My Ruined Breakfast

boys, we will NOT talk about DRUGS on this board, OKAY?

ranaransher

chill sweetie..the taliban wont come get you, i promise

drumzie: i love you, you know that...give the fish and m tight huggie from me (happy bandar? id say thats enough ammo)

hoorpreetya: oye bae learn some manners first..whatever ka bacha...

but seriously, bohat maatha mulk hae tumn ka...rain and winds..my back and legs were jammmed the first 3 days...laikin what nice looking men..sachee, this gorgeous begger i saw on oxford street..he was so hot i gave him all my money.. woh thora bad scene hogya...and once we were coming back around 3 raat ko from leiscter square and i saw this huge sikh guy standing by a bus stop and i thought it may be you (bohat late tha..woozy i was) so i gave him the biggest, fattest smile ever...haiii harpreet woh tau ikdumnaj tunn hoa wa tha, smelled awful...he followed us all the way to the hotel grinning like an idiot...everyone was swearing at me throughout the ride and then later i was the butt of all jokes...(dont TOUCH that drumz)

everybody, heed scouts advice..dont add the child to your msn list..you may not live to regret the decision..

semi: are you there? rozaiba and i are meeting up in islamabad for dinner day after...come along if you can and want to :) we plan to go to this place called omar khayyam and there we will pretend to be enjoying all the persian er.. cuisine while what we really will be doing is maroing the table mats that have khayyams rubaiyaat crafted on them...we need more accomplices because i get the giggles when doing is tarah kee gaRbar...

RE: RanaRansher

yaar rana.. what made you revive the old nick? I thought you left chowk in protest a long time ago, only to join with a different nick. Stop messing with pakis ...

Welcome back!

l8r

ShubhChintak

re: ``I luv gunja/ third leg`` comments

Y`all too funny...truly Tahmed, what dating advice did you give Drumz? This I`ve got to hear...

The buck stops with Pakistan

By Ajay Darshan Behera

Recent developments do not augur well for the United States-led war against terrorism. Seven months into the war, it is becoming apparent that the Taliban and al-Qaeda are definitely not ``on the run``.

It is now revealed that they are reorganizing on the quiet in mountain hideouts in Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is also suspected that Osama bin Laden and his deputies and some important Taliban leaders may be holed up in the tribal areas of Pakistan`s North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

The resurgence of the Taliban and al-Qaeda and their increasing boldness in resorting to guerrilla tactics to re-engage US forces has come as a surprise to many. But it shouldn`t, as it was inevitable. The irony is that since the beginning of the war this inevitability has been overlooked.

One of the primary goals of the war on terrorism when it was launched last October was either the capture or extermination of bin Laden and the top al-Qaeda leadership. When the war was launched many strategic pundits predicted that the US would be locked in a fierce guerrilla war with the battle-hardened Taliban. But the script did not unfold in this manner. Having received a battering at the hands of US airpower the Taliban offered least resistance and conserved itself or what was left of it to fight on its own terms and conditions. Fortunately for them, the US`s tactics had no success in immobilizing their leadership and it quietly melted away.

If the leadership of the Taliban and al-Qaeda decided not to give up their fight and to prepare for a long guerrilla war, it was obvious that they would create bases for necessary logistical back-up. It was inevitable that these would be in desolate southern and eastern Afghanistan and the semi-autonomous Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in the NWFP, where the writ of the Pakistan government doesn`t run. Increasingly, there is evidence that they are organizing in the southeastern Afghan provinces of Khost, Paktia and Paktika. The bordering Waziristan Agency in the FATA could serve as the main supply line. It has to be remembered that this was the region that played an important role as a base in the guerrilla war that the Afghan mujahideen waged against Soviet forces.

Further, if there was any place outside Afghanistan where bin Laden would be welcome and receive hospitality it was in the tribal areas of the NWFP. The Pashtun code of honor - Pashtunwali - would not allow the tribals to betray a guest. One may recall the Taliban`s refusal to hand over bin Laden to the US on the grounds that he was their guest. Given the porous nature of the Durand Line that divides Afghanistan and Pakistan, which anyway the Pashtuns do not recognize, it was clear where the remnants and the leadership of the Taliban and al-Qaeda were headed.

But instead of taking determined measures to plug their exit routes, the US in its keenness on breaking the al-Qaeda network extended itself to the Philippines, Yemen and Georgia and neglected the backyard of its own area of operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan. As early as November last year there were reports that Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters were creeping into the tribal areas in Pakistan. This was vehemently contested by Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf, who, while deploying extra forces on the border, declared that no al-Qaeda would be allowed to enter Pakistan.

Nevertheless, there were consistent reports that a large number of survivors had managed to enter Pakistan with the complicity of serving and retired personnel of the Pakistani military-intelligence establishment, especially the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). On a number of occasions senior officials of the interim administration in Afghanistan had pointed out that the ISI and Islamic clerics had been giving safe haven to the Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters who were fleeing the US military offensives. All this fell on deaf ears as more faith was placed on the US`s most trusted ally, Musharraf, who had to be taken at his word that he was doing his best under severe limitations - in policing the borders and cracking down on the Pakistani jihadis domestically. Of course, increasingly, his efforts were being viewed with skepticism. Numerous reports in the US media recently seem to suggest that he has been playing a double game. However, what is interesting is that for every lapse or deliberate act he seems to have credible answers - which seem to satisfy his American interlocutors.

The presence of al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Pakistani territory is explained away: it is impossible to seal the border. Why have the terrorists he arrested in his anti-terrorist crackdown been released? Because of his inability to hold them indefinitely without due process of law. Who were the people he managed to evacuate from Kunduz? They were all misguided and misled youth. The US also has not helped its own cause by allowing the evacuation. This definitely doesn`t look like an unconditional war on terrorism. However explained, all these developments have definitely contributed to sustaining the Taliban and al-Qaeda and their penetration into Pakistan.

The capture of Abu Zubaydah, believed to be the number three in al-Qaeda, and a large number of al-Qaeda operatives on March 27, of all places in Faisalabad, Pakistan, and the May 8 terrorist attack in Karachi which killed 14 men, including 11 French, if actually carried out by al-Qaeda, would mean that al-Qaeda has spread its network wide in Pakistan. And to believe that it did this without any support from the jihadi groups within Pakistan is to confer magical organizational capabilities of astronomical proportions on al-Qaeda.

Pakistan-based terrorist groups such as Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, Jaish-e-Mohammad and other groups who were brothers in arms and shared training camps with al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, facilitated their mobility within Pakistan, and probably still do. Musharraf, by releasing their leaders and other cadres, is helping them regroup under new names. Also, there is very little evidence to suggest that he has undermined their ability to carry out terrorist activities. Most of his measures have been cosmetic. Whatever justification he may use at this point for releasing them, the fact is that it will come to haunt him if it is proved that al-Qaeda was behind the attack in Karachi, and if more such attacks are carried out. He is not helping his own cause. But does he realize it? Being the tactician that he is, he may keep fighting the battles one after the other and think that he is winning, but eventually he may just lose.

Unfortunately, no one can tell him that except, perhaps, the Americans. They, after overlooking the inevitable for a fairly long time, are now in an intensified search for bin Laden and his cohorts in Pakistan, having conducted joint operations with Pakistani security forces. The reaction of the Pashtun tribals to the incursions of US forces into their territory has not been favorable - they have threatened to enter the war themselves.

There are ominous signs that if the fugitives are to be captured, the US-led military campaign has to broaden into Pakistan, but that is not going to be easy. The painful reality is that if the terrorist infrastructure and network is to be broken, it has to begin from inside Pakistan, and not the other way round. From the US perspective, it is now time to ``smoke out the terrorists`` and their leaders before they ensconce themselves comfortably in familiar territory and plan the attack on their next big target.

Dr Ajay Darshan Behera is a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution, Washington DC.

http://www.atimes.com/ind-pak/DE17Df01.html

DRUMZ

Sat-Sri-Akal;

Yeah something like that, means ``The Truth is Eternal``

I am linking up with you if I ever get to Toronto btw

-h-

Fellow Chowkies,

DRUMZ is a lovely child, with a lovely family, and a loving nature, and it`s a pleasure to have him on my msn list. my heart warms when i see his name light up in green. he would be a welcome addition to any msn family and i would encourage you to add him to your list.

(whatever you do, please don`t add DRUMZ to your msn list.....the kid grows his hair long to help cover the horns coming out of his head....he will have you swearing in no time....and he`ll call you all sorts of colorful names and misquote you to get some kicks...)

Drumz #33 you write ``Based on your earlier dating advice``

May I ask (with trepidation) what that advice was that you think I gave you?

re: DRUMZ

{Dont tell, but Zafar is only down because he thinks ``I luv ganja`` refers to fine looking bald men.}

...don`t understimate zafar`s street smarts...he`s been teaching me a thing or two on our off-chowk conversations...

BTW: U people are free to put me on ya msn (kakyze@hotmail.com). Anny and scout will be having me on block for quite a while...

Tahmed: ``Please refer to three legged goblins or one legged dwarves next time in order not to betray your ignorance of these important matters.``

Thanks for the intro into the family tree. I must have struck a nerve. Not to get all defensive, but who woulda known that one of chowks own has had such intimate relations with the said elves?Based on your earlier dating advice, i assume u found this out the hard way. ``Tahmed, Iz that your third leg or are u that happy to see me?`` Tahemd, (while giving a painfully pointed look), ``Its the freakin leg...``

Rsaxena: Dont tell, but Zafar is only down because he thinks ``I luv ganja`` refers to fine looking bald men.

Harpreet: Hey do u know what sat sri akal means? PLEASE do not gimmie that ``hello`` crap. The only translation i found was ``truth is timeless.`` Is that off?

And who inna hell else wants summa this sh1t? Someone call kiran, its time for round 2.

Drumz #28 On three legged elves - if you had ever lived among elves, or at least read about them in one of Tolkien`s scholarly books concerning hobbits, elves, dwarves, dragons, talking crows, thinking men, goblins, wizards - you would know that elves are a graceful race, a notch above humans. There are no three legged elves, or elves with deformities of any kind.

Please refer to three legged goblins or one legged dwarves next time in order not to betray your ignorance of these important matters. And ask hobbyty about hobbits. And dont look for thinking men anywhere: there is no such creature.

re: DRUMZ

{Zafar and I will be producing 10,000 ``I luv Ganja`` bumper stickers. Get em while their blazing.}

..ab zafar ko bhi fasaa liya tumnein?...good work!

Hi,

I never saw the first iteration of this article having been away from Chowk for quite some time.

Anyhow my 2 cents are that Musharraf did this referendum to legitimize himself on the world stage (US and UN). No other real reason for holding an exercise to ``democratically vote a dictator`` into power.

Regards,

Fozia

DRUMZ

I think anNys a good writer, but dammnit that was funny man...hehehe

spark it up

-h-

anNy I love ya how was London you never told me?

Most interesting Breaking News:

Zafar and I will be producing 10,000 ``I luv Ganja`` bumper stickers. Get em while their blazing.

PS: ``But know, my dear man that some of us will stand up and be counted...``

Anny this was most hilarious. You refer to the PM as ``my dear man.`` You have a most unusual vocabulary. Were u raised by a pack of wild three legged elves?

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_589970.html?menu=



20,000 children married off despite Indian law



Twenty thousand young children have been married off during a Hindu festival in northern India.

The mass weddings in the states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh come despite a government ban on the practice.

They were part of the Akha Teej festival.

Though child marriages have long been held illegal in India, a large number of minors end up tied in matrimony by their parents for religious and social reasons each year.

Police authorities claim they are still in the process of compiling reports of the mass marriages.

A police spokesman said: ``If such marriages have taken place it is because of lack of co-operation from the public. When people don`t come forward to lodge a formal complaint there is precious little we can do to stop such marriages.``

Subash Chandra Mahapatra, a spokesman for Forum for Fact-Finding Documentation and Advocacy, a Raipur-based NGO, told Jagriti newspaper: ``We have videotapes of the mass marriages to prove that the married couples were underaged.

``Some of them were barely out of the cradle and were being carried by their parents. The government`s proclaimed commitment to eradicating this social evil is only a sham.``

Udaybhan Singh, who married off his two-year old daughter Maya, said: ``Such marriages have been going on for thousands of years and are a part of our culture. All this talk of social evil is pure nonsense.

``The government is only trying to stop parents from fulfilling their responsibility very early in life. As a father I feel very relieved.``

Story filed: 10:31 Friday 17th May 2002

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