Indian terrorism in Balochistan

The people of Pakistan and masses in India wish to live in peace, develop inter-state relations based on mutual co-existence and respect, and engage in trade and economic activities with a sincere concern to develop South Asia as a prosperous and economically thriving region. Unfortunately their aspirations and dreams boomerang with a negative cadence, feelings of incapacitation and signs of hopelessness due to Indian attitudinal rigidity and political intransigence.

Indian leaders are psychologically so fixated that they always presuppose end of their political career if they allowed Pakistan any leverage on any conflicting issue irrespective of the moral grounds and righteousness of Pakistani stance. Hence they intentionally treat all matters related to Pakistan with gestures of animosity and signs of contempt. Consequently their every move and decision is blended with signs of rebuff and discard for Pakistan. Their political agenda has been forcing them to show Pakistan in bad light and their drastic decisions situated barriers to block the peace process between India and Pakistan. On the other hand Pakistani leadership always extended their sincere cooperation with open hearts to normalize relations with India. At Sharm el-Sheikh Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani made honest attempts to convince Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to resume the peace process. Press reports confirmed that Pakistani Prime Minister emphatically discussed Indian involvement in cross border terrorism in Balochistan. The evidence provided was so strong and convincing that Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh agreed to sign a Joint Declaration stating that India will take punitive action against the perpetrators. The meeting between the two Prime Ministers at Sharm el-Sheikh brought hope with a sense of optimism that peace process between India and Pakistan will be resumed without attaching any strings of terrorism. The development appeared sensible as it seemed that both rival states have realized the need to have a peaceful dialogue to resolve all the conflicting issues between India and Pakistan. This would certainly facilitate addressing the real problems impacting the lives of general public both in India and Pakistan and that the aspirations of the general masses to live in peace with honor and dignity will finally come true or at least become a near possibility.

It was hard for the Journalists (present at Sharm el-Sheikh) to believe that a thaw in peace process has been achieved. They, therefore, attached denotative and connotative meanings to the Joint Statement signed by both the Prime Ministers at Sharm el-Sheikh. Few hard liners spun it negatively by saying that Joint Statement at Sharm el-Sheikh was a diplomatic success of Pakistan and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will have to face the tough resistance of the opposition in Lok Sabha for accepting Indian interference in Balochistan. The face validity of the Joint Statement simply opened the doors for peace process through which all issues (including the core issue of Kashmir) between India and Pakistan could be resolved. Indian involvement to destabilize Balochistan is evident from the intriguing activities of her consulates located in Kandahar and Lashkar Gah, capital of the Afghan Helmand province. Indian presence in Afghanistan has provided them an opportunity to plan and conduct espionage and sabotage activities in Balochistan, to avenge freedom movement in Kashmir for which India openly insinuated against Pakistan. The scheme will also enable India to create distractions in Balochistan which will loosen Pakistani grip over Kashmir. In addition India can well cover her activities by using Afghan territory to launch terrorist attacks inside Pakistan. The arrangement fits in Indian historical philosophy and mischievous mindset to harm an adversary using the neighbor of that adversary. Can India get away with such a design?

Such questions are totally ignored by Indian political leadership. Indian propaganda, on the other hand is very effective and intrusive. They are projecting their case by using American clout to deny that any dossier of Indian involvement in cross border terrorism in Balochistan was provided by Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and that India was not involved in any criminal activities in Balochistan. Such denial mode is not expected from India who must act its size and honor it stature. Scoring points and playing dangerous games for political gains will bring no fruits to India. India must realize that peace process is in the interest of both India and Pakistan.

Zardari gives cheque to youngest IT professional

President Asif Ali Zardari Wednesday invited Babar Iqbal the world youngest IT Professional to the Presidency and gave away a cheque of Rs.5 million for his achievement in grabbing four world records in the fields of computer and information technology. Deputy Speaker National Assembly Faisal Karim Kundi was also present on the occasion. Babar Iqbal of Pakistan referred as 'cyber kid' is the youngest Microsoft Certified Professional, Certified Internet Web Professional, Certified Wireless Network Administrator, and the Microsoft Certified Technical Specialist in the world. Currently, he works as Technical Coordinator Microsoft Imagine Cup Gulf. The President said that the nation has high hopes from young generation, who are capable of bringing laurels to the country in all fields of excellence. The President appreciated Babar Iqbal for his professional expertise attained at such a young age, adding the country's youth had ample potential to flourish provided they were given opportunities.

Free radios to perk up untouchables

PATNA, India : Authorities in eastern India are distributing free radio sets to lower-castevillagers so that they can listen to music and news after a hard day's work and improve theirawareness, officials said Wednesday.

Officials of Bihar state are distributing transistors costing 400 rupees ($8) each among hundredsof "Dalits" or the formerly "Untouchables" who remain oppressed at the bottom of India's ancientHindu caste system.

"It (radio) will entertain the tired villagers with music and will make them aware about what ishappening around with news," Bihar's Tribal Welfare Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, said Wednesday.

Manjhi said the move will empower the dalit villagers further and raise general awareness levels.

"You can listen to music, news and improve your areas of information if you have a radio athome," Chief Minister Nitish Kumar added.

More than 16 percent of India's 1.1-billion population are Dalits and they continue to facediscrimination and injustice although untouchability now is a crime.

Balochistan and India

Why Manmohan Singh is under fire in India? He is the first ever Indian prime minister who is being blamed by the Indian opposition and media for surrendering to Pakistan in Sharm el-Sheikh. Many Indians are not happy over the reference of Balochistan in the joint statement released in Sharm el- Sheikh after the meeting of Indian and Pakistani prime ministers. Some Indians think that Manmohan stabbed them in the back by accepting the Indian interference in Balochistan. There are reports that Pakistani prime minister pressurised Manmohan in Sharm el-Sheikh by handing over a dossier of alleged Indian cross-border terrorism in Balochistan and that was how Indian prime minister was forced to accept the word Balochistan in the joint statement.

I was present in Sharm el-Shekh. I remember that many Indian journalists were shocked after reading the joint statement. They started asking me that why Balochistan is mentioned in the statement? In fact many of them were not aware like many common Indians that what is going on in Balochistan. Within a few hours I started receiving calls from many Indian TV channels that what evidence was shown by Pakistan to Manmohan Singh about the alleged Indian involvement in Balochistan? In fact the Pakistani prime minister did mention Balochistan to Manmohan Singh but he never handed over any dossier to his Indian counterpart.

The situation in Balochistan came under detailed discussion during the first meeting of the foreign secretaries in the evening of July 14 in Sharm el-Sheikh which took place two days before the meeting of Manmohan and Yousaf Raza Gilani. Pakistani foreign secretary Salman Bashir told Shiv Shankar Menon that India must delink the talks from terrorism otherwise Pakistan will be forced to produce at least “three Indian Ajmal Kasab’s” in front of international media who were directly or indirectly part of the terrorist activities in Balochistan and Pakistan will easily establish that Indian consulate in Afghan city of Kandhar is actually a control room of all the terrorist activities organised by the separatist Balochistan Liberation Army.

Salman Bashir told Indian foreign secretary that both Pakistan and India cannot afford a blame game right now. If Pakistan will come out with evidence that Indians are responsible for attacking Chinese engineers in the Gwadar port city it may damage Indian credibility on one side but it will also spread more anti-India feelings in Pakistan and extremist forces will be the ultimate beneficiaries.

First of all this new blame game will only help those extremist forces who successfully organised attacks in Mumbai on Nov 26, 2008, just to derail the India-Pakistan peace process. Secondly it will also harm relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The US does not want any tensions between Islamabad and Kabul at this stage because NATO forces are trying their best to conduct a new presidential election in Afghanistan in coming few weeks. Thirdly the PPP led coalition government is aware that Balochistan is not a serious dispute like Jammu and Kashmir, it’s a problem of provincial rights and instead of internationalising the problem Islamabad should address the problem realistically. Islamabad cannot get away by just blaming India for unrest in Balochistan. Behind the scene talks with many Baloch militants are going on and good news may come out soon in this regard.

Pakistan is making noise against the Indian involvement in Balochistan insurgency in a very careful, well-calculated and “limited manner.” Recently a prominent US magazine Foreign Affairs (March 2009) published the report of a roundtable discussion on the causes of instability in Pakistan. Christine Fair of RAND Corporation clearly said in that discussion that “having visited the Indian mission in Zahedan, Iran, I can assure you they are not issuing visas as the main activity. Indian officials have told me privately that they are pumping money into Balochistan.”

This allegation came from a very credible American scholar who recently visited Indian consulate in Zahedan. Now where is Zahedan? It is the capital of Iranian province Sistan-o-Balochistan bordering Pakistan. More than two million Balochis live in the Iranian side of Balochistan. Iran is building a big port of Chabahar in the same area with the active help of India. Top Iranian leaders have alleged many times that American CIA is supporting Iranian Balochis to destabilise the Islamic Republic. Famous American journalist Seymour Hersh admitted in July 2008 that Bush administration gave million of dollars to a separatist Iranian group “Jandallah” which is responsible for violence in Iranian part of Baluchistan.

The presence of China in Pakistani Balochistan is also a problem for US administration. The Chinese are accused of using Gwadar as a listening post for monitoring US military activities in the Persian Gulf. If Pakistan will play India card in Balochistan, many anti-US forces in Pakistan will ask that why Pakistan is silent over the role of CIA in Baluchistan which is using Jandallah against Iran? We must know that Balochis are Kurds of South Asia. Kurds are divided in Iran, Turkey and Iraq while the Balochis are divided in Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. Separatist groups in Pakistan and Iran want the unification of the Baloch areas which is not acceptable to both the countries.

Musharraf gave the Gwadar port city to Chinese for development in 2003.That was the beginning of a new problem. Three Chinese engineers were killed and nine were injured on May 3rd 2004 in a remote controlled car bomb attack. Two months after that incident, Pakistan claimed on July 2nd 2004 first time that India was involved in that bomb attack. Local Baluchis were not happy over the employment of many non-Baluchis in the main development projects of their province. They also wanted a fairer share of royalties generated by the production of natural gas in their province. Instead of addressing their griviences, Musharraf regime launched a third military operation against them in 2005 which further aggravated the situation.

Why Indians must discuss Balochistan with Pakistan? Balochistan will be the route of at least two multinational gas pipelines. One will come from Turkmenistan to Pakistan via Afghanistan; the other will come from Iran to Pakistan. India could be a beneficiary of both the gas pipelines. These two pipelines could be extended from Multan to New Delhi. I think there is no harm for India to discuss Balochistan with Pakistan because stability in Balochistan will ultimately benefit India.

Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, China and India should join hands with each other, stop proxy wars in Kashmir and Baluchistan as soon as possible and they can change the fate of the whole region.

, Balochistan Ki Rooh by Nazir Naji,Part 1

Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud alive or dead?

Pakistani intelligence agents were scrambling on Thursday to determine whether Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud was killed along with his wife in a U.S. missile strike a day earlier.

A relative of the dead woman, Mehsud's second wife, said the chieftain was not present when the U.S. drone aircraft fired two missiles at the house of his father-in-law in Makeen, a village in South Waziristan -- in northwest Pakistan.

But rumours swirl that he may have been wounded or killed.

Following are some details about Mehsud.

-- In late 2007, Mehsud proclaimed himself leader of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Movement of Taliban of Pakistan, grouping 13 factions. Pakistani Taliban leaders have sworn allegiance to Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.

-- Mehsud became Public Enemy Number One after launching suicide attacks in 2007 against the military and politicians.

-- The government of ex-president Pervez Musharraf and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency both saw Mehsud as chief suspect in the 2007 assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Mehsud denied it.

-- The United States had offered a reward of $5 million for information leading to Mehsud's location or arrest. The Pakistan government has put a $615,000 bounty on his head.

-- Regarded as an ally of al Qaeda, Mehsud has assembled militants from Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a Punjabi based group that has provided al Qaeda's foot soldiers in Pakistan, along with Uzbeks and other Central Asian fighters within al Qaeda's network. Together with his own men, Mehsud is reckoned to have 10,000 to over 20,000 fighters with him in mountainous South Waziristan.

-- Pakistani officials say Mehsud is helped by arch-rival India, but diplomats in Islamabad are skeptical and see that as an attempt to dislodge Indian influence in Afghanistan.

-- Critics say Pakistan's army tolerated Mehsud for too long, and deride a 2005 peace deal, saying militants were paid off.

-- In June, U.S. drones began attacking Mehsud territory more frequently after Pakistan's government ordered its army to pursue Mehsud. Pakistani forces have bombarded Taliban positions and sealed off roads, but there has been no all-out assault. -- Diplomats say Mehsud's elimination would mark a major coup for Pakistan, but doubt it will help Western forces fighting the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan. -- Mehsud was born in 1974 in Bannu in North West Frontier Province. His ancestral village of Shaga is in South Waziristan, the poorest of seven Federally Administered Tribal Areas from the ethnic Pashtun belt straddling the border with Afghanistan.

-- Mehsud belongs to the Bromikhel, a traditional sub-clan of the fiercely independent Mehsuds. The son of a minor cleric, Mehsud was educated to the age of 12 in a madrasa, or religious school, is barely literate and worked as a truck driver. -- Journalists who have met Mehsud describe him as physically unimposing, round-faced beneath a beard. He also suffered from diabetes. He has two brothers among his followers.

the future of India is being seen by 2015

This is the map of Independent South Asian states. This map is circulating in different intelligence communities in the west and this is how the future of India is being seen by 2015. Please comment. Thank you

discussion with Zaid Hamid

Discussion on Pakistan's war against militancy. Is Pakistan Army fighting Pakistan's war or America's? What can youth of Pakistan do to help protect this nation?