NWFP Demonstrators Fury against No Response from Army

There is a backlash..much the same has happened in India..and in the US with Katrina..simply put the sheer scale of the disaster has overwhelmed the initial response. Besides that there is a tunnel focus on the epicentre and other areas are getting aid very late.

Captain Clueless` post shows the paki ruling class mentality...Couldn`t get the helicopters to the remote areas and didn`t want the Indian help? blame it on big bad India which, by opressing the Kashmiris, is forcing us to spend a disproportionate amount of money on ourselves with little to show for it...

romair:

i don`t need a lecture from you, really, on being a ``habitual`` critic when the army has participated ``habitually`` in making a mess of things (and i`m not referring to the earthquake). your respect and admiration for the military is noted, and i have no comment on that. but i stand by what i say. . . musharraf is a moron and he has shown that on more than one occasion. if he has accepted aid from the indian government now as you say, then good. i was responding to arjun`s posts about when he had refused it. thank you.

sadna:

it is not as if i am not already aware of that. . . . the difference between the rhetoric and the reality, that is. my original comment was regarding something else, but i think i really should learn to keep my ``righteous`` frustration to myself.

Re: # 34

Thanks, for your kind words.

Romair is correct that Pakistani army envisages a war in the plains of Punjab and in the desert of Sindh and not up in the mountains of Kashmir. Pakistani army is designed for the defense of Pakistan and it is not designed for offensive operations. It is for this reasons, it does not have tools of an offensive minded war; military hardware like helicopters, large and medium sized aircraft for ferrying supplies, etc. The only offensive punch of the Pakistani army is located, within its two strike crops. In case of a war, these strike corps would launch offensive operations, hoping to exploit salients in the Indian lines, while the majority of Pakistani army deployed near Radcliffe Line, would be engaged in defensive, holding actions against a much larger Indian army.

Dullahabtti, there was an interesting snippet of information, which appeared as a three or four line item in the newspapers, here, a few days ago. According to those lines, immediately after the earthquake, Pakistani army airlifted elements of its Signal Corps into Muzaffarabad to repair and restore the power grid, in the city, which used to power the army defense installations - radar sites, ground radars, etc. and which was non-operational due to the disaster. It would seem that for most of Saturday, after the earthquake, Pakistani army was ``blind`` on the LoC, but the situation was restored to normal after some hectic repair work on the grid station. According to those lines, the military had tasked WAPDA to restore the power facilities to the military installations, along the LoC, first before any electrical power restoration to Muzaffarabad city itself.

Ciao

ana
I know what you mean but a comparison can be meaningful actually just for understanding purposes(not moralising ones). Indian Armed Forces have rescued people on many occasions - in cyclones, floods and earthquakes. It is almost an yearly routine now. Dunno if this is the case with the Pakistani Army. India also a number of paramilitary forces, dunno if Pakistan has those. Actually Indian Army is used much more often than it likes for rescuing civilian administration butt and the Indian Army has itself said so. Dunno if that is the case with Pakistani Army since it is their baap ka raaj.

Yeah, I agree, Pakistan`s is a defensive army and it proved that in Bangladesh by killing 3 million defenseless Bengalis. It has effortlessly toppled a number of democratically elected governments and now it is proving it’s finest hour? The only finest hour this corrupt, and Zaleel Army has ever had is when it kidnapped a rape victim and confiscate her passport. Pakistani Army is a bunch of hungry dogs (halkay Kootay), that need to be put to sleep.

Re: # 49

Arjun, the situational reports coming out of LoC on Indian soldiers helping Pakistani soliders is, at best, fragmentary and mostly of a speculative nature. As I mentioned in one of my ilogs, the level of help along the LoC is problem free. Most Pakistani army officers and Indian army officers, deployed alongside the LoC, are quite decent people and they are, and would have been in contact, with one another to prevent any misunderstandings in the wake of the earthquake. I am sure that in these conversations, they must have agreed to some sort of a cooperative understanding and I am sure that there is cooperation, between them.

One of the most interesting things about the Pakistani and Indian soldiers is that they are friendly and cooperative, with each other and the war mongering and the seething bile, which we have for one other, exists mostly in civilians who are far removed from the front lines. In the past, there have been instances of two armies cooperating and I have talked with many Pakistani army offcers, who had served at LoC and they have all pointed out this aspect of life on the LoC. I know of a Pakistani officer, who used to tell how the guns, from the Pakistani side would fall silent on Tuesdays, because Tuesday was the day, when the Indians would do their weekly washings and had asked the Pakistani not to shell them on their washing day. Another Pakistani officer told that once the Indians, opposite his unit, were watching a movie and the request was made from the Pakistani side to place the screen in such a way that the Pakistanis could also see the movie. So the Indians placed the screen in such a way, that the Pakistanis were able to see the movie in a reversed manner on the backside of the screen.

My only comment to you, would be not to jump to a conclusion on the basis of a few news reports or offical denials from Pakistan. The reality is, we do not know what is the reality on the LoC. I have, personally heard and seen reports of Indians helping Pakistani troops across the LoC, but I have not been able to confirm them independently; though I am still trying to confirm them. If cooperation is indeed taking place, I am sure that the Indian government would not comment on it openly. Manmohan Singh made an interesting statement towards this effect a few backs, when he said in response to aid to Pakistan that ``India understands Pakistan`s sensitivies on issue...of aid``

I am sure, that if you were to read between the lines, you would realize what is happening. Another factor, which might be obsecuring the truth is that access to LoC from both sides, to foreign journalist or even local journalist, is limited and restricted, so there is no way of confirming or denying what is actually taking place on the LoC, between the two armies. Arjun, if I were you, I would seek information from people on the LoC on what is happening across the LoC instead of relying on a few articles generated from a Google search, but that is just my opinion and you are free to disagree, with it. :)

Ciao

please take a break from spewing your bile and do something constructive ............

........... i was able to get about thirty co-workers to contribute by sending out a personal e-mail asking them to contribute to the Edhi Foundation using the easy link at Earthquake Relief Funds

........ you`d be surprised how many people don`t mind contributing if they can do it easily by using paypal .......

The agony of a father, whose five year old daughter screams trapped under a 5 tonne slab of concrete, which was once the roof over their heads, should be understable. And if he accuses army or government for doing nothing, then his indignation should be understable too. But we, who are sitting comfortably in our houses, safe and sound, have no right to accuse or criticize those who are out their in the battlefield at this time. This is the time to think ``what can I do to help`` and then just do it. These people need our help now, today, at this very moment; not tommorrow, not next week and not a month from now. We have to stand together at this time. If the government has failed because of its incompetence and due to shortage of resources then we can address these issues later. We have to make do with what we have at our disposal. Criticizing them at this time will not make them efficient overnight. Lets give each other the encouragment, lets pat each others back for the good deed that they have done today. Promise that we will not fight at this time; we will not discourage our brothers; we will not cause a schism. Please keep in mind that if GOP has failed, then Pakistanis as a nation have not. They have prevailed through this test by extennding their hands to their fallen comrades. We may not have been able to do much but we have stood the test.

i am sure the pak-army did its best given the equippment it had, and personnel training. only thing i wonder is what would be the different if it had a civvy command.

in india army help is always assumed in disaster management, subject to a provincial (state) govt decision to call in the help...this earthquake was way beyong any capability however..

hamid: #55

thank you for the reminder. but let me tell you that even if we disagree on things here, it does not mean that we are not doing something constructive in our lives.

and let me also repeat what i said on another board. asking to give is a good thing. but we don`t have to reveal whether we have or not. these deeds speak for themselves. no one has to talk about what they`ve given or how much regardless of what you call their ``bile``. because i for one know that there are ``bile`` spewers who have done something constructive and whatever they were able to towards the earthquake.

enough said.

Pak Army is a bunch of thugs, and it is another opportunity for them to plunder and loot an already crippled nation. Pak Army has no shame. Mushy and his top brass deserve to be passed thru an industrial meat grinder and given a decent and dignified burial.

Re: # 58

ana,

the point of my post was to ask people to ask their co-workers and acquaintances to contribute - people who normally wouldn`t get involved ........... it is something some of us might not have thought about because we all tend to focus on close friends and other desis ........ and the bile is nauseating

I am really saddened by this tragedy, though vast majority of A.K people in the u.k are from mirpur, there are some from muzaffrabad and bagh. Our local imam who’s from bagh has lost over 20 relatives, a women from next road to us has lost 13 relatives, she’s also from bagh. A friend of mine has lost a cousin who was in the army

I am really saddened by this tragedy, though vast majority of A.K people in the u.k are from mirpur, there are some from muzaffrabad and bagh. Our local imam who’s from bagh has lost over 20 relatives, a women from next road to us has lost 13 relatives, she’s also from bagh. A friend of mine has lost a cousin who was in the army

I am really saddened by this tragedy, though vast majority of A.K people in the u.k are from mirpur, there are some from muzaffrabad and bagh. Our local imam who’s from bagh has lost over 20 relatives, a women from next road to us has lost 13 relatives, she’s also from bagh. A friend of mine has lost a cousin who was in the army