A Decision to Regret

Binifer…..i say loyalties be damned when it comes to pringles….esp sour cream walay…:)

“countdowns almost up- saath din aur. You will pray for me? Please do. I need all the dua`s and good wishes I can grab :0)”

……here’s wishing you all the best, kiddo…

Minor embarrassment: Vajpayee cannot dial direct from his aircraft

He has to go through pilot and ATCs

BHAVNA VIJ

MOSCOW, NOVEMBER 6: ON his current three-nation tour, when Atal Behari Vajpayee, Prime Minister of India, a nuclear weapons power, is on board his aircraft, he cannot make a direct phone call to New Delhi—or for that matter anywhere.

For, Air India One, a 20-year-old Boeing 737-200, doesn’t have the facility now standard in all international aircraft, including Air India flights travelling to London, New York and Paris.

So as he travels between Moscow and Washington tomorrow on a 10 and a half hour flight, the only way Vajpayee will be able to send a message to New Delhi will be through the archaic ‘‘relay-messaging system’’, via the pilot.

bong-dongs #505 anyone who projects population growth beyond 5 years is speculating. as drucker says in a recent article in the economist, no one really understands what causes population growth rates to fluctuate - particularly for developed countries. So relax, maybe you wont have even more of us hated pakis to deal with in future.

Romair #407 Seriously (honestly) let me ask you: how is Giap any less of a general than Rommel? Giap had the French surrounded at dienbienphu back in 1954. He again emerged the victor after a decade long war with the US. Now let us see what Rommel did: Blitzkrieged past the maginot line in france - fine, good campaign (and he shares honors with guderian here i think). orderly retreat in north africa - fine, but retreat mind you, not victory. and disaster at normandy - was cutting his birthday cake (or his wife`s birthday cake in good olde deutschland while the allies did a beach party on normandy while nazi armor was held back since the germans thought the real party was going to on some other beach. Rommel cut a more dashing figure than Giap perhaps (and his son has been a fine, good humored mayor of stuttgart for many years, a good reflection on his dad). But if you want to hire a chap with a track record of winning his wars, go for that little guy Giap. end of sermon. thank you.

AeishA (and all other nicks, if you have more than one),

I apologized to you, but I do have a request to make. Please don`t drag the names of the ladies you mentioned into discussions that don`t directly relate to them. Even though we can`t see them here, there is an actual human being behind each nick. Some of these people are the best you and I will ever meet.

Hope you will consider.

Banjara Bhiyaa # 508

HAHAHA....Dada ji, I was feeling so down this whole afternoon. Tabiyat bahut kharab ho rahi thi, and I couldn`t get myself to do anything...but reading your ``Ka Ho Raju`` revived some of my spirits. Thanks. I did read your # 464 :)

Friend :)

nasah,

I know :( I felt a strong twinge of guilt the moment I clicked the send button. Big brother, the kid inside me sometimes takes over...

AeishA,

My apologies about that remark. I do understand the point you were making.

Regards.

Eklavya # 488

``If you cant take a big dick, go for a small one.``

Ka ho Raju,

Murahi kart hau.Bujari tau manai baa,ekari gariyan

maa dehau.Bahut piraay.Did you check out my 464?

Regards.

The content of my ideal military seems to have ruffled a few feathers. I am not quite sure why. Could it be because none of the Indian forces are included in it :-)

As I mentioned earlier, I am chosing from militaries, whose soldiers I have worked with, or have read about. And the Indian military does not fall into that category. So I cannot comment one way or the other on the fighting capabilities of the Indian soldiers.

But for the sake of family history, I will include Prithvi Raj Chauhan as an honarary corps commander, and other Rajputs as honorary soldiers in the ideal Army.

Layman

Why do you want this rubbish to continue? A transparent game of semantics is not show how clever you are but that this issue puts ordinaryily sane individuals, on the defensive.

Black is black - end of story.

Azad Kashmir is a mockery of the word, Azad.

Layman, is it really so important to continue to deny the truth? - Listen there are not 700,000 occupation troops in Azad Kashmir, there is no rebellion, no freedom struggle.

You are in denial.If not now, then 5 years, 10 years, 15 years from now, it has to go free, or else it is another series of violent struggles which will brutalize us all more than we already are. I don`t want to even think that we can be more brutalized or grow even more numb to bloodshed.

Finally someone hits on it!!!

``Pak population is currently estimated at 140 million. I read recently that its ANNUAL growth rate is 2.8 percent! Rounding it up to 3% and allowing for compounded growth, it means in thirty years Pak population will be 280 million by 2030``

It is exactly this coming population bulge in Pakistans that is the problem (look at the under 14 population). I encourage you to peruse through the UNDP Human Development Report for 2001. Let me give you some indicative figures (from the CIA wolrd factbook):

Pakistan:

Age structure:

0-14 years: 40.47% (male 30,131,400; female 28,391,891)

15-64 years: 55.42% (male 40,977,543; female 39,164,663)

65 years and over: 4.11% (male 2,918,872; female 3,032,270) (2001 est.)

Population growth rate: 2.11% (2001 est.)

Birth rate: 31.21 births/1,000 population (2001 est.)

Death rate: 9.26 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.)



India:

0-14 years: 33.12% (male 175,630,537; female 165,540,672)

15-64 years: 62.2% (male 331,790,850; female 308,902,864)

65 years and over: 4.68% (male 24,439,022; female 23,687,200) (2001 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.55% (2001 est.)

Birth rate: 24.28 births/1,000 population (2001 est.)

Death rate: 8.74 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.)

sherdil/Ferozek: I agree with pretty much everything both of you have stated on Afghanistan. I do not agree with the part about Benazir. I don`t think she is coming back. I do agree that if she does come back, Pakistan has had it. This has been proven twice, and does not need to be proven again. Of course, she does portray a liberal image in Sacramento. So maybe, Pakistan is alright if it is destroyed completely by a liberal image, as opposed to being destroyed partially by a religious image. I hope neither Qazi nor BB can come to power, but if these two were the only Pakistanis alive, I would chose Qazi.

Musharraf is too shrewd. He has outsmarted everyone, including the non-religious parties, the Indian govt., the international community, the Americans, the Taliban, the maulvis and his own Generals. This is an extremely rare quality in a General.

The average Pakistani still supports Musharraf. There has not even been a minor sign of mass movement against him. The only movements are from the actual party members of the religious parties, and from some of the party members of the PML. Until and unless, the average sidewalk shopowner joins in, nothing will happen. And those guys like Musharraf, as does most of the Pakistani intelligensia. Barring a few writers on Chowk (who like his policies, but hate him anyways because he is from the Army; perhaps he would be a better person, if he were the head of the Mazdoor-Kisaan ittehad), most Pakistanis are for him. Leaders cannot be removed by movements in which only party members and followers of political parties participate. They can only be removed by mass movements in which everyone participates.

The PPP, MQM, Tehrek-i-Insaaf, ANP, T. Istaqlal, Millat party have quitely or openly supported Musharraf`s policies. The MQM`s whole ethos is ethnicity. Musharraf is a muhajir and the MQM wants to see a Muhajir in power, even if he is from the Army. Also, their main competition in Karachi is Jamaat-i-Islami, so they will always go against the Jamaat,which is now openly against Musharraf.

The ANP does not want anymore influence from Taliban or any Afghan in NWFP. Peshawar, now I believe, no longer has a Pathan majority. It has an Afghani majority. The ANP does not want to lose their grip in NWFP to Afghanis.

The PPP wants to stay on the good side of Musharraf in the hope that it can get back into power, and bring back BB, and get Zardari out of jail.

The other parties just want to get into Pakistani politics, and feel Musharraf is the only one who can get rid of the religious right and the feudal left.

So most of the country, as well as most of the political parties, support him. The religious parties haven`t been able to do anything. Any rally under 100k in Pakistan is not worth considering. The Army hasn`t even had to come out. The religious party leaders are politicians after all, and they know the Army can put them in their place, if it wants. They will never challenge the Army.

This makes PPP the only wildcard, as you two have pointed out. The PPP (alongwith the PML) will win the next elections. There is no doubt about that. Pakistan has a 2/3 feudal National Assembly, and these are the only two parties with the big-shot feudals. Musharraf wanted TI to win, but he has accepted it as a fact that PPP and PML will win. He just wants to get rid of NS (which has been done), and BB (which will be done soon), and let some alternate leadership emerge to the top in these two parties. I cannot see any situation, under which BB will be allowed to be part of any govt., even though she will win hands down in Larkana. I think BB will cut a deal, and will leave for Saudi Arabia with Zardari, much like NS. Specially now, when Musharraf has become an international hero, and has the the backing of the US.

So the next govt. will be a combined govt. of PPP, PML, MQM, ANP (with a few members from Millat and TI), as usual. The only difference will be the top leaders of the three main parties will be completely new. And the NSC will be watching over their every move. If Pakistan can achieve this, and the judiciary can develop some testosterone for ten years (and Musharraf can remain the President), then with the massive aid and business opportunities now available to Pakistan internationally (and the future reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan) I think Pakistan will be a different place in a decade. For those who don`t believe me, look at where Pakistan was ten years ago, and look where it is now. And look where India was ten years ago economically, and look where it is now.

I think Musharraf is a very patriotic and honest person. And no patriotic and honest Pakistani is going to allow BB back in to rob the house. Added to this he is more powerful and popular than BB, at the moment. She herself admitted yesterday on CNN that she created the Taliban. I believe the phrase she used was, ``mother of the Taliban.`` The Swiss courts are about to hand over info on her financial dealings through fake companies in Virgin Islands, with accounts in Switzerland. So she is under a lot of pressure. I think she will cut a deal now.

Fuzair #487 Lack of innovative thinking is a problem (thankfully) not just for the Pakistan Army but for their buddies across the border. And the problem is not just in the army, it is a basic social condition that only those people who are exposed to the dynamic american culture start to appreciate. Change will take place, and I think will result from a number of factors (a) realization that one can think for oneself - this can happen for some people through immersion of in american culture whereby they realize this simple fact through osmosis, or it can happen through conscious changes in the education system in Pakistan, and (b) economic well-being whereby one is not forced to chose work that generates cash flow and can therefore invest in innovative work. These things will happen, but at a glacial pace.

sherdil #491 Further to my post below, on the question of pathan toughness: Agreed they are a tough people. However, so far all this has proved to be mere talk in today`s realities, as anyone following developments in Afghanistan can tell, with the fabled taliban fighters proving to be basically fish in a bucket when it comes to taking on a modern military. And the taliban do not represent the enlightened, educated pathans in any case, or even the average pathans (who have been leaving Afghanistan in the millions ever sonce the taliban took over). I think their days are numbered in any case at this stage.

Eklavya to AeishA #488

My dear friend Eklavya, how could you -- but then again -- with an ``irresistible`` line -- like her`s -- AeishA asked for it.

sherdil #491 Thanks for your ``letter from peshawar``. BB (from dubai) and Imran Khan (islamabad) were on Larry King Live (cnn`s talk show) last night. They were said sensible things, and I am glad that at this time of crisis Pakistanis are pulling together. IK did mention that the taliban were created in BB`s time. BB, who is very clever in such things, responded that in fact she was known as the mother of the talibans. But that the talibans she mothered were not the bad guys we see today and were in fact quite reasonable. This wasnt too convincing, but she did do a good job of rolling with the punches.

If only she had been as wise as she is clever..and as concerned about Pakistan as she is about herself. I hope that she is never again allowed to be anything more than Citizen BB in Pakistan. And that too after she has shown her respect for the law in Pakistan by surrendering to the court order for her arrest.

nasah #489 ``It was about time. Lock him up and throw the keys in the Chenab.``

Agreed. I think the mullahs have exposed themselves to be paper tigers in Pakistan. A few months ago, a few shouts from a mullah in some boondock in Pakistan would have the generals scurrying over to calm him down. Not any more. Now they go behind bars.