I was surprised thinking it was about not mourning civilian deaths by drone attacks and was glad someone in the mainstream media had published something on it and that too Dawn (who usually call for MORE drone strikes and ask for bringing IDF-style check posts to Pakistan).
Boy, was I wrong! The crocodile tears Dawn and one Murtaza Haider (“Ph.D. is the Associate Dean of research and graduate programs at the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University in Toronto”) are shedding are for the Hazara shia community in Balochistan 29 of whom died in back September.
Now how do they jump from NATO strike victims all the way to a sectarian thing far, far away is amazing. That at the same time they forget thousands of other victims of drone strikes — something that would be an automatic link — is beyond my comprehension. Another NATURAL link would be thousands of Balochis killed by security forces (read Pakistan Army), no matter what sect they belong to, reeks of hypocrisy of the extreme kind. One can only not forget about those intentionally and if one is following an agenda. This is not an oversight and is proven by the fact that they would not print any comment that mentions those killings (though they find every ridiculous comment agreeing with their bullshit story “Oh, poor Hazars…oh the humanity! Poor poor shias….”).
Hypocrisy Squared:
Here is an example. I tried to be as p.c. as I could be and thought about giving posting a comment a try. I wrote:
I am surprised no mention is made of the other victims of countless NATO strikes: the victims of drones. That would have been more RELEVANT. And using this incident to talk about sectarian/minority thing is dishonest at the very least and stinks of the author having an agenda.
Another interesting thing is that among all the killings going on in Balochistan, the author can only see those from the Haraza Shia community. He knows 435 Hazarans have been killed. Care to tell us how many thousands non-Hazarans were killed in the same period in Balochistan?
I guess “Not all deaths are same” after all 😉
After sitting in moderation for a while, the comment was disappeared like a Baloch in Dera Bugti 😉
Shame on you Murtaza Haider and Shame on you Dawn!!!
Agencies add: Defence Minister Ch Ahmed Mukhtar also said on Wednesday that Shamsi airbase would be evacuated on December 11 but added that no decision has been made regarding Shahbaz airbase as yet. (source)
Remember Shahbaz is the main airbase for drone strikes and logistic support to NATO/ISAF. Shamsi is just a stupid airstrip (and any drones that flew from there flew into Afghanistan; remember it is over 500 miles from where drone strikes are happening in Pakistan)…
On another question regarding drone attacks whether Pakistan would shoot down the spy planes, he said that Pakistan did not want war with the United States….
And still he added “and there would be no more drone strikes after December 11”
Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar said on Wednesday that the supply routes for Nato troops will be restored only if Nato apologises for the “unprovoked attack” that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, Express News reported. (source)
So ALL they are seeking is an apology….
Note: Of course we know no U.S. apology is EVER going to come from Washington, D.C. We also know they will open up the NATO supply lines sooner rather than later. Now only thing to wait for is how they spin it and claim “U.S. has apologized” when in fact it hasn’t. Also interesting will be the “protests” by Pakistani government after the next drone strike (you know it will come soon) .
“But I told President Karzai that Afghan soil was being used against Pakistan and this is why Pakistan will not participate in that moot,” Gilani said.
The above I just added for the sheer stupid logic of this. ‘Pakistan’ has decided not to attend (meaningless) Bonn conference in protest but Gilani’s reasoning gave me the giggles. I would have asked him “Is Pakistan soil being used against Afghanistan?”
Now let’s move over to “our” Foreign Minister’s — whose only qualification is that she buys her purses and high-heels from foreign lands — offerings…
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar has said that the Nato attack on the Pakistani check post was not an accident and “only an apology would not be enough.”
But your Defense Minister said it would be!
“Pakistan cannot see its soldiers being killed by allied forces anymore.”
Now this is a VERY interesting statement. Notice she only mentioned soldiers. Not civilians. In other words, Pakistan has no issue with them killing civilians and what she is actually saying is “Pakistan CAN see its civilians being killed by allied forces forever but not it’s soldiers”
ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar Wednesday said future cooperation with the United States would be in the form of written
Folks, here you have clear admission there are a lot of understandings between the two and they are NOT in any written form. And on Memogate she adds:
Khar said the Foreign Office had no record with reference to the alleged memo of Mansoor Ijaz, nor was any letter sent to Admiral Mike Mullen by the government. “This memo was fabricated and such concocted stories have been published against Pakistan in the past also,” she observed.
Bullsh!t. It has been proven and she knows it (does she forget why Haqqani was fired? Interestingly she added “She said the PM had taken the decision to remove Hussain Haqqani from his office of ambassador in the national interest.” Duh!)
Khar said Mansoor Ijaz had targeted the Pakistan army and ISI. Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani has assigned the inquiry into memogate to the parliamentary committee on national security, she pointed out.
Bullsh!t! Does she forget Haqqani too “had targeted the Pakistan army and ISI” many times in the past?
“Therefore, Hussain Haqqani returned to Pakistan and will clear himself of all questions that have been raised,” she said. “Haqqani has played a pivotal role for the protection of national interests.” (source)
Er…So she already knows Haqani “will clear himself of all questions”? How? And how pivotal a role Haqqani has played for the protection of national interests we all know. The only problem is it was for AMERICAN national interest!!!
She reportedly also “warned there could be a policy review with NATO cooperation if they do it again.”
WTF? So this means there will be no policy review for sure until the next attack and even then it would just be a “maybe”.
(AP) WASHINGTON – NATO forces may have been lured into attacking friendly Pakistani border posts in a calculated maneuver by the Taliban, according to preliminary U.S. military reports on the deadliest friendly fire incident with Pakistan since the Afghanistan war began.
The NATO airstrike killed 24 Pakistani soldiers over the weekend in an apparent case of mistaken identity, The Associated Press has learned.
A joint U.S.-Afghan patrol was attacked by the Taliban early Saturday morning. While pursuing the enemy in the poorly marked border area, the patrol seems to have mistaken one of the Pakistan troop outposts for a militant encampment and called in a NATO gunship and attack helicopters to open fire.
U.S. officials say the reports suggest the Taliban may have deliberately tried to provoke a cross-border firefight that would set back fragile partnerships between the U.S. and NATO forces and Pakistani soldiers at the ill-defined border.Officials described the records on condition of anonymity to discuss classified matters.
Of course they too cannot lie straight! This talk of “poorly marked border area” and “the patrol seems to have mistaken one of the Pakistan troop outposts for a militant encampment” is utter BULL SHIT (see this where it states “There are four Pakistan and Isaf Afghanistan joint coordination centres, and the attack took place despite procedures being in place, they said. They said there had been no violation by Pakistan on the Mohmand Agency border. Nato and Isaf were aware of the border check posts in the area and had fired on them from 12:05am to 2:15am.“)
That this is all bullshit is also clear from the statement: “Officials described the records on condition of anonymity to discuss classified matters”
BTW: In telling this lie, they for the first time admit it was a JOINT U.S.-AFGHAN patrol — so U.S. TROOPS WERE ON THE GROUND AT LEAST A MILE IN. And how does a foot patrol march that far in by mistake in that nasty mountain area at midnight is itself a mystery (actually it is not; here I believe the Pakistan Army that the attack was deliberate, no question about it. Why? Anyone’s guess!)
….They said Volcano was the first check post that was attacked and communication had been cut off right after. Soldiers at the Boulder check post fired 26 air bursts but did not go after the helicopters as the situation could have gotten bad….
[I had this as a note (as Side Note 1 here) in another of the posts but feel the point is important enough that it deserves more attention]
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 about this movie directed by Kayani’s son. That they would choose such a time for that is beyond disgusting).
I fully agree with your main argument from today’s article titled The Enemy Within:
Pakistan’s greatest enemy today is the enemy within. “Ameer,” Quaid-e-Azam told Raja Sahib of Mahmudabad in 1948, “You have no idea of the situation here. I am surrounded by traitors”. The situation we face today is much worse. Traitors and foreign agents have captured political power with foreign support.
BUT there are a few things I’d like to mention where I don’t think you are going far enough. Good that you mention Zardari and that takes no rocket science to figure out he is one of the main problems. But how did he manage to become the President? Was it not Gen Kiyani negotiated NRO that made his return possible? Was it not your parliamentarians (PPP and “opposition”) voting unanimously to make him President? Has he not had the unwavering support of Gen. Kayani and Nawaz league that has kept him in office? Let’s not forget here that had it not been for the manipulations of both Nawaz and Kayani and Aitzaz Ahsan & Co. he would have been dragged out of the presidency had the Long March made it to Islamabad. We have “Tragedy aplenty: no drinking water, no electricity, no gas, no jobs, no cash, rampant corruption, no hope, and Zardari” because all have colluded to make it so and picking on Zardari is simplistic (let’s not forget the role bureaucracy and “free” judiciary itself has played in getting us here; they are EQUALLY as guilty).
Coming to Memogate, you state:
And to cap it all, the Memogate scandal: a dark, sinister, high-level conspiracy directed at the armed forces, a dastardly, cowardly, despicable criminal conspiracy designed to emasculate and destroy the army as a fighting force, the only shield we have against foreign aggression and the only glue that is keeping the federation together. It was an unsuccessful attempt to undermine the army’s much cherished independence and make significant changes in its decision-making system. The plan was to sweep away the existing system of command and raft of unpalatable generals and merge political and military power.
Agreed it was “a dark, sinister, high-level conspiracy directed at the armed forces, a dastardly, cowardly, despicable criminal conspiracy designed to emasculate and destroy the army as a fighting force” but tell me how is it any different from Haqqani’s previous acts? For an example, how is it any different from what he tried in Kerry-Lugar? Why wasn’t he fired right then and there? And even Kerry-Lugar was no surprise having followed his writings before he was installed Ambassador so I was baffled when the army raised no bones about that appointment. Of course I am sure you are also well aware of the visa-to-foreign-agents-without-background-checks scandal that brought here people like Raymond Davis (and care to tell me WHO was instrumental/which parties were instrumental in getting him out of jail, paying off the families of the victims and disappearing them, and putting him on a plane to US?). Let’s also not forget here the attempt made by Rehman Malik to put ISI under him. Did his head roll?
The talk of “army’s cherished independence” is of course laughable. “Independent” only if you ignore the Mullens, the Panettas, the Hillarys, the Panettas, the Holbrookes, the Pattersons, the Powells, the Munters, the Negrapontes, etc., etc., etc. And did you really forget about that phone call to Gen Musharraf back in 2001 that has directly let us here? And who was it that gave Mush a Guard of Honor and a send-off fit for a king? Isn’t it your army and the government that then covers up for them by claiming all the dead were militants (or ‘miscreants’ — Mushy’s term still popular with your independent army)? Is it not true they told every possible lie they could invent about Shamsi and are doing the same EVEN TODAY? Is it not true they told the “This is our war” lie and used to attack and kill thousands of their fellow citizens (don’t tell me you believe most of the dead are “foreign fighters”)? Have they not been constantly lying about there being “no military operation in Balochistan”?
"Indepent" head of an "independent" army, the "most powerful guy in Pakistan"
While on the subject, let’s not forget the latest calamity to befall your independent army: the NATO attack from a couple of days ago that killed some 28 soldiers. I really fail to understand what is the big deal there. Pakistanis get killed by NATO attacks EVERY DAY and no one sheds a tear. What is so special about these 28? Are they not made of the same ‘khak'(earth)? Is wearing khaki somehow turns them into some special form of humans?
Is it not a FACT that it is your independent army that provides the bases, the logistical support INCLUDING providing intelligence and targets to NATO/ISAF as to where to bomb? Is it not a FACT that the helicopters that strafed them, the fuel they burned, the bullets, the bombs, the missiles they fired, the pilots that flew them, ALL came through or flew over Karachi with the blessings of that very independent army? Is it not a FACT that the top echelon of your Army is whetted by the powers that be in U.S. and guys like Kayani would never make general (let alone COAS) if they don’t get approval from abroad? Isn’t it time we cut the bullshit and pick-and-choose “truths” we want to tell? Aren’t the biggest of lies told by telling half-truths? So either “speak up” the whole truth or shut up “since keeping silent” — and worse — telling half-truths makes you as much an “accomplice” in this sorry state we find ourselves in.
So I hope you understand why this gave me the giggles:
For people would have to speak up, since keeping silent would make them accomplices.
Ah, the irony of it all! But the sad thing is that was not the only thing. You added:
I realise what storms it is going to stir up, but truth and justice are sovereign over all else, for they alone make a nation great.
Reminded me of the oft-repeated “Let justice be done, may the heavens fall” that is popular with our supreme court justices. Well the heavens have been falling but there has been no sign of justice anywhere. CJ Iftikhar Chaudhry is happy prancing around in his bullet-proof BMW (so what if it costs people their lives) and the VVIP protocol he so much desired. Justice Ramday is happy breaking law, acquiring extensions and plots in Islamabad and is visiting Dehli right now (funny thing is the only “plot” he sees is the “plot to malign judges”. Justice Javaid Iqbal promised decision on “Missing Persons in two weeks” but that was like TWO YEARS AGO! He has since retired and that promised decision has gone missing too (but retired is a misnomer for no one ever leaves does he? He feels no shame in now getting himself installed as the head of the “Judicial Commission for the Recovery of Missing Persons” and feels no shame in stating “Number of missing persons on the rise“, that too after having stated in January that “2011 to be the year of missing persons’ recovery” (His honesty can be well gaged from the fact that before being installed to head this commission, his name was proposed by Zardari to head NAB and it was only the objection of PML-N that it did not happen. (Side Note: Interesting too is the fact that the bench comprising Justice Javaid Iqbal was the one that “disqualified the appointment of Deedar Hussain Shah as the NAB chairman” — maybe he wanted the job for himself :)). And let’s not forget about “Hai, Bhagwandas!” (though “retired” too, I am sure he has been “adjusted” somewhere too. Could be he is still the FPSC chief)
Speaking of déjà vu, of course there are the usual “strong protests” and the usual “halted NATO supplies” reaction (For how long? 24 hours? 48? I am sure a “please don’t mind us — we have to do this for the bloody locals” message has been conveyed through back channels — that’s a LOADED ‘back’, mind you — and I am sure Chaman border is still open <wink><wink>) 🙂
ONE THING I don’t understand is WHY is this BIG DEAL? Scores of Pakistanis get every day by drones (thanks to logistics and ‘intelligence’ support by the Pakistani troops) . Is it because the dead this time happen to be “soldiers” and not bloody civilians? Rhetorical question of course. I forget they are the ‘Chosen Ones‘ and the civis the Palestinians…so of course this is a big deal 😛
BTW: Here are two interesting bits from the accompany story:
Two military officials said that up to 28 troops had been killed and 11 wounded in the attack on the Salala checkpoint, about 2.5 kilometres from the Afghan border….
About 40 Pakistani army troops were stationed at the outpost, military sources said.
Meaning EVERYONE at the post was either killed or maimed, and the post being more that a mile inside the border, this was no mistake.
Sorry but this bit made me laugh:
Nato helicopters attacked a military checkpoint in northwest Pakistan on Saturday, killing up to 28 troops and prompting Pakistan to shut the vital supply route for Nato troops fighting in Afghanistan, Pakistani officials said….
No, this is not the funny bit. The funny bit comes latter which exposes this lie (that they are pissed/protesting):
Another official said the supplies had been stopped for security reasons.
“There is possibility of attacks on Nato supplies passing through the volatile Khyber tribal region, therefore we sent them back towards Peshawar to remain safe,” he said.
So the bastards are still more worried about NATO supplies — the very supplies that made it possible for NATO to kill their brethren — and making sure they come to no harm.
Remember a few weeks back BBC interviewed the British former Chief of General Staff General Sir Francis Richard Dannatt. The revelation he made about why NATO was fighting the “War of Terror” was certainly quite interesting.
He was asked about the importance of Kandahar which is the focus of the next big NATO operation in Afghanistan. Here is his response:
FRD: “Kandahar is absolutely critical. And if one analysis what all the people have been saying over the last two or three years they all recognize Kandahar was critical. After all, Kandahar is effectively the power base of Taliban and Taliban, if they want to try and control the country, first of all they’ve got to control Kandahar, and then they have opened up the access from Kandahar to Kabul”
Q: Now why should we care, in this country, given that it is costing us a small fortune — and much more importantly — many, many lives have been lost as to who is in control of Kandahar?
FRD:I think that gets into the wider question of as to why we are in Afghanistan and what’s it all about. And I think it is disappointing that two or three years into our major deploymenta in Southern Afghanistan, we still haven’t got that clear in peoples’ minds. The fact of the matter is that the Taliban is effectively a front for Al-Qaeda. Al Qaeda is the expression of the militant Islamist agenda. If we don’t oppose it and face it off in Southern Afghanistan, or in Afghanistan, or in South Asia, then frankly that influence will grow; and it could well grow — and this is an important point — we can see it moving through South Asia, through the Middle Est, to North Africa , and to the high watermark of the Islamic Caliphate of 14th, 15th century.Now I don’t mind if the people of Southern Europe, the Balkans, become Muslim by religious conviction or by democratic process. But what we don’t want to see is the perversion of one of the great world religions — Islam — either politically motivated to use it for their own political purposes. That is what we have to face down. And if we don’t face it down in Southern Afghanistan, and in South Asia, we’ll have to do closer to home. Much better to face it at arms length. That’s the reason why we got to get it right. Let’s get it right. Let’s get it done, in conjugation with the Americans, who have much more clout that we have, and then we can do what we all want to do, that is, get our guys back.”
Of course the General is being very sneaky here and he is lying through his teeth. This bit is meant for local consumption only. He is trying to scare his country folks with the oldest of cons: that if you don’t support us in Afghanistan, the Taliban will come over here and convert you to Islam.
But the real reason for this ‘war’ comes to us courtesy of German President Horst Koehler.
Koehler, coincidentally in a radio interview, let the truth slip out that they are in it for the money; it has nothing to do with terrorists or religion (BOTH ARE BUT SCAMS) and everything to do with MAKING MONEY. Plain and simple.
Now of course revealing such a ‘secret’, exposing the behinds/souls of the whitey by a whitey certainly was a major faux pas — it of course has lead to his resignation. Here’s the story:
Did bloggers bring down the German president?
BERLIN: President Horst Koehler’s shock resignation this week came after mainstream media jumped on comments about Germany’s overseas role that they would have missed if it hadn’t been for bloggers.
Koehler, whose job was largely ceremonial but who spoke as a kind of moral arbiter, was on his way back from visiting German troops in Afghanistan when he gave an apparently innocuous interview to a German radio station.
In the interview, aired on May 22, Koehler appeared to imply that military operations like in Afghanistan were, in part, commercially motivated and necessary to protect Germany’s economic interests.
“[A] country of our size with its … export dependency should also know that, if in doubt, in an emergency, a military engagement is also necessary to defend our interests, for example free trade routes,” he told Deutschlandfunk.
Newspapers and magazines went wild, with the president, head of the International Monetary Fund from 2000-4 and who was a year into his second term, accused by commentators of advocating “gunboat diplomacy”.
Stung to the quick by the criticism and saying that he had been misunderstood, and to general surprise, the popular Koehler quit as Germany’s head of state.
But the offending interview had initially been ignored by the mainstream media and would have been forgotten had a few eagle-eyed bloggers not picked up on what the 67-year-old had said…
(Of course fools will still deny it, as they deny the absolute truth that Kiyani/Pak Army is in it for the money alone, damn the religion, damn humanity)
I want you to read Koehler’s words again and realize that he reveals a lot more than Afghanistan; he is basically confessing:
“We, First World countries like Germany, carry out military operations (i.e. make war) in third world countries like Afghanistan for no other reason than to make money and to sell/use our locally manufactured arms (i.e. to support our military-industrial complex).”
Side-Note: DON’T miss the part about who Koehler’s last employer was — Yes, the same IMF who is turning the screws on us right now. Or did you think IMF is working for our betterment? 😉
ISLAMABAD: Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola, has said that NATO has no mandate to stop the drone attacks inside Pakistani territory as they were being carried out by he United States.
Di Paola, who is in Islamabad on an official visit in which he met top military brass of the country, told a news conference here Thursday that Pakistan has a right to “protest over the drone attacks” on its land. He claimed that the relations between Pakistan and NATO will not be kept restricted only to cooperation on Afghanistan and vowed to “achieve victory over militants”in the region with the help of the governments and people of the two countries.
Di Paola further claimed that the NATO forces will leave the region once they achieved “their objectives”, saying that his forces have no ambition to “conquer Afghanistan like Alexander the Great”.
Of course the mvtherfvcker thinks we don’t know he gets his paycheck from the “President” of NATO, the main “partner” of NATO — the “Bad Cop” U.S. (It is called “NATO” and NOT “EUTO” for a reason…
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