What we expect and deserve

The American intrusion to kill Osama bin Laden created the need for Pakistan to put its house in order, make internal security more effective and improve its management of relations with America, India and Afghanistan to avoid confrontation.
The attack on the naval airbase in Karachi three weeks later does not change these imperatives. It highlights the fact that the security construct needs drastic improvement. The American occupation of Afghanistan, the United States’ refrain that Pakistan do more, the increased drone strikes and US avowals to repeat intrusions for suspected high-value targets in Pakistan, all erode support for the government and the armed forces. The government and the armed forces are projected by extremists and terrorists as American surrogates to justify their attacks and attract sympathisers. In turn, the civilian population, bearing the brunt of terrorist attacks, accuses both the government and the military of sacrificing it to its pro-American policy.

Fixing responsibility for PNS Mehran

A frank discussion about the inept, corrupt and callous political leadership in this country has its place. It just doesn’t have any place in this country right now. The PNS Mehran attack, along with the attack in Charsadda, and the two-pronged living nightmare of Osama Bin Laden residing in Pakistan, and the US invasion to kill him are just the most recent series of attacks that demonstrate that the primary public policy challenge in Pakistan today is national security.
There is little doubt that civilian governance is diseased. Corruption within the PPP government, a vision-impaired and DMG subservient PML N government in Punjab, a mediocre-acy in KP and Balochistan, and a patronage free-for-all between the MQM and the PPP in Sindh are all likely true.

Obama and the ME

Last week US President Barack Obama delivered a significant foreign policy speech. He outlined an overall US approach – the Arab Spring. The speech has met with scepticism in various sections of the Arab world. Some analysts view it as a paradigm shift in US policy towards the Middle East. But many political observers are of the view that President Obama may not be able to follow his words with practical action. They think it such statements carry no weight as their execution conflicts with US imperial interests. A new Pew poll released recently – conducted in six predominantly Muslim countries and the Palestinian territories – showed widely-held negative views of the US and a lack of confidence in Obama.
An analysis of Obama’s speech must be guided by three concrete realities: one, the US image in the Muslim world took a steep descent during the era of the Bush regime; two, Obama has so far failed to resurrect US soft power and restore confidence in US values of democracy, justice and human rights; three, it will require practical initiatives to translate Obama’s vision into reality.
In a complete departure from his predecessor’s stance on the Palestinian issue, President Obama has called for a negotiated Israeli pullback to pre-1967 war borders “with mutually agreed land swaps” and the establishment of a Palestinian state. President Bush had stated in 2004 that the return to 1967 borders is no more practicable in the face of facts on the ground. But President Obama has failed to present a formal peace plan – to the dismay of many in the Arab world – and has failed to make progress on the Israeli-Palestinian front since taking office in 2009.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has rejected President Obama’s stance of a Palestinian state on the basis of the 1967 borders. This shows that Netanyahu is not going to be squeezed under US pressure because he enjoys the active support of the right-wing coalition in his efforts to continue Israeli colonialism of Palestinian lands. Therefore Obama will have to put his foot down and refuse to knuckle under the pressure of the lobbies in Washington.
In fact, the tide of history has made it imperative that the US mend its relations with Muslim countries. Shrinking public support for the US in the Arab world has resulted in limited maneuvering space for the former to pursue its interests in the region. In extending unconditional support to Israel, maintaining a largely apathetic attitude towards the Palestine conflict, and invading two Muslim countries under the garb of the “war on terror,” the US has evoked hatred among many in Muslim countries.
However, President Obama will face tough resistance from the ‘Israeli’ lobby in the form of strong prodding and intimidation tactics. Obama has hailed popular unrest sweeping the Middle East as a “historic opportunity” and ratcheted up pressure on Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, urging him to lead the democratic transition or “get out of the way”. For the first time he has asked Bahrain’s rulers to stop mass arrests and the use of brute force against Bahrain’s citizens. Obama has to make hard choices or the credibility gap between the US and the Muslim world will widen further and already widespread feelings of mutual mistrust and antagonism will be reinforced.
By Rizwan Asghar
Email:rizwanasghar7@yahoo.com

Ab ya Kabi Nahin

Time for peace talks

In more ways than one, Osama bin Laden’s death has changed the dynamic in the region and offered a new opportunity to pursue a political settlement to end the almost decade long war in Afghanistan.
Bin Laden’s killing by a covert American mission has injected unprecedented strains in the long troubled Pakistan-US relationship. But in opening up possibilities to accelerate efforts for a diplomatic solution it also provides the two countries a chance to align their objectives in Afghanistan and recalibrate their frayed ties.

Government by deception

Pakistan’s military seems to have made a strategic decision not to confront its ally, the United States military. No one wants a war declared on the US.
But our military leadership can and should consider a range of options to defend Pakistan’s image and interests. Take the right to speak up publically, for example. Washington has the right to pursue its Al-Qaeda enemies, as Secretary Clinton said over the weekend. But it does not have the right to use our intelligence and then deliberately sidestep Pakistan and question its sincerity and use the alarmingly large American intelligence network inside Pakistan to stab the army and the air force in the back and demonise Pakistan worldwide.

Now or never

After the May 2 incident of Abbottabad the nation stood united on a one point agenda which was to ask the government to change its ill-conceived policies of war on terror through the 12-point resolution passed by the joint session of parliament on 13-14 May 2011. The Abbottabad debacle, we thought, had forced the government to give up the status quo position that it had adopted on policies inherited by it years back. The government seemed cornered with no choice but to implement the resolution or face the wrath of the nation in the next general election.

Alarm bells ringing in security establishment

Alarm bells have started ringing in Pakistan’s security establishment with the latest terrorist attack at the PNS Mehran in Karachi, with many fearing that as part of any so-called “Great game”, a sponsored “terrorist attack” could be launched on any of the country’s nuclear sites to pave the way for a UN (read US) takeover of our nuke sites.
Sources in the military establishment are confident that the command and control system of Pakistani nukes is one of the best and is beyond not only the reach of terrorists but also capable of countering any foreign strike. However, there are serious apprehensions that a conspiracy for a sponsored attack could not be ruled out to create serious doubts about this capability solely for the purpose of paving the way through worldwide media propaganda to denuclearise Pakistan.

ISS PARCHAM KE SAYE TALLAY HUM AIK HEIN..?

How often have you been distracted enough during a drawing assignment that your construction lines find themselves jangled amongst ‘a mayhem of linear inequities’. (Perhaps, ‘Never’ is the answer I hear from my non artsy fartsy friends, swearing at the thought of my non- complacent cribbing at ‘drawing’ assignments when they are caught up as a bundle of ‘reading’ assignments.) But trust me, it’s an ordeal to do a line drawing assignment with an unfocused, loosely wandering, aimless mind. With the cricket match playing behind me and Pakistan bowling its way through the West Indies team, I could hear shouts of joy and excitement from neighboring apartments at the victorious gain of wickets. It brought a huge smile to my face for it made me relish the joy that this game brings us home. ‘United we stand’ (for one thing at least.. )

Islam and Quran

Top Stories of the Week

• Imran to ‘punish’ Nato forces for US drone strikes—The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is all set to stage a sit-in at the Native Jetty Bridge near the city’s port from Saturday afternoon till Sunday evening to block trucks carrying supplies to Nato forces in Afghanistan as part of its continuing protests against US drone attacks in Pakistan’s tribal areas.
• ‘Saving energy only viable solution to power crisis’—Tormented by a persistent energy crisis and hostage to the rapidly rising cost of electricity, Pakistan’s only viable option is energy conservation; which is why it is the driving force behind the Energy Conservation Bill tabled in the National Assembly that calls for the use of energy-efficient products at home and industries.

From promising student to feared militant

When Maaz Ali’s father sent him to the Karachi University for his higher education, little did he know that his son would end up becoming an integral part of one of the most feared militant outfits of the country, the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Maaz Ali, also known as Irfan, was recently arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and a suicide jacket along with a huge cache of arms and ammunition was recovered from his possession. Three others were also taken into custody during the raid.

Hunting truths

You may never read these words, and certainly will not if Harold Camping, a preacher with a significant following in America is right. He has announced the end of the world for today, Saturday 21st May at precisely 6 p.m. He has arrived at this date and time by careful study of the Bible and some rather fancy mathematics. He and his followers will be the only ones who will be saved, the rest of us are condemned to perdition and eternal torment.
Assuming we all survive presumably Mr Camping will claim that he got his sums wrong and that he will try and do better next time. There are thousands who believe his prediction. Some have sold their homes and businesses and gone around the country trying to persuade others of the rightness of Camping s prediction. They believe that the prediction is a true one, and that they are in receipt of a fundamental truth.

Let’s try Imran Khan

Admit it, whenever Imran Khan is on TV, you do stop in your channel surfing tracks and listen to him. You do that, don t you? No matter how much you criticise him or ostracise him, love him or hate him, you do listen to him, don t you?
The problem with admitting that you are an Imran Khan fan, especially in front of the wise ones, is that you can t do so without being labelled and stereotyped. If you are an Imran Khan fan then you are bound to be either a starry eyed undergrad waiting for Pakistan to happen or a retired wannabe with shattered delusions of grandeur, and no sense of the world at all. And if you are a woman fan (God forbid) then you may as well make the word gullible your second name! The female fan stereotype glares you in the face and all your arguments go down the stereotypical drain. What you are left with in the end, is a concluding statement that begins with the phrase: But I know it in my heart that…
Talk about feeding the stereotype.

If this had happened before

On May 2 American commandos flew into Abbottabad in helicopters in the wee hours of the morning. It was later reported by President Obama that the commandos had killed Osama bin Laden and his son and had taken their bodies. Still later it was announced that Bin Laden s body had been disposed of into the sea in accordance with Islamic rituals. The Americans lost one of their helicopters in that raid. In the morning army personnel put all the debris on trucks covered with tarpaulins (to safeguard the secrets of their American friends) and drove them into the PMA compound. I guess by now it must be at Bagram.

Cheap Dreams

Do the maths. Eighty-five and still counting in Shabqadar, Charsadda. To avenge Osama bin Laden’s killing. Five on Tuesday, Kharotabad, Quetta. ‘Timely’ operation or extrajudicial killing? Three on Monday in Karachi. Target killing. At least fourteen in some of Pakistan’s rural areas because they couldn’t get medical care. A handful breathed their last at government hospitals in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Peshawar because the doctors attending to them were on demanding more pay. Needy patients be damned. An attack on an American consulate convoy in Peshawar. Missed the American – killed a local instead. That’s the death toll from the last two weeks and these figures may be understated.

Capital suggestion

Lt General Ahmad Shuja Pasha and the Intelligence Directorate that he commands are under an asymmetric attack of a unique kind. The Inter-Services Intelligence Agency (ISI), the eyes and ears of the army, is in the midst of a ‘war of the mind’. The weapon is one of the oldest in the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) stockpile. It is non-lethal but a definite combat multiplier. The weapon is all about ‘sight and sound’ and is dispersed either by the media, newspapers, magazines, diplomats, courts or by face-to-face interactions.

Adnan Sabzwari A Young Revolutionary Genius

Beginning of the endgame?

Obama is a miracle man. His getting elected as America’s first-ever black president was in itself a miracle. An even bigger miracle was his becoming a Nobel peace laureate, despite the fact that he is the head of state of a superpower that is tirelessly fighting wars ever since the Second World War. His choice for the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize was a huge surprise for Obama himself, but he had no qualm about collecting it.
Now that Obama has got rid of Osama, Americans and people the world over expect him to end the decade-old Afghan war. It is time Obama the miracle man did something to deserve the honour that the Nobel Committee bestowed upon him for doing nothing. In any case, Osama bin Laden was why the United States went to war in Afghanistan, and now that Osama is officially declared dead, Obama is left with no excuse or rationale to continue this war.

Promise and premise

Dr Maleeha Lodhi
Of all the regions in the world South Asia continues to be at odds with the trend toward greater regional economic cooperation. Unresolved disputes and the zero-sum nature of Pakistan-India relations remain the main impediments to any significant move towards South Asia’s economic integration.
Almost 90 per cent of the region’s GDP is accounted for by India and Pakistan. It is therefore this relationship that counts both in terms of the expansion of intra regional trade and South Asia’s exports to the rest of the world. Several studies estimate that bilateral trade can easily surpass the current official level of $2 billion a year and that the potential – if informal channels are ‘formalised’ and the cost of trading through third parties lowered – is considerable. Some have put it at over $10 billion a year.