"166 is hijacked"

Call me a war hysteric citizen of Pakistan, I'd accept the charge Sir - that's what I have done to myself. Nonetheless, what is in this post is the final conversion that took place b/w shaheed Flt. Lt. Rashid Minhas and "air control at PAF Base Masroor recorded around 11:30 am on August 20, 1971". Finally, I'm hearing words of that pilot everyone adores, home and abroad, being too young, doing too momentuous a task that every Muslim must have a desire in his heart to do, i.e., to attain martyrdom (hope you have clear understanding of this word in Islam, if not, see some authentic Islamic scholar)... This conversation is a bit incomprehensible - all that is mentioned here, which Minhas repeated a few times: 166 is hijacked! (166 is perhaps a kind of a code referring to his flight).

Young Rashid!

Karachi Burning

Courtesy: Musaafir-e-Dasht.

"So, it did feel like hell broke loose yet again on Karachi when hundreds of shops were burnt as a supposed aftermath to the Ashura blasts. Families ruined. Businesses lost. And death prevailed. No, those who burnt the shops and markets were not those who were in the procession. Rather they had nothing to do with those were busy mourning the deaths of their dear ones. They were quite 'known' people. People who had planned it all before hand. People who made sure that they use chemicals when putting the markets to flame. People who claim to own the city. And let us not go very far - those who remember hearing the video I posted on my blog sometime back, regarding the surreptitious Blackwater activities in the city, would also remember who was aiding them establish a stronghold here...

Ironically, not a single person had the courage to take names - names of the people, names of the organistaions involved. Media - what to say of it but et tu, Brute (As always!)? All they had to tell us were the same immaculately woven tales regarding the 'taliban' and the 'religious extremists' (by the way, nowadays anyone who practices religion is an 'extremist'). So, all in all, what followed the highly unfortunate incident was a heap of falsehood struck right into teh face of the avaam who are being constantly 'requested' to be on their guard against any dehshatgard that they might find amongst them!

How truly and beautifully some poet said:

دامن پہ کوئی داغ نہ خنجر پہ کوئی چھینٹ

"تم قتل کرو ہو کہ کرامات کرو ہو

I also ponder: Why is that in this age a religious person, the religion in question must always be Islam, is an extremist, when the West has gone to extremes, not us? Why people around call be a bare 'fanatic' for I do not approve of sitting before this 'plug-in drug' called TV, although I approve of all monitors, nonetheless?

"How many Muslims has the U.S. killed in the past 30 years?"

Stephen M. Walt, Robert and Renée Belfer Professor of International Relations at Harvard University, was pondering over why Muslims hate America. Not convinced by the judgmental and hasty Tom Friedman of New York Times, he made his own estimate of how much killings both parties have done to each other in past thirty years. He suggests that the data should be used carefully. I reiterate the advice of Dr. Seyyed Hossein Nasr to Muslims that do not 'see yourself with other person's eyes'. How can you do that in any case?

(Click to enlarge)Read full article here.

"You Belong to One Community": The Call of Swati Refugees

I ain't any good writer, nor do I wish to "paint the pictures" of the unbearable pain our brothers and sisters of Swat - forced to flee as being torn out between the mortars and air-shelling of Pakistan Army and bullets and killings of Taliban from their homes - are subjected to. I simply don't have any imagination or quality to do so. But. I was moved to feel about, think about and do something, anything, about the Swati Refugees after I read the following two plain stories told by the victims themselves in plain language. I hope it affects and moves your hearts as well. I see hope.

__________________________________________________

"Here are the stories of two internally displaced people who were forced to leave everything behind and start a new life full of uncertainties.

FARHAN, 23, STUDENT, NOW IN ISLAMABAD

"We left Mingora three days ago. The situation had become very dangerous. We were caught up in the brutalities between the Pakistani army and the Taleban.

We were trapped inside our homes for a week, while there was constant shelling. A mortar demolished a house just a few yards from our home.

There was no water, no power, everything was destroyed.

Swat is empty now and we don't want to go back ever

To add to that, the Taleban threatened to kill young people if they didn't join them in their so-called 'jihad'. There have been personal threats to our family too, as my father is an outspoken critic of the Taleban.

We had to leave. We left everything we had and went on foot to Malakand. There was no transport available. We were walking with thousands of people.

It was a difficult journey. There was no food or water, but most importantly we were going through a war zone and we were scared that we'd encounter Taleban militants.

Once in Malakand we hired a truck and drove to Islamabad. We are relatively safe here but I don't know for how long.

We left everything and now we are with empty hands trying to start our lives again.

We are trying to leave the country. Swat is empty now and we don't want to go back ever.

-------

MAJID, 24, STUDENT, NOW IN PESHAWAR

"We fled Mingora last Friday, together with much of the population of the city. Our life had become very difficult: we were trapped in curfews, electricity was cut, there was no water or food.

A makeshift school for girls in a refugee camp in Swabi
School lessons have resumed for these girls at a refugee camp in Swabi
In the early hours on Friday morning we were under attack from gunship helicopters. Later the army told us we had to leave Mingora.

We got up, put clothes on and rushed out of the door. We didn't have time to pack anything. We didn't even prepare food for the journey. We just shut the door and left.

People were running, everyone was so scared. We didn't know what was going to happen next.

I feel depressed. Swat has been brought back to the Stone Age. There's no life there any more

We decided to go to Peshawar. The first part of our journey was on foot, until we reached Malakand. The road was packed with people, thousands of them. My grandfather is old, he couldn't walk for long and needed regular breaks. And it was a hot day.

Then we hired a truck and drove to Peshawar. Many people stayed behind, as not everyone could afford to hire a vehicle.

I am staying at a university hostel with friends. My family is at some relatives' house. Many joined refugee camps, but those must be full, because I see lots of people lying on the roads, people for whom there's no accommodation or help.

The nearby park is full of people from Swat. There are Swat people all over the city, everyone with their own story.

Everyone is deeply disturbed by this experience. We left everything and our life here is uncertain.

I am thinking of leaving the country to study abroad. My dad says that he'll try to set up his own business and open a shop in Peshawar.

I feel depressed. Swat has been brought back to the Stone Age. Each and every individual has left. There's no life there any more. I am not hopeful that things will get better any time soon - they can't clear this mess up in a hundred years. "

Source.

The Choice

	THE AMERICAN SPIRIT SPEAKS: TO the Judge of Right and Wrong
	With Whom fulfillment lies
	Our purpose and our power belong,
	Our faith and sacrifice.
	Let Freedom’s land rejoice!
	Our ancient bonds are riven;
	Once more to us the eternal choice
	Of good or ill is given.
	Not at a little cost,
	Hardly by prayer or tears,
	Shall we recover the road we lost
	In the drugged and doubting years.
	But after the fires and the wrath,
	But after searching and pain,
	His Mercy opens us a path
	To live with ourselves again.
	In the Gates of Death rejoice!
	We see and hold the good—
	Bear witness, Earth, we have made our choice
	For Freedom’s brotherhood.
	Then praise the Lord Most High
	Whose Strength hath saved us whole,
	Who bade us choose that the Flesh should die
	And not the living Soul! -Rudyard Kipling

Battlefield - An Exotic Classroom For Geeks

Imagine a scholar-soldier going into a precarious, chaotic, gory battlefield. And a Chinese proverb would bet that that learner can do anything he thinks he can do, but not within a few hundred years. This apprehension about sholarly nerds has been realized by such a soldier who fought in Afghanistan, against no matter whom. On Mr. Mullaney’s memoir about his experiments with war and battlefields, a journalist comments,

"'The Unforgiving Minute” is Captain Mullaney’s attempt to reconcile the precombat lessons that seemed so clear to him with the exigencies of battlefield experience... It’s the inner journey of a man who is at first eager to learn as much as he can from service and scholarship. Later on he learns from his mistakes." (Read its complete review here.)

A Nation That Lacks Few Worthy Administrators

Yesterday, a bombing took place in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan, killing 30 people, causing injuries to more than 50 people. I know no one is surprised who has a little or no knowledge of the present-day Pakistan. Fie! People have no assurance whatsoever if the authorities care about their protection. Thousands of suicide bombings are proof to that. When people took blood-painted bodies, after the huge explosion, to a military hospital, "the staff said they could not treat so many people." While I didn't mention that civil hospitals lacked only a few competent doctors.

"The bombing, which targeted the funeral of a Shiite man who had been shot in the city a day earlier, set off a chain reaction of chaos in the city of about a million people on the edge of Pakistan's lawless tribal areas.

Enraged mobs attacked local security forces, ransacked shops and surrounded hospitals as members of the funeral procession struggled to secure treatment for the wounded, according to the mayor, Abdur Rauf."

Read more here: http://mobile.nytimes.com/2009/02/21/world/asia/21pstan.xml

Terrorist Attacks in Pakistan: Past 3 Year's Figures

In the following chart is the data on terrorist and non-terrorist attacks (security forces, operational etc.) and causalities due these attacks taking place in Pakistan during the past 3 years combined. It should be noted that all these attacks and causalities are a direct result of the "war on terror" going on for past seven years in Pakistan's neighbour, namely, Afghanistan. The highest number of attacks took place in NWFP, 1,009 (the province which shares a borderline with Afghanistan), followed by Balochistan, 682, and the Tribal Areas, 385.Only 35 took place in Punjab, 25 in Sindh and 7 in Islamabad.

Total Attacks and Causalities During Last Three Years in Pakistan:

Year	Total Attacks*	Annual Increase (in %)	Killed	Injured
2005	254		216	571
2006	675	159%	907	1,543
2007	1,0503	129%	3,448	5,353
2008	2,577	43%	7,997	9,670

 

Ironically, the military operations by security forces of Pakistan against terrorist organizations have done more harm than any good. These operational attacks alone have killed 3,182 people, according to a report. And, this death toll surpasses the number of killings by terrorist attacks.

This chart has been published in the Pakistan Security Report 2008 by the Pak Institute for Peace Studies, or in short, PIPS. The PIPS is an independent, non-profit nongovernmental research think-tank. Its office is located in Islamabad. You can visit their official web-site at www.san-pips.com.

* The attacks combine "causalities in clashes between security forces and terrorists, sectarian clashes between tribes, border clashes and incidents of operational and political violence."

How Israel is Losing this Carnage of Its?

Doctors like these...

World believes, that actually doesn't blame Israel for anything, that Iran's influence on Hamas is real. So much so 'real' and important that they think by crushing Hamas Iran will be pushed back and will automatically be weakened through military, hard power, action. This approach is discernible from the view of historian Micheal Oren, a press officer in the Israeli military, that "the operation against Hamas represents a unique chance to deal a strategic blow to Iranian expansionism."

But why are they wrong? And why their military offense is going to fail this time, which is more of a political failure? Vali Nasr answers in his respected work The Shia Revival that "Iran does not have tangible assets in Gaza or the Palestinian territories. It's misunderstanding to think of its strength in that way. Its real influence in the Arab world comes from its soft power, the reputation it has built as the defender of the great Arab cause of Palestine."

This is very true. As Fareed Zakria argues, "Hamas is not Iran's pawn. Recently, Hamas has been taking funds and weapons from Iran, but that does not mean it also takes orders from it." He further adds that its decisions to break "the ceasefire probably took place without direction Tehran."* I cannot say the mayhem Israelis have brought to Gaza victims is going to turn into a happily ever after fairy-tale situation. Israel's unjustified onslaught has broken the threads of friendship so-called moderate Arab states were weaving with Israel, although against the public opinion. I may sound here too cold-blooded. But that's not important. Even Iraqi prime minister has openly called Arab and Muslim states to "cancel their diplomatic relations and stop all contacts - public and private - with this murderous regime, which continues its painful aggression against peaceful, unarmed civilians."

For future that is to emerge from the ashes of today, a shift that is taking place away from Israel of world and most importantly Arabs is a good sign for Muslim world. This will help draw a cleavage line between those of good faith and of bad. The test of real and true faith of them is yet to come. The outcomes of which will be obvious then.

* From the article What Makes Ahmadinejad Smile, by Fareed Zakaria in Newsweek.

One Possible Defiance Tactic By Palestinians - Now

Human Shields

Yes, Palestinians, not only one with arms, can back off Israeli air force by one simple defense tactic: 'Human Shield'. Very dangerous. But, what an option is left to them? And, it worked, at least once in these days. To quote BBC News, "The Israelis had backed off knowing that to strike would cause large numbers of civilian casualties which would, of course, have played very badly in the court of international opinion." It takes courage. They've it. "From militant leaders to schoolgirls, Palestinians can unite in confronting their enemy and the passive resistance of the human shields will be admired from around the world. The boys on the roofs, armed only with Palestinian flags and facing down war planes...."*

Map: Gaza and Israel Conflict. (Source)

______________

* URL Link.

Isareli Incursion Fully Begun

Source. BBC NEWS

Israeli troops have entered Gaza, with helicopters. Israeli troops have ordered in the wind Palestinian public to leave their homes at once. On the rationale that wind that blows contains answers. I don't know but its a messenger of worst sort of miseries for men/women of Gaza. "An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed the incursion and said the aim was to seize areas from where Hamas was launching rocket attacks on southern Israel."Latest Flash (data): "The mosque raid [latest] brought the Palestinian death toll to at least 446, with about 2,050 wounded..."

This is ridiculous, though its very less powerful word, words cannot convey our pains any more. For there's nowhere for the victims of the diabolical might of the powerful idols to run. Where to hide? Absolutely nowhere. During raids? bombing? ground and air assault? I know I cannot stop it, but let me mock them, and hate them.

Conditions for the victims are somewhat like this: 

"The plight of the 1.5 million Palestinians crammed into Gaza was growing more desperate. People sheltered in their homes and humanitarian agencies warned that food, water and medical supplies were running short.

The power plant has shut down and the sanitation system cannot treat the sewage. In the winter cold, fuel for heating and cooking was no longer available, aid agencies said.

'We do not sleep at all at night. We stayed awake the whole night because of the planes,' said Umm Kamel, a mother of 11 baking bread on a wood fire in her home in Gaza.

'Nobody feels safe,' an International Committee of the Red Cross worker said in a report on the body's website. 'The problem is that we have nowhere to run for shelter.'"

And, not to forget, "Israel occupied Gaza in the 1967 Middle East War and after Palestinian uprisings formally ended its military rule in 2005, although it still controls the borders."

Note: Source of all quotes is here.

Gaza Carnage: Words Can't Convey Our Pain Any More

Injured Palestinian chidlern Hatham Yahga and Yousaf who are in Dubai for treatment. - KT photo by Rahul Gajjar

No Words Left

Sam Hamod,  a distinguished Arab poet.

No Words Left Sam Hamod Without words,

Children screaming, 

Mothers wailing, 

Men cussing, 

Imam's praying, 

Israeli bombs splaying blood, 

F16s ratcheting missiles everywhere, 

Buildings exploding, Hospitals shredded, 

University splintered, 

Shrapnel flying everywhere, 

No words from Bush, No words from Brown, 

No words from Obama, No words from Rice, 

No words from Biden, No words from Clinton, 

No words from anyone in the U.S. media, 

No words, 

No care, 

No hearts, 

No words... no care... no hearts

Nothing 

Nothing 

No, nothing at all.

(Source.)

!'m shocked...!'m sad...my hearts are heavy...!'m never the same...! lack courage...! lack proactivity...but !'ll kill them...in one way or another...as a toll for their barbarism...and...its yet not an end...! resolve genocide...without profoundly mixing terms so badly...that world is all hurt in the same way it is...it would be never ever as it was...which ! tremble to admit is the unfortunate now...the all-powerful idols strike now...they've started their final journey...they should mark it down...that that's the sum total of my life thinking paper: of what i do and be in totality and wholeness...

Taliban Are Not Pakistanis

I don't refute if many may be. But I also cannot refute: they're not. Are there any types of Taliban? I don't know. But whosoever fights them, they kill them. If Paxton's kill them, they kill Paxton's, their own ancient blood-relatives. This is it. This shows us, Taliban have no gross roots in Qabails (FATA tribes). Here's the evidence.

Taliban strike a village Shalbandi in Swat which rebelled against it and hunt down 6 Talibans last Sunday morning. Taliban in preceding events had massacred 8 policemen. The village gained national repute for its fight against Taliban. Thus, Taliban singled out this village. Sent a suicide car and in pursuit of a 'general strategy' struck a school which was holding legislative elections. Result: 30 people killed and more than dozen wounded, all local Pakistani tribesmen. (NY Times.)

Yes, there are lawless areas in western region of the border. But, we've seen that who-so-ever, i.e, tribesmen, fight against Taliban (be they it) or try to wipe them out of their region(s), they'd simply strike back with full violence and no mercy. In order to multiply troubles for Pakistan, U.S finds leisure in attacking Tribal Areas, especially those which seem to be on friendly terms with Pakistani government. This later part is only my speculation. Nonetheless its wide clear to me, Taliban must be a name to cover external forces. It seems logical to me when I find Tribal people fighting back Pakistani Government and even America to save their tribesmen from the onslaught of their enemies, whom we categorize as Taliban or Al-Qaeda. How can the other party be so mean enough not to respect them? 

To tribesmen of Pakistan traditions and principles precede survival. This fact should be marked down.