ISPR-wood….Updated

"Glorious Resolve received the Jury's Special award from the President of the Italian Senate," says ISPR

At a time when the army were busy burying their dead, I was surprised to find ISPR found it an appropriate time to create a plug for their……MOVIE!

ISPR documentary bags first prize at International Film Festival

Funny thing is they are calling it a “documentary” though it is no such thing. That it is “based on a true story” gives away the fact that it is a complete work of fiction, confirmed yet again when they describe it as “emotionally powerful dramatization of the story of the courageous soldiers under fire in a dire combat situation.” And when they talk “International Award”, they really are not talking Oscars but some third-rate “International Film [PROPAGANDA] Festival” named “Eserciti-e-Popoli” (Army and People)  specifically put together to hawk trash like this in Italy.

One other thing I can not comprehend is that though the story states “‘Glorious Resolve’ received first prize“, the ISPR release states it received a “Jury’s Special award” (so that “first prize” is bullshit; and we can well imagine how that Jury’s Special Award was acquired 😉

Anyways, here is the “official” synopsis:

Glorious Resolve is based on a true story about the infantry soldiers “who fought against all odds when 1500 miscreants raided one of the section level outpost of an Infantry Battalion in South Waziristan Agency on the night of 29 May 2009.”

The documentary highlights “not only the sacrifices and achievements of the Pakistan Army in War against Terrorism but also its glorious resolve to uproot the menace of terrorism from Pakistan.”

Glorious Resolve recreates the sacrifice of 43 soldiers of the Punjab Regiment who laid their lives during the attack.

Barf at all the clichés! And  “1500 miscreants” vs 43 soldiers? Right! The “miscreants” always attack in such huge numbers since they are doing gorilla warfare (I won’t be surprised if the numbers have been switched in this “true story” moviementary…)

UPDATE: Now this supposed raid by “1500 miscreants” that killed “43 soldiers” has been bugging me. If there was such a raid in which 43 soldiers were killed, I am sure it would have made the papers (ISPR would not stay silent over this achievement, as this moviementary proves). But checking the papers for May 30, 2009 and May 31, 2009 (in case this happened late at night and did not make it on May 30), I can find NOT A SINGLE story about this raid. Oh yes, there are plenty of stories but they are of army raids killing “militants” but not the other way around (remember too that it was Swat that was hot those days and not South Waziristan), e.g.: May 30, 2009: Forces Secure Peuchar, Bahrain in Swat Valley Killing 28 insurgents ‘Operation against militants in Swat to continue’ ‘Bajaur, Mohmand IDPs not to forget government’s apathy and discriminatory behaviour ’ Stolen US arms being used in Swat ISPR  Bounty for Fazlullah raised to Rs50m  May 31, 2009 Troops regain control of Mingora, Swat Taliban behead three ‘spies’ in Pacha Killay Military operation likely Residents of Charbagh asked to leave area  Eight militants killed in Kohat Frontier Region  See what I mean? That “May 29, 2009 raid by 1500 miscreants” is itself A COMPLETE FABRICATION! So much for “based on a true story!”

Here is another interesting thing: Visiting “Eserciti-e-Popoli” you see that it is almost a dead site. Most of the links don’t work and those that do have useless info that it is there is like:

An International Competition of Documentaries about the contemporary military produced by participating nations and by institutions in some way connected with the world of Defense.

It mentions no films except an Italian one form 2002 festival (I checked all pages, including the italian ones). It mentions no other festival that was held so of course it gives no calendar or a list of winners.

Sorry folks, but this post is NOT “based on a true story”. It is a TRUE STORY of just another of ISPR’s lies.

BTW: I could write a book about the moviementary’s byline “Death before Disgrace” but I wont. Let me just mention:

1948, 1965, 1971, Kargil, Balochistan, FATA, PATA, Raymond Davis, DHAs, Musharraf, Zia, Yahya, Ayub, GHQ attack, Mehran Base attack, Abbotabad, NATO attacks, DAILY drones, NRO,…,…,…(and I don’t know how much more I am missing)

P.S. Seeing the comments on the Tribune site where this story comes from, one states:

Its directed by Sarosh Kiyani who is the son of Gen. Ashfaq Kiyani

And checking the ISPR release confirms it:

Glorious Resolve was the joint venture of ISPR and Mind[DOESN’T]works Media.Brigadier Syed Azmat Ali was the Executive Producer whereas Brig Syed Mujtaba Tirmizi was the Executive Director of the film. Lieutenant Colonel Irfan Aziz was the project director and the writer of this film which was amicably directed by Sarosh Kayani. Dr Hassan Waqas Rana of Mind[DOESN’T]works Media was the producer whereas Bilal Lashari was the Director of Photography.

Well, besides confirming what our generals are really busy at, this confirmed the director was indeed one named “Sarosh Kayani” but not knowing Ashfaq Kayani’s family, I had to check (the name “Sarosh” did sound Indian to me). And lo and behold, imagine my surprise when this story confirmed the fact that Sarosh is indeed Ashfaq Kayani’s son….

Now I knew Kayani was bad, but that he was this pathetic, I couldn’t have imagined!

Side Note 1: Here is another news item that puts a new light on the NATO strike. According to this story, i.e. NATO’s explanation, “aircraft which had been called into the area to provide “close air support” to troops on the ground was responsible for causing casualties among the Pakistani soldiers.” This only means one thing: Not only NATO violated the airspace, but also crossed into Pakistan territory on foot. (Shouldn’t they accept NATO’s explanation for it makes them look a little better? At least it shows that — for a change — their men acted the way they were supposed to and tried to stop the intrusion? But expecting that is expecting a bit much…they refuse to accept this excuse by NATO and the damn fools are instead pushing the “We pleaded” story:

The NATO airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers lasted almost two hours and continued even after Pakistani commanders had pleaded with coalition forces to stop, the army claimed Monday in charges that could further inflame anger in Pakistan.

Point to note is that this EXPOSES THEM FURTHER (besides the “pleading” bit). Note that here is the admission that the ATTACK LASTED ALMOST TWO HOURS and these bozos on the ground did not get any support from their bozos in the air…One can be certain that those commanders were also in contact with their own commanders elsewhere but those commanders (including Kayani, for I am sure he was informed of what was going on) DID NOTHING (in fact they probably issued a stand-down order and let their fellow soldiers burn).

UPDATE: It is now being confirmed that NO ACTION was taken following the attack for a FULL FOUR HOURS AT LEAST (Maybe they were too busy putting finishing touches on this news release).

Side Note 2: I don’t have a clue what CJ Iftikhar Chaudhry means by this:

• ‘Terrorists behind Swat unrest to face justice’