By Daniel Tencer
Thursday, November 26th, 2009 — 9:22 pm
The office of Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the highest-ranking soldier in the US, tried to intimidate a reporter working on a story about security contractor Blackwater’s operations in Pakistan, the reporter claims.
Jeremy Scahill — whose story alleging secret assassination and bombing campaigns inside Pakistan run by Xe Services, formerly Blackwater, appeared in The Nation on Monday — said he received a phone call from Adm. Mullen’s office the day before the story appeared, informing him that his story “didn’t match up with reality.”
Speaking to Laura Flanders’ GRITtv, Scahill described how he got little cooperation from the government in his investigation — until he received a phone call from Adm. Mullen’s office the day before the article was to be published.
“I didn’t call them,” Scahill said. “They called me. They wouldn’t tell me how they got my number. They wouldn’t tell me how they heard about the story. And they told me that my story didn’t match up with reality.”
Scahill said he interpreted the move as an attempt at intimidation.
“They ordered me to rape her. She was so thin and was crying when they brought her in the room. I was terrified to look at her, as I thought she was a spy or an agent”, says Munir Mengal, a 33- year- old Baloch, living in forced exile in Paris.
Munir Mengal spent 16 months in underground jails of the Pakistani intelligence agencies. “The low rank officers came back to the room and started beating me because I didn’t obey their orders. They took off my clothes by force and hers too, and left us alone. In her sobs I heard her praying in Balochi language. She was praying for someone named Murad. That’s how I got to know she is my fellow Baloch. That gave me the courage to talk to her.” Munir says that, still sobbing, she told him her name was Zarina Marri. She used to be a school teacher. She and her son Murad, who was only a few months old, were picked up by the intelligence agencies from Kohlu.
MILITARY men have been up to some very bad things, we’ve learned this week. But the very different reactions to two seemingly unrelated stories in the media tell us at least one thing: things aren’t going to get better any time soon.
A study of transformation from military dictatorship to democracy around the world would reveal that there are two possible ways. Either it is achieved through a popular revolution or by negotiations between political forces and dictators.
The former invariably demolishes the entire system and mostly involves bloodshed putting a new system in place while the later allows the change to happen within the prevailing system based upon certain negotiated terms.
These terms might not necessarily meet the international laws and judicial norms as it is always a middle path.
I am sorry for the tardiness in marking 26/11. It was not deliberate but as we fight daily battles with terrorism, it is not easy to tell what date it is. Don’t consider this letter a sign of weakness because I am a member of proud nation which will one day prove its potential and take its rightful place in the comity of nations as a progressive and modern country at peace within and without. Keep reading →
I was intrigued by this interview of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad given to the famous journalist Shorish Kashmiri for a Lahore based Urdu magazine, Chattan, in April 1946. This interesting document has been discovered and translated by a former Indian minister Arif Mohammad Khan. Covert Magazine and newageIslam website have recently published it. The contents of this interview are difficult to agreed with. Azad is speaking from a nationalist angle, anti-Pakistan movement platform.
However, the narrative has some interesting observations and predictions for Pakistan that cannot be rubbished simply because Azad was a Congressite. This interview was conducted over a period of two weeks (parallel to the proceedings of the Cabinet Mission) and has not been documented in any book except that of Kashmiri’s book on Abul Kalam Azad, which has been out of print for decades. Its discovery is a welcome step towards better historiography on both sides of the border.
Q: The Hindu Muslim dispute has become so acute that it has foreclosed any possibility of reconciliation. Don’t you think that in this situation the birth of Pakistan has become inevitable?
A: If Pakistan were the solution of Hindu Muslim problem, then I would have extended my support to it. A section of Hindu opinion is now turning in its favour. By conceding NWFP, Sind, Balochistan and half of Punjab on one side and half of Bengal on the other, they think they will get the rest of India — a huge country that would be free from any claims of communal nature. If Keep reading →
This story is from the Time Magazine datelined Christmas Day 1964. It sheds interesting light on how far back this game of the security establishment conjuring up images of US-India collusion go. Ayub Khan actually accused Fatima Jinnah of being pro-Indian and pro-American. Oldest trick in the security establishment’s book. -YLH
“They call her the Mother of the Nation,” sniffed Pakistan’s President Mohammed Ayub Khan. “Then she should at least behave like a mother.” What upset Ayub was that Fatima Jinnah looked so good in pants. The more she upbraided Ayub, the louder Pakistanis cheered the frail figure in her shalwar (baggy white silk trousers). By last week, with Pakistan’s first presidential election only a fortnight away, opposition to Ayub had reached a pitch unequaled in his six years of autocratic rule. Keep reading →
Many Pakistanis are still not prepared to develop the patience required to see democracy through its early, evolutionary stages – especially difficult stages as a result of the violence done to it by military dictatorship after military dictatorship. They still look for and believe in personalities, not for a sustainable and equitable system. Many will tell you that the only cause for all of Pakistan’s woes is “humain aaj tak koi ddhang ka leader nahin mila (we never found a decent leader)”. The observation is correct. But the way we have gone about finding a decent leader has been completely wrong. Keep reading →
Islamabad: The government on Tuesday presented the Aghaaz-e-Huqook Balochistan to a joint sitting of parliament.
The landmark package contains several initiatives to address the problems of the Baloch people and bring them into mainstream.
Following is the text of the Aghaaz-e-Huqook package presented by Senator Raza Rabbani.
Preamble
“Conscious, that the provinces have a sense of deprivation, in political and economic structures of the federation;
Recalling, that the provisions of the 1973 constitution in particular relating to the federation-province relationship have been circumvented; Keep reading →
General Kayani chose Peshawar to reaffirm his faith in the officially ordained “ideology of Pakistan” by declaring that no one could separate Pakistan from Islam. The message was quite clear: he was using reports in the media that ANP had proposed a change in Pakistan to drive home that Army was the defender of the country’s ideological borders. Keep reading →
Eighteenth Century Ruler of Modern Day Afghanistan & Pakistan
By Pervaiz Munir Alvi
[ We are delighted to publish this essay written exclusively for PTH - Ed.]
Ahmad Shah Durrani was born in 1722 as Ahmad Khan Abdali at the city of Multan. By the age of twenty five he had become ruler of the vast territory stretched from Mashhad in the west to the Punjab in the east; the land mass that today roughly forms the modern twin countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. He rose to power at a time when the Mughal Empire (1526-1857) based in Delhi and the Safavid Empire (1501-1722) based in Isfahan were disintegrating. Ahmad Shah at the expense of these two neighboring but dwindling empires was skillfully able to carve out an empire of his own. His rule although relatively short (1747-1772), was significant in the sense that it ultimately changed the course of the history of the South-Central Asia. Keep reading →
ISAS Brief No. 140 – Date: 18 November 2009 by Dr Ishtiaq Ahmed
Introduction
With the assault on the office of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in Peshawar on 13 November 2009, which left at least 20 people dead, including 10 ISI officials, the Taliban-Al Qaeda nexus has once again demonstrated that it is capable of hitting the supposedly well-guarded targets representing the power and authority of the state. A few weeks earlier, they were able to deceive the guards at the entry of the citadel of the Pakistan army, the General Headquarters, in Rawalpindi. On that occasion, more than 40 people were taken hostage, of whom 37 were rescued due to a daring operation by the commandos of the elite Special Services Group.
The Head Office of the Federal Investigation Agency in Lahore was bombed in October this year. A similar attack took place in 2008. Since 2007, attacks have been launched on military, air force and naval personnel and officials. On the other hand, the media also reported that some terrorists had tried to enter the restricted area where the nuclear facilities are located, but they were stopped at the outer security ring. Keep reading →
Believe me, I’d be mad like hell if Americans bombed Pakistan and killed innocent civilians.
Believe me, America is not targeting Pakistan. The Taliban are attacking Pakistan. Today, Pakistan is facing a very tough challenge of defeating home grown insurgency funded and fueled by the money that is directly coming from the Middle East. And in this fight to save Pakistan if Americans can help, why not join hands with Washington to save the country? Keep reading →
POSITION AVAILABLE: JOIN THE CITIZENS ARCHIVE OF PAKISTAN STAFF
The Citizens Archive of Pakistan is a place that fuels creativity, ignites minds and provides inspiration. With extraordinary exhibitions, a burgeoning photography archive and Pakistan’s most diverse collection of Oral History, we are dedicated to a conversation between the past and the present. Keep reading →
Courtesy BBC: Guest columnist Ahmed Rashid on how the real problems facing Pakistan are being sidelined by a surge of conspiracy theories
Switch on any of the dozens of satellite news channels now available in Pakistan.
You will be bombarded with talk show hosts who are mostly obsessed with demonising the elected government, trying to convince viewers of global conspiracies against Pakistan led by India and the United States or insisting that the recent campaign of suicide bomb blasts around the country is being orchestrated by foreigners rather than local militants.
Viewers may well ask where is the passionate debate about the real issues that people face – the crumbling economy, joblessness, the rising cost of living, crime and the lack of investment in health and education or settling the long-running insurgency in Balochistan province. Keep reading →
US Strategic mind is obsessed with dominance. A constant drift from a measured military response to countervailing strategic dominance is visible. At the heart of such thought is the containment and control of Eurasia in which Pakistan constitutes the formidable Southern Front.Past fifty years have witnessed the gradual rise of neo strategists who believe that use of covert violent activities can achieve political objectives both in tandem and whilst bypassing the defence establishment. They reflect aspirations of cartels, energy giants and economic czars riding the technological edge. This primacy of civilian leadership over military affairs ignited a new debate during the Korean and Cold War especially in formulation of evolving nuclear doctrines. The mathematicians and social scientists were the first generation of civilian nuclear strategists. At the extreme, Ken Booth had hypothetically assessed a development as scary as Nuclear Absolutism. Keep reading →
No not the Tehreek-e-Insaaf… his real party i.e. Socialites and Who’s who of Pakistan.
No doubt it was subdued – when it compared to the Greek Events and annual balls associated with VERVE- but this event at Imran Khan’s home throws some light on the many faces of Imran Khan.
By Nadeem F. Paracha
Sunday, 04 Oct, 2009 (Courtesy Dawn)—Illustration by Abro
In his biography, Mirror to the Blind, Abdul Sattar Edhi complains how he detests being called a ‘maulana’.
‘Mine was never a religious beard,’ he says. ‘It was always a revolutionary beard,’ he explains – perhaps inspired by Karl Marx, whom Edhi identifies as an inspiration during his youth. In the book he is quoted as saying that hardly any man in Pakistan used to have a beard in the 1950s. Keep reading →
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s official visit to the United States should have been the major story in Pakistan’s media. But our right-wing anchors and columnists and “get-Zardari” editors are far more focused on the domestic power struggles to realize that the nightmare of Pakistan’s strategic encirclement may already be on the brink of becoming reality.
The less attention Pakistanis pay to fighting terrorism and figuring out a way of dealing with the world, the more likely it is that India — the country with which Pakistan has fought four wars in 62 years — will continue to gain ground. India already has better relations with the governments of Afghanistan and Iran, our western neighbours. The more we demonstrate hatred towards the United States, the more we contribute to making the India-US relationship into an anti-Pakistan alliance, which need not be. We could complain and get angry with the US, as the Jamaatis and the Ghairat lobby advocate, or we could analyse the rising Indian influence and figure out ways of combating it. Keep reading →
A new collection of translated short stories reminds us how Urdu literature needs to connect with a global audience, says Raza Rumi
As I hold the recently published “The Oxford Book of short stories” in my hands, I cannot help bemoan the fact that Urdu literature has been almost invisible from the arena of global literature. Admittedly, translation is difficult; the tediousness of translation daunts many a brave heart. Having said that, there have been a handful of remarkable translators such as Khalid Hassan, Alamgir Hashmi, CM Naim, Aamer Hussain, Umer Memon and Rakhshanda Jalil, to name a few. But a wide corpus of Urdu literature lies forlorn and hidden from global readership, which alas is dominated by English language readers. For this very reason, Amina Azfar has done a remarkable job of compiling a collection of Urdu short stories. Her earlier translations have been competent and quite often lyrical. For instance, Akhtar Hussain Raipuri’s Gard-e-Rahh (the dust of the road) and Sajjad Zaheer’s Roshnai ( the Light ) are noteworthy for their tone.
The book has a nice little foreword by Aamer Hussain, who is correct in stating that Azfar’s collection provides a fine introduction to the genre of the Urdu short story. The stories selected encompass a range of various experiments undertaken by the great Urdu writers. The stark realism of Munshi Premchand is counterpoised by Khaleda Hussain’s two short stories that are allegorical and somewhat postmodern in their sensibility. Iftikhar Arif, the renowned poet-bureaucrat, in his formal introduction quotes Dr Jamil Jalibi, terming the selected short stories “in the category of the very best”. Keep reading →
Dr Munawar Hassan, Ameer Jamaat e Islami Pakistan, and his verbal acrobatics:
After listening to his sermon on the Constitution, lets move on to the military dictator the JI fully supported. For those who say politicians are more corrupt than military dictators, who do not consider the Constitution to be law (let alone the highest law), or even equally corrupt, here is a video clip of the man at the root of many of our problems today: Keep reading →
“Oh and please, try to stay a little light hearted about this one”
by Asif Akhtar cross-post from Dawn Blog, Nov 20th, 2009
Last week, in a blog titled ‘The Convenient Curtain of Myth‘, I tried to show the dangers of viewing international politics through popular mythological conceptions which produce theories like the India-US-Israel triangulation as a conspiracy to destroy Islam and Pakistan. Little did I know this would turn into a hotly debated topic fueled with national pride and egoistic emotions. I figured I should utilise my slot this week to respond to some of the eye-catching comments, while covering different themes of the debate, and at the same time injecting some much needed humor into the situation. Keep reading →
F S Aijazzuddin, Principal Aitchison College, Lahore, wrote the following in February 2009 after a speech to 500 young Aitchisonians by the then outgoing Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan
It was a fitting occasion for a farewell speech. The setting was a 122-year-old college for boys, established in Lahore at a time when the British intended to rule forever and to use the princes of the Punjab to perpetuate that rule. The speaker was the Indian High Commissioner, making his last formal speech in Pakistan before relinquishing charge. Keep reading →
The self styled guardian of Pakistan’s ideology, Nawai Waqt group has showed once again how petty, small minded and corrupt their thinking is. When Chief Minister Amir Haider Khan Hoti refused to visit Mr. Jinnah’s mausoleum, I thought of it as a grave folly, partially because this would give Nawai Waqt Group’s rag “The Nation” under the guidance of ultra nationalist ghairat lobby of the likes of Shireen Mazari, who otherwise don’t give two hoots about Jinnah, yet another stick to beat Pakistan’s liberal coalition in power. Thankfully that did not come to pass. Keep reading →
Here are two fairly commonplace, albeit not random, news items from two leading English dailies, and a letter to the editor:
1. The News November November 19, 2009
Taliban did not attack GHQ: JI chief
Rally denounces ‘US interference’ in Pakistan’s affairs
By Muhammad Anis
ISLAMABAD: The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Central Amir, Syed Munawwar Hasan, on Wednesday claimed that the Taliban had not attacked the GHQ rather India and the United States were behind the attack. Keep reading →
صدر آصف علی زرداری نے جمعہ کو این آر او کے علاوہ ستائیس آرڈیننس دوبارہ جاری کیئے ہیں جن میں نیشل کمانڈ اینڈ کنٹرول اتھارٹی کا ترمیمی آرڈیننس بھی شامل ہے۔
Below are some links and news items I've been wanting to share and finally managed to compile and send. Enjoy ? and while in Thanksgiving/Eid mode, spare a
The office of Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the highest-ranking soldier in the US, tried to intimidate a reporter working on a story about security contractor Blackwater’s operations in Pakistan, the reporter claims.
I was intrigued
Courtesy BBC: Guest columnist Ahmed Rashid on how the real problems facing Pakistan are being sidelined by a surge of conspiracy theories 
As I hold the recently published “The Oxford Book of short stories” in my hands, I cannot help bemoan the fact that Urdu literature has been almost invisible from the arena of global literature. Admittedly, translation is difficult; the tediousness of translation daunts many a brave heart. Having said that, there have been a handful of remarkable translators such as Khalid Hassan, Alamgir Hashmi, CM Naim, Aamer Hussain, Umer Memon and Rakhshanda Jalil, to name a few. But a wide corpus of Urdu literature lies forlorn and hidden from global readership, which alas is dominated by English language readers. For this very reason, Amina Azfar has done a remarkable job of compiling a collection of Urdu short stories. Her earlier translations have been competent and quite often lyrical. For instance, Akhtar Hussain Raipuri’s Gard-e-Rahh (the dust of the road) and Sajjad Zaheer’s Roshnai ( the Light ) are noteworthy for their tone.
