In Honor of the Heroes of Swat

bittersweetmojo:

Its not a dream, pushtoons from both side of the durand line are suffering at the hands of the Taliban and the Pakistan Army.

The slogan of a united pushtoon resistance would be even stronger now that pro-pakistan nationalists as represented by the ANP have created great disenchantment among its die hard supporters. The formation of various lashkars is another sign and their grievences are both against Pakistan military as well as the Taliban. These then can be channelized if someone raised a unifying cry and for that ensured support from the US and India.

There's also a thing called Liberal Fanaticism. And that's what it is towing these days. A military solution. Count me out!

Its not liberal fasciscm its self defense, I am not advocating bulldozing mosques or leveling madrassahs. I am just saying that these people who are beheading innocent civilians can only be brow beaten into submission. They do not have any genuine demands that could be considered.

The recent abduction of Swat's DCO shows the manner in which these guys will conduct themselves in the future. Giving them the respect as a state would give to another state (in terms of negotitations) is certainly not the way to go about this problem.

Forgiving them the blood of all those that they have killed just for negotiating "peace" sends a very wrong signal to all the other crooks who want to make money out of suppressing others. These guys need to be made an example off or we are bound to see more episodes in the futures.

# 24

adam khan,

Am sorry brother for this late reply. My beloved Chowk staff stood amid for a long, long time.

Anyway. You wrote;

"The only solution of the Taliban problem is an armed solution,"

Well, I have learnt something today. There's also a thing called Liberal Fanaticism. And that's what it is towing these days. A military solution. Count me out!


"the Pushtoon would do it themselves but that solution might come at the cost of the federation."

Personally, I would welcome a indigenous rebellion within Pashtoons, with a clear insight of what they want. But doesn't that sound like a dream?

Cheers.
-E

Pension scheme for madrassa teachers

Staff Reporter

KOZHIKODE: Minister for Local Self Government Paloli Mohammed Kutty said that the government would form a Minorities Department.

Inaugurating a meeting to declare welfare pension for madrassa teachers here on Saturday, the Minister said that the government had in principle given the sanction to form the department. Minorities cells were formed in all districts prior to the formation of the department, he said.

Madrassa teachers will get Rs. 4,000 as pension per month after retirement. Teachers with a service of 10 years will be eligible for the pension.

There are 50,000 to one lakh madrassa teachers in the State.

The scholarship for Mulsim girls studying for professional courses will be enhanced to Rs 15,000. Five institutes would be started in the State for coaching Muslims in civil services examinations, he said.

The Minister also inaugurated the pension welfare fund office here on the occasion.

////////////////////////

As long as islam is dominated by a superior religion, the intepetations will remain humane. In the case of pakistan, as the dominant religion and its followers were eliminated by the TNT, there was no recourse, pakistan has to become a jihadi country. The book in itself is a very violent one, that is why it led to invasions all through the world. The book is simply a book of aggression, there is no culture in the book, there is concept of culture for any muslim countries.

Re: # 27
Dawa -il-dil mian,

I join you in celebrating the achievements of a paki.

Did you make sure that he is not an ahmadia, other wise tahmed of chowk will refer you to the isi.

By the way will you dare to make a similar post about abdus salam.

If you cannot, then you are simply another taliban trying to be humane.

Industrialists selling assets to repay loans
Seek cut in mark-up, clearance of R&D claims

Sunday, February 22, 2009
By Mansoor Ahmad

LAHORE: The government, instead of solving exporters’ problems, has made matters worse by failing to release promised research and development grant, reduce inflation and bank mark-up and has even withheld their small dues.

Exporters are dismayed because they are already under pressure due to global recession. Prices of their products have gone sharply down in the international market while cost of production has risen due to high inflation and bank mark-up.

“Banks are the foremost worry for those manufacturers who have serviced their loans by liquidating their assets during the past one year,� said All Pakistan Textile Mills Association former chairman Abid Farooq.

He said more than half the time of exporters was consumed in satisfying banks. Banks were more aggressive with those who had been making loan repayments on time for more than two decades.

/////////////////

Helping pakistan - advice from an indian.

There is no hope for pakistani exports to recover. Once the markets are lost, re-establishing them will require contacts and visits to pakistan. Most airlines have stopped their schedules, pakistan is an unsafe place, hence what is closed now is lost for ever.

So please, the exporters, se;\ll all of your assets now, get out of export business, and invest in land, buildings, weapons trade , crime.

These are the only ones that can survive in a tsunami of jihad.

Today it appeared in Daily Jang and we all are proud of being Pakistan !

http://www.jang.net/jm/2-21-2009/images/03_23.gif



Zeeshan Ahmed
Technical University of Vienna

Mr. Zeeshan Ahmed, 26 years old, have on record more than 24 years of education and more than 6 years of professional experience of working within different multinational organizations in the field of Computer Science with emphasis on software engineering of database, human computer interaction, distributed, MES / ERP and interactive complex systems, furthermore also have more than three years experience of teaching as lecturer and supervising research thesis to graduate and undergraduate students in different institutes and universities.

According to my interests, educational back ground and profession, I prefer working in Software Engineering (SE) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) domains, especially in Information engineering & Processing, Natural & Machine Language Processing, Product Life Cycle Management, Product Line Architectures, Measurement Analysis, Machine Learning, Multi Agent System (MAS), Intelligent Machine Interface Design, Semantic Modelling and Knowledge engineering.

Moreover I am the author of more than 70 International research publications as solo & first author, winner of more than 40 distinctions/awards/prizes and participant in more than 100 International research events.




University Distinctions


1.Completed PhD Course work with 100 Percent result (A Grade in all subjects).

2.Completed 4 Years PhD Course and Research Work in 1 year.

3.Completed MS Computer Science with Major Intelligent Software Systems 1.5 Years (3 Semesters) course work in 4 Months (1 Semester).

4.Completed MS Computer Science with Software Engineering 2 Years course work in 1 Year.

5.Completed BS Computer Science 4 Years (12 Semester) graduation program in 2.8 Years (8 Semesters).




Research Distinctions

1.Produced 67 international research papers & presentations as SOLO and First Author during PhD Research Work including International Conferences, Workshops, Journals and Seminars, (Pre-PhD Defense and 3 more expected as Near / Post-PhD Defense) , Vienna, Austria 2007-09



2.Produced highest research publications in Mechanical Engineering Informatics and Virtual Product Development Division (MIVP), Vienna University of Technology (TU Vienna), Vienna Austria as First Author in Year 2009
Engineering Informatics and Virtual Product Development Division (MIVP), Vienna University of Technology (TU Vienna), Vienna Austria as First Author in Year 2008

3.Produced highest research publications in Mechanical Engineering Informatics and Virtual Product Development Division (MIVP), Vienna University of Technology (TU Vienna), Vienna Austria as First Author in Year 2007




Intelligent Semantic Oriented Agent based Search (I-SOAS)

http://www.mivp.tuwien.ac.at/index.php/I-SOAS.html




Research of Zeeshan Ahmed

http://www.mivp.tuwien.ac.at/index.php/I-SOAS.html



Academic Achievements

http://zeeshanahmed.bravehost.com/achievements.html




Tec hnical Experience

http://zeeshanahmed.bravehost.com/achievements.html


Homepage



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When Gen Niazi and his army of 93,000 surrendered to Indian forces in Dhaka in December 1971, there were angry demonstrations from Karachi to Rawalpindi.

Public fury was directed at the military high command and Gen Yahya Khan for having led the nation to this humiliating defeat.

However, in the wake of another surrender, this time in Swat, there has been no outpouring of grief and anger; just a sullen acceptance of the inevitable. Clerics, barely able to contain their glee, sat across the table from the NWFP’s chief minister, Amir Haider Hoti, and beamed at the cameras.




///from dawn//////

At last some one else also is finding the similarity with 1971. The paki army knows only surrender. One should not forget that the surrender of 200 fully armed paki soldiers to taliban is another record for surrender by an army. Paki army has won the prize, both in 1971 and in 2008, the great surrender records for an army.

Post that criticise paki army is a sure fire way to be banned by chowk

Re: # 15
Congrats but there's an alternate way to this amusing TESTING!

:)

bittersweetmojo:

I understand your concerns and agree with most of them, if you dont want to compare it with the Cartoon crisis, then compare it with the empathy for the earth quake victims of 2005. The whole of Pakistan, especially Karachi went out of its way to reach out to the people in the northern areas. The catalyst of it all was media and also the ownership of the problem, politicians and the civil society everyone owned the problem and gave the solution. This lack of ownership in swat is the major problem.

If the army retreats then you are leaving the locals at the mercy of the Taliban. The key is to make the army fight the war like a war, and to make sure that they give up on the "strategic depth" policy that makes the Taliban relevant even at the cost of NWFP.

Pushtoons might be conservative but talibanism is way more conservative than Pushtoon norms, and clashes with pushtoon culture in more than one way. While Swat has always voted secular, Dir and Buner were strongholds of JI and JUI-F. But the fact is that in both these areas lashkars were raised to ward off the Taliban and so far their efforts have been very successful.

The Taliban in Swat is a rag tag bunch of around 2000 fighters, besides being small in number they have alienated the local population with their cruelty. This should not be a big problem for the 500,000 strong Pakistan army IF it is willing to take them on.

The only solution of the Taliban problem is an armed solution, the army might do it and save the federation, otherwise the Pushtoon would do it themselves but that solution might come at the cost of the federation.

Re: # 22

adam khan

I am on Pushtoon's side. Whose side are you, anyway?

Pushtoons had Taliiban roots in the form of Tableegi Jamaat and Maulana Fazlur Rehman. Same goes for Mohajirs, who happen to be conservatives with an outlook of liberalism. Remember this that fascism always prevails in a secluded conservative community, and that's what MQM plays on.
Anyway. This was beside the origional discussion, I was merely enlightening you on your bias.

Now, comparing Danish cartoons with SWAT is absolutely rubbish. Nobody was killed cuz of those cartoons. People here are stupid enough to come out on streets for that. And who came out btw? Not ordinary people. It was religous organisations like JI and others who protested against cartoons. Because their politics is centered around one slogan: Islam is under attack. But now they are all silent on Swat issue. Why?

Now you may ask me what I want. Well, frankly I want this operation to be stopped at once. I want peaceful negotiations without a dictating line/tone from Washington DC. And I want Pakistan Army to get this F out of FATA and provide them with basic infrastructure for development. And I know that this operation is providing impetus for pro-Taliban sentiments and a development-focused line is only way to tame them. And finally I want everybody on and off Chowk to get over this illusion that they are civilized people and Pushtoons are not. And I want them to mind their own business, serve their masters and let us (real)Pakistanis deal with our problems.

As far as Sharia implications are concerned, let's not forget that Pushtoons perform religous acts regularly and that they don't want a system, which is implemented in West. Let's not even try to teach anyone these neo-liberal values. Let's hear what the majority of these areas say on this issue. Let's find out what they want, instead of what WE want for them.

Good luck.


-E

bittersweetmojo:

I never defended the ANP, and their current rolling over to the Taliban in Swat is proof enough that they put ministries before principle.

Why most pushtoons want the operation stopped is becuase the army is in bed with the Taliban, and lobbing mortar shells on civilian areas only makes the taliban stronger. This is not because they want the army to stop killing Taliban, but they have given up on the army as a hope.

A handful of ordinary people, if out on streets, should be considered the voice of majority. You know why? because the rest are silent.
Now shut up!

do you have a brain in that head of yours? Why were the "rest" not silent on the issue of Danish cartoons? because they CARED. Right now because of this mumb attitude perpetrated by imbeciles such as yourself people are not informed about the way the army is not carrying out the operation. And the implementation of sharia is seen as something that the people in that area want. Which is completely incorrect.

If pushtoons were happy with the Taliban and wanted the Army operation stopped, then why are they picking up arms in Dir, Buner and Peshawar? Why this pre-emptive formation of lashkars if pushtoons are happy with the Taliban? ever thought about that?

Take a side and defend it, you are all over the place you moron.

adamkhan

"then there are our "friends" like mojo here who are happy with waving a few flags... i guess you have to be a victim of this onslaught to realize its intensity, very few pushtoons in Pakistan can say that they are not affected by the taliban issue in one way or another... The same sadly?/luckily? is not true for other ethnicities."


On this, I have nothing else to say but to throw a smile at you, dear. :)

If you really think that without other "ethnicities" support you can deal with Pimp Army and its onsluaght on Pushtoons and Baloch, I think you need to check your reason-faculty.

Besides, let me recall what your representatives did after May 12 in Karachi.
Oh yeah! They shook hands with MQM, and the 40 dead Pushtoons turned painfually in their graves as a result.
Sharam nahi aai tum logon ko tab!
I never forgave MQM for that, how could you?
-E

adam khan,

I agree with you on the point that it's a Pushtoon issue. I am totally against the operation, my love.

Let's see when Pushtoons hold their representatives responsible for this operation, as they had promised earlier during elections otherwise.

I am a Karachiite and I know that Pushtoons in Karachi are against this operation. So let's call a spade a spade, no?
-E

adamkhan,

Don't give me this crap. I know for sure why it was not given proper coverage. The News has a pro-Swat operation policy. Everybody in media, indlucing chaprasis, know Afzal Khan. We have OpEd articles on him, letters praising his determination.

Yet what media doesn't report is that we could never have a million people on streets for an issue. A handful of ordinary people, if out on streets, should be considered the voice of majority. You know why? because the rest are silent.
Now shut up!
-E

Tragedy of a nation,

Many pakis are ashamed that the paki leaders are taking orders from the US and others. The reason is simple, the pakis do not see the reality, they have no notion of truth.

Take the case of mumbai attack. Any one who dared to say that it is paki made were sacked, under the belief that if it can be denied, then the world will accept it.

Then came hallbrook and a call from obama, which took all of the pakis by surprise, the paki president announced that mumbai attack is paki made.

If only paki president has dared to tell the truth, this humiliation of the paki people would not have been perpetrated.

The same is the case with drone attacks, for a long time, from paki PM to president attcaked the yanks for the drone attacks. Now one sentence from a US senator, all this talk paki opposition has been turned into a lie.

The tragic fact is that in islamic societies there the emphasis is on following the book, and there is no concept of truth. A good example is the case of rape, there has to be four male witnesses. If there is only three, there is no punishment.

The islamic way of thinking do not raise teh question, well was she raped or not??

The notion of truth is not there in the book.

This concern for the judicial system in Swat should also extend to the deposed Chief Justice, to the Farah Dogars of this world as well. The insincerity and incompetence with which this issue is now being resolved will not solve anything in the long run. Will Maulana Fazlullah now redeem all his arms and ammunition to the government? Will a Sharia that is of Malauna Fazlullah's liking allow girls to go to school beyond the arbitrary cap of the fourth grade?

It's best summarized by what one reader wrote to me. He said, "Please we cannot take this anymore, from the savagery of the Taliban to the indifference of the government. Please use atom bombs on us, it will end our misery."

///from jang of today////////////

The poor man in swat is urging death to save him from his misery of what is known as pakistan. This is what I had been proposing, instead of atom bombs, it should be daisy cutters to drive the taliban to teh borders of india where they will be crushed.

The failure of that idiot, collin powel in not including pakistan in the B52 raids has caused this proble, At that time, from tora bora, the talibs should have been bombed all the way to india.

The world has never paid such a high price for a stupid phone call " if you are not with us, you are against us"

finally released after 8 days illegal detention by chowk staff

testing

bittersweetmojo:

Snap out of your slumber, a few people saying fcuk and suck does not make a difference. How many media outlets reported this? did you guys get talat hussain or hamid mir to ask you about why you are cussing at the military and the Taliban? Any detailed analysis of this public gathering on GEO or Aaj TV? to the media this problem is much lower than load sheddings in Faisal abad. Just go to pkpolitics, look up the archives and dig out how many shows about Swat can you find compared to the Chief Justice Issue and India.

We have LOST A PART OF OUR COUNTRY, do you even understand the frikking severity of the problem? and WHO THE FUCK CARED? how many pakistanis know who Afzal Khan lala is? that show throwing iraqi got a thousand time more coverage than this guy on OUR media? Why? Can you think of ANY good reason for this?

his information is not fragile, YOUR idea about the intensity of this problem is simply childish, its not about a happy go lucky gathering of a few hundred its about strikes that would halt the whole of Pakistan and make the politician take on the military. we are no more in a martial law, we cant expect the same results to a strike as we would in case musharaf was incharge. Our representatives are in charge and we are supposed to pressure them into making decisions that we want. Remember those danish cartoons and its aftermath? THATS THE LEVEL THAT IS REQUIRED HERE.

Shinwariya wrorra, core they wadaan, zra they rala yakh kro... right now the bigger impression down south is that this is a pushtoon issue and somehow related to pushtoon culture... The current pakistani opinion makers are too happy to substantiate that.

and then there are our "friends" like mojo here who are happy with waving a few flags... i guess you have to be a victim of this onslaught to realize its intensity, very few pushtoons in Pakistan can say that they are not affected by the taliban issue in one way or another... The same sadly?/luckily? is not true for other ethnicities.

I don't know when the ruling classes of Pakistan will realize that the secular, democratic and freedom loving Pashtuns are the true patriots of Pakistan.

Antagonizing them endlessly in favor of idiots and fundamentalists Islamists will only spell ruin to the state of Pakistan.

"We take part in emotional rallies in support of our Palestinian brethren in Gaza; showing our outrage at the world doing nothing against blatant Israeli aggression. However, did we stage one token protest, one rally, in support of our fellow citizens in Swat?"

Thanks for finally making that observation.

Re: # 9
shoab,

Then of course there ius teh second law of islamic virulaence.

"there can be no peace in a jihadic frontier".

In the frontiers between a muslim majority country and another country, there can be no peace. Indo pak, israel gaza, pahilippines mindenao, russia chechnia

Re: # 9

Thanks shoab,

Turkey is an exception, which proves the rule, further turkey is an religious state, secularism enforced with jihadic fervour.

Jayp,

It states that " the degree of virulence of islam is inversely proportional to its distance from mecca" .

That is why the jihadic strain came to swat first and not to karachi. That also explains why indonesia has the most tolerant islam.

I eagerly await the results of this theory with Turkey fed in as data.

Shoaib

At last some one is listening, reading chowk and seriously discussing the resizing of pakistan
//////////////

To all those who spoke at length to him, Holbrooke made it clear changes were on the cards. The Obama administration sees the Pak-Afghan region as central to its foreign policy. Some accounts say the President himself has been poring over maps and books on the region to find answers. For Islamabad, the question of what answers he comes up with will of course be crucial. In the longer term, with Washington clearly deeply impatient with the puppet regime of Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan, the possibility of carving out a new state of 'Pushtoonistan' is said to have been tabled. The ethnic, geographical and strategic implications of this are said to be under study.

////////from jang of today////////

Laws of islam

It is good that swat is teh first region in pakistan to bcome completely officially jihadic even though large parts of fata were.

This proves the first theory of islamic virulence.

It states that " the degree of virulence of islam is inversely proportional to its distance from mecca" .

That is why the jihadic strain came to swat first and not to karachi. That also explains why indonesia has the most tolerant islam.

Re: # 3

the story of a paki in the US going to pakiland and getting kidnapped is sad.

It is quite possible that the poor khan of the story read tahmeds post on chowk about the great time his family had in pakiland and decided to go.

The chowk should b sued for publishing such untruth.

The Peace Rally by Amn Tehreek on Jan 31st explicitly mentioned the Swat situation in its mobilisation campaign.

And this placard says it all:
http://www.peaceandsecularstudies.org/pictures/AmnTehreek31Jan2009/pages/A mn%20Tehreek%20Rally%20130a.html

Good article. Good to know that people on chowk are responding to the various crises surrounding us. Is there a link between the chowk community and activists out there on the streets?

why my post has been redflagged, Mr. (Ms. or Mrs.) Flagger?
Did my mention of 'Stop the Operation' get u by balls?

-E

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/17/nyregion/17swat.html?_r=1

Mr. Shinwari...timely article...to bring to light efforts of the few who would stand in the face of the demonic cult of the so-called Talibs to whose domineering brigandry even the govt succumbs...now they are meddling in other devilry by threatening artistes like Haroun Bacha, Gulzar Alam (singers) and Ismail Shahid (actors) and sundry others like them to quit performing their artisty...

Mr. Shinwari,

Your piece is part of a series of crap published on Chowk of late, I think. That's an opinion, so no offence meant.

And for your fragile information, a few days ago Swatis along with Pashtoons of Karachi and a handful of socialists staged a protest demonstration in Karachi. Their demands: Stop the Operation. Their condemnation: "Military suck, Taliban fcuk."

Get a sleep now, please.
-E