldiers in a cross-border attack, triggering a protest from Islamabad.

Andrew Small, a researcher at the German Marshall Fund think tank in Brussels told Reuters that Gilani's visit to China will tell the US, the Pakistani public and the wider world that "Pakistan has other options."

However, Sun Shihai, vice director of the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that China and Pakistan have long maintained close cooperation with each other at all times.

"I don't think Gilani's visit to China has any special implications for Pakistan-US relations because all parties have their own to play for the regional stability," Sun said.

US APOLOGISES TO PAK OVER DRONE ATTACKS

ISLAMABAD, May 17: The United States has formally apologized to Pakistan over drone attacks, Geo News has reported.
 

According to sources, the US apologized civil and military leadership of Pakistan over the drone strikes that killed nine people in North Waziristan yesterday.
 

The sources added that these strikes were scheduled before the visit of US Senator John Kerry. The US has stated that it would work together with Pakistan on any future operations in the country.

N-capability has saved Pakistan: Dr Qadeer

WASHINGTON, May 17: Nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan has vigorously defended the program as sparing his country the fate of Iraq or Libya. Writing in a US magazine, Abdul Qadeer Khan said that Pakistan's nuclear weapons had prevented war with historic rival India, which he accused of pursuing a "massive program" due to ambitions of superpower status, reports AFP from Washinton.

"Don't overlook the fact that no nuclear-capable country has been subjected to aggression or occupied, or had its borders redrawn. Had Iraq and Libya been nuclear powers, they wouldn't have been destroyed in the way we have seen recently," Khan said.

'US to deploy troops if Pak nukes come under threat'

LONDON:  May 16: US laid occupational troops will be deployed in Pakistan if the nation's nuclear installations come under threat from terrorists out to avenge the killing of Osama bin Laden, the Sunday Express can reveal on Sunday.

The plan, which would be activated without President Asif Ali Zardari's consent, provoked an angry reaction from Pakistan officials last night. Barack Obama would order troops to parachute in to protect key nuclear missile sites. These include the air force's central Sargodha HQ, home base for nuclear-capable F-16 combat aircraft and at least 80 ballistic missiles.

A US source told the Sunday Express: "The plan is green lit and the president has already shown he is wiling to deploy troops in Pakistan if he feels it is important for national security." However, news of the plan has further increased tension between the US and Pakistan with relations already at an all-time low after the Operation Geronimo raid by the US Navy Seal special forces team that killed bin Laden at the house where he had been hiding in Abbottabad, near to a Pakistan military academy.

An angry Pakistani official said: "Pakistan has an elaborate command and control structure and is fully capable of defending its strategic assets under any circumstances and does not need any assistance from any country, including the US, to safeguard its nuclear installations."

The plan reflects growing concern over reprisals for the al-Qaeda terror leader's death. More than 80 people were killed and 140 injured when two Taliban suicide bombers struck at a military academy in the north-western town of Charsadda on Friday.

Alex Neill, of the Royal United Services Institute, said: "The United States places its own national security issues above all other sovereignty issues and trust in Pakistan's abilities are extremely low."

"If Obama can persuade congress that placing US troops at the installations is necessary to protect US citizens from possible nuclear attack, then that's what he will do." The Pentagon on Saturday refused to deny the existence of the plan, with a spokesman saying only: "We are confident that Pakistan has taken appropriate steps towards securing its nuclear arsenal."

Bin Laden was a US prisoner before being killed: Iran

Tehran, May 16:  Sheikh Bin Laden was a US prisoner before being killed: Iran TEHRAN: Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden was a prisoner in US custody for "sometime" before he was killed by the American military, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday,reports AFP.

"I have exact information that bin Laden was held by the American military for sometime... until the day they killed him he was a prisoner held by them," the president said in a live interview on Iranian state television.

"Please pay attention. This is important. He was held by them for sometime. They made him sick and while he was sick they killed him," Ahmadinejad added.

He accused US President Barack Obama for announcing the Al-Qaeda leader's death for "political gain."

"What the US president has done is for domestic political gain. In other words, they killed him for Mr Obama's election and now they are seeking to replace him with someone else," Ahmadinejad said without elaborating.

Bin Laden was shot dead on May 2 in a US commando raid on a heavily fortified compound near Islamabad, Pakistan.

On May 4, Iranian Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi too had cast doubt on bin Laden's death, saying there were "ambiguities" over the way he was killed.

The Americans "said they threw his body in the sea. Why did they not allowed an independent expert to examine the body to say if it was bin Laden or not?" Vahidi said.

   

Secret deal with US not acceptable: Nisar Ali Khan

ISLAMABAD: May 17: The government will have to finish inking secret deals with US. No behind-the-curtain agreements will be acceptable from now and onwards, these were the warning statements made by Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, the leader of opposition in National Assembly (NA) and the leader of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), Geo News reported.

“No Pak-US joint operation against a high-value target in Pakistan will be allowed in future and a judicial commission to probe into US raid on a compound in Abbottabad on May 2 be immediately formed, ” Nisar demanded.

Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan was addressing a press conference here at the Punjab House. He said that he came to know though media reports that the federal government and US administration have agreed upon a new code of conduct.(Writer-South Asis)

Osama bin Laden's Jerusalem home for sale

Srinagar, 16 May:  While real-estate agents say that location is everything in considering buying a home, sometimes an infamous former owner can also be a big selling point, reports Xinhua news agency.

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Especially when it's al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's handsome digs in northern Jerusalem's Palestinian Shuafat neighborhood.

"This is a historic house, and to this day I have not talked about it with anybody," current owner Mu'in Khoury told the Yediot Ahronot Hebrew daily on Sunday.

"Bin-Laden's father came from Saudi Arabia in the 1940s, bought the house, and lived in it from time to time," Khoury said, adding that "Osama also spent time there on several occasions in the 1960s."

Since then, however, the property has changed hands many times, and came to be Israeli state property as a result of the 1967 War, and served as the Spanish consul's office.

Khoury is the latest in the line of owners of the site, which has become a well-known neighborhood landmark since the 9/11 attacks on the United States.

"The house is not for sale to anyone. But if Osama makes me an offer, I will be willing to consider it," Khoury said, according to the report.

Pakistan leans on China in face of US slams

Lavatera cashmeriana: http://jkmpic.blogspot.com

New Delhi, May 16: First impressions often tend to be lasting ones. There were many first impressions I gathered during my recent first visit to Pakistan. At the invitation of Pakistan's Ministry of Information, for eight days, I, along with eight other journalists, travelled to several cities, reports Shastri Ramachandaran (Global Times).

Of the four themes that figured through the program, predictably, Pakistan's war against terrorism and India-Pakistan relations topped the agenda. But more off than on the record was Pakistan's troubled ties with the US, worsening by the day. On the margins, outside the frame of formal interaction, a topic of much interest was Sino-Pak relations.

In Lahore, the agreements signed during Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif's "successful" five-day visit to China from April 18 made headlines, but was routine nevertheless.

So, when Foreign Ministry officials and others spoke of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani's visit to China from May 17, no eyebrows went up. After all, it was part of the year-long celebration to mark the 60th anniversary of Sino-Pak ties.

Few expected that, within a matter of days China-Pakistan relations would evoke great interest and greater speculation worldwide.

When the US struck at Bin Laden, the world erupted in jubilant applause and Pakistan came under severe fire. Pakistan was pilloried as the fount of global terrorism.

China alone supported Pakistan and stood by it in the face of global opposition. China and Pakistan had completed a strategic dialogue on May 13 to deepen cooperation on counter-terrorism. True to its stance, in the aftermath of Bin Laden's killing, China reaffirmed its cooperation with Pakistan to combat terrorism. China focused on stability in Pakistan, defended Pakistan's record of fighting terrorism and criticized the Obama administration for violating Pakistan's territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence.

China drew the world's attention to Pakistan's sacrifices and sufferings in combating terrorism. Pakistan could not ask for more at a time when it feels besieged, and relations with the US have hit a new nadir.

"Pakistan is again in trouble, in a difficult situation. What it urgently requires is allies' support. And, among allies, Chinese support is critical to its lifeline," observed Amna Yusaf Khokhar, a research fellow at the Institute of Strategic Studies (ISS) in Islamabad.

"Instead of raising fingers at the time-tested friend's credibility, it showed support and, rather, criticized the Obama administration," she wrote in her role as editor of Asia Despatch.

More seasoned experts, too, adopted a similar stance to emphasize that China is much valued by Pakistan, and not only during a crisis.

Riaz Hussain Khokhar, former foreign secretary who has served as ambassador to China and High Commissioner to India, spoke strongly on these issues. "Pakistan and China never played games with each other. China does not really need Pakistan, but because of our sincerity, China has remained a strong friend," Khokhar told me.

Similar admiring views were expressed by others, including Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, director-general of ISS and a former ambassador toChina. Qazi, who served as Pakistan's High Commissioner to India, was also the UN Secretary-General's special envoy to Iraq and, later, Sudan.

What they don't say explicitly is more important: That Pakistan and China, even before Bin Laden's killing, but in preparation for the US drawdown in Afghanistan, have been striving to strengthen strategic cooperation in the region.

An expert at the ISS, speaking anonymously, said that Pakistan and China are joining hands to shape the region's security with Afghanistan at its center.

"The situation in Afghanistan calls for new alliances, new strategies." With US forces pulling out and Pakistan crucial for stabilizing the situation, China might emerge in a potent, new role, speculated a foreign affairs commentator.

As Qazi said, in a different context, "Every country has leverage," and the US should not take Pakistan for granted.

Gilani's four-day trip to China has assumed extraordinary significance amidst talk of a new strategic partnership with far-reaching implications, especially for the US but also for India, South Asia and the West.

In the history of China-Pakistan relations, rarely has a Pakistani prime minister's visit to Beijing attracted so much attention.

The author is a journalist based in New Delhi. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn

America, Osama and Kashmir

By: Hashim Qurashi
Many people are angry with the US dropping Osma’s dead body into the sea. They rubbish the US claim that the body was submerged according to Islamic rites. But why be cross with the US? It has always been oppressive to freedom loving but subjugated nations. Its policy is to enslave countries politically and economically in modern age.  Americans dropped atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 20th century taking a toll of the lives of more than three hundred thousand men, women and children. The soil there cannot grow any greenery even today. Children are born with various debilities and disabilities. Thousands of people were massacred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia in carpet bombing by the Americans. Rusted bombs are still recovered occasionally from the farms there. A scare of communism was created in Latin America, especially Chile. Widespread killings were done in African and Muslim countries, view point Hashmi Qurashi in GK.

Desecrating a dead body is such an insignificant event in face of these atrocities. US would not care for the living beings, leave aside the dead. But those who created the US did it on the basis of the principles of freedom and self-determination for the nations. Naturally the souls of those founding fathers must be turning in their graves on finding the US converting to a colonial country.

Innumerable write ups have been produced on the life and death of Osama bin Laden. From publicity point of view his death is the third biggest news of the  21 century. According to a conservative estimate the US spent tens of billions of dollars to locate him. Osama is the Frankenstein of the US being its creation. They used him against the Soviet Union in Afghan war. He was privy to many secrets of the US and its CIA. After the Afghan war was over, the US left Afghanistan leaving Afghans in lurch. When the Afghans realized that not Russia but the US and its colonialism were the real enemy of Muslims, they pledged to seek revenge from the US. They struck at the roots of the American interests.

Unfortunately Osama or Taliban could not realize that their actions did more harm to the cause of the Muslims. It was just because they were obsessed with hatred towards the US. Osama was an educated person and many of his comrades had received their education in western or American universities. They found that the US was out to enslave the Muslims politically and economically. In particular, the US wanted general loot of the oil booty of the Arabs. They saw that the US adopted divide and rule policy vis-à-vis the Muslims; they saw that it protected illegal occupation of Palestine by the Israelis, and they saw that it was privy to the massacre of the Palestinians by the Israelis. All this created lava of hatred in their mind against the Americans.

Thus not distinguishing between the oppressor or the oppressed, innocent or the culprit, Al Qaeda let loose terrible terror against the US and the European countries. The US did carpet bombing on Tora Bora hills, and deployed one and a half lakh American and European troops against war in Afghanistan which resulted in the killing of hundreds of thousands of Afghans.

Al Qaeda targeted American missions in foreign countries. In 9/11 attack the Twin Towers of World Trade Centre in NY and the building in Pentagon. This was the first attack of the enemies of the US on the American homeland which turned the US almost mad. The US began picking up anybody and every body in Afghanistan and Pakistan whom she suspected of involvement in 9/11. The arrested persons were interned in Guantanamo Bay prison.

Al Qaeda attacked a train in Spain that killed about 250 persons. On 7/7 it made the British underground rail system its target that resulted in the killing of many innocent people. Many of its horrible missions did not materialize. The US and the western countries got exasperated by these recurrent attacks. The US challenged Muslim countries, including Pakistan that “those who were not with the US in war on terror were against the US and would be sent back to Stone Age”. At the same time the US put a heavy prize of millions of dollars on the heads of Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders.

Pakistani governments made a good use of the situation. They picked up Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders, handed them over to the Americans and in return received billions of dollars. General Pervez Musharraf has described it fully in one paragraph of his book “In the Line of Fire”.

Rumours were floated during past one decade about the arrest and death of Osama. In 2003-4, I participated in a discussion in Europe. We talked about Osama, whether he was alive or dead and if alive, where was he hiding. I said with some analytical view that if he had managed to escape alive from Tora Bora bombardment then, surely he must be hiding in some city in Pakistan or must have taken shelter with some powerful elements in Pakistan. Now that we know he had been living first in Haripore and then in Abbatabad for last eight and a half years, it means that he had left Afghanistan as early as 2003 while the Americans and their allies were looking for him in Tora Bora and Waziristan. Drone attacks killed thousands of innocent Afghans and Pakistanis.

Conflicting reports are coming in in the aftermath of American raid on Osama hideout. On the one hand the US President and Pakistani rulers claim that Pakistan rendered significant service to CIA in getting Osama. President Obama thanked Pakistan for operation against Osama. But then the Pakistani’s suddenly made about turn and began saying that Pakistan was not informed about operation against Osama. It protested to Americans for violating Pakistani air space. But ours is the age of computers and everybody feels a compulsion to think that Pakistan was an accomplice with the Americans in their operation against Osama.  And if it was not so, then is Pakistan a paralyzed banana state?

I cannot believe it. Pakistani army and its ISI are a highly trained force and the ISI is one of the world’s most efficient organizations. Despite several challenges looking straight into Pakistan’s face, it has opted to be the standard bearer of jihad in the world. It is unthinkable that three American helicopters stay put in Pakistani air jurisdiction for two hours and neither the Pakistani army nor the intelligence has any information about it. It has to be remembered that the site of operation was Abbotabad where Pakistani Army has its Divisional Headquarter and Kakol Military Academy.  At a distance of just 20 kilometers from the site of operation is Kamrah air base. It is preposterous to say that Pakistan had no information of this operation.?

The fact is that Pakistan wanted to ward off the backlash from religious extremist elements among the Pakistani people, Taliban and Al Qaeda activists after the American operation was over. This was a gambit jointly contrived and executed by the Americans and Pakistanis. This has been confirmed by the statement of former Pakistani Corps Commander Salahu’d-Din Tirmizi who categorically said that “the entire operation was executed with full cooperation of Pakistan. Pakistan was forced to adopt this stand in order to escape the torment of terrorism. Now the US is not a foreign power for Pakistan. She is in fact the supremo of our rulers, and they are all the slaves who have no guts to say no to its diktat.”

Please come out of blind emotionalism. Don’t label them traitors who speak and write the truth. There are many around who could be on the pay roll of India or Pakistan. Imagine a man who carries a prize of 50 crores of dollars or 25 arab rupees on his head; here is a man who lives in a house in Abbotabad with three wives and eight children; here is a man who is a kidney patient and survives on the dialysis and needs medical support regularly, and here is a man who has to fulfill the daily needs of his household. And then Pakistani authorities aver that they had no knowledge on his being in Abbotabad. This is the biggest lie of 21st century.?

I am ready to accept that President Zardari and the Prime Minister, meaning political establishment and the bureaucracy had no wink of it but definitely the top brass of the army and ISI were in know  of it.  It has to be reminded that Pakistan has been an ally of the US in latter’s war on terrorism. Pakistan has given large sacrifices also. Pakistan even handed over to the Americans some top leaders of Al Qaeda like Khalid Shiekh and some Taliban leaders during the regime of Pervez Musharraf. Even an atomic scientist lady Arifa Sidiqe too was handed over to the Americans on accusations of supporting Al Qaeda.  All this was done to convince American masters that Pakistan was their ally in war on terrorism.  

As a person and as an entity, Osama is dead but his thoughts and his war against the US and the European countries will continue as long the US and the European countries do not stop exploitation of the entire world in general but the Muslims in particular. The British too had disposed the body of Bhagat Singh and his colleagues after hanging them but they had to leave India at the end of the day. Indira Gandhi ordered hanging of Maqbool Bhat and his dead body was buried within the premises of the Tihar jail. But today Maqbool Bhat is the brightest lighthouse for the people of the state.  An organization may be liquidated, leaders can be butchered, and their dead bodies can be disposed off clandestinely or thrown into the sea. But staunch followers of truth and fighters for the rights of oppressed peoples have their thinking and ideas which cannot be buried or submerged under water.The US contrived the death of Che Govera in 1960s. CIA buried him secretly. But his grave was identified after a lapse of thirty years and he was re-buried with full rites and with great respect.

Whether Osama bin Laden was a terrorist or a great mujahid is not the point. There is a UN resolution against him and Al Qaeda. It declared Osama as the chief of Al Qaeda a terrorist organization. The US and European countries, of who the UN is a puppet, spend over 3 billion dollars in locating Osama. They considered him responsible for the killing of thousands of civilians. If I open a discussion on whether Osama was a terrorist or not, I will provoke many followers of blind emotionalism against me. I would therefore remain content with the commentary of a famous Pakistani journalist Manu Bhai. This is what he says:

“There are many questions arising in the context of Osama bin Laden. In the name of service to Islam he became the prime cause for greatest decimation of Muslims and their destruction. He was the cause for humiliation of Muslim travelers especially Pakistani Muslim travelers at all international airports where they are required to undress and even take off their shoes for security reasons. There are many questions about projecting Osama first as a mujahid and then a terrorist.”There should be no need for any further comment on the subject. According to Quranic injunction, killing an innocent person is tantamount to killing all the humanity in the eyes of God.

It is true that after 9/11 event, Muslims came under great stress. They are being harassed at the airports under the pretext of security check. Western universities imposed a ban on the admission of Muslim students in universities and professional institutions. Even issuing of passport and visa too became very difficult.  Previously Muslim missionaries visiting western countries on propagation missions were given visas but now these too have been stopped. Now if somebody announces that namaze janazeh (prayer in absentia for a dead) be performed, is it not doing harm to the struggle of Kashmiris? Will not Kashmiris be associated with Al Qaeda? I cannot understand the logic of offering namaze juma for the dead Osama after five days of his death. Since Jamaate Islami Pakistan and Lashkar-eTaayyiba and other religious organizations offered prayer in absentia for Osama on Tuesday and Wednesday, Geelani and Shabir Shah found no justification in not following the suit. Reports say that Geelani’s appeal for prayer in absentia was by and large ignored by the people in Kashmir so much so that the Imam of Batmaloo mosque slipped out of the backdoor of the mosque without offering the prayer in absentia.Will Kashmiri leadership come out of egoism, urge for temporary popularity and thirst for media publicity? Will they not spare the helpless people of this state?

(About the writer: Hashim Qureshi is ChairmanJk Democratic Liberation party. Feedback at hashimquireshi@yahoo.com. Visit his blog hashimquireshi-jkdlp.blogspot.com)

The Osama-doctrine : Has the justice really been done?

By: Hassan Zaingiri

‘Justice has been done’ is how US president Barak Obama hailed and celebrated the killing of Al-Qaeda Chief Osama Bin Ladin who Americans say was hiding in Abottabad town of Pakistan and was killed in a commando action by US forces last week.

But the way Osama was “finished off” has woefully exposed the human face of ‘lone super-power’ who doesn’t stop from trumpeting its ‘belief’ in ‘human values’ and ‘free trial’ and ‘justice’, reports Hassan Zainagir.

 It is now an admitted fact that Bin Ladin was unarmed when the compound he was housed in was stormed. Apart from the surviving family members, now in Pakistan custody, even some officials in US have stated that Osama was unarmed when US troops shot him dead. And as the bullets pierced him, Obama watching the ‘live coverage’ of the momentous event in the Situation Room of the White House with his team-mates spoke up ‘we got him’.  The ‘Geronimo’.

CIA officials, who directed the ‘Geronimo EKIA’ operation, have also lent credence to the allegation. Giving details of the operation they have told reporters that prior to killing Osama they dropped the stunned bombs in the compound which on exploding produce shock waves, making the people incapable of any movement/action. That also reflects why there were no casualties on American side.

What the world wants to know from Americans is why in this backdrop – when he was unarmed or left “stunned” – Bin Ladin was not captured alive? That course taken, undoubtedly, would have proved a treasure trove and a more reliable source for the US to decipher the information, US believed, he possessed regarding 9/11 and other ‘anti-American’ ‘terrorist’ activities and the Al-Qaeda network.

That US chose not to publish the picture of Osama’s body as further added mystery to the issue. Washington says the pictures are gruesome as his face has been badly disfigured. (Beastliness of the so called champion of human values and its xenophobia knows no bounds). But was not hanging of Sadam Hussain provocative too? This raises the question was Osama shot beyond possible recognition or was the operation an eye wash? Did America fear that Osama would have walked free for lack of evidence if brought to trial. Osama dusted off his involvement in 9/11. 

Many a time America expressed their desire to get Osama alive. Guantanamo Bay prison they had chosen to incarcerate the Al-Qaeda chief in and ‘bring him to justice’ through a ‘fair trial’. The killing of the aged ailing leader with some of his family members, all unarmed, in the house he had taken shelter has echoed a strong resentment from civil society in Europe, United Nation’s and human rights groups all over the world. They have despised the American action as a ‘cold-blooded assassination’. Even condemnation is growing from some sections of media inside the US itself. Though Pakistan is maligned and mucked at for ‘providing a safe heaven’ for Osama but American action, under International Law and Geneva Convention, is held a flagrant violation of the territorial sovereignty of an independent country. Pakistan has protested on the US strike terming it ‘unauthorized unilateral action’ taken without its knowledge. Its anger is that on one hand, US didn’t share the intelligence with it, and brazenly violated its sovereignty, on the other it has directed all guns of arrogance against her, forgetting Islamabad’s role in handing over hundreds of Al-Qaeda and Taliban ‘terrorists’ including some high profile leaders like Khalid Sheikh, Amjad, Abu Zubaida, Libey, and never forget, the nuclear science knowing Aasiya Sidiqa.

As if murder of unarmed Osama was not enough to satiate the vengeance of the Americans, the hastily decision of the Washington (two hours after the completion of the ‘mission’) to dump his body, whom once Americans and the West glorified as ‘Mujahid-e-azam’, in the deep waters of the Indian ocean (they only know where) has enraged the entire Muslim world – including those who opposed his ideology. The noted Muslim scholars including grand Al-Azhar University have strongly protested over this brutality that has all the trappings of crusade mentality and Hitlarian mindset.

Howsoever drugged you might be in eliminating your enemy, once he is dead, it is obligatory for you to show respect to the dead body and hand it over to the next of his kin. In absence of his kins, the state is morally and legally bound to carry his last rites in strict compliance to the religious injunctions of the deceased. Muslims throw their bodies in sea under certain compulsions as when they are on board the ship and someone dies. Here, Osama was murdered in the house and the body was flown to Bagram air base. They were under obligation to first inform the descendants of the Osama, who they knew were residing in Saudi Arabia (Incidentally Umar bin Osama, one of the sons of the deceased Al-Qaeda chief, has strongly reacted to the manner his father was killed and dead body thrown into waters of Indian ocean. In a letter he asked Americans to come up with evidence of Osama’s death within 30 days, or, he threatened, he would approach the International Court of Justice). The statement of Umar clearly shows his family in Saudi Arabia was not approached.

The lurking fear in Americans that his land burial would have ultimately provided a sanctimonious site to attract Osama’s followers is said to be the reason for opting the “sea  burial” course . But that fear in no way should have insulated Americans to Muslim sensitivities, which is so arrogantly trumpeted under the hubris of technological advancement. For arguments sake let us presume burying site of Osama would have venerated into a Shrine, gravitating number of Muslim youth to it, what hampered Obama administration, as a last option, from having the last remains of a Muslim (whatever his ideological moorings) lay in rest in Guantanamo Bay, which the ‘civilized’ Americans have chosen to convert into an animal farm quarantined for those who it thinks dares to yell at its imperialist nudity.

Whether or not the burial site of Osama might have become a mausoleum for his followers is a debatable preposition, but the sacrilegious affront to Muslims by US and in the highly provocative and insulting way, has in it all the ingredients to fuel rage and hatred in Muslim world against the US. That way Osama eliminated would prove a ghost for her, haunting it again and again. Osama in person is ‘finished’ but in finishing him the White House has, unwittingly, given a new lease of life to the Osama-doctrine. That is how “justice has been done”! 
   
Hassan Zainagiree can be reached at : zainagiree@yahoo.co.in

Osama Bin Laden

By: Maqsood Ahmad 

Srinagar, 14 May: Pakistan has all along aligned itself with the US and NATO mainly for economic reasons and Kashmir policy as it is a historical fact that during the cold war era, India was aligned both militarily and otherwise also with the Soviet block and used to derive all kind of support from the Soviet Union particularly on Kashmir.

Soviet Union used to veto all resolutions moved in the UN Security Council on Kashmir and other Indo Pak issues in India's favour. After the disintegration of Soviet Union, it was expected that Pakistan would get all out support from the Western Block particularly the US in getting all its disputes with India particularly on Kashmir settled and would ensure implementation of the UN resolutions on Kashmir. Not only Pakistan but we Kashmiris also generated high hopes that our dispute  would get settled and we would be allowed to exercise of Right to Self Determination for determining the future political set up of our territory in accordance with the UN Resolutions.

Unfortunately this did not happen but instead it was US that blocked all chances Pakistan got in forcing a settlement of Kashmir dispute with India such as during the 1962 India’s China War when Pakistan was pressurized by the US not to bring any kind of military pressure on India to get the Kashmir dispute settled and also during the Kargil war when the US forced Pakistan to cease fire and return to the original positions held by it.

Besides, the US also used Pakistan against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan without giving it anything in return and has been using Pakistan against Taliban whom the US used to address as Mujahideen  when they were fighting the Soviet forces in Afghanistan, and are now calling them as terrorists. Not only that, instead of supporting Pakistan in getting its problems with India particularly on Kashmir  resolved, it is showing a tilt towards India for its economic considerations as well as its Anti Muslim and Anti Islam and Anti Kashmir policies. The United States went all out against Taliban and Osama bin Laden and killed thousands of innocent and unarmed Afghan men women and children through drone attacks on civilian population, travelers and jirgas which has even been acknowledged by the puppet ruler of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai. They killed hundreds of Civilians in  Waziristan area of Pakistan with these drone attacks. . What action it took against its forces. What action US took against the killers of thousands of Muslims by Modi & Co in Gujrat and Indian security forces in Kashmir. Just denying visa to visit USA is no action and is ridiculous. What action it took in the massacre of innocent and unarmed civilian population of Lebanon and Palestine by the Israeli troops. Even if it is accepted  that OSAMA BIN LADEN was a terrorist but he was just an individual. What about the  states like Israel and India who are resorting to state terrorism. 

The US wastes no time in mobilizing NATO and its other allies when any local uprising takes place in any Muslim country but when it happens in a country where there allies of friends are involved, they just do not bother and actually help the oppressor like in Kashmir, Palestine.The US is also trying to squeeze Pakistan by depriving it of its strategic depth in Afghanistan and giving India an increased role and space in Afghanistan. This goes to prove that US is not a reliable and trusted friend and is Anti Muslim, Anti Islam and Pakistan has had enough occasions to substantiate this argument. Pakistan has invited trouble in its own country and with its own people by pursuing the policies in the interest of US. Pakistan needs to rethink about its foreign policy and need not rely on the US. US is treating Pakistan like a prostitute and enters its territory and conducts military operations at its free will against some economic aid which is also tagged with so many conditions. Pakistani authorities shouls understand that Americans military operations within Pakistan soil are not going to stop here after the elimination of Osama. Americans will continue to conduct direct military operations inside Pakistan unilaterally on one pretext or the other. Sometimes, they will make an excuse of pursuing Mulla Omar, sometimes Al-Zuwahiri and so on and so forth. The only thing that will stop US from conducts military operations is when they suffer human losses and for that Pakistan needs to retaliate militarily. This is the only reason they pulled out from IRAQ and are now trying to find a face saving in coming out from Afghanistan.  It needs to make friends within its own country  rather than create enemies in the interest of US. 

The trouble in Pakistan started after 9/11 when Pakistan shifted  its Afghan policy  and went all out against Taliban to please the US administration during the Musharraf regime. Pakistan needs to assert and survive as a free and independent Nation. Pakistan needs to generate its own resources for its survival and not depend on the US economic aid and if they are unable to do it, they have no right to exist as an independent country . Pakistan should strictly adhere to and follow the sayings of its National poet Dr Sir Muhammad Iqbal:  “Aay Tair-I-Lahoti, Us Rizk sey Mout Achi Jis Rizk sey Aaati ho parvaaz mein kotahee”. Pakistan should not bother about any military misadventure of the US as the US cannot afford to intervene directly and invade any country they want. US has in the recent past intervened directly in IRAQ and Afghanistan and has met with failures and has not been able to fulfill its desires/objectives as envisaged/planned by it and is now trying to have a face saving to come out of Afghanistan. 

The US has refrained from intervening in other countries defying their dictates subsequently after Afghanistan such as Iran, North Korea etc in view of its bitter experience in Iraq and Afghanistan. US has also not taken a lead role against Libya and has left the Libyan crisis to be handled by NATO. It is a changed scenario. It has been established that it is not going to be a smooth sailing for the US to invade any country. US, instead of being a friendly country is an enemy of Pakistan. It has forced Pakistan Govt. to kill its own people and bombard them. It has also worked against Pakistan in respect of its relations with India.

Pakistan needs to enter into defence treaties and pacts with its friendly neighbouring countries like Iran, China etc and give up its dependence on United States and stand upright and live with honour, self respect and dignity.

Author : Er Maqsood Ahmad Shahdad can be reached at: maqsoodshahdad@hotmail.com

After Bin Laden, will China become US foe?

Srinagar, May 12:  (Writer-South Asia) The demise of Osama bin Laden offers the US an opportunity to declare an end to the War on Terror. In the view of many Americans, a strategic adjustment of US foreign policy appears inevitable. Besides, the US media is riddled with analyses of how to handle a rising China, reports Global times (5 May).

Do the prescriptions and analyses imply that US policy would aim to undo the development China has achieved in recent decades?

For a long time, the Chinese people have been haunted by the anxiety that, one day, the US will confront China. This has turned out to be unfounded – so far. In the perception of experts at home and abroad, the counter-terrorism war, mainly in the Arab world, has served to prevent the US from "disturbing" China during the past decade. As trouble continues to spread in the Middle East, the US may remain pinned down in the region for another 10 years.

These viewpoints, to some extent, are reasonable but exaggerate the situation. For the US, the concerns aroused by those authoritarian states in the Arab world are not comparable to developments rooted in the rise of China. Given that China's GDP may exceed that of the US within 10 years, this may become the primary factor to threaten the latter's global hegemony.

In a US versus China scenario, will confrontation be the only option? More  people in both countries answer in the negative. For the US, it would seem rational to maintain the status quo rather than provoke China, thereby triggering risks that would  hurt the US.

In the near future, the US may pour more money and resources in handling the rise of China. As a counterweight, China has enough power to prevent the revival of the kind of confrontation the US had with the former Soviet Union. China's peaceful rise might be unsettling to the US, but that has not spurred recasting of its foreign policy toward the world's most populous country. Besides, it is not a coincidence that China's pace of development has dwarfed the efforts of the US to contain China.

A down-to-earth approach would be to expand further the vibrant Sino-US economic cooperation, which is a powerful enough process to squeeze out any right-wing paranoia in the US. Periodic skirmishes between the US and China may be unavoidable, but downright deterioration in bilateral relations could be destructive to both.

No external force can stop China's rise. What China needs is confidence in maintaining its rapid development. A confident China can prevent any molehill of a dispute with the US growing into a mountain of conflict.

Doubtless, the US is an omnipresent superpower. The rise of China is certain to cause friction with the US, and this demands the prevalence of a peaceful and calm mindset on both sides. Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger once noted that if the US treats China as a foe, China would be a foe. Put differently, from the Chinese perspective: If China treats the US as a foe, the US would be a foe.

Muslim guards Hindus in stereotyped Pakistan

By Amar Guriro in Karachi, Pakistan, for Silent Heroes, Invisible Bridges.

It may not sound unusual that Murad Bukhsh Baloch takes pride in his religion and work, both.

Baloch is a unique Muslim who serves as caretaker of Hindu cremation ground and graveyard, depicting harmonious coexistence in a heavily stereotyped country like Pakistan.

Gujjar Hindu Cremation Ground, around 150-year-old burial-and-cremation facility for Sindhi Hindus located in Pakistan’s southern-most metropolis Karachi, is significant for half-million followers of the religion here.

Just inside huge main entrance gate, Murad has been watching the dead Hindus pouring in to the ground for a quarter of his life.

A mixed gathering of Hindus on the eve of a dear ones demise. Such ceremonies can be held at home as well as at cremation ground and graveyard. – Photo by Amar Guriro

Located in thickly populated Lyari town, the stronghold of late Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party, which she had chosen for her wedding party, Baloch is not only looking after this 22-acre graveyard and cremation ground but also arranging woods and other items required for cremation since 1990.

He passionately cleans and maintains statues lying in small temples inside the premises. He also lights up lamps inside the temple, an important religious rites.

“It’s pleasure to serve the alive and the dead,” he says, adding, “Islam teaches me co-existence and peace.”

With 3 million population as per 1998 national census, Hindus are the biggest religious minority of Pakistan.

Majority of Pakistani Hindus are living in Karachi, Mirpurkhas and Sukkur regions of southern Sindh province. Majority of them belong to lower castes, they work as landless peasants, ironsmiths or construction labour.

Besides looking after the arrangements, Baloch guards this prime land in the heart of the city. Like other Asian urban centers, Karachi is a rapidly growing city where land grab for high-rise buildings is the biggest challenge.

‘Targeted killings’ claimed thousands in recent years, some of them fell prey to land grabbers. Sprawling land of Gujjar Hindu Cremation Ground remains seriously vulnerable.

He smilingly remarks, “The Balochs known to be warriors and even before Pakistan’s creation, we have served the Hindus for decades in Karachi.”

Once Karachi was a Hindu dominated city and most businesses belonged to them.

In creation of Pakistan and modern day India in 1947, most of these Hindus migrated to the Hindu majority cities in Maharashtra state across the newly-carved border.

According to official data, today Karachi is home to over half a million Hindus. Except a few, Hindus mostly are poor and belong so-called lower castes. The poor ones bury their dead, while the rich and upper-caste Hindus cremate their deceased dear ones.

Besides performing a role of traditional pundit (religious leader) in the temple, guarding the land and taking care of other religious rites, Baloch also serves warden for ashes, which were kept in this graveyard.

Hindus burn their dead and preserve the ashes in a cremation ground. Each of 130 earthen pots or plastic jars here is tied with red-and-white cloth, wrapped in flower wreaths and tags carry various identification details in Sindhi, Urdu, Hindi or English language.

The facility is not exclusive to the Hindus as Buddhists, Japanese and Chinese communities also preserve ashes of their dead here.

Ironically, when family members of the deceased wanted to take their ashes to immerse them in holy water of Ganges in India, the Pakistani Hindus were denied such religious rites across the border after 1971.

After India actively patronized Pakistan’s Bengali to break from the country, bitterness soared to the highest point. Both India and Pakistan tightened visa procedures for each other.

Only recently, the Pakistani Hindus won this right from India and ashes Baloch had been guarding for the last 21 year were taken there to immerse in the holy Ganges.

While talking to this correspondent, he was continuously directing some men to keep an eye on the workers, as construction was underway in the cremation ground.

When he was a child, his family lived near the historical cremation ground where people used to spend their evening as there were not many public parks around back then.

As a child, Baloch witnessed several bodies being cremated in the ground.

“I used to wonder why Hindus burn their dead,” his elders used to tell him that it is an important rite of Hindu religion.

He still remembers image of Maharaj Durga Bharati, a Hindu pundit and caretaker of the cremation ground, who used to perform religious rituals during the funerals.

“Bharati was a nice man who distributed candies and toffees among the children and greeted everyone, even Muslims in this Hindu graveyard-cum-cremation,” recalls Baloch.

Nostalgic Baloch says those were good times when nobody discriminated on the basis of religion. People were indentified with their respective profession.

He doesn’t have any problem working here, thus he wants his son Ayaz Baloch to succeed him.

Dr Govind Ram Dheerani, secretary general of Pakistan Hindu Foundation, says, “I am happy to find Baloch as caretaker of the graveyard as only a Muslim can work properly here in a country like Pakistan.”

Though religious extremism is on the rise in Pakistan, since the partition in 1947, inter-communal relations in Sindh remained generally peaceful, and the province has never witnessed any major anti-Hindu violence. Knee-jerk reaction to extremist Hindus’ demolition of Babri Masjid in Indian city of Ayodhya in 1992 is the only incident of its kind.

The Hindus and Muslims of Sindh enjoy a shared cultural heritage besides common Sufi influences.

Though in recent years some of Pakistani Hindus migrated to different countries, but rarely Sindhi Hindus have left the country as majority of Sindhi Hindus still enjoy living in Pakistan.

Pandit Panch has a message for KPs :Return Home, There’s No threat in Valley: Asha Ji

Wussan (Kunzer), May 11: There is a batch of joyous villagers including women sitting in the courtyard to get a glimpse of the lady. Media men are anxiously waiting for her to get an interview. The otherwise silent house has become a centre of buzz, reports Wasim Khalid in Greater Kashmir.

Asha Ji, 52, grabbed spotlight in this tiny hamlet of north Kashmir by becoming first Kashmiri Pandit woman Panch in the ongoing Panchayat polls. Her win was being celebrated by the villagers on Tuesday. And her message was clear- the migrant Pandits should return to Kashmir as there was no security threat or vicious atmosphere as being projected.

“I want the Pandits living outside Valley to return immediately to their homeland,” Asha told Greater Kashmir. “There is no threat as such. I am a living example of that. Our family never left the Valley, neither we were harmed by anybody in the past 20 years. They should come home, not to the camps or colonies set up by the Government.”

She said both Muslim men and women encouraged her to file for the Panch post.
“I was not sure of my win. But it happened. All the votes which were cast in my favour belonged to Muslims,” Asha said. “I have no words to describe my happiness.”

Wusan village lying in the foothills of Pirpanchal range houses 295 families. Ten were Pandit families.
“Five families left,” she said. “However, we along with five others stayed back. The Muslim brethren did not allow all the Pandits out of the village to leave.”

In 1990s life was not easy in Wussan. Crackdowns, raids and violence went on unabated. The top three Hizb-ul-Mujahideen commanders- Muhammad Ahsan Dar, Shams-ul-Haq and Ashraf Dar belonged to nearby Kalipora village.

“The Pandits never even got a scratch. Even in last three agitations of 2008, 2009, 2010 we were not touched,” Asha said. “Life was tough, but Muslim brothers and sisters were with us.”

Asha actually belonged to Baderwah area of Jammu and was married to Radhakrishan in 1984. She has two sons, Suresh Kumar Bhat, a police constable, and Ashok Kumar. Apart from doing domestic chores, she works as a peon in a nearby school.

After the news of her becoming Panch came out, the entire village became jubilant. The villagers including women and men gathered at her house to congratulate.

“She is a good woman,” Abdul Qadir, a villager said. “And we wanted to vote for her.”
Asha said she would come to the expectations of the village and help in its progress. “Through Panchayat system many things can be resolved. We have no electricity, water or good roads. We can work in that direction.”

Asha belonged to Ward 5 of Wusan village, but she contested from Ward 4 as it was reserved for woman. Out of 98 votes polled in her Ward, she got 54 votes while her opponent Sarwah Begum got 43. One vote was rejected.

Sarwah Begum, the defeated candidate, however complained that there was bungling in voting.

“Asha belongs to (Agriculture Minister) Ghulam Hassan’s Mir’s party. They in connivance with administration and local polling officers were involved in rigging and bungling,” Begum said. “How is it possible that Ganaie Mohalla which was backing me and has largest number of votes will vote for Asha? I was not allowed to enter polling station but Asha was allowed during voting and as well as during counting. I demand re-polling for the post.”