Water crisis can trigger nuclear war in South Asia

By: Musharaf Zahoor

http://jkmpic.blogspot.com

Islamabad, 4 June: Water is an ambient source, which unlike human beings does not respect boundaries. Water has been a permanent source of conflict between the tribes since biblical times and now between the states. The conflicts are much more likely among those states, which are mainly dependent on shared water sources, reports Musharaf Zahoor in KMS.

The likelihood of turning these conflicts into wars is increased when these countries or states are mainly arid or receive low precipitations. In this situation, the upper riparian states (situated on upper parts of a river basin) often try to maximize water utility by neglecting the needs of the lower riparian states (situated on low lying areas of a river basin).

However, international law on distribution of trans-boundary river water and mutually agreed treaties by the states have helped to some extent in overcoming these conflicts. In the recent times, the climate change has also affected the water availability. The absence of water management and conservation mechanisms in some regions particularly in the third world countries have exacerbated the water crisis. These states have become prone to wars in future.

South Asia is among one of those regions where water needs are growing disproportionately to its availability. The high increase in population besides large-scale cultivation has turned South Asia into a water scarce region. The two nuclear neighbors Pakistan and India share the waters of Indus Basin. All the major rivers stem from the Himalyan region and pass through Kashmir down to the planes of Punjab and Sindh empty into Arabic ocean. It is pertinent that the strategic importance of Kashmir, a source of all major rivers, for Pakistan and symbolic importance of Kashmir for India are maximum list positions. Both the countries have fought two major wars in 1948, 1965 and a limited war in Kargil specifically on the Kashmir dispute.

Among other issues, the newly born states fell into water sharing dispute right after their partition. Initially under an agreed formula, Pakistan paid for the river waters to India, which is an upper riparian state. After a decade long negotiations, both the states signed Indus Water Treaty in 1960. Under the treaty, India was given an exclusive right of three eastern rivers Sutlej, Bias and Ravi while Pakistan was given the right of three Western Rivers, Indus, Chenab and Jhelum. The tributaries of these rivers are also considered their part under the treaty.

It was assumed that the treaty had permanently resolved the water issue, which proved a nightmare in the latter course. India by exploiting the provisions of IWT started wanton construction of dams on Pakistani rivers thus scaling down the water availability to Pakistan (a lower riparian state). The treaty only allows run of the river hydropower projects and does not permit to construct such water reservoirs on Pakistani rivers, which may affect the water flow to the low lying areas. According to the statistics of Hydel power Development Corporation of Indian Occupied Kashmir, India has a plan to construct 310 small, medium and large dams in the territory.

India has already started work on 62 dams in the first phase. The cumulative dead and live storage of these dams will be so great that India can easily manipulate the water of Pakistani rivers. India has set up a department called the Chenab Valley Power Projects to construct power plants on the Chenab River in occupied Kashmir. India is also constructing three major hydro-power projects on Indus River which include Nimoo Bazgo power project, Dumkhar project and Chutak project. On the other hand, it has started Kishan Ganga hydropower project by diverting the waters of Neelum River, a tributary of the Jhelum, in sheer violation of the IWT.

The gratuitous construction of dams by India has created serious water shortages in Pakistan. The construction of Kishan Ganga dam will turn the Neelum valley, which is located in Azad Kashmir into a barren land. The water shortage will not only affect the cultivation but it has serious social, political and economic ramifications for Pakistan. The farmer associations have already started protests in Southern Punjab and Sindh against the non-availability of water. These protests are so far limited and under control. The reports of international organizations suggest that the water availability in Pakistan will reduce further in the coming years. If the situation remains unchanged, the violent mobs of villagers across the country will be a major law and order challenge for the government.

The water shortage has also created mistrust among the federative units, which is evident from the fact that the President and the Prime Minister had to intervene for convincing Sindh and Punjab provinces on water sharing formula. The Indus River System Authority (IRSA) is responsible for distribution of water among the provinces but in the current situation it has also lost its credibility. The provinces often accuse each other of water theft.

In the given circumstances, Pakistan desperately wants to talk on water issue with India. The meetings between Indus Water Commissioners of Pakistan and India have so far yielded no tangible results. The recent meeting in Lahore has also ended without concrete results. India is continuously using delaying tactics to under pressure Pakistan. The Indus Water Commissioners are supposed to resolve the issues bilaterally through talks. The success of their meetings can be measured from the fact that Pakistan has to knock at international court of arbitration for the settlement of Kishan Ganga hydropower project. The recently held foreign minister level talks between both the countries ended inconclusively in Islamabad, which only resulted in heightening the mistrust and suspicions.

The water stress in Pakistan is increasing day by day. The construction of dams will not only cause damage to the agriculture sector but India can manipulate the river water to create inundations in Pakistan. The rivers in Pakistan are also vital for defense during wartime. The control over the water will provide an edge to India during war with Pakistan.

The failure of diplomacy, manipulation of IWT provisions by India and growing water scarcity in Pakistan and its social, political and economic repercussions for the country can lead both the countries toward a war. The existent A-symmetry between the conventional forces of both the countries will compel the weaker side to use nuclear weapons to prevent the opponent from taking any advantage of  the situation.

Pakistan's nuclear programme is aimed at to create minimum credible deterrence. India has a declared nuclear doctrine which intends to retaliate massively in case of first strike by its' enemy. In 2003, India expanded the operational parameters for its nuclear doctrine. Under the new parameters, it will not only use nuclear weapons against a nuclear strike but will also use nuclear weapons against a nuclear strike on Indian forces anywhere.

Pakistan has a draft nuclear doctrine, which consists on the statements of high ups. Describing the nuclear thresh-hold in January 2002, General Khalid Kidwai, the head of Pakistan's Strategic Plans Division, in an interview to Landau Network, said that Pakistan will use nuclear weapons in case India occupies large parts of its territory, economic strangling by India, political disruption and if India destroys Pakistan's forces.

The analysis of the ambitious nuclear doctrines of both the countries clearly points out that any military confrontation in the region can result in a nuclear catastrophe. The rivers flowing from Kashmir are Pakistan's lifeline, which are essential for the livelihood of 170 million people of the country and the cohesion of federative units. The failure of dialogue will leave no option but to achieve the ends through military means.

The only way to discard the lurking fear of a nuclear cataclysm is to settle all the outstanding disputes amicably through dialogue. The international community has a special role in this regard. It should impress upon India to initiate meaningful talks to resolve the lingering Kashmir dispute with Pakistan and implement the water treaty in its letter and spirit. The Indian leadership should drive out its policy towards Pakistan from terrorism mantra to a solution-oriented dialogue process. Both the countries should adopt a joint mechanism to maximize the utility of river waters by implementing the 1960 treaty, Besides negotiations with India, Pakistan should start massive water conservation and management projects.

The modern techniques in agriculture like i.e. drip irrigation, should be adopted. On the other hand, there is a dire need to gradually upgrade the obsolete irrigation system in Pakistan. The politicization of mega hydropower projects/dams is also a problem being faced by Pakistan, which can only be resolved through political will.

The writer is a researcher at Department of Nuclear Politics, National Defence University, Islamabad and can be reached at ndu.nuclear@gmail.com

US intruders missile strike kills nine in Pakistan

Srinagar, June 04: US intruders missile strike kills five in South Waziristan MIRANSHAH: A US missile strike targeting a house killed nine  people and injured 13 others in tribal badlands near the Afghan border on Friday, security officials  of Pakistan said.

The strike took place in Ghwakhwa area, 10 kilometres (six miles) west of Wana, the main town of South Waziristan (SW) tribal region.

A security official confirmed the strike and casualties but said the "identities of those killed in the attack were not immediately known. (Writer-South Asia)

$4.5bn Indo-Israel arms deal

NEW DELHI 29 May: India and Israel are in the process of inking a $4.5 billion (Rs 20,000 cr) arms deal for air-to-ground and air-to-air missiles and other related systems. The deal could put Israel in the forefront once again as one of India's leading arms suppliers, reports Anuradha Mukherjee in The Sunday Guardian.

Official sources told The Sunday Guardian that the deal could contain a package of Derby and Python missiles, and even a hybrid of them, and other related equipment. The indigenous fighter, Tejas, is to be fitted with Derby air-to-air missiles from Rafael Advanced Systems.

Recent visits by the deputy chief of staff of the three services to Israel as part of a delegation led by Union Defence Secretary Pradip Kumar a few weeks ago indicated that the deals were meant for both the Air Force and the Navy. DRDO chief V.K. Saraswat was also in Israel recently to participate in the talks.

India's defence deals with Israel have faced criticism for the shroud of secrecy surrounding them. "We are buying arms without competitive bidding and transparency. To some extent, in the arms business, you have to make government to government deals. In our case, we don't even try to play one supplier against another to get competitive prices. The way India is making these procurements, we are paying much higher prices," said Brahma Chellaney, strategic analyst and professor with the Centre for Policy Research.

Saraswat's presence was required since these technologies were supposed to be undertaken as joint development programmes in which the DRDO usually ended up with a peripheral role, sources said.

Experts said that if the deal was cleared, it would be a major breakthrough from 2010, when several Israeli companies were blacklisted for irregularities in striking deals. The Israeli arms industry, which was beset by allegations of corruption, had also hit a bad patch in clinching the arms deals. The Ministry of Defence had admitted as much in Parliament in November 2010, but stopped short of naming the companies.

The Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), one of the most powerful Israeli arms manufacturers, was blacklisted by the MoD for its alleged involvement in the Ordnance Factory Board scam. Several other foreign companies were also blacklisted.

Chellaney said that with its offset policy Indian indigenous defence research did not stand much of a chance in the face of defence procurements from foreign countries. India diluted its offset policy earlier this year. The offset policy mandated that 50% raw material used in such joint projects had to be sourced from India. "Now it is not needed," said Chellaney. (Writer-South Asia)

Pakistani Army was more anti-American than anti-India.

Pakistani Army was more anti-American than anti-India.

Sheikh Gulzaar (Journalist)

Writer-South Asia, POB: 667 GPO Srinagar SGR JK 190001
Ph: 01933-223705
Mob: 09858986794
e-mail: gulzar@journalist.com

Enemy seeking to cripple Iran’s economy, dash people’s hopes: Leader

Srinagar, May 31:  Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has outlined the enemy’s scenario for undermining the Islamic system of Iran, reports MNA. from Tehran.

“Undermining Iran’s economy, creating discord among the officials, and weakening Islamic beliefs and sentiments are part of the scenario of the enemies of Islam,” the Leader said during a meeting with parliamentarians on Sunday.

“The enemy has openly directed its efforts toward economic issues in order to cripple Iran’s economy and dash the people’s hopes,” he said.

The second goal of the hegemonistic system is to sow discord among government officials, so they should be vigilant and should not allow their disagreements to deteriorate into serious clashes and conflicts, he added.

The officials should avoid unnecessary arguments and fulfill their duty, which is to try to foil the enemy’s plot to undermine the Islamic establishment, he stated.

The third objective of the enemy’s scenario is to undermine Islamic beliefs and sentiments, promote atheism, and open the door for atheists to infiltrate Islamic nations, he said.

The Leader pointed to the Western media outlets’ massive propaganda efforts to manipulate the youth in Egypt, Tunisia, and other regional countries and said that the hegemonistic system is promoting corruption and raising doubts about religious beliefs with the aim of containing the Islamic awakening.

He also said that the main goal of the arrogant powers’ propaganda machine is to “pollute the atmosphere and obstruct the process of enhancing nations’ awareness, but despite their efforts, the Iranian nation has increased their understanding and insightfulness day by day.”

He added, “If we neglect our main duties and become preoccupied with peripheral issues or proudly underestimate the power of the enemy, defeat by the enemy will become a real danger.”

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Leader highlighted the importance of synergy and cooperation between the Majlis and administration, saying each branch of the government should be tolerant toward the differing views of other branches of the government.

He advised the MPs to take the administration’s ideas into consideration before drafting bills and enacting laws and to try to facilitate the implementation of laws by the administration.

The administration should also do its utmost to implement the parliament’s ratifications without making excuses, he said.

“Anyone who has a responsibility in any position should view themselves as being on a battlefield of the Iranian nation’s confrontation with the enemies of Islam and the Islamic Revolution and fulfill their obligations from this standpoint,” he added.

Commenting on the parliamentary election scheduled to be held in March 2012, the Leader advised the lawmakers not to allow their election campaigns to negatively affect the routine activities of the Majlis.

The Leader also said no one should be allowed to manipulate the election and the election should be held according to the legal procedure stipulated by the law.

11th August Foundation pays glowing tributes to Abdul Qayoom Ganaie

Srinagar, May 31 : The 11th August Foundation, while paying rich tributes to Fakhar-e-Jehad-i-Kashmir, Abdul Qayoom Ganaie, on his 10th martyrdom anniversary, said that he had devoted his life for Kashmir liberation movement.

11th August Foundation  Chairman, Tahir Hamadani, and senior Vice Chairman, S. Ashraf in a joint statement said that the blood of Kashmiri martyrs like Abdul Qayoom Ganaie and  Hakim Jalal-ul-Dinwould not be allowed to go waste.

Quran Khawani was held at the Pampore for martyred  Abdul Qayoom Ganaie. It was participated by the freedom leaders and activists including Basharat and Sofi Ashraf.

India, Pak talk demilitarizing Kashmir

Srinagar, 30 May:  India and Pakistan on Monday began their first attempt in three years to demilitarize the world's highest battlefield in the Himalayan region that has claimed the lives of hundreds of soldiers.

The defense secretaries began two days of talks in New Delhi on Monday how to reduce troops situated above the Siachen glacier since 1984.

Operation Meghdoot was the name given to the attack launched by the Indian Military to capture the Siachen Glacier in the disputed Kashmir region, precipitating the Siachen Conflict. Launched on 13 April 1984, this military operation was unique as the first assault launched in the world's highest battlefield. The military action eventually resulted in Indian troops managing to gain control of the entire Siachen Glacier. Today, the occupation of locations along what is known as the Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL) continues to be known as Operation Meghdoot, with up to 10 Infantry Battalions each of the Indian Army and Pakistani Army actively deployed in altitudes up to 6,400 metres (21,000 ft).

A cease fire went into effect in 2003. Even before then, every year more soldiers were killed because of severe weather than enemy firing. The two sides by 2003 had lost an estimated 2,000 personnel primarily due to frostbite, avalanches and other complications. Together, the nations have about 150 manned outposts along the glacier, with some 3,000 troops each. Official figures for maintaining these outposts are put at ~$300 and ~$200 million for India and Pakistan respectively. India built the world's highest helipad on the glacier at Point Sonam, 21,000 feet (6,400 m) above the sea level, to supply its troops. The problems of reinforcing or evacuating the high-altitude ridgeline have led to India's development of the Dhruv Mk III helicopter, powered by the Shakti engine, which was flight-tested to lift and land personnel and stores from the Sonam post, the highest permanently manned post in the world.India also installed the world's highest telephone booth on the glacier.

One of the factors behind the Kargil War in 1999 when Kashmiri fighters  to occupy vacated Indian posts across the Line of Control was their belief that India would be forced to withdraw from Siachen in exchange of a Pakistani withdrawal from Kargil. Both sides had previously desired to disengage from the costly military outposts but after the Kargil War, India decided to maintain its military outposts on the glacier, wary of further Pakistani incursions into Kashmir if they vacate from the Siachen Glacier posts without an official recognition from Pakistan of the current positions.

Supperpower Pakistan

World's top 10 Superpowers, 20 Years from Today

Srinagar, 29 May: Surprise, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia Yes two great Muslim Nations will be competing for the number one spot, twenty years from now? 20 years ago, the United States and Soviet Union were Cold War adversaries. Nobody expected that in five years from then, the Berlin Wall would fall and the Soviet Union would implode. Here is an assessment of the top 10 World Powers.

10. Brazil
This country is emerging as the dominant military and economic force in Latin America. It operates the only aircraft carrier outside the US Navy in the Western Hemisphere. Currently, Brazil is trying to build up its forces still more, and is pursuing a program to build a nuclear-powered attack submarine and could be pursuing nuclear weapons development as well.

9. South Korea
This country has an indigenous naval program that is quite solid, and one of the better armies in the world. The only thing holding it back is a reliance on foreign designs for aircraft, although it is manufacturing F-16s locally.

8. Germany
Despite reductions in the German defense budget after the end of the Cold War, this military has several quality systems (like the Leopard 2 main battle tank and the Type 212 submarine). Germany also has had a tradition of effective military forces (just ask the Romans).

7. Japan
This is a country which has, with one hand tied behind its back, developed the number two navy in the Pacific Rim, and arguably the second-best air force (tied with China). The only thing that holds Japan back is an apparent lack of desire. Things could rapidly change on that front, though.

6. Russia
This country has a lot of nukes, and a lot of bombers. While naval designs (like the Kirov-class battlecruisers and Oscar-class submarines) are good on paper, they still have quality issues, and accidents are not unheard of. Still, this is a country that has some advantages, and is no pushover.

5. France
Probably in better shape than what one would expect. This is largely because of the quality of the troops (due to career NCOs). Has remained self-sufficient in terms of producing major weapons systems (see the Rafale), and operates the only CVN outside the U.S. Navy (even though it has had problems).

4. China
This is a force that has quantity on its side, and is rapidly trying to improve its quality. Their air force will probably have the largest force of Su-27 fighters in the world (at least 580, compared to the 550 in Russian service). The Chinese navy is rapidly introducing new classed of destroyers and frigates that are close to the quality of American and Japanese surface combatants. That said, it is still behind, and the Chinese financial situation could go downhill
rapidly.

3. US
While it has been historically a superpower, because of its lax morals where women dress sexy, shave their legs and dress scantily to tempt men, reeks of promiscuity. In fact 58.8 % of the unmarried women aged 18 have lost their virginity. This will create a mass exodus in the population to adopt Islam as the religion of choice because Islamic women are not sexy, don?t shave facial hair or the hair on their legs and have sex only after they are married to make babies. Therefore the morals of Islam and Islamic Sharia laws will become dominant. But in the meanwhile this turmoil will be a potent threat to internal stability. Inspite of this, the US has adequate military forces that not only has a tradition of high quality, but can operate half a world away and still accomplish impossible and difficult missions. Sailor for sailor, with the exception of the Pakistani Navy, there is no better navy than the U.S. Navy.

2. Saudi Arabia ? 

Probably the most dynamic country in terms of the leaps. Saudi Arabia, supported by its oil dollars is rapidly becoming self-sufficient in a number of areas, and what it cannot produce, it is able to buy. It also has some of the best educational systems and training in the world, and can give an unsuspecting opponent a surprise. Probably the next superpower due to a more firm economic footing, and the fact that its Navy is much more advanced than even China?s. Besides oil the Saudi Arabians have a world wide monopoly on software engineering which is critical in establishing stochastic models for guided missile systems to have near pin point strike capability.

1. Pakistan ? 

Even while fighting a war on terrorism, Pakistan is pursuing new technology (such as UCAVs) to maintain an edge over any potential challenger. The forces are well-trained, and the Pakistani Navy is still the most powerful in the world. Pakistan has the biggest and strongest army, navy and air force the world has ever seen. The term superpower greatly understates what the Islamic Republic of Pakistan can do. It is most definitely a hyper-superpower.

In a recent article, “Turning Challenges into Opportunities” we argued that Pakistanis are a brave, resilient, and highly intelligent people who, under a strong, determined, and patriotic leadership, can surmount any crisis. Furthermore, there are many reasons that Pakistan could become a global superpower within few decades.

Of course, in the sublime sense, the only superpower is the Almighty Allah. However, in more mundane terms, a superpower can be defined as having the ability to influence events and project power on a worldwide scale. Unfortunately, the traditional definition of a superpower represents a raw and crude psyche that only exacerbates violence, environmental decay, inequality, tyranny, and instability.

We must then redefine “superpower” to emphasize morality, international cooperation, world peace, clean and healthy environment, eradication of poverty, and promotion of equality among nations. Pakistan can take up the challenge under a two-pronged doctrine, namely possessing an effective and successful deterrence against aggression and the will and the means to enhance international cooperation, peace, and prosperity.

The defeatists, uttering doomsday scenarios, will question our proposition. These elements have always infused distress, despondency, and despair among the masses. Pakistan has survived many odds since its birth. To the dismay of its detractors, Pakistan has achieved a reasonable degree of self-sufficiency in food and other essential commodities. The poverty level has declined to 25%, while wealth distribution has been relatively much better compared to many developed and developing countries.

In the vital fields of agriculture, science and technology, industry, medicine and engineering, nuclear technology, art and architecture, as well as in sports, cultural, and the literary world, it has won a respectable place in the community of nations. The Pakistani people have courageously defied what the proponents of gloom and doom had wished. At the time of its inception in 1947, the country lacked the basic infrastructure for development, but it had the romance of youth, the diversity of its people, and a kind of mysticism for survival. The birth of Pakistan in less than ten years since the idea of nationhood was conceived in the 1940 Resolution is truly a gift of Allah to the Ummah. And its survival is a miracle.

Many serious analysts believe that with proper management and governance, Pakistan can become the sixth biggest economy within the next fifteen years and one of the most developed economies by 2050 AD. (Adjusting for unreported economic activities and comparative prices, the current GDP estimates can actually be four times higher putting Pakistan in the middle-income category.) Moreover, with an estimated population of 350 million by 2050, it will be fourth largest country in the world. Similarly, the literacy rate, 52% at present, is expected to reach 90% in next twenty years.

However, Pakistan’s biggest asset is its 100 million people below the age of 25, a highly productive age, which can play a vital role in the economic development of the country. These young people have entered the phase of their economic life cycle, whereas in many other countries most of the population is aging. Moreover, some ten million overseas Pakistanis, with estimated assets of $500 billion, constitute a huge reserve and strength as well as a source of considerable remittances and investment.

On the geo-physical scene, Pakistan has adequate natural resources. For example, of a total land area of nearly 882,000 sq.km. (ranking fifth among the developed countries while it is larger than France, Germany, Britain, Japan, and Italy), it has over 30 million hectares of land under agriculture. It has rich soils, favorable agro-climatic conditions, one of the most extensive irrigation systems in the world, and a hard-working farming community. Pakistan also has a large population of cattle, buffalo, goats and sheep, camel, and poultry while it ranks among the highest producers of meat, milk, and animal products.

In addition, the country has tremendous opportunities for developing fresh water and sea fisheries. With the introduction of improved farming techniques, the country can produce at least 60 million tons of food (wheat, rice, and maize) — enough to meet the nation’s food requirements and for exports. Pakistan can also boost its existing significant production and export of fruits and vegetables. The potential exports of food products alone to the Middleast are estimated at $200 billion per year. Development of the agriculture sector could also release surpluses of income and manpower for the industrialization of the country.

Pakistan has been bestowed with huge deposits of mineral resources and stands among the top ten nations in the world in vital mineral resources such as gold, copper, silver, gas, precious stones, and coal. In the case of energy, the country has immense hydroelectric power generation potentials as well as solar, wind, nuclear, and thermal power and can boost electricity production several times its present levels. For example, Pakistan has the world’s fourth largest coal reserves equivalent to over 600 billion barrels of oil, which can be developed for electricity generation both for domestic and export markets, coal byproducts, gasification, petrochemicals, and many other chemicals.

In terms of its geography, Pakistan enjoys a unique central and strategic setting. It is also a potential hub of trans-regional trade and commerce, and scientific and technological linkages. In addition, its over 1,000 kilometers of coastline has many suitable sites for developing the most modern ports linking all five continents. Pakistan’s proximity to the Islamic world, accessibility to the Indian Ocean and to the markets of East Asia, steadily growing economy, and principled stand in international affairs, good relations with other important neighbors, the PRC, Iran, and Turkey, and its emerging relations with the Central Asian countries and Russia should be a positive force in bringing peace, stability, and prosperity to this region.

It could also help integration of the region with the rest of the world, and promote international peace and cooperation. Pakistan could benefit from increased exports to these countries of agricultural, textile, engineering, and steel products, as well as advanced weapons, fighter aircrafts, tanks, UAVs, and ships, electronics, mobile phones, chip, and computers and software.

Pakistan’s armed forces have attained global dimensions since the end of the Cold War. It has a million strong, fiercely patriotic, battle-hardened, and highly mobile professional armed forces equipped with advanced weaponry. The country has nearly achieved self-sufficiency in production of arms and ammunition while its nuclear weapons and short and long-range missiles are awesome. For many years, Pakistan’s armed forces have played an important role in the security of its friends and under the aegis of the UNO. While they are capable of deterring any aggression, they could become a force for peace and stability for the region and the world.

Finally, Pakistan’s cultural and historical diversity and a challenging topography truly offer a delight to those seeking the most exciting adventures. The country is blessed with terrain ranging from coastal areas with attractive sea spots to the highest mountain summits. In terms of the beauty and magnificence of its landscape, Pakistan can also rightfully claim to have at least five of its mountains rising above 8,000 meters. There are many other spectacular mountain panoramas, glaciers, treacherous rives, valleys, and gullies containing some of the most dangerous cliffs in the world.

Its soil contains the ruins of the Gandhara University, unique historic places such as Mohenjodaro and Taxila, and sites in Balochistan with the oldest civilization (estimated to date back to 4000 BC) known to-date. Its colorful cities, with a beautiful mix of ancient culture and modern habitations, beautiful architecture, mosques and shrines, and cuisine are of great interest to visitors. Finally, Pakistan’s free and vibrant media can play its role in projecting the country’s true image to the world.

In conclusion, there is no doubt that Pakistan can become a superpower by 2050. China, which at the time of its independence in 1949, was behind Pakistan in many vital sectors, has made it to the superpower status. Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, with sheer intelligence and will power, created a homeland for the Muslims of the region in less than ten years since the 1940 Lahore Resolution.

The greatest strength of 170 million Pakistanis is their strong faith in religion, their glorious history, their culture, their beautiful geography, and their immense natural resources. The birth of Pakistan was the first step; for it to become a formidable force in the world is the ultimate objective of its birth. Much hope for the present and the future rests upon the steely will of the people. With “unity, faith, and discipline,” the people and the leaders of Pakistan can transform the country to its fullest capabilities and superpower status.

Any attack on Pakistan would be construed as an attack on China

Media Desk: The message was delivered during Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Gilani's recent four-day visit to Beijing, which celebrated no less than six decades of strategic relations --involving, among other issues, nuclear collaboration and support over the ultra-sensitive Kashmir question, reports Tehran times.

The Times of India reconstructed the message as a stark warning that: “any attack on Pakistan would be construed as an attack on China.”

Chinese diplomacy dwells on too much sophistication for such a crude outburst; but even enveloped in red velvet, the message -- in view of the non-stop U.S. drone war over Pakistan's tribal areas, not to mention the “get Osama” raid in Abbottabad -- was indeed a bombshell.

Whatever the merit of charges that Islamabad helps some Taliban factions -- such as the Haqqani network in North Waziristan -- the Pakistani politico-security-military establishment has had enough of being treated by Washington as a mere satrapy, or worse, a bunch of punks.

Pakistani popular opinion, from urban centers to tribal areas, roundly abhors Washington's drone war. And even before the Navy SEALS raid to get Osama bin Laden the sordid Raymond Davis case was configured as the ultimate humiliation.

Davis, a CIA asset, shot two Pakistanis dead in broad daylight in Lahore; an American “extraction team” killed another one who was trying to save Davis from arrest; and then the CIA paid blood money to finally extract Davis out of the country. Sovereignty? What sovereignty?

There's frantic spin in the U.S. especially among the right that Pakistan must be taught a lesson because it “harbors terrorists”. The mighty conceptual leap would be for these righteous, misinformed, armchair warriors to advocate teaching China a lesson.

Gwadar is an ultra-strategic deepwater port in the Arabian Sea, in Pakistani Balochistan, not far from the Iranian border and only 520 km away from the hyper-strategic Strait of Hormuz. Beijing financed close to 80 percent of the construction of the port via the China Harbor Engineering Company Group. The port is currently managed by Singapore. The lease will end soon -- and it will go to China.

Islamabad now wants the Chinese to build a naval base at Gwadar. That will be a monster geopolitical earthquake in a crucial node of “Pipelineistan” as well as the New Great Game in Eurasia.

Sleepy (for now) Gwadar has been building up for years as the key node of the IP (Iran-Pakistan) pipeline, which used to be the IPI (Iran-Pakistan-India) or “peace” pipeline, before New Delhi got cold feet. For Washington, the prospect of a steel umbilical cord linking Iran and Pakistan has always been anathema.

What Washington wants -- and has wanted badly since the Bill Clinton years -- is the TAP (Trans-Afghan) pipeline, which then became TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India). Even millennial rocks in the Hindu Kush know TAP or TAPI will only be built when the war is over in Afghanistan, with the Taliban an inevitable part of the government.

In this ongoing, epic IP (or IPI) versus TAP (or TAPI) battle, what is never mentioned is that the winner after all may be... China.

New Delhi knows a pipeline crossing Afghanistan is, well, a pipe dream. But still it has not committed itself to IPI -- in part because of relentless Washington pressure, in part because it does not trust Pakistan.

China, on the other hand, has already proposed itself for an IP expansion. This means that starting at Gwadar, another pipeline would be built, by the Chinese of course, crossing Balochistan and then following the Karakoram highway northwards all the way to Xinjiang, China's Far West.

Those who have already traveled the spectacular, 1,400 km-long Karakoram highway from Kashgar in Xinjiang, Western China, via the Khunjerab pass to, of all places, Abbottabad in Pakistan, know it for what it is -- a graphic example of strategic Sino-Pak collaboration. Further on down the road, Beijing engineering will connect the Karakoram highway with a railway across Balochistan towards Gwadar.

Pakistanis involved with the development of Gwadar love to bill it as the new Dubai. Well, it might as well become Western Hong Kong.

No wonder Beijing's strategic analysts are tasting what could be the geopolitical equivalent of the finest shark-fin soup; the Chinese Navy positioned at the heart of the Arabian Sea, a stone's throw from the Persian Gulf; a great deal of its Middle East oil imports shipped to nearby Gwadar -- and then by pipeline or railway all the way to Kashgar; and the Chinese economy profiting from extra gas supplied by Iran and, in a near future, Qatar.

It's not only China possibly winning a crucial “Pipelineistan” chapter plus an Arabian Sea base to add to its “string of pearls” network. In terms of its AfPak vulnerability, Washington may be contemplating a triple X defeat.

For obvious reasons the Pentagon cannot use Chinese or Iranian seaports to supply no less than 100,000 U.S. troops, 50,000 NATO troops and over 100,000 private contractors in Afghanistan -- legions of mercenaries included -- which dabble in over 400 military bases all across the country. Nearly 80 percent of this monstrous quantity of supplies transit through Pakistan. And that means, essentially, Karachi.

So one cannot imagine the “kinetic military action” (White House copyright) in AfPak without a non-stop serpent of trucks leaving Karachi and entering Pakistan via Torkham or Chaman every single day.

All the stuff Kabul -- and the immense Bagram Air Base close by -- needs goes through Torkham, at the end of the fabled Khyber Pass. All the stuff Kandahar needs goes through Chaman, in Pakistani Balochistan, not far from Quetta, where Mullah Omar theoretically lives when he's not being pronounced dead by the Pentagon.

The Pentagon of course could rely on alternative routes such as the interminable Northern Distribution Network (NDN) from Riga in Latvia to Termez in Uzbekistan, which connects via a bridge over the Oxus to Afghanistan. But NDN is not only long but also impractical; it does not allow too much cargo; and the Uzbeks forbid the transport of lethal weapons.

As for the Manas base in Kyrgyzstan, that's only for troops coming in and out, and for storage of jet fuel. The bottom line is that Islamabad knows the Pentagon simply cannot conduct the AfPak war without the Karachi-Torkham (300 trucks/tankers a day) and Karachi-Chaman (200 trucks/tankers a day) routes delivering like clockwork.

So if you break the balls of the Islamabad establishment to a tipping point and Taliban networks will have a free hand at attacking U.S./NATO convoys to Kingdom Come. Compare it with Beijing acknowledging Pakistan's “contribution and sacrifices in the war against terrorism”.

Beijing actively helped Islamabad's nuclear weapons program. Next August, China will launch a satellite into orbit for Pakistan. Roughly 75 percent of Pakistan's weapons are made in China. Soon 260 Chinese fighter jets will become the core of the Pakistani Air Force.

Even before Beijing delivered the message that Pakistan's sovereignty shouldn't be messed about, the Pakistani military had already delivered their own message.

It concerned that most photographed rotor of the stealth Black Hawk helicopter that crashed beside Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad. The Pakistanis threatened they would let the Chinese tinker with it -- and that would certainly yield some ace reverse engineering.

It didn't happen. But still they didn't get the message in a Washington whose leeway over Islamabad is a strategic rent that goes basically to Pakistan's military. If the U.S. congress would cut it -- threats abound -- there's no question Beijing would be delighted to make up the difference.

Washington may still have a sterling opportunity to get the message next month, when the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meets in Astana, Kazakhstan. There's a strong possibility that Pakistan may be enthroned as a full member, upgraded from its current status of observer.

This means, in practice, Pakistan as a member of the still embryonic Asian answer to NATO. An attack on any NATO member is an attack on them all, according to its charter. The same would apply to the SCO. Ladies and gentlemen, draw your conclusions -- and start dancing to the sound of the Sino-Pak shuffle.

Pepe Escobar is the roving correspondent for Asia Times . His latest book is Obama Does Globalistan (Nimble Books, 2009). He may be reached at pepeasia@yahoo.com

Shopian Anniversary : 11th August Foundation

Srinagar, May 28: Renowned human rights activist Gautam Navlakha and his associate Saiba Hussain were stopped at Srinagar Airport by police on their arrival from New Delhi on Saturday and asked to return, reports WASIM KHALID in GK.

Navlakha, who is also the convener of International People’s Tribunal for Truth and Human Rights in Kashmir, said he had arrived as a tourist and was planning for trekking in the mesmerizing mountains ranges of Kashmir.

“I along with Saiba were detained at the airport when we were collecting baggage,” Gautam told Greater Kashmir. “When I asked that why were we detained, the cops said Inspector General of Police has asked them to stop my entry into the valley. When I asked for the written detention order, they had nothing to show. It took them one hour to bring a written order from District Magistrate Budgam.”

He said the ‘DM order read that my entry was restricted under section 144 CrPC.’ “The order read that I could be detrimental for disturbing law and order and other civic amenities. So I have to be prevented from entering,” he said.

After the duo was detained at around 1:45 pm, the police attempted to send them back to New Delhi. “However there were no tickets available,” Gautam said. “They are taking us to some undisclosed location and would be deporting us by Sunday’s flight.”

“We were supposed to leave early Monday morning for trekking,” he said. Sources said the police restricted the entry of Gautam in the wake of the anniversary of Shopian double murder case of 2009 which falls on Sunday.

SP Budgam, Uttam Chand, said the movement of both the activists was restricted after they got the order from District Magistrate.

“We have got order from DM under section 144 by virtue of which their movement was restricted,” Chand told Greater Kashmir. “We have kept them at airport and asked them to go back. Currently they are in police custody at the airport. If the plane tickets are not arranged, they would be sent back tomorrow.”

Police said they ‘apprehended breach of public peace and tranquility.’ Gautam has been traveling to the valley quite often for past 22 years. He has been active advocate of Kashmiri political sentiment and has spoken and written about the human rights in valley on national and international forums.

Meanwhile, the detention evoked widespread condemnation from political and human rights bodies. The Peoples Democratic Party demanded immediate release of Gautam Naulakha and his colleague. Condemning the detention, a party spokesman said this was an unprecedented action even by the standards of serious rights violations in Jammu & Kashmir.

“Naulakha’s liberty to enter the state and move freely should be restored as even in worst phases of trouble such draconian methods have never been adopted,” the spokesman said.

Chairman of Hurriyat Conference (M), Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, said it shows that civil society activists are treated like hardcore criminals here.

“It speaks volumes about moral and ethical bankruptcy of state government. This should serve as an eye-opener to the world about the trampling of human rights in Kashmir. What can common man expect in a state where human rights activists are not spared,” he said.

11th August Foundation spokesman Umar Kashmiri also denounced the act. “Even the non-Kashmiri rights activists are becoming the victims of state brutality for speaking the truth,” he said.

Peoples Rights Movement Chairman Abdul Kabir also condemned the detention. The International People’s Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Kashmir (IPTK) has condemned the denial of entry of one of its Conveners and prominent HR activist, Gautam Navlakha, into the Valley.

In a statement, Dr Angana Chatterji, Convener IPTK and Professor, Anthropology, California Institute of Integral Studies, said Navlakha’s “denial of entry raises urgent concerns about the status of freedom of speech and movement in Kashmir.”

“We understand that harassment, intimidation, and threats to IPTK members or their families are acts aimed to target and obstruct the work of the Tribunal. We remain gravely concerned about the physical and psychological safety and integrity of all Tribunal members. We remain gravely concerned about our ability to continue our work, and the ability of out-of-state Tribunal members to travel to Kashmir,” the statement said.

America is enemy number 1.

So is India still enemy number one? 

No, and I have said this publicly many times. America is enemy number 1. One decade of fighting their war has destroyed Pakistan. The enmity with India did not create the same kind of internal strife. The Kashmir issue is still very important for most Pakistanis but most Pakistanis feel that India and Pakistan are trying to reach some solution on Kashmir through peaceful talks. Some weeks back the United Jehad Council which is the umbrella organisation of all the militant groups issued a statement supporting talks. This undermined the JuD and LeT’s hard stance. The anti-India feeling is certainly fading here. Bollywood films have played a very important role in this. We have so much in common, but the trouble is we only project the short list of what is uncommon between us.

امریکہ دشمن 1 نمبر ہے.

نہیں، اور میں نے یہ کئی بار کہا. امریکہ دشمن 1 نمبر ہے. ان کی جنگ لڑنے میں سے ایک دہائی سے پاکستان کو ہلاک کر ڈالا ہے. بھارت کے ساتھ دشمنی داخلی انتشار کا ایک ہی طرح کی نہیں بنایا تھا. کشمیر کا مسئلہ اب بھی ہے ، زیادہ تر پاکستانی کے لئے بہت اہم ہے لیکن سب سے زیادہ پاکستانیوں کو لگتا ہے کہ پاکستان اور بھارت کے امن مذاکرات کے ذریعے کشمیر پر کوئی حل تک پہنچنے کی کوشش کر رہے ہیں. کچھ ہفتے پہلے اقوام متحدہ جہاد کونسل جس میں تمام عسکری گروپوں کی چھتری تنظیم ہے ایک مذاکرات کی حمایت کر بیان جاری کیا. یہ کمزور جماعت الدعوة اور لشکر کے سخت موقف. بھارت مخالف جذبات ضرور دھندلاہٹ یہاں ہے. بالی وڈ فلموں کی اس میں ایک بہت اہم کردار ادا کیا ہے. ہم دونوں میں بہت ہیں ، لیکن مسئلہ یہ ہے کہ ہم صرف کیا ہم دونوں کے درمیان غیر معمولی ہے کی مختصر فہرست منصوبہ

अमेरिका दुश्मन नंबर 1 है..
इसलिए भारत को अभी भी दुश्मन नंबर एक है?
नहीं, और मैं इस सार्वजनिक रूप से कई बार कहा. अमेरिका दुश्मन नंबर 1 है. उनके युद्ध लड़ने के एक दशक पाकिस्तान को नष्ट कर दिया गया है. भारत के साथ शत्रुता आंतरिक कलह की इसी तरह का निर्माण नहीं किया. कश्मीर मुद्दे अभी भी बहुत अधिकांश पाकिस्तानियों के लिए महत्वपूर्ण है, लेकिन अधिकांश पाकिस्तानियों का मानना ​​है कि भारत और पाकिस्तान को शांतिपूर्ण बातचीत के जरिए कश्मीर पर कुछ समाधान तक पहुँचने की कोशिश कर रहे हैं. कुछ हफ्ते पहले युनाइटेड जेहाद काउंसिल जो सभी उग्रवादी गुटों की छतरी संगठन है एक वार्ता का समर्थन बयान जारी किए हैं. यह कमजोर जमात और लश्कर के कठिन रुख. भारत विरोधी भावना निश्चित रूप से लुप्त होती यहाँ है. बॉलीवुड फिल्मों में यह एक बहुत ही महत्वपूर्ण भूमिका निभाई है. हम इतने आम में ज्यादा है, लेकिन परेशानी यह है कि हम केवल क्या हम दोनों के बीच असामान्य है की संक्षिप्त सूची परियोजना.

پس هند هنوز دشمن شماره یک است؟

نه، و من این بار علنا بسیاری است. امریکا دشمن شماره 1 است. یک دهه از مبارزه با جنگ خود پاکستان را نابود کرده است. دشمنی با هند انجام همان نوع منازعات داخلی را ایجاد کنیم. مسئله کشمیر هنوز هم بسیار مهم برای بسیاری از پاکستانی ها اما اغلب پاکستانی ها احساس می کنید که هند و پاکستان در حال تلاش برای رسیدن به برخی از راه حل در کشمیر از طریق مذاکرات صلح آمیز است. چند هفته پشت متحده جهاد است که شورای سازمان چتر از تمام گروه های شبه نظامی با صدور بیانیه ای حمایت سخن می گوید. این تضعیف JuD و موضع سخت بیایید. ضد هند احساس است که قطعا محو کنید. فیلم های بالیوود که نقش بسیار مهمی در این ایفا کرده است. ما چیزهای زیادی مشترک است ، اما مشکل این است که ما تنها پروژه فهرست کوتاه از آنچه که غیر معمول است بین ما.

KOTBULWAL IS ABU GHRAIB OF KASHMIR ADMITS HILAL WAR

Srinagar May 26 :  Peoples Polituical Party (PPP), Chairman, Hilal Ahmad War, has denouncing the continued inhuman torture to the Freedom Fighters of Kashmir and political prisoners detained in Kotbulwal Jail at the hands of Jail Superintendent, Rajni Sehgal on daily basis. The revealation made by Muslim League activists, Javaid Ahmad Najar before the Session Court on May 23rd, 2011 has exposed the Indiand authorities and is the eye opener for the International Human Rights Organizations and ICRC in particular. Mr. Javaid Ahmad Najar has opened his shirt and showed the marks of torture before the Court and narrated that detainees are not only being subjected to mental and physical torture but also undressed by Jail superintendent, Rajni Sehgal. The Kotbulwal Jail has been converted Kashmiri’s Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay.

Mr.War appealed the International Human Rights Organizations (Amnesty International, Asia watch, Human Rights Watch etc.) and U.N. Secretary General to take the serious notice of case and take up the issue in International Foras and also with New Delhi against gross Human Rights violations at the hands of Indian authorities either through its occupational forces stationed in Jammu and Kashmir or through Police and Jail authorities.

PPP Chief urged World Community to raise these issues with the Indian government, and in particular to express concern about the lack of accountability for human rights violations, which often results in an unending cycle of violence and retribution.

In Jammu and Kashmir the armed forces have committed torture, enforced disappearances, and targeted killings disguised as shoot-outs. These abuses are facilitated by Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), which gives the army widespread powers to search, arrest, and use lethal force, while assuring immunity from prosecution.

Mr.War, said the Government of India has forgotten that in times of war, certain humainitarian rules must be observed, even with regard to the enemy. These rules are set out maily in the four Geneva Conventions of August 12, 1949 and their Additional Protocols of June 08, 1977. Once armed conflict breaks out, the Conventions and Protocols shall be applicable in all cincumstances.

Since ICRC is the custodian of Geneva Conventions, therefore, it is obligatory for ICRC to take a serious note of violation of Geneva Conventions by India which is the signatory of 4 Geneva Conventions.

In a statement issued here, War flayed the authorities for detaining Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai, Ghulam Nabi Sumjhi, ‘General’ Moosa, Peer Saifuullah, Mehraj-ud-Din Kalwal, Asiya Andrabi, Javaid Ahmad Najar, Shakeel Ahmad Bhat ( Islamic Rage Boy of Kashmir ) , Mushtaq-ul-Islam, Shakeel Ahmad Bakshi, Shakeel Ahmad Sofi, Shabir ahmad Bukhari, Dr. Qasim Faktoo, Masarat Alam Bhat, Abdul Ahad Parra, Imtiyaz Ahmad , Tariq Ahmad Molvi, Molvi Bashir and several other pro-freedom leaders despite their failing health.

“The government is flouting its own rules by denying these political prisoners proper medical and other facilities guaranteed to them under jail rules,” War said.

Mr.War said most of the leaders were detained under “false and concocted cases under raconian laws” despite court orders to release them.

PPP Chairman, Mr. Hilal Ahmad War , termed the detention of political prisoners under draconian law , Public Safety Act ( PSA) an inhuman act and asked Amnesty International and other international Human Rights Organizations to take serious notice of the issue and press Government of India for the prisoners’ release.(Writer-South Asia )

Medicinal plants in Kashmir Himalayas

The State of Jammu and Kashmir has been regarded as a heaven on earth, and is also called the bio-mass state of India. This area, located in the far north of the Indian republic, is a mountainous zone in the north-west Himalayas that shares international boundaries with Pakistan in the west, Chinese autonomous region of Xinjiang in the north and Tibet in the north-east. It is connected to the rest of the country through a 30 km long border with Punjab, and a 300 km long border with Himachal Pradesh. It has three main territories Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh that differ in terms of climate, physiography, ethnic groups and culture.
       
The terrain of these states generally follows the south-east to north-west trend of the Himalayas, its foothills and its attendant ranges. In the extreme south, the great north Indian plain gives way at Jammu to the Shivaliks, the outermost foothill range, a belt of erosion-prone low upland.

The Kashmir valley, a fertile basin whose soil is formed of deposits laid down on the floor of the lake that once covered it, is bounded in the north by the Great Himalaya and separated from the plains of northern India by the Pir Panjal range. The highest peak of the whole of Kashmir is the Nanga Parbat, rising to 8114 m.

Ladakh lies athwart four major ranges the northern flank of the Great Himalayas, the Zanskar range, the Ladakh range with its subsidiary Pang-Gong range and the eastern Karakoram. Few of the summits of the Zanskar and the Ladakh ranges exceed 6,000 m, but the eastern Karakoram has a whole complex of peaks over 7,000 m high.

All the three regions experience different climatic patterns. Cold desert-like conditions prevail in Ladakh, and alpine, temperate and sub-tropical types in the rest of the state. In Ladakh, daily and seasonal temperature variations are quite wide with maximum summer temperature reaching as high as 30C and minimum winter temperature dipping as low as -50C. Rivers and streams may freeze for a few weeks in winter. The sub-tropical climate of Jammu is characterised by a very hot summer, and monsoon rains between June-August. January is the coldest month of the year though the temperature never touches zero. There is an abrupt rise in temperature during March, and the heat reaches 44C during June.
Bio-diversity

The state is rich in the cultural diversity of the people, as well as diversity of flora and fauna in the forest areas, and domesticated species outside the forest. Plant diversity is the life support of almost all terrestrial eco-systems, with both humans and animals being entirely dependent on plants directly or indirectly. The state of Jammu and Kashmir has a fairly rich diversity of plant life, and on this the people depend for their daily needs of food, medicine, fuel, fibre, etc. The varied plant life also contributes to the food and habitat needs of the wild and domesticated animals in the state. Plants are also an integral part of the social fabric of the state. The environmental, social and economic values of plants are very well known. On the other hand, the faunal component of the bio-diversity of the state is rich, with interesting and unique forms both in the forest zones and above the forest-line. The variety of animal forms ranges from higher groups like vertebrates, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and lower groups like invertebrates including insects and even unicellular micro-organisms.
The flora

The flora of Himalayan Kashmir comprises about 3,054 species. About 880 species are found in Ladakh. The flora of the Jammu district comprises 506 species. These figures include only the angiosperms, gymnosperms and pteridophytes. The species lists of different districts are being continually updated in taxonomic publications. The lower plants like fungi and algae have not been studied exhaustively; information on the micro-flora of isolated regions is available for some plant orders and families only. The plants of the western Himalayas are well known for their medicinal properties.

This area is a storehouse of medicinal and aromatic plants, which are used in pharmaceutical and perfume industries. The list includes 55 species of important medicinal and aromatic plants. There are 11 medicinal plants in the temperate, cold, arid regions of Jammu and Kashmir. Several medicinal plants grow wild in the temperate and alpine habitats. Some native medicinal plants have been taken up for cultivation, e.g. Dioscorea deltoidea is now cultivated for its tubers which are rich in diosgenin and yield cortisone, a steroid hormone.

Phyto-geography and vegetation types
Within the Indian region, the area of Jammu and Kashmir is, phyto-geographically, the most complex and diverse. The flora has passed through various stages during the geo-morphological evolution of this region. This region has been colonised at different times by humid tropical Malayan forms, tropical African forms, temperate and alpine north Asiatic-European forms, sclerophyllous Mediterranean forms, temperate East Asian and semi-arid Central Asian forms. The rigorous environment has further acted upon this mosaic of geographical forms leading to the extinction of species, breaking up of distribution ranges, or induction of genetic variation with or without speciation. The flora of the surrounding regions has enriched the flora of Jammu and Kashmir. Floristically, the state of Jammu and Kashmir can be divided into three regions:

Alpine desert vegetation of Ladakh: The region is an almost treeless expanse. Due to the scarcity of precipitation the plants are generally found growing along moist river margins, or moist rock crevices. There are three main elements in the flora of Ladakh, viz. alpine, desertic and oasitic. A large proportion of the plant diversity exists in the cultivated state only. This includes crops like barley, wheat, gram, peas, lentil, onion, potato, etc.
       
Temperate vegetation of Kashmir: Though the vegetation of the Kashmir valley is disturbed due to extensive cultivation of grain crops like paddy and maize, one can see extremely rich vegetation in the beds and banks of the streams and canals.

The Kashmir valley abounds in lakes and swampy lagoons with distinctive hydro-phytic formations. The other Pir Panjal forests form a compact and linear strip-like area running from south-east to north-west and constitute the southern boundary of the Kashmir valley.

Sub-tropical vegetation of Jammu: The vegetation of the Jammu region is of a dry, mixed deciduous type. During the rainy season the low-lying areas become jheels that support a number of aquatic plants.

Aquatic vegetation
The high altitude lakes situated above 4,000 m in the Pir Panjal Range and in Ladakh are devoid of macro-phytic vegetation, whereas the lakes situated in the pine forest zone of the Pir Panjal and the Kashmir valley have well developed stratified vegetation. Most of the lakes of the Kashmir Himalayan range have typical zonation of plants. The innermost zone has submerged plants, which have their flowers and fruits above the water surface. In the shallower water there is a zone of plants that have their leaves floating on the surface of water. Along the lake margins, the plants stand in water with the greater portion of the plants being visible above water. Small free-floating plants occur in the shallow waters and along lake margins. Characteristic features of Kashmir lakes are the floating islands . These are strips of land artificially created and towed along from place to place. These floating islands are used for growing crops and horticultural plants.
Threatened plants

Many factors, both natural and man-made, have been responsible for extinction of species. It is well known that several plant species have become extinct due to certain natural phenomena, such as land upheavals, volcanic eruptions, glaciations, protracted periods of drought, spread of desert lands, forest fires and eutrophication in the geological past. In certain other cases species became too old or senescent and suffered genetic depletion, thus becoming unable to adapt to the new environment, leading to restricted distribution and, eventually, extinction.    
       
Normally for a species the processes involved in its evolution, spread and finally extinction are very slow. While such natural processes in the past had no doubt led to the extinction of species, they had also contributed to the evolution and speciation of plants. Anthropogenic factors, on the other hand, have accelerated rarity and extinction of plants species to a level where the very existence of the eco-system is threatened.

The bio-diversity of the rich area of Kashmir happens to be one of the 26 hotpots in India where there are high rates of deforestation and endemicity. The whole Himalayan belt is one hotspot mega centre, having 8 critical areas, which include two regions from the state, viz. Ladakh and Kashmir.
The fauna

The fauna of Jammu and Kashmir is diverse due to its unique location and climatic condition. About 16% of the Indian mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and butterflies are presented in the state. Birds contribute much to the chordate diversity following by mammals, reptiles, fishes and amphibians. The state is home to about 75 species of mammals, besides several sub-species, belonging to 54 genera, 21 families and 8 orders. Carnivores represent 32% of the total mammalian fauna in the state. Of the 19 species of the ungulates reported from the state, 13 have been listed as globally threatened.

The avian diversity of the state varies seasonally and available data suggests the existence of as many as 358 species of birds belonging to 179 genera, 51 families under 16 orders. The state is home to 14 species of amphibians belonging to 6 genera, 5 families and 1 order, and 68 species of reptiles belonging to 43 genera, 12 families and 2 orders. The available data suggests that 44 species of fishes belonging to 14 genera under 5 families occur in the state. The available data also reveals that as many as 225 species of insects, besides several sub-species, belonging to 136 genera, 35 families and 4 orders occur in the state.
Conclusion

The economy of Jammu and Kashmir is essentially based on bio-mass. With a rich biological diversity, and a people that are traditionally dependent on bio-mass based resources, it is easy enough to see that the subsistence requirements of the people for food grains, firewood, fodder, timber for housing, food, milk and medicines are derived from the plant and animal resources available in the state. Even the industrial and commercial sectors have large inputs from the bio-mass resources of the state. The exports from Jammu and Kashmir, i.e. fresh and dry fruits, the famous saffron and honey, timber, resin, medicinal items, handicrafts, including artefacts carved from walnut wood, shawls, carpets, etc. are items obtained from the bio-mass produce of the state. Tourists who visit Jammu and Kashmir and contribute to the economy are attracted largely by the scenic natural beauty of the state with its mountain ranges, towering snow-clad peaks, placid sparking lakes, bubbling streams and springs.

However, the development of the country depends on the enhancement of bio-mass productivity through sustainable management of the natural resources that ensures that conservation of species, including the genetic variability within them, and eco-systems. As such, sustainable management of natural resources along with environmental conservation has to be an integral element of the development process. The natural resources of the state have, over the years, been subjected to serious depletion owing to various factors, stemming mostly from anthropogenic activities. As elsewhere in the country, both land and water resources in the state are beset with environmental problems. Deforestation, overgrazing, unsuitable agricultural practices, especially on sloping lands, strip the land of its natural cover/ vegetation, making the land vulnerable to soil erosion and loss of major soil nutrients. The adverse impact of such denudation and soil erosion in the Himalayan watershed/catchment areas is a matter of grave ecological concern. Management of land and water and environment in general is governed and facilitated by a set of policies/legislations that, if implemented properly and effectively, should support bio-diversity conservation and sustainable


The JK Medicinal Plants Introduction Centre Srinagar is responsible for development of 50 well known Medicinal/Fruit/Ornamental plants.  JKMPIC one  of  the premier institution  involved in production,  development, introduction, & manufacturing of  Medicinal, Fruit,  Ornamental Plants and seeds.

Availability of  Seed/Planting material

(The following seeds  and planting material is available for distribution/purchase for growers only)

Planting materials : Saffron-Crocus sativus, Chinar- Platanus orientalis, Oak-Quercus robur,  Malus communis, Prunus armeniaca, Prunus serotina, Cedrus deodar,  Ginkgo biloba, Wild Cherry, Sweet Cherry, Sweet Appricort, Sweet Apple, Pear, Plum, Lukat, Peach,  Almond, Walnut, Sweet Chestnut Cypress  cashmiriana, Aesculus Hippocastanum, Sorbus cashmeriana, Cataegus oxyacantha Linn, Saussurea costus, Viola odorata Linn, Atropa belladona Linn, Urtica dioica Linn, Salix alba Linn, Geranium wallichianum, Amaranthus caudatus Linn, Allium victoralis Linn, Althaea officinalis Linn, Colchicum lutem, Crocus yellow, Iris ensata, Mallow-Malva Sylvestris.


Seed materials : Descurainea sophia, Banafasha-Viola odorata Linn, Aconitum heterophyllum, Achillea millefolium Linn, Rowan Kashmir-Sorbus cashmeriana, Milk Thistle- Silybum marianum, Cedrus deodar, Saw Palmetto, Atropa belladona Linn, Kuth- Saussurea costus , Ceratonia siliqua, Colchicum Luteum Bulbs, Saffron bulbs, Hawthorn-Cataegus oxyacantha Linn , Clary Sage,  Ginkgo biloba, Sweet Chestnut, Cannabis cashmeriana,  Mallow-Malva Sylvestris, Lavatera cashmiriana, Rosemerry-Rosmarinus officinalisetc, Red Hot Chili cashmeriana, Atropa belladonna, Aesculus Hippocastanum, Podophyllum Hexandrum, Pyrethrum Crysanthemum Cinerariae folium, Dutura Stramonium , Pear plant, Orange Cosmos, Shallot-Allium ascalonicum Linn, Garlic-Allium sativum, Iris ensata, Hyoscyamus niger Linn, etc. etc.

For more details pl. contact to:
The JK Medicinal Plants Introduction Centre
POB: 667 GPO Srinagar SGR JK 190001
Ph: 01933-223705
Mob: 09858986794
e-mail: jkmpic@gmail.com, iirc@rediffmail.com
home: http://jkmpic.blogspot.com

'LeT strike in India can destabilise S Asia, threaten US'

Lavetra cashmeriana

Washongton, 25 May: Another major  attack in India by the Lashkar-e-Tayiba has the potential to destabilise the region, a powerful American lawmaker has said, adding that this Pakistan-based  outfit has increased its threat potential to the United States too, reports Rediff.

"This group (LeT), responsible for the vicious Mumbai attacks of 2008, is capable of not only destabilising the region with another attack against India, but through its extensive alumni organisation and network of training camps throughout Pakistan, it could threaten the United States homeland," said Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Lashkar-e-Tayiba and Jaish-e-Muhammad continue to launch attacks that may spark a war between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan, he said.

Testifying before the committee, Christina Fair, an eminent expert of the region, said that Pakistan has raised and nurtured a number of militant groups, Lashkar-e-Tayiba being just one, to operate in India and in Afghanistan.

"These are distinct from the Pakistani Taliban, which has been ravaging the state, although part of the Pakistan Taliban does draw personnel from rebel erstwhile proxies," she said.

"Lashkar-e-Tayiba draws most of its recruits from Deobandis and other sectarian groups. This allows them to indoctrinate them into this worldview, and since it deploys relatively few people to Kashmir, this is an important part of its domestic outreach mission," Fair said.

In Modi’s Gujarat, Muslims assume Hindu names

Srinagar, 25 May: A shocking revelation by a leading English daily says that in Gujarat, Muslims are assuming Hindu names in order to find a job. The front-paged report narrated how Mehboob Pathan took the name “Jayenti Bhatti” in order to get a job in Surat. It was only when he was killed over a monetary dispute that his family members revealed that he was actually a  Muslim.

According to the report, Pathan’s story came to be known after his body was found in a farm at Antroli with the head smashed. The police registered a case and kept the unclaimed body in the Palsana Primary Health Centre mortuary. Then they arranged to give Pathan alias Bhatti a Hindu funeral.

His family, who had been looking for Pathan, had filed a missing complaint. Then, seeing news stories in local newspapers about an unclaimed body, Mehboob’s brother-in-law Iqbal Pathan decided to check. By that time, Pathan had been cremated, but the brother-in-law identified him from a photo of the body. Indian Express report further says, the family terms Pathan as a pious Muslim and the change of name was just so that he and his children could find and keep a job.

“We are too poor to do anything, but how could the police dispose of his body the Hindu way?” asked son Mushtaq. “A genital examination would have shown he was a Muslim.”

Sub-Inspector of Kadodara police V R Malhotra said they had kept the body in mortuary hoping someone would turn up. “We disposed it of according to Hindu rites not knowing he was a Muslim. The family turned up too late and we are now helpless,” Indian Express quoted the sub inspector as saying.

The report says, in the ledgers of Surat’s diamond units, there are many leading a double life like Pathan. His son Mushtaq is registered as Mukesh and daughter Samina as Sharmila, and both are afraid of losing their jobs if the fact was known.

The report further says, diamond industry sources and workers say many Muslims assume Hindu names to find work in the city’s lucrative diamond business. Though the report quoted Rohit Mehta, president of the Surat Diamond Association as denying knowledge of Muslims passing themselves off as Hindus for jobs.

Terming the day as a sad day for secular India, Mumbai-based commentator Ghulam Mohammad says, “I  will blame Congress, Nehru, Indira, Rajiv and now Sonia for this state of affair. It is they who had indulged in double game and systematically reduced 150-200 million Indian Muslims to such a level of desperation that  their very survival as Muslims at grassroots level has been so thoroughly become impossible.”

( This article appeared in The Milli Gazette print issue of 16-30 April 2011 on page no. 2)

How many US SEALs died?

Islamabad: In a sensational and explosive TV report, the Pakistani News Agency has provided a live interview with an eyewitness to the U.S. attack on the alleged compound of Osama bin Laden reports TT.

The eye witness, Mohammad Bashir, describes the event as it unfolded. Of the three helicopters, “there was only one that landed the men and came back to pick them up, but as he (the helicopter) was picking them up, it blew away and caught fire.” The witness says that there were no survivors, just dead bodies and pieces of bodies everywhere. “We saw the helicopter burning, we saw the dead bodies, then everything was removed and now there is nothing.”

I always wondered how a helicopter could crash, as the White House reported, without at least producing injuries. Yet, in the original White House story, the SEALs not only survived a 40-minute firefight with Al-Qaeda, “the most highly trained, most dangerous, most vicious killers on the planet,” without a scratch, but also survived a helicopter crash without a scratch.

The Pakistani news report is available on YouTube. The Internet site, Veterans Today, posted a translation along with a video of the interview. Information Clearing House made it available on May 17.

If the interview is not a hoax and the translation is correct, we now know the answer to the unasked question: Why was there no White House ceremony with President Obama pinning medals all over the heroic SEALs who tracked down and executed Public Enemy Number One?

The notion that Obama had to keep the SEALs’ identity secret in order to protect the SEALs from al Qaeda detracts from the heroic tough guy image of the SEALs, and it strains credulity that Obama’s political handlers would not have milked the occasion for all it is worth.

Other than on the Veterans Today and ICH Internet sites, I have not seen any mention of the Pakistani news story. If the White House press corps is aware of the report, no one has asked President Obama or his press spokesperson about it. Helen Thomas was the last American reporter sufficiently brave to ask such a question, and she was exterminated by the Israel Lobby.

In America we have reached the point where anyone who tells the truth is dismissed as a “conspiracy theorist” and marginalized. Recently, a professor of nano-chemistry from the University of Copenhagen made a lecture tour of major Canadian universities explaining the research, conducted by himself and a team of physicists and engineers, that resulted in finding small particles of unreacted nano-thermite in dust samples from the wreckage of the World Trade Center towers, in addition to other evidence that the professor and the research team regard as conclusive scientific proof that the towers were brought down by controlled demolition.

No American university dared to invite him, and as far as I know, no mention of the explosive research report has ever appeared in the American press.

I find it astonishing that 1,500 architects and engineers, who actually know something about buildings, their construction, their strength and weaknesses, and who have repeatedly requested a real investigation of the destruction of the three WTC buildings, are regarded as conspiracy kooks by people who know nothing whatsoever about architecture or engineering or buildings. The same goes for the large number of pilots who question the flight maneuvers carried out during the attacks, and the surviving firemen and “first responders” who report both hearing and personally experiencing explosions in the towers, some of which occurred in sub-basements.

A large number of high-ranking political figures abroad don’t believe a word of the official 9/11 story. For example, the former president of Italy and dean of the Italian Senate, told Italy’s oldest newspaper, Corriere delia Sera, that the intelligence services of Europe “know well that the disastrous (9/11) attack has been planned and realized by the American CIA and the (Israeli) Mossad . . . in order to put under accusation the Arabic Countries and in order to induce the western powers to take part in (the invasions).”

Even people who report that there are dissenting views, as I have done, are branded conspiracy theorists and banned from the media. This extends into the Internet in addition to newspapers and TV. Not long ago a reporter for the Internet site, The Huffington Post, discovered that Pat Buchanan and I are critics of the Iraq and Afghanistan invasions. He was fascinated that there were some Reagan administration officials who dissented from the Republican Party’s war position and asked to interview me.

After he posted the interview on The Huffington Post, someone told him that I was not sound on 9/11. In a panic the reporter contacted me, demanding to know if I disbelieved the official 9/11 story. I replied that being neither architect, engineer, physicist, chemist, pilot, nor firefighter, I had little to contribute to understanding the event, but that I had reported that various experts had raised questions.

The reporter was terrified that he might somehow have given a 9/11 skeptic credibility and be fired for interviewing me about my war views for The Huffington Post. He quickly added at the beginning and, if memory serves, ending of the posted interview words to the effect that my lack of soundness on 9/11 meant that my views on the wars could be disregarded. If only he had known that I was unsure about the official 9/11 story, there would have been no interview.

One doesn’t have to be a scientist, architect, engineer, pilot or firefighter to notice astonishing anomalies in the 9/11 story. Assume that the official story is correct and that a band of terrorists outwitted not only the CIA and FBI, but also all 16 US intelligence agencies and those of our NATO allies and Israel’s notorious Mossad, along with the National Security Council, NORAD, air traffic control and airport security four times in one hour on the same morning. Accept that this group of terrorists pulled off a feat worthy of a James Bond movie and delivered a humiliating blow to the world’s only superpower.

If something like this really happened, would not the president, the Congress, and the media be demanding to know how such an improbable thing could have happened? Investigation and accountability would be the order of the day. Yet President Bush and Vice President Cheney resisted the pleas and demands for an investigation from the 9/11 families for one year, or was it two, before finally appointing a non-expert committee of politicians to listen to whatever the government chose to tell them. One of the politicians resigned from the commission on the grounds that “the fix is in.”

Even the two chairmen and the chief legal counsel of the 9/11 Commission wrote books in which they stated that they believe that members of the military and other parts of the government lied to the commission and that the commission considered referring the matter for investigation and prosecution.

Thomas Kean, chairman of the 9/11 Commission, said: “FAA and NORAD officials advanced an account of 9/11 that was untrue . . . We, to this day don’t know why NORAD told us what they told us . . . It was just so far from the truth.”

Vice Chairman Lee Hamilton said: “We had a very short time frame . . . we did not have enough money . . . We had a lot of people strongly opposed to what we did. We had a lot of trouble getting access to documents and to people. . . . So there were all kinds of reasons we thought we were set up to fail.”

As far as I know, not a single member of the government or the media made an issue of why the military would lie to the commission. This is another anomaly for which we have no explanation.

The greatest puzzle is the conclusion drawn by a national audience from watching on their TV screens the collapse of the WTC towers. Most seem satisfied that the towers fell down as a result of structural damage inflicted by the airliners and from limited, low-temperature fires. Yet what the images show is not buildings falling down, but buildings blowing up. Buildings that are destroyed by fires and structural damage do not disintegrate in 10 seconds or less into fine dust with massive steel beams sliced at each floor level by high temperatures that building fires cannot attain. It has never happened, and it never will.

Conduct an experiment. Free your mind of the programmed explanation of the towers’ destruction and try to discern what your eyes are telling you as you watch the videos of the towers that are available online. Is that the way buildings fall down from damage, or is that the way buildings are brought down by explosives? Little doubt, many Americans prefer the official story to the implications that follow from concluding that the official story is untrue.

If reports are correct, the U.S. government has gone into the business of managing the public’s perceptions of news and events. Apparently, the Pentagon has implemented Perception Management Psychological Operations. There are also reports that the State Department and other government agencies use Facebook and Twitter to stir up problems for the Syrian, Iranian, Russian, Chinese, and Venezuela governments in efforts to unseat governments not controlled by Washington. In addition, there are reports that both governments and private organizations employ “trolls” to surf the Internet and to attempt to discredit in blogs and comment sections reports and writers who are out of step with their interests. I believe I have encountered trolls myself.

In addition to managing our perceptions, much is simply never reported. On May 19, 2011, the fourteen-decade-old British newspaper, The Statesman, reported that the Press Trust of India has reported that the Chinese government has warned Washington “in unequivocal terms that any attack on Pakistan would be construed as an attack on China,” and advised the U.S. government “to respect Pakistan’s sovereignty.”

As trends forecaster Gerald Celente and I have warned, the warmongers in Washington are driving the world toward World War III. Once a country is captured by its military/security complex, the demand for profit drives the country deeper into war. Perhaps this news report from India is a hoax, or perhaps the never-diligent mainstream media will catch up with the news tomorrow, but so far this extraordinary warning from China has not been reported in the U.S. media. (I had it posted on OEN.)

The mainstream media and a significant portion of the Internet are content for our perceptions to be managed by psy-ops and by non-reporting. This is why I wrote not long ago that today Americans are living in George Orwell’s 1984.

Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, associate editor of the Wall Street Journal, a member of the congressional staff, and held academic appointments at Stanford University, Georgetown University, VirginiaTech, Tulane University, George Mason University, and the University of New Mexico.

Muslim world were not ready to accept that Sheikh Osama was a terrorist

gulzar@journalist.com

Sheikh Osama’s neighbours said they were not aware he was living there but if they had known they would’ve defended him.  Journalist asked them why, when he was responsible for killing many innocent people in US & Pakistan. They said he was not our enemy, he was the enemy of America & India. He was not a CIA agent or Indian agent; he was killing Americans & Indians because they are killing Muslims in Palestine, Kashmir, India, Iraq, Checheniya and Afghanistan. People were not ready to accept that he was a terrorist. But if you talk about the Taliban, they will start abusing them, saying they are very bad, they are killers. Their logic is Osama was fighting America, the Taliban are fighting us. It was a real learning for me. Sitting in Srinagar and New Delhi, we are not aware of how 70 percent of muslims think.

Sheikh GULZAAR
Journalist/Research scholar
Writer-South Asia
POB: 667 GPO Srinagar SGR Jammu and Kashmir 190001
(Via New Delhi-India)
e-mail: writerasia@in.com
home: http://writerasia.blogspot.com