Strategy

A Baloch State in Afghanistan

2012-02-18T00:16:00.001-08:00

WWW.CHJOWK.COM

What Will Happen if the USA Withdraws From Afghanistan

by Agha Amin September 13, 2009 18:03

Tags:

Any US withdrawal from Afghanistan would create another delusion. A false conclusion that Islam has won and USA lost. It would boost morale in the Islamists and would lead to far greater chaos.

While it is theoretically neat and cosmetically nice to advance the view point that the USA should withdraw from Afghanistan. The idea is far complicated at the strategic and operational level.

While it is true that the Pakistan and US sponsored so called Mujahideen did not follow the USSR into Russia,their successors the Taliban were allied with parties with a Pan Islamist outlook. Parties which wanted to carry Jihad into Europe,America and Africa.

The USSR withdrawal from Afghanistan was not a military defeat but a political act of withdrawal covered by the creation of the Northern Alliance which was half leftist and pro Russian. The fact of the matter remains that USSR withdrawal was fallaciously interpreted as a great victory of Islam, while actually it was not so. This interpretation led to creation of many dreams of glory and carrying on of the Islamic Jihad into India, Bosnia, Chechniya etc.

Any US withdrawal from Afghanistan would create another delusion. A false conclusion that Islam has won and USA lost. It would boost morale in the Islamists and would lead to far greater chaos and confusion than ever witnessed before in modern history.

In brief the implications of a US withdrawal would be :--

1-Collapse of the moderate Afghan regime created after billions of dollars of US and European/G 8 aid within a matter of months.

2-Creation of an unemployed and uncommitted reserve of Islamic extremists who are well trained in military art and would represent a greater threat to the Pakistani state as it presently exists and to all neighbours of Afghanistan.

3-A renewed civil war in Afghanistan with Taliban backed by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and the Northern Alliance backed by Russia, Iran, Central Asian Republics and possibly USA and China.

The key to the Afghan disorder lies in Afghanistans neighbours and not in Afghanistan itself :--

1-Pakistan and Saudi Arabian states regard Afghanistan as a battle ground in between an Iran/Indian/Russian backed Northern Alliance and a Sunni puritan Talibans.

2-Russia ,India,Central Asian Republics and G 8 in general regard Taliban as a threat to their countries and to the region.

A possible solution may be in the following :--

1-Continued US presence retaining key military bases in North Afghanistan and in Baloch majority Nimroz as sword of Damocles for the Taliban. Withdrawal of US forces from South Afghanistan while retaining the Kabul Torkham Corridor which is safe in any case.

2-Integrating Russia,India and Pakistan in a regional solution while creating an Independent North Afghanistan which is Non Pashtun majority, South Afghanistan which is Pashtun majority, and a Baloch Autonomous Region in the south west Afghanistan.

3-Initiation of dialogue with the Taliban offering them South Afghanistan while withdrawing US/NATO forces north of the line Dilaram-Uruzgan-Ghazni-Paktiya-Paktika while retaining Baloch majority Nimroz.

Nothing in history is inevitable.Afghanistan was a province of Mughal,Saffavid and the Bokharan Uzbeks till 1747.It was controlled by a subsidy of 13 lakh per month by British from 1857 to 1919 and it was a neutral country with no threat to world peace from 1919 to 1978.

It is a misconception that Taliban control 90 % of Afghanistan or all population of Afghanistan is with Taliban unless you believe the Pakistani or Saudi establishment.The Saudi establishment fears the Shias and Iran far more than USA or Israel. Thus the deep Saudi interest in a Taliban dominated Afghanistan.

The fact is that Taliban control some 50 % of Afghanistan while some 60 % of Afghanistans population is against them.

If the USA withdraws what will happen to the 60 % who are against the Taliban ? These include Tajiks, Uzbeks, Turkmens, Hazaras and many educated Pashtuns .This would be a great political and strategic failure of USA and NATO ? The main winners in this case would be Russia,India and Iran in Afghamistans north and Pakistans generals and Saudis in the south.

A solution of Afghan war must be based on a combination of B-52 bombers, US Dollars, Divide and Rule and regional guarantees.

BBC Documentary on Genghis Khan‏

2012-02-17T23:29:00.001-08:00

FROM MR AAMIR MUGHAL A RETIRED INTELLIGENCE BUREAU OFFICER

BBC Documentary on Genghis Khan

http://youtu.be/gnqQ3CmTVpo

Historically Correct & Well Researched.

--
http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/

Short History of the Decline of the American Century & Its Hegemony (2002 -12)

2012-02-16T20:31:00.001-08:00

I AM NOT REALLY PUSHED ABOUT DECLINE OF USA . WE IN INDO PAK ARE REALLY F____D UP . WE SHOULD WORRY ABOUT OUR PIECE OF SHIT.

FROM MY FRIEND AMBASSADOR GAJENDRA SINGH

For publication.

I have put together my 9 articles on the decline of the American century and its hegemony .

http://tarafits.blogspot.in/2012/02/short-history-of-decline-of-american.html

Short History of the Decline of the American Century & Its Hegemony (2002 -12)

"Keynes's collective work amounted to a powerful argument that capitalism was by its very nature unstable and prone to collapse. Far from trending toward some magical state of equilibrium, capitalism would inevitably do the opposite. It would lurch over a cliff," --- Hyman Minsky.

"When there is a general change of conditions, it is as if the entire creation had been changed and the whole world been altered." - Ibn Khaldun

"History is ruled by an inexorable determinism in which the free choice of major historical figures plays a minimal role", Leo Tolstoy

"History is but glorification of murderers, criminals and robbers." - Karl Popper

The author has kept a watch and written about the decline of the American Century and its hegemony since the first anniversary of 11 September, 2001

1.The decline of the American Century Sept 11, 2002 http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/DI11Ak06.html

2.The US Empire –Beginning of the End Game 24 Nov, 2006 http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15729.htm

3. The Decline and Coming Fall of US Hegemony March 30, 2008 http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m42600&hd=&size=1&l=e

4. Western Military-Capitalist Civilization in Disarray September 25, 2008 http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m47513; http://www.boloji.com/analysis2/0386.htm

5. Corporate Culture and Greed Sink the American Republic 17 May, 2009 http://www.boloji.com/analysis2/0442.htm

6. Confirmation of Pressure on Dollar and US Decline 8 October, 2009 http://www.boloji.com/analysis2/0493.html

7. The Looming Mother of all Economic and Social Crisis 11 May, 2010

http://www.mwcnews.net/focus/analysis/2405-k-gajendra-singh.html, etc

8. Post Sept 2008 Crippled Economy & US Strategic Decline 4 July.2011

http://www.boloji.com/index.cfm?md=Content&sd=Articles&ArticleID=11174

9.Post Bretton Woods; Emerging Outlines of New International Monetary Order

http://mwcnews.net/focus/analysis/16527-new-international-monetary.html

Amb(Retd) K Gajendra Singh

http://tarafits.blogspot.com/2011/08/amb-rtd-k-gajendra-singh-cv-post.html

http://www.scribd.com/doc/61839666/Indo-Pak-Wars-A-Pictorial-History

http://www.scribd.com/doc/21686885/TALIBAN-WAR-IN-PAKISTAN-AFGHANISTAN-A-WRITERS-PERCEPTIONS-FROM-2001-TO-2011

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22457862/Military-Decision-making-and-leadership

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22151765/History-of-Pakistan-Army-from-1757-to-1971-PRINTING-ENABLED-Do-acknowledge-to-the-author

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22455178/Letters-to-Command-and-Staff-College-Quetta-Citadel-Journal

http://www.scribd.com/doc/23150027/Pakistan-Army-through-eyes-of-Pakistani-Generals

http://www.scribd.com/doc/23701412/War-of-Independence-of-1857

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22107238/HISTORY

http://www.scribd.com/doc/21693873/Indo-Pak-Wars-1947-71-A-STRATEGIC-AND-OPERATIONAL-ANALYSIS-BY-A-H-AMIN-THIS-BOOK-CAN-BE-PRINTED-FROM-THIS-SITE

Attack On Iran: Russia Makes Military Moves In Caucasus, Black Sea

2012-02-16T14:31:00.001-08:00

RUSSIA WILL BE THE ONLY POWER THAT CAN SAVE IRAN

Attack On Iran: Russia Makes Military Moves In Caucasus, Black Sea

http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article2899679.ece

The Hindu
February 16, 2012

Attack on Iran not far off, says Russian General
Vladimir Radyuhin

====

...Russian military bases in the Caucasus – in Armenia, South Ossetia and Abhazia - had been put on combat alert. Military experts speculate that the U.S. may carry out strikes at Iran from Turkey, and that Georgia and Azerbaijan may be also drawn into the conflict.

To prepare for war contingency, Russian warships in the Black Sea have been deployed closer to Georgia, and the Caspian flotilla has been relocated from Astrakhan to ports closer to Azerbaijan...

====

As tensions continue to build up over Iran's nuclear programme, the Russian military is bracing for a possible spillover of a large-scale conflict into Russia's southern regions.

Russia's highest ranking military officer has warned of a possible attack against Iran in the next few months.

"Iran, of course, is a sore spot. I think some kind of decision [to attack it] will be made probably closer to summer," General Nikolai Makarov, head of the Russian General Staff, told a press conference in Moscow. He added that Iran was capable of giving "a sharp repulse" to the attack.

Another Russian top military brass, Admiral Vladimir Komoyedov said that given the current military build-up in the Persian Gulf, any spark could set off the fire of a regional conflict.

Adm. Komoyedov, who heads the Defence Committee in the State Duma lower house, told foreign military attaches in Moscow that the U.S. could attack Iran any time now with a simultaneous launch of 450 Tomahawk cruise missiles from the warships deployed in the region.

Russia is concerned that a conflict in the Persian Gulf may spill over into the Caucasus.

The Russian General Staff has set up a "situation centre" to monitor developments in the Persian Gulf "in real time", General Makarov said.

"We are analyzing the situation round-the-clock and do not rule out any options," Russia's highest ranking military officer said.

Russian media quoted defence sources as saying that Russian military bases in the Caucasus – in Armenia, South Ossetia and Abhazia - had been put on combat alert. Military experts speculate that the U.S. may carry out strikes at Iran from Turkey, and that Georgia and Azerbaijan may be also drawn into the conflict. Earlier this week Iran lodged a formal protest with Azerbaijan over alleged Israeli spy activity in Azerbaijan.

To prepare for war contingency, Russian warships in the Black Sea have been deployed closer to Georgia, and the Caspian flotilla has been relocated from Astrakhan to ports closer to Azerbaijan, the Nezavisimaya Gazeta reported.

Annual war games in Russia's North Caucasus this year will be scaled up from tactical/operational to strategic level, that is, will involve "Russia's entire military setup," according to media reports. The Russian Defence Ministry has announced plans to supply to the Southern Military District 40 new aircraft and to assign to it two special commando units.

After NATO's War On Libya, Nation Turned Into Concentration Camp

2012-02-16T14:24:00.001-08:00

After NATO's War On Libya, Nation Turned Into Concentration Camp

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_02_16/66227599/

Voice of Russia
February 16, 2012

Libyan militias "torture detainees to death"
Vladimir Gladkov

====

The Western sponsors of this violent democratization prefer to hush up the fact that the crimes are being committed by no one but rebel militias who now control much of the country.

[M]ilitias keeps terrorizing civilians, spreading death, suffering and bloody chaos across the nation. At the same time, the fall of Gaddafi's regime grants endless possibilities to all kinds of extremists, including radical Islamists. And the West, which, in effect, sponsored the turning of Libya into a war zone, could face the bitter consequences of its uninvited interference very soon.

====

While most of the Western world was busy praising the Arab Spring as a long-awaited "triumph of democracy", the voices of a few skeptics were completely ignored. However, it soon turned out that not only did the revolution fail to bring about any improvements, it actually made the situation much worse. The recently reported scandal with the persecution of pro-democracy groups by Egyptian authorities is now being followed by another report showing that Libyan militias are, in effect, turning the country into a concentration camp.

Human rights groups led by the Amnesty International have been reporting grave violations of human rights which have been perpetrated by Libyan militias for a long time. One of the main documents to rebut the widespread stereotype that the only side guilty of committing war crimes was Gaddafi's army is Amnesty's report titled "The Battle for Libya - Killings, Disappearances and Torture". The report clearly demonstrates that abductions, torture and killings were also widely practiced by Libyan rebels.

The West, which had put great efforts into supporting the Libyan rebellion, initially tried to ignore alarming reports, but the escalation of the situation demonstrated that the violence was only getting extreme by the day.

"After all the promises to get detention centers under control, it is horrifying to find that there has been no progress to stop the use of torture", says Donatella Rovera of Amnesty International, commenting on the fact that the organization's representatives have met prisoners who showed marks indicating severe beatings and torture. Now even the UN has to admit that the situation has got out of control, claiming that 8,500 prisoners are being held by militias in about 60 detention centers. But at the same time, the UN pretends that the outrageous situation is nothing but a legacy of Gaddafi's era.

"The former regime may have been toppled, but the harsh reality is that the Libyan people continue to have to live with its deep-rooted legacy," says Ian Martin, the UN's special envoy to Libya.

The Western sponsors of this violent democratization prefer to hush up the fact that the crimes are being committed by no one but rebel militias who now control much of the country. After the toppling of Gaddafi, militia leaders broke their pledge to give up weapons and announced that they intended to maintain their autonomy as "guardians of revolution".

The efforts of Libya's new government, the National Transitional Council, to extend its control over the nation ended in embarrassing failure.

Right now there are hundreds of armed militia brigades on Libya's territory, many of whom run their own detention centers for those accused of being loyal to Gaddafi's regime. According to another Amnesty report, at least 12 detainees have died since September 2011 as a result of torture. "They had been suspended in contorted positions; beaten for hours with whips, cables, plastic hoses, metal chains and bars, and wooden sticks and given electric shocks with live wires and taser-like electroshock weapons," say the group's representatives. "Their bodies were covered in bruises, wounds and cuts and some had had nails pulled off," the group claims.

Now the West has to admit that there is absolutely no hope for any improvement of the situation. While the NTC remains helpless, the militias keeps terrorizing civilians, spreading death, suffering and bloody chaos across the nation. At the same time, the fall of Gaddafi's regime grants endless possibilities to all kinds of extremists, including radical Islamists. And the West, which, in effect, sponsored the turning of Libya into a war zone, could face the bitter consequences of its uninvited interference very soon.

Pakistani Journalist Kidnapped by Pakistans Infamous and dubious Security Officials

2012-02-16T09:25:00.001-08:00

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: mh mediaperson <mhmediaperson@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Feb 16, 2012 at 8:27 PM
Subject: [pakistanpress] The story of Faizan Journalist
To: pakistanpress <pakistanpress@googlegroups.com>

Dear All,

Muhammad faizan a senior journalist working with Islamabad based newspaper daily Ausaf has been taken away by security officials while he was visiting Osama residential compound in Abbottabad along with a foreign journalist today February 16, 2012. His wife told Dawn News about the incident. PFUJ President Pervez Shaukat has been informed about the incident who is making all out efforts for his safe and early recovery.

regards

MH

--
**********************************************************************************************
PakistanPress is an INDEPENDENT and IMPARTIAL network of Pakistani and international journalists, bloggers and media workers. Members must abide by this code of conduct: http://pakistanpress.blogspot.com/2011/04/brainstorming-managing-email-traffic-at.html
**********************************************************************************************

Why Did Petraeus Fire the Auditor Charged With Stopping Flow of Pentagon Funds to Taliban?

2012-02-16T08:50:00.001-08:00

I remember asking people what happened to Admiral Dussault while I was in Kabul 2010-2011.

I had worked for her when I was there - 2008.

No one knew why, or no one would say why she left so soon after heading up the task force on contract corruption.

http://www.truth-out.org/why-did-petraeus-fire-auditor-charged-stopping-flow-pentagon-funds-taliban/1329322428

Why Did Petraeus Fire the Auditor Charged With Stopping Flow of Pentagon Funds to Taliban?

Wednesday 15 February 2012

by: Ralph Lopez, War Is A Crime | News Analysis

Truthout needs your support today - please donate and help us win this one-day challenge by clicking here!

The story which reared its head then dropped off the radar in summer of 2010 is still alive: that the major source of funding for the Taliban is likely the Department of Defense itself, estimated around $400 million per year, which is funneled to Afghan "security" companies as "protection payments," for allowing the massive and constant ground traffic of convoys of supplies for US bases to crisscross the country, unhindered by attacks. So says a report, "Warlord Inc.," by a House subcommittee chaired by Rep. John Tierney.

The Soviet Union devoted nearly one-third of its force during its occupation to protecting its supply lines. The Americans have figured out a different way: pay insurgents to not attack. The Tierney report - the report of the House Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs, laid bare the system of payments of Department of Defense contracting funds to Afghan warlords with ties to both sides of the conflict. Through both extensive data collection and excerpts the Subcommittee describes the realities of getting military supplies to the network of over 200 American bases and outposts across Afghanistan. The CEO of one "security company says:

"Matiullah has the road from Kandahar to Tarin Kowt completely under his control. No one can travel without Matiullah without facing consequences. There is no other way to get there. You have to either pay him, or fight him."

Thus the truth: This is a manufactured war. Without American dollars to finance its explosives, ammunition, rockets, and pay and support for its fighters, the Taliban might be little more than a nuisance. DoD money likely dwarfs the profits that insurgents take in from the opium trade. For an upper estimate on this amount, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) maintains:

Taliban insurgents draw some $125m/yr from drugs, which is more money than ten years ago,...

Unlike the Viet Cong, the Taliban attracts little ideological loyalty, and was widely despised by Afghans of all ethnicities during its rule. Few in number, during its time in power the Taliban's formula for enforcing its will was simple: fear. There was only one penalty for nearly every alleged infraction: death.

If you have not seen the film "The Kiterunner" based on Khaled Hosseini's best-selling (and accurate) novel, it is worth watching. In one scene the hero, back in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan to save his nephew, engages in a minor staring match with a Taliban patrol in the back of a pickup truck, at a stoplight. His driver, in a sweat after the truck drives off, hisses angrily: "Don't EVER do that again! That was very dangerous!"

For fighters the Taliban depends on being able to pay a $10 a day wage, plus help with food and medicine. None other than a former Commander of US Forces in Afghanistan, General Karl Eikenberry, acknowledged to Congress in 2007:

"Much of the enemy force is drawn from the ranks of unemployed men looking for wages to support their families"

Now it turns out, completely ignored by the American press, before being appointed to head the CIA by Obama, General David Petraeus quietly fired the 2-star Admiral who was appointed to head the response to the revelation of Taliban funding by the US, Admiral Kathleen Dussault, an expert auditor. Dussault was replaced by a one-star with no experience in accounting and little chance of success in stopping the flow of funds.

In April of 2011 Matthew J. Nasuti wrote for the Kabul Press:

Last year, General David Petraeus hired and then three months later secretly fired Rear Admiral Kathleen Dussault, who was the director in Afghanistan of Task Force 2010. The incident and its significance were ignored by the Western news media. Task Force 2010 was created in mid-June 2010, with much fanfare by General Petraeus. It was supposed to ensure that no NATO funds were being diverted directly or indirectly to the Taliban or al-Qaeda. Admiral Dussault was appointed at its director. She had the perfect credentials for the job as she is an expert auditor with an extensive background in logistics and contracting. On September 29, 2010, Admiral Dussault was quietly relieved of command and shipped out of Afghanistan. She was hurriedly replaced by a junior one-star general with no experience in either logistics or contracting. It is believed that Admiral Dussault pushed too hard to cut off the diversion of U.S. funds to the Taliban.

Petraeus, recall, was who former CENTCOM chief Admiral William Fallon once derided as "an ass-kissing little chickenshit," adding, "I hate people like that."

The mothers of soldiers in Afghanistan should be descending on Congress and the White House in droves. This is the money which buys the weapons which kill their sons.

Nasuti, who pursued claims by the Pentagon in email correspondence and found a number of them false, concludes in his report:

Task Force 2010 was created as a sham to placate members of Congress and to present the appearance that NATO was trying to cut off the flow of Western funds to the Taliban and al-Qaeda. In reality NATO has concluded that it needs to fund both sides in this war with U.S. tax dollars. The casualties in this farce are the American people, the Afghan people, our troops in the field and Admiral Dussault. The victors are the Taliban, who continue to receive $400 million in U.S. taxpayer funds each year. Pentagon officials continue to pay their adversaries not to attack and then they have the audacity to testify before Congress that the number of attacks has dropped and that the Taliban is on the run.

Why? This is well-known to the many who have been marginalized by the mainstream media and are not allowed onto the airwaves with their assessments, like America's Mom Cindy Sheehan, who says it's about money. A Wall Street newsletter InvestingDaily.com in an April 2010 article "How to profit from the war in Afghanistan" gushed:

"The Afghanistan troop surge means profits!...the likelihood that the U.S. will end up the loser in Afghanistan is a long-term worry. In the short-term, military contractors doing business in Afghanistan will make a boatload of money..."

No words have continued to ring out from beyond the grave like double Medal of Honor winner General Smedley Butler's, the Marine general who renounced his profession and spent the remainder of his life giving his "War is a Racket" speech across the country:

"War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives... A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small 'inside' group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes."

The "burn rate" for the occupation, the military's term for the rate of spending, is over $8 billion a month or $10 million every hour, making it the most expensive war in US history.

Were but a miniscule fraction of the hundreds of billions of dollars now given over to war profiteering to be spent on trustworthy, Afghan-led development programs like the National Solidarity Program, which is chronically short of funds, by amounts each year which are less than what is spent on the war in one week, the war would be over, and the US would have a solid ally in the Afghan people. Unemployment there would not be from 40-80 percent (depending on region) and perhaps children would not freeze to death in the winter right in the middle of Kabul.

The World Bank reports 60% stunting among children for lack of food and one-third of all Afghan children underweight.

But as Cindy Sheehan once told me, there's no money in that.

British and Qatari sponsored Terrorists Assassinate Islamic Priest

2012-02-16T08:49:00.001-08:00

Syria: Terrorists Assassinate Islamic Priest

Damascus, Feb 16 (Prensa Latina) Gunmen assassinated Sheik Mohammad Ahmad Ouf Sadeq, an imam at the mosque Anas bin Malek in this capital, while Jordan forces arrested well-equipped gangs that were trying to enter Syria.

Local media reported on Thursday that the Islamic priest was returning to Damascus on Wednesday night when an armed group intercepted his vehicle in Qadam Assali, in al-Bweideh district, in Damascus Countryside.

Imam Sadeq, 36, who strongly condemned the terrorist attack on January 6 in al-Midan and called for national unity, had a Ph.D. in Sharia (Islamic law). He was survived by four children.

The Jordan website al-Helal reported that that units of the Royal Force of the Desert, from Jordan, captured well-armed individuals of Arab nationalities as they were trying to enter Syrian territory illegally from Jordan, through the northwestern border area of al-Ramtha.

The assassination of the Islamic priest coincided with the terrorist attack and looting, also on Wednesday, on the provincial headquarters of the Department of Religious Affairs in Damascus Countryside.

A similar vandalistic attack took place in the religious school of Darit Izzeh in Aleppo, SANA news agency reported.

These attacks show that these gangs of extremist Salafists and the Muslim Brotherhood had infiltrated in the country and have increased criminal actions against Islamic leaders and institutions in Syria, because the Islamic leaders condemn terrorist violence and call for harmony between religions and national union.

Express News/Kamran Shahid "Arrange Murder Threat on Live TV"

2012-02-16T02:11:00.001-08:00

FROM MR AAMIR MUGHAL

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Aamir Mughal <aamir.mughal67@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Feb 16, 2012 at 12:21 PM
Subject: Express News/Kamran Shahid "Arrange Murder Threat on Live TV"
To:

Shameful stuff by Kamran Shahid - He is spreading hatred within Pakistanis to only get ratings

http://youtu.be/Rq-mtxxpzx0

--
http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/

Stop Killer Coke!

2012-02-15T22:53:00.001-08:00

--- On Thu, 16/2/12, The Espresso Stalinist <donotreply@wordpress.com> wrote:

From: The Espresso Stalinist <donotreply@wordpress.com>
Subject: [New post] Stop Killer Coke!
To: mark_j8888@yahoo.co.in
Date: Thursday, 16 February, 2012, 11:08 AM

New post on The Espresso Stalinist

Stop Killer Coke!
by admin

Death squads have assassinated eight trade union leaders in Coca-Cola bottling plants in Colombia. The Stop Killer Coke campaign holds the beverage giant responsible. MADELEINE BARAN This article is from the November/December 2003 issue of Dollars & Sense magazine. On the morning of December 5, 1996, two members of a paramilitary gang drove a motorcycle [...]

Read more of this post

admin | February 12, 2012 at 12:11 am | Categories: Anti-Imperialism, Armed Struggle, Art & Culture, Asia, Capitalism & Bourgeois Liberalism, Capitalist Exploitation, Capitalist Repression, Capitalist Restoration and Counterrevolution, Colombia, Environmental Destruction & Plunder, FARC-EP, Fascism, Fascist Massacres, Food & Drink, Imperialism & Colonialism, India, Internationalism, Latin America, Latin American Liberation, Marxism-Leninism, National Liberation, North America, Reactionary Watch, U.S. Imperialism, United States | URL: http://wp.me/p1fDRx-306

Comment See all comments

Unsubscribe or change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions.

Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser:
http://espressostalinist.wordpress.com/2012/02/12/stop-killer-coke/

Thanks for flying with WordPress.com

__._,_.___

Reply to sender | Reply to group | Reply via web post | Start a New Topic

Messages in this topic (1)

Recent Activity:

New Members 1

Visit Your Group

Switch to: Text-Only, Daily Digest • Unsubscribe • Terms of Use

__,_._,___

Iranian Sanctions Endanger Global Financial System

2012-02-15T06:56:00.001-08:00

SWIFT: Iranian Sanctions Endanger Global Financial System

http://www.globaltimes.cn/NEWS/tabid/99/ID/696032/Iranian-sanctions-endanger-global-financial-system.aspx

Global Times
February 15, 2012

Iranian sanctions endanger global financial system
By Charles Gray

====

Nations that do not agree with the US position or sanctions will find this move making it difficult or impossible for their own businesses to effectively deal with Iran.

In effect, if this becomes reality, the economic and foreign policy of nearly every nation on the planet may find itself hijacked by US demands. For many nations, this will appear to be an intolerable infringement upon their sovereignty.

If SWIFT is used against Iran today, there is nothing to prevent it from being used against other nations tomorrow. Certainly, there are those in the US Congress who would not mind striking at Cuba's or Venezuela's banking systems via SWIFT.

====

A bill recently prepared by the US Senate that intends to force the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) to expel Iranian banks and financial institutions from the organization has dramatically expanded already unprecedented moves to isolate the Iranian regime.

While the US hopes that expanded sanctions will force Iran to abandon its suspected nuclear ambitions, the ultimate outcome of this move may be more damaging to the global economic order than the US expects.

The SWIFT network is not a bank, but rather a worldwide network that facilitates monetary transfers and secure communications between banks. A private entity based in Belgium, rather than a government agency, SWIFT is a vital component of the modern financial world. Without it, international purchases and monetary transfers would come shuddering to a halt.

It is this network that the US Congress has targeted, demanding SWIFT cease working with Iranian banks, including the Central Bank of Iran. Coupled with other US sanctions that have targeted financial institutions doing business with Iran, the intent is clear: These sanctions are intended to starve Iran into submission.

However, by blocking Iranian access to SWIFT, the US will drastically widen the scope of these sanctions, not simply in Iran, but all over the world. Nations that do not agree with the US position or sanctions will find this move making it difficult or impossible for their own businesses to effectively deal with Iran.

In effect, if this becomes reality, the economic and foreign policy of nearly every nation on the planet may find itself hijacked by US demands. For many nations, this will appear to be an intolerable infringement upon their sovereignty.

The most important long-term consequence of these sanctions may be the damage done to the international banking system. SWIFT provides a vital service, essentially serving as the circulatory system for international banking and financial systems.

Until now, it has more or less been a neutral system, allowing banks from Cuba to Japan to work together, exchanging secure communications and fund transfers.

Nevertheless, the US move calls the independence and security of the entire SWIFT network into question, and by extension the financial stability of every nation that makes use of it.

If SWIFT is used against Iran today, there is nothing to prevent it from being used against other nations tomorrow. Certainly, there are those in the US Congress who would not mind striking at Cuba's or Venezuela's banking systems via SWIFT. This keystone of international commerce could find itself pushed this way and that, as nation after nation attempts to force it to support their own political campaigns and sanctions.

For private companies, the specter of suddenly finding themselves unable to do business or retrieve savings and investments in other nations, should the political wind blow against them, would certainly result in increased financial uncertainty.

The ultimate outcome might be a complete fragmentation of the international financial order, as nations develop their own replacements for SWIFT.

This would make the smooth conduct of international business vastly more difficult and expensive to carry out, and would create yet another drag on an already weak world economy. It would also create a powerful disincentive for businesses or banks to take part in multi-national financial ventures, drastically reducing the capital available for investment or development.

This unilateral decision by the US creates a dangerous precedent, not simply for Iran, but for any nation that depends on international commerce. Ironically, it is the US that potentially has the most to lose from the fragmentation of the SWIFT network, which makes this move by Congress all the more foolish. Yet US politicians continue to push the idea, oblivious to the threat their actions are posing, not simply to Iran, but to the entire world.

While the US may be concerned about Iran's suspected nuclear program, attempting to stop it by making use of sanctions that will so drastically harm the global economy is not the way to do it.

This measure should be rejected by US President Barack Obama. If not, then the US should be prepared to accept the responsibility for the consequences of its actions. It would be ironic indeed, if the actions of a nation known for its advocacy of free trade end up striking at the root of that very trade.

The author is a freelance writer based in Corona, California.

Situation in and around Syria

2012-02-15T06:26:00.001-08:00

FROM MY DEAR FRIEND AMBASSADOR GAJENDRA SINGH

For publication.I have permission from K.Srinivasan to use his article , also in the past Take Care Gajendra

Situation in and around Syria

The Syrian Crisis Looks Unsolvable

For US led West and most of its dependent and submissive allies including many Arab states, the Cold War never ceased from the Western side, after the fall of the Berlin Wall .Just look at the extent of activities of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). NATO troops once arrived in Crimea in Ukraine and were hounded out by an irate populace .Using the pretext of helping the victims of the earth quake, they even entered Pak occupied Kashmir. They are swarming around and all over the Mediterranean.

The events /conflicts /near wars unfolding in north Africa and West Asia are but continuation of the Cold War .Western Franchised street revolutions in early 2000s were resisted and stopped by Sanghai Cooperation Council members, when West entered Russia's near abroad, in spite of promises to Gorbachev (Do not trust anyone when strategic interests are concerned) .Regime changes in Serbia, Georgia, Ukraine were successful but failed in Belarus and Uzbekistan. They have been reversed in Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan. Georgia was bashed up by Russia and Azerbaijan is uneasy with its close relationship with the West.

US led Imperialist powers have now tried to leverage peoples revolts against West supported dictators /puppets in N Africa and Middle East by trying to take over and guide the movements in their favour .They have helped Muslim extremists into positions of influence and power, in Tunisia and Egypt, a policy which the West (UK before WWII and in 50s to 70s) have always followed against national, socialist regimes of Nasser, Mossaddeq, Saddam and others. Or Afghanistan since 1980s and see the deadly effects and ramifications, all around. Saudi Arabia has been the main banker and financier in all such retrograde moves to keep Muslims and Arabs down and backward and let the West takes away their oil and other riches.

After regime change roll backs and failures in Eastern Eurasia ,favorable regime changes in N Africa &ME is desperate Western attempt to hold on to and regain power in the region in the name of democracy , with total support from such 'pillars of democracy' as Saudi Arabia and now Qatar ( mostly their petrodollars) . Ankara, now in close alliance with Riyadh and Washington has followed a very debatable policy .It has upset its armed forces by jailing its last Military chief and many other senior military officers earlier laying the foundations for a Colonels coup at some stage .Turkey's population has 15% Alevis (victims of Sunni pogroms from time to time) similar in belief to Syria's ruling minority Shia Alawite elite. Turkey's Kurds, 20 %, are up in arms. Instead of zero friction with its neighbours , a much heralded foreign policy claim , Turkey now has bad relations with almost all its neighbours ,say , Syria ,Israel ,Greece, Armenia ,and uneasy relationship with Iraq ,Iran and Russia . Turkish political model for Arabs is western propaganda, with Muslim Brothers in Egypt having declared opposition to it .The Ottoman Empire in any form shall not and cannot be resurrected .Yes, the Arab masses cheered Turkish PM Erdogan's lambasting of Israel's policies in Gaza and Palestine among other aspects. So they have Hezbollah leadership in Lebanon after the defeat of Israeli arms in 2006 and Iran president Ahmedinjed's defiance of US led West and Israel.

For maintaining US-Russian strategic balance of power, Moscow needs naval bases (in Tartus in Syria) and its military base (after losing out in Libya), so it is not going to let Syria be in hostile hands, whatever it may take .Russia is the rising again and has support from affluent and energy hungry China to face off USA and its allies in Middle East .At the same time US and EU are just about bankrupt.

There have been nothing but lies on Syria and earlier Libya in US media , a corporate handmaiden , British Govt propaganda machine BBC ,and unfortunately Al Jazeera ,a Qatar based once independent news outlet, which are now finding echo in Indian media and TV channels mostly owned by Indian corporate interests ,Western dummies and collaborators.

Below is a very informative and perceptive article on the situation in and around Syria by eminent Indian diplomat ,K.Srinivasan , a former head of the Indian Foreign Office , who had served in Arab capitals including Lebanon , next door to Syria.

K. Gajendra Singh 15 Feb, 2012.Delhi

For Whose Benefit?

The Syrian Crisis Looks Unsolvable

Krishnan Srinivasan

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120214/jsp/opinion/story_15128538.jsp

Anti-government protests in Syria began in March 2011, spiraled out of control of the authorities and erupted into a challenge, mainly in Sunni-dominated areas, to forty years of leadership by the Assad Alawaite family. The government revoked the emergency, promised political dialogue and constitutional reform with multi-party elections, offered amnesties and released thousands of detainees, but the opposition rejects any compromise. The opposition comprises the exile-led Syrian National Council dominated by Sunnis and Muslim Brothers, the National Coordination Committee within Syria who are wary of Islamists, the UK-based Observatory for Human Rights, and army deserters comprising the Free Syrian Army based in Turkey. Syria has 21 million people and a Sunni majority, but with a 20% Alawite and Christian minority that supports President Bashar al-Assad's secularism. In November 2011, the Arab League, prompted by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, suspended Syria, imposed economic sanctions and organized an observer mission that was later withdrawn. In January, the League called on Assad to cede power to a deputy, hold a dialogue with the opposition and elections under a government of national unity. Meanwhile, the government blames armed gangs and terrorists for the violence that its army attempts to crush, incurring 2000 casualties in the process. Each side blames the other for excesses and atrocities.

The United Nations has stopped estimating the casualties after the number reached 5000, and has struggled to get to grips with this crisis, because from the outset the Security Council has been split. The first attempt to move a resolution at the UNSC was last October, after the fall of Libya's Gaddafi, but a draft was vetoed by China and Russia with India, South Africa, Brazil and Lebanon abstaining. The BRICs stood together and Indian journalists reported that never had India been so popular in Syria, a country that has caused India no harm throughout its history.

With horrific images and emotional statements from the Free Syrian Army and the Syrian National Council filling television screens, the UNSC's second attempt came this month, giving rise to strong language. USA's Clinton called the vote a 'travesty' and Britain's Hague a 'betrayal', while Russia's Lavrov described the West's reaction as 'indecent' and 'hysterical'. The draft resolution noted the Arab League's efforts but did not endorse Assad stepping down, and denied it was the intention to intervene under the mandatory clauses of the UN Charter. But it did call for dialogue under the League's auspices, demanded access and investigation by League monitors, and cooperation with the UN Office for Human Rights and the Human Rights Council, all of which had previously condemned the Assad government. Therefore the resolution was supportive of the opposition and not even-handed. Predictably, there was another double veto from China and Russia, while the other members, including India and South Africa, voted in favour. Brazil had left the Council, and BRIC solidarity had broken. Another Indian abstention would have been lauded by our media as reflecting India's traditional approach, but the affirmative vote was received in surprised silence. Because voting at the UN is rarely based solely on the merits of a situation, the underlying objectives need examination.

The overall context is that both Beijing and Moscow feel under pressure from the USA; China fears increased American military presence in Southeast Asia and Russia a US missile-defence system in Eastern Europe. Though it stalled UN action against allies like Myanmar, North Korea and Sudan, China has never vetoed any resolution on its own, but always in the company of Russia. This is why the West's ire has been directed exclusively at Moscow. Beijing said the draft 'sought regime change that did not reflect the heart-rending state of affairs in that country', and could send a message to Assad's armed opponents that they had international support. It cited the Libyan precedent, where Gaddafi's overthrow had not brought stability to Libyans, but pushed that country towards civil war.

Russia derives prestige and foreign influence through maintaining a distinction between internal and international affairs, and rejects any pro-active norm-enforcing UNSC. It remembers the 'constructive interpretation' of resolutions by the West over Yugoslavia, Kosovo, Iraq and Libya that led to interventions of highly doubtful legality. It had abstained on Libya in March 2011, and was determined not to repeat that error. Russia is cautious about the outcomes of the Arab spring and unhappy at the rise of Islamists and Salafists in Tunisia and Egypt. It has its last remaining Mediterranean naval base in Tartus, and is the main supplier to Syria of military material. It assesses that Assad cannot be toppled from within. Striving for a central position, foreign minister Lavrov said 'we are not a friend; we are not an ally of President Assad. We never said Assad remaining in power is the solution to the crisis…I do not think Russian policy is about asking people to step down. Regime change is not our profession. It is up to the Syrians themselves to decide how to run the country, how to introduce reforms, what kind of reforms, without any outside interference.' This stand has enabled Russia to be the only country working to find a solution on the ground, and one million Syrians are said to have turned out to welcome Lavrov on arrival recently. Moscow would want whatever new Syria emerges to maintain close ties with Russia, but may find that its attempts to manage developments are as fruitless as those of the West and the Arab League.

The West seeks regime change in an unfriendly country. It will not allow Moscow to drive the process because it is determined that Assad must go. It will frustrate any Russian plan to bring the parties to a dialogue. Its objective is to separate Syria from Iran, the latter being the main enemy with Syria as its major ally. Deposing Assad would lead, in this thinking, to the bonus of weakening Hezbollah and Hamas as well. The UNSC resolution having aborted, there will be tremendous increment in clandestine and special forces' operations, especially through Turkey, in support of the insurgents. Turkey is pro-West and its Arab policy a dismal failure when it tried to influence events in the Arab spring. It was left an outsider, like Iran, and wants to recover lost ground. The Gulf sheikhs fear a 'Shia belt' from the Gulf to the Mediterranean, and have repeatedly urged US action against Shias in Iraq, Iran and now Syria. They will countenance strikes even by Israel to achieve this.

Of course, there are double standards galore. The US has used the veto fifty times since 1945 to protect Israel and deny the Palestinians their rights, turning a blind eye to Israeli massacres in the occupied territories. There was no call for UN action in Yemen or Bahrain, where large numbers of people were killed, because Yemen is an ally in the 'war on terror' and Bahrain is home to a major US military base. France's president Sarkozy asserts that 'France will not abandon the Syrian people'; bitter irony from the former mandatory power in Syria. The co-sponsors of the UNSC draft included Morocco, Colombia, Togo, Libya, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Oman, whose record of democracy, inclusive politics and tolerance of criticism cannot bear any scrutiny.

As for Israel, it remains silent, content to be out of the limelight for a change. It will not gain from Assad's fall; there will be instability and Islamists might triumph. In general terms, the Arab spring has been to Israel's disadvantage, but any weakening of Iran suits its agenda.

In Syria itself, Damascus and Aleppo and the principal units of the army are with Assad. So are Iran and Iraq and Shia Lebanon. Public support is also solid, but hard to quantify. All states, including the permanent members of the UNSC, have used excessive force against their own citizens at times, and given the reports that foreign elements are within Syria acting as 'advisers' to the armed opposition which is financed from Saudi Arabia and Qatar, Assad can hardly do otherwise than respond with force. He has made many conciliatory offers; the opposition has made none. But even if Assad survives, it is hard to envisage what kind of future Syria he will preside over. The alternative is equally bleak; the opposition is a mixed bag of terrorists, Muslim Brothers, army deserters, secular activists and Sunnis, but Islamists are most likely to emerge on top as they have in Tunisia and Egypt. It will be a fertile soil for al-Qaeda.

The Indian 'explanation of vote', which is a facility given to every UNSC member, was opaque about India's real intentions. Perhaps New Delhi assesses that Assad's fall is imminent and there was need to curry favour with the opposition. Possibly India, knowing the resolution was going to be defeated, considered it had little to lose by a 'yes' vote and much to gain from the USA – our current obsession with permanent membership – and the oil-producing Arab states. Conspiracy theorists might bring in the Sunni vote in the UP elections, though this stretches the imagination.

Cicero suggested that one test be applied before any action is undertaken, cui bono? Who benefits? In the case of the UN tractations on Syria, the answer is obvious – nobody.

12 February 2012 , Kolkata

Krishnan Srinivasan is a former foreign secretary

Arab Winter: Libya, One Year Later

2012-02-15T05:48:00.001-08:00

Arab Winter: Libya, One Year Later

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012/02/15/66134815.html

Voice of Russia
February 15, 2012

Libya: a year on
Konstantin Garibov

It's been a year since a bloody civil war in Libya broke out, which lasted into late October and ended in the manslaughter of the country's leader Muammar Gaddafi after he was ambushed and captured by rebel forces near his home town of Syrte.

The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) is still waiting for Libya's new authorities to clarify the circumstances of the death of the colonel, who had ruled the country for more than three decades since 1969. Former Russian ambassador to Libya Alexei Podtserob notes that the new regime's reluctance to cooperate with the ICC indicates that the civil war is going on.

"Clearly, the winners are squaring accounts with the losers. According to international human rights watchdogs, about 7,000 Gaddafi supporters are locked up in jails, abused and tortured. The new authorities are not in control of the whole of Libya. They are only controlling Tripoli and a stretch of land 130 km west of the city. The rest of Libya's territory is being controlled by tribes. Libya now resembles a barrel of gunpowder with a blaster fuse. Either the fuse is pulled out, or it will catch fire and the barrel will blow into pieces."

Yevgeny Satanovsky, a political scientist and Director of the Middle East Institute, fears the barrel might explode before the fuse is neutralized.

"Libya is not a unified country any more. Formally, it has retained its borders, but operating within those borders are various tribes, militants and radical Islamist groups of the Al Qaeda stripe, who hadn't been there under Gaddafi. They are fighting one another in what appears to be a smoldering civil war. Libya is gradually falling apart and is beginning to look more like Somalia, with signs of a deepening conflict between Berbers and Arabs in the west along the border with Tunisia and Algeria. Chaos and mismanagement are reigning in the provinces and human rights are being grossly violated. It's common practice – the new authorities are taking a bloody revenge on the tribes which supported Gaddafi a year ago. Humanitarian aid is being looted in the most appalling way."

The United States has spent $2 billion on special operations aimed at toppling Gaddafi. France has spent 300 million euros. Saudi Arabia and Qatar contributed by unleashing a broad anti-Qaddafi campaign in the media, sending mercenaries and supplying arms to the rebels. The fact that the West managed to win some of the Arab countries over to its side is another lesson that needs to be learnt from the Libyan war.

Hussein Nasrullah, chief editor of the Al-Mutauasset magazine, thinks that the West is successfully pursuing a divide-and-rule policy towards the Arab world.

"The policy of splitting the Arab world did not begin during the Libyan campaign. It began during the Lebanese campaign. The West did whatever it could do to split Lebanon but suffered a defeat. And later, it re-enacted the same scenario in Libya. Unfortunately, certain Arab countries are serving Western interests. Arab League member states back the proposed intervention in Syria. The Arabs just don't realize what they are doing."

In the Arab analyst's view, the West has devised and tested a technology for the seizure of Arab countries, which it is going to apply in the Middle East in the future.

"The military strikes against Libya made it clear that the West was targeting infrastructure facilities and committing genocide against Libyans. Now the focus is on Syria. The West may destabilize the entire region if the Libyan scenario repeats itself in Syria. The West turned the Libyan campaign in its favor, split Tunisia with the help with the Muslim Brotherhood, divided Egypt through the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, succeeded in Yemen, and is now accomplishing the fragmentation of Sudan. And we don't know what may happen in Iraq and Algeria in the near future."

The Libyan war was an extension of the "Arab spring" in Tunisia and Egypt. And later, it was Yemen's turn. Decades-old Arab regimes began crumbling one by one. A year on, the "Arab spring" in Libya has given way to a harsh and seemingly endless "Arab winter".

KOMINFORM
http://www.kominform.eu

Mail from a concerned US veteran on the Crisis in Command in US Army and Government

2012-02-15T05:36:00.001-08:00

Major Amin

how can our politicians and military leaders continuously get away with it?? Guess the military-industrial complex pays them well and to think the architects Patreus is now head of the CIA and McChrystal is a university professor - both considered leaders among men. Shows how morally bankrupt our society is and to think - what is this McChrystal teaching his students????

and if you are in the CIA with a leader like Patreus at the helm you are likely now paid to support the party line, "The System" and not tell the truth. They send our young soldiers to die for what?? They bankrupt our country with these ridiculous wars so a few can get rich.

Now we are getting ready to go after Iran, Syria, to confront China whose only aggression in recent times is over some island thousands of miles from us in the South China Sea - a dispute between them and Japan likely over access to oil - that should be none of our damned business.

We have enough problems of our own. Meanwhile, while the West exports war, China is going right over our heads in winning the "Hearts and Minds" of the Third World by doing Business instead of War!! My Society is in serious trouble run by a bunch of immoral prostitutes!

xyz

Dereliction of Duty II Senior Military Leaders' Loss of Integrity Wounds Afghan War Effort

2012-02-15T05:10:00.001-08:00

Dereliction of Duty II Senior Military Leaders' Loss of Integrity Wounds Afghan War Effort REF + MSNBC Video Ref- DAVIS Jan 2012

CRISIS IN COMMAND IN US ARMY

BS FACTORY IN DC WORKING FAR MORE HARDER THAN THE VIETNAM ERA

FYI: From Geoff: Go to:

http://www1.rollingstone.com/extras/RS_REPORT.pdf to download full report from Rolling Stone &
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/46389624#46389624 for MSNBC Video Clip

Regards

XYZ

Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2012 6:15 AM

Subject: msnbc.com video: Report: Situation in Afghanistan has worsened

I have already read the Davis report and, frankly - as I have suspected for some time, the BS-factory in DC has worked longer and harder than it ever did in Vietnam. If anything - I thought his report was somewhat subdued compared to some of the things I have heard from students since the whole stupid thing got kicked-off years ago. The Saudis have got to be laughing their heads-off as they have skated-away virtually unscathed. c'est la micro-guerre in the 21st century!

xyz (yes - my lasered eye is working again)

BTW the bs factory in Ottawa has been caught doing a 'George Kostanza' too (i.e., see the episode concerning George's bs 'House in the Hamptons' [LoL])

Report: Situation in Afghanistan has worsened

Rolling Stone's Michael Hastings shares his thoughts on a report accusing U.S. military commanders of not telling the truth to the American public about what's really going on in Afghanistan.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/46389624#46389624

Legacy of US Iraq’s Invasion : Near extinction of Christian population?

2012-02-14T23:15:00.001-08:00

Legacy of US Iraq's Invasion : Near extinction of Christian population?

http://twocircles.net/2012feb14/legacy_us_iraq%E2%80%99s_invasion_near_extinction_christian_population.html

With the withdrawal of the US led forces from Iraq, Operation Iraqi freedom turns into Operation Iraqi Christians decimation.

Around fourteen months back, in November 2010, I had written about the pressures on the Christian minority community in Iraq and my fear about their extinction from their motherland in one of my piece, "Operation Iraqi freedom and Christians in Iraq" which was carried by number of news portals. ( http://www.aina.org/news/20101102214511.htm / http://twocircles.net/2010nov02/operation_iraqi_freedom_and_christians_i... and others)

Some of the admirers of US regime, my friends in US and even some of the Muslim Activists had disagreed with the analysis and had responded with their disagreement for different reasons. A good number disagreed because of their hate for Saddam and others for the exposure of the indifferent temperamental behavior of the some Muslims towards the religious minorities in Muslim society.

After a month of the withdrawal of the Allied forces from Iraq and its becoming a sovereign state, one of the serving US Military Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio admitted in an interview to CNA in Rome, "Yes, you can say in a certain sense that the invasion of Iraq did provoke this tremendous diminution of the Christian population in that country. And what the future holds, that still remains to be seen," Archbishop Timothy believes that the collapse of Iraq's Christian population is among the legacies of America's invasion in 2003 and he is perfectly correct.

Before the invasion of Iraq, Christian population was around 1.4 million of the total population and the community had enjoyed all kinds of support and patronage during Saddam's regime which dwindled to around one hundred forty thousand at the time of the withdrawal of the Allied forces. Where they vanished? Its a million dollar question.

Secular Saddam Hussein had always trusted Christians and have appointed them to the highest government posts beside giving them freedom to profess their religion with dignity.

Overwhelming majority of the world's population had considered Tariq Aziz, a christian catholic and the international face of Saddam's regime, who was also foreign minister, as a Muslim. Christians being considered staunch supporters of Saddam's regime faced twin pressures with its downfall, the foremost being the coreligionists of the invading forces and for others as the former ally of tyrant Saddam Hussain.

The Sunni Muslims of Iraq were nearly convinced and shocked to see the switch of the loyalty of the Christian community to the invading Allied forces and the Kurds & the Shia's hate reached its zenith because of the community's past alliance with Saddam. The irony of the whole scenario was that Saddam protected them where as the Allied forces under US command totally shied to extend a protective cordon for them. With the rising violence against the community the Christians were forced to live as displaced community in their own country and in other countries.

What the Americans did was a catastrophe for a multi- religious Iraqi society when they literally open their embassy gates for granting refugee visas to the Assyrians, Armenians and the Catholic Christians and created zones for them at different places in the suburbs of the American cities. The European Union too followed the policy and a good number of them migrated to the invading member countries of the European Union.

During one of my visit to the hub of the Chaldean Christian community in USA, I was amused to know about the fair treatment the community had received from Saddam. One of the Chaldean refugee pastor in US told me that after the Iraq invasion, the open patronage of Condaleeza Rice, the then National Security Advisor to President Bush, morally and financially to her fellow Protestant Iraqi Christians angered the Iraqi Muslims-Sunni's and the Shia's and they started targeting Christian churches and the community with more vigor.

The pastor was of the view that 'Wahhabi Sunni's soon started getting patronage from one of the gulf allies of America' and the problem took alarming proportions. More than one hundred thousand migrated to neighboring Jordan too and are still living there. Thousands internally displaced took refuge in Northern Iraq in the plain of Nineveh, the historic homeland of Christians of Iraq.

Monsignor John Kozar, President of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association, recently spoke of the "strong determination" some Iraqi Catholics have to go back home. After his visit to Jordan, Monsignor opined, "I think they have a yearning to return to the homeland, and that homeland for them means practicing their Chaldean-rite Christianity, that has become very, very important to them."

While announcing the withdrawal of American forces from Iraq, President Obama had confidently thundered on 15th December 2011, "they were leaving behind a "sovereign, stable and self-reliant," country and just 10 days after his pronouncement the Christian community in Iraq was under such tremendous pressure that fear of an attack forced Christians during Chrism to cancel the Chaldean Catholics' midnight Christmas celebrations. Services were moved to the daytime, and Christians were warned by community leaders not to display decorations outside their homes.

I wonders whom to blame for the decimation of the patriotic Iraqi Christians from Iraq, invading Allied forces under US command or Al Qaida?

(The writer is Secretary, South Asia Council for Minorities (SACM) and can be reached at navaidhamid@gmail.com)

With the withdrawal of the US led forces from Iraq, Operation Iraqi freedom turns into Operation Iraqi Christians decimation.

Secular Saddam Hussein had always trusted Christians and have appointed them to the highest government posts beside giving them freedom to profess their religion with dignity.

I wonders whom to blame for the decimation of the patriotic Iraqi Christians from Iraq, invading Allied forces under US command or Al Qaida?

(The writer is Secretary, South Asia Council for Minorities (SACM) and can be reached at navaidhamid@gmail.com)

A Lawless state with law of jungle

2012-02-14T21:01:00.001-08:00

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012\02\15\story_15-2-2012_pg1_3

petitioner in missing prisoners' case dies

* Rohaifa, mother of two surviving prisoners, dies of heart attack

* Counsel says petitioner couldn't bear condition of her sons

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: Rohaifa, the mother of three detainees of Adiala Jail, who had filed the petition in the Supreme Court regarding the release of prisoners, died of cardiac arrest on Tuesday.
Tariq Asad, the counsel for Rohaifa, confirmed to Daily Times that she had died and would be buried in Kohat today (Wednesday) at 1:30pm.
He said that she was shocked to see her two sons – Abdul Majid and Abdul Basit – in a miserable condition in the Supreme Court on Monday, and died on Tuesday.
Tariq said that one of her three sons, Abdus Saboor, who was also in the custody of spy agencies, had already died on January 26.
Due to her petition, the spymasters were compelled to produce the seven missing prisoners before the court on Monday.
Emotional scenes were also witnessed in the Supreme Court on Monday when she had met her two sons after the court's hearing.
She hugged them and cried. While talking to reporters, she expressed concern over the physical condition of her two sons.
Later, on the direction of the court, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief secretary arranged a meeting between the prisoners and their relatives at the attorney general's office. This was the last meeting of petitioner with her son.
In her petition, Rohaifa prayed that the Supreme Court call the entire record of proceedings and determine, in view of the laws of the land, whether the arrested prisoners – Syed Abdus Saboor, Syed Abdul Basit, Syed Abdul Majid and all the deceased and surviving detainees – were subject to Army Act.
She said that if the detainees were subject to Army Act, the court should declare that the arrest, detention and the proceedings of trial were not in a lawful manner, and direct the respondents to set the detainees at liberty in the interest of justice and fair play.
"In case, after probe, it is found that the arrest and proceedings have not been conducted in accordance with law, [the court should] declare that the detainees were in illegal confinement and subjected to torture," she said in her petition.
She also prayed that if the superior courts were not able to give relief to the citizens of Pakistan, "then the petitioner humbly submits with respect to this august court that the respondents may be directed to kill them immediately and hand over her sons' dead bodies so that she may be able to bury them in her lifetime, as she is also so sick", and may not bear the pain anymore.
On April 8, 2010, Rawalpindi's anti-terrorism court acquitted the 11 prisoners of the charges framed against them by police. The day the prisoners were released from Adiala Jail, they were allegedly taken into custody by intelligence.

The car bomb that exposed India's sham sovereignty

2012-02-14T19:30:00.001-08:00

FROM MY DEAR FRIEND AMBASSADOR GAJENDRA SINGH

http://www.salem-news.com/articles/february142012/india-israel-as.php

Delhi event 2/13/12

The car bomb that exposed India's sham sovereignty

A targeted move to frame Iran? Would Mossad sacrifice their own?

The important thing about the attack on Israeli diplomat's car [Number: 109 CD 35; blue number plate with CD meaning Diplomatic Corps] is that it happened within the square mile of sanitized Delhi that rules over 1.2 billion Indians. This is an intensely patrolled area; at every intersection you will find a fast police car with armed policemen to cordon off an entire street or several streets within seconds of any terrorist event.

Therefore, it is simply inconceivable that a lone rider on a motorbike stopped by the Israeli diplomat's car, attached an explosive device, and scooted from the scene before the car blew up. And all of this within seconds. Either the policemen were sleeping-all of them, at the same time-at quarter past three; or something else happened. The lone eye witness who saw something being attached could have been any one, or anything, we don't know.

On Aurangzeb Road, an address to die for, every hour 1500-2000 cars move. By counting the stately mansions on this road, you can arrive at an approximate figure of India's current dollar billionaires.

About fifteen years ago, one of the residents of Aurangzeb Road, a well connected big industrialist, was offered several million dollars in monthly rent and a deposit of a corpus of Rs 500 million in any bank anywhere in the world. This is one of the most beautiful homes on Aurangzeb Road and the person who offered the deal was the then Israeli Ambassador to India. Some folks are extremely pushy and today the Israeli Embassy is located somewhere on Aurangzeb Road.

Within hours of the attack on the poor lady diplomat, the Israeli Government was spewing venom on Iranians. And within hours, an embarrassed Indian Foreign Minister SM Krishna, recently back from his Tel Aviv sojourn, came out with a guarded statement that 'investigation have started' [whatever that means]. By evening the American Zionist lobby passed its judgment that India's relationship with Iran is a violation of decent international behavior.

Need Indians remind the Zionist lobby that India's relationship with its West Asian neighbors goes back six millennia [i.e. 6,000 years x 365 days=2.19 million days] if not earlier? Zionist Israel arrived in these parts about six decades ago and that too illegally. Zionist bankers bank-rolled the British occupation of large part of Asia [East, South and West] and extracted their pound of flesh by dispossessing the Palestinians. Perhaps they made an offer that the Palestinians refused, just as the Indian businessman on Aurangzeb Road; and so they acquired a prime property in West Asia by force, and by deceit on Aurangzeb Road.

How many Iranian nuclear scientists have been done in by the Mossad? Hourly, we hear that Iranians must be stopped from becoming a nuclear power. Hourly we hear that Iran is a terrorist country; switch on the neo-liberal imperialist TV channels-CNN or BBC or Fox- and the presenters are usually frothing with spittle drooling from the corner of their slavish mouths.

What was the role of Mossad in Mumbai mayhem on the night of 26^th November, 2008? The killing of Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg brought about a global outcry almost in unison against anti-semitism and the vicious designs of Islamic terrorists. And within hours Abraham Foxman, Director of the Anti Defamation League, came out with his own variety of venom:

"This brutal attack once again shows that terrorists single out Jews. The attack is a reminder that the world must stand up against all terrorism, because in the end no one is safe until terrorism is combated in all its manifestations."

It never occurred to this foxy Foxman that a determined terrorist would spare Chabad House for two victims when he/she can attack thousands living illegally in the remote villages in Kullu valley and around Dharamshala [Dalai Lama's de facto capital]. Over 10,000 Israelis, mostly from the armed forces, come here, live illegally, smoke pot and screw around. Very soon, Yiddish, the Ashkenazi lingo, will become the second language in these parts. I know these villages very well.

Why has the Chabad House been under investigation in India? In February this year, the Israeli couple running the Mumbai Chabad was told to leave India? 4000 Chabad Houses in 73 countries, ostensibly to provide support to visiting Israelis, perhaps to supply pure Kosher meat, in reality a huge global network of 'Crack.' And this is not an isolated event. Since Mumbai mayhem, many Israelis all over India have been told to leave.

Is the Delhi car bombing related to the pressures being brought on by Israelis [the tail] that wags the dog [London and DC] for India to rethink buying oil and gas from Iran violating the "international sanction" imposed by a few imperialist powers? Blow up a few more high profile Israelis, in the square mile of the power centre of India and world's mainstream media would blow your TV screens, so loud would be the condemnation of Islamic Jehadists from Iran. Holding 1.4 trillion dollars of ill gotten gains in the Zionist banks, the Indian political class will capitulate. Or lose their cash and properties in Monaco, London, Paris, and Cayman Islands.

Hasn't it already? When 9/11 happened, the senile PM Vajpayee wanted Baby Bush to "select" his India as a key partner in West's sham GWOT. His Home Minister, another senile politician Lal Krishna Advani, went to Tel Aviv a year earlier to forge an alliance to fight Islamic terrorists, giving vital operational base to the Mossad in sensitive Kashmir. Headed by Eli Katzir of the Israel Counter-Terrorism Combat Unit and Israeli military intelligence officials, a new era of "cooperation" with world's Zionism starts and with each passing year, the Indian intelligence architecture got more and more deeply penetrated by those very forces that engineer terrorist acts worldwide.

Don't the Indian intelligence agencies know what is going on? Of course they do; just as top operatives in the CIA and FBI know what was going on; the serious ones within French, German and British intelligence also know what is going on.

And they all know that Car No 109 CD 35 has served the purpose of terrifying the political class within the square mile. But the folks who live within that square mile have stashed too many billions in Israel friendly banksters' banks not to take it rather seriously.

BBC ardent follower of Joseph Goebbels

2012-02-13T21:47:00.001-08:00

http://info-wars.org/2012/02/13/bbc-are-corporate-paid-propagandists/

BBC are Corporate-Paid Propagandists

13/02/2012
Featured , Globalists , International , Media , State Terror
No comments

The Independent exposes what we already knew.

by Tony Cartalucci

February 14, 2012 – It has been recently reported by the Independent, that the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) "will today apologise to an estimated 74 million people around the world for a news fixing scandal, exposed by The Independent, in which it broadcast documentaries made by a London TV company that was earning millions of pounds from PR clients which it featured in its programming."

While The Independent focuses on scandals revolving around the Malaysian government, members of Egypt's Hosni Mubarak's regime, and corporations like Microsoft, the reek of propaganda wafting off from all that BBC involves itself with has been a case study for years.

Three overtly suspect projects BBC recently backed immediately come to mind, including "Thailand: Justice Under Fire" together with "Secret Pakistan," and "The Lady," regarding US and British-funded Myanmar proxy, Aung San Suu Kyi. These three "works" have been exposed as overt propaganda, peddling an agenda rather than anything resembling objective documentaries. BBC's "Secret Pakistan," for example, literally attempted to rewrite 10 years of history where Pakistan, rather than Al Qaeda or "Bin Laden" was retrospectively made responsible for the ongoing violence in Afghanistan and the death of Western troops.

And while The Independent offers up their handful of negligible admissions regarding Malaysia, Egypt, and Microsoft, exposing how special interests compromised BBC's "integrity," the special interests behind other BBC "documentaries" are easily identified, granted you do not watch them in suspended disbelief, accepting everything as truthful, and fully trusting in BBC's obviously non-existent credibility.

BBC is not only guilty of making fraudulent, deceitful propaganda dressed up as "documentaries," but their general "reporting" is also a breathtaking daily assault on truth, objectivity, and journalistic integrity. No where can this be seen better than in BBC's coverage of the events in Egypt and Libya last year, and in particular illustrated in an excerpt from February 2011′s "Libya Conquered in the Dark: BBC's Breathtaking Propagandizing:"

Unlike in Egypt, where US International Crisis Group trustee Mohamed ElBaradei was talking daily to international reporters on the ground, and AlJazeera provided 24 hour coverage, Libya is a virtual blackhole. The mainstream media is relaying hearsay from "Libyan" bloggers and protesters on the ground. The tell-tale quotation marks peppering reports coming out of BBC and AlJazeera and a litany of weasel words indicate that the "revolution" will be feed to the public in the most disingenuous and unsubstantiated manner possible.

Unfortunately, when all we have to depend on during a crisis is the honor of the corporate owned media, where BBC itself is a major corporate member of the globalist nexus Chatham House, nothing can be trusted and we are left in confusion and uncertainty. Far too many people, however, will still fall for the thin veneer of legitimacy the mainstream media's slick graphics and well-dressed shills lend it.

BBC's latest article regarding Sayf al-Islam's address to the nation gives us an astounding example of the mainstream media forcing the scant facts coming out of Libya into a predetermined narrative to suit the global-combine's interests. In his address to the Libyan nation, Sayf al-Islam accused opposition groups and outsiders of trying to transform Libya, that the foreign media was grossly exaggerating the government's response to protesters, and compared the unrest to an Egypt-style Facebook revolution.

Corporate propagandist John Leyne of the globalist Chatham House's BBC

While BBC concedes that "verifying information from Libya has been difficult," within the text of the article they refer to the speech as a "rambling TV address." In the side bar, we hear from BBC propagandist Jon Leyne, who covered the "bazillion-gagillion man march" in Egypt and told viewers it seemed as if "all of Egypt" had turned out in Tahrir Square. Best estimates of the crowd range from 50,000 to no more than 100,000 (0.1% of Egypt's population.) Leyne says the following regarding Sayf al-Islam's address, in an unprofessional bravado we should only have come to expect from the BBC:

"That was one of the strangest political speeches I think I've ever sat through. He was completely and utterly detached from the reality of what is going on in his country. To put it bluntly, most Libyans will just treat it as gibberish – it was completely meaningless to them. The idea that they're somehow going to sit down and have a national dialogue with a government that's brought in foreign mercenaries to shoot at them is laughable."

What qualifies Leyne to speak on behalf of the Libyan people on a crisis his own network concedes isdifficult to report on, thus "utterly detached" themselves, is beyond understanding, unless of course it is pure propaganda aimed at discrediting the address.

What the mainstream media and Sayf al-Islam seem to agree on is that Libya's eastern city of Benghazi has been overrun by mobs who have seized military tanks and weapons. For BBC and AlJazeera to call the government's response to arsonists, looters, vandals, and now dangerously and overtly armed mobs, a "massacre," seems somewhat disingenuous and very similar to their coverage of the US-backed mobs that took to the streets in Bangkok in May, 2010.

While BBC's recent outing as a corporate-paid propaganda operation may seem to many as a simple statement of the obvious, it will hopefully begin to undermine the unquestioned credibility many still seem to believe these large corporate-media outfits possess. It will also hopefully spur many to begin researching, discovering, and attempting to understand the world around them, themselves, without the corporate-paid propagandists guiding them along.

If Thomas Jefferson was correct when he stated, "an informed citizenry is the only true repository of the public will," one must wonder where the public will is currently reposited so long as the citizenry is "informed" by corporate-paid propagandists like the BBC.

_______

Tony Cartalucci is a regular contributor to Infowars Ireland. Read more of his articles here, or visit his website Land Destroyer Report.

Zardari, Telephone Tapping, & Swiss Case.

2012-02-13T21:12:00.001-08:00

FROM MR AAMIR MUGHAL A RETIRED INTELLIGENCE BUREAU OFFICER

Zardari, Telephone Tapping, & Swiss Case.

http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/2012/02/zardari-telephone-tapping-swiss-case.html

ISLAMABAD: Hours after being indicted by the Supreme Court over a disputed contempt charge, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani seemed winning some moral support across party lines in the National Assembly on Monday before opposition leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan jumped in to share the day`s honours by pulling off a unanimous, though belated, condemnation of a US Congressional hearing on Balochistan. The prime minister`s arrival during the early part of the question hour to louder than usual desk-thumping from the ruling coalition enlivened a dull house and then lawmakers from both the opposition and treasury benches went to him to shake his hand or say a few words of possible support in the case he has to fight in the apex court for not writing mainly to Swiss judicial authorities to reopen withdrawn money-laundering charges against his party`s dead and living leaders in cases instituted by their political rivals in 1990s. PPP-S chief Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao was the first opposition figure to walk to Mr Gilani`s to hug him — and later say he expressed his solidarity to the man who "conducted himself well in the court" â€" and then lawmakers of other parties, including some female members from the opposition PML-N, made a beeline to the prime minister`s desk during his brief stay in the house. REFERENCE: Moral support for Gilani, ire at US hearing in NA Raja Asghar http://www.dawn.com/2012/02/14/moral-support-for-gilani-ire-at-us-hearing-in-na.html Guilty? asks court; No, will contest charge: PMNasir Iqbal http://www.dawn.com/2012/02/14/guilty-asks-court-no-will-contest-charge-pm-offence-carries-six-month-jail-next-hearing-on-22nd-some-analysts-discount-disqualification.html

Intense U.S. pressure has forced Musharraf to resign from the army to keep his presidency, and he is soon to lift martial law. Still at issue is how free the election will be and whether Bhutto will take office with a large governing majority. When Musharraf still resisted Washington's demands last week that he end his state of emergency, I asked Bhutto how an election could be conducted under those conditions. Her message: "Elections under martial law cannot be free or fair." It remains an open question whether an election could still be rigged by Musharraf without martial law. He has appointed local electoral officials who will take orders. Twenty million names have disappeared from the national voters list, whose preparation was financed with U.S. aid. When this was discovered, the government said that anybody on the old list would be permitted to vote. But the new list is flawed, with millions of names repeated to permit multiple votes by individuals. All this attempts at least to minimize Bhutto's majority and force her into taking a coalition partner. Musharraf's efforts to keep Bhutto out have been orchestrated for two years by retired brigadier Ijaz Shah, who left Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) to become the president's chief of civilian intelligence. The ISI, a state within a state, is aligned against Bhutto and would be at the heart of any vote-rigging. REFERENCE: Rigging Pakistan's Election? By Robert D. Novak Monday, December 3, 2007http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/02/AR2007120201637.html

CNN: The Secret Bhutto File on Election Rigging in Pakistan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlcWfQ1P6Mk

Courtesy: videocafeblog January 01, 2008 - CNN's report on the secret Bhutto file that accusses the Pakistani government of consipiring to rig the upcoming elections before her death.

Attorney General of Pakistan Malik Mohammad Qayyum Admits Rigging

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2faziDhmA_Q

Transcript

Leave Nawaz Sharif(PAUSE)....I think Nawaz Sharif will not take part in the election (PAUSE).... If he does take part, he will be in trouble. If Benazir takes part she too will be in trouble(PAUSE)... They will massively rig to get their own people to win. If you can get a ticket from these guys, take it (PAUSE).... If Nawaz Sharif does not return himself, then Nawaz Sharif has some advantage. If he comes himself, even if after the elections rather than before, …..yes…. REFERENCE: Audio - "Pakistan Goes to the Polls" http://www.hrw.org/legacy/audio/2008/urdu/pakistan0208.htm Qayyum 'was aware of rigging plan': HRW releases tape By Iftikhar A. Khan and Masood Haider February 16, 2008 Saturday Safar 08, 1429 http://archives.dawn.com/2008/02/16/top6.htm Pakistan: Attorney General Aware of 'Massive' Election-Rigging Plans Audio Recording Calls Into Question Government's Commitment to Fair Elections FEBRUARY 15, 2008 http://www.hrw.org/news/2008/02/14/pakistan-attorney-general-aware-massive-election-rigging-plans

London-based Brad Adams, director Asia region-HRW, was asked by The News to comment on Malik Qayyum's view that the release of the audio just two days before the elections was a conspiracy. Brad replied that his organisation had got this audio recording some three days back and as being an international NGO, it had first confirmed the voice signatures of Malik Qayyum and then tried its best to contact him for his version. Brad, however, refused to mention or give any hint regarding the source from which it had taken the audio. Tom Malinowski, Washington advocacy director of HRW, when asked by The News that whether his NGO had got this recording from some of its staff here in Pakistan or from some intelligence agency, said that he could not speak about the source. To a question that Pakistani government sees the release of the recording as a conspiracy, he said: "Its silly to talk like that, the government should feel sorry what it has planned for elections." Malik Qayyum told The News that HRW did not take his version and that it did not know about the identification of the person to which he was talking, which automatically raised questions about the authenticity of the recording. REFERENCE: Malik Qayyum in new row over rigging By Muhammad Ahmad Noorani AG caught on tape again; denies HRW report Saturday, February 16, 2008 http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=12981&Cat=13&dt=2/17/2008 http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=12981&Cat=13&dt=2/17/2008

Arshad Sharif Exposes Swiss Case of Asif Ali Zardari - 1 (KYUN Duniya News 13 Feb 2012)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1AqxlJQM3g

Arshad Sharif Exposes Swiss Case of Asif Ali Zardari - 2 (KYUN Duniya News 13 Feb 2012)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqZ4F2Lifug

LAHORE: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was annoyed over delay in the Lahore High Court's decision in President Asif Ali Zardari's case during his tenure, according to a transcript of conversation between Justice (r) Abdul Qayyum and National Accountability Bureau's (NAB) former chairman Saifur Rehman, aired on a private news channel. The audiotape was provided by Senator Faisal Raza Abdi. The channel also aired a conversation between Pervez Elahi, Shahbaz and Justice Qayyum. Following is the transcript of the conversation. Justice (r) Abdul Qayyum: Your task will be done in a day or two. I had to request an adviser (Peerzada) for you. I told him that I am very ill and I have to leave abroad and I have asked him to end up the matter for my sake. Peerzada has told me that he will do it and it will be done. He told me that he would compensate for all the mistakes I have, adding that Mian Sahib (Nawaz Sharif) would be happy as well. REFERENCE: Audiotape reveals Sharifs manipulated verdict in Zardari's case Daily Times Monitor Sunday, November 21, 2010 http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\11\21\story_21-11-2010_pg7_21

WAY BACK IN 2001

ISLAMABAD, Feb 4: The guilty verdict handed down to Benazir Bhutto and her husband by the Lahore High Court in 1999 in the SGS/Cotecna reference case was rendered highly suspect by startling disclosures made in a report published by a respected British newspaper on Sunday. Benazir's appeal against the verdict sentencing her to imprisonment for five years and nearly $10 million fine is coming up for hearing in the Supreme Court on Feb 26, 2001. Justice Malik Qayyum of Lahore High Court had allegedly announced a pre-written judgment in the case, the Sunday Times story revealed quoting tape recorded conversations between the judge and the former Law Minister, Khalid Anwer, the former chief of Accountability Bureau, Saifur Rehman and the former Chief Justice of Lahore High Court, Justice Rashid Aziz. The newspaper story has claimed that it had obtained the copy of a letter along with the tapes sent by an officer of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) to the President of Pakistan on Jan 29, 2001. The newspaper said that on being approached Justice Qayyum said he could not remember the conversations recorded by the IB. "I don't recall any such calls," he said. "I don't know anything about it."

Abdur Rahim, a deputy director in the IB, who said he was told to monitor the office, home and mobile phones of Justice Qayyum at the very start of the Cotecna case, has explained, according to Sunday Times story, that following a crisis of conscience, he had decided to send an affidavit and hour-long tape to the President, with copies to Gen Pervez Musharraf, the chief justice and others. The bugging allegedly disclosed that the former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, was intent on securing Benazir Bhutto's conviction at any cost. Rahim is quoted to have said in his letter to the President that during the process he was astonished that the judge was being dictated to obtain a judgment of their choice against Benazir Bhutto and Asif Zardari by Khalid Anwer, Saifur Rehman and Justice Rashid Aziz. All the three men, Rahim alleged, were acting on the orders of Nawaz Sharif and the tapes allegedly showed that the judge was threatened with removal if he did not agree to conclude the trial quickly. According to Sunday Times Rahim was presently outside Pakistan and has appealed to the President for protection, saying he feared for his life and for his family. The tape transcript reproduced by the newspaper shows that Justice Qayyum even asked Saifur Rehman for advice on the sentence. "Now you tell me how much punishment do you want me to give her?" REFERENCE: UK paper's report on Benazir's conviction M Ziauddin DAWN WIRE SERVICE Week Ending: 10 February 2001 Issue:07/06 http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/2001/feb1001.html#ukpa

WHAT the publication of the Hamoodur Rahman Report did for the army, the Justice Qayyum tapes as revealed by the Sunday Times have done for the higher judiciary. We had a fair suspicion of what the Eastern Command did in 1971 but the message was really brought home by the details in the Hamood Report. So too with the judiciary. We all knew such things went on. But for the cameras to catch a revealing episode: this is the value of the Qayyum tapes. The light they cast throws in sharp relief the judiciary's feet of clay. Are the tapes genuine or doctored? There shouldn't be any doubts on this score because authenticity is writ large over them down to His Lordship Justice Malik Qayyum addressing Khalid Anwer, Nawaz Sharif's then lord chancellor, as "sir" and declaring himself to be his servant (khadim). Read the lines carefully. The tone and inflection are genuinely Pakistani. No one, not even a Booker Prize author, could have invented them. Need we be surprised by the audacity of the interference and the readiness of Justice Qayyum to oblige his interlocutors? Not really. Prolonged authoritarianism has taken its toll, even on judges sworn to uphold the cause of truth and justice. After all who appoints judges? The executive, acting in all cases through the law minister. Security of tenure (as in established democracies) encourages independence. Insecurity breeds pliant and sycophantic behaviour. It's nothing more complicated than this.

When Zia promulgated his Provisional Constitution Order in March 1981 some judges were asked to take the oath while others were dropped. The same happened with Gen Musharraf's PCO in 2000. A few judges were again quietly dropped. Civilian rulers have treated the judiciary no better, each one of them seeking pliant judges. Judges too have demeaned themselves by seeking small favours. Such a state of affairs hardly encourages independent behaviour. As for high court judges, the years have dealt more harshly with them. Although still attended with outward pomp, it does not stretch belief to imagine them sirring the lord chancellor of the day. For far too long has the judiciary sought refuge behind a narrow interpretation of the law of contempt. But the old barriers have broken down. Just as repeated military interventions have demystified the military, repeated invocations of the doctrine of necessity have damaged the judiciary. The ISI no longer commands the awe it once did. A similar fate has befallen the other holy cows whose shadow once fell on the county.

With regard to Justice Qayyum, moreover, these subtle considerations in any event do not apply. In the sacred precincts of the Lahore High Court he has enjoyed a special standing because of his identification with the personal problems of the Sharif dynasty. Anything affecting the family's interests has come to him for adjudication, almost as if he alone possessed the requisite delicacy to handle these matters. The division of the family's assets between its contending factions, cases involving the family's huge bank loans, and even the banking loans of Nawaz Sharif's principal errand boy, Saifur Rehman, were all attracted, as if by a powerful magnet, to Justice Qayyum's court and no other. This no doubt was the preferred style of the Sharifs, not only fashioning a personalized administration, with loyalists at key positions, but also arranging for a personalized form of justice. When their name was involved in the cooperatives' scandal of 1991, the Supreme Court judge selected to hold a judicial inquiry into the affair was Justice Lone who exonerated the Sharifs of any wrongdoing. Later, during Nawaz Sharif's second stint as prime minister, Lone became a PML senator.

Justice Qayyum (whose brother, incidentally, was a PML MNA) is a throwback to those interesting times. Small wonder if it was he who was chosen to be Benazir Bhutto's and Asif Zardari's principal nemesis. All the important cases against them were heard by him. To Justice Qayyum also belongs the triumph of reducing Benazir Bhutto to tears in open court, so zealous was he in the pursuit of justice. All this forms the backdrop to the tapes revealed by the Sunday Times. Justice Qayyum had been hand-picked to hear the cases against Benazir Bhutto because, as the contents of the tapes make clear, he was considered a loyalist who could be counted upon to do what was expected of him. And yet Nawaz Sharif not only kept the pressure on Justice Qayyum through Khalid Anwer and Saifur Rehman. He also ordered all of Justice Qayyum's telephones to be bugged, probably just to make sure that his zeal did not flag.

In this saga the then chief justice of the Lahore High Court, Justice Rashid Aziz, also makes a cameo appearance. He too carried word from the prime minister that the axe should fall swiftly on Benazir. What did Nawaz Sharif want? He had everything going for him. Benazir was no threat and wanted merely to be left alone. Why this obsession with vengeance? Benazir and Asif were no angels (we can say that again) but in having them prosecuted Nawaz Sharif was not seeking justice. He was pursuing a vendetta (just as Benazir was pursuing a vendetta when she had the Sharifs in the dock). None of the above, however, is surprising: not the fact that Justice Qayyum listened to Khalid Anwer and called him sir; not the fact that Saifur Rehman was acting as the prime minister's errand boy, after all this being one of his duties; not even Chief Justice Rashid Aziz's brief appearance. By Pakistani standards all this is fairly tame stuff. What I find surprising, although hardly distressing, is to see Khalid Anwer, erudition and all, to be performing the role of prime ministerial pressure-boy. Why did he have to do it? Hanging on to office (and worthless office at that) when Nawaz Sharif was having the 13th and 14th amendments raced through a pliant Parliament was bad enough. But holding a clock to Justice Qayyum's head and urging him, at the prime minister's bidding, to dispense justice fast is a reflection less on the hapless Justice Qayyum than on the learned Khalid Anwer.

Peter Mandelson is out of office in the UK on the basis of what to Pakistani ears would sound a quibble. Over here Khalid Anwer, who can quote Cicero and I daresay Demosthenes, is engaged in something far more serious and when caught out, takes refuge behind a lapse of memory. He does not remember having had such a conversation. Then goes on to say that even if such a conversation took place all he is alleged to have said is that the case should be disposed off quickly, which suggestion on his part was strictly in accordance with the requirements of the law. It is hard to say which is worse: the original sin or this prevarication? Anyhow, there is nothing in this whole affair which would really startle anyone even remotely familiar with the nexus between the judiciary and the founts of executive authority in Pakistan. The Nusrat Bhutto case which enshrined once again the doctrine of necessity; the hanging of Bhutto; the various judicial decisions validating Benazir Bhutto's dismissals from power; the one decision invalidating Nawaz Sharif's dismissal from power; the judges' revolt against Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah; the Supreme Court's inability to give any clear-cut verdict in the Supreme Court storming case (in which PML storm-troopers were involved); and the readiness of judges to abide by various provisional constitutional orders: these events do not constitute the judiciary's finest moments.

None of this makes the judiciary any worse than other institutions. It only goes to show that in the Turkish bath of Pakistani politics everyone is naked, including, let me say for the record, the press which too often has taken a self-serving view of where its true duty lies. In this humid arena there are no heroes, nor even any outstanding villains, great villainy requiring some qualities of head or heart. Read the transcripts of these conversations again and what comes across most strikingly is the mediocrity on display. Despotism being put to what uses? So much effort being expended to what end? REFERENCE: In this hammaam who is covered? Ayaz Amir DAWN WIRE SERVICE Week Ending: 10 February 2001 Issue : 07/06 http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/2001/feb1001.html#inth

IN a country that has witnessed so many political, financial and judicial scandals over the years, we ought to have become fairly shockproof by now. But as the recently published transcripts of the taped conversations between Justice Qayyum, ex-Law Minister Khalid Anwar and Nawaz Sharif's chief enforcer Saifur Rehman showed, there are some depths of depravity we had still not explored. The pressure applied by various powerful figures in Nawaz Sharif's government on the judge in the corruption case against Benazir Bhutto and her spouse is scarcely believable. In most countries, resignations would have been tendered, warrants of arrest issued and suo motu notice taken by the Supreme Court. Here, hardened as we are to the sight of the higher judiciary constantly bending to the will of the executive, all we are likely to see are a few editorials and articles plus a couple of weak denials by the actors in this new drama, and we will then sit back and wait for the next episode.

In his evasive defence, Khalid Anwer, once respected as an upright constitutional lawyer, said: "...I am alleged merely to have asked that the case be decided expeditiously in accordance with the provisions of the law." In the transcript, however, there is more than a hint of steel in the ex-law minister's words: "...But the gentleman [Nawaz Sharif] is very unhappy, because of the situation. There was discussion regarding this issue and I was wondering that a problem might arise. Now I am thinking if you could reach the final result within the outside limit of two weeks..."

In his letter to the president (said not to be received in the Presidency, but reproduced in The Sunday Times), Abdul Malik, the deputy director of the Intelligence Bureau, who had been given the task of bugging the High Court judge, has quoted from his tapes, and alleged that Justice Qayyum had discussed the sentence to be passed and confirmed that the judgment had been written before the defence had even concluded its arguments. Most Pakistanis would be ready to believe that this is not the first instance of blatant interference by the executive to obtain favourable judgments. However, reading the alleged words of those then in power reminds us yet again how precious a thing judicial independence is, and how its absence has shaped our tortured political history. Predictably, there have been proforma denials of varying degrees of conviction from Justice Qayyum and Khalid Anwar. Both claim to have no memory of any such conversations. However, the genuineness of the tapes can be easily established: everybody's voice has a specific and unique audio signature, and it would be a simple matter to compare the voice prints of the principal actors with the tapes made by the IB. Although tapes on their own are not normally accepted as evidence in our judicial system, the Supreme Court could order such a comparison given the magnitude of the can of worms opened under its nose.

Khalid Anwar has sought to cast doubt on the IB deputy director's motives by saying that if he had the tapes for two years, why has he chosen to release the tapes to the media now, merely three weeks before the Supreme Court is due to take up Benazir Bhutto's appeal against Justice Qayyum's judgment? She and Asif Zardari had been awarded seven-year jail terms each plus a huge monetary fine, including confiscation of their property in Pakistan. In his letter to the president, Abdul Malik has claimed that his conscience was shaken by the events he has described. Unfortunately, we have become too cynical to accept a "crisis of conscience" as a reason to stick one's neck out over anything. And the timing of this bombshell is too close to the hearing of the appeal to be entirely coincidental. In the murky world of Pakistani politics, we have to stir the muck below the surface in an attempt to get at the truth. Apparently, Malik and his family are currently abroad to escape official or political reprisals. Now flying off and living abroad takes a fair amount of money, and a deputy director in the IB is by no means well off.

One possibility is that the PPP discovered the existence of these tapes, and persuaded Malik to transcribe them and leak them to the press. In this scenario, he would have been promised a comfortable exile until the party returned to power and rewarded him suitably. However, knowing the PPP's unerring instinct to trip over its own feet, one feels the whole thing is too complex and subtle for the party's capability; indeed, it has all the hallmarks of an intelligence operation. Just supposing that with Nawaz Sharif out of the way and elections due next year, it had been decided at the highest level to do a deal with Benazir Bhutto to enable her to return to power. The first step needed would be to rehabilitate the ex-PM, and lift the ban restraining her from holding public office for ten years imposed by Justice Qayyum. This could be done by giving Benazir Bhutto's appeal before the Supreme Court greater substance. If the tapes are found to be genuine - and the Sunday Times would have been unlikely to print the transcripts if they had any doubts on this score - then a verdict of mistrial could well be the outcome.

Whatever the truth, Benazir Bhutto's claim to be a victim of a vindictive Nawaz Sharif and a pliant judiciary has been vindicated. Most of her supporters are hardly likely to make the distinction between the accuracy of evidence provided before the court and the judge's rush to pass a verdict under pressure. In the case in question, a wealth of documentary evidence, duly certified by a Swiss judge, was produced by the prosecution to link Benazir Bhutto and her spouse to kickbacks paid by the Swiss inspection company Cotecna. Had Nawaz Sharif not been in such a hurry to get a conviction, chances are that the judge would have reached the same verdict. As it is, the sudden appearance of the tapes has cast a doubt on the entire trial. Basically, Sharif's impatience with procedures and due process has proved to be a boon to his rival.

This can only be good news for Benazir Bhutto and her party. Suddenly, she has been rehabilitated in her supporters' eyes. Even non-partisan Pakistanis are beginning to doubt the validity of the charges against her. The biggest loser is the judiciary as public confidence in this crucial institution - never very high - has now hit rock-bottom. All eyes will now be fixed on the Supreme Court when it begins to consider Ms Bhutto's appeal later this month. REFERENCE: Rush to judgment Irfan Husain DAWN WIRE SERVICE Week Ending:10 February 2001 Issue : 07/06 http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/2001/feb1001.html#rush

Arshad Sharif Exposes Swiss Case of Asif Ali Zardari - 3 (KYUN Duniya News 13 Feb 2012)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aji-kbaDyOQ

Mr Khalid Anwer is a renowned 'Lawyer' and as per his Legal Firm Profile " Khalid Anwer & Co. is a premier law firm having a total strength of eleven lawyers in Karachi and associate firms in Lahore and Islamabad. It was formerly known as A.K. Brohi & Co. It is one of the oldest and most prestigious law firms in Pakistan." Everybody who know Pakistan History also know that "The Law of Necessity" was basically the brainchild of Late. A.K. Brohi who used this at the behest of General Zia/Jamat-e-Islami to commit the judicial murder of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

Once again it is proven beyond doubt that Human Memory is very weak particularly of Jang Group/Kamran Khan when they discuss PPP/NRO/Zardari and that's what happen during a talk show on NRO with Legal Wizzard Mr Khalid Anwer

RAWALPINDI: Any case can be initiated against President Zardari under Section 4 of Article 248 of the Constitution, but neither the Supreme Court has mentioned it nor the media discussed it, said former Law Minister and constitutional expert Khalid Anwar on Wednesday. He was talking to Kamran Khan in Geo News programme 'Aaj Kamran Khan Kay saath'. He said there should be no doubt that the Supreme Court's decisions should be implemented. He said the government made a mistake by not implementing the short order of the SC. Now the apex court can take a suo moto notice on why the government didn't act as the short order was announced a month earlier. Khalid Anwar said under the Constitution, the Supreme Court cannot issue notice to the president of Pakistan, but it can order the government to get the court verdict implemented. On this the government would apply in the court that the president has got immunity under the constitution, and the SC can issue a stay order in this regard after receiving the government's application to review the decision. On this application the court will decide whether the president has got the immunity or not. REFERENCE: Any case can be filed against Zardari, says Khalid Anwar Thursday, January 21, 2010 News Desk http://thenews.jang.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=26800

Thursday, January 28, 2010, Safar 12, 1431 A.H
http://www.jang.com.pk/jang/jan2010-daily/28-01-2010/main3.htm

Mr Kamran Khan/Jang Group/GEO TV/Mr. Khalid Anwer "conveniently" forget as to what the same Jang Group had published 9 years ago on the "Dirty Role of Barrister Mr. Khalid Anwer" and that news was published on 05-02-2001 on its front page.

"QUOTE"

LONDON: The ``Sunday Times`` has published transcripts of conversations in 1999 between top minions of the Nawaz Sharif government and a High Court judge hearing the case of PPP leader Benazir Bhutto, bugged by an intelligence official who later fled Pakistan with the tapes. The disclosure came from a senior Pakistani intelligence officer who has said in a letter to the president, obtained by The Sunday Times, that he was told to bug the Justice Abdul Qayyum`s phones. The bugging allegedly revealed that Nawaz Sharif, the former prime minister, was intent on securing Bhutto`s conviction at any cost.

In Pakistan Justice Qayyum challenged the veracity of the tapes saying they could have been concocted or doctored. He refused to comment on the merits of the case as it was being heard by the Supreme Court but said he gave all decisions according to the dictates of his conscience and the requirements of the law. By coincidence, the judge who sentenced him to hang was Qayyum`s father. Since she left Pakistan the government of Musharraf has intensified efforts to track assets Bhutto is suspected of having acquired illegally. Many were received by Zardari, who is in prison.

Transcript (I)

PA to Khalid Anwar: Is Justice Qayyum at Home?

Girl: Who is going to talk?

PA to Khalid Anwar: Khalid Anwar - the federal law minister - would like to talk.

Girl: Please hold on

Justice Qayyum: Hello!

PA: Please hold I`ll connect you with Khalid Anwar.

Khalid Anwar: Asalam-o-Alaikum

Qayyum: Salam-o-Alaikum, how are you sir.

Khalid Anwar: I rang you earlier but you were not at home. Where are you now?

Qayyum: I am in Lahore at the moment

Khalid Anwar: Frankly speaking, I have to discuss two, three issues which

Saif has discussed with me.

Qayyum: Who did?

Khalid Anwar: Saif Sahib has. I can`t talk clearly but in my opinion you would understand it. The fact is that I really respect you and also Saif Sahib does.

Qayyum: Yes, it is all right.

Khalid Anwar: Somebody [Nawaz Sharif]is unhappy over the delay of hearing of his case to Saif that nothing has been done so far and why has it not been concluded. In return Saif defended you and said there is no such delay. There should be no misunderstanding because he is trying his level best. But the gentleman [Nawaz Sharif] is very unhappy, because of the situation. There was discussion regarding this issue and I was wondering that a problem might arise. Now I am thinking if you could reach the final result within the outside limit of two weeks.

Qayyum: Apparently there is no problem we will have to complete the procedure. Cross-examination has been completed entirely. Now their statement under 432 has to be recorded.

Khalid Anwar: So get it done on Monday.

Qayyum: It is being done on Monday. After this we have to give them some time for defence evidence and then the matter will be closed.

Khalid Anwar: What we should do is to start the hearing day to day.

Qayyum: We were hearing it day to day but they have requested for two days time, as there are 356 documents. Now you tell me when we will have to fix the date for defence evidence, some time will be required.

Khalid Anwar: If you are giving them two days so after that you should proceed without any break and stay in Islamabad for the full week instead of two days so that this case is completed within two weeks.

Qayyum: I have been there nearly every day of the last two week.

Khalid: You should just take up this case for the whole week.

Qayyum: I am doing nothing else.

Khalid: I am the one who keeps on asking you all the time and by the Grace of God you have done a good job in banking cases. Whenever I meet the World Bank people you are... Last time you sent me a fax. I was in meeting so I showed it to everybody and said this is what you call performance.

Qayyum: Regarding this, when I come this time , I shall meet and tell you. Our Chief Justice is already there. I also told him that a slight delay is inevitable. For, example, if you ask them for defence evidence, then you will have to give them time, you just cannot say bring that tommorow.

Khalid: Kindly try that the work is done. And next time you call me so that we can have a quiet cup of tea.

Qayyum: I shall definately do it. But I had to tell that the others like me are nowhere close to me.

Khalid: I know how much I respect you.

Qayyum: By the Grace of God we shall conclude this very soon.

Khalid: Kindly do it because from reading between the lines I could gather that there is a lot of pressure on Saif.

Qayyum: No, no... I shall definitely do it.

Khalid: Thank you.

Qayyum: No, sir, I am at your disposal.

Khalid: Allah Hafiz

Qayyum: Thank you sir.

Transcript (II)

Saif-ur-Rehman and Justice Qayyum:

Saif: Aslam-o-Alaikum sir

Qayyum: Same to you. REFERENCE: `Nawaz put pressure to convict Benazir` By our correspondenthttp://www.chowk.com/interacts/4959

"UNQUOTE"

"QUOTE"

"Ms Bhutto won a major court battle when a seven-member Supreme Court bench upheld her appeal, suspending the five-year jail sentence awarded to Bhutto and Zardari, and ordered a fresh trial into the Cotecna bribery case. The couple was accused of accepting millions of dollars in kickbacks from a Swiss firm. In addition to the jail sentence, the special accountability court headed by Justice Malik Abdul Qayyum had fined them 8.6 million dollars each and disqualified them from public office for five years. The Supreme Court ruling overturning the sentence did not come as a surprise after it was established that trial by the accountability court was manipulated. Bhutto's legal position was strengthened after the disclosure of a taped conversation between Justice Abdul Qayyum and Saifur Rehman, chief of Mr. Sharif's accountability cell. The sensational disclosure of 32 tapes which revealed that the judge was pressured to convict the former prime minister and her husband, left the superior court with no choice but to overturn the controversial verdict. However, the retrial order makes it apparent that the bribery charge has not been quashed. REFERENCE: The Judgement and After By Zahid Hussain May 2001 The Newsline [Monthly]http://www.newsline.com.pk/NewsMay2001/coverstory1.htm

"UNQUOTE"

"QUOTE"

The Friday Times, Editorial by Najam Sethi, Feb. 15, 2001 - The Sunday Times of London has recently published a story that damns politicians and state institutions alike in Pakistan. The report suggests that an official of the Intelligence Bureau was ordered in 1998 by the head of the Accountability Bureau, Mr Saif ur Rehman, to tap the telephones of Justice Abdul Qayyum of the Lahore High Court (illegal order by politicians, illegal implementation by IB). The IB official later pocketed the tapes and decamped to London, eventually handing them over to the British newspaper. If true, the conversations between Justice Qayyum and Saif ur Rehman, Khalid Anwar (then law minister), Mrs Abdul Qayyum and others are fascinating because they reveal the political bankruptcy of the system and those who are elected or nominated to make it work. The tapes suggest that Justice Qayyum was bullied by the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his minions into convicting former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and her spouse Asif Zardari for corruption in 1998. This means that - irrespective of the substantial evidence laid against the two accused - the trial wasn`t conducted entirely in a free or fair manner as required by law. Ms Bhutto shrieked as much during and after the trial but critics, including TFT, dismissed her allegations against Justice Qayyum as inconceivable. Hence when the review petition comes up for hearing before the Supreme Court on February 26, the court will be hard put to choose between acquitting the couple or ordering a fresh trial. If it clings to a third option - upholding the verdict - it risks being tarred by the same brush.

The role played by each of the actors merits comment. Nawaz Sharif ordered Saif ur Rehman to bug the judge and Mr Rehman had no qualms in barking compliance to the head of the IB who did likewise to his subordinate staff. Everyone acted illegally down the chain of command. Mr Rehman, in particular, stands out like a sore thumb. He is earlier known to have boasted that the ``judges were in his pocket``. Apparently, Mr Sharif also leaned on the then chief justice of the Lahore High Court, Justice Rashid Aziz, to advise Justice Qayyum to do the needful or else. The Supreme Judicial Council needs to take a careful look at this allegation.

The law minister, Khalid Anwar, acted in a deplorable manner. What is wrong with asking a judge to hurry up, he asks. Nothing, if this is done in open court and in a transparent fashion. But it is immoral it if it is done amidst dire threats brandished by officials at the Prime Minister`s behest. Mr Anwar also claims that his government never authorised the IB to wire-tap the judges. Nonsense, says former chief justice Sajjad Ali Shah, who reports that when a bug was discovered on his phone, Mr Anwar advised him not to make an issue of it. We might also recall that this is the same gent who, as President Farooq Leghari`s council in 1996-97 in the Bhutto dismissal case before the Supreme Court, cited phone tapping of judges by the Bhutto regime as a major justification for her government`s ouster. Finally, there is the judge in the dock. By all accounts, a most competent and learned man, indeed one on whom undue reliance has been thrust by politicians and judges alike in politically sensitive or legally complex cases. But the tapes have compromised his position. He could try and ride out the vicious gossip or he could call it a day and quietly fade away. If he chooses the first route, the law would require him to face the Supreme Judicial Council and explain his situation.

One last matter. The timing of the revelations - just before the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear Benazir Bhutto`s review petition - and the dubious role of the IB Deputy Director (how has he suddenly acquired a conscience?) is thought to cast doubts about the veracity of the tapes and the allegations flowing from them. Not so. The tapes are authentic enough. If they weren`t, every one of the alleged culprits would have tripped over the others to sue the Sunday Times for millions of pounds in criminal defamation and the judges involved would have hauled up everyone in sight for gross contempt of court. Nor should it matter whether the spook in question received a hefty cheque or a promise of some lucrative posting in the future for allowing his conscience to get the better of him. The fact is that Ms Bhutto has cunningly exploited the counter-evidence at her disposal for maximum effect like a true politician who may be down but refuses to be out. This case could have far-reaching repercussions. It might give Ms Bhutto a new lease of life. It might stiffen the resolve of lawyers and politicians to agitate for democratic revival and accountability. And it might embolden the judiciary to redeem itself by standing up a little bit to the government. REFERENCE: Democracy in Pakistan: The Missing Link? The Friday Times, Editorial by Najam Sethi, Feb. 15, 2001http://www.chowk.com/interacts/4948/1/0/a

"UNQUOTE"

EVEN MORE DIRT FROM MR KHALID ANWER'S EXCELLENT LEGAL HISTORY

LETS HAVE LOOK AT HISTORY AS COMPILED BY MR. ABDUS SATTAR GHAZALI On the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of Pakistan, ISLAMIC PAKISTAN: ILLUSIONS & REALITY A comprehensive and detailed political history of Pakistan - The author is a professional journalist, with Master's degree in Political Science from the Punjab University. Started his journalistic career as a sub-editor in the daily Bang-e-Haram, Peshawar in 1960. Later worked in the daily Anjam and the Tourist weekly Peshawar. Served as a News Editor in the Daily News, Kuwait from 1969 to 1976. Joined the English News Department of Kuwait Television as a News Editor in December 1976. Also worked as the correspondent of the Associated Press of Pakistan and the Daily Dawn, Karachi, in Kuwait. At present working as the Editor-in-Chief of the Kuwait Television English News.

Excerpts from the book:

"QUOTE"

NEW LAW TO CURB PRESS FREEDOM

Less than one month after taking power, the government of Nawaz Sharif, on March 10, issued "the Registration of Printing Press and Publication Ordinance, 1997" to curb the press and freedom of expression. Article 29 authorizes magistrates and low-ranking police sub-inspectors to interfere in the working of the Press and to initiate executive actions including the forfeiture of newspaper copies without the process of judicial review and restraint.

The ordinance says that the copies of newspapers or books can be forfeited if they publish any material which tend to incite willful obstruction to public servants or servants of local authorities in the discharges of their public duties. Any police officer or any other person empowered to seize and destroy the newspaper or magazine or book can do so after showing warrants issued by any first call or sub-divisional magistrate or any authorized police officer.

The ordinance also bars the newspapers from publishing any account of the proceedings of the National Assembly or the Senate or a provincial assembly if such account contains any matter which is not part of the proceedings of such an assembly and which is prejudicial to the maintenance of public order or is opposed to morality, or amounts to contempt of court, defamation or incitement for the commission of an offence.

The government has also been authorized to forfeit the copies of a newspaper if it contains any material which can incite to the commission of an offence or violence or amounts to false rumors, is critical of the creation of Pakistan, brings into hatred or contempt the government established under the law with the intent of causing defiance of the authority of such government.

The 13th Constitutional Amendment

At midnight on April 2, 1997, all rules and procedures of the parliament were suspended and in the middle of the night, the 13th amendment Bill was rushed through both houses, signed by the president the next day, and notified on April 4. By this amendment, the president was disempowered and the Prime Minister further empowered. The President cannot dissolve the National Assembly, he cannot appoint governors at his discretion but on the advice of the prime minister, the provincial governors cannot dissolve their assemblies, the president, though he remains supreme commander of the Armed Forces, no longer has the power to appoint or sack the services chiefs.

Rules dictate that a constitutional amendment is an extraordinary measure involving a great deal of deliberation on the part of the ruling party, consultation with the opposition, and an objective study of public opinion on the subject. Thereafter, according to the rules of procedure governing parliamentary proceedings under the 1973 constitution, a bill (other than a finance bill) upon its introduction in the House stands referred to the relevant standing committee, unless the requirements of Rules 91 and 92 are dispensed with by the House on a motion by the member-in charge. The standing committee is required to present its report within 30 days and, on receipt of this report, copies of the bill as introduced, together with any modifications recommended by the standing committee, must be supplied to each member within seven days. Two clear days then must elapse before the bill can be sent down for a motion under Rule 93.

Ever since Nawaz Sharif assumed power on Feb. 17, he had been apparently not feeling very comfortable with several developments. President Leghari forced him to give PML ticket for the Senate elections to his cousin, Mansour Leghari, who had contested the National Assembly on a PPP ticket and was defeated. The President appointed Hamid Shahid as the Governor of Punjab against the wishes of his brother Shahbaz Sharif, who happened to be the Chief Minister of the province. Gen. Moinuddin Haider was appointed the Governor of Sindh against the wishes of PML and MQM. The president was also reluctant to replace the Governor of Baluchistan, General Imaraullah Khan. At a parliamentary meeting PML MNAs demanded repeal of the 8th amendment in order to get rid of the presidential interference in day-to-day affairs of the government.

The 8th amendment had made more than 40 changes in the constitution. However, Nawaz Sharif opted to remove only those parts of the 8th amendment which were a potential threat to his government but has failed to touch those parts which pose a threat to society, particularly the weaker and disadvantaged sections like women and minorities. There are several constitutional and legal distortions created by the 8th amendment and several black laws, such as the Hudood Ordinances, under its protection which need to be removed. Thousands of innocent women are languishing in jails under the notorious Hudood laws. Some other article which deserve immediate attention and action by the parliament are:

1. Article 51(1) that was amended to establish separate electorate for minorities.

2. Article 51 (2)b that was amended to increase the age-limit for votes from 18 to 21 years.

3. Article 51(4) that abolished the reserved seats for women in the National Assembly.

The 14th Constitutional Amendment

Less than three months after this transgression, on June 30, in the Senate, the rules of procedure were again suspended, the 14th Amendment Bill went through like a shot, passed in less than a day, without one single protest or dissent being recorded. On July 1, the bill was presented to the National Assembly, again rules of procedure were suspended, and the bill was passed immediately, again without a single protest or dissent. It went up to the president, on July 3 he put his signature to the bill, and on July 4 the 14th Amendment Act of 1997 came into force.

This amendment admittedly has the aim of putting an end to lucrative defections. But 'lotaism' only existed because all our political parties were in the business of buying and selling bodies. However, that was not deemed to be sufficient. The Prime Minister had to be further empowered, and so he was. A member of a parliamentary party will also be deemed to have defected if he breaches any declared or undeclared party discipline, code of conduct or policies, or if he votes contrary to any direction issued by his parliamentary party, or if he abstains from voting as instructed by his party on any bill. The prosecutor, defense counsel, judge and jury who will decide the member's fate is the head of the party, whose decision is not justifiable in any court of law.

Ehtesab (Accountability) Law

The National Assembly, on May 29, 1997, amended the Ehtesab Ordinance to introduce major changes in the accountability process. The most significant amendment was the shifting of the starting date for accountability from the original 31st December 1985 (when General Zia lifted the martial law) to 6th August 1990 (when the first government of Benazir Bhutto was dismissed). The amendment also transferred the power of investigating charges of corruption from the Chief Ehtesab Commissioner to the Ehtesab Cell set up by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. "The Ehtesab Bill steam-rolled through the National Assembly makes a mockery of accountability. The amendments incorporated in the bill before it was presented in parliament for adoption render it an extremely flawed piece of legislation." (1)

BBC Documentary on Nawaz Sharif (PML - N) Corruption

Although the amendment excluded the first Benazir government from the purview of accountability but the exemption for the 1985-90 period is significant since it was during this period that Mr. Nawaz Sharif, in his capacity as the Chief Minister of the Punjab, was strengthening and consolidating his industrial and political base. At the time of passage of the Ehtesab Law, there were reports that there were 167 cases of major loan default which include 107 cases involving top leaders of the PML(N) who got the benefit of huge write-offs and rescheduling during 1985-1990.

The transfer of the power of appointment of the Chief Ehtesab Commissioner from the president to the federal government reduced the office of the CEC to a mere post office. The real power was transferred to the accountability cell in the Prime Minister's secretariat. The head of the Cell, Senator Saifur Rehman Khan, was accountable only to the PM. The amendment also extends ex post facto legal sanction to the PM's accountability cell, which was under attack in a number of writ petitions in the Lahore High Court.

The original ordinance had empowered the CEC to initiate a case on a reference received from the appropriate government, on receipt of a complaint or on his own accord. Under the new amended law, if the CEC deems a reference necessary, he must refer it to the accountability cell for investigation. With all the accountability functions and powers concentrated in a cell functioning in his secretariat, the prime minister will be able to keep a strict check not only on the opposition and the bureaucracy but on his own party-men also.

Ehtesab officials get SHO's power

The federal government, on Feb. 4 1998, amended the Ehtesab Act, replacing the name, "Ehtesab Cell", with "Ehtesab Bureau", and provided powers of an SHO to the chief of Ehtesab Bureau or any other official designated by him for the purpose of investigation. The amendments were introduced into the Ehtesab Act through a presidential ordinance, the first by President Rafiq Tarar, under clause 1 of Article 87 of the constitution.

The chief of Ehtesab Bureau or any officer designated by him will enjoy all the powers of an officer-in-charge of a police station. The chairman or designated officer will be empowered to require the assistance of any agency or police officer. The amended law provides indemnity to officials of the Ehtesab Bureau on acts deemed to have been done on "good faith".

By amending Section 3 of the Ehtesab Act, the government has again brought in the original definition of "corruption and corrupt practice". In the original Ehtesab Ordinance, corruption by a government official was defined as "favors or disfavors to any person." Through a subsequent amendment in the original Ehtesab Ordinance of 1996, the words "any other person" were replaced with the words "his spouse or dependents." The government has again restored the original meaning that any favor by a government official to other person other than his/her spouse or dependents would also fall in the definition of corruption, and he would be held responsible for that.

A reference made to the Ehtesab Bureau will now be treated as a report under section 154 of the code. After the reference of any case to the Ehtesab Bureau by the Ehtesab Commissioner, it would be an exclusive responsibility of the bureau to examine all the material, evidence and proof. No other agency will have a power to look into the matter. For the purpose of inquiry into any matter referred to the Ehtesab Bureau, the chairman and the bureau will have the powers of an officer in charge of a police station, including the power to ask any citizen to appear before it. Every government agency, police official or any other government official would be bound to assist the Ehestab Bureau in investigation.

After the amendment, the Ehtesab Bureau is also empowered to ask the Chief Ehtesab Commissioner to make a request to any court for the withdrawal of any case pending in a court. If the court grants the application, the case will be transferred to the Ehtesab Bureau.

The Chief Ehtesab Commissioner will have the powers at any stage of proceedings against an accused under the Ehtesab Act, to order the arrest of the accused. A reference to the court by the Chief Ehtesab Commissioner shall contain the substance of the act of corruption and corrupt practice alleged to have been committed by the accused. The amendment has provided a right of appeal to the Chief Ehtesab Commissioner if the Ehtesab bench acquitted any accused. Earlier this right was only with the accused. After the amendment, the Ehtesab Act provides that on the grant of pardon from the CEC, a magistrate appointed by the CEC himself will examine an accused.

What the Bureau now becomes is an independent investigating agency with teeth of its own and therefore not dependent, as it formerly was, upon the powers of the FIA. This may be a sequel to the turf war between Senator Saifur Rehman's Ehtesab machine and Ch. Shujaat Hussain's interior ministry, both of whom were vying for control over the FIA. The first and most striking change of course was to strip the original law of its neutrality and place the powers of investigation and prosecution firmly in the Prime Minister's Secretariat.

In Pakistan, the word 'accountability' has only one meaning: to malign and persecute political opponents. Glimpses of the full story can be culled from the report of the Mehran Bank commission along with the evidence provided by General Asad Durrani and Hameed Asghar Qidwai, as well as the jailed chief executive of the failed bank, Yunus Habib. (2)

Several references have been filed against the former Prime Minister and her husband but they are still far from having run their full course. The rest of the Ehtesab Bureau's record is even more patchy. The 87 senior bureaucrats suspended hastily amidst a blaze of publicity have still to see any firm action taken against them. Indeed, some of the more notorious faces in this crowd have either been let off completely or have been allowed to go abroad. Meanwhile, the list of bank defaulters is as long and potent as ever with hardly anything having been returned to the public purse. (3)

The annual 1997 Human Rights Report of US State Department said the Accountability Commission, established by the caretaker government and headed by a retired judge, had been overshadowed by an "accountability cell," headed by a close associate of the Prime Minister. This cell had been accused of conducting politically motivated investigations of politicians, senior civil servants, and business figures, designed to extract evidence and, in some cases, televised confessions of alleged wrongdoers. The report gave the examples of televised confessions extracted from Salman Farooqi, secretary of commerce under Benazir Bhutto; Ahmed Sadiq, Benazir Bhutto's principal secretary; and Zafar Iqbal, chairman of the Capital Development Authority. It said most politicians and bureaucrats, who had been charged with corruption or other crimes, were out on bail (in addition to murder, Benazir Bhutto's husband, Asif Zardari, had also been charged with corruption).

Anti-terrorism Act or a license to kill?

On August 13, one day before the nation celebrated 50th anniversary of its independence, the Anti-Terrorism Act was bulldozed through parliament without so much as a debate. The Act has justifiably been criticized by almost across the board, even from within the ranks of the ruling party and its coalition allies. Yet on the day that it was introduced in parliament, the ATA was endorsed within three hours. Its numerous critics maintained that the ATA turns the country into a police state and it violates the constitution. The ATA, in effect, gives the law enforcing agencies and army a license to kill as it empowers the police to kill a person on mere suspicion. It also empowers the police to search a house and arrest a person without warrant.

The ATA provides an appeal against the special court judgement to a government-notified tribunal consisting of two High Court judges. The High Court has now power of appeal against the special court decision. A person accused under the ATA cannot be freed on bail even by the High Court.

The judiciary also opposed the ATA and many feared that the law would be grossly abused. Punjab Chief Minister, Shahbaz Sharif, failed to convince Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, on August 20, of the need to establish special courts under the ATA. The bar associations also condemned the law.

Adding to the credibility problem of the anti-terrorism law was the attitude of law minister Khalid Anwer who first surprised his colleagues by allowing the government to push through this piece of dubious legislation. Khalid Anwer then proceeded to distance himself from the ATA a few days after it was enacted. He even went so far as to declare that he would have opposed the law, had he been in the opposition. This was then followed by the claim that the law would be phased out once the situation was under control.

Six special courts started work in the Punjab province on August 25 while the special courts were established in the Sindh province on August 25. The critics fears came true when the police started sending cases to special speedy trial courts set up under the ATA. The Punjab Forensic Science Laboratory was reported under pressure from the government to issue 'positive results' about weapons used in cases being tried by the special courts set up under the ATA.

According to a press report (4) weapons used in more than 1,000 cases were sent to the Punjab Forensic Science Laboratory to ascertain whether or not they were used by the accused during the terrorist or sectarian act for which he was being tried. Interestingly, all the weapons tested positive with the experts, providing sufficient evidence for the prosecution to obtain maximum punishment for the accused.

These reports formed part of the evidence against the accused and on its basis as many as 55 people have been sentenced to death, including three sectarian accused. Some 32 people have been sentenced to life imprisonment or for seven years rigorous imprisonment.

Following the establishment of anti-terrorist courts police started sending cases of sectarian and terrorist incidents to these courts for speedy adjudication. However, in a majority of cases sufficient evidence was not available to establish the guilt of the accused and the government feared that the courts might acquit them.

The officials of the Forensic Science Laboratory were reportedly directed by the government to issue 'positive results' in all cases involving sectarian incidents. After every incident police collected shells of the weapons from the scene of crime. Whenever an accused was arrested, police claimed having recovered automatic weapons from his custody. In some cases the bullet shells collected from a crime scene years ago matched with the weapons recovered from the accused on arrest. It was ironic that some officials insist on matching the shells recovered from a scene of crime in 1990 with that of a weapon recovered from the custody of the accused in 1997. (5)

1997 Constitutional Crisis

The crisis with judiciary began in August 1997 when the chief justice recommended elevation of five named judges to the Supreme Court. On Sept. 5, the Supreme Court suspended a government notification to reduce the number of judges from 17 to 12. The federal government, on Sept. 16, withdrew its notification. However, from around August 20 up to the middle of October there was practically no other issue in contest -- publicly. And the resistance to the recommendation, in fact not-so veiled refusal to comply with it, was coming from Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif and not the parliament.

Former Chief Justice Supreme Court of Pakistan, Syed Sajjad Ali Shah narrating details as to how Mian Nawaz Sharif and PML - N had attacked the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 1997.

Nawaz Sharif (PML - N) Attacked Supreme Court 1

On October 10, the aggrieved judges took the opportunity of a brief absence of Justice Sajjad from the country to call a full court review under the chairmanship of the acting chief justice. Justice Sajjad returns home in haste on October 13, calls off the full court meeting and transfers all dissident judges to the outposts of the apex court in Quetta, Karachi, Peshawar and Lahore.

Nawaz Sharif (PML - N) Attacked Supreme Court 2

Nawaz Sharif (PML - N) Attacked Supreme Court 3

The breach was now clearly in the open. The resentment of the dissident judges -- respected members of the judiciary -- must have been intense. The Chief Justice was master of the house, but a bitterly divided house. In an unprecedented move, on October 21, five honorable judges of the Supreme Court sent a letter to the President of Pakistan, to complain about the behavior of the Chief Justice of Pakistan and distance themselves from some of his actions. This letter was originally written to the chief justice, and later sent to the president. Never before in Pakistan's history had such an incident occurred.

Nawaz Sharif (PML - N) Attacked Supreme Court 4

Nawaz Sharif (PML - N) Attacked Supreme Court 5

On November 3, a petition of contempt of court is entertained by the CJ against the PM and his close associates. A charged atmosphere was super-charged by summoning the PM to appear in the court on November 17 and demanding the Speaker of the National Assembly to turn over the expunged record of the assembly proceedings. Yet, another breach of the assembly's privilege.

A three-member Supreme Court bench, headed by the then chief justice "directed the president" on Nov 20 not to give assent to the Contempt of Court (Amendment) Bill 1997, as under: "In the circumstances we deem it fit and proper to direct respondent No. 1 (President of Pakistan) in constitutional petition No. 4 43 of 1997 not to give assent, and if assent has already been given the operation of the Contempt of Court (Amendment) Act of 1997 is hereby suspended until further orders." There was no precedent, nor apparent ground in law, for the chief justice to prohibit the president's assent to that bill, and even less to rule the bill suspended if the assent had already been given.

The bill amending the law of contempt was innovative in that it provided for an appeal against a Supreme Court conviction for contempt, for automatic stay of the conviction, and for that appeal to be heard by another set of judges of the same court.

On Nov. 26, the Supreme Court, Quetta Bench, declared Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah's appointment in abeyance and the Prime Minister sends to president the name of the new Chief Justice for approval. This case was the strangest of the strange, indeed, one in which not only the little-known petitioners but even the federation stated that the appointment of Justice Shah by superseding three senior judges was illegal. The next day, a five-member Supreme Court bench annuls Quetta bench's verdict over CJ's suspension while; the Supreme Court Peshawar bench endorses Quetta bench's order.

The ruling political party was not far behind in ugliness when the party's rabble attacked the Supreme Court premises on November 28. It was one of Pakistan's saddest days. There is no doubt the disgraceful attack on the Supreme Court was completely premeditated.

On December 2, by suspending the 13th Amendment in a total arbitrary manner, the stage was set for the dismissal of the government of Nawaz Sharif. The grant of temporary restoration of the presidential power to dissolve the National Assembly (the repealed Article 58(2)b on the ground of a break-down of the constitutional machinery was obviously an act of desperation to prevent a feared collapse. It was virtually the last throw of the dice in a do-or-die game.

After weeks of machinations and Machiavellian scheming aimed at ousting Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from power, the country's partisan president had finally to resign on Dec. 2. Mr. Leghari had never relished the fact that Mr. Nawaz Sharif should have taken away his powers to dismiss the government through the 13th Amendment. In fact, President Leghari and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif both used the Pakistani judiciary to establish their personal authority. In this power game, Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah was very much with Mr. Leghari. But this power struggle could not be carried on because of the effective intervention of the Army Chief, General Jehangir Karamat.

Mr. Leghari apparently had ruthless dictatorial ambitions and was never content with the ceremonial role that he was constitutionally assigned. He dismissed the duly elected government of Ms Benazir Bhutto and came very close to dislodging another. He engineered an unholy alliance with Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah to carry out a constitutional coup and the Chief Justice was a willing ally in the conspiracy to subvert the people's mandate. Chief Justice Shah relentlessly attempted to provide Mr. Leghari the dictatorial powers under the Eighth Amendment to deliver the proverbial coup de grace to the Sharif regime.

Mr. Leghari had never relished the fact that Mr. Nawaz Sharif should have taken away his powers to dismiss the government through the 13th Amendment. In fact, the Pakistani judiciary was used both by Mr. Leghari and Mr. Nawaz Sharif to establish their personal authority. In this power game, Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah was very much with Mr. Leghari. But this power struggle could not be carried on because of the effective intervention of the Army Chief, General Jehangir Karamat.

When Justice Sajjad Ali Shah was removed from the office, on Dec. 2, the crucial issues pending before the Supreme Court were:

1. Contempt of court action against Nawaz Sharif and seven others.

2. Petition regarding the unlawful allotment of thousands of plots by him when chief minister of Punjab.

3. Petition regarding the unlawful ISI distribution of Rs. 140 million of the people's money to him and others.

4. Petition regarding award of wheat transport contract by him to his crony Saeed Shaikh.

5. Petition regarding his misuse of power in pressurizing banks to settle loan cases out of court.

6. Petition challenging his Anti-terrorist Act 1997.

7. Petitions regarding suspension of 13th and 14th Amendments. ]

Judiciary damaged

Victory of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been at the expense of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and indeed superior judiciary as such. The SC judges have not held their image and prestige by becoming controversial. It is a settled principle that no writ will be issued by one judge to another. It was a pathetic spectacle to see two Supreme Court benches suspended the chief justice of their own court while the chief justice retaliated by recommending disciplinary action against all four of five judges involved. Repeatedly, order by one bench was overturned by another. Then political workers invaded the Supreme Court several times and abused the judges and indulging in violence. This was the darkest hour for the judiciary in the country. Gone were the days when it was universally respected as the cleanest and the most upright institution. Both sets of judges have been accused by their detractors of being motivated by personal and other extraneous considerations in their mutual bickering and tussle.

The irony of the crisis was that, eventually, it was not the executive that gave the final and, perhaps, fatal blow to the chief justice. It was his own peers who let him down. The very institution they wished to strengthen fell to the ground by their own actions. No one is left with any doubts that the judges are far from impartial.

The law and its traditions have since long become a fiction in courtrooms. The only difference this time was that the decay in the judiciary unfolded for all to see. The price paid by the superior judiciary is certainly very high. The crisis with judiciary have only served to confirm that, irrespective of how "stubborn" or "vindictive" a chief justice may be, he is no match against a government that excels in the art of wheeling and dealing. (6)

Nawaz Sharif has succeeded in achieving what General Zia set out to do when he was cut short by destiny. In fact, the late dictator could not have hoped for a more competent lieutenant. General Zia had no patience for independent judges and thought nothing of replacing the ones who did not agree with him. Sharif has demonstrated the same tendency and, as in everything else, has surpassed his mentor in achieving his objectives. The judiciary today lies in ruins, devastated by the kind of power politics that was once the domain of political parties. (7)

The repercussions of the rulings given in haste or in anger will long dog the course of justice. During the crisis, the people have seen the Alice in Wonderland spectacle where the judges pass the judgment first and hear the witnesses later. Inevitably the feeling has arisen that the superior courts exist only for the seekers and brokers of power while the ordinary litigants languish into generations before their cases appear on the "cause list" which appeared quickly and abundantly when political power was at stake. (8)

Why the Army did not intervene?

It was apparently failure of the army to sustain the president's position -- the presidents have always depended on the army for their actions against the government -- that President Leghari was forced to resign. Theoretically, in a Westminster-style democracy that this country has tried to emulate, there are four pillars of the state -- the legislature, the executive, the judiciary and the press. But our country rests imbalanced on five. The fifth pillar, the most powerful, the richest, the most organized, is the army which has governed Pakistan for half its 50-year existence. (9)

Fortunately, at present the chances of a direct take-over by the army seem remote because of economic factors and the international environment. There is a renewed emphasis on democracy worldwide in the aftermath of the Cold War and Pakistan cannot be immune to these global trends. Now it will be difficult for the Pakistani armed forces to sell a coup to the world in general and to the United States in particular.

Some political analysts believed that the army simply could not intervene for fear of a division within its own ranks. The army's involving itself in politics, at this stage, would have meant taking sides. Which would have made the army controversial and opinion within the forces would have strongly differed. That threat was all too real as numerous press stories had mentioned it. Therefore the fact that the army did not participate in political matters by siding with the president or anyone else and that he in fact refused to bail out the president and the CJP bespeaks the fear that the leadership had of the consequences of upholding any of them.

Moreover, Mr. Nawaz Sharif was no pushover like Benazir Bhutto was. It could legitimately be foreseen and feared that there would be a backlash in Punjab and the situation may not be easily controllable even by the army. And of course, there was the danger of the army being divided within itself. In fact the limits to army's political power have become visible even to ordinary citizens. (10) However, thanks to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the turn of events - especially those in the third week of November - have, by default, made the army establishment's dream come true: It now has a much greater say in the affairs of the government without its concomitant responsibility.

According to the Washington Post, the army sided with Sharif today by making clear that it would not back President Leghari if he dismissed the prime minister. The Post reported that Leghari had informed the army chief, General Jehangir Karamat, that he intended to dismiss Nawaz Sharif and was drafting an explanatory speech. But General Karamat delivered a message of his own: The army would not back Sharif's ouster, in effect making any such order meaningless. (11)

Looming economic crises in Pakistan prevented the army from taking over control of the country during the current political crisis, according to the Times, London. "In another era the army would have taken over. This time, the looming economic crisis doubtless deterred it from dosing so, given the certainty that international financial institutions would have shunned a nation led by military dictators." The generals were bound to engineer the Prime Minister's survival because the only alternative was martial law, a fact that emboldened Mr. Sharif to take on two such important institutions. (12)

In a comment the New York Times said: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has won a constitutional battle with the president and supreme court chief justice, but he had to get the army's support to prevail. "The army behaved responsibly by insuring the continuation of an elected government. Still, it is discouraging to see the army remains such a powerful arbiter." Mr. Nawaz Sharif had become the most powerful Prime Minister since Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. (13)

According to the Financial Times, London, General Jehangir Karamat, the army chief, has intervened twice in the growing constitutional crisis, apparently in both cases to save Nawaz Sharif from premature downfall. On this occasion, Pakistan's military has chosen to side with an elected parliament rather than bring the tanks on to the streets. But the very fact that it took the chief of staff's interventions shows how qualified a victory it is for Pakistan's democracy and how politically important the military remains. (14)

Senator Tarar elected as President

Senator Rafiq Ahmad Tarar, a retired judge of the Supreme Court, was elected president on December 31, 1997. Amid speculations that the presidency would go to a smaller province since the Prime Minister and the Army Chief of Staff are from the Punjab province, the presidential race had narrowed down to Senator Sartaj Aziz and Acting President Wasim Sajjad when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif dropped his bombshell: "Justice (retd) Rafiq Ahmed Tarar was to be Pakistan's next president. " Over the next two days, it became apparent that even Sharif's cabinet knew nothing about the decision while this unexpected announcement left many Muslim Leaguers bewildered.

For his remarks in press interviews against the judiciary, Justice of the Supreme Court, Mukhtar Ahmad Junejo, who also held the post of Acting Chief Election Commissioner, rejected Tarar's nomination on December 18. A petition was filed against Junejo's order in the Lahore High Court. Justice Qayyum admitted the petition on December 19 and suspended Junejo's order, allowing Tarar to "participate in the election provisionally subject to further orders." Justice Junejo was removed and replaced by retired Justice Abdul Qadeer Chaudhry as the Chief Election Commission.

It is no mere coincidence that he was on the Supreme Court bench that reinstated Nawaz Sharif as Prime Minister on May 26, 1993. Also casting a dark shadow on him is the referendum of December 1994 when, as a member of Zia's election commission, he solemnly assured the people that 55 per cent and not just five per cent of the electorate had turned out to confer legitimacy on Zia's dictatorial rule. Mr. Tarar also has to dispel the widely insinuated impression that he was involved in the "Quetta Shuttle" which divided the Supreme Court and wrote the saddest chapter in Pakistan's constitutional history. (15)

The selection of Senator Tarar as a presidential candidate was a surprise to all and not too well received by a broad section of society. The Prime Minister, of course, had his own reasons that he explained in his interview with the BBC. He said Senator Tarar was a patriot and a man of integrity and belonged to the middle class section of society. This could, of course, be said for millions of others as well. When asked why the presidential candidate was not selected from a smaller province as was being expected by the people, the Prime Minister said that such "petty matters" should not be given any consideration. The full participation by all the provinces in the federal decision-making process in Islamabad is essential for the unity and solidarity of the federation and is certainly not a "petty matter." (16)

LHC upholds Tarar's plea

The Lahore High Court accepted, on Feb. 9 1998, the constitutional petition filed by Rafiq Tarar against his disqualification by the (former) Acting CEC and declared him qualified to contest for and hold the office of President. The acting CEC, Justice Mukhtar Ahmed Junejo of the Supreme Court, had found Tarar, a former Supreme Court Judge, guilty of propagating views prejudicial to the integrity and independence of the judiciary at the time of his nomination as a presidential candidate under Article 63(G) of the Constitution and debarred him from the December, 1997 contest.

The short verbal order did not deal with the question of fact involved in the case - whether Tarar in his interview of the weekly Takbir of June 27, 1996, and statement to the daily Jang, Rawalpindi, of Dec 4, 1997, propagated views prejudicial to the judiciary. Neither before the acting CEC nor in the LHC did Tarar or his counsel categorically denied the allegedly contemptuous statements in their entirety.

Tarar's counsel, Barrister Ijaz Hussein Batalvi told the LHC that the interview carried by Takbeer did not fully convey the views of Tarar. In any case, Tarar was elected senator after the interview and was not debarred from the senatorial contest. The Jang interview did not refer to any judge as no judge left in disgrace on Dec 2. Besides, a penal action could not be based on newspaper reports. Again, a presidential candidate who is also a sitting member of parliament cannot be disqualified under Article 63. Article 41(2) says that a candidate should be qualified to be elected a member of parliament under Article 62 and disqualification under Article 63 cannot be read into it.

SC issues detailed judgment in Sajjad's appointment case

The Supreme Court on Feb. 9, 1998 issued detailed judgment on the petitions challenging the appointment of Justice Sajjad Ali Shah as the chief justice of Pakistan. The ten-member bench headed by Justice Saiduzzaman Siddiqui in its short order on Dec 23, 1997 had declared the appointment of Justice Sajjad as the CJ, illegal and unconstitutional.

The court in its 391-page judgment rejected the argument that if the appointment of Justice Sajjad as the chief justice was held unconstitutional; its application would be with retrospective effect. The court held that doctrine of de facto would apply to the appointment of Justice Sajjad as the chief justice of Pakistan till Nov 26, 1997, when a division bench of the Supreme Court restrained him from performing his administrative and judicial functions.

Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, the counsel for the former chief justice, had argued that if the appointment of Justice Sajjad Ali Shah as the chief justice was declared invalid, it would lead to serious consequences as except three judges of the Supreme Court - Justice Ajmal Mian, Justice Saiduzzaman Siddiqui and Justice Fazal Illahi Khan - the appointment of all the Supreme Court judges and a number of high court judges would become invalid as all of them were appointed by the president in consultation with Justice Sajjad Ali Shah who was then the Chief Justice of Pakistan.

The ten-member bench after discussing the doctrine of de facto observed: "the principle of de facto exercise of power by a holder of the public office is based on sound principle of public policy to maintain regularity in the conduct of the public business, to save the public from confusion and to protect the private right which a person may acquire as a result of exercise of power by the de facto holder of the office."

The court also dismissed the argument that the appointment of Justice Sajjad as the chief justice of Pakistan was a past and closed chapter after the apex court judgment in Judges case. Responding to the argument of Hafeez Pirzada that no judge affected by the appointment of Justice Sajjad as the CJ had objected to his appointment and they continued to function, the court said it was incorrect.

The court maintained that three judges senior to Respondent No 2 (Justice Sajjad) in spite of invitation by the president of Pakistan did not attend the oath-taking ceremony of Justice Shah as the CJ to express their resentment. Justice Saad Saood Jan, the senior most judge of the apex court who had legitimate expectancy to become the chief justice of Pakistan after the retirement of Justice Nasim Hasan Shah, the court observed, proceeded on leave for three months and until his retirement on June 30, 1996, spent most of his time at the apex court branch registry at Lahore. The court also referred to the speech of Justice Saad Saood Jan on the occasion of his retirement and a press statement issued by him, to show that he had resented his supersession by a junior judge.

Justice Ajmal Mian, another judge who was affected due to the violation of the principle of seniority in the appointment of the CJ, had also expressed his opinion on the appointment of a junior judge as the chief justice. The court referred to the two judgments in Al Jehad Case 1, and Al Jehad Case II, in which Justice Ajmal Mian had expressed his views on the subject.

Justice Ajmal Mian and Justice Saad Saood Jan did not surrender their right of legitimate expectancy to the office of the chief justice of Pakistan in favor of respondent No. 2, the court observed. "It must be borne in mind that judges of the superior courts by tradition maintain high degree of comity amongst themselves. They are not expected to go public on their differences over any issue."

The court observed that it was not expected of the superior court judges to litigate in courts like ordinary litigants in case of denial of a right connected with their offices as the code of conduct for the superior court judges enjoined upon them to avoid as far as possible any litigation on their behalf or on behalf of others.

It held that the principle of seniority in the appointment of the CJ since the establishment of the Supreme Court in 1956 was upheld. It was only violated in 1994 when the Respondent No 2 (Justice Sajjad Ali Shah), fourth on the seniority list, was appointed the chief justice of Pakistan.

The court rejected the argument of Hafeez Pirzada that no writ could be issued against a judge, the court held that judgments delivered by a judge or group of judges were the functions which were covered under Article 199(5) of the Constitution. "The difference between a judge acting as court and a judge acting in his personal and individual capacity is not only real but is necessary to preserve, otherwise a judge will not be answerable for wrong done by him in his individual capacity."

Action taken or orders passed by him in his capacity as a judge of the court cannot be brought under challenge under Article 199 of the Constitution but his action as ordinary individual would be subject to ordinary law of the land including Article 199 of the Constitution, it was maintained. When the appointment of a judge is challenged that he did not possess the qualification prescribed by the Constitution, the relator was not asking the court to strike down any of his action which he had performed or was performing as judge but was asking for examination of personal qualification. "We are therefore of the view that such an attack on the validity of the appointment of a judge of superior court through collateral proceeding is not proper remedy."

The court held that petitions challenging the appointment of Justice Sajjad Ali Shah as the chief justice were maintainable. The SC reacted to the objections raised by Justice Sajjad Ali Shah against six judges on the bench, accusing them of bias. The court rejected the objections. The court also rejected the objection to the presence of Justice Saiduzzaman Siddiqui, Justice Fazal Illahi Khan, Justice Irshad Hasan Khan, Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid and Justice Khalilur Rehman Khan on the bench hearing the petitions. The court also rejected the objection of bias against Justice Saiduzzaman Siddiqui that he was prejudiced against Justice Sajjad for the reason that he had recommended to the president to refer his (Justice Siddiqui's) case to the Supreme Judicial Council.

The Supreme Court converts 'charge sheet' against Nawaz Sharif into notice

A supreme court bench headed by Chief Justice Ajmal Mian agreed on Feb. 17, 1998 to treat as a mere "show cause notice" a "charge sheet" issued to Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif by a bench headed by the former chief justice, Justice (retd) Sajjad Ali Shah, for alleged contempt of court. S.M. Zafar, counsel for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, took 90 minutes to persuade the court that the charge sheet issued to the prime minister was not a charge sheet as required under the law, and the court was still at the stage of "show cause notice".

When the proceedings started, Chief Justice Ajmal Mian observed that the previous bench had charge sheeted the prime minister, and the only question for the court to decide was what procedure to follow.

S.M. Zafar contended that no charge sheet had been "issued", but admitted that a charge sheet had been "drafted". He said unless a charge sheet was read out to an accused asking him whether he pleaded guilty or not guilty, there was no charge sheet. He said under rule 7 of the 1976 Contempt of Court Act, the attorney general had to act as a prosecutor, and it was his duty to read out a charge to an accused. He said no such thing had happened in this case, and the so-called charge sheet was handed down to representatives of the respondents at the office of the deputy registrar.

When the chief justice observed that a mere formality of reading out a charge sheet to an alleged contempt was not performed, the counsel for the prime minister stated that reading out the charge sheet to the accused was not a "mere formality", but an "essential formality."

Mr Zafar argued suspending the potency of the 14th Amendment through an interim order without hearing the Federal Government or the attorney general, had upset parliamentarians who raised the issue in the parliament and this necessitated an explanation by the respondent. He contended that by virtue of section 8 of the Contempt of Court Act, Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, after having taken cognizance, could not proceed with the case. REFERENCE: Chapter X Nawaz Shrif's second stint in Officehttp://ghazali.net/book1/chapter_10.htm Nawaz Shrif's second stint in Office Page 2http://ghazali.net/book1/Chapter10a/page_2.html Nawaz Shrif's second stint in Office Page 3http://ghazali.net/book1/Chapter10a/page_3.html [Excerpts from ISLAMIC PAKISTAN:ILLUSIONS & REALITY By Abdus Sattar Ghazali]

1. Dawn 31.5.1997

2. Herald - October 1997

3. Dawn - 8.2.1998

4. Dawn - 13.2.1998

5. Ibid.

6. Herald - December 1997

7. Herald - January 1998

8. Saving judiciary from politics by Kunwar Idris - Dawn 28.12.1997

9. Fascism on the march by Ardeshir Cowasjee - Dawn - 7.12.1997

10. Prospects after the crisis by M.B.Naqvi - Dawn 15.12.1997

11. The Washington Post - 3.12.1997

12. The Times, London 3.12.1997

13. The New York Times - 7.12.1997

14. The Financial Times - London 7.12.1997

15. Kunwar Idris - Dawn 20.12.1997

16. Selecting the Head of State by Sardar F.S. Lodi - Dawn 25.12.1997

17. Colonial NWFP or Pakistani Pakhtoonkhwa? By Prof. Em. Dr Ahmad Hasan Dani [Frontier Post, Peshawar - 15-2-1998]

18. Ibid.

19. Ibid.

20. Ibid.

21. Ibid.

22. New hopes, old fears by M.B.Naqvi - Dawn 12.1.1997

"UNQUOTE"

--
http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/

http://www.scribd.com/doc/61839666/Indo-Pak-Wars-A-Pictorial-History

http://www.scribd.com/doc/21686885/TALIBAN-WAR-IN-PAKISTAN-AFGHANISTAN-A-WRITERS-PERCEPTIONS-FROM-2001-TO-2011

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22457862/Military-Decision-making-and-leadership

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22151765/History-of-Pakistan-Army-from-1757-to-1971-PRINTING-ENABLED-Do-acknowledge-to-the-author

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22455178/Letters-to-Command-and-Staff-College-Quetta-Citadel-Journal

http://www.scribd.com/doc/23150027/Pakistan-Army-through-eyes-of-Pakistani-Generals

http://www.scribd.com/doc/23701412/War-of-Independence-of-1857

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22107238/HISTORY

http://www.scribd.com/doc/21693873/Indo-Pak-Wars-1947-71-A-STRATEGIC-AND-OPERATIONAL-ANALYSIS-BY-A-H-AMIN-THIS-BOOK-CAN-BE-PRINTED-FROM-THIS-SITE

AN AMERICAN FRIEND ON US BIASES AND FUTURE OF ISRAEL

2012-02-13T11:13:00.001-08:00

I am frightened by my country - When you listen to the UN or U.S. TV - they say in Syria it is the Assad regime causing the problems and killing/torturing people. Russian (RT) TV says it is radical factions within Syria and al Qaida. The UN lady on human rights - a Pillay (suppose she is Indian) lambasted Syria today on TV (Aljazeera & France 24) but the Syrian UN Rep gave a rebuttal along - both divided the same lines as Western vs. Russian TV media. RT says the Arab League is in the pockets of the West.

You don't know who to believe since each side has its propaganda. We have a saying - I'm from Missouri (the show me state) - Show me! I can't tell you how many times I read reports by NGOs, experts and consultants - and in the field it was nothing like what they reported - their agenda being to get more contracts so they played along with the politics of the donor and or their home office. If we go after Iran or Syria - my guess is it could be the beginning of a WWIII and the world/humanity will lose. How to you read it and what is behind it all - oil, Israel/geopolitics - our politicians are arrogant and dangerous - get us into no-win situations.

Take Iran - so if they have a bomb - Israel has 100 nukes, Pakistan, India, China, Russia, USA, & I suppose France & Germany & I don't know who else - one can argue having a nuke is a deterrent to aggression like during the Cold War. So why are Israel and the U.S. so worried about Iran - do you think Iran would be so foolish as to use a nuke against Israel. Time is against Israel anyway - from what I have read by 2020 Israeli Palestinians will be in the majority. If the Israeli Jews don't work something equitable out ultimately they will be on the outside looking in. Going after Iran rather than working out a solution with the Palestinians and the rest of the Arab/Muslim world will only make things happen quicker on the negative side!

Senator Saifur Rehman Swiss Money of Zardari & Swiss Case of Zardari:) Duniya News 13th Feb 2012

2012-02-13T10:30:00.001-08:00

FROM MR AAMIR MUGHAL A RETIRED INTELLIGENCE BUREAU OFFICER

Arshad Shareef on Swiss Case against Zardari

KYUN? Latest on Duniya News 13th Feb 2012 p1

http://youtu.be/1hsxhT8DmT0

KYUN? Latest on Duniya News 13th Feb 2012 p2

http://youtu.be/fESuX51qqsM

KYUN? Latest on Duniya News 13th Feb 2012 p3

http://youtu.be/oViOklasKXs

--
http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/

An Intellectually dishonest Hungarian Frenchman called Sarkozy ‘using public funds for campaign’

2012-02-13T06:32:00.001-08:00

http://www.pretorianews.co.za/sarkozy-using-public-funds-for-campaign-1.1233172

Russia to Develop Potential Dual-Use Laser

2012-02-13T06:28:00.001-08:00

Russia to Develop Potential Dual-Use Laser

Moscow, Feb 13 (Prensa Latina) Russia will invest around 1.5 billion dollars to build a facility to emit the world''s most powerful laser with 2.8 mega joules, official sources said in this capital.

The Russian government made the decision to have the world's most powerful laser in the near future, because the United States also has its own, with a power of two mega joules, Ildar Ilkaev, director of the Federal Nuclear Center, pointed out.

On one hand, it is the hot plasma physics used in the development of thermonuclear weapons, and on the other hand, we value the energetic aspect, because thermonuclear synthesis with laser could be the energy of the future, the specialist said.

Russia is planning to build a facility that will be 30 meters long and will have a ten-story building, Ilkaev explained, although it is not known when and in which terms the project will be carried out.

jg/cmf/ocs/to

KOMINFORM
http://www.kominform.eu

Russia To Deploy New Air Defense Systems On Border

2012-02-13T06:08:00.001-08:00

Russia To Deploy New Air Defense Systems On Border

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012/02/13/65938764.html

Russian Information Agency Novosti
February 13, 2012

New S-400 air-defence systems to be deployed on Russian border

Several new air-defence systems S-400 Triumph are due to be deployed on the Russian border this year, the Russian Air Force Commander, Alexander Zelenin, has told the RIA Novosti news agency. He failed to specify the regions of deployment.

Earlier, the Commander of the Russian Baltic Fleet, Vice-Admiral Victor Chirkov, has made public the Defence Ministry plan to deploy an S-400 system in the country's westernmost exclave, Kaliningrad region, in April this year.

----------------------------------------------------------

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012/02/13/65962024.html

Vesti
February 13, 2012

More S-400 Triumf systems to enter service in Russia by year-end

More units of the S-400 Triumf missile defense system will be put on service in the Russian Armed Forces before the end of this year, Air Force chief Alexander Zelin said on Monday.

A new generation anti-aircraft system, the S-400 Triumf is designed to protect Russia's major political, economic and military infrastructure facilities, Zelin said.

This mobile system is capable of tracking over 100 targets at ranges of over 400 km, he added.

KOMINFORM
http://www.kominform.eu

Assad wins out against opposition as Russia and Iran strengthen ties

2012-02-13T05:44:00.001-08:00

FROM MY DEAR FRIEND AMBASSADOR GAJENDRA SINGH

Situation in Syria and the region

These events /wars and near wars are but continuation of the Cold War , which never ceased for US led Western block .Franchised street revolutions in early 2000s were resisted and stopped by Sanghai Cooperation Council members , when West entered Russia's near abroad , inspite of promises to Gorbachev ( Do not trust any one when strategic interests are concerned) .Regime changes in Serbia ,Georgia,Ukraine were successful but failed in Belarus and Uzbekistan.They have been reveresed in Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan.Georgia was bashed up by Russia and Azerbaijan is uneasy with its close relationship with the West .

US led Imperialist powers have tried to leverage peoples revolts against Western supported dictators /puppets in N Africa and Middle East by trying to take over the movements .They have helped bring in Muslim exremists into influence and power in Tunisia and Egypt , a policy West ( British before WWII) have always followed against national, socialist regimes of say Nasser, Mossadeq, Saddam and others .

After regime change failures in Eastern Eurasia ,the regime changes in NAf &ME is their desperate attempt to maintain and regain power in the region , with total support from such pillars of democracy as Saudi Arabia , Qatar ( mostly petrodollars) .Turkey , now almost in Riyadh's pocket has followed a very unwise policy .It has upset its armed forces by jailing its last Military chief and many other senior officers laying the foundations for a Cols coup at some stage .Turkey's population has 10% Alevis ( victims of Sunni pogroms from time to time ) similar in belief to Syria's ruling elite and Turkey's Kurds are up in arms . Instaed of zero friction with neighbours , a much announced policy , Turkey has bad relations with almost all its neighbours , Syria ,Isarel ,Greece,Armenia ,and worsening with Iraq ,Iran,Russia .

In US-Russian strategic balance of power, Moscow needs naval bases ( in Tartus in Syria ) and military base ( after losing in Libya) , so it is not going to let Syria be in hostile hands , whatever be the cost .Russia is the rising power with some support from China to face off USA and its allies now in ME , while US and EU are just about bankrupt .

There have been nothing but lies from US media , a corporate handmaiden and British Gvt propaganda machine called BBC , which are now finding again echo in Indian media like CNN-IBN, Times, NDTV , all owned by Indian corporate interests .

Situation still very troubling seems to be jelling in Syria .Debka is close to Israel .Tel Aviv is not sure if a Libya like situation in Syria , which has kept peace on borders ,since 1973 , will be in its interests . .

Two related pieces

Veto on Syria 'Diplomatic Gain' for Russia

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20120206/171182777.html

Run-up to proxy war over Syria

http://atimes.com/atimes/China/NB07Ad01.html

Assad wins out against opposition as Russia and Iran strengthen ties
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report February 11, 2012

http://www.debka.com/article/21729/

Intelligence sources reporting in real time found Saturday night, Feb. 11, that Bashar Assad's loyal military and security forces had by and large managed to subdue the rebellion against the regime. They are now purging the last pockets of resistance, especially in Syria's third largest city, Homs. Still to come are possible flare-ups here and there and inevitably more horror stories of atrocities, but to all intents and purposes Syria's eleven-month uprising is all but over.

In recent days, mass demonstrations and battles with armed rebels have virtually disappeared from the streets of the main protest centers of Daraa, Hama, Deir al-Zour, Abu Kemal, Zabadan and the restive outskirts of Damascus, which armed rebels briefly captured last month.
In Homs, soldiers of the 40^th and 90^th mechanized brigades are hunting down rebels hiding in the town and shooting them on sight.
A new name joined the gallery of Syrian mass murderers this week: Gen. Zuhair al-Assad, commander of the brutal six-day tank-backed assault and siege of Homs. This kinsman of the president had no qualms about gunning down hundreds of civilians in order to liquidate a small armed rebel group.
**DEBKA*file***'s military sources report that without outside armed intervention to halt the bloodbath – and there is no sign of any repetition of the NATO action which cut short Muammar Qaddafi's long reign – Bashar Assad will soon finish crushing the popular and armed resistance against him, helped by arms and military backing from Russia, Iran and Hizballah.

Military intervention is not on the cards for the United States - Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmed Davutoglu was told Friday, Feb. 9 when he arrived in Washington to request US participation in organizing a Turkish-Arab operation in Syria or, at least, the supply of Western and Arab arms to the Syrian rebels.

Of the six revolts against Arab autocracies in the past year, two were crushed. The King of Bahrain was saved by Saudi and Gulf military support and now Assad looks like being the second survivor. The difference between them is that the Al-Khalifa House of Bahrain was rescued by Arab forces while the Syrian president is stamping out the uprising against him with the help of non-Arab powers, Iran and Russia.

Both powers sent important officials to Damascus last week: Iran's al Qods Brigades commander Gen. Qassem Soleimani was there Sunday and Monday (5-6 Feb.) at the head of a large military-intelligence delegation. No sooner was it gone when Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and SVR intelligence chief Mikhail Fradkov were deposited at the door of Assad's presidential palace.
According to **DEBKA*file***'s military and intelligence sources, both were on missions to finalize Russian-Iranian-Syrian collaboration in Syria and the Middle East after the regime finally suppresses the revolt.

Saturday night, Moscow pledged to continue to shield the Assad regime at the United Nations
Although fighting continues in some places, Bashar Assad is at the threshold of a major success. His victory may be short-lived but it is significant all the same, offering kudos for the Iranian-Syrian-Hizballah alliance and a contretemps for the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Patriarch of Antioch: Syrian Unrest Instigated by Foreigners

2012-02-12T20:26:00.001-08:00

Patriarch of Antioch: Syrian Unrest Instigated by Foreigners

RIA NOVOSTI, 12.02.2012

Ongoing Syrian unrests are being instigated by foreigners, The Supreme Head of the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church, His Holiness Moran Mor Ignatius Zakka said on Sunday at a meeting with Russian political experts visiting the country.

"The tumult is being instigated by external forces, not members of the Syrian society," the patriarch told Russian experts who arrived at his residence in Damascus.

He also ruled out the possibility of any repressions against Christians living in Syria. "There are no security guards in the Patriarch's Office, the situation is calm. Christians in Syria stand secure, in contrast to Egypt and Iraq."

"There are no anti-Christian spirits in the Syrian society," the patriarch added.

The meeting with the Patriarch was organized by Syrian state news agency Sana.

Russia has firmly supported Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during the uprising against his regime. Russia and China vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on Syria, backed by the Arab League and Western nations, to prevent a repetition of "the Libyan scenario."

During a visit to Damascus last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said President Assad was ready for dialogue with all political forces.

Human rights groups say more than 7,000 people have died since the nationwide uprising began in March last year.

On Friday, violence spread to Syria's second largest city of Aleppo with two bomb blasts that killed at least 28 people and wounded more than 200 others.

KOMINFORM
http://www.kominform.eu

Belarus snubs the Arrogant Germans

2012-02-12T20:22:00.001-08:00

Foreign Ministry: No need for German human rights official to visit Minsk personally

09.02.2012 16:07

MINSK, 9 February (BelTA) – The Belarusian side sees no need for a personal visit of Markus Loening to Minsk, said Maria Vanshina, Deputy Head of the Information Office, Head of the Press Service of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, when asked about the possible visit of Markus Loening, Plenipotentiary for Human Rights Policy of the German federal government, to Belarus.

Maria Vanshina said that unfortunately Markus Loening's contribution to Belarusian-German relations was not a positive one. She remarked the Belarusian side had also taken into account multiple refusals of Germany to grant entry to Belarusian officials, including those with a valid Schengen visa, who were intent on taking part in international events.

"There is no need to send a messenger to deliver the letter mentioned by Mr Loening. Generally recognized diplomatic channels are fit for that. By the way, the German side used them today and delivered the letter," said Maria Vanshina.

© BelTA. A hyperlink to the main page of the website www.belta.by must be provided when materials of the website are used for electronic publications, website pages, electronic files or other electronic forms of use.

_

KOMINFORM
http://www.kominform.eu

British Special Forces Sabotage Terrorists In Syria

2012-02-12T07:30:00.001-08:00

Report: British Special Forces In Syria

http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=139779

Pakistan Observer
February 12, 2012

British Special Forces in Syria
Akhtar Jamal

-Daily Telegraph reported that former terrorist turned Libyan rebel leader Abdulhakim Belhadj, now head of the Tripoli Military Council, "met with Free Syrian Army leaders in Istanbul and on the border with Turkey," after being sent there by Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the interim Libyan president.
Belhadj is the former front man for the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), designated as a terrorist organization by the US State Department. Belhadj was captured by the CIA in Malaysia in 2003 and extradited to Libya where Colonel Gaddafi had him imprisoned.

Islamabad: According to a report by Israeli intelligence outfit DEBKAFile British Special Forces are on the ground in Syria directing rebel fighters in a repeat of how Libyan rebels were aided in the overthrow of Colonel Gaddafi.

DEBKAfile's exclusive military and intelligence sources were quoted as saying that foreign units are not engaging in direct combat but are acting in an advisory capacity, while also relaying requests for arms outside of the country.

The report claimed that "British and Qatari special operations units are operating with rebel forces under cover in the Syrian city of Homs 162 kilometers from Damascus.

The report suggested that the situation in Syria is developing in an almost identical manner to how rebels in Libya were aided by British and French Special Forces.

The report added that the same Al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorists who fought U.S. troops in Iraq and helped NATO powers overthrow Colonel Gaddafi were airlifted into Syria to aid rebels there in attempting to topple President Bashar al-Assad in November last year.

Meanwhile the British Daily Telegraph reported that former terrorist turned Libyan rebel leader Abdulhakim Belhadj, now head of the Tripoli Military Council, "met with Free Syrian Army leaders in Istanbul and on the border with Turkey," after being sent there by Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the interim Libyan president.

Belhadj is the former front man for the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), designated as a terrorist organization by the US State Department. Belhadj was captured by the CIA in Malaysia in 2003 and extradited to Libya where Colonel Gaddafi had him imprisoned.

Belhadj is a committed jihadist who fought with the Taliban against U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Libyan rebel leader Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi admitted that Belhadj's LIFG fighters were the second-largest cohort of foreign fighters in Iraq.

KOMINFORM
http://www.kominform.eu

Expanding Pakistan-Russia Partnership Within SCO

2012-02-12T07:28:00.001-08:00

Expanding Pakistan-Russia Partnership Within SCO

http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2012/02/engaging-russia/

Pakistan Today
February 12, 2012

Engaging Russia
By Qudssia Akhlaque

A move in the right direction

====

Pakistan considers Russia as an engine for increased economic growth and a factor of peace and stability in the SCO region. Both the countries seem equally keen to broaden and diversify mutually advantageous cooperation, particularly in the energy sector.

The two countries have also been discussing the possibility of developing rail links with Iran and other areas in the SCO region from Pakistan. Russia had shown some interest in Pakistan's keenness to develop rail links to Central Asia from Gwadar.

Reaffirmation of Russian support for Pakistan's request for full membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is another encouraging sign.

Notably in June 2005, Pakistan supported Russia's bid for observer status in the OIC and in turn Russia helped Pakistan obtain the observer status in the SCO.

Both share the view on the need for a multi-polar world and the centrality of the UN role in the world affairs.

The growing presence of US and Nato forces in the region and Pakistan's active cooperation with both had made Moscow somewhat uneasy. However, Pakistan's gradual distancing from the US has encouraged the Russians towards closer cooperation.

====

Pakistani diplomats at the Envoys Conference in Islamabad a couple of months back had advocated more proactive engagement with Russia. Some promising signs of renewed engagement, including the recently concluded visit of Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar to Russia, are visible. This visit also signals to the US Pakistan's greater activity within its Asian neighbourhood. Russia has, alongside China, become more assertive in demonstrating multi-polarity as opposed to uni-polarity on the global power scene.

The overriding message of Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani's joint press conference with her Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov after talks in Moscow Wednesday was that the two countries are ready to expand and intensify political as well as economic cooperation as a step towards developing a strategic partnership.

The fact that the press conference addressed by the two foreign ministers was telecast live on the state and private TV channels here underlined the importance Pakistan attached to this visit.

While at the press conference no question was raised or any mention made about the prospects of cooperation in civil nuclear technology and defence sector between the two countries, such a possibility cannot be ruled out.

Understandably such cooperation is often discussed on the quiet.

Pakistan and Russia have growing convergence of interests bilaterally and on issues of regional and international importance. Russia attaches great importance to her relations with Pakistan as it is mindful of its significant role both in the region and in the Islamic world as a whole.

Last year in September when the two foreign ministers met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in New York, Lavrov told Khar that he was looking forward to her visit to Moscow.

A major international player, being a permanent member of the UNSC and of the G-8, Russia's clout and influence has been considerably enhanced in the last few years. Pakistan considers Russia as an engine for increased economic growth and a factor of peace and stability in the SCO region. Both the countries seem equally keen to broaden and diversify mutually advantageous cooperation, particularly in the energy sector.

Pakistan is now seriously looking towards Russia to meet its energy requirements and this was discussed in Moscow when the foreign minister separately met with the Russian Minister of Energy during her visit.

While the Russian investors are interested in investing in the Thar coal project, Russia is also keen to participate in the Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline project. Moscow has already indicated to Islamabad that it wants its gas company Gazprom, the world's largest gas company, to have a role in the project. Pakistan has conveyed that it would welcome Russian participation in this project. Russia's readiness to participate in the energy projects of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India as well as Central Asia and South Asia 1000 (CASA) is also significant and welcomed by Pakistan as it faces an acute energy deficit.

Another good development is that the two countries are now close to firming up a MOU on the expansion and modernisation of the Pakistan Steel Mills, a key state enterprise.

There are tremendous opportunities for joint collaboration in various projects. Russia has expressed interest on several occasions in building on business ties with Pakistani partners in sectors such as oil and gas, railways, power generation, agriculture and metallurgy. The two countries have also been discussing the possibility of developing rail links with Iran and other areas in the SCO region from Pakistan. Russia had shown some interest in Pakistan's keenness to develop rail links to Central Asia from Gwadar.

Reaffirmation of Russian support for Pakistan's request for full membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is another encouraging sign.

Earlier on Russia had been non-committal on this question.

Moscow re-established a political dialogue with Islamabad in February 2003 when President Musharraf visited Russia. Notably in June 2005, Pakistan supported Russia's bid for observer status in the OIC and in turn Russia helped Pakistan obtain the observer status in the SCO.

Pakistan and Russia have had increasingly intensive interaction at the political fora at various international summits including the SCO. Both have shared similar positions on key international issues, particularly on the overall strengthening of the role of the UN and other international organisations on the basis of the international law. Moscow and Islamabad have been cooperating in the UN and on key international issues such as Iran, Iraq and the Middle East they have similar views. Both share the view on the need for a multi-polar world and the centrality of the UN role in the world affairs.

The common threats of terrorism and drugs have also compelled the two countries to strengthen security cooperation. Russians have been concerned about the presence of Al-Qaeda elements and Taliban in the border areas between Pakistan and Afghanistan and drug trafficking. The growing presence of US and Nato forces in the region and Pakistan's active cooperation with both had made Moscow somewhat uneasy. However, Pakistan's gradual distancing from the US has encouraged the Russians towards closer cooperation.

While in the past few years there have been regular contacts between the two countries at the diplomatic and political levels and a framework for consolidating economic cooperation has laid the basis of a strategic partnership, practical follow-up steps have yet to be taken, specifically to boost bilateral trade.

Russian investors who are virtually knocking at Pakistan's door now, may walk away discouraged by our own problems. Therefore unless Pakistan's slow moving bureaucratic machine becomes more responsive and domestic political turmoil settles down, this Russian initiative is unlikely to translate into any concrete benefits for Pakistan.

The writer is a senior journalist and has been a diplomatic correspondent for leading dailies. She was an Alfred Friendly Press Fellow at The Chicago Tribune in the US and a Press Fellow at Wolfson College, Cambridge, UK. She can be reached via email at qudssia@hotmail.com

KOMINFORM
http://www.kominform.eu

Atrocities in Pakistan continue without any gap

2012-02-12T05:31:00.001-08:00

"I know that I am prejudiced on this matter, but I would be ashamed of myself if I were not."

Mark Twain

"A cynical, mercenary, demagogic press will produce in time a people as base as itself." - Joseph Pulitzer

COMMENT: Taking cognizance —Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur

Surely Balochistan is not going to become independent due to Congressional committee meetings. The only positive outcome of this meeting for the Baloch is that it has highlighted their plight and this may encourage other western countries to pay more attention to the human rights abuses in Balochistan

Sadiq Umrani, President PPP Balochistan, while condemning the cowardly murder of Brahamdagh Bugti's sister and niece in Karachi by the intelligence agencies on the Balochistan Assembly floor made a shocking disclosure that he and two other ministers, Yunus Mullazai and Zafar Zehri, in November 2011 saw Frontier Corps (FC) personnel holding two blindfolded and handcuffed men at the roadside on a highway near Mangochar. He said that the FC men gunned them down and their bodies were found from the area the next day. Equally shocking is Umrani's four month silence on the incident.

This shocking disclosure like all other known atrocities against the Baloch has fallen on deaf ears and gone unnoticed. Atrocities against the Baloch have come to be accepted as a normal state of affairs by all and even the inhumanly gruesome murder of Brahamdagh's sister and niece has evoked minimal response from civil society or the media.

Murdering women to settle scores is the lowest ebb that establishments can reach and it has been reached here. Banok Zamur Bugti was not Brahamdagh Bugti's sister alone — she is a sister of all honourable and conscientious Baloch. It is an outrage and a wound which all the Baloch will forever remember.

A national daily reported that these murders were a message for Brahamdagh Bugti to desist from resisting Pakistan. Apparently the establishment overlooked the fact that the message they gave by killing his grandfather Sardar Akbar Bugti went unheeded, so why would he heed these chilling murders and give up resistance now.

The state and its representatives forget that it was they who initiated the hostilities against the peaceful Baloch and the Baloch are exercising their right to defend themselves and to secure their rights. Ironically, Baloch resistance to atrocities and injustices is considered a crime while state atrocities are deemed legal.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik in the National Assembly said the government had taken cognizance of the killings of Bakhtiar Khan Domki's family. He was in turn castigated by the assembly members for his remarks relating these killings to those of the FC personnel killed in the recent attacks. Incidentally, the Domki family killings followed and also prompted attacks on FC personnel in Balochistan by militant groups. After the killings of the FC personnel in Margat area, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) spokesperson stated these were in retaliation for the killings of the Baloch ladies.

The Baloch understand how utterly worthless and meaningless Rehman Malik's cognizance taking is but interestingly someone else too has taken cognizance of the situation in Balochistan. Yes, the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs took cognizance and convened a Congressional hearing for an exclusive discussion on Balochistan.

Amid the deteriorating mutual relationship between Pakistan and the US, this is an important development. This powerful House of Representatives Committee oversees the US's foreign assistance programmes and experts believe it can jeopardise US assistance to Pakistan over human rights violations in Balochistan and this worries Pakistan no end. It follows the US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland's expression of concern over human rights abuses in Balochistan on January 15. The world is slowly waking to the atrocities in Balochistan.

Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, who recently co-authored an article with Congressman Louie Gohmert expressing support for an independent Balochistan, chaired the hearing. In his piece he had written: "Perhaps we should even consider support for a Balochistan carved out of Pakistan to diminish radical power there (in Pakistan)."

At the Committee meeting in his opening remarks, Mr Rohrabacher said that Balochistan is a turbulent land marred by human rights violations "by regimes that are against US values". He outlined the history of Pakistan's creation, and highlighted Balochistan's grievances vis-à-vis natural resources, and said that the province's wealth was being taken by the dominant Punjabi elite.

Ali Dayan Hasan, the Pakistan director for Human Rights Watch (HRW), in his submitted remarks, said that the cases documented by the HRW show that Pakistan's security forces and its intelligence agencies were involved in the enforced disappearance of ethnic Baloch. He termed the military's role in the province as brutal, and an occupying one.

In his testimony, analyst Ralph Peters, who had in his June 2006 article 'Blood borders: How a better Middle East would look' published a map of free Balochistan, called Pakistan a supporter of terrorism. In his submitted testimony, Amnesty International's Advocacy Director T Kumar called on the US to "apply the Leahy Amendment without waivers to all Pakistani military units in Balochistan". The Leahy law prohibits US military assistance to foreign military units that violate human rights with impunity.

Dr M Hosseinbor, a Baloch lawyer and witness at the hearing, quoting Baloch sources said that nearly 4,000 people have disappeared in the province since 2001. In his submitted remarks, he called on the US to support an independent Balochistan "in case Pakistan or Iran or both collapsed from within".

This meeting has naturally evoked an adverse reaction here from the Foreign Office and the Senate where it was condemned as 'direct intervention'. The senators across the divide consider the meeting as an affront for Pakistan's sovereignty and have expressed anger. It just goes to show how misplaced their priorities are, as there is hardly a squeak from them when atrocities are committed against the Baloch but if someone highlights the atrocities, it is resented.

Surely Balochistan is not going to become independent due to Congressional committee meetings. The only positive outcome of this meeting for the Baloch is that it has highlighted their plight and this may encourage other western countries to pay more attention to the human rights abuses in Balochistan. Balochistan is slowly emerging on the world scene not only because of the state atrocities but also due to valiant and relentless Baloch resistance.

This meeting is also fraught with adverse consequences for the Baloch; some people in the world would not hesitate to cut off their nose to spite their face. The Pakistani establishment falls into this pathetic category and I fear that just to show to the US that it does not care for what its committees say or do, it will increase the atrocities and human rights abuses against the Baloch.

It really does not matter if the US or Rehman Malik take cognizance of the abuses in Balochistan; what really matters is that the Baloch have taken cognizance of the injustices against them and have decided to resist the same with all resources and energies that they can muster and this is what will eventually tilt the balance in their favour.

The writer has an association with the Baloch rights movement going back to the early 1970s. He can be contacted at mmatalpur@gmail.com

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012\02\12\story_12-2-2012_pg3_2

Strategy

A Baloch State in Afghanistan

WWW.CHJOWK.COM

What Will Happen if the USA Withdraws From Afghanistan

Any US withdrawal from Afghanistan would create another delusion. A false conclusion that Islam has won and USA lost. It would boost morale in the Islamists and would lead to far greater chaos.

BBC Documentary on Genghis Khan‏

Short History of the Decline of the American Century & Its Hegemony (2002 -12)

Attack On Iran: Russia Makes Military Moves In Caucasus, Black Sea

After NATO's War On Libya, Nation Turned Into Concentration Camp

Pakistani Journalist Kidnapped by Pakistans Infamous and dubious Security Officials

Why Did Petraeus Fire the Auditor Charged With Stopping Flow of Pentagon Funds to Taliban?

British and Qatari sponsored Terrorists Assassinate Islamic Priest

Express News/Kamran Shahid "Arrange Murder Threat on Live TV"

Shameful stuff by Kamran Shahid - He is spreading hatred within Pakistanis to only get ratings

Stop Killer Coke!

New post on The Espresso Stalinist

Stop Killer Coke!

Iranian Sanctions Endanger Global Financial System

Situation in and around Syria

Arab Winter: Libya, One Year Later

Mail from a concerned US veteran on the Crisis in Command in US Army and Government

Dereliction of Duty II Senior Military Leaders' Loss of Integrity Wounds Afghan War Effort

Legacy of US Iraq’s Invasion : Near extinction of Christian population?

Legacy of US Iraq's Invasion : Near extinction of Christian population?

A Lawless state with law of jungle

The car bomb that exposed India's sham sovereignty

BBC ardent follower of Joseph Goebbels

http://info-wars.org/2012/02/13/bbc-are-corporate-paid-propagandists/

BBC are Corporate-Paid Propagandists

The Independent exposes what we already knew.

Zardari, Telephone Tapping, & Swiss Case.

Zardari, Telephone Tapping, & Swiss Case.

AN AMERICAN FRIEND ON US BIASES AND FUTURE OF ISRAEL

Senator Saifur Rehman Swiss Money of Zardari & Swiss Case of Zardari:) Duniya News 13th Feb 2012

KYUN? Latest on Duniya News 13th Feb 2012 p1

KYUN? Latest on Duniya News 13th Feb 2012 p2

KYUN? Latest on Duniya News 13th Feb 2012 p3

An Intellectually dishonest Hungarian Frenchman called Sarkozy ‘using public funds for campaign’

Russia to Develop Potential Dual-Use Laser

Russia To Deploy New Air Defense Systems On Border

Assad wins out against opposition as Russia and Iran strengthen ties

Veto on Syria 'Diplomatic Gain' for Russia

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20120206/171182777.html

Run-up to proxy war over Syria

Assad wins out against opposition as Russia and Iran strengthen ties DEBKAfile Exclusive Report February 11, 2012

Patriarch of Antioch: Syrian Unrest Instigated by Foreigners

Belarus snubs the Arrogant Germans

British Special Forces Sabotage Terrorists In Syria

Expanding Pakistan-Russia Partnership Within SCO

Atrocities in Pakistan continue without any gap

Assad wins out against opposition as Russia and Iran strengthen ties
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report February 11, 2012