Pakistan in US missile refit row: BBC

Washington has accused Pakistan of illegally modifying a US-supplied anti-ship missile, US media say.

The US believes the Harpoon, sold to Pakistan by the Reagan administration, has been altered for land-based use, the New York Times reported.

Islamabad says the accusations are "incorrect and based on wrong intelligence", Pakistani media say.

The US protested to Pakistan's PM in June, the Times said, fearing increased tension with Pakistan's rival, India.

'Secret test'

The Times quoted a senior US administration official as saying: "The focus of our concern is that this is a potential unauthorised modification of a maritime anti-ship defensive capability to an offensive land-attack missile."

The paper said it had been told there was a secret missile test on 23 April.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Pakistan in US missile refit row: BBC

ICBM: Pakistan intercontinental missile underway: Daily.pk

Farooq Hussain

Technology to cover range of 7,000 Kms, Pakistan, to increase its defensive capabilities, has started preparing intercontinental missile with a range of 7000 kilometres.

According to sources, the intercontinental missile has a range of 7000 kilometres and is capable of hitting its target falling within its range. The missile can contain nuclear as well as traditional warheads. The missile has been termed a significant milestone for the defence of the country and is believed to strengthen the defence. According to sources, the missile would soon be test fired.
PAF to get airborne refullers next year: Pakistan Air Force plans to induct four Chinese airborne refullers next year, in a move to counter the Indian Air Forces’ enhanced capabilities after New Delhi acquired six similar aircraft, an Indian news agency quoted the PAF chief as saying.
Air Chief Marshal Qamar Suleman underlined that the airborne refullers were necessary to match the IAF capabilities.

“This is an absolutely new capability which we are inducting. We never had this capability in the PAF,” Suleman added, maintaining, in order to match the IAF’s acquisition of the first of three Airborne Warning and Control Systems (AWACS), the PAF would receive four Chinese systems between 2011 and 2012.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: ICBM: Pakistan intercontinental missile underway: Daily.pk

Pakistani Media Needs to be Tamed

Pakistani media needs to be much more mature when it comes to displaying images to a nationwide audience which carries no real substance whatsoever. The showing of a grainy video clip supposedly showing Taliban carrying out a sentence on a woman in Swat serves nobody, especially in Pakistan. The incessant ranting of the media needs to be censured. It seemed to me the clip came straight out of Hollywood studios designed to brainwash the Pakistani nation after the speech of the American President Barrack Obama, where he wants to put Pakistan in the same category as Afghanistan and wants Pakistan to descend into chaos so that the US has an excuse to further infiltrate into Pakistani territory. I would discuss first the religious aspect of the punishment meted out to the woman and then what the US wants to accomplish from mass viewership of such clips.

Religiously speaking, punishments have been carried out publicly in countries and territories which adhere to the Shariah law and such a sight is not so uncommon in those countries. Countries such as Saudi Arabia regularly carry out public decapitations and flogging of criminals after the due process of law has been given its course. The public display of these is designed to serve as an example for all to observe and acts as a deterrent to such crimes. One of my acquaintances, who lives in Saudi Arabia once narrated a detailed account of one such floggings when he was visiting a small town in the country. There he saw a man being whipped for a crime he had committed according to the Shariah law. Many local town people were present to witness the event. Usually, the judge who announces the verdict is not present in the ceremony. But this time he was present himself when the punishment was being given so that the whip floggers do not show any leniency/mercy in meting out the sentence and it serves as a real example for all to see. Testament to the heinous crime he had committed. Two floggers on each side whipped the person one after another while the judge chanted “flog him more”, till the guy lay unconscious. At that time, the judge ordered the floggers to stop.

The force and the brutality of a whip lash is such that even one whip is enough to take virtually the life out of a person. Now, the way the woman was shown being beaten was actually a mockup and it clearly seemed it was purposely designed for the media. Had she been beaten or given out the real punishment it would have been impossible for her to even stand on her own or even be conscious after even a three or four flogs. The timing of the video although perfect for the US administration, just after the new US policy, is suspicious because it has been portrayed that such an event happened months ago and reports that the video is fake. Even if the video is somehow proved to be real, then the issue comes out to be which crime is more heinous, the shoddy flogging of woman by Taliban a few months ago which might have hurt the woman slightly or the death of women and children by the US drones which incidentally happened on the same day that the Pakistani media was busy ranting about the woman being flogged. Nobody cared that women and children were brutally and silently killed by the US drones in Pakistani territory but the media was very busy doing propaganda against Taliban and portraying a bad image of Islam, precisely what the US wants.

Pakistani media should better spend its time on more important issues of national importance like the violations of Indus Water Treaty by India which has made one of Pakistan’s largest rivers by volume of water the Chenab virtually dry. Furthermore, India is constructing even more dams in its territory on Pakistani rivers downstream. It should also cover the plight of the poor families every day whose loved ones die at the missile firings of the US drones. Innocent women and children should not be called collateral damage and each death should be discussed and thoroughly investigated.

United States is to blame for pushing all the militants fighting the US occupation in Afghanistan into Pakistan. US should realize it cannot occupy Afghani territory without the will of the Afghani people by installing corrupt puppet regimes like that of the Karzai government. The US occupation is designed to push the militant Afghanis into Pakistani tribal areas thereby destabilizing Pakistan and destroying the only Islamic nuclear nation from within and Pakistani media is playing at the hands of these neo-cons and neo-crusaders. The sooner, the US government figures out that they cannot kill or subjugate thirty million Afghans and rule them against their will, the sooner this mess would be solved. The Afghanis have a right to live however they feel to live their lives without the need of a foreign power to dictate their affairs. Time is now for a dialog with the Taliban and a deal with these people which brings an end to the violence that has been perpetrated in the name of terrorism. Al-Qaeda and suicide bombing is a US creation which has no place in Islam. In fact, suicide is the worst crime in Islam and the punishment for that is to burn in hell for ever. Osama bin laden used to work for CIA at one time, that is for sure, what we do not know is whether he is still working for the CIA. It is about time, the US had a clear exit strategy and leave Afghanistan permanently and solve problems through a dialog with the Afghani people rather through the use of force. If all the Afghanis who have come to Pakistan after the US occupation leave Pakistan, Pakistan would be a much secure place and Pakistani people would be relieved of the spate of bombings that have devastated this great country of late. Also, US should not be allowed to operate in Pakistani areas without impunity. Any civilian death at the hands of the US drones should be investigated and the US commanders should be tried under international law for killing innocent people. Pakistani blood should not be shed so cheaply and profusely in this criminal war of terror.

Unless the Pakistani people are serious about the true perils that face the Pakistani people like this idiotic war on terror and the fallout from it, the ramifications of the Indus water treaty violations by India which can force many people in Pakistan to die of hunger and the everyday issues of clean and renewable sources of energy like solar, wind and hydro-power, we cannot be a nation worthy to be respected in the comity of nations.

Our skewed world view won't let us see the real Pakistan: Guardian

The west can no longer afford to impose its values and notions of democracy on countries that neither want nor need them

Jason Burke

First for the good news: Pakistan is not about to explode. The Islamic militants are not going to take power tomorrow; the nuclear weapons are not about to be trafficked to al-Qaida; the army is not about to send the Afghan Taliban to invade India; a civil war is unlikely.

The bad news is that Pakistan poses us questions that are much more profound than those we would face if this nation of 170m, the world's second biggest Muslim state, were simply a failed state. If Pakistan collapsed, we would be faced by a serious security challenge. But the resilience of Pakistan and the nation's continuing collective refusal to do what the west would like it to together pose questions with implications far beyond simple security concerns. They are about our ability to influence events in far-off places, our capacity to analyse and understand the behaviour and perceived interests of other nations and cultures, about our ability to deal with difference, about how we see the world.

Pakistan has very grave problems. In the last two years, I have reported on bloody ethnic and political riots, on violent demonstrations, from the front line of a vicious war against radical Islamic insurgents. I spent a day with Benazir Bhutto a week before she was assassinated and covered the series of murderous attacks committed at home and abroad by militant groups based in Pakistan with shadowy connections to its security services. There is an economic crisis and social problems - illiteracy, domestic violence, drug addiction - of grotesque proportions. Osama bin Laden is probably on Pakistani soil.

For many developing nations, all this would signal the state's total disintegration. This partly explains why Pakistan's collapse is so often predicted. The nation's meltdown was forecast when its eastern half seceded to become Bangladesh in 1971, during the violence that preceded General Zia ul-Haq's coup in 1977, when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, when Zia was killed in 1988, during the horrific sectarian violence of the early Nineties, through sundry ethnic insurgencies, after 9/11, after the 2007 death of Bhutto and now after yet another political crisis. These predictions have been consistently proved wrong. The most recent will be too. Yesterday, tempers were already calming.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Our skewed world view won't let us see the real Pakistan: Guardian

Pakistan surges well ahead of India in missile technology: APP

NEW DELHI, Feb 2 (APP): Pakistan has surged well ahead of India in missile technology as there is only short‑range Prithivi missile which is 100% operational as of now. “Times of India” in its report quoting defence sources said though the 700‑km Agni‑I and 2,000‑km‑plus Agni‑II ballistic missiles are being “inducted” into the armed forces, but it will take time for them to become fully operational.

The Indian forces are still in the process of conducting “training trials” of Agni‑I and Agni‑II to give them the requisite capabilities to fire them on their own. The Agni‑III, tested successfully only twice in April 2007 and May 2008, will not be ready for induction in the armed forces before 2012. The design work on Agni‑V, with 5,000‑km range is also in progress. “We should be ready to test Agni‑V by 2010‑2011,” the daily quoting an official said. For more on this article, please click on the following link: Pakistan surges well ahead of India in missile technology: APP

Obama to triple Pakistan aid to cripple terror: Economic Times

NEW DELHI: The Obama administration plans to triple non-military aid to Pakistan in exchange for commitments on fighting terror from the Pakistan government.

The aim is to use the aid as leverage to get further commitments on terror from the Pakistan government and at the same time fortify the position of the civilian government. This was stated by secretary of state designate Hillary Rodham Clinton. She told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the issue is not just about denying al-Qaeda and other extremist groups safe haven, but also to persuade Afghanistan and Pakistan that their security and their future is also at risk.

The Obama administration has indicated that it is planning a review of the Afghanistan policy which would have an impact on Pakistan. Ms Clinton who was testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was quoted as saying that the administration planned to separate military and non military aid to Pakistan.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Obama to triple Pakistan aid to cripple terror: Economic Times

Indian Army lacked ammo to attack Pakistan: expert: Daily Times

‘India feared Pakistan might capture land’

NEW DELHI: India’s air force and navy were ready to strike Pakistan after the November 26 Mumbai terrorist attacks, but New Delhi stopped them because its army lacked key artillery equipment and adequate ammunition supplies, an Indian strategic affairs expert said in a newspaper article on Saturday.

The Indian Army could have taken several weeks to begin operations, and New Delhi feared Pakistan could penetrate into Indian territory to make gains that could prove costly “politically rather than militarily”, according to Manoj Joshi.“The 400-odd Bofors guns we bought in the 1980s are falling apart for want of spares. The 600-odd Shilka anti-aircraft cannons are in desperate need of upgrade. And, this is just the tip of the iceberg,” he wrote, quoting an unidentified retired general.

The same general disclosed that India’s numerically vast tank fleet was in poor shape it did not have any mobile artillery to speak of. Joshi said the Indian Air Force was prepared to strike specified targets with the Israeli Popeye – a very destructive and accurate 100-kilometre range flying bomb – and the Paveway GPS-guided bombs. The Indian Navy was also ready to use its conventional solid-fuelled 220-kilometre-range Klub land-attack missiles, he wrote.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Indian Army lacked ammo to attack Pakistan: expert: Daily Times

Tensions rise as troops mass on India's border: Scotsman

By SEBASTIAN ABBOT

PAKISTAN began moving thousands of troops to the Indian border yesterday, adding to the tensions triggered by the Mumbai terror attacks.

India has blamed Pakistan-based militants for last month's raid on its financial capital, which killed 164 people and provoked an increasingly bitter war of words between the nuclear-armed neighbours that have fought three wars in 60 years.The troops were being diverted away from tribal areas near Afghanistan, officials said, in a move expected to frustrate the United States, which has been pushing Pakistan to step up its fight against al-Qaeda and Taleban militants near the Afghan border.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Tensions rise as troops mass on India's border: Scotsman

Interpol 'not given Mumbai data': BBC

The global police agency Interpol says India has not shared any information with it about last month's deadly attacks in Mumbai (Bombay).

Interpol secretary general Ronald Noble, who is in Islamabad, said its only knowledge of what happened had come from the media.
Pakistan also says it has had no firm information from Delhi.
India says Pakistani militants carried out the attacks, which left more than 170 people dead.

Only one of the 10 gunmen, Mohammed Ajmal Amir Qasab, survived and he is in Indian custody.
On Monday India handed a letter to Pakistan it says was written by Mr Qasab, confirming he is Pakistani and asking for Islamabad's help.
The attacks have severely strained relations between the two countries.
But on Tuesday, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh dismissed talk of possible war with Pakistan.
"Nobody wants war," he told reporters. "The issue is terror - and territory in Pakistan being used to promote and abet terrorism."

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Interpol 'not given Mumbai data': BBC

Pakistan warns India it will respond to any attack: Associated Press

By KHALID TANVEER – 4 hours ago

MULTAN, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan warned India on Thursday not to launch a strike against it and vowed to respond to any attack — a sign that the relationship between the two nuclear powers remains strained in the wake of the Mumbai attacks.

Though the South Asian rivals have engaged in tit-for-tat accusations in recent weeks, both sides have repeatedly said they hope to avoid conflict. But India has not ruled out the use of force in response to the attacks, which it blames on a Pakistan-based militant group.
"We want peace, but should not be complacent about India," Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told reporters in his hometown of Multan in central Pakistan. "We should hope for the best but prepare for the worst."

Pakistan and India have fought three wars since they were created in the bloody partition of the Indian subcontinent at independence from Britain in 1947.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Pakistan warns India it will respond to any attack: Associated Press

India, Pakistan: Signs of a Coming War: Stratfor

Several major signs of a coming Indian-Pakistani war surfaced Dec. 24.

Indian troops reportedly have deployed to the Barmer district of southwest Rajasthan state along the Indian-Pakistani border. Furthermore, the state government of Rajasthan has ordered residents of its border villages to be prepared for relocation. The decision reportedly came after a meeting among the state’s director-general of police, home secretary and an official from the central government. Stratfor confirmed the report with an Indian army officer.
According to India’s ZeeNews, the Pakistani army replaced the Pakistan Rangers that regularly patrol the border with India. The Pakistani troop movements were later confirmed by U.K. Bansal, the additional director-general of India’s Border Security Force (BSF) in Barmer, Rajasthan.

As Stratfor reported Dec. 22, there is a high probability of India using military force against Pakistan after Dec. 26, when a deadline expires for Pakistan to deliver on Indian demands to crack down on Islamist militant proxies that threaten India. With low expectations that Pakistan has the will or capability to deliver on these demands, India has spent the past month preparing for military action against Pakistan. Pressure is now ratcheting up on both sides of the border, with Indian Air Marshal P.K. Barbora, air officer commanding-in-chief of the Western Air Command, telling reporters Dec. 24 that as many as 5,000 targets in Pakistan have thus far been identified, while saying that many of the militants hiding out in camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir have already fled.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: India, Pakistan: Signs of a Coming War: Stratfor

India has not shared any evidence of attack: Interpol: The News

NEW DELHI: Interpol chief General Ronald K Noble said in Islamabad on Tuesday that India had neither shared any evidence about the involvement of Pakistani nationals in the Mumbai attacks nor given any names to the agency.

While it may surprise some, the fact remains that even approaching the France-based global agency in the past has been of little help for India. According to senior Indian police and security officials, it's neither mandatory nor a norm to share probe details with Interpol.

"Whether or not to approach Interpol is entirely up to the country concerned. Even after the role of an accused is established and he is charge sheeted, there are other ways of nabbing him, like issuing a letter rogatory to the country where he might be hiding," a senior police officer said.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: India has not shared any evidence of attack: Interpol: The News

Pak, Indian air forces step-up surveillance flight: Online News

LAHORE/NEW DELHI: Pakistan Air Force (PAF) jet fighters continued flying over the skies for the second consecutive day on Tuesday for protection of eastern border while Indian air forces have also stepped up flights along Pakistan border.

According to the details, 4 jetfighters equipped with extra-fuel tanks kept taking rounds of Lahore air space on Tuesday morning for surveillance.

PAF F-16 fighters and Miraj jet left Sargodha Air Base and landed at the Lahore air base after hovering over areas of Lahore for about 8 minutes. The jetfighters also made to and for surveillance flight from Sargodha to Lahore.

The people witnessing the jet-speeding fighters happily waved and welcomed the ever-eagle ’Shaheens’ and voiced slogans in support of the motherland. The people especially elders having tears in their eyes also shouted slogans "Allah-o-Akbar" "Allah-o-Akbar".

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Pak, Indian air forces step-up surveillance flight: Online News

20: Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani: The Global Elite: Newsweek

In theory this mumbling, chain-smoking general answers to President Asif Ali Zardari. But Kayani and his troops remain the dominant power in what could be the most dangerous country in the world. He's responsible for Pakistan's nukes; for the battle against Al Qaeda and its tribal allies along the Afghan border; and for managing tensions with neighbor India. So far, his army has kept itself out of politics and seems focused on the battle against jihadists. In the wake of the November terrorist attacks in Mumbai, Kayani stood firm on Pakistan's sovereignty while also taking measures against the alleged sponsors of the outrage.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: 20: Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani: The Global Elite: Newsweek

'Pakistan will respond in case of attack': Press TV

Islamabad has expressed its desire for peace but warned New Delhi of an effective response, should India launch an attack on Pakistan. "Pakistan doesn't want war and we are desirous of peace, but if war is thrust on us, then we have all the rights to defend," Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Sunday. Qureshi's warning came as relations between the two neighbors continue to deteriorate with India repeatedly blaming a banned Pakistani group of orchestrating the deadly November attacks on Mumbai.

The minister further said that Pakistani Armed Forces were completely capable and prepared to defend the country should the row between the two nuclear-armed states escalate into a war. India and Pakistan have fought three wars since independence from Britain. According to some media reports, following the Mumbai attacks India went so far as to deploy its warplane to the border with Pakistan. Talking to reporters at Multan Airport, Qureshi reiterated Islamabad's call for concrete evidence implicating Pakistani militants in the attacks that left more than 170 dead.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: 'Pakistan will respond in case of attack': Press TV

Is India getting ready to strike Pakistan?: Donklephant

As the luxury Taj and Trident hotels prepared to reopen for the first time since the November 26th terrorist attacks in Mumbai, The Times of India reported that India is “keeping the military option alive and kicking in face of Pakistan doublespeak on the crackdown on terror.” According to the report, “a top-level meeting was held on Saturday evening to review the security situation in the region and the state of defence preparedness of the armed forces.” Similar accounts of high-level security meetings have appeared elsewhere in the nation’s press over the past couple of days. More ominously, another leading newspaper, The Telegraph, quoted “top government sources” saying that the Mumbai attacks were “the direct handiwork of Pakistan’s military that trained and armed the militants and planned the strike in detail.”

Meanwhile, on both sides of the Indo-Pakistan border, stories about apparent border incursions by air continue to appear, including an Indian report of “massive practice by Indian Air Force planes in Jamnagar” a city in western India a short jet hop from Pakistan.
This should not come as a surprise. Since the Mumbai attacks, Pakistani authorities have gone through the motions of rounding up the usual suspects associated with the Kashmiri terrorist outfits, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Muhammad, that U.S. intelligence officials believe were responsible for the attacks. But Pakistan resolutely refuses even to concede that Pakistanis were involved in the attacks, much less crack down hard on the Kashmiri groups it has long sponsored and supported.
The Mumbai attacks shook Indian society and the Indian leadership to the core. Unless it gets some hard concessions from Pakistan that are politically difficult or impossible for any Pakistani government to make, India’s governing Congress Party government simply cannot afford to kick up a little dust and hope the matter will go away. It will likely lose the next national election.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Is India getting ready to strike Pakistan?: Donklephant

United States an "International Migraine"

Never has there been so much strife and trouble in the world which threatens ordinary civilians living in the cities as has been since the US has taken over as the primary bully starting from the end of the cold war. In a uni-polar world the United States has left no stone unturned to use its military might to create chaos in one country or another. Whether, that is through supporting despotic regimes (Egypt etc.) to accomplish sinister designs or initiating war in the name of the so called “war on terror”. The United States is also in the fore front of the neo-conic crusade to settle the Jews in the Middle East in order for the second coming of Christ to take place, thereby, spreading chaos in the entire Middle East. Iraq is yet another mess along with Afghanistan where the war shows no sign of abating, thanks to overwhelming support from the local population of Afghanistan, besides help from the shadowy Al Qaeda.

Human Rights Violations by the US

US’s support for other like-minded terrorist states such as India and Israel is no surprise since they are all joined at the hip. Each of them is in business to terrorize, subjugate and suppress freedom of the respective countries or territories which they have occupied by force. Suppressing human rights has also been the main objective of these countries with human rights groups severely chastising these terrorist states but to no avail. Guatanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib are telling examples of how the US runs its business. Bush has finally conceded in the latest interview that the occupation of Iraq was a big mistake. Mahatir Mohamed, the ex-Malaysian Prime Minister in an interview with Al-Jazeera has called for the world to declare George Bush and Tony Blair as international terrorists and hold them accountable for the turmoil and misery they have spread throughout the world in the name of the so called “war on terror”. United States is continuing to destabilize neighboring Pakistan where Pakistani troops have already suffered close to a thousand deaths at the hands of the terrorists which the US is unable to handle in Afghanistan. Pakistani cities have also undergone a regular spate of suicide bombings for showing support to the US with the US having no plan or clear cut deadline for withdrawal.

Myopic Policies of the US and Pakistan in the Line of Fire

The Afghanistan government recently conceded that the real solution to the problem is to talk to the Taliban instead of fighting a losing battle. US firepower is of no use in the terrain, training and time the insurgents have at their disposal. If the US does not have support of the local populace, this war can go on for centuries without an end. It is about time Pakistan asked the US for at least 100 billion dollars in damages to the Pakistani way of life where terror has become part of ordinary everyday life. Pakistan should tell the US categorically to find a way that is workable without spreading terror through Pakistani cities. The best way for the US would be to leave immediately from Afghanistan and let the Taliban govern Afghanistan. The US can still maintain a good diplomatic relationship by having a pact with the Taliban emphasizing that no Al Qaeda be allowed to operate from Afghanistan. The sooner the US realizes the importance of diplomacy, the sooner we can stop the whole region and the world at large from descending into the US led chaos. Diplomatic engagement can accomplish much more than any bullet or missile can do and engaging Taliban is the key. Holding talks between the Afghanistan government and Taliban in Saudi Arabia was a step in the right direction. Myopic and gung-ho policies of the US are to blame for the current pandemonium we see everywhere in South Asia.

Indian Oppression in the Occupied Territories of South Asia

India has long been subjugating and oppressing freedom movements from various parts of India. Kashmir is in the forefront because Pakistan has fought three wars with India over Kashmir already and it has come very close to a full scale war with Pakistan on at least three occasions previously. Tamil freedom movement in the south is also not far behind in its scale and resolve where the movement has engaged India and Sri-lanka militarily on a daily basis. Khalistan movement in the Indian Punjab along with freedom movements in Assam, Nagaland and Mizo(90 percent Christian, wanted to join Burma) and parts close to Nepal have also shown their determination from time to time.

Kashmir is an especially troubled region where the indigenous population has fought against Indian occupation for many years now. Hundreds of thousands of Kashmiris have already laid their lives for the cause of an independent homeland. Recently, even Indian journalists have started to take notice of the human rights violations that the Indian Army is committing in the occupied Kashmir. State terrorism from India it seems would never be able to subdue the local population as there has never been any precedence from history where an occupier has ever held on to a territory without the consent of the locals.

Hindu Muslim Conflict in India and India’s International Relations

Muslim population in India elsewhere has also suffered at the hands of the majority Hindus with Gujarat Massacre the most publicized event of them all. Even in Mumbai there has always been a sense of uneasy calm between the Muslims and the Hindus at daggers drawn during the Mumbai bombings a few years back. Even very recently there have been riots in the Hyderabad Deccan between Hindus and Muslims. On a national level India itself has never had good relations with any of its neighbors including China, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Burma and Bangladesh; blaming each of these countries for supporting insurgencies or intrusions in the adjoining areas. Pakistan is no exception.

Militant Attacks in India

The acts of terrorism brought about by these freedom movements are also not so uncommon in India. In fact, they are the result of the oppressive Indian policies towards its own populace. It is interesting to note that some of the acts of terrorism have also been perpetrated by the extremist right wing Hindu parties. Very recently a serving Colonel of the Indian Army was arrested on charges related to terrorism. Blaming Pakistan for all of India’s problems can be a workable cry during election rallies but holds no weight if India itself does nothing to alleviate the problems in Kashmir and elsewhere.

Historical Freedom Movements in India

India has a history of territories that have broken apart from India simply because many South Asians do not find it acceptable that their territories and their lives be governed from the Hindu majority ruling from the center. Many states have already achieved freedom or separation from India. Pakistan and Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Burma and Chinese Kashmir are the territories which have already separated. In order to avoid any further division of India, the Indian Army is in the habit of using full force to subjugate freedom fighters to keep modern India in one piece and calls these freedom movements as terrorist movements. United States is also hand in hand with India in depriving humanity freedom from oppression and calls many of these movements as terrorist movements. United States and India think they can fool the world in whatever banner or politically correct name they can conjure up.

Towards a Multi-polar World

United States thinks that bank rolling the United Nations can help it run the entire world as it feels free. It is about time the head quarters of the United Nations was shifted from the US to a neutral country or territory say Antarctica and all countries given their due voice. The current UN Security Council is ruled by the rich and powerful for the rich and powerful. Present day UN is just a tool used by the US to wage and legitimize one war after another. United States of Warica as it should be called should stop its bullying tactics and start following the playbook of China if it truly wants to earn respect and succeed as an economy. Waging war and financing current account deficits from borrowed money from the central banks of the entire world using the US treasury bills might have worked in the past but I am afraid in the modern world where there are plenty of sound options available especially with the West in the financial crunch; old strategies would be of no use. It is about time the US saw the writing on the wall; worried about its own economic problems and stopped meddling in the affairs of the entire world. Ethics over the politics of power would prevail.

Pakistan goes on military alert against India: Malaysia Sun

The Pakistan Air Force has been put on alert over what it has called India’s aggression.A PAF spokesman has said the airforce is focused on the Indian situation and is ready to defend the security and safety of its airspace.

A Pakistan Navy spokesman also said the navy was put on alert to closely watch Indian Navy's movements at sea.Tensions between Pakistan and India are rising as India accused Pakistan-based militant groups of involvement in the terrorist attack on India's financial centre, which killed more that 170 people and injured over 200.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Pakistan goes on military alert against India: Malaysia Sun

What Did Kashmir Have to Do with the Mumbai Attacks?: Time

Two suspected members of Lashkar e Toiba (LeT) — the same militant group that is under suspicion for orchestrating the Mumbai attacks — were killed by Indian authorities Friday night after trying to cross the border into Kashmir near the village of Dardpura. Two AK-47s were recovered from them, along with ammunition. That encounter, police say, is part of a slight increase in infiltration by militants from Pakistan over the last few months.

That development added to the growing evidence of both infiltration from Pakistan and local Indian collusion in the siege of Mumbai. Early on Saturday, Indian authorities revealed that two men had been arrested for illegally providing SIM cards to the attackers: one of them is believed to be a police officer from the Indian-occupied half of the disputed region of Kashmir. If so, it is a disturbing development. Police in Kashmir are deeply involved in the fight against the militants who sneak in from Pakistan as well as local Kashmiri separatists. Local newspapers report that Mumbai police officers have been in Srinagar this week investigating the role of Mukhtar Ahmed, the police constable from the area allegedly involved in the SIM card purchase. It is the first evidence so far that the attackers had help within India.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: What Did Kashmir Have to Do with the Mumbai Attacks?: Time

Brazil to sell 100 missiles to Pakistan: Chinaview

BRASILIA, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's Chamber of Foreign Trade approved on Tuesday official guarantees for the sale of 100 missiles to Pakistan.
The missiles, to be produced by Mectron, a company from Sao Jose dos Campos, in Sao Paulo state, would equip aircraft to detect and destroy radars, local media reported.
The sale was negotiated in April between the Pakistani government, the Brazilian Air Force and Mectron, but it needed approval from the Brazilian authorities to be completed.
After the meeting of the Chamber of Foreign Trade, Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson Jobim said this was a transaction between two countries.
"It's a very effective tool, which monitors land from airspace, locates and destroys if an order is given," he said.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Brazil to sell 100 missiles to Pakistan: Chinaview