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Terrorism Dictates Indo-Pak Peace and Relations

Kashmir, Kashmir and Kashmir: Kashmir is in the news again. With over 100 deaths, the valley of Srinanagar has been in grip of protests, police violence and public unrest since May. This also seems to have prompted India to express interest for resuming dialogue with Pakistan on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly some time next month. But will this change the substance of the bilateral relationship? Even a cursory look leads to the conclusion that terrorism sits deep at the heart of the Indo-Pak relations. India remains convinced, and therefore focused, on Lashkare Taiba, which it believes is the prime source of terrorism on the Indian soil including Kashmir. In fact, India gradually revised its characterization of the violence in Kashmir in early 1994, from militancy to Terrorism, after 'the guest organization' LeT unleashed their militant campaign in Kashmir, along-with other guest organizations such as Harkatul Mujahideen. Terror Attacks always Derail the Indo-Pak Peace Process: Theattack on the Indian parliament (13th December 2001) and the Mumbai carnage (Nov 26th, 2008) not only reinforced that characterization but also stands out today as the stumbling bloc in the way of resumption of formal talks between the two countries. A multitude of factors in fact bedevils the bilateral relationship, and thus obstructing almost every move to peace and joint counter-terrorism strategies, terrorism being the centrepiece of the Indian argument. The deadlock on the dialogue stems not only from the Indian conviction that Pakistan security establishment supports the LeT and Jaishe Mohammad; it also draws strength from New Delhi belief that the Pakistani establishment continues to back non-state actors against the Indian state, and thus remains a rogue army, a source of violence and instability in Kashmir and rest of India. And the US establishment in particular also views the Pakistani security apparatus through the Indian prism, a fact explained through the fact...

Review Needed on Afghanistan Policy

Much Activity, Less Delivery: Late last week Afghan President Hamid Karzai, the US commander General David Petraeus, the American AfPak special envoy Richard Holbrook descended on Islamabad to jointly think a way out of the Afghan imbroglio. Officials touted theirmeetings with Gen.Ashfaq Kayani, ISI officials as well as the civilian Pakistani leaders as routine brainstorming sessions. Yet, the surge in violence and an extremely low turn out in the Afghan parliamentary election two days lateron Saturday, betray the bitter ground reality; Afghans are fear-stricken, the American top brass is frustrated for failure in showcasing any tangible success back home, Karzai is resentful of the US high-handed approach andPakistanitself is struggling with the consequences ofan over-bearing counter-insurgency campaign, complicated by recent devastating floods. Getting nowhere is the sense from all stakeholders, and it also suggests things for them all have gone from bad to worse. This frustration essentially stems from an approach that from the day centered more on money and military muscle and less on long-term strategies. Pakistan and the US do not Trust Each Other: Interestingly, only two days before the big heads gathered in Islamabad,the National Security Archive (NSA) in Washington released several, previously secret documents (Sept.13) which shed considerable light on the ups and downs of the US-Pakistan relationship since the 9/11 attacks as well. Contents of some of the memos suggest that despite joining hands in the anti-terror war in Afghanistanin the aftermath of the tragic terror events of 9/11, bothWashingtonand Islamabad hardly trusted each other. Equally revealing are some remarks and warnings contained in discussions between former ambassador Wendy Chemberlin, Richard Haas, Pakistani intelligence officials and (unnamed) sources. 'We will not flinch from a military victoryÎ“Ã‡Âªbut a strike will produce thousands of frustrated young Muslim men, it will be an...

US Banning TTP – Is this a Favor to Pakistan?

When was TTP Banned? Under the Executive Order 13224,signed by President Bush on September 23, 2001, the United States on Sept 1st formally designated the Tehreek-e-TalibanPakistan(TTP) as a foreign terrorist organization.Daniel Benjamin, the Ambassador-at-Large for Counterterrorism formally announced it at a press briefing, thereby making the TTP the latest addition to a list of 47 such banned organizations. TheExecutive Order 13224 provides the governmenta means by which to disrupt the financial support network for terrorists and terrorist organizations by authorizing the U.S. government to designate and block the assets of foreign individuals and entities that commit, or pose a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism. Earlier,secretary of State Hillary Clinton had cleared the way for TTPs designation as a foreign terrorist organization on August 12.'I conclude that there is a sufficient factual basis to find that the relevant circumstances described in section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act exists with respect to the group,' she wrote. 'Therefore, I hereby designate the aforementioned organization and its aliases as a foreign terrorist organization pursuant to section 219 of the INA,'according to an email distributed by the State Department. Mesh of Militancy: Tehreek-e Taliban, also known as the Pakistani Taliban, was founded in December 2007, consisting of a number of militant groups operating in the tribal areas of Pakistan. Formed under the direction of militant leader Baitullah Mehsud, TTP went on to become the most lethal outfit, publicly stating the Pakistani army as its enemy number one. Hekimullah Mehsud became the group leader when Baitullah Mehsud died in a US drone attack on August 5th, 2009. Wali Ur Rehman Mehsud is the TTP amir in the Mehsud region of South Waziristan. Several militant Organizations, largely relevant to both Pakistan andAfghanistan,such as al Qaeda, Harakat ul-Mujahidin (HUM),Islamic Movement...

Different Pakistans for the Rich and Poor

Pakistan Ruling Elite: Garhi Khuda Bux (Sindh) - Once again, the tide of goodwill in the aftermath of the super-flood favors Pakistan. By himself flying over the affected areas and later giving a graphic description of the devastation, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moonpersuaded members of his organization to step forward and help Pakistan cope with the consequences of what he described as the 'slow-motion tsunami.' And rightly so. It is indeed a'slow-motion Tsunami' because it will now amplify the consequences ofa system that rests on a morally bankrupt, intellectually poor, politically self-serving, culturally bigoted and financially corrupt ruling elite comprising politicians, bureaucracy, feudal lords, generals and their apologists in all spheres of life. Towering Grand Tomb and Low Lives at Garhi Khuda Bux: And the Garhi Khuda Bux ´ the ancestral town the Bhuttos ´ exemplifies the disconnect between this ruling elite and the hapless masses on the one hand, and the misplaced priorities on the other; a huge domed complex now stands over the old graveyard where all the Bhuttos are resting. The three-domed marble complex is now called the Mazar- the mausoleum, built with public money ´ drawn from the provincial and the federal kitties. A huge boundary wall, running into hundreds of meters, is being built as the foreyard ofthe mausoleum, all with expensive holed-blocs, imported from Karachi. That too, of course, with the public money. Both and inside the mausoleum, dozens of half-naked children and elderly locals are idling around. Some barefoot, some without shirts, you can count the rib-cage of these emaciated figures. Their faces betray the story of poverty and the miserable life they live under the shadow of this towering complex. Looking at the physical expense and the financial expense incurred on it, it appears as if poverty, education and health facilities for the thousands living by the mausoleum have been taken care of. Politics ´ Even After Death: The...

Pakistan is Gasping for Stability

Pakistan ´ In the Middle of Crises: Pakistanfinds itself in a perennial state of crisis ´ ranging from economic to acute power shortages to Islamist militancy to domestic political polarization to the unprecedented floods that have affected or displaced 20 million Pakistanis from the north to the south. The Indus river torrents continue to maroon thousands of villages in the south of the country, and have forced hundreds of thousands out of their homes. This represents a crisis bigger than the one Pakistan faced last year after its army moved against radical Taliban militants; the military operation resulted in displacement of slightly over two million in the Swat region. But the devastating floods have displaced several million within last three weeks, with little hope for hundreds of thousands in countless southern villages and towns right and left of the Indus. It is the Super Flood with no parallel in the last 120 years that has killed close to 1500, devastated over half of Pakistan cash crops such as cotton, sugarcane and paddy rice, wiping out about half a million small farmers financially. Already, half of Pakistan 180 million people live off less thantwo dollars a day. The scale of the disaster has already the United Nations and the Organization of the Islamic Conference scrambling for emergency meetings to think of ways how to help the impoverished millions. Backbone of the Agriculture Feared Broken: Agriculture Economists worry that hundreds of thousands offarmers along the Indus in the south would be unable to enter their excessively soaked fields for several weeks. The ground water level is already hardly 25 feet and the land would not absorb the waters quick enough to allow next sowing in time. Î“Ã‡Âªbut Political Landscape is Divided: Its consequences will also be gigantic, necessitating unusual response from the polarized political leadership. A former prime minister Mir Zafrullah Jamali and a federal minister Ejaz Aslam Jhkahrani are already locked...

CRSS to the World: Do not Punish the People for their Government

Pakistan Irresponsible & Clueless Leadership: Since it was established over a week ago, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani's Emergency Fund has attracted less than 50,000 dollars in donations. The same goes for a similar fund created a few days ago by chief minister of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province Ameer Haider Hoti. Flood waters are not the only bitter reality currently sweeping across Pakistan; mistrust in political leaders is spreading just as rapidly. President Asif Zardari's decision to commence a ten-day foreign tour -- despite solid warnings of an impending disaster and reports of hundreds of deaths -- has dealt yet another severe blow to the credibility and commitment of the head of the state. The KPK chief minister also faced similar public anger and resentment for disappearing for days as the floods marooned hundreds of thousands in the Malakand region. And the sense one gets from the province is that the government machinery in most of the affected areas -- KPK, Punjab and Sindh -- was slow in responding to the crisis. According to reports, many public officials appear utterly clueless, unable to even coordinate the aid that local and foreign NGOs have been bringing in. While private television channels kept flashing ever-mounting casualty figures and destruction stories, the state-run Pakistan TV obediently followed Zardari to Paris and London, sending home images that rubbed salt in Pakistan's wounds. Pakistanis were in agony while their leaders were airlifted to a chateau outside Paris. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Gilani, though in Pakistan, only deigned to glance at the plight of the poor masses from a helicopter. Gilani endured much criticism for staging such photo ops. Pakistani Government is Incompetent and Failed to Learn from History: The 2005 earthquake, we had hoped, gave Pakistan an opportunity to train and prepare for similar natural disasters in future. Pakistan welcomed the establishment of the National Disaster...

Floods Situation: People are Simmering with Anger over Government’s Negligence

Floods have Changed Pakistan Development Reality: Until two weeks ago, the M1 ´ that connects capital Islamabad with Peshawar was an express way where you could drive at 120 kms an hour. Today, the tail-end of the Motorway ´ some 50 kilometers, wears a different look; right in the middle of the Motorway ´ the divider of the express way hosts hundreds, if not thousands, of tents hosting peasant families that have been living here for generations. The area ´ with peach, plum orchards and wheat, maize and tobacco leaf fields ´ once formed part of the Kabul River delta, and hence know for its fertility. Today, with the Kabul river overflowing due to glacial melt and unusually heavy monsoon rains, vast swathes of these villages in the vicinity of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa (formerly known as Northwestern Frontier Province), are at the mercy of the swollen river. People Fuming Out: 'Never ever did we imagine that we shall have to one day swim to safety from our homes,' said Wakeel Shah, a farmer of the Akbarpura village told CRSS. Heading a family of seven, Shah rescued his 12 year old son last of all when he was already shoulder-deep in water. 'All our goats, cows and chicks are gone , so is the grain stock,' said a despaired Shah, carrying his youngest near the tent, perched in the middle of the motorway that was the only higher ground to escape raging waters. Bakhtawar Khan, another villager from the same area saw his own mud-house melt into the water after the entire family had escaped to the safety of the motorway. 'The Motorway saved us, I would say,' said a dejected Khan, a farmer, who too lost his stock of the grains he had stored for the next few months. He also couldn–t save either of his cattle ´ two cows and four goats. Thousands of families are camping either on the road-side or in the middle of the road; only a couple of days ago, the town of Nowshehra, for instance, was half-submerged in raging waters, destroying or damaging even old...

Floods Situation: People are Simmering with Anger over Government's Negligence

Floods have Changed Pakistan Development Reality: Until two weeks ago, the M1 ´ that connects capital Islamabad with Peshawar was an express way where you could drive at 120 kms an hour. Today, the tail-end of the Motorway ´ some 50 kilometers, wears a different look; right in the middle of the Motorway ´ the divider of the express way hosts hundreds, if not thousands, of tents hosting peasant families that have been living here for generations. The area ´ with peach, plum orchards and wheat, maize and tobacco leaf fields ´ once formed part of the Kabul River delta, and hence know for its fertility. Today, with the Kabul river overflowing due to glacial melt and unusually heavy monsoon rains, vast swathes of these villages in the vicinity of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa (formerly known as Northwestern Frontier Province), are at the mercy of the swollen river. People Fuming Out: 'Never ever did we imagine that we shall have to one day swim to safety from our homes,' said Wakeel Shah, a farmer of the Akbarpura village told CRSS. Heading a family of seven, Shah rescued his 12 year old son last of all when he was already shoulder-deep in water. 'All our goats, cows and chicks are gone , so is the grain stock,' said a despaired Shah, carrying his youngest near the tent, perched in the middle of the motorway that was the only higher ground to escape raging waters. Bakhtawar Khan, another villager from the same area saw his own mud-house melt into the water after the entire family had escaped to the safety of the motorway. 'The Motorway saved us, I would say,' said a dejected Khan, a farmer, who too lost his stock of the grains he had stored for the next few months. He also couldn–t save either of his cattle ´ two cows and four goats. Thousands of families are camping either on the road-side or in the middle of the road; only a couple of days ago, the town of Nowshehra, for instance, was half-submerged in raging waters, destroying or damaging even old...

Floods Situation: People are Simmering with Anger over Government's Negligence

Floods have Changed Pakistan Development Reality: Until two weeks ago, the M1 ´ that connects capital Islamabad with Peshawar was an express way where you could drive at 120 kms an hour. Today, the tail-end of the Motorway ´ some 50 kilometers, wears a different look; right in the middle of the Motorway ´ the divider of the express way hosts hundreds, if not thousands, of tents hosting peasant families that have been living here for generations. The area ´ with peach, plum orchards and wheat, maize and tobacco leaf fields ´ once formed part of the Kabul River delta, and hence know for its fertility. Today, with the Kabul river overflowing due to glacial melt and unusually heavy monsoon rains, vast swathes of these villages in the vicinity of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa (formerly known as Northwestern Frontier Province), are at the mercy of the swollen river. People Fuming Out: 'Never ever did we imagine that we shall have to one day swim to safety from our homes,' said Wakeel Shah, a farmer of the Akbarpura village told CRSS. Heading a family of seven, Shah rescued his 12 year old son last of all when he was already shoulder-deep in water. 'All our goats, cows and chicks are gone , so is the grain stock,' said a despaired Shah, carrying his youngest near the tent, perched in the middle of the motorway that was the only higher ground to escape raging waters. Bakhtawar Khan, another villager from the same area saw his own mud-house melt into the water after the entire family had escaped to the safety of the motorway. 'The Motorway saved us, I would say,' said a dejected Khan, a farmer, who too lost his stock of the grains he had stored for the next few months. He also couldn–t save either of his cattle ´ two cows and four goats. Thousands of families are camping either on the road-side or in the middle of the road; only a couple of days ago, the town of Nowshehra, for instance, was half-submerged in raging waters, destroying or damaging even old...

Futility of Afghan War Continues

Wasteful Then and Wasteful Now: A British army chaplain, Reverend GR Gleig, in 1843,wrote a memoir of his posting in Afghanistan after the first Anglo-Afghan warand encapsulated his experience in one sentence: this was 'a war begun for no wise purpose, carried on with strange mixture of rashness and timidity, brought to a close after suffering and disaster, without much glory attached either to the governmentÎ“Ã‡Âªor the great body of troops which waged it. Not one benefit, political or military (was) acquired. Our eventual evacuation of the country resembled the retreat of an army defeated.' When the Afghan war began in October 2001, many believed that the British expeditions in the Afghan wasteland were a thing of the past when the technological advances were absent and a soldier gear was far inferior to that of the Western troops in 2001. Nearing the completion of its ninth year, all claims to win a war against a crafty and native enemy are now proving wrong. Whether anyone in the Western capitals agrees to this or not but the reality is that the war effort that the US led, UK feverishly sponsored and other European countries, under the flagship of NATO, dragged their feet into the messy pot now called Afghanistan. Despite all the analysis ´ some say manipulated intelligence -, technological edge, weaponry, mobility, international blessing and power intoxication, the US-led Afghan expedition is being termed as a failure, only in so many vague words. But those who have an eye to read between the lines and are keen observers of power moves, understand that a belief is baking strong in the hearts and minds of the Western Capitals on the futility of this war. Winning the War or Saving the Graces: Now the challenge is not to win this war. The challenge now is an 'honorable retreat!' 'How NATO and US-led forces reached at this point,' is a big question to which various Pakistani officials and authorities have been pointing out at for the last few years; especially...