By Ece Koc

Shlomo Brom from the Institute for National Security Studies was recently in the A9 studios. Brom is known for his role in the regional security talks of the 90’s with Palestinians, Jordan and Syria. He continued to be involved in Track Two dialogues on these subjects after his retirement from the IDF. He is the author of ‘Israel and South Lebanon in the Absence of a Peace Treaty with Syria’.

Brom offered his views on the peace process in the Middle East, what went wrong until now and how things could be put right.

Brom said that in order to achieve peace, all parties need to be served, everyone’s interests should be protected: “Peace is actually a meeting of interests of the parties that are involved. You cannot have an agreement or disagreement, something that serves one party more than the interests of the other party. So [in our efforts] the idea was to conclude a balanced, fair agreement that can bring security and stability to all the parties involved.”

He also said that Israel’s good relationship with Turkey mostly depends on its peace process with Palestine: “I think that we have an interest in building the relationship with the Palestinians because implementing the two-state solution, namely establishing a Palestinian state, is also important for Israel, because that will guarantee the identity of Israel as the state of the Jewish people. If these steps are taken, I assume the relationship between Turkey and Israel will improve very fast.”

When one of the hosts said that Turkey and Israel should come together just like old times, as they had been close allies since the time of the Ottoman, Brom agreed: “The whole Middle East is now going through a very difficult period. It is terrible what is happening in Syria for example and I will say that only two really stable states in the Middle East are Turkey and Israel. So they have an interest to cooperate and to do whatever they can do, to try to bring the Middle East back to sanity, stabilize the region and make it a place where human beings can live and prosper.”

As to conflicts that have been raging all around the world, Brom was very straight-forward about the negative side of  human nature and how some people gave into that: “I would say human beings are human beings. As human beings, they have fantastic qualities sometimes, and they also have weaknesses. Some of the weaknesses are greed. And greed is the basis of colonialism and exploitation and all these diseases that you mentioned. But we should create an environment that would enable the same human beings to expose their more positive aspects of their personality. And that can be done through cooperation, that’s what I’m preaching.”

Brom also weighed in on racism and said that it is still a threat in many places, including Israel: “We all have to fight racism. If you come to visit Israel you will see black Jews, you will see Jews with a very white color of skin, and you will see other different colors. It doesn’t make any difference as long as all of them are human beings and all believe in the same belief, the same system of values.  It’s very easy to say it is a European phenomenon, Europeans were the creators of racism and anti-Semitism, but when I look at my own society, I sometimes see very similar phenomena amongst some groups of extremists. And we have to understand that these people are our enemies, we should try to convince them to change their ways and if we cannot do it, we have to fight them. When I say fight them, I mean because also for us in Turkey and in Israel, we are operating within a democracy, so I mean fighting politically of course. Not fighting with the use of arms.”

The host explained that according to the Qur’an, Jews are People of the Book for Muslims and should be loved and respected, contrary to what the extremists say and do and that only education based on the Qur’an can overcome the perils of radicalism and hostility. Brom readily agreed: “Certainly. Education is very important, but not only education because in many cases this kind of attitude is the result of a certain socio-economic situation. From my experience, racism, extremism in many cases are more common among the lower classes of society. That is because they feel deprived, and because they feel deprived, they are looking for someone to blame. And it’s always easier, more convenient to blame those who are a little bit different, because they are another nationality or religion. So we will use the power of our society to deal with our social-economic problems, and that together with the education, I think, can limit this phenomenon to a large extent.”

When asked a question about the alliance of the three Abrahamic religions, Brom said that he believes in such an alliance:  “I believe that the three monotheistic religions, namely Judaism, Islam and Christianity, all come from the same source, based on the same principles. We are also influencing each other. They have also influenced each other through history so we should emphasize the similar and the connections between the different religions, not the differences between them. And that can be done through once again education, but that can also be done through inter-religion dialogue, by creating opportunities for people from the different religions, having a dialogue and talking about beliefs and finding how many common values they have.”

Bromo also said that if we educate people on each other’s religion, then they will realize the similarities and that will make friendship and love a lot easier:  “As a military man, I studied Middle East studies at the university. At university I learned a lot about Islam. And for me that was an opportunity to see how similar it is with Judaism. I really believe that Judaism and Islam are much more similar to each other than Judaism and Christianity. Most Israelis for example, don’t know it because they are not told enough about Islam. And I’m quite sure that most of the common people in Turkey who are Muslims know little about Judaism. So we have to teach the people, to show them the similarity and to teach them understanding and equality. And by doing that, I think we will probably increase the mutual understanding and at least people adopt their position it will not be based on ignorance.”

When one of the hosts explained that according to the Qur’an, Muslims should love and respect the Jews and Christians and that they are allowed to marry them, dine together with them and how the Ottomans showed a good example of this warm attitude during the reign of the Ottoman in Israel, Brom heartily agreed and welcomed such a role by Turkey:  “I think Turkey can be an example. You know it’s not only recently that Jews and Muslims can live together in Turkey, but it is a historical fact throughout the Ottoman Empire. Jews prospered in the Ottoman Empire.”

Brom also said that Turkey has a responsibility, being “Maybe the biggest regional power in the Middle East” and went on: “You know with power comes responsibility, not only advantages. I think Turkey has a responsibility, it has the responsibility of being the older brother. The one that is helping the other brothers in the Middle East in dealing with their problems.”

Brom said that cooperation is the key to stopping extremism:  “Our alliance is very important. And other people will follow that.”

Brom ended his words saying that he doesn’t really believe in a conflict with the Islamic world and he believes that one day we can achieve peace: “I really don’t believe that we have problems, real problems with the Islamic world. Our common history during the last 50 to 100 years was very complicated, because Jews returned to their historic homeland in Palestine. But that doesn’t mean that we cannot deal with our problems, live in peace and cooperation and prosper together.”

Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily of the Editorial Board of Opinion Maker.

By Brg Asif Haroon Raja

Amidst the hullabaloo of election campaign when all eyes were focused on the outcome of May 11 election results, Dr Fahad Rafique Dogar came out with a bloomer. His article titled ‘Curriculum reform’ in ‘The News’ dated May 9, 2013 was out of place with no relevance to the overall environment. However, the message in the article was quite clear and in line with similar articles written on ideology of Pakistan, two-nation theory and secularism. Our electronic media has been holding debates on settled issues to confuse the new generation about the ideals of our founding fathers on the basis of which Pakistan was created.

Quite many secular writers have been writing on Dr Fahad’s theme in the past particularly during Gen Musharraf’s rule when his concept of enlightened moderation had thrilled the liberals and seculars in Pakistan, India and the West. Under Indo-US-West combined pressure, Musharraf had made quite a few changes in our syllabus of Islamic Studies and history textbooks and deleted some Quranic Suras in Islamiat on the plea that it stimulated hatred in the minds of the youth against India and encouraged Jihad. Other argument put forward was to modernize and to be in step with advanced world. So-called modernization was a step towards secularism. Higher education was to quite an extent secularized. However, seculars in Pakistan want all traces of Islam found in our textbooks to be obliterated.

Fahad objects that our Islamiat focuses more on history of Islam rather than on concepts and teachings. He then cheekily suggests that focus should be on understanding the rationale behind different things rather than ignoring controversial things. What he implies is to re-open settled issues and get involved in unending debates to make them controversial. He castigates blind followers of Islam and the institutions which teach blind obedience to injunctions of Holy Quran and Hadith. Fahad in a roundabout way appreciates those who drag Islamists imbued with total faith in their religion in undesirable and unproductive debates and cornering the ones not well-versed with tenets of Islam. He strongly recommends controversial Javed Ghamdi to be listened to and his secularist thoughts adopted. He also places another highly controversial figure Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy on the higher pedestal, inadvertently missing out Hasan Nisar, which gives a fair idea of the writer’s mindset and agenda.

Doctorate degree holder from Carnegie Mellon University Fahad somehow forgets the hate-filled anti-Islamic literature taught in Indian schools. He doesn’t take into account persistent anti-Islamic bashing by the West under the flimsy excuse of freedom of speech. This excuse is sheathed when it comes to holocaust of Jews. Caricatures and films ridiculing Holy Prophet (pbuh) and undermining Islam are ignored.

While Musharraf was busy preaching enlightened moderation to show soft face of Pakistan to the West, in USA an anti-Islamic course was being taught at Joint Forces Staff College at military base in Norfolk Virginia from 2004 onwards to senior officers of US military. The course encouraging war against Muslims was prepared by Strategic Engagement Group. Five courses were run each year with 20 officers in each course. The contents taught were objected to by one of the students in April 2012 and the matter came to the notice of Pentagon. The course was immediately discontinued and Lt Col Mathew Dooley conducting the course was removed from teaching staff. By then, in eight years 800 US officers had got indoctrinated in anti-Islam concepts. The course was counter to repeated assertions by American officials that the US is at war against Islamic extremists and not the religion.

The course suggested threatening Saudi Arabia with starvation, reducing Islam to cult status and Mecca, Medina destroyed. It was stressed that radical true Islam professing Shariah was the real threat to USA and the western world and it was strongly recommended to change the barbaric ideology of Islam, or else facilitate self-destruction of USA. The course advocated total war against Muslims suggesting that Geneva Conventions were no longer relevant when fighting against Muslims. Dooley who started teaching this course in 2010 was the chief proponent of the idea of obliterating two Holy cities of Mecca and Medina on the pattern of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or allied firebombing of Dresden without caring for civilian casualties so as to counter Jihad?

Hate against Muslims is becoming endemic in the American culture. One of the presidential candidates Herman Cain had vouched that if elected to power he would not appoint any Muslim in his cabinet. FBI counter terrorism training materials consist of anti-Islamic and anti-Muslim contents. Law enforcement officials across Florida have been taught to malign Prophet Muhammad. Sam Kharoba imparted hate lessons from 2005 onwards to over 20,000 officers.

If Fahad had glanced through Indian history, he would have learnt how crudely it has been altered. Muslim rulers of India suiting Hindu mythology are eulogized and others censured or excluded from history books. Hindu writers in 19^th and 20th centuries spat venom against Muslims of India and distorted Muslim history by glorifying Hindu leaders of ancient era as well as Hindu religion and portraying Muslim rulers in poor light. They asserted that ancient period of Ram-Raj was India’s Golden Age in which there was ‘justice and plenty’. Romesh Chandra Dutt was the architect in germinating pro-Hindu attitudes among school children through his biased write-ups. He said that Hindus spent seven centuries of national lifelessness under the Muslim rule. Narandranath Datta said that Hinduism was the only faith that could save the world.

Bankim Chatterjee’s provocative books gave birth to extremist Hindu groups who translated his thoughts into reality. Anadamath written by Chatterjee in 1882 was the first manifestation of militant spirit of Hinduism against Muslims. Abominable Vande Matram, the hymn of Mother India was part of this book which became the national anthem of Bengali Hindu nationalists. Later it became the national anthem of India. Chatterjee’s book preached hatred against Muslims of India and instigated the religious sentiments of Hindus to rise against them, terrorize them into submission and merge them in Hinduism or annihilate them. He portrayed them as interlopers in the land of Hindus.

Jadunath Sarkar, author of ‘History of Bengal’ willfully contorted and defaced facts that his book is retained in Dacca University as the most authentic reference material. Trend of distorting Muslim history and Bengali language continued after 1947 and is prevalent in Bangladesh even today. To get an idea about the widespread misinformation campaign launched by RAW, I recommend the book ‘Rape of Bangladesh’ written by Zainal Abedin.

I am sure Fahad must be aware of the concerted efforts that had been made by Hindu Yogis and priests to merge Islam in Hinduism. They befriended Muslim mystic Sufis, Saints and Pirs since they found Pirism, and mysticism innovations resembling Hindu customs and traditions. Both believed in saint worship. Their inter-action degenerated Sufism into heterodox mysticism. They yielded to concept of yogism, Bhakti cult and Vaishnavism. Pirism gave birth to ritual of sanctification of graves of Pirs and Sufis. Faraizi movement led by Haji Shariatullah in 19^th century was a reformist movement to protect Islam from negative influences and idolatrous customs of Hinduism that had permeated into Muslim culture.

During the two year’s draconian rule of Congress from 1937 to 1939, it was made compulsory for all students including Muslims to sing Vande Matarm in schools and to salute the portrait of Mahatama Gandhi. Syllabus of schools was sanskritized and efforts made to undermine Islamic culture and heritage. Constitutional rights were denied to the Muslims. Sensing that another gruesome model of extinction of Muslims of Spain was in the offing, the Muslims under Quaid-e-Azam got together under the banner of All India Muslim League and launched Pakistan movement.

After Partition, war mongering Hindu leaders never reconciled to the existence of Pakistan. They incited animosity instead of friendship. To teach Pakistan a lesson, minds of Muslims of East Bengal were polluted in a systematic manner. Secularism and Hindu culture was promoted under the garb of Bengali culture. Bengali intellectuals, journalists and writers duly cultivated by Indian agencies played a big role in undermining Islam. They urged the youth to liberate themselves from the bondage of joyless Islamic way of life and instead adopt modern Bengali culture espoused by Tagore. The academicians joined by Hindu teachers and professors were instrumental in inculcating hatred in the minds of Bengali youth against West Pakistanis and instilling affectionate feelings for India.

Once the BJP, political face of RSS, assumed power in India, it began to work upon its program of Hindutva in real earnest and incited hatred against Muslims and other minorities in India. In all the states under BJP’s rule, Hindutva is in practice and Indian Muslims lead a wretched life. They are told to either get assimilated in Hinduism or quit. Hindu religious extremism has grown into a Frankenstein monster and none in India can dare castigate hate mongering practices and violence against Indian Muslims by armed Hindu extremist groups.

All the hard line Hindu terrorist groups operate under the patronage of BJP. Those working on the agenda of Hindutva are biggest enemies of Pakistan and want its decimation, but the Congress wearing the mask of secularism has all along looked the other way to terrorism of Shiv Sena, Bajrang Dal, RSS, Durga Vahini, Vishwa Hindu Prashad and dozens of other terrorist groups. In Shiv Sena’s philosophy, a good Hindu is the one who hates Muslims and is ever ready to attack them. Late Bal Thackeray, notorious for his revulsion against Muslims and for fomenting communal riots was revered by Hindus. It owes to hate-filled syllabus taught in Indian educational institutions that the whole society start jumping and baying for Pakistan’s blood on the slightest provocation.

In Pakistan, 38 religious extremist groups supposedly espousing violence have been banned and their members hounded and persecuted since 2002. In India, no Hindu religious extremist group has been reigned in and no Hindu terrorist indicted and punished. Only suspected Muslims like Maqbool Butt and Afzal Guru are hanged to death. To top it all, the biggest Muslim hater and terrorist Narendra Modi responsible for the slaughter of 3000 Muslims in Ahmadabad in District Gujarat has been tipped by BJP to take over as next PM of India.

While India pursues a belligerent policy against Pakistan, the latter pursues policy of appeasement and is always apologetic and defensive to keep India in good humor. One of the ways suggested by Fahad to please India is to secularize our curriculum. To be in good books of India, Fahad callously suggests that Pakistan spends most of its budget on defence. One can only pity his naivety and poor knowledge. While even worst critics of Pak Army have lauded its conduct, Fahad mocks at the widely held impression that Army is the only honest institution in Pakistan. He also laughs at the idea that India initiated all the wars against Pakistan but doesn’t say a word about the bone of contention Kashmir which became the primary cause for 1948 and 1965 wars. I have gone at length to highlight history of the subcontinent to make Fahad and his ilk to see the other side of the picture and then draw their conclusions.

More Things Change, More Remain the Same

By Mahboob A. Khawaja, PhD

Contemporary affairs represent Pakistani nation as divided people, leaderless who have been exploited by the neo-colonial feudal lords causing catastrophic consequences without accountability and engaged in looting the people of their socio-economic, moral and political consciousness for a sustainable future.  The nation was incapacitated to THINK with REASON for its future. Elections 2013 facilitated no substantial change in the status-quo of foreign dictated governance except surprisingly people finding Nawaz Sharif as a replacement to Asif Ali Zardari, the previous thug and indicted criminal led regime of the few of which Mr. Sharif was an integral part. This means, the nation will pay with pains, tormenting worries and insane rages of the few egomaniac and perverted rulers who could not THINK right nor lead the nation – the political gangsters and the laughing stalk of the wounded nation and perpetrators of violence and the typical “Right Men” syndrome in its most naked form. Sahrif twice terminated PM on corruption charges and accused by General Musaharf to replace and kill him, could have addressed the issues if he wanted to make a fresh and responsible start in politics. Beginning with “Pakistan: Enigma of Change” in late 90’s, this author has envisaged planned change to make a new beginning only if there were educated and intelligent leaders from the new generation to initiate change and reformation (“islaha”) of the systematic institutionalized corruption prevalent in all aspects of human affairs. Change cannot and will not come out of the nowhere except through men of new ideas, new visionary leadership of integrity and public movement for change. For almost two decades, Pakistan’s capacity for change has been badly fractured and its moral, intellectual and political consciousness and values derailed and undermined by the few. There are three major contending forces escalating conflicts to degenerate the future and cripple the freedom and integrity of Pakistan:

(1) the Generals, who have ruled the country for almost four decades and are not willing to relinquish their own strategic- political  powerhouse, militarization of the nation;

(2) Feudal landlords transformed politicians, the systematic by-products of the military Generals are the selected few families – Bhutoos- Zardaris, Sharifs and Chaudris of Gujarat acting as accomplice to support the military-based indoctrination as and when required for all seasons;

(3) People, the besieged masses of Pakistan – the net participatory victims and reactionaries to all of the tragedies for over fifty years.

None of the first two entities were factors in the thinking hub of the Pakistan movement for freedom – a separate homeland for the Muslims of the Indian sub-continent and the politically-intellectually enriched people’s democratic movement for the creation for an independent Pakistan. For several decades, the military coups and interventions have degenerated the moral, intellectual and positive Thinking of the society and run the risk of continued decadence and corruption in all major endeavors of national affairs. Pakistan and its people are the victim of this prolonged, cruel and unending tragedy. It clarifies that the Generals and their accomplice so called feudal politicians versus the common masses live in different worlds of perceptions and realities – more in conflicting time zones, not being able to see the prevalent realties of the national affairs to come to understand its essence and urgency for change and reformation. The global community sees them with mistrust and discord, not viable entities of the international system. The irrational system of governance propelled by the few does not offer any rational context to political change and reformation unless there is another bloody outburst challenging the insanity with more vigorous form of tragic insanity. Nobody THINKS of Pakistan, its national interests or the interests of the people- the logical legitimacy factor to the embodiment of Islamic Pakistan. More than forty years of time and opportunities have been stolen from the precious lifeline of the nation of Muslim Pakistan; yet, nobody was ever charged with crime nor punished for their treachery and monstrous actions against the freedom and integrity of Pakistan. East Pakistan now Bangladesh, was lost and surrendered to India because of the plan by the then military-political rulers of the nation in 1971. ZA Bhutto- General Yahaya Khan were the chief conspirators to dismember Pakistan. The traitors were rewarded not punished by the nation.

Leaders create leaders but there were none since the military took over the reigns time and again, stupid and unthinking people will come to occupy the highest offices, negating the very essence of Islamic principles and moral values of the society. Pakistan embodies multiple self-inflicted tragedies unknown in modern history.  Power politics in Pakistan has become an outcome of institutionalized corruption, conspiracies, killings, and treachery to the national interests. The Generals, Politicians and Assemblies are all the outcome of this flourishing business industry.  Since its freedom, the power was transferred only once peacefully by the British colonial authority on August 14, 1947; otherwise, there is no evidence of peaceful transfer of power to any legitimate leader-party in Pakistan. All the time, there were backdoor conspiracies, killings and trades-in between the few families and the Generals. What happened to East Pakistan, a similar situation is evolving in Baluchistan and Karachi, and all the major actors appear to be same as were at the time in 1971. The first two contending forces are acting on behalf of the foreign masters to further disintegrate Pakistan, and they are well paid and escorted by the ruthless forces of foreign intervention and spying networks. Even if Pakistan is further ruptured, their dividends-pensions and salaries are guaranteed by the Foreign Master. General Pervez Musaharaf currently under arrest and investigation is the role-model of being a subservient to the interests of the foreign Master. Who would know better to calculate the benefits than the former dictator General Musharaf and his immediate colleagues?

Those so called politicians who grab power via backdoor conspiracies and political horse-trading never think of relinquishing their hold on the masses. The rulers are the absolute power in Pakistan. There is no democracy, no political accountability and there is no political system based on any known legitimacy. The Pakistani rulers have acquired indifference to the public interest and insanity and they are victim of their own obsession. Pakistan needs a new political system of governance to be articulated by the new educated and proactive visionary generation of the people. Sahrif and the Generals belong to the dead past, and cannot be a hope for the future. Pakistanis breathe different air in a vicious encirclement of subjugation with a terrible sense of helplessness lacking political imagination and new ideas for the future making. The present rulers deserve a powerful lightning jolt or perhaps to face firing squad because the rational legal accountability process would not do justice to their perpetuated crimes against the nation. One cannot ignore the facts that some vital segments of the Pakistani nation must have been complacent in these schemes of things institutionalizing corruption and cruel politics. Could the Generals, Bhuttos, Sahrifs and Zardari have stolen time and resources on their own without the large participation of bribed people from within the society?  Could we call the nation as a “zalam and muzloom quom” for our discussion purposes?  Dr Qadeer Khan had rightly asked the question: Do Pakistanis have any Gharait (honor”). Coinciding this concern, one British journalist of the Guardian asked the same “do Pakistanis have any sense of honor?” Who would respond this imperative curiosity?

America is a big game player in Pakistan and its security apparatus.  The aid gimmick has kept Pakistan interdependent on the policy making of the US administration and a nation being viewed more liability than an asset to the American geo-political interests in that region. The US leaders allege Pakistani rulers (civilians and military) as “double dealers” paid, bribed but act contrary to the American dictates. The imagery that floats across the globe that Pakistani Generals and politicians are in the paid US basket and survive on its active support to rule Pakistan.  The beggar nation that continues to be living at the mercy of the so called US aid money and foods, often defined as conspiracy to fighting proxy wars in Afghanistan and elsewhere. All that can go wrong have gone wrong with the system of Pakistani governance. Every one selling others, every one making cash dollars by trading-in the interests of the Muslim nation. It is business “as usual” and nobody seems to raise any eyebrows anymore in a culture of nuisance, filthy corruption, and non-Islamic governance claiming to be Islamic Republic of Pakistan.  Nobody knows where Islam exists or is operative across Pakistan.

In its May 18, 2007, the New York Times published front page article that “Pakistani Generals are paid to do the job.”  That was General Musharaf and comrades, exposing the insanity of the “war on terrorism” that Pakistan embraced and the Generals made millions. The terms of reference clearly shows that the US intelligence network and the political leadership have full control over all the major affairs of governance in Pakistan.  Zardari and the Pakistani Generals are the stooges of the US managed political chessboard. Do these cruel monsters have a future? Bruce Riedel, One of Obama’s advisors on Pakistan and the War on Terrorism (“Battle for the Soul of Pakistan” 1/4/2013, Brookings Institute and Centre for Middle East Policy) calls it “2013 could be a transformative year for the country, indeed it will be the battle for the soul of Pakistan.”  He explains:  “One measure of Pakistan’s instability is that the country now has between 300 and 500 private security firms, employing 3,00,000 armed guards, most run by ex-generals.”  What makes the ex-Generals to create a culture of fear and insecurity?  Is it the ex-Generals or the bogus War on Terror they have perpetuated? Is it that they draw their after service gratuities from such crime-riddled adventures?  He adds that

“So, it is no wonder that the generals prefer to have the civilians responsible for managing the unmanageable, while they guard their prerogatives and decide national security issues. As important as the coming elections will be, the far more important issue is who will be the next Chief of Army Staff.”

The US administration dictates Pakistani governance of the few. Sahrif is the workable alternative and another “Our Man in Islamabad” replacing Zardari.  No matter how suspicious and paranoid the Generals and their by-products- Zardaris and Sharifs appear to be, they are people without rational thinking and freedom of thoughts for the good of Pakistan. Their aims and ambitions are focused on power grabbing, not rebuilding of the much destroyed socio-economic and political infrastructures. Even after recent elections, the nation is divided along many ethnic and political demarcated lines drawn by the few man-made lords. There is no leader or party to envisage unity of the nation and be able to harmonize all the contending forces for the good of the people. Karachi is hallmark of MQM gangsterism in collaboration with the PPP. The daily killing of the innocent is called Karachite politics. Nobody thinks of stopping the bloodshed and bringing the perpetrators to legal justice. Dr Arif Alvi, the new NA elected member of the PTI from Karachi elaborates “How the MQM Works in Karachi”. (The Daily Times, Pakistan, 5/21/2013). Facts are on the wall if there are any Pakistani politicians to safeguard the future of the nation. Prior to the elections, hopes were centered on the Jamait-e-Islami and the PTI- led by Imran Khan – the two political parties of REASON and moral integrity to bring change to a corrupt system of political governance. The outcomes signal a vicious and degenerating political future for the nation. Sahrif and his collaborators have not been raised or educated with moral and intellectual leadership to lead the nation. In all probabilities, these new rulers to be have nothing new and positive for the future of Pakistan. The solution must come out of the NEW THINKING and NEW VISIONS of the young people and new generation of Pakistani scholars and intellectuals who are able to THINK independently and out of the box curtailment. This approach deserves an inward EYE on the objectivity and purpose of political change and reformation of the neo-colonial dominated governance, an eye not merely to  change the political faces but to be FOCUSED on the PURPOSE and clarity of political change institutionalized developments holding Zardari and  General Musharaf accountable for their crimes and treason to the nation, and rebuilding new political institutions with an instinctive recognition, gradually transforming the obsolete governance and rebuilding unto new and responsible system of political governance. Surely, history will judge the Pakistani rulers by their actions, not by their claims.  The HOPE for change and reshaping ANEW Pakistan rests with the new ideas and optimism of the new, educated and intelligent young generation of Pakistanis.  All segments of educated, informed and conscientious Pakistanis have genuine interests and priority to rebuild a strong foundation for the unity of the nation and this aim of unity rests with Islam as a powerful and unifying force of change and sustainable development for the future of Pakistan.

By Marie Nelson

Creation of worth is the first step of setting up a firm. This means the gathering of capital by the owners by different means and to use this cash to purchase materials, money gear and labor. The aim of this process is to use these inputs to generate income flows exceeding the capital spent to finance the firm. Binary brokers can also be used for this purpose.There are three types of groups, each of which has a declare on the foreseeable future income on the firm. They are:

1. Creditors  or Financial Debt holders
2. Financial institutions lending money
3. Share and bond holders

Before the shareholders are paid out, the debt holders of binary possibilities buying and selling must be paid out. They are, lawfully, the first recipients of the cash and can spot the firm into liquidation or bankruptcy in the United Kingdoms if any debt curiosity payments are not forthcoming. However, this isn’t the case in reality. If a firm cannot shell out its financial debt curiosity, the financial debt holders will not instantly put the firm in to liquidation. Instead they undergo complicated lawful negotiations with the firm to find out a way from this issue. This may happen by making major changes in the company debt policies as a whole. Hence, during financial distress of a firm, the financial debt holders do hold the power to make major changes in the method of the firm but under normal circumstances, the financial debt holders are rendered passive and basically take their payments simply. This is because in reality, financial debt holders do not hold legal voting rights on an organization plan.

Equity share holders are the actual owners of the firm and hold legal voting rights to elect and re-elect the board of directors, although in practice, this happens occasionally, so this element of the market for corporate handle is instead weak.

A firm has both, assets and liabilities. Assets can be divided overall into two:

1. Recent assets
2. Set assets

According to financial accounting, recent assets normally have a short life that lasts less than a year. For example, inventory stock, short term credit deposits, etc. set assets, however, have a longer life than recent assets. Fixed assets mainly comprise of tangible assets such as equipments and properties. Examples of fixed assets are land, plant, machinery etc.

The firm also has its liabilities which includes the financial debts normally paid out during the year. Extended expression financial debt might be marketable for example corporate bonds or non-marketable for example extended expression lender financial loans. The residual declaration of the firm’s assets is represented by shareholders’ fairness.

Shareholder Equity = Overall Belongings – Current Liabilities + Extended Term Credit card debt

The person accountable for all the factors of finance for the firm is the Chief Monetary Officer or the Chief Financial Officer ( CFO). The most important issues of the CFO are discussed below.

How to make a decision on the worthiest monetary investment tasks. How to raise money to fund new financial investment activities of the firm. Takeover, merger and disinvestment conclusions. How to choose the appropriate financial debt -fairness blend to maximize the worth of the firm. How to hedge dangers ( for example  commodity value rises, variable rate financial loans hedging normally entails the use of derivatives such as futures, possibilities and swaps. international forex receipts/payments) faced by the firm.

Let us now look into the matter of handling of the firm and how it is divided between supervisors, directors, bond holders and share holders. The answer to this lies in the portion of lawful structure of the firm and we shall consider the few primary kinds of possession. Sole proprietorship, partnership and company are the few primary kinds of possession and the latter accounts for the most of the GDP output produced.

Marie Nelson is a widely acclaimed author dealing with the much complicated issues of investment banking, foreign trade, binary brokers and various types of financing.

 By S M Hali

Terrorism is likened to the Hydra of Greek mythology, which was an ancient serpent-like chthonic water beast, with reptilian traits, that possessed numerous heads – and for each head cut off it grew two more – and poisonous breath so virulent even its tracks were deadly.

As the nation emerges from the aftermath of the polls and is poised to seat a new government, it is looking up to the new incumbents to rid it of this major threat. Incidentally, the Hydra was killed by Heracles as the second of his Twelve Labours. The question is: would the government of Mian Nawaz Sharif prove equal to the task?

If past performance is any indication of the future, the populous province of Punjab, which was ruled by the PML-N, was equally intimidated by terror attacks and failed to curb the deadly assaults.

The previous federal government was so engrossed in its bouts of corruption and rampant mismanagement that it failed to show the political will to evolve a unified strategy and undertake pragmatic steps to control or eliminate the menace of terrorism. The nation looks towards the authorities concerned as and when the terrorist strike at public and government places, kidnap political leaders at gunpoint, leaving death and mayhem in their wake. But the state mechanism remains oblivious to the threat, despite clear warnings issued by the intelligence agencies.

Unfortunately, terrorists are at liberty to roam about in the streets, bazaars and public places. Media exposé reveal that terrorists are facilitated by some of the political leaders, who afford patronage to these miscreants. The situation certainly demands serious and unified crackdown to root out the terrorists and their sponsors so that innocent lives of Pakistani citizens are saved, and peace and harmony is restored in the country.

Indeed, combating terrorism is a Herculean task, but well begun is half done. The new government’s task is cut out to unify the nation against terrorist threat and prepare a concrete strategy to deal with the peril. A unified and collective front will not only frustrate the anti-Pakistan forces, but will also reduce the threat of terrorism.

To eradicate the scourge of terrorism, all elements of the society need to pool their resources. Opinion builders, like the media and the intelligentsia, human rights activists and even the common people must be vigilant to identify the terrorists so that the blight can be eliminated.

Unfortunately, some active members of the society, who have undertaken to eradicate the bane of terrorism, are singled out for censure and harassment: for instance, Ansar Burney, who is an eminent human rights activist of international fame and has been successfully participating in some of the most difficult operations to help facilitate efforts to rescue and release people of different nationalities abroad, trapped in a web of terminal providence, with no hope for any external influence, except the divine intervention.

Mr Burney has condemned terrorism wherever and whenever it happened around the globe, but being a human rights activist always fought for condemned death row prisoners across the world, without discrimination of caste, colour, class, creed and religion – only on humanitarian and compassionate grounds and for the sake of human rights to ensure the human dignity.

He also raised his voice for clemency for late Sarabjit Singh (the convicted terrorist in Pakistani jail), to convert his death sentence into life imprisonment purely on humanitarian grounds, as he was waiting to be hanged for more than two decades.

Sarabjit Singh was murdered by a jail inmate in Pakistan and his body was shifted to India. His sister Dalbir Kaur was allowed to visit Pakistan to see her brother, who was still hospitalised, but on return to India she revealed her typical Indian face by urging the Indians to take revenge of Sarabjit’s death; resultantly, Pakistani prisoner Sanaullah was targeted fatally. She also fired a salvo at Ansar Burney alleging that he demanded Rs 250 million to save the life of his brother. Such shameless allegations are not only baseless, but deserve outright condemnation.

Unfortunately, similar other anti-Pakistan elements have organised armed assailants to target the Chairman of Ansar Burney Trust International through bomb attacks.

Terrorism is a demon that can be combated only through the whole-hearted participation of the entire society and not targeting the benefactors of human rights, who work tirelessly to benefit humanity.

UN General Assembly Vote Reflects Shift in Syrian Public Opinion 

by FRANKLIN LAMB

Homs, Syria

It’s not hard to find critics of the Assad government in the Governorate (Muhafazat) of Homs or for that matter, to varying degrees in Syria’s other thirteen Governorates according to Syrian analysts interviewed by this observer and reports from human rights groups including lawyers representing dissidents in Syria. However, after nearly 27 months of turmoil, the public opinion pendulum is markedly shifting back in support of the current regime.

One international political result was registered at the United Nations this past week when a US-Qatari-Saudi drafted General Assembly Resolution that was designed to increase pressure on the Assad government stumbled badly and fell far short of what the Saudi Ambassador to the UN and other US allies predicted would be an overwhelming vote in favor.

Effect of shift in popular opinion in Syria

Over the past four or five months it has become increasingly clear that public opinion in Syria is shifting for reasons that include, but are not limited to the following:

While inflation at the grocery stores in probably the most common complaint heard from a cross-section of society here, the population is adapting somewhat to higher prices and it appears to credit the government for efforts, some successful, to soften the impact of the illegal US-led sanctions that target this same Syrian population for purely political reasons to achieve regime change.

While Syrians demand dignity and freedom from oppressive security forces and an end to corruption, as all people do in this region and beyond, they are witnessing a return to near normalcy with respect to supplies of electricity, benzene, mazout fuel oil, bus schedules, schools, and a host of public services such as garbage collection, street sweeping, park maintenance, and sympathetic traffic cops who are rather understanding of short-cuts taken by drivers and pedestrians due to “the situation”.

In addition, public service announcement and even text messages demonstrate that the government is aware of the degree of suffering among the population, accept partial blame, and are focusing on remedial measure and crucially, ending the crisis with its horrific bloodshed. One observes here a definite trend of the pulling together of a high percentage of Syrians who share a very unique history and culture and who are deeply connected to their country and who are increasingly repelled by the continuing killing from all sides including the recent barbarisms of body mutilations and summary executions videotaped and broadcast on Utube by jihadist elements. The latter who these days come from nearly three dozen countries, paid for and indoctrinated by enemies of Syria’s Arab nationalism and deep rooted pillar of resistance to the occupation of Palestine.

In addition, many among Syria’s 23 million citizens, who initially supported the uprising following government reaction to event in Deraa in March 2011, now have serious second thoughts about who exactly would replace the current government. Events in Syria are also making plain that the army is still loyal to the Assad government, and according to Jane’s Defense Weekly, is actually gaining experience and strength as well as the well-known fact that as western diplomats are admitting, the “opposition militias” are hopelessly fractured, turning one another, many essential mafia outfits, and beginning to resemble their fellow jihadists from Libya, Chechnya and in between.

Opinion in Damascus and surrounding areas visited this past week, confirms this observers experience the past five months of a sharp and fairly rapid shift in opinion that now strongly favors letting the Syrian people themselves decide, without outside interference, whether the Assad regime will stay, and indeed, whether, the Baathist party will continue to represent majority opinion, not through wanton violence but rather via next June’s election. Many express confidence in the run up to this critical vote, noting that the election will be closely monitored by the international community to assure fairness.

Perhaps aided by the current glorious May weather, a certain optimism, that was more scarce in the past, pervades many neighborhoods.

For different reasons, foreign powers, including the USA, Turkey, European Union, the UK Jordan and even the majority population of the six Gulf Cooperation Council family run countries, according to Pew Research, are shifting their earlier positions which were based in part of the US administration, NATO, and Israeli assurances that the Assad government would surely fall quickly, “A matter of days, not weeks” US President Obama promised. That was two years ago.

As noted above, this trend has accelerated since the UN General Assembly vote with last weeks which did not go as planned on the biased and politicized non-binding draft resolution on Syria.

The public reaction in Syria and across the Middle East is substantially that the “Friends of Syria” non-binding GA resolution contradicts the reality on the ground, backs terrorism in Syria and hinders the international efforts to help achieve a political solution to the crisis in this country. Only 107 states voted in favor of the resolution, 12 against while 59 countries, mostly from Africa and Latin America, abstained from voting.

One reason the vote fell short of the 130 favorable votes that the basically same resolution garnered the past two times is that it is widely viewed as ignoring the crimes and atrocities committed by the armed jihadist groups in Syria and the flow of thousands of international terrorists backed by the West, the Gulf states and Turkey who provide them with weapons and money. According to the Russian delegate, backed by several other speakers, “the resolutions ignores all the terrorists’ heinous crimes and denounces what it called the escalation of the attacks by the Syrian government”. Afterward one Latin American Permanent Representative told Inner City Press that the count would have been below 100 if not for some “last minute arm-twisting.” As it turned out, 15 countries didn’t vote at all, opting to “get coffee,” as one African Permanent Representative put it before the vote.

Syria’s Ambassador al-Jaafari exposes a hoax in the Gulf

Syria’s permanent Envoy to the UN Bashar al-Jaafari said his country regretted the adoption of a biased and unbalanced UN resolution, thanking the countries that rejected the resolution “for their responsible positions which support the UN principles and the international law articles”. He noted that the decrease in the number of countries that voted in favor and the increase of numbers of those who abstained from voting indicates the growing international understanding of the reality of what is happening in Syria due to the foreign interference, support of terrorism, the spread of extremism and incitement besides the refusal of dialogue.

“We rely on the UN and its member states to support Syria and its people against the culture of extremism and terrorism, and to encourage the comprehensive national dialogue to peacefully resolve the Syrian crisis.” he said. In a statement released after the vote on the UN draft resolution on Syria, al-Jaafari He said that the French delegation had foiled the issuance of a number of UN press releases to condemn the terrorist acts committed by al-Qaeda-linked armed groups in Syria which claimed the lives of thousands of Syrians as it foiled a UN release to condemn the attempt of assassination of the Syrian Premier.

After Qatar’s ambassador spoke in favor of the resolution his country drafted (and re-drafted several time), Ja’afari revealed that there existed an e-mail, from the representative of the Syrian opposition given to Syria’s embassy in Qatar, showing Qatar’s involvement in the kidnapping of UN peacekeepers by the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade. He read out a phone number from the e-mail as several Gulf diplomats grimaced or scowled, and three left the Chamber.

Visibly stunned, the UK Permanent Representative Lyall Grant called the whole matter “deeply confusing”. Another Permanent Representative, from a militia contributing country, said that if true, it’s “very problematic.” The reasons include the fact that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had just thanked Qatar for its roles in the release of the UN Peacekeepers the earlier kidnapping of whom the Qatari government may have planned, paid for and executed.

Meanwhile, Ban Ki-moon’s spokesperson Martin Nesirky said he would not disclose any more about the “negotiations to free the peacekeepers or who was behind the crime.”

Score a major diplomatic victory for Syria’s UN Ambassador al-Jaafari as public opinion shifts in favor of the Assad government and both pressure as well as optimism build in the run-up to the Geneva II conference being organized by the White House and the Kremlin.

Completion of unfinished agenda!

Note: When Nawaz Sharif says that he will visit India even if not invited and pick up the threads from where they were broken, raises doubts in my minds. 

This article that is being re-posted after more than a decade holds true and I still hold the same view. It is being re-posted without any editing of any sort. It is left to the judgement of the readers to view it in the current scenario and the statements of Nawaz Sharif.

By Raja G Mujtaba

Most surely (Quran) is a decisive word (that distinguishes good from evil),And it is no joke. Surely they (enemies) will make a scheme,And I (Allah) too will make a scheme (for their destruction). Al-Tariq. The Zionists are at work to dismantle Pakistan, the only stumbling block in their quest for a greater Israel to rule the world. The visit of the Indian Prime Minister is a calculated move in this direction. The American State Office through Ms Albright’s, team has been very active in the region.

Visits by the American officials to Pakistan and India have assumed extra ordinary significance since the atomic explosions in May 1998. How and why the fifty years old bitterness has changed into the (forced) reunion of the old friends (foes) needs to be studied in little detail. It is not only the Indian media that changed its tone and attitude but the international media also gave it prominence like the summit of the super powers.

The Pakistan Foreign Office did not properly appreciate the fallout of this visit and it appears that Pakistan has landed in a trap prepared for the purpose. This can be well ascertained from what Lord Cromer said, “England was prepared to grant political freedom to all her colonial possessions as soon as a generation of intellectuals and politicians imbued through English education with the ideals of English culture were ready to take over, but under no circumstances would the British Government for a single moment tolerate an independent Islamic State.”

What Lord Croner said in 1908 stands true even today. West has always been and would remain instrumental in the destruction and annihilation of the Muslims around the globe. It is Zionists who are traditional enemies of Allah (SWT) and his followers never miss an opportunity to challenge Allah’s authority. Jews have murdered many prophets, they also placed Eysa, the son of Mariam on the cross. It is but very simple that when they have not accepted the authority of Allah (SWT) then how would they tolerate His followers? In the present times, they manipulate the Western governments and the UN to suppress the Muslim countries. Look at the fate of Syria, Libya, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bosnia, Chechnya, Kosovo, Egypt, Algeria, Kurds and host of other Muslim places that are either under strong Zionist influence through the secular (puppet) regimes or are target of their hostilities. Had it not been for the Second World War, Pakistan would not have gained independence, the role of Redcliff and Mount Batten in Pakistan’s independence squarely falls in line with what Lord Croner said. Much to the resistance of the Zionists, on 27th of Ramadan-ul-Mubarik Pakistan emerged based on Islamic ideology, it was no coincidence but Allah’s rebuttal to Lord Croner. Pakistan has always supported and stood up for the just causes of the brotherly Muslim people as a divine obligation.

The Muslims of undivided India, whole heart-rendingly supported the Ottoman Empire and earned the animosity of the Jews. Even before Pakistan got its independence, Quaid-e-Azam supported the Palestinians and opposed the creation of Israel on their territory. This was a direct challenge to Theodore Herzl, the founder of the Zionist organisation who had said in 1903 that with the help of England, a free and Jewish Palestine would be created. Pakistan paid a heavy price for her commitment to the Ummah but the people have braved it. Pakistan’s partition with division of Punjab, Bengal and transferring Kashmir to India was a Zionist conspiracy against the Muslims of India. The American connivance, as stated by Henry Kissinger in his memoirs that the break-up of Pakistan was in America’s interest should all be seen in context with Lord Cromer’s statement.

Since the demise of the Soviet Union, America has waited for the local political conditions to be conducive to unfold its agenda tailored out for this region where Pakistan is a major player. After the departure of the Soviets, various warring Afghan tribes became involved in the power game that provided an opportunity to America and the Zionists to refocus on the Middle East in a futile bid to contain Iran who had embarked on an Islamic revolution. Earlier, the Soviets directly ventured into Afghanistan when Iraq-Iran war had assumed an unending posture and found America committed in that theatre. This ruthless war waged for almost a decade in which hundreds of thousands of people were killed and wounded. Though Iran came out politically much stronger but the Muslims were killed on both sides in heavy numbers. Both the oil-rich countries were reduced to economic nightmare, thus the Zionists achieved a major objective if not complete. While Iran and Iraq were locked in a long aimless war, America concentrated on Afghanistan to humiliate the Soviets to avenge her defeat in Vietnam. Here both the Kafir (Super) Powers had one singular objective to eradicate the Islamic ideology not realising that Allah (SWT) would protect Islam the he way protected Kabah from the Abrah’s army. If the Zionists do not draw any lesson from this, then they would also meet a similar fate.

After a decade of Soviet occupation, the Afghans remained in strife of civil war for almost the same period. America and her Zionists masters not missing the opportunity, switched back to the Middle East in a futile bid to contain the Iranian revolution. Simultaneously, the Zionists also brought war to Bosnia and Chechnya to open up more fronts for the Mujahideen who were fighting in Afghanistan. On Iraq’s failure to humble Iran, America, the Zionists’ agent prompted Iraq to attack Kuwait and Saudi Arabia only to find an excuse to place itself in the region on permanent basis. Saddam provided this opportunity that the Jews fully exploited for which the Gulf countries are paying a very heavy price. A paper of mine, ‘The Gulf Scenario’ has already been published in the Pakistan Observer and The Muslim in July 1998.

Then through stage-managed resolutions in the United Nations and the Security Council, biggest concentration of forces was witnessed to punish Iraq. After beating the Iraqis, the Jews again manipulated the UN and brought inharsh sanctions to kill Iraq that could be a major threat to Israel.

What the UN is should be very clear from what Henry Klien; a New York Jewish Lawyer said in 1948, “The United Nations is Zionism. It is the Super Government mentioned many times in the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion promulgated between 1897 and 1905.” No-fly zones were declared and Iraq was prohibited from carrying out any oil exports, international trade and all links with outside world were severed. No planes or ships were to touch the Iraqi ports till she had all her installations inspected by the UN Inspectors. The UN inspectors headed by Richard Butler were a group of spies gathering information for the Zionists and their agents like America and Great Britain. Through these inhuman sanctions, thousands of Iraqi children, sick and old died for want of food and medicines. While Iraq was being subjected to tyrannical conditions, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait were made to pay for the entire war operation and subsequent stationing of the troops there.

This exercise forced them for the first time to borrow money. Any country that the Zionists want to cripple is either encouraged or forced into getting loans and pays riba or usury and remains under their economic hold.

“The Jews have been ordained by God that accept interest from non-Jews and it is prohibited to advance loans without charging interest.” – TALMUD.

America and Great Britain established permanent bases in these two countries, which was their ultimate goal. Now they have taken an effective and permanent control of the region but are depicting to the world at large that they are there only to maintain peace and provide protection to the region.

This region is further being subjected to internal and external strives with plans to push it into another war. The repeated air strikes over Iraq by the US and Britain are in violation of the UN mandate but are being carried out to exasperate the situation. Most recently, the Kurds who are spread in four adjoining countries were given another push when Abdullah Ocalan was handed over to Turkey. The sole intention was to instigate Kurdish uprising in all the four Muslim countries but the Kurds retaliated by rocking the entire Europe. Simultaneously in Iraq, sectarian issues are being aired to arouse Iran in sympathy of the Shiite population of Iraq on the patterns of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Now Iran has to play cool to avoid the trap. At one time, through repeated sectarian killings by the hidden hands, Pakistan’s relations with Iran were brought to a hostile pitch but then a better sense prevailed and an ugly situation was defused. No effort is spared to destabilise the region so that the Jews can move in swiftly to realise their dream of greater Israel engulfing Hejaz, Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Cairo and Southern Turkey.

General Zia who was a pivotal figure in the Afghan war, when he developed his perceptions about the future of this region that was in direct conflict with the Zionist agenda was removed from the scene through an air crash. AfterGen. Zia’s death, the Americans intervened in every possible manner to influence the developments in Pakistan and now have complete control over it. Realising that in future, the dictators will not be able to serve their agenda, the Zionists relied on a controlled democratic process to legitimise their actions and did not allow the Army generals to take-over the government. To further their agenda, America found two power hungry willing partners in Nawaz Sharif and Benazir with some popular support in the masses. Through repeated elections and systematic propaganda, the religious elements were shed off to make room for a secular political culture.

Nawaz Sharif managed a two third majority in the lower house though he received only fifteen percent of the eligible votes. This was precisely what the Zionists had been waiting for to launch their agenda. Nawaz Sharif was further strengthened through constitutional amendments where the parliamentarians lost all their say. It is opined that it was at the behest of the Americans, that the Shariat Bill was introduced in the assembly to divert the attention of the people from far more serious issues like nuclear programme, Kashmir, CWC etc. The way CWC was signed can be interpreted in any manner to expose our leadership. Americans are also cultivating the track-two diplomacy through Benazir, Shahbaz Sharif and other politicians by establishing direct contacts with them so that they could be pitched against each other. As a word of caution, Nawaz Sharif should not take his majority in the house as a true representative of the country when he has eighty-five percent voters who did not vote for him. Any egoistic move could cause an unprecedented backlash.

When Talibans appeared on the scene, everyone took them to be the prodigy of CIA and ISI thus no one took them seriously. As the later events suggested, they were thinking and acting of their own free mind from a high pedestal of Islamic ideology. They grew from strength to strength and more and more people fell for their system of governance, whereby they soon controlled almost the whole of Afghanistan. Their firm belief in Quran and its teachings soon became a thorn in the eyes of the Zionists’ dominated West and secularised Muslim leaders of the region. When the Zionists smelled danger, they started a slanderous propaganda against the Talibans and projected them to be a grave threat to the region. This move soon propelled Iran and the Central Asian Republics on ethnic and sectarian course. The Talibans were mature enough not to react when on one side Iran concentrated a big force on their borders and on the other, CAR were openly siding with the anti Taliban alliance in the North. This was a test of nerves for the Talibans who proved it that they could neither be humbled nor provoked to attack their neighbours and play someone else’s game.

The Sino-Pakistan friendship has been irking not only the Americans but also the Jews and the Indians for they all have similar perceptions towards the Muslims and China. The Karakorum Highway linking Pakistan with China is a strategic landmark that the adversaries are eyeing upon for it has jeopardised their nefarious designs. India has moved into Siachen, that it still holds only to cut this road. Pakistan and China can only be de-linked if either Kashmir is given an independent status or the entire Kashmir State including Gilgit etc., is transferred to India. On a broader canvas, Kashmir with India may also not be acceptable to the Zionists. Therefore an independent Kashmir is more likely unless the Americans are forced to a position of compromise and give some portions both to India and Pakistan and declare valley as independent state.

In an independent Kashmir, the Zionists would move in with full force in the garb of rehabilitation and reconstruction of the war torn society to de-Islamise it by pumping in much money through the UN and the NGOs, a new menace for the Muslim countries. Sirinagar would be developed on the pattern of Lebanon and Switzerland into a tourist centre and a hub for the espionage activities to destabilise the region. Kashmir would be given glamour and glitter of the West and promote immoral activities that are quite normal in their culture. Such like activities would be enough not only for Kashmir but also for all the Muslim countries of the region to lose their Islamic identity and culture. After Pakistan and Afghanistan, their main thrust would be to disintegrate China. To destabilise China, efforts are on to corner it economically through the multinationals and push it further on the road to Western democracy to create political and cultural unrest. At the same time, the disintegration movements in Sinkiang and Tibet are also being propelled through various options available to the Zionists. India who is already facing independence movements in thirteen states would also be fully exploited to excersise total control, theultimate goal of ‘The Learned Elders of the Zion’ but not before China is fully tackled.

The Zionists have countered every other threat except Islam. Their final battle is therefore going to be to hit the Islamic ideology that is taking a definite shape in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Sudan and other Islamic countries. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the Americans the agents of the Zionists moved in with lots of money into the Central Asian Republics to gain a foothold there. The CAR are all Muslim countries but their leadership is still the vintage of the communist era therefore every effort is being made to strengthen the leadership in these countries. They have not allowed the diplomatic recognition to the Talibans and are keeping the Osama issue alive. There is no doubt that Osama is a devout Muslim working to unite the Muslim Ummah but is certainly not a military threat as being projected by the Americans and the Jews. His threat has been blown out of proportions only to find excuses to hit any Muslim country by holding it responsible for assisting or sheltering Osama. The Saudi people have not liked the presence of the American troops in Saudi Arabia. For the Saudis, Osama has become a hero who is fighting their battle on the political and ideological front. It is also reported that the Americans are trying hard to replace the Crown Prince Abdullah with someone who is more liberal and receptive to the West.

Vajpayee’s Hindutwa and hawkish attitude was an obvious sign for the Muslims’ problems. The Hindu zealots besides the Muslims did not spare the other minorities especially the Christians. West did not show any reaction till the Christians were hit hard through rape and murder and began forced conversion of the minorities to Hindus. Besides this, Vajpayee and Advani also started to raise war clouds by threatening Pakistan. War always suits the Zionists and more so when a Muslim country is placed precariously. Through war, they run their defence industry and strengthen their economy at the cost of the warring countries. But now Pakistan being a nuclear country, America feels that the situation would get out of their control and they may be pulled into this conflict that has all the potential to acquire a global dimension. Therefore their first priority is to roll back Pakistan’s nuclear programme and destroy it from within. Roll back is not possible without settling Kashmir, therefore to bring BJP under pressure, Sonia Gandhi who is both white skinned and a Christian is being projected as the future leader, this move has certainly put Vajpayee on the defensive.

The Zionist lobby was working around to get India a permanent seat in the Security Council but she jeopardised her chances by exploding the nuclear devices in May 1998. This reckless and avoidable situation is again attributed to the BJP leadership. This provided Pakistan with an excuse to play its cards and come on equal footing to claim a similar seat. Now if India gets a permanent seat then Pakistan is also a contender for the same but no Muslim country is acceptable to the Zion in that seat. Now the total focus is on Pakistan to wind up hernuclear programme but no government in Pakistan can defy the public sentiments without the settlement of Kashmir issue. America and the other countries are finding ways to settle the Kashmir issue to the best of their advantage by airing the third option for which the diplomatic activities are afoot at a high pitch. New strategies to cause mistrust between Pakistan and the Kashmiri freedom fighters are their best tool and that exactly what Vajpayee’s visit was. The plebiscite in Kashmir would never be held till the situation is ripe to fully implement the third option. People like Amanullah of JKLF are busy raising this slogan and subverting the Kashmiri minds. It is for the first time in fifty years that anti Pakistan slogans were raised in the valley when Vajpayee visited Pakistan. Vajpayee has achieved what no other Indian leader could achieve. Pakistan has not only been divided but has also lost the confidence of the Kashmiri Mujahideen who feel betrayed and abandoned at the most crucial stage of their Jihad. This is exactly what the Americans and their Zionist masters wanted. By attacking Pakistan, no doubt India would have inflicted some casualties but we would have been galvanised as a nation and worked her disintegrationbut now the tables have been turned on Pakistan. Today the Kashmiris are disenchanted, a wedge of distrust has been driven deep, the nation stands divided but the Indians are very pleased for they have won a lost battle.

Now before Nawaz Sharif undertakes his visit to India, he wants the implementation of the Lahore Declaration that is as injurious to Kashmir cause as were the Tashkent and Simla agreements. Lahore Declaration means cutting of all support to the Mujahideen in Kashmir since India has declared Kashmir to be her integral part. Non-interference in each other’s country is the core clause of this declaration. Trade has to be liberalised and so have to be the travel facilities. The Zionist America who believes in producer-consumer philosophy wants soft borders in the region to have free access to the markets of SAARC and CAR for its multinationals in the region. Once this is done, then it would be very difficult for Pakistan to maintain its Islamic identity but can we afford to lose it? Benazir, to appease the Zionist West, has proposed a confederation of the SAARC countries thus has negated the two-nation theory. By opening these facilities, Pakistan would become a conduit to the vital interests of India and America. Any denial of this at some stage would be taken as a risk to their security thus an excuse strong enough to attack Pakistan either independently or through the sanction of the UN like in case of Iraq would be available tothem. To facilitate trade and travel, Nawaz Sharif has already ordered the extension of the motorway unto Wagha border and India is planning to open a visa section in Lahore, meaning an immunised set-up for RAW’s operation in the heart of Pakistan.

It is imperative that Pakistan should weigh all pros and corns and review the situation thoroughly before making any further commitments. While doing so, one must look at all past records of such accords where that would show that India has not stood by any of her commitments. “A momin is never bitten twice from the same hole.” Prophet Mohammed (SAW).

Lifted from a group where it was posted.

By Air Commodore ® Khalid Iqbal                       

The elections have gone well, and the electoral frenzy is declining fast. Turnout was high, young people voted in large numbers and the idea of democracy seems more strongly rooted than ever before. People have pronounced their mandate. Yes, accusations of rigging are there. In Karachi it was obvious; there are reservations about some other constituencies as well. Hopefully, the Election Commission of Pakistan would sort these out in due course. Pakistan should be proud of most aspects of elections 2013. These have been acknowledged by well reputed international observers as credible and fair elections. There is recognition and even admiration about the amazing courage of the people of Pakistan. People of Pakistan should celebrate the new era when one elected parliament succeeds another.

It is important that the winners and losers of the elections establish respectful working relationship with each other. It is a healthy sign that most of the parties of the previous government have reconciled and conceded defeat. However, berserk statements by the leader of the party representing urban Sindh are deplorable; his utterances have rightly attracted unanimous condemnation from all segments of society. There is a need to strengthen a culture within which adversity is accepted with dignity. At this point, political system needs gracious cooperation by all political entities. The majority party or parties should take into consideration the views of the smaller parties as well. Everyone must feel that they have a stake in the political process and can influence and steer decision making in the right direction. There is need for continued party-to-party interactions, whereby major decisions should be consensus based, driven by data flowing out of research rather than whimsical political opinions.

It is refreshing that the prospective Prime Minister is busy in symbolic acts of reconciliation both at home as well as abroad. He called on the hospitalized leader of the second largest winning party, gave him a bouquet and offered to “bury the hatchet”. On the external side, he invited the prime minister of India to join his inaugural ceremony. That was a clear message to the Indian leadership that he was serious in normalising ties. The direction taken by the future prime minister is prudent, it augurs well for all. Sadly, both gestures proved as non-starters. PTI announced not to have alliance with PMLN. Though symbolics did not turn into substance, visit to hospital helped in lowering the tempers.

Indian Prime Minister is known for harbouring an ambition for leaving behind a legacy of constructing sustainable peace between the two countries. However, he fell prey to pre electoral compulsions and declined to attend the ceremony. Hopefully, post elections 2014 government in India would be at more ease to pick-up the threads. Dr Manmohan Singh has certainly missed the bus.

Mr Nawaz Sharif is known for his enthusiasm for normalizing relations with India. However, Pakistan-India relations are too complex, marred by multi-dimensional issues which can neither be pushed under the carpet nor just wished away. A caution is due, misplaced romanticism for friendly Pak-India relations certainly needs to be moderated with realism. A concerted effort should be made for slow but concrete progress, giving due emphasis on consolidating the gains. If the new governments of Pakistan and India are able to arrest and reverse the trend of one step forward and two back backwards in India-Pakistan relations, it would be a significant achievement.

Notwithstanding the limited success, these gestures by Mr Nawaz Sharif have been widely appreciated, and he stands on a high moral pedestal. He has certainly graduated from a politician to a statesman, having the capacity to balm the wounds of the nation.

Upfront challenges for the new government are provision of good governance and bringing the country out of the economic tangle. The 18th Amendment limits the size of the federal cabinet. Though a leaner government is certainly much more efficient and effective; it does not augur well with the real politick of coalition making. Majority party’s leadership is under immense pressure to accommodate a big number of party heavyweights, won over independents and coalition partners from the smaller provinces. Though the leading party does not need much effort to muster requisite numbers, its compulsions to accrue federal shade and government forming in smaller provinces has generated stress to accommodate those representing smaller provinces in the federal government for their ‘quid pro quo’ concessions in the smaller provinces. Nevertheless, the robust mandate of the leading party means that the smaller parties or individuals joining it will have little power to play tricks as they did with the out going government.

It would be appropriate to begin with fixing the economy. To achieve meaningful economic indicators, a comprehensive approach should include: structural reforms, broadening of tax base, enhancing tax-to GDP ratio, reforming public sector procurement and work services procedures as well as meaningful austerity. So far, federation earns and provinces spend, this has induced a culture of irresponsible spending at provincial level. Tax collection responsibilities need to be further devolved to the provinces. Certainly, Pakistan needs economic growth and development. Issues directly related to economic recovery are militancy and energy shortfall. And there may be no cut and dry solution to these menaces.

While handling the global jigsaw, a government with a decisively populist mandate is well poised for resetting its relationship with the US; issues like drone attacks have caused much resentment. Now as Secretary Kerry is coming to Pakistan with fresh proposals on drone employment strategy, there is a need for concrete home-work for finding a win-win solution to this sticky and tricky issue. Pakistani people do not wish to be lied to any longer. There is a need to harness the uncontrolled anti-America public frenzy and bridge the gap between public sentiment and the state policy. Perception shared by a majority of Pakistanis that their leadership is helpless while conducting inter-state business with America need to be corrected through visible practical steps.

Mr Nawaz Sharif has recently spoken of talking to the Taliban. Draw-down deadline of 2014 is not far away. There is a need to move on this track swiftly, yet cautiously. Contacts with the Taliban should systematically graduate to a level where Afghan Taliban are inducted into Afghan political process in a transparent manner and Pakistani Taliban denounce violence. In this context there is a need to conduct our diplomacy with professional acumen for managing Pak-Afghan relations. The new Prime Minister has a rich experience of Afghan affairs as he had very ably managed the things in the wake of Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan. He should develop personal rapport with President Karzai and follow a proactive and initiative driven policy.

Likewise, Pakistan’s regional and global reintegration is long overdue. Now with political transition in the offing, the world is reaching out to a democratically oriented Pakistani leadership. The upcoming government needs to reciprocate with the same warmth, and seize the opportunity.  For over a decade, we have been fighting on multiple fronts simultaneously; it’s just the time to close the fronts and move forward for peace and prosperity.

By Humayun Gauhar

“Pakistan Struggles For Survival – Religious Warfare and Economic Chaos Threaten the Survival of this Nation,” wrote LIFE magazine in January 1948, five months after creation. Sixty-five years on and all those problems persist and new ones added. Pakistan is still struggling for survival. The list is long. Hope being unrequited because their leaders haven’t delivered, a sleeping giant is waking up. It is the people.

All predictions about the May 11 elections came wrong. How did Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N win so big and Imran Khan’s PTI so little? The Tsunami turned out to be a splash but not for the right reasons. The PML-N’s performance in Punjab, while wanting, stood out much better than the performance of the PPP-led Sindh government. People were wondering why the PPP was not campaigning in the Punjab and yet President Asif Zardari seemed so serene. Protection being Zardari’s prime concern, perhaps there was an understanding between him and Nawaz that the PPP won’t campaign in the Punjab and leave the field open for the PML-N provided that Zardari is either given another presidential term or a safe exit.

Rich and poor, the incorrigibly optimistic people of Pakistan had so much hope in the May 11 elections that even the elite and their children came out to vote for once. But their hopes were dashed because of large-scale electoral fraud and rigging. Witness the beauty of democracy:

1.            Elections Commission officials not turning up on time and delaying polling, often by 6-7 hours because they were threated.

2.            Voters of certain parties being deliberately stopped or delayed from voting while those of other parties were given precedence.

3.            Ballot boxes arriving late.

4.            Ballot papers arriving late.

5.            The backs of ballot papers not stamped by the Election Commission. One wishes that our politicians were as good at governing as they are at rigging.

6.            Ballot boxes being stuffed with bogus votes. Proof: in many constituencies more votes were cast than the total number of registered voters. Did the angels also vote?

7.            Ballot boxes being hijacked by candidates. We have all seen the video of what happened in NA 125 where supporters of the PML-N candidate stuffed ballot boxes or stole some while helpless election officials remained inert.

8.            Threats and bullying galore, with party workers entering polling stations brandishing guns, all caught on camera and threatening TV anchors and cameramen to desist filming and vamoose.

9.            ‘Worser’ still, the voter turnout was 60 percent; double our traditional average. Those 30 percent new voters didn’t come out to vote for the traditional parties, else they would have also voted in earlier elections. They obviously came to vote for change. Where did those votes go?

10.        Voters, old and young, men and women, stood for hours in the searing heat to exercise their right to vote but didn’t leave. They wanted change. Now some constituencies will suffer the indignity of a re-poll with some parties boycotting.

Pity is, like in 1977 if Bhutto hadn’t rigged that election he would still have won. If this one hadn’t been rigged Nawaz Sharif would still have got the largest number of seats though less than he has and there would have been a genuine coalition to give the federal government a national character and a stronger opposition.

Today, re-polling is taking place in 143 stations of Karachi’s constituency NA 250. The PTI is likely to win so the MQM is boycotting. God forbid, if they start saying it with bullets and just one body falls, it would be enough to set the country on fire. Pakistan is a tinderbox of parched expectations waiting for a spark. Iskra.  Not even a real tsunami will douse that fire.

I won’t even go into the pre-poll rigging, like many corrupt but high profile politicians made eligible to contest while honest ones were disqualified. This entire electoral process seems to have been a pantomime directed by invisible hands, and I am not talking about our army that is the perennial whipping boy. I am talking of our mindless politicians with their inordinate influence on petty officialdom, their illegal wealth and financing from overseas, their storm troopers and promises of patronage to those who would help them grab power.

Did the people actually vote for change of another kind – separation – or did they vote for confederation? Neither, but that is how the script had it. It was made to seem like that because political Mafiosi masquerading as parties headed by dons who have been foisted on us again by others with their armed squads and hordes of illegal wealth hold every square inch of Pakistan hostage. If there had been no NRO, no Saudi deal and Articles 62 and 63 meticulously followed, this disaster wouldn’t have happened. But it was in the script.

How can a stigmatized vote represent the will of the people? It represents the will of predators who have sliced up the country between them while the people are left to protest on the streets. I called my last article ‘Survival Moment’. If people keep waking up and remain awake, they will grasp their moment. These elections must be cleansed as soon as possible because the country cannot afford another. The economic and political tsunami that is lapping our shores will swamp us. Governments must be formed post haste. That can only happen if suspicions of rigging are purged with alacrity else question marks will hang like swords over all five governments. Then they won’t last long and another election could be upon us before time. By then every party could be wiped out by bad performance, except for Imran Khan provided he remains in opposition and does not form a government in KPK. Imran will be the last man standing. Will he listen? They never do. He is gung ho about forming the KPK coalition government to make it a ‘model province’. Chances are that despite the best will in the world its achievements will not match its rhetoric and could disappoint a lot of people. Then the political vacuum will be complete.  Hello revolution.

I said last week that the post-election challenge will be bigger than the pre-election, but I didn’t foresee rigging as a pre-election challenge that would trespass into the post-election period. But it has and our problems have multiplied.

1.                  There is no national party left. All parties have been elected on the basis of province, city, area, ethnicity and language.

2.                  The Nawaz League won a simple majority but only because of the tyranny of Punjab’s majority. Virtually all PML-N’s seats are from the Punjab; it has little following in the other provinces.

3.                  The PPP has become a rural Sindh party while the MQM represents urban Sindh.

4.                  The PTI has replaced ANP as KPK’s party – the only real change.

5.                  The Balochistan Pathans and ethnic Baloch have elected their parties.

6.                  Religious parties were routed, getting only 5% of the vote. Shows that the people don’t consider the making of a theocratic state as the purpose of Pakistan but an Islamic welfare state as our founder spelled out on August 11, 1947.

Is the Two-Nation Theory morphing into a ‘Multination Theory’ based on ethnicity and language, not religion – the Lahore Resolution of 1940 talked of Muslim majority states in the plural, implicitly recognizing ethnicity amongst Muslims. It is staring us in the face. We made it stare by our dishonesty and shenanigans, while a good performance could have buried ethnicity and multinational nationhood would have arisen. We really are our own worst enemies.

An MQM-PPP coalition government in Sindh will perennially snipe at Nawaz Sharif’s heels if he doesn’t give protection to Altaf Hussain or Zardari. If Zardari doesn’t get another term he could sit in Sindh and no one dare touch him. If anyone tries to, or Altaf Hussain for that matter, what is to prevent them from unilaterally declaring independence? Though he tried to backtrack, Altaf Hussain has already threatened secession. All Zardari has to say is, “Pakistan na Kapay’ and that is it. If the people of Sindh celebrate and India recognizes them, what can army intervention do and for how long?  Baloch leaders have openly being threatening secession for years.

This does not bode well. Have elections strengthened our centrifugal forces? Are we headed for balkanization? Or are we moving towards confederation? Confederation is far better for if God forbid Pakistan falls apart northern India’s balkanization that started in August 1947 and continued in 1971 would gather pace – the subcontinent trifurcated in just 24 years. The chaos would beat the anarchy of 1947. But then it can be argued that the subcontinent is moving towards its natural pre-British equilibrium. Yet, I am sick at heart and full of foreboding. Hopefully I am wrong.

A pretty lady messaged me from Karachi’s sit-in: “The energy here is of a full-blown confrontation. Confidence in the authorities, politicians, the army and the caretakers turned undertakers, is zero. The citizens are taking over. Finally Pakistan is waking up.”

“Who will play Robespierre?” I messaged back.