The Lame Duck Government

Yup, ChowQ-Stuff are Hungarians; they had my comments here for lunch!

Yup, ShowQ-Stuff are Hungarians; they had my comments here for lunch!

majumdar thank you for posting my comments. The miserable chowk staff has finally opened up my account...

majumdar thank you for posting my comments. The miserable chowk staff has finally opened up my account...

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Majumdar, Masadi's manners are improving from your sangat. Well done.

Posting this on behalf of Masadi sahib:

BTW, the Americans painted Musharraf's custom Hummer red because it was "blood money" for sucking the blood of this nation on their behalf. Something tells me that his driving days, like those of the other blood-sucking dictators, will soon be over...

I was banned on June 30, It is the end of July 2 now and they still havent unblocked me, can you write this on chowk so that they open up my account please



Regards

PS: Zee sahib, Regards is my addition

#35 Posted by majumdar,

Masadi said 'Regards'?

Posting this on the behalf of Masadi sahib, who has yet again been banned by chowk.

Army apologist, illiterate Leadenwinter writes "But Pakistan might well be the root of all stupidity.."

It is not Pakistan that is stupid fool, the stupidity is centered in the Pakistan Army and due to its capture of the state and economy it radiates around the whole country, and the radiators of that stupidity are fools like you. BTW how did your meeting with Musharraf go? Did he look cool driving that (American bribe) red Hummerand shades? Newly released from his house arrest after the lawyers didn't take the bait, he must have felt good breathing that fresh Islamabad air...

Regards

majumdar/cheema #: "n the version I have heard, after hearing Porus' retort, Sir Alex gives him back his throne and Porus becomes his vassal..."

a movie on Porus is definitely a must.......specially since he was a stone's throw away, down the river from my neighborhood......

however, it would be quite ridiculous to refer to porus as a pakistani......as ridiculous as it is to refer to tipu sultan as an indian......

porus would be part of the current punjab civilization.....or jehlum if one wants to be exact......and had tipu defeated the british at srirangaptna, he would more than likely been at war with the rest of india......in fact, out of the 50,000 soldiers whom he fought against, only 4000 were brits...the rest were from hyderabad and marathas.......

tipu sultan could be called a karnatakan, at best......

...i had a discussion with someone who had read up on him quite a bit.....it turns out that new information is being discovered that indicates that alexander did not defeat porus.......

alexander always conquered and left his own subordinates behind to rule......he didn't do that in jehlum.....porus could very well have been the reason that alexander turned south and headed towards multan, rather than moving further into asia......

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JG01Df03.html

read this its pretty interesting

#26 by SupersizeMe

er.. excuse me harish? who has lain under whose a$$ is rather apparent in indian history, i dont need to spell any names out! ;)

Haha..the past is all you've got it seems!

"Some local people said this operation is just an eyewash....."

http://www.dawn.com/2008/06/30/top1.htm

Troops push on with Bara offensive : ‘Militants had escaped to Tirah Valley before operation began’



By Ibrahim Shinwari

LANDI KOTAL, June 29: Security forces on Sunday pushed on with their offensive against militants and destroyed several hideouts and an FM radio station in the Bara tehsil of the Khyber tribal region.

However, there are indications that the militants had moved out of the area before the offensive was launched.

Paramilitary forces are reported to have destroyed four hideouts of Lashkar-i-Islam and Ansarul Islam on Sunday without encountering any resistance.

Prime Minister’s Adviser on Interior Rahman Malik, who attended briefings on the law and order situation at the Governor’s House and the Frontier Corps headquarters at the Bala Hisar Fort, told journalists that the area was under the control of the government and its writ had been established.

Rejecting reports that the area had been handed over to the army, he said the operation was being carried out by civilian law-enforcement agencies. He claimed that several torture cells had been found in Bara. The entire Bara sub-division was calm but tense with all markets and educational institutions remaining closed. The area has been under curfew since Saturday.

When this correspondent visited Bara and adjoining areas, local people said that Mangal Bagh, who is spearheading the campaign against the government, had already moved to the remote Tirah Valley.

Flags of Lashkar-i-Islam were seen flying above houses and school buildings in Bara. Some local people said that the operation was just an eyewash and Mangal Bagh was being supported by the administration.

According to them, Mangal Bagh had used radio broadcasts to order his supporters not to attack security forces or hinder their movement. “He asked his supporters to let them (troops) go wherever they wanted,” a man told this correspondent.

Khan Mohammad, who was guarding one of the destroyed Lashkar-i-Islam’s centre in Bara, said: “The Amir knew about the operation and had asked his supporters to move out of the area and take shelter in the Tirah Valley before it started.”

He said: “People will do as they are told and that is why there is no resistance.”

Officials said that the operation had been extended to Arjali Nadi, west of the Bara bazaar on Sunday morning where security forces blew up a centre vacated by the Ansarul Islam. The Arjali Nadi centre was occupied by the Mehsood Scouts in late 2006 after fierce clashes between Ansarul Islam and Lashkar-i-Islam.

Security forces demolished the house of Haji Mesri Khan, a member of the Lashkar Shura, in the Shalobar area.

Tayyeb Afridi, Lashkar Islam’s ‘chief commander’, was told to vacate his house in the same area.

Security force fired in the air to disperse local youths who had gathered to see the demolition of houses. Ironically, no Lashkar activist has been arrested during the operation.

Lashkar sources in Bara claimed that most of their activists were engaged in fighting the Ansar group in Tirah valley. The week-long fighting has so far claimed the lives of 40 people from both sides.

Mangal Bagh continued his propaganda broadcasts from the Tirah Valley. He told his supporters not to put up any resistance to the security forces and urged them to remain calm. He said the “army operation will not help the government achieve its objectives” or stop him from purging the Bara of “all anti-social elements and providing justice to the poor”.

Haji Namdar, head of another militant organisation, Amr Bil Maroof wa Nahi Anil Munkir, also criticised the operation and called for resolving the issue through talks.

Speaking on his own FM station, he said the operation had added to people problems and urged the local administration to immediately stop it. Meanwhile, Additional Chief Secretary Fata Habibullah Khan told a press briefing in Peshawar that security forces had been authorised to eliminate all pockets of resistance in Bara. He said that the operation was in full swing and the government would not allow any group to establish a parallel administration.

“The Lashkar was not involved in terrorism but was working to oust criminal elements,” his 50-year-old brother Sacha Gul said.

Staff Correspondent Zulfiqar Ali contributed to this report from Peshawar.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JG01Df01.html
Jul 1, 2008



Smoke and mirrors in the Khyber Valley
By Syed Saleem Shahzad

KARACHI - After a 10-hour operation at the weekend, Pakistan said that paramilitary forces had reclaimed the strategic Khyber Agency from Taliban militants, at the same time implying to Washington that the country is serious about going after the Taliban.

The Khyber Agency borders Afghanistan and is a vital transit point for North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) supplies going into Nangarhar province of that country.

But while pockets of Taliban were chased from some of their hideouts, the operation was directed against the wrong area and



the wrong people, underscoring the government's reluctance for direct confrontation with the Pakistani Taliban.

Intrigue and deception
Riding with the paramilitary convoys was Haji Namdar, the chief of the self-proclaimed pro-Taliban organization Amal Bil Maroof Nahi Anil Munkir that is based in Khyber Agency. His presence was meant to be a secret as his organization was supposed to be one of the targets of the operation.

He was taken along to ensure that encounters with militants were kept to a minimum, as was the case - only four people were arrested and none killed.

Haji Namdar is a highly controversial character. As a believer in the Salafi strain of Islam he was tapped up by the Taliban and al-Qaeda to be their point man to help them establish a foothold in the Khyber Agency so that they could attack NATO supply lines. Haji Namdar agreed, then in April he betrayed the Taliban to US intelligence for a reward of US$150,000. (See Taliban bitten by a snake in the grass Asia Times Online, April 26, 2008.)

Within weeks, Haji Namdar was targeted in a suicide attack, but escaped unhurt. And on Monday, he once again avoided injury when one of his offices on the outskirts of Peshawar in North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) bordering Khyber Agency was fired on by missiles. Seven other people were killed.

The weekend's military operations were directed primarily against two organizations - Lashkar-i-Islam led by a bus cleaner turned commander, Mangal Bagh, and a Sufi organization, Ansar ul-Islam, besides Haji Namdar's group.

The rationale for the operation was said to be that these organizations were Taliban franchises and were trying to Talibanize Khyber Agency and the adjacent city of Peshawar.

More pertinent were US concerns over NATO's supply lines. The decision to go ahead with the operation was a pledge by US President George W Bush to President Pervez Musharraf to ensure the delivery of four F-16 aircraft to Pakistan. The issue was also on top of the agenda when the head of the NATO force in Afghanistan, General David McKiernan, met former Pakistani ambassador to Washington and present advisor to the government in Islamabad on national security, retired Major General Mehmood Ali Durrani, last Friday.

The groups targeted, though, are mainly sectarian with no affiliation to the Taliban - they are sympathetic at most. This has led to speculation that the military is simply trying to buy time from Washington while avoiding direct confrontation with the "real Taliban".

The fact is, after the Taliban were betrayed by Haji Namdar in April their central power now lies in the South Waziristan tribal area, the Swat Valley and Darra Adam Khail in NWFP.

Nevertheless, the military excursion into Khyber Agency did provide the Pakistani Taliban with a golden opportunity. One of its key leaders, Baitullah Mehsud, who is said to be behind the first attack against Haji Namdar, used the occasion to appeal to non-Taliban militants in Khyber Agency for their support.

Mehsud also said he would break all peace agreements with the government and that he would send attackers into other provinces as a response to any real moves by the government to target the Taliban.

Islamabad is under intense pressure from Washington to destroy the Taliban bases inside Pakistan that supply the insurgency in Afghanistan and to stem the easy flow of Taliban fighters across the border.

The coalition government, only in office for a matter of months, is already on the brink of collapse and the last thing it wants now is the added problem of full-out operations against militants - these have in the past proved highly unpopular and seldom achieved their goals.

Similarly, the Taliban are heavily engaged in Afghanistan and they do not want the distraction of having to fight battles in Pakistan.

The result is charades such as the weekend's Khyber Agency incident in which all sides, including Washington, appear to be satisfied.

Re: # 28; majumdar

I'll dig out the original when get the chance...for sure!

Cheema sahib,

Pls post via PM or on UP.

Regards