Twirp : Terrorist Wahabi Islamic Republic Pakistan

[Guest]

Shambu, I thought there's a outstanding warrant against Imran Khan in US on some paternity suit or childcare payement or deadbeat dad type issue.
Not sure.

Seems like Mushy fans have a site dedicated to Imran:
Imran Khan Exposed

[Naresh]

[center] <!--emo&:flush--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Flush.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='Flush.gif' /><!--endemo--><b><span style='font-size:21pt;line-height:100%'>Economic crisis threatens Pakistan's leader</span></b> <!--emo&:flush--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Flush.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='Flush.gif' /><!--endemo-->[/center]

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has survived constitutional crises and three assassination attempts, but the more prosaic challenge of supplying flour to his people could be his government's undoing.

As an election scheduled for Feb. 18 approaches, the voters' main grievance appears to be a severe shortage of wheat flour, which is used to make roti, the round flatbread that's a staple food for Pakistanis.

The prices of goods ranging from tomatoes to milk also have soared; a sudden shortage of electricity and gas has forced factories to cut their hours and households to endure several hours a day without power; and the combination of higher prices, shortages and political unrest are fueling a sense of crisis in a country that's on the front line of the Bush administration's war on terrorism.

The Musharraf regime's proudest boast used to be its economic record, delivering annual growth rates of around 7 percent for the last five years. Now inflation and shortages may have made the economy the biggest handicap for the pro-Musharraf PML-Q political party and underscored other grievances about Musharraf's eight-year rule.

Earlier this month, Pakistan's central bank cut its growth estimate for the fiscal year from 7.2 percent to between 6.6 and 7 percent, but almost a year of political turmoil could take a further toll on foreign and domestic investment.

''There has been a disconnect between the headline growth numbers and the welfare of the average Pakistani,'' said Sakib Sherani, chief economist at the ABN Amro bank in Islamabad. ''Growth has bypassed a lot of Pakistanis.''

The touchiest issue is the rising cost of flour, aggravated by hoarding and illicit exports. The price of a 44-pound bag nearly doubled over the last few months, from around 250 rupees ($4) to some 450 rupees. Pakistan's average per-capita income is $720 annually, or $2 a day, according to a 2006 World Bank estimate.

''No one thinks about terrorism. It is inflation that worries us,'' said Shabbir Hassan, who runs a small laundry in Rawalpindi. ''There are no (price) controls.''

''The poor have been squashed,'' said Mohammed Ashraf, a roadside fruit vendor in Rawalpindi's Raja market who has five children. ''People will just start to loot if they get can't food. Any government must make sure that the people can at least eat roti.''

''A poor man could buy two rotis for each meal,'' said Waqas Sheikh, another street vendor. ''Now you can maybe buy one. Musharraf's government is not doing anything, just lining their pockets.''

Abida Khalil, a housewife who was shopping in the Raja market, which is just down the road from the city park where opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated last month, said that even if she could find flour, it was of such poor quality that it wasn't worth eating. Her family is eating rice instead, usually a more expensive option.

''Our whole country is misbalanced right now. From every direction,'' she said.

The government has deployed more than 5,000 paramilitary soldiers to monitor and improve the supply chain. They're manning wheat warehouses, flour mills and retail outlets to try to ensure that the product reaches markets. There've been long lines of angry consumers at the government-owned Utility Stores chain for weeks, queuing up in often-futile attempts to buy flour at a regulated price.

''It is completely government mismanagement,'' said Asad Sayeed, an economist at the Collective for Social Science Research in Karachi. ''We've never had this sort of food crisis before.''

Pakistan is usually self-sufficient in wheat. Sayeed said the government had drastically overestimated the wheat crop and allowed exports, only to have to import wheat at a much higher price at a time when there's a worldwide shortage.

Tariq Azeem, a minister in Musharraf's government, said the government's economic record was good. ''Even the worst critics of the government acknowledge that there was a turnaround ...,'' he said. ''People who were going on bicycles have gone on to motorcycles, and the motorcyclists have gone on to cars.''

Azeem conceded that electricity generation has failed to keep up with demand, but he said this was because of a lack of political consensus on building new dams to generate hydropower.

Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[Guest]

Mushy is travelling with begging bowl, as we know unkle can offer him some penny in exchange of his retirement in Mexico.

[Naresh]

<b>Mudy Ji :</b>

Mush the Tush ki UPKATHA :

1. General Asfaq Kiyani - COAS - is now the Head Honcho in Terroriststan as per the Desire-Fancy-Whims-Will of the State Department of USA

2. As such Mush the Tush has been side-lined to a the position of being a Rubber Stamp.

3. Mush the Tush has always been the HMV of the US State Department and has agreed to becoming General Asfaq Kiyani’s Mouthpiece under the Guidance and Orders of the USSD.

4. In case Mush has to be “Physically Removed” then he will be “Pensioned Off” to Saudi Arabia or he might just be permitted to settle down in his Ranch in Texas or Montana or Mexico or wherever.

Cheers <!--emo&:flush--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Flush.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='Flush.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[Guest]

Nareshji,
Mushy never disappoints me <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->

<b>Europe to suffer if war on terror fails: Musharraf </b>
Here is telling Europeans, keep giving funds to me otherwise I will release wild dogs on you and your woman.


<b>Indian High Commissioner under terror threat: Report </b>
Here Mushy is telling Indians, stop saying Muslim first but start singing Pakistan Muslim first, second will be Indian Muslim. He is angry, Moron SIngh is still making his mind, whom he should give Bharat Ratna, current choice- Mushy or Bhutto or Sonia.

[Guest]

<b>Mullah Omar sacks Baitullah for fighting against Pak Army</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Baitullah has been sacked at a time when the Taliban’s spring offensive is just months away. “The Afghan front is quiet because the Taliban and Al Qaeda militants are heavily engaged in fighting Pakistani security forces in Waziristan. Therefore, Mullah Omar has put his foot down to reset goals for the Taliban: struggle in Afghanistan and not against Pakistan, as was being done by Baitullah Mehsud,” the website reported.

Faqir refuses: It also quoted intelligence sources as saying that Omar appointed Maulvi Faqir Muhammad as TTP chief but Faqir refused to accept the designation after which the local Taliban were holding meetings to find Baitullah’s replacement. Sources told Asia Times that with Baitullah replaced, Omar would use all Taliban resources in the Tribal Areas to dislodge NATO troops from Afghanistan. However, this leaves Baitullah and his loyalists completely isolated to fight Pakistani forces, according to the report. Baitullah is already named by the government as the main suspect behind Benazir Bhutto’s killing. daily times monitor<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Now we can easily say Paki army and Mullah Omar are left and right hand of Mushy. <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[Shambhu]

Heh! NSA dudes, Mullah Omar has sacked Baitullah for fighting Pak Army. Thou shalt not fight thy friends who help you kill the yanks, y'know...

What's that, NSA? Pakistan is still the stalwart ally? Ok...

While we are at it, there is a 72% off sale on bodybags in most of the madrassas in Pakistan. The students knit the dark green bodybags for extra credit; better than NATO grade, guaranteed. White House, State Dept...get a couple thousand *today*... You can use the money saved to stimulate the ol' economy...

[Guest]

<b>Pakistan’s military millionaires </b>
By Elliot Wilson

In itself this wasn’t particularly unusual. With 620,000 soldiers, Pakistan boasts the world’s seventh-largest standing Army, but its senior officers long ago realised the perks to be gained from commercial ventures. Since independence in 1947, the Army has steadily intertwined itself into Pakistan’s economy: so much so that it’s hard to tell where the military stops and any semblance of free-market capitalism begins. All too often, there is no dividing line. In her 2007 book Military Inc: Inside Pakistan’s Military Economy Dr Ayesha Siddiqa exposes the rampant commercialism pervading every aspect of the country’s military forces, until recently headed by President Pervez Musharraf. <b>Dr Siddiqa estimates the military’s net worth at more than £10 billion — roughly four times the total foreign direct investment generated by Islamabad in 2007</b>. She found that the Army owns 12 per cent of the country’s land, its holdings being mostly fertile soil in the eastern Punjab. Two thirds of that land is in the hands of senior current and former officials, mostly brigadiers, major-generals and generals. <b>The most senior 100 military officials are estimated to be worth, at the very least, £3.5 billion.</b>

Many of the country’s largest corporations are also controlled by the military, thanks largely to an opaque network of powerful "foundations" originally set up to look after the pension needs of Army personnel. <b>The largest three — the Fauji, Shaheen and Bahria foundations, controlled by the Army, Air Force and Navy respectively</b> — control more than 100 separate commercial entities involved in everything from cement to cereal production. Only nine have ever published partial financial accounts, and all are ultimately controlled by the ministry of defence, which oversees all of the military’s commercial ventures.

The Fauji foundation is estimated by Siddiqa to be worth several billion pounds. It operates a security force (allowing serving Army personnel to double in their spare time as private security agents), an oil terminal and a phosphate joint venture with the Moroccan government. Elsewhere, the Army Welfare Trust — a foundation set up in 1971 to identify potentially profitable ventures for the military — runs one of the country’s largest lenders, Askari Commercial Bank, along with an airline, a travel agency and even a stud farm. Then there is the National Logistic Cell, Pakistan’s largest shipper and freight transporter (and the country’s largest corporation), which builds roads, constructs bridges and stores vast quantities of the country’s wheat reserves.

In short, the military’s presence is all-pervasive. Bread is supplied by military-owned bakeries, fronted by civilians. Army-controlled banks take deposits and disburse loans. Up to one third of all heavy manufacturing and 7 per cent of private assets are reckoned to be in Army hands. As for prime real estate, a major-general can expect to receive on retirement a present of 240 acres of prime farmland, worth on average £550,000, as well an urban real estate plot valued at £700,000.

Unsurprisingly, the military is loath to release details of its commercial operations. The average Pakistani citizen earns just £1,500. Most of the military’s junior officers and other ranks live in squalid tents pitched by the side of main roads, even in the capital Islamabad. <b>Revealing to them that the top brass in their air-conditioned, top-of-the-range Mercedes are worth £35 million each (a few are believed to be dollar billionaires including Musharraf)</b> would probably create widespread unrest. Little wonder that Dr Siddiqa’s book is banned in the country — and that Musharraf was so reluctant to take off his uniform and declare himself a civilian President.

Financial autonomy has also engendered in the military a dangerous sense of entitlement. When any premier or leading politician attempts to limit the Army’s power, or even emasculate it, they get slapped down. In 1990 Benazir Bhutto, during her first stint as premier, made a concerted attempt to "secularise" the Army, installing non-Army personnel at the highest level. Shortly afterwards, her government was forced out. She tried again in May 2006, joining with Nawaz Sharif, to issue a Charter of Democracy designed to reduce the economic power of the armed forces. Yet with Bhutto’s assassination, the latest move to tame the armed forces has again faltered.

It’s hard to imagine any individual or political body summoning up enough power or courage to challenge the Army head-on. <b>Each year the military gobbles up a bit more land, diversifies into new markets and industries and steadily consolidates power in the key sectors of agriculture, energy, natural resources, logistics and construction.</b>

On the rare occasions when any Constitutional body has stood its ground, the Army has given it short shrift. In 2005, the Fauji foundation was asked by the elected Parliament why it had sold a sugar mill at a ludicrously low price to senior Army personnel. The ministry of defence refused to reveal any details of the deal.

When the auditor-general’s department questioned why the Army was building golf courses — rather than attempting to capture Osama bin Laden — its question was ignored. Yet the Punjab government had that year willingly handed over, for free, 30 acres of prime rural land worth more than £600,000 to the Army, which promptly built a driving-range and an 18-hole golf course. Such "presents" to the military are usually returned with interest, with senior civilian officials often being guaranteed a secure retirement on the board of one or more Army-controlled ventures.

Craven and submissive attitudes have thoroughly pervaded the political system, which defers to the military at every turn: little wonder that senior officers have so little respect for their civilian peers. <b>Other countries have Armies, but Pakistan’s Army has a country.</b>

Absolute power, of course, corrupts absolutely. It also engenders a sense of invulnerability. This certainly seems to be the case in Pakistan. Land is being requisitioned across the country.

In the financial centre of Karachi, the Army has built eight petrol stations on land appropriated from the state. In 2004, the Karachi government again willingly gave land worth £35 million to the military, just because they wanted it.

The military has also begun to act in the manner of a feudal landlord. When landless peasants in central Punjab complained in 2001 that the Army had changed the status of the land on which they depended for their subsistence (forcing them to pay rent in cash, rather than working the land on a sharecropping basis) the Army cracked down, beating many and leaving eight dead.

At one point, Dr Siddiqa quotes a naval officer who questions why landless peasants should have any rights in relation to the land they till.

"They do not deserve land just because they are poor," he says. It’s hard to imagine anyone managing to circumscribe the economic power of Pakistan’s Army.
The military’s financial security reinforces its desire to retain control of the state.
If full democracy were permitted in Pakistan, it would constitute a threat to the Army’s throttling power.

And since political power in turn creates greater economic opportunities, it’s in the interest of the military fraternity to perpetuate it. More political power leads to greater profit, and vice versa.

The one factor that could still harm the Army is its dismissive attitude to its own people. Its flagrant profiteering engenders huge resentment in rural and smaller provinces.

[Naresh]

<b>k.ram Ji :</b>

<b>The military millionaires who control Pakistan Inc</b>

You inadvertently missed the last sentence :

<b><span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Ultimately, there is only so much abuse that an impoverished and subjugated populace can take before it rises up in protest.</span></b> <!--emo&:flush--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Flush.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='Flush.gif' /><!--endemo-->

<b>Ek Din Aysa Aavay Ki Chandan Bhi Aag Ugalnay Lug Javey!</b>

Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[Naresh]

Hot off the Presses :

<b>1. Foreign exchange outflow accelerates</b>

<b>2. Most of the economic indicators appear into reverse gear</b>

<b>3. Oil for inflation</b>

<b>4. What plagues Pakistan?</b>

<b>5. Empty stands spoil the show</b>

Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[Guest]

This is recipe of great nation and list which will fill begging bowl to the top.
Wait and see how much Mushy gets.

[ramana]

X-Posted as it gives an insight into present day mess...

<!--QuoteBegin-"ramana"+-->QUOTE("ramana")<!--QuoteEBegin-->Link:

http://www.dawn.com/weekly/encounter/encounter4.htm

<!--QuoteBegin--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->
1857: not a jihadi uprising

By Hassan Jafar Zaidi


The documentary, Clash Of The Worlds: Mutiny, telecast by BBC-1 on January 7, carried some distortions of historical facts. It suggested that the 1857 uprising against the British was motivated, organised and fought by the jihadi Muslims of India. The background of jihad was linked to 1830-31 Wahabi movement led by Syed Ahmed Brelvi who was a disciple of Mohammad Bin Abdul Wahab of Arabia (1704-92).

The documentary traced the roots of Wahabism as an anti-British movement, leading finally to an armed struggle against the British in India; establishing a jihadi camp in Peshawar “against the British” under the command of Syed Ahmed who was killed in 1831 without telling ‘who he was fighting against’ and who really killed him. Some important facts have been ignored or misrepresented because they did not fit into what the documentary was trying to impress upon i.e. the Islamic Jihad always targeted the British, irrespective of time and space in the history of mankind.

It is important to set the historical records straight. History must be viewed in its true perspective rather than an instrument of propaganda for the persecution of a religious community.

Sir W.W. Hunter, a great British annalist and an ICS officer, was assigned to prepare a report about discontentment among the Muslims of India (published as Our Indian Musalmans or The Indian Musalmans). It was considered an authentic document on Syed Ahmed’s Wahabi Jihad movement. <b>According to Hunter, Syed Ahmed, under the influence of Mohammad Bin Abdul Wahab, recruited during early 19th century, the Jihadis, the fighters of Holy War, from Bengal, Bihar, Awadh and Agra, the areas which were under the administration of East India Company.

British officers had the knowledge of this recruitment and they let it happen because the target of this recruitment was not the British but the Sikh empire of Ranjeet Singh spread over Punjab, the present day North West Frontier Province and Kashmir.</b>

<b>Hunter narrates stories of young Muslims, doing menial jobs in the East India Company, applying for long leave and the Company’s officers granting them. Syed Ahmed was successful in conquering Peshawar and its surrounding areas up to Mansehra and Balakot.</b>

Battles between the Sikh armies and the jihadis continued; the Sikhs were officered by the French generals to support Maharaja Ranjeet against the British expansion. Thus, this local war became a proxy war between the British and the French ––<b> the jihadis enjoying tacit support of the British and the French helping the Sikh armies.</b>

Syed Ahmed and many of his companions were killed at the hands of the Sikhs (and the French) in a battle at Balakot in 1831. <b>To some extent, it resembled the recent proxy war between the Soviets and the western bloc fought under the guise of jihad by Osama bin Laden and other jihadi organisations. It was only after the fall of Sikh empire in 1849 that a minor group led by Patna-based brothers Wilayat Ali and Inayat Ali, the Wahabis began to work against the British just as the Taliban, once favourite Mujadideen of the West, turned against the West after the demise of the Soviet Union.</b>

The BBC documentary does not reveal several facts about the real contending forces. The 1857 uprising, mutiny for the British and war of independence for the Indians, has been portrayed in the documentary as Jihad by Muslims/Wahabi terrorists against the British, and there is no mention of the participation of Hindus and other Indian communities in it –– a crucial omission.

There exists a general consensus among historians that 1857 war was a secular uprising. It united Muslims and Hindus against the colonialist British who, by their policies, had sowed the seeds of rebellion in all the communities for different reasons. The uprising was inevitable when the Indian section of the army was allocated cartridges greased with the fat of cows and pigs, unacceptable to both Hindus and Muslims. The vanguard of the rebellion consisted of all the communities. The mutiny lasted thirteen months: from the rising at Meerut on May, 10, 1857 to the fall of Gwaliar on June 20, 1858.

Thomas Lowe, a contemporary British chronicler who was in Central India during the rebellion, wrote in 1860: "The infanticide Rajput, the bigoted Brahmin, the fanatic Musalman, had joined together in the cause; cow-killer and the cow-worshipper, the pig-hater and the pig-eater… had revolted together." <b>The combatants in the uprising comprised the rebellious East India Company sepoys, several small princely states mostly ruled by Hindu rajas, and deposed rulers of big princely states of Oudh (Muslim) and Jhansi (Hindu).</b>

A closer look into the uprising reveals little presence of Wahabi extremists. There were calls for jihad by Muslim leaders like Maulana Fazl-e-Haq Khairabadi and Ahmedullah Shah which were responded by Muslim artisans of Oudh. <b>In May 1857 the Battle of Shamli took place between the forces of Haji Imdadullah and the British in Thana Bhawan in Oudh. These few eruptions led by religious Muslim leaders could not and did not change the overall secular complexion of the Rebellion.</b>

The origins of Wahabi movement of late 18th and early 19th century in Arabian peninsula were not anti-British sentiments. <b>The movement targeted the Turkish Ottomans who, as believed by the Wahabis, were responsible for polluting the fundamentalist Islam of Arabia with the traditionalist rituals of Ajam (non-Arabs). Wahabism was a political movement, with religious overtones, seeking freedom for Arabs from the occupation of Ottoman Turks.</b>

<b>The British wanted to destabilise and demolish the Ottoman Empire; they facilitated and supported the Wahabis in Arabian peninsula. The rulers of Najd, the House of Saud (Al-Saud), were the disciples of Wahabism. The Indian Viceroy i.e. the representative of British Crown as Governor General, provided money and arms to Al-Saud rulers of Najd and other Gulf Sheikhdoms to brew this rebellion against Ottomans (The Kingdom: The Arabia and the House of Saud by Robert Lacy).</b>

<b>During World War1, John Philby, an Intelligence Officer of the British Foreign Service was sent in 1917 to Abdul Aziz, the Wahabi ruler of Najd, to serve as his advisor. Aziz succeeded in deposing Sherif Hussain of Makkah from Hijaz to establish Kingdom of Saudi Arabia after the collapse of Ottoman Empire. Philby served as a minister in the government of Al-Saud. He changed his name as Abdullah apparently after embracing Islam but still served the British Intelligence. He was exiled by King Saud in 1955.</b>

That is how Wahabism was supported and sponsored by the British in 19th and 20th century in the Arabian peninsula which later became the breeding ground of jihadis. After 9/11, the world changed and the allies became aliens. So, the documentary portrays the Wahabi jihadis as anti-British and anti-West militants since the inception of Wahabism till to-date.

The researchers of the documentary perhaps were ignorant of the fundamentals of Wahabism. A collogue of pages from some religious books in Urdu were presented as the literature of teachings of Wahabis. One of the pages was titled “Shab-i-Barat ki Fazeelat” (Glory of the Night of Exoneration). One may note the Wahabis don’t believe in this night, nor take part in celebrations performed on this night by the traditionalist Muslims.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd--><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Guest]

Current situation is a repetition of early 19th century, only difference is battle field are different and target are different. Now Britannia is facing own progeny in their own homeland, I can say sweet revenge.
Then also Britannia played successful divisive policy and brown people never understood, same is happening now, fools in India or DIE is towing or have same mentality.
Some people learn from history and some will never learn. Indian subcontinent is an excellent example. Real history is suppresed in Pakistan and India, people have no pride in their heritage.

[Naresh]

<b>Mudy Ji :</b>

I have read many a Humorous Articles from the Pakistani Commentators.

This surely takes the Cake - with the icing - in its Tongue in Cheek manner!

[center]<b><span style='font-size:21pt;line-height:100%'>How you dare?</span></b>[/center]
[center]<b><span style='color:red'>Hit and run</span> - <span style='font-size:12pt;line-height:100%'>Shakir Husain</span></b>[/center]
Pakistan is lucky enough to have a visionary leader in the form of Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain whose family has sacrificed so much for the people of Pakistan. So when this great leader’s younger brother Wajahat Hussain and three nephews were detained under the anti-terrorist law at Gatwick Airport in London for several hours upon their arrival from Barcelona I felt insulted. I was then taken on an emotional rollercoaster when they were deported from London for Pakistan without even being given an opportunity to shop at duty free. Here are the blood relatives of one of the greatest politicians the world has ever seen, and they are treated in this terrible manner and deported without even being allowed to pick up their favourite Marks & Spencer sweaters. Oh the cruelty.

Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain for those of you who need an introduction is the president of the PML-Q, and had a brief stint as prime minister as well. His cousin Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi served selflessly as the Chief Minister of Punjab and the family has given up so much to serve the people of Pakistan. But Chaudhry Shujaat will go down in the annals of history as one of the finest orators that this country has ever produced. Had Chaudhry Shujaat gone to Oxford, he would surely have been the president of the Oxford Union — I hear that Oxford is planning to give the veteran politician an honorary degree. What most people don’t know is that Chaudhry Shujaat is the honorary Consul General for South Korea, and as always he has underplayed his role in creating thousands of jobs created by the famed yellow cab scheme during the Nawaz years. The humble Chaudhry Shujaat and how he has served selflessly, yet the British Government treats his relatives like suspected terrorists? How low can Her Majesty’s security forces stoop?

On Friday the foreign office summoned Britain’s Acting High Commissioner Ray Kyles and conveyed their “concern” and “displeasure” over the way, Chaudhry Shujaat’s brother and little nephews were treated by British anti-terror police. What they should have communicated to the acting high commissioner was that Chaudhry Shujaat was actually our very own Winston Churchill and the high regard that the people of Pakistan have for him. The foreign office should also demand that the transcript of the interrogation should also be made public so that the people of Pakistan know that the Chaudhry brothers and their family are as clean as the driven snow. And that no attempt to tarnish their impeccable reputation will succeed, as the people of Pakistan know that all their dealings are above board.

In the same vein, President Musharraf should feel for his political ally and best friend. Here he is, the world’s most renowned anti-terrorist president who fought on the frontline in the “War on Terror” for almost a decade, and his best friend’s younger brother is being detained and deported? I’m surprised that the president hasn’t found time from his lectures at Davos (the President is also an economist when he’s not fighting terror, lawyers, and judges) to call Gordon Brown and give him a military style dressing down. I’m also surprised that President Musharraf has not ordered that a commission be set up with the help of Scotland Yard to find out what exactly happened and why these friends of his were detained. After all they were in Barcelona to mobilize the Pakistani community there on his behalf. In essence they were presidential diplomats travelling on state business — no doubt on the expense of the state (and us lowly taxpayers of course) and since the state being General ® Musharraf he should step up to the plate immediately.

While student groups across the country are planning vigils to mark this great disrespect to the Chaudhries of Gujrat, I believe that Moonis Elahi, who is well known in Lahore as one of the greatest young entrepreneurs this country has ever produced, is planning on abandoning all ventures in Great Britain. Not only that the son of Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, whose business acumen far outstrips his youth is also planning on liquidating the family’s assets in Great Britain as a sign of protest. Reportedly the British High Commission is quaking in their boots at this huge loss of investment. According to sources in the financial community, Marks & Spencer’s stock price is going to take a nosedive on the FTSE on Monday as the Gujrati clan has announced a boycott of all M&S products.

Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, a man of many talents is also reportedly extremely upset at the detention of his younger brother (and little nephews), and is said to be in a state of emotional distress. Insiders believe that this event may impact the fiery speeches the elder statesman was to give in the PML-Q’s election campaign, which in turn may be a blow to South Asian democracy. Had the British government thought about the far-reaching implications of their actions?

As a Pakistani I think it is the government’s duty to make the facts around the detention of Wajahat Hussain absolutely clear to the public, and the British government should also ensure that all the details are released to the press. Pakistan cannot afford to ignore the plight of one of its greatest politicians, linguist, orator, and most of all a visionary who has not gained an iota since he became a public servant.
The writer is an entrepreneur and business consultant. Email: shakir@gmail.com

Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[Guest]

<b>Pakistan Railways to buy 150 new coaches</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->LAHORE: Pakistan Railways (PR) would buy 150 passenger coaches of different classes worth Rs 5.5 billion from China, sources told Daily Times on Monday.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

for baloch freedom fighters . <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-Naresh+Jan 27 2008, 03:16 PM-->QUOTE(Naresh @ Jan 27 2008, 03:16 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>k.ram Ji :</b>


<b>Ek Din Aysa Aavay Ki Chandan Bhi Aag Ugalnay Lug Javey!</b>

Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->
[right][snapback]77688[/snapback][/right]
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Nareshji,

From your lips to bhagwan vishnu's ears!

<!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[Naresh]

[center]<b><span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>PAKISTAN’S EXPORTS AND IMPORTS OF GOODS & SERVICES : JULY-DEC 2007</span></b>[/center]

<b><span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Balance of Goods & Services : USD -9.650 BILLION</span></b>

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[Naresh]

<b>Expo-Pakistan in limbo, as foreign buyers shun visit to Pakistan</b>

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[Guest]

Any idea amount in Mushy begging bowl?
Or West will give money only after Mushy will deliver no 1 and no2.

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Two policemen, 2 militant killed in Karachi gun battle
dawn.com
KARACHI (updated on: January 29, 2008, 20:01 PST): Security forces exchanged gunfire with militants holed up at a house in Karachi on Tuesday, with at least two militants and two policemen dead, officials said. Two extremists were also arrested, officials said, adding that they were from a banned al Qaeda-linked group blamed for a 2004 attack on a top general in Karachi that killed 11 people.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->“They also planned to launch terrorist attacks on military installations in Karachi.”
The suspects were identified as:
1) Syed Mohammed Waseem, alias Imran, of <b>Harkat-ul-Mujahideen</b>, Karachi;
2) Mohammed Aijaz, alias Abdul Rehman, of <b>Harkat-ul-Jihad Islami</b>, Bhambar, Azad Kashmir;
3) Jamil Ahmed, alias Wazir Akbar, of<b> Harkat-ul-Jihad Islami</b>, Multan;
4) would-be suicide bomber Aziz Ahmed, alias Mohammed Khan, of <b>Jaish-i-Mohammed</b>, Lodhran; and
5) Mohammed Hamid, alias Qasim, of <b>Harkat-ul-Jihad Islami</b>.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->