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<how can so many citizens oppose what is going on in Afghany, yet the situation not worsen, and even erupt?>
You want to look at a country about to fragment or unconvinced look at its stock market, if 80% people were against this action the stocks market would have not rallied..
<Subject: Market and your trades on 22 October, 2001
To: ilatif@yahoo.com
CC: Khurram.Hanif@firstcapital.com.pk
From: Tasnim.Darbar@firstcapital.com.pk
Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2001 17:12:42 +0500
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=^KSE&d=c&t=3m&l=on&z=b&q=l
Hello Iqbal,
Great day at KSE today, although the net gain of 84 points in just one
day
was a little unexpected. SBP slashed down interest rates by 2% with
the
objective of lowering cost of acess to funds. This gave a boost to
players
at KSE and Institutions were also actively supporting the market, apart
from the big players like AKD.
Expectations are that market is going to continue rising and most
people
think a 1500 Index is not far off.>
The markets can be termed as rich man hobby and therefore not representative of real under currents but if they were not reflective that would have shown after 12th Sept where we went into sharp decline that means it is a market that prices political disturbance and international sanctions. Soon after the attack we had a fall far in excess of many markets in ASEA. Karachi is the key barometer of our economic activity the listed companies are consumer related like PTCL, HUBCO Lever Brothers and PSO, now a country going through a huge turmoil will have its consumer spending cut to size but it is not the case. If the market knew we are in mess this recovery would not be just possible, first of all Pakistan is being charged a war premium because of its involvement with the war by Lloyd’s of London, a country which is target of war premiums is not a country that will have such unique rallies so would my Dunkin Donut’s analogy. By the way most of this buying is cong form retail investors and most of D&D customers are from inner cities in Lahore where we have an opening.
Yesterday I dealt with the feudal of NWFP and Baluchistan today I will dwell on the majority province of Punjab. I think that Punjab is the largest province and I would say 15-20% in Punjab are infected by virulent form of rabies that lead people to bite like mad dogs. That is the reason things are normal and we are seeing neither flight of capital rather a massive cut in the interest rates today sparked the rally. Karachi is 10-15% infected by these fundos, interior of Sind nearly 10%, now I come form that region, the entire broad stream political spectrum supports the present policy, from Pakistan Peoples Party to Muslim League, in between them they had out of 315 seats in the presently defunct parliament 290 seats, both of these parties support this action. Awami National Party of Wali Khan is solidly behind the operation super clean up.
Five people matter in Pakistani politics one is Bhuttos of Sind, she is solidly behind this one, second is the Like minded group of Muslim League which represents Lahore the nerve center of my country and the hinterland Punjab, the Chuadarys of Gujrat the Jats are more American than an American, Mian Azhar is more English than a Lahori, Gohar Ayub the most hawkish amongst them is a hawk against the Indians but a dove here, he is the son of ex-President Syub Khan represents the hazara belt in the NWFP. In the Pothwar and Jhelum the martial belt of Pakistan, where this army hails from, the entire representation from Abida Hussien the ex-ambassadress to Washington Chd Nisar and Rasheed support this action. I yesterday posted the Sardars of Baluchistan and Sind who can throw things in different direction, the Jatoi's, the Pagaras the Pirs of Haas and Ranipurs, none of these people are against the action.
I talk to them the Jatoi's and Pagars led the war of independence the 'hurs' check on the internet, now I see all around talk to these guys from Mehars to Rinds to Lunds to Soomoros, I just don't see what these guys of your are reporting from Pakistan, we are 140 million people but CNN still emphasises on few thousands 'freaks', let them go and talk to these people who I have mentioned the Bajaranis, the Mengals the Khosos of Jacobabad, I know my history like I know my economics, yes, I would not be shy or economical with truth if my feed back was different, the problem is perception, we have been made a laughing stock of the world courtesy our own actions and our foolish long tongue, we talk more than we act in so called service of Islam however we are fully conversant with the fact what Iraqi and Yugoslavians were not that of saving our skin from bombing for sake of Osama. Our very survivability lies that most of our disputes are contained and as nation we are not very adventure prone. On one thing that the entire nation can flare is if India provokes us that will be a disaster. Millions of people will come out on roads, much as I dislike this bridge but this is a fact.
Now the media that so far had reported until 15th of Sept that Pakistan is failed Talibanised state. Now they cannot see that how in a very organised manner these guys without ten thousand killed like Asad of Syria or Saddam of Iraq or Abdullah of Saudi would have done and have delivered what US wanted. Even your generals had been sold to the idea that Pakistan is next Yugoslavia in making, but we know our interests, we have some serious problems with India on Kashmir and that needs to settle otherwise we are a peaceful nation and we love our life. If by any chance India would be a part of bombing in Afghanistan than you would have seen a nuclear devastation of my country, my country would have stood up in arms and we would have been certainly nuked if India-US- Israel axis had taken on Afghanistan and Pakistan. The perception was right, the media had made everything ready but thanks Bush and Powell they knew that Pakistan Army have been trained and readied for this day by US, they called us and they got us, that is easy, the problem is that no one knows the history that joins Pakistan with US from SEATO, CENTO, Budber and Afghan-USSR crisis and the opening of Sino relationship.
Today Osama right hand man in UK was given sanctuary in UK by the House of Lords in the final appeal, we had send Ramzi Yusuf and Kansi when they were arrested by FBI on Pakistani soil and send over in next 2 hours to NY, the reason some of us get upset is that India who was playing non-aligned role at the time when we were your allies against communism and in Afghan war remaining neutral when we fought the war with Russian a nuclear power, US deserted us after 1990 never to ask us how are you doing: that forsaking did give rise to lot of anti US feelings, however still when it matters the most we have placed our country at your disposal, now don’t worry too much, these fundos will not be able to do much and US will be successful in the war, and if you want to check the authenticity of this post send it to Christina Amanpour ask her to go and interview these people, don’t forget your media doesn’t not want us to be portrayed as a civilised advanced nation, it is controlled and it is selective in its policy to share the facts. The facts are that we as I expected on that first post were a pivotal state to resolve this issue and have provided our assistance beyond the call of duty that is the reason you cannot reconcile between the 85% polls and the action going on from Pakistani soil..
We are free people if these guys would have not liked what our government is doing, these guys don't get cowed, period, we will not implode and that is the reason we are seeing Pakistani stocks market 25% up from low of 28th Sept and the situation is not worsen, and even erupt? I pray it will not. I am not grandstanding my nation, have no need of that but in a little way trying to raise questions that some of you may ask your own media, the one sided portrayal of our societies as screwed up, basket cases is unfair, if that was the case and with my mind that is quite freedom oriented, I would not have ever visited my country, I am a free mind, need free expression and do it all the time, come what it may be, many people in my country don’t agree with me but they never have hanged me by my .alls.. However what I se is absolutely different in the media.
The Pakistan is see on CNN is not the Pakistan I live in or where Rehan, Zain Zachary were raised until year 1999…Yes the religious schools are there but Islamabad has 18,000 primary students in English private schools and 26,000 in Government English primary model schools, a single Madrasa in Islamabad has population more than 2000. This pattern is repeated all through the country. The forces of change are better equipped than forces of decay that what you saw in our decision of 11th sept. As far as majority remains focussed I think we have a good chance to go through al this and end this war asap for betterment of Afghanistan.
Iqbal Latif
I just heard from KGO, San Francisco Bay Area local news talkshow radio, that FBI failed to make very important material wittnesses or the captured confessed related to WTO terrorist attacks. They suggested to reduce sentence, offer resettlement money with their families, and other very generous offers (new identities and homes, etc.) but the captives did not respond to anyting.
So, FBI tries to toture them to get confession. Whatever means necessary to get the results, even toturing.
Can anybody tell me the news are true or not?
The only Bull I am seeing is this assessment
Regards
John
He will be caught soon, no hiding place, yes without him it is difficult world as confidence will not be restored. Bush is trying to underplay his success, you will see good progress soon may be in one month by 17th Nov the 'Taliban' will be out,. Some other queries and my answers, and you take care.. Don’t worry the bull will live but bull needs some circumstances those are presently little hurt..
<oil shipping lanes are threatened and disrupted
(slam dunk eventually, with barrel prices jumping, and world economic recovery thwarted)
With Qaboos of Oman on one side of the Gulf and now Pakistani port of PASNI and Gawadar on the other controlled by US forces with four battle carrier groups in the region, no one -ucks around. Iran takes due notice..
<Egypt's Mubarek and Jordan's Abdullah are toppled
WORST CASE WOULD BE ASSASSINATION OF PAKISTAN'S MUSHAREEF
(slam dunk eventually, with Islamic Fundies rising, regional instability worsening, assassination would be trigger to Paki Civil War)>
Egypt's Mubarek on scale of 1-10 the chances are 6, Jamma'ul Ismlamia is the main concern for me, two regions are intellectual bed rocks one is the Egyptian Syed Qutb party, other is South West of Saudi Arabia, the region from most of these 11 Saudis came. The biggest risk is not Abdullah in Jordan he is well entrenched and liked and protected by Jordanians, Black September 1970's was one occasion where Hashimiites could have been over thrown once that danger was out again with the help of Pakistani pilots who beat the hell out Palestinians in Amman, Air Commodore Khaqan Abbassi and Brig Ziaul Haq did the job for King Hussien where he never forgot them neither Arafat forgave the Pakistanis for saving the Hashimiites. No threat to Abdullah who is now protected by Israelites and liked by Palestinians for her wife is a Palestinian refugee born in Kuwait. he has no problems with anyone in the region, no threat on that account. On scale of 1-10 your Egypt and Jordan are respectively lopsided scenario one is 6 other King Abdullah one is 2..Anyway Egypt and Abdullah are both fully hedged in this crisis so is Oman’s Qaboos, so lets not worry too much on that account.
Coming to longest neck and sticking out and tended as well and the biggest -alls in the region is PAKISTAN'S MUSHAREEF-WORST CASE is again nothing big, no major crisis will emerge, ZiaulHaq disappeared in thin air with no impact on command as Baig took over. You may not know this that our sub-continent was ruled by British with less than 15,000 English civil servants, much as any one may fictionalise and believe in these stories around of implosions and disturbances the fact is the Command and control so far luckily is one great fortune for goods and bad we will not have the civil war, our coups has been far too many but no loss of life loss of democracy of course but once our democracy dies our liberty is restored as the ‘dictators’ are more conscious of democratic values than the so called elected democrats. His Vice Chief Yusuf called as Joe, equally pragmatic AND FORWARD LOOKING OFFICER, I SEE ON SCALE OF 1-10 NO chance of such destabilisation, I would consider that on scale of 1-10 the worst scenario is probably a 2.5. The Corp Commanders now are all very positive and forward looking guys and exactly knows where their interest lies, anyway they know it well that they have a good chance to show to the world that they have ditched the dirty baggage of Taliban so has US their long term ally who made wear this at first place and now once they have gotten rid they will probably go all the way.
<bio-attack causing real deaths with bigger numbers
bio-attack causing real deaths with bigger numbers
(real big variable now, was anthrax a test?)>
I think more Americans will fear these attacks more the terrorist will be heartened to continue, much as I feel the urgency and acute nature of fear they transpire I have my doubts about viability of these attacks, this only represent a further last ditch attempt to black mail America and try to get them to negotiate with the perpetrators of this crime. I feel that anyone who had read ‘Executive Action’ had a plot of what is happening now, this is a typical plagiarised sick version of a sick novel and will fail, the mankind ability to face and recuperate is far greater than the cowardice of backstabbing.
<BinLaden bombing Moslem mosques, blaming the USA
(his frustration with cooperating Arab/Moslem nations is growing with probably desperation, will he soon turn his sights to Saudi Arabia?)>
The Grand Mosque was attacked by one his fellow province member read my posts where I explain the politics of that grand mosque invasion in times of King Khalid, this is not a workable ploy they were killed with anti aircraft fire by the Saudis in the Grand Mosque, you are right on one count unfortunately the invasion of Grand Mosque by his province fanatical clan was blamed on US, it was an attack to throw out Al-Sauds but Us got the blame from the Muslim world the fool it is they now are following some one who has betrayed the sanctity of the grand Mosque but such is dastard sense of understanding of most of these fanatical and Muslims who fail to connect with justice and equity. On scale of 1-10 if the previous act in 1969 would have not been committed this could be a possibility but now none, the Saudi protect the Holy sites with a brigade from Prince Abdullah national Guards. Interesting thing to note is that Saddam AND Osama are both perverted version of Islamic thought one became a Muslim after invading Kuwait otherwise he was a known secularist and the other is from perverted sect of Wahabism who may represent and constitute a lot of voice but self defeating as the very concept is a-human and will wither, come what it may be.. These things don’t last , ,where they last nations wither like Somalia like Sudan like Afghanistan or if Pakistan would follow this path would meet the same fate..
South West of Saudi is the trouble spot, but Saudi hedging of positions has removed or capped that threat for some time, Osama is a bigot and bigots are cheap as such cheap things can be expected but his ability to move has been curtailed, he cannot talk he cannot step out and the entire hornets nest ability to communicate has turned them into a richest booty of terrorist assembled in one place, thousands of them for that last devilish stand, they will be wiped clean or they will surrender like Iraqis did in thousands..
Most probably I think he will surrender he will not like to die, he likes to live and he likes his life and woman, all this suicide and all this acts of cowardice are for other people children his own self he will be surrendering so that he can become the Sunni Ayatollah, Osama alive will be a bigger problem than dead so he will be soon dead although he will be coward to surrender but someone will put bullet in his head..
Iqbal Latif
Ike: I hope the coalition catch Bin Laden quick, President Bush warned it's going to be a long fight, FBI did not catch Union Bomber (domestic mail bomber) for 10, 11 years, I think in our mind set we should prepare for this kind of time frame, furthermore, even if we do catch Bin Laden, there will be other terrorist to take over his spot, we are living in a different world, I hope you are not saying it's a bear world until Laden got caught.
<OBL misses estimates; cites losses for 4Q,The cuts, bin Laden said, would include both mujahadin (holy warriors) and ulema (clerics). They will impact Afghanistan, Pakistan .....>
The fact. Pakistan pre-announced today an upside earning surprised that shocked the world financials markets, a possible ten years 30% growth in earnings is expected from the present new Joint venture that promises absolutely new treatment for radical minds. A joint venture with world strongest economic democracy will increase its potential for foreseeable future grwoth by at least 30% annually.
Earning surprises announcement have turned a lot of strategic pundits looking like a fool who had after 11th of Sept targeted Pakistan as host nation where a joint venture of US-India and Israel will have its final go.. The earning surprised was announced by President Musharraf in a pre-earning conference call, he highlighted that all the negative strains of radicalisation has been traced and US _Pakistan axis have found a elixir that will treat all these strains eliminating most of them. The news send Pakistan stocks higher in a stratosphere.
The propaganda, <Pakistan, which oversees Al Quaeda and its subsidiary Taliban organization, is the world's largest country with a pre-medieval culture and justice system. The country's latest quarterly report said the different units
of the Al Qaeda/Taliban organization, including the madrassas (schools Pakistan has been running for twenty years to turn ordinary children into suicidal holy warriors) had a total of 30,000 employees, meaning the cut represents a 16 percent reduction in staff.>
The fact...People can ridicule my country that does make me feel how much right we are doing by taking on all these radicals, but the facts are very very sweet for US.. if many just can't say thnaks they should be told to shut up!! US soldiers in Afghnistan since 13th are with Pakistani officers, every team has a detachment of a Pakistani officer.. The reality is that your entire strategy in the region is totally Pakistan dependent. . Pakistan hands over a key base in northern most territories of Pakistan to US for ground operation. Where Saudis and Turks or Egyptians backed out, we stood up and gave US beyond expectations, this is the fourth base which US is using, ahead of anyone wildest imaginations. Some think this is going no where I tell you this is going to get you the head of Osama and his cohorts plus 10,00 fundos at the heart of this crime against humanity. James Laker a close friend of friend who was accompanying Powell to Pakistan called my friend in Lahore and told him. ‘Thank you Pakistan,’ he told him that the nations who were our closest allies backed out but Pakistan stood up and delivered, he said we shut up on Pakistan for ten years but it is the only nation that is delivering today after UK, France, Germany and all others are bystanders they will join when Osama will be captured or killed in next few days.
That was my point from day one we will deliver. According to Laker US could not do much and would be delayed if Pakistan would be ambivalent like Saudis? The whole propaganda about our nation that we are a failed, miserable, and a beggar state has fallen on the face of our critics, because when it mattered the most we did where everyone backed out or did not have the guts to do it. It is on the occasions that nations are made or broken.
In a separate development and in a move to wipe out the fundamentalism from the army not only the top brass has been removed but also 28 Brigadiers with questionable links and tendencies that are radical tendencies have been retired quietly or moved to insensitive positions. 1000 more commissioned officers are being made redundant in an exercise to clean up the radicalism within the army. To say we were responsible for Taliban is so untrue and so unfair, it was US who created them as a force to deal against their arch enemy in 80’s the communists, now old commies are friends but Russian cannot do much they can’t even control the terrorist infested Chechnya. If US needed one nation to deliver that was Pakistan and that they got and they will finish the job very very quickly.
To day was again another day o showdown with the government being a Friday, big protests were called, happy to report Dunkin sales went up by another 14% from the plus 35% since 11th sept and out side the mosques people showed no interest with the Mullahs.
The end game has started, every specialised unit is attached with Pakistan key SSG group officers the unit that belongs to the President the dictator who is more benevolent in our region than many a democracies. The two brigades from Cherat has been moved to support Delta force marking special forces on ground are Pakistan army man to man providing intelligence and cover against enemy assaults, they know the terrain and helping their US counter parts quietly in an exercise that will always be the most secretive contribution form nation to another.
and shoulder to shoulder once again the old allies are doing which no one ever imagined, the friendships never die, we don’t sit on the laps of USSR and have rendezvous with Brezhnev, we had defined our future since our independence and today are proud to pay our dues to US in time of their needs, Of course al this nonsense about our failing state is nothing but sour grapes as Laker told my friends that this country has more US icons than many a nations in East. It is not a clash of civilisation it is rather unity of civilisations where a Muslim Pakistan comes and provides what is required from them, Taliban was a folly of US-Pakistan forces they exactly know how to take them out and this end game will see a lot of stability for my country that I am happy about and will bring Pakistan back in front of the nations where it belongs. Without our radical baggage we will progress.
We can address our poverty, our education and our rebuilding the hot pursuit of removal of pockets of poverty and pockets of deprivation will be our top priority and hopefully a radical mullah free Pakistan will help no one else but Pakistan the most. We have no pretensions of bigness or greatness we understand our poverty and out feelings, we are critical of our action unlike may of my friends who see no wrongs in their backyard, I hope that our self critical posture and our positive actions will hit those the most who thought and out of this Musharraf will be dead and dragged on street and Pakistan will implode. I hope these things in bad taste will not become part of some who really feel so left out.
Iqbal Latif
Only after Osama is caught or dead, I am a born optimist and for me to operate I have to see this world free from bastards like Osama bin Liner, my total concentration is on this character, the little I can do I am doing, once that guy is taken out we will move on. A market under black mail and threat is not my market I want my economy and my optimism back this guy has robbed me of my optimism my greatest wealth, without that I am blind. .LA man ..Confidence lets bring the confidence back markets will roar back up I see 1228 in no time once Osama bin liner is taken out..
Iqbal Latif
I will second that L.A.Man RadBul
Hello Ike..are you still watching the market?? Would like to see your market view some times too. Thanks.
A compilation..Big money and big politics – Can they go together?
Who is the largest individual shareholder of Citigroup? And Citigroup CEO Sanford Weill will tell you “I’ve never had an individual shareholder who is as big as he is,” The man Sanford Weil is referring to is Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal of Saudi Arabia, the ‘Warren Buffet’ of Saudi Arabia. As the Economist put it a couple of years ago, "Of the grandchildren of Ibn Saud, the warrior who united the Arabian Peninsula in the early years of this century, none enjoys greater prestige”.
The story of the acquisition of Citigroup is remarkable and demonstrates his keen foresight. A close Saudi source informs that Prince Waleed won a major defence contract after complaining to King Fahd that for minor royals there wasn’t much to do unless one was not a son of ruling royals. He consequently got the contract and invested the entire proceeds in Citigroup at 9$, when Citigroup was available at a deep discount as its very survival was at stake. Discount acquisitions and discount takeovers are his trademark.
He was recently at the heart of a major controversy when New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani turned down a 10 m$ contribution towards post-Sept. 11 relief efforts. Late last week, officials in New York City turned down a $10 million contribution from Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal of Saudi Arabia. This was because the prince also released a statement suggesting a fresh look at "some of the issues that led to" the attack, as well as "a more balanced stance toward the Palestinian cause." New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani countered that this attitude is "part of the problem"; the prince has reportedly counter-countered that his gift was refused "because there are Jewish pressures and they were afraid of them.
He loves the Arabian desert. The world’s fifth-richest man sits alone in a rare moment of tranquillity. Who is this man? What is he thinking? Why is he here? He says about his love of desert “Sometimes, I stay alone, sit alone there for one or two or three hours,” he said in an exclusive interview with CNBC. “I really feel serenity, at home, alone, middle desert, no lights, only the light of the fire.” “I feel very much comfortable in the desert,” he said. “Very much back to my roots. There’s a lot of serenity here and comfort. I am a desert man. You don’t have to be born in the desert to feel that you are from the desert.”
United States, until that donation controversy, had heard of Prince almost entirely in the financial press, on the strength of an investing record that has prompted some to refer to him as a "the Warren Buffet of Saudi Arabia." He is amongst the investor class of Rupert Murdoch and Ted Turner; he’s one of the world’s biggest media tycoons, with shares in AOL, News Corp. and Disney. Alongside the Pritzkers and the Hiltons, he is a leading hotelier, with big chunks of the Four Seasons, Movenpick and Fairmont chains, along with New York’s Plaza Hotel, and Paris’s George V.
His giant stake in banking in Citigroup alone totals a cool $10 billion. It's an understatement to say that Saudi elites are not generally admired for any kind of capitalistic prowess, but Alwaleed has been an exception. Certainly he's not in Warren Buffet’s league when it comes to analysing financial markets and securities. Nor does he possess the technological expertise of a Gates or a Dell. But give the man credit: The prince knew enough to buy 6.2 million shares of Apple in March of 1997, when it was trading for about $18 a share. Apple went up to $108. That was nearly $700 million of profit in some 36 months in a high-profile stock that was sitting right there in front of everyone, but when it dropped from 108$ to present level of 16$, it is still known that Prince owns the very shares. His exit strategy is a little doubtful. As Citigroup co-CEO Sandy Weill observes, 'You sure can't argue with results.'
In real estate, too, he is a powerhouse, whose empire stretches from London’s Canary Wharf to a gleaming skyscraper now nearing completion in Saudi Arabia’s capital. At 984 feet, it’s as tall as the Eiffel Tower, and taller than any other building in the Middle East or Europe. The Prince has got such a reputation for finding good investments that his poor investment decisions, like the wipeout of his entire internet stake, are rarely ever talked about.
In October of 1997, with the markets doing their usual fall swoon, the prince made two other big bets on tech, buying pieces of Netscape and Motorola. At first neither move looked particularly astute. Presently the issue that confronts many investment analysts is that, after this major controversy with the New York City Mayor, will this unwanted publicity help his holdings? Will the Prince continue to hold Citigroup? Or like Kuwaiti investments in BP, or Shah of Iran investments in Krupp, he may be eased out a little?
Going by precedent, whenever there are political disagreements or a visible contention, in strategic investment, there is a kind of an invisible hand that makes sure that those investments don’t continue. The analysts are wondering: with the kind of recent political sensitivity in the Middle East and the Prince’s position that at the heart of all recent world events, the Middle East divisions and their resolutions play a major role, the issue is that will these kinds of political views survive with somebody who holds huge holdings of Citigroup? Are the two positions tenable and go together? That is a doubt and a long-term implication, which the strategists would need to think about, considering that Prince Alwaleed’s exit strategy has been questionable, like Motorola, Apple. He should consider when is the right time to exit.
The political ramifications of this controversy may have some impact on his long-term holdings in Citigroup. The impacts of recent Saudi-US political disagreements are yet to be fully quantified. One cannot overlook the fact that New York is the financial capital of the world and is very sensitive to Middle Eastern politics. Price position on some of these issues may adversely impact his unique position.
Prince Alwaleed bought some six million shares of Motorola at around $76, and over the next 12 months the stock promptly fell all the way down to $38. Abracadabra! The prince is out some $228 million. The stocks then headed north: Motorola soaring to about $90 in early November, the prince’s stake was $538 million in Motorola, and abracadabra, he was up by $82 million. Price on that big move said 'Sure, that stock could have stayed down for three or four years, but when we analyse a company we really do it, so we knew that we had a plan, and thank God we were proven right.' But when the market tanked so did Motorola and other communication investments that nearly got wiped out, like his stake in most of the Internet start-ups; for a man of his size that may have been just some small change.
The overwhelming majority of his holdings are plunked down in three stock groups: media, technology, and banking (he owns about 150 million shares of Citigroup, or 4.4% of its stock, worth $8 billion, which is why he got the courtesy call from Collins). If you were to travel back to 1990 and pick three sectors of the world economy to invest in, you couldn't do much better than that. What makes this even more impressive is that Alwaleed is a value investor who bought what are really growth stocks when they were cheap. He didn't get suckered into metal producers, for instance--which have always looked cheap but have gone nowhere--or oil, about which the prince says he knows nothing. Did he zero in on tech, media, and banking by design? 'Yes and no,' says the prince. 'I really came to these groups because of the companies. I am always looking for the same thing: global companies with a brand name that are basically healthy but that have had a hiccup. That is what led me to these companies.'
What the prince really is, of course, a very successful portfolio manager. If you look at the world's richest men, they sort of fall into two camps. In one camp are the founders, like Gates and Dell, who have created their wealth from one great business. The prince falls into the second, which includes men like Buffett and Philip Anschutz, whose great skill is not managing businesses but deploying capital. This is what Prince says about deployment of the capital, 'I believe Citigroup is a $100 stock. The full potential of the merger has yet to take place. Also cost reduction. And when the markets begin accepting that Citigroup is a global bank not susceptible to small increases in interest rates, that it grows 15% to 20% every year, then the P/E multiple goes up from 15 to 20. I am patient. I have been hammered twice with Citibank, very badly. I'm a long-termer. I'm not a seller.' Remember, if the prince does hang on to all of his Citi stock, then for all practical purposes, where Citi's stock goes, so goes the prince's fortune. If Citi stock moves from $46 to $53, it would add about $1 billion to his net worth nearly wiping out the entire losses he made in his Internet investments. The Prince is not an insider and can therefore buy or sell anytime--which is partly why he chooses not to sit on any corporate boards-- The prince says he is delighted with Citi (interestingly, the bank has had strong ties to the Saudi royal family for decades).
One of the fictions of investing is that diversification is a key to attaining great wealth. Not true. Diversification can prevent you from losing money, but no one ever joined the billionaire's club through a great diversification strategy. Most often great wealth is created by making bold, concentrated bets. For instance, nearly half of the prince's $17 billion fortune sits in Citi stock. When a $1 billion chunk of Citi stock was traded, when Sandy Weill and his wife, Joan, had visited with Prince in Saudi Arabia, despite speculation of the Prince selling it was discovered that it was not Prince, as it would look very bad for Weill if the prince sold 18 million shares after a prolonged and private audience with Citi's co-chairman.
He is a shrewd investor but knows exactly how to spend his pennies. He is amongst the rarest of the rich who has broken the taboo of buying second hand luxury. Amongst the richest of the world, it is considered unethical to buy someone else’s second hand luxury but rich as he is, the Prince hates to pay retail. “I do not like to buy something that’s expensive,” the Prince explains. “Take my boat for example. I had this situation whereby this boat, this yacht was offered to me at a very inexpensive price. Basically at 20 percent of its value. And I wished to have a boat. And I was supposed to build a boat. So I aborted that concept and I just bought that boat.”
Like mostly everything the Prince owns, the planes, too, were bought at a deep discount. The Airbus from his pal, the Sultan of Brunei, who was in a cash crunch. The Boeing from Gulf Air, which was also in trouble.
Crowning the edifice: A dramatic opening 198 feet across, wide enough to accommodate the Prince’s Boeing 767, or even (by just a hair) his Airbus A340 — a jet airlines used to transport hundreds of passengers but that the prince uses only for himself and his family. The Prince doesn’t fly much — only about once a month, tops. But when he does, he does so in style. The Airbus, decorated by its previous owner, features wall-to-wall silk carpets and solid platinum trim, with custom-designed platinum cutlery to match. The Boeing’s interior is more subdued, accented in the Prince’s trademark colours, green and tan. Alwaleed himself approved its design, down to the flight attendants’ uniforms. And though he barely sleeps on land, much less in the air, the planes each feature a bedroom, just in case, along with a full-sized master bathroom, with shower.
Ah yes, the boat. Ocean liner is more like it. At 283 feet, it’s nearly as long as a football field and ranks as one of the world’s largest private pleasure crafts. It, too, came from the Sultan — by way of billionaire investors Adnan Kashoggi and Donald Trump. In the end, none of them could afford it —leaving the Prince to buy it at the fire sale price of just $19 million. Its replacement value now: $100 million.
From a nondescript, two-story building on the outskirts of Riyadh, Alwaleed runs his global empire. Staff of fewer than three-dozen professionals oversees his investments, his travel plans, and his image. Lest their mission ever be in doubt, reminders of the fruits of their labours — the logos of every brand in which the Prince has an investment — are everywhere; at his home, on the wall behind the Prince’s desk, on his boat and on his plane. Everywhere, also, are Television sets! An avid viewer, the Prince wants to know the moment the news breaks. It certainly seems reasonable to say that among members of the Saudi royal family, few have bought into America—literally—the way Alwaleed has. "You can quote me," Alwaleed says in a recent Newsweek interview responding to the returned-donation flap, "I am an ally of America." This is why it really was rather surprising to find him tacking onto his $10 million gift rhetoric that he must have known might spark a controversy.
Alwaleed is said to have favoured loosening things up a bit in his home country's famously closed and strict society, but at the moment he doesn't seem to be putting much emphasis on that as one of the "issues" in need of renewed scrutiny. It will be interesting to see how he proceeds from here. What Alwaleed has so far managed is the rare trick of being revered both as a prince of global investing and as an actual prince in the ruling Saudi family. If that was hard before, it looks like one royal challenge now.
Iqbal Latif
US-led forces used helicopters in all-night raids on the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar, sources said.
According to details, Kandahar was bombarded for the whole night by helicopters and jet planes.
Iqbal Latif
<<I read that the polls show anti-US, pro-Taliban sentiment shot up 40% to 80% overall when we decided to fight back. >>
Yesterday was a total call of strike, we had SOME in Karachi out of fear but in Lahore and Rawalpindi it was alright, now coming to polls, we have a very high rate of illiteracy, it is the question of who you are talking too, people who matter in this are rarely asked, the sensationalism is far more important for networks and for pollsters.
If 80% people are against any thing that would just not fly in Pakistan. We are vocal people and would not let anyone do that to us against our wishes. Nearly everyone I talk to they tell me of course that they are sad about this but lucky to escape this as a result of intelligent policy of not harbouring these –astards.
Now on lighter tone let me give you an example, we own Dunkin Donuts in Pakistan, now the pro- Taliban Islamic party had announced that US products should be boycotted, to be honest our D&D sales have seen a 35% rise in last week alone, I think nothing more represent US in Pakistan than McDonald’s, KFC and Dunkin Donuts, the way people are treating our shop managers will give us earliest indication, none so far, we are flying in supplies to meet demand from Dubai as our shipment was slightly delayed, one of our shops was damaged the KFC one in Kyc but Dunkin Donuts is doing great business and we did not stop or closed for a single day. We are one of the largest sellers in Asia after Philippines, in Lahore we have now 14 kiosks opened for brand recognition in last one month, in every major institution if there was a problem and 80% was against US we could not have had this massive rise in face of fatwa to boycott our products. I see and make my observation from street level, that from street level are facts, now first it was army that would face revolt that did not materialise as he shunted out most of the top brass overnight, now the propaganda is about people that will revolt but my people are eating Donut’s and asking for more in face of religious fatwas by the largest Islamic parties not to eat these things.
I can only say that ground realities are different, our employees who represent D&D on my insistence if security is an issue are not ready to close shops. I asked my GM last night in Lahore what does he think of the ground realities he told me sir, get me supplies asap. The street is happy and happy that once again we have been saved from a tragedy of disproportionate size.
From 11th of Sept we were being cornered as a target, now when that failed our government is being cornered as a hostage government, now I am telling you a story of our business and I know that knowing my views anyone can go and burn it or do anything silly but I know all this is propaganda and the reality is that Pakistani stocks market is rising, people I talk are happy that we escape being target despite of best efforts of many.
Right now by friend who owns Macdonald tells me that all these chains are doing roaring businesses honestly we thought that we will have to close down after war started but nothing doing, now why your net works are unable to show the icons of US businesses doing great in Pakistan and people queuing in to buy Donuts I fail to understand they will still go to a bearded man and ask a twisted and a loaded question, after all fear makes their reports far much potent.
When we opened our first shop last Oct a Mullah walked in and asked me about reasons of bringing fast chins to my country. I told him it is the smallest image of development and progress, this is élan vital against every conservative element that we have to move on to the next century and these places makes us feel a part of the progress that is very much liked by most of the Pakistanis who queue to get a US visa. Streets and food represent the best of any nations streaks, on that count I see no problems we are going to be affected first so far we are doing better that is the bottom line. Your pools are faulty Sir..gg
Iqbal Latif
Diplomacy and war strategy being planned.
There are intense negotiations between Pakistan and
Hidayat Amin Arsalan, former Afghan foreign minister,
acting as a special envoy of Afghanistan's former
monarch, Zahir Shah on future of Afghanistan. The
march of Northern Alliance towards Kabul has been
postponed by at least for several weeks. Until final
road map is prepared.
It is now known that Pakistan reservations on imposing
an Alliance government has been partially agreed by
the relevant quarters, quietly even Saudi has shown
its unhappiness over imposition of an alliance
Government according to well placed sources. The
Northern Alliance would not be allowed to takeover
Kabul until alternate broad based governance is
agreed.
Arsalan is holding intensive discussion with Pakistani
Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar on the future make up of
the Afghan Government, on the other hand Powell
negotiates with President Pervez Musharraf on many
aspects of military cooperation -- from arms sales to
personnel exchanges -- although weapons transfers are
still barred by sanctions. A growing consensus in
President Bush administration that Pakistan -- through
its Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) assets in
Afghanistan -- holds the key for success of the United
States political and military objectives is the centre
piece of talks between the US Secretary of State Colin
L Powell and President General Pervez Musharraf in
Islamabad on Monday, according to Pakistani and other
diplomatic sources in Islamabad and Washington.
The clock is ticking as the diplomatic and strategic
show down is given final touches, the increase in
intensity of the diplomatic and ongoing war campaign
points to certain very concrete steps that are to be
achieved soon. The rule of the games to govern post
Taliban Afghanistan are clearly being set and
redefined, it is not a coincidence that King Zahir
Shah representative and Colin Powell are present in
Islamabad on a same day.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell announced that the
United States was open to expanding its military ties
with Pakistan and hinted that an announcement on a new
joint training program was imminent. With King Zahir
Shah emissary putting the final touches to the plans
being formulated in Islamabad. India feeling a loss
of importance on the murky chess board of global arena
missed no chance to remind the visiting dignitaries
that they have also some scores to settle with
Pakistan. Indian artillery today unexpectedly launched
a barrage against Pakistani military posts across the
Kashmir border, sparking retaliatory fire, Indian
artillery barrage which killed one woman and injured
25 civilians.
According to a Pakistani General who refused to be
named, India are stepping efforts to control what they
term cross border terrorism is actually a message to
Powell that ‘your newly discovered ally is not
necessarily our friend.’ That barrage of artillery by
India as added a new dimension to already very
complicated scene in the regional politics.
Along with diplomacy that is taken new turn by minutes
the US in a change of tactic that initially called for
massive attacks on Taliban it is now learned that over
the next couple of weeks, the U.S. military will
hammer the Taliban militia's 55th Brigade, a seasoned
assault force made up mainly of several thousand Arabs
and other foreigners, sources said. Some experts see
destroying that unit as crucial to undermining Taliban
rule in Afghanistan and crushing the terrorist network
led by Osama bin Laden; to a great extent, the 55th
Brigade represents bin Laden's organization in
Afghanistan.
Military planners are operating under some time
constraints as they plan the next phase of the war.
Shirin Tahir-Kheli, a South Asia expert who previously
served on the National Security Council staff,
believes that the Pentagon has "a one-month window,"
from the middle of this month until mid-November, when
the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins, to take apart
terrorist networks and undercut the Taliban.
The Pentagon is planning an extensive range of actions
during the next phase of the war in Afghanistan,
including covert raids, continued bombing and
large-scale helicopter attacks conducted partly to
signal that the U.S. military is engaged on the ground
in pursuing terrorists, defense officials and outside
military experts said.
Analysts and other informed Pakistani official sources
informed me that before the advent of Ramazan and
winters, the US government wants to see Taliban
military defeated, at least in capital Kabul coupled
with the formation of a broadbased 'interim council'
that may convene a Loya Jirga in the Afghan capital
some time late next month. During his stay in
Islamabad Secretary Powell will explore the extent to
which Gen Pervez Musharraf was ready to accommodate
Northern Alliance's political and military leadership
in the future government of Afghanistan.
In the future set-up currently being debated in
Washington, US officials have spoken of giving no less
than 40 per cent representation to political and
military commanders who now represent Tajiks, Uzbeks
and Hazara in the anti-Pakistan Northern Alliance.
"Somehow US officials feel that the ISI can provide
vital assistance to them in a range of political and
military areas," informed a Pakistani official
speaking by phone from Washington."
The US is clearly seeking to revive Cold War era ties
with Pakistan, particularly with ISI. As a gesture of
its intention to cooperate with the Bush
administration, Pakistani authorities have already
allowed anti-Taliban Afghan leaders and groups to
establish contact points and offices, reasonably
funded from unknown sources, for Taliban dissidents in
the cities of Peshawar and Quetta.
Along with this flurry of diplomatic activity the US
military plan appears designed, at least in part, to
reassure Americans that the government is going after
terrorists. It will be a total effort," according to
Defense officials here familiar with military
planning. "It will be an air assault with attacks from
bases near by on flushing out the terrorist from their
nests, and it will be real visible. I think the US
administration will want to show that things are being
done."
The 55th Brigade is believed to number well over 1,000
fighters, and has grown more powerful and more
politically significant inside Afghanistan over the
last year as more foreigners have come into the
country. According to Ali Ahmad Jalali, a former
colonel in the Afghan army who was a planner for the
resistance after the 1979 Soviet invasion. "The
brigade was specifically formed under the Taliban to
arrange, train and control the participation of Arab
volunteers," he said. "The Taliban relies heavily on
it." The unit spearheaded the Taliban takeover of
Mazar-e Sharif, the major city in the north, several
years ago, and reportedly was active in attacks on the
opposition Northern Alliance last week.
Even other experts who disagree with the view of the
55th Brigade as the keystone of Taliban power say they
expect it will be a major target of U.S. attacks in
the coming days, because it is an easily targeted
conventional military unit that is associated both
with bin Laden and the Taliban, and is believed to
have sent some of its trainees outside Afghanistan as
members of the al Qaeda network.
The strategy is to crush the 55th brigade, according
to a former Special Forces officer experienced in
Afghanistan. He says that 55th brigade is symbolic --
they are interlopers in Afghanistan."
Destroying the brigade might take months, the experts
also warned. Tahir-Kheli, the former National Security
Council staff member, believes that the unit appears
to be spread out across the country, with a hard core
of several hundred protecting bin Laden.
She predicted they are likely to fight to the death.
"They have nothing to lose," she said. "They took over
a country by force, and they've got nowhere else to
go."
It is believed that 55th brigade will be followed by
special forces, however one question facing the U.S.
military is that historically it does not have a good
track record -- at least in public -- with such secret
raids. In 1970, a group of U.S. troops on helicopters
flew to the Sontay prisoner-of-war camp just west of
Hanoi, only to find it empty. A decade later, Navy
RH-53D helicopters trying to rescue American hostages
in Iran crashed while refuelling, killing eight. In
1993, 18 U.S. troops were killed during a Special
Operations raid in Mogadishu, Somalia, that was
carried out by some of the same units deployed to
Uzbekistan.
On the other hand, experts say, the quality of Special
Forces troops and training improved radically in
response to some of those failures.
The events are moving towards a clear cut objective
much as many think that present crisis is becoming a
new quagmire for the anti terrorist alliance.
Iqbal Latif
Ram Sahib I hope you enjoy this..<Questions: Is the present military sufficiently secular so as to be able to rationally control civilian use of The Bomb?
How serious are the inroads that Islamic fundamentalism may have made into the armed forces? Should the opponents of Islamic terror be concerned? >
Let go through this assortment of various issues that will give you some background of what has happened and what could have happened!! If Pakistan was a rogue state and if its army was fully infested, things could have been very very different, it was the 11th Sept events that decided the fate of our nation and to great extent the avoidance of a greater conflict for the world, although I don't think that Arab regimes would have bothered much if Pakistan as expected by many of its enemies would be at the core of the attack but fragmentation or dismemberment process like Turkish empire would have started if we would have made a wrong decision, in my opinion this was a collective decision and vested decision and that counts, nations that are problematic get killed on such stumbling blocks.
"Pakistan had to choose between going along with America or becoming another Iraq," said Pervez Hoodbhuy, a physicist at Quaid-I-Azam University and one of Pakistan's few anti-nuclear activists. "Our foreign policy was being held hostage by the fundamentalists, and Sept. 11 brought it all to a head."
Seeking to pre-empt threats to the stability to his government on the first day of U.S.-led attacks on Afghanistan, President Pervez Musharraf purged key senior officers in the Pakistani military and intelligence services, agencies that helped to create and support the Afghan Taliban militia, according to military sources. "He jettisoned a lot of ideological, emotional and historical baggage because he believed it was in the country's best interest. He can neutralize the opposition, but if he is to live up to his new road map, he needs a stronger hand." Musharraf's sudden overhaul, which included pushing the country's intelligence chief, Gen. Mahmoud Ahmad, into "premature retirement," was intended to rid his security agencies of top officers unwilling to abandon their support of militant Islamic groups and to prevent them from undercutting orders to sever Pakistan's ties with the Taliban, the sources said. Bomb since 1987 has been under Military control, the military as an institution is well organised and can distinguish very well if very national interests are at stake. They have been responsible with the technology and maintaining an adequate deterrence.
Any transfer of that technology to any other country is unthinkable, or indiscriminate use of any weapon, as a modern Army they have their strategic priorities right.
This makes them little more stable than their Islamic counterparts in the Arab and non-Arab world.
Look at this recent strategic somersault after 11th Sept, who could have predicted this one? Ditching the slogan of ‘army of Islam’ overnight did show that is not overtaken so far by religious zealots, Islam is just a camouflage to fulfil national interests and objectives. The use of political Islam and the militant strain of that philosophy legitimise many a illegalities, inhuman and unconstitutional excesses, it is indiscriminately used in the entire Islamic world for the furtherance of AGENDAS THAT SUITS NATIONS, each time when BOMB STARTS FALLING the nation under attack TURN THEIR GAZE TO God, they make evil things happen on earth but remission from God is expected there is always none, Ghaddafi, Saddam ASSAD ARAFAT AND NOW OMAR ALWAYS LEARNED IT HARD WAY, MUSHARRAF AS AN EXCEPTION CAME OUT GOOD WHEN IT MATTERED THE MOST.
Musharraf's decision last week to aid the U.S.-led campaign against terrorism has angered militant Muslim groups here, many of which have long-standing ties to Pakistan's military and intelligence services. Reflecting concern that Islamic clerics and senior officers could try to destabilize his two-year-old military government, the self-appointed president pushed out at least five prominent officers.
"General Musharraf clearly said that those who want to accompany him in this new journey can stay aboard, while others may leave," said one senior military official. "In every army of the world, either you follow the commander or leave."
Musharraf also ordered the house arrest today of one of the most vocal religious leaders in Pakistan, Fazlur Rahman of the Jamiat-e-Ulema-i-Islami party. Rahman was released later in the day. Meanwhile, leaders of 24 religious groups called for rallies in Pakistan's largest cities on Monday to protest tonights attacks in Afghanistan.
Some senior military officers, including Ahmad, the intelligence services chief who led two unsuccessful delegations to Afghanistan to ask the Taliban to surrender Osama bin Laden, have argued strongly against Musharraf's willingness to support U.S.-led attacks against the Taliban.
In addition, some members of the intelligence service reportedly balked at orders to provide intelligence information to the United States as it prepared for military attacks against bin Laden and the Taliban leadership.
Now some of those top commanders, including three who helped Musharraf overthrow Pakistan's elected civilian government in October 1999, have been forced out of key positions, allowing Musharraf to recast Pakistan's most crucial new foreign policy and national security goals.
Musharraf, who was given 48 hours' notice of the start of the U.S. operations in Afghanistan by British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Friday, negotiated this rapid power shift using a deft combination of promotions and unexpected "early retirements," replacing hard-line senior members with moderates more compatible with his new policies.
He curtailed the power of Lt. Gen. Mohammad Aziz Khan, a strong supporter of Pakistan's radical Islamic groups, by promoting him from his key decision-making role as the army's vice chief of staff to the largely ceremonial position of chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. Unlike its counterpart in the U.S. military, the Pakistani joint chiefs chairman is little more than a figurehead.
At the same time, two hard-line officers who have resisted Musharraf's demands for compliance with U.S. requests to attack the Taliban -- intelligence chief Ahmad and the Army deputy chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Muzzaffer Usami -- privately submitted "premature retirements," according to military officials.
Musharraf named Lt. Gen. Ehsanul Haq, a moderate with an extensive background in Afghan issues, as new head of the intelligence services. Haq is also an ethnic Pashtun -- the same ethnic background as most members of the Taliban and about 40 percent of the Afghan population.
"By all standards, a moderate has replaced a hard-liner in this key job," one former intelligence official said.
The president also appointed new commanders in two strategic provinces on the Afghan border -- Baluchistan and the North West Frontier Province, volatile tribal areas where many leaders and residents have strong ties to the Taliban. The original members of the Taliban were trained in religious schools in Baluchistan and the North West Frontier Province, and those schools have remained active recruiting grounds for the Afghan movement.
The tough U.S. demands on Musharraf have given the Pakistani president the chance to redirect a military which has become increasingly supportive of hard-line religious groups in recent years. His efforts to curb the military's involvement with religious organizations and discourage the intelligence services' support of the Taliban had met little success until the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
U.S. officials warned Musharraf soon after the attacks on New York and Washington that they expected him to silence public dissent in the ranks of his own military and intelligence services in the build-up to military action against the Taliban. But from the first days of Musharraf's efforts to coordinate intelligence and military operations, some of his commanders had offered stiff resistance and showed little resolve in supporting the president.
Pakistan's intelligence services has played a critical role in financing, arming and training the Taliban throughout its rise to power in Afghanistan between 1994 and 1996. Although Musharraf had come to believe the Taliban had become too extremist in the last two years, the radical Islamic movement retained many avid supporters within Pakistan's intelligence services and military.
Many military officers also have expressed discontent with Musharraf's willingness to cooperate with the exiled king of Afghanistan, Mohammed Zahir Shah, in organizing a government to succeed the Taliban. The Pakistani military has long distrusted the ex-king and is particularly riled that he has agreed to include the Northern Alliance, a rebel coalition fighting the Taliban, in discussions on forming a new government.
Musharraf's efforts to replace some of the most recalcitrant of the officers cuts deeply, however. Three of the men who today lost their influential positions were the three officers most important to the success of Musharraf's military coup in October 1999 and were his long-time personal associates.
But with the onset of military action that could continue over the course of several days or weeks and the possible need to establish a new government in Afghanistan after a collapse of the Taliban, Musharraf would have faced increasing pressure from officers with only lukewarm commitment to meeting U.S. demands.
To solidify his own position, Musharraf quietly extended his own three-year term as Pakistan's army chief of staff, the most powerful position in the government. His claim on that position expired Saturday, but in his role as president of the country, he could re-appoint himself to the job.
Pakistan's decision to side with the U.S. anti-terrorist campaign has left this military-ruled Muslim nation in the throes of change as shattering -- and potentially as liberating -- as the air strikes that began tonight next door in Afghanistan.
When President Pervez Musharraf cast Pakistan's lot with the West three weeks ago, he abruptly turned a Muslim neighbor into an enemy, challenged the popular grip of radical Islamic groups here and moved to break their formidable alliance with segments of the Pakistani armed forces.
Instead of grudgingly acquiescing to U.S. demands for support and trying to minimize the political fallout, Musharraf has worked to turn the crisis into an opportunity to bring about far-reaching changes in Pakistan's society, institutions and foreign relations that many people here have felt were long overdue.
But in doing so, Musharraf has also taken enormous risks, sharpening the religious contradictions and institutional divisions in a volatile, impoverished nation of 140 million. Moreover, he has staked his country's future on support from Western powers that have abandoned Pakistan in the past and until recently had shunned Musharraf as a dictator. Only now has the West embraced him out of strategic necessity.
"President Musharraf realized this was a defining moment for Pakistan," said Khalid Mahmood, director of the Institute for Regional Studies here. "He jettisoned a lot of ideological, emotional and historical baggage because he believed it was in the country's best interest. He can neutralize the opposition, but if he is to live up to his new road map, he needs a stronger hand."
By far the most significant step Musharraf has taken is to defy the small but vocal radical religious groups that, with growing influence, have sown violence and intolerance inside Pakistan, tarred its image abroad and held its foreign policy hostage to a militant Islamic agenda.
Over the past 20 years, the mission of Pakistan's army has become increasingly religious, based largely on opposition to Hindu-led India and favoring Islamic-ruled Afghanistan. Pakistan's military intelligence agencies nurtured Islamic guerrilla groups, first to fight Soviet troops in Afghanistan with U.S. support and later to covertly fight Indian troops in Kashmir.
Musharraf, a moderate Muslim who pledged to reform and modernize Pakistan when he seized power in October 1999, has tried to curb the influence of these groups ever since. But he has been repeatedly forced to back off -- in part because the groups commanded passionate support from some Muslims, and in part because of the key role they played in Kashmir and Afghanistan.
After the terrorist attacks last month in New York and Washington, a wave of vituperative, anti-American protests was launched by radical Islamic groups who support the ruling Taliban Islamic movement in Afghanistan. They threatened mass violence if the United States launched an attack there.
Until last weekend, Musharraf tolerated the protests. Police were instructed to intervene only if serious violence broke out. But today, Musharraf ordered Maulana Fazl-ur Rehman, leader of the most virulent Islamic group, placed under house arrest, removing him from the scene just before U.S. missiles began to strike.
Musharraf unexpectedly replaced his intelligence chief and other senior generals known to have strong religious views -- even though three of them had been key players in the 1999 coup. In the short term, Musharraf was trying to eliminate any institutional challenge to his leadership during the current crisis.
It was not clear, though, whether these combined actions will be sufficient to quell the threat of violence from other Islamic leaders, who have called for mass protests Monday -- and how the army would now respond. If mayhem does erupt, it could divide or paralyze the armed forces, splinter the country along religious and ethnic lines, and even destabilize the government.
In the long term, however, some civilian analysts and moderate government aides said Musharraf has taken a crucial first step toward calling the bluff of Islamic groups and permanently separating the army from their agenda. Some critics, who before Sept. 11 were calling for a quick return to civilian rule, now note that only an army general would have dared make such changes.
Over the past three weeks, moreover, Musharraf's authority has been reinforced by pledges of strong diplomatic and economic support from Western powers that once shunned him and by praise from Pakistani opinion makers who had criticized him.
"
I think we are lucky President Musharraf was in power when this happened," said one civilian cabinet minister. "He is a gutsy guy who has made the right decision. He didn't vacillate or panic. This has put Pakistan back on the world map and it can turn the country around, but the implications will be prolonged and difficult to manage."
Musharraf's sudden shift in policy toward Afghanistan has brought its own new dangers and opportunities for Pakistan. Most Pakistanis have little love for the Taliban, a rigid regime that has sent only trouble spilling into their territory. Musharraf's new stance has instantly distanced his government from radical Islam in the approving eyes of the world.
On the other hand, the two countries share a long border and a large floating populace of Afghan descent. Many Afghan refugees in Pakistan are sympathetic to the Taliban and strongly oppose a U.S. attack on their homeland. War in Afghanistan could easily spill across the border, leading to violence and unleashing a flood of refugees the nation can ill afford to absorb.
The United States has pledged to provide economic help, but many Pakistanis do not trust the United States. They bitterly recall the Cold War flip-flops of the 1980s in which the United States sided with Pakistan against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, only to walk away after the Soviets were driven out and bloody civil strife erupted there, sending millions of refugees fleeing into Pakistan.
Pakistan's military and intelligence sources helped to support the Taliban when it formed in 1994, and until recently had hoped that by maintaining cordial ties with the Taliban, they could exert a moderating influence on the movement's behavior. But last month, when the United States asked the Taliban to hand over bin Laden, even Pakistan's intelligence chief could not persuade the Afghans to comply. An angry Musharraf had no choice but to turn against the Taliban.
At the same time, however, he has clung to a second controversial pillar of his foreign policy -- support for separatist Muslim guerrillas in Indian Kashmir -- in hopes of shoring up his domestic credentials as a supporter of jihad, or holy war, and to counter criticism that he has sold out Pakistan's interests to the West.
The insurgency in Kashmir is a far more popular national cause than Afghanistan. Most Pakistani Muslims view it as a justified "freedom struggle" against oppression by India, the much larger, Hindu-led neighbor that is Pakistan's longtime military adversary and more recent nuclear rival.
Musharraf also hopes that by doing the United States' bidding, he can win international pressure on India to negotiate a Kashmir settlement. But U.S. ties with India are closer now than they have been in decades, and the Bush administration has increasingly adopted the Indian argument that the guerrilla movement in Kashmir is part of the regional terrorist threat.
Meanwhile, a second controversial component of Pakistan's rivalry with India, its nuclear weapons program, has suddenly become an international liability.
In 1998, both India and Pakistan conducted nuclear tests, alarming the West and drawing economic sanctions from the United States. But to many Pakistani Muslims, the "Islamic bomb" was a source of national pride, while Musharraf asserted that Pakistan's nuclear capability could deter a military clash with India and ensure regional stability.
After the U.S. terrorist attacks, however, the Bush administration presented Musharraf with an all-or-nothing choice between standing with the West or with terrorism. Suddenly, the Pakistani leader realized that his country's nuclear asset could become a liability, vulnerable to attack by far greater powers than India.
With Pakistan's pretensions to regional influence suddenly deflated, Musharraf hopes his new strategic alliance with the United States and Europe can at least bring enough economic benefits to reverse Pakistan's downward economic spiral and prove to a skeptical and impoverished nation that he has not delivered Pakistan's support for peanuts.
In the past three weeks, there have been numerous indications that the West intends to offer substantial help. The Bush administration has lifted the economic sanctions imposed after Pakistan's nuclear tests, and it appears likely to lift a second set of sanctions imposed after Musharraf's coup. A sizable chunk of Pakistan's foreign debt has just been rescheduled, and the European Union has promised new economic support.
The most serious sign of commitment, however, came last week from British Prime Minister Tony Blair, until now an outspoken critic of Musharraf. On Friday, he flew to Pakistan and spoke to reporters with Musharraf, praising him and pledging to restore military ties, promote trade and assist with debt relief.
Musharraf's decision, Blair predicted, would be "significant and long-lasting in strengthening the outside world's relations with Pakistan. In Britain we will play our part. We will not walk away, and neither will the others."
Iqbal Latif
In Afghanistan, money is thicker than blood!!
Iqbal latif- Peshawar
American Special Forces may stage a commando raid
inside Afghanistan as early as this week. It would,
however, likely be limited to gathering intelligence,
not trying to kill or capture Osama bin Laden. Still,
senior military officials are already plotting the
quickest and most efficient way to capture Osama Bin
Laden.
Some Pentagon officials belief that they are concerned
that bin Laden is not hiding in a cave but in the
squalid slums of a city like Kandahar. In such a case
it may be not the weapons but a huge payment that wil
revela his position.The most effective weapon against
the Taliban and Osama bin Laden won't necessarily be
the latest piece of space-age millitary kit — or
awesome fighting skills.
One of the best ways to find Osama bin Laden may be a
well-placed bribe.The CIA is reportedly trying to
pay-off local war lords to turn against the Taliban
and guide the Americans to bin Laden's lair. The key
to the whole operation — recruiting local tribesmen,
dividing the Taliban and splitting up tight-knit cells
in bin Laden's al-Qaeda network — could be a secret
stash of cash and gold sewn into the linings of US
special forces jackets.
These US special forces units such as the Seals, Green
Berets and the US 101st Airborne Division will bribe
anyone on the ground in Afghanistan. Armed with up to
$50,000 and dozens of gold nuggets tucked away in
their waterproofs, they will recruit a small army of
spies, guides, and fighters.
This tactic is perfect for Afghanistan—likened by
intelligence sources to the badlands of old cowboy
movies, where anything and anyone has their price.
``The only two things that move the Taliban tribal
leaders -- religion and money,'' a former high ranking
Pakistani military officer quipped.
Even bin Laden himself has tried to motivate the
people by offering a $50,000 bounty for every US
soldier they kill.
The logic behind this strategy is simple, one source
close to US special forces said “ You have what they
don't — money or gold — and they have what you need —
more information, access to Bin Laden etc.” “Our men
on the ground will need to recruit tribesmen who know
all the mountain caves, the secret network of
underground tunnels. Dollars, gold nuggets or coins,
can get men alongside you to fight the Taleban.”
The US Special Forces know more about operating inside
Afghanistan than the US Governments ever dare admit in
public. That is because, according to US sources,
units such as Delta Force have been working inside the
country for long periods over the last three
years—tracking bin Laden. But up-to-the-minute
information on his whereabouts and fighting
capabilities requires the high-risk reconnaisance
missions currently underway.
The teams include intelligence specialists, snipers,
linguists—speaking the most popular languages in
Afghanistan, Pashtu and Dari—explosives experts, and
"snatch and grab" specialists who honed their skills
picking off Serbian warlords in the Balkans. They are
now ready to pounce once they get the green light from
the Pentagon. Units will attempt to take alive a
number of key individuals believed to be linked to bin
Laden and al—Qaeda. They will be picked up in snatch
raids, helicoptered to secured Special Forces camps
inside Afghanistan and grilled for everything they
know. Any documents they have will be taken along with
their clothes. This authentic Afghan or Taliban gear
will then be used by soldiers or agents working
undercover.
If bin Laden is spotted, small units of highly-trained
special forces can be inserted nearby, in the next
phase of the campaign. And though the Pentagon is
being tight-lipped about the movements of these
warriors, some operators are probably already
stationed at remote bases along the Afghan border in
Pakistan and Uzbekistan, as well as aboard the carrier
Kitty Hawk in the Arabian Sea.
Iqbal Latif
The facts...Bagram, 25 miles north of Kabul as Taliban beef up
defences with its global extremists as a showdown
between Northern Allioance and Taliban is in the
making..
The air raids around Kabul so far have only targeted
one Taliban frontline position near Bagram, hitting
the strategic Mount Safi. On the key front at the
bombed-out airbase of Bagram, 25 miles north of Kabul,
Arab militants from bin Laden's al-Qaeda network are
arriving in convoy at night to form the first line of
Taliban forces, according to informants returning to
the opposition Northern Alliance headquarters.
The global core extremists of Al-Qaeda are forming
the front line in Bagram.
However US is reluctant to bomb so far, this
reluctance to strike in the area signals that the US
does not want the Northern Alliance to march on the
capital before it can. US does not want to wage
another war to flush out Northern Alliance. Taliban
realising this has moved the troops right to the front
so as avoid the attacks, the front is the safest
places so far.
The Taliban armoury is also understood to include
several hundred anti-aircraft missiles - including
Blowpipes secretly supplied by Britain to the
anti-Soviet mujahideen rebels during the 1980s - that
could bring down US and British helicopters.
The Taliban are reinforcing their forces around Kabul
in front of Bagram, Islamic extremists and adicals
from Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Egypt, Sudan and Chechnya
have been assigned a crucial role in the Taliban's
military operations. Bin Laden, the exiled Saudi
multi-millionaire accused of ordering the September 11
suicide attacks on America, is pooling the resources
of his terrorist operation with militia forces led by
his close friend, Mullah Mohamed Omar, the Taliban
supreme leader.
SEVERAL thousand fanatical Arab fighters have been
deployed as vanguard troops near Kabul and in northern
Afghanistan as Taliban commanders draw up plans for a
bloody fight against American ground forces and attack
helicopters.
The foreign troops were dispatched to the frontline
last week by Taliban leaders and their ally Osama bin
Laden. Their commanders believe that they are more
willing to sacrifice their lives and less likely to
defect than Afghan soldiers, many of whom are newly
conscripted youths.
"The Arabs have no choice: they must either stay and
defend Kabul or die. This is not their country and
they cannot run away. That is why the Taliban are
using them," said Gen Baba Jan, the alliance commander
at Bagram. "They don't trust their own Afghan
soldiers. They think they will defect."
Many of the senior commanders are Arab associates of
bin Laden, while students recruited from madrassas
(religious schools) comprised a significant chunk of
the Taliban's manpower even before the current crisis.
AMERICAN fighter-planes have began attacking Taliban
ground forces with cluster-bombs and laser-guided
bombs in daylight raids that confirmed their
domination of the skies above Afghanistan.
The close-up nature of the raids, which went on for
several hours in the morning and resumed at about 9pm
with virtually no ground fire, confirmed the
Pentagon's belief that, after almost a week of steady
pounding, Taliban air defences are close to being
knocked out.
Reports from inside the country said that American
jets were "flying at will" in the Afghan skies. But
front lines still remain very safe for the hardliners,
they are all escaping to the front from heart of the
command and control centers.
As the world's most sophisticated firepower rained
down on Afghanistan, the stand-off between Taliban
forces and Alliance troops resembled scenes from a
century ago. On the windswept Shomali Plain, where the
two sides have fought for five years over a few
hundred yards of rugged terrain, the stand-off is
typical. Less than half a mile and a bend in the river
separate identical-looking mud-and-stone villages
clinging precariously to the hillsides, but they are
on either side of what is now the world's hottest
frontline.
After suffering heavy military setbacks over the last
two years and the assassination of its military leader
Ahmed Shah Masood last month, the Northern Alliance is
in a poor position to launch an offensive without US
air support. Fighters scurried along mountainside
trenches dug by spade and fired off bursts of
automatic rifle fire at an enemy just a few hundred
yards away.
At Bagram, the two factions exchanged tank and
artillery fire under the gaze of young fighters
manning heavy machine guns in the pockmarked control
tower. Then, as dusk fell on Friday evening, Gen Jan,
a jovial portly 42-year-old, invited us to stay for
the night and follow the impact of American bombing
raids.
Through the tower's shattered windows, we watched as
the clear starry sky over Kabul was lit in the early
hours of yesterday by sharp white flashes from the
latest US air strikes, followed by orange bursts of
anti-aircraft fire.
Under thick woollen blankets pulled like shawls across
their fatigues and baggy tunics as protection against
the chill wind, Gen Jan's men watched the explosions.
Despite the bombardment, however, they are not
launching their own offensive as they remain heavily
outnumbered, with just 2-3,000 troops at Bagram
against a Taliban force that has just been
strengthened from 7,000 to 10,000.
In many places, the two sides are so close that they
swap pleasantries or trade insults by walkie-talkie.
In Kapisa, we sat cross-legged on cushions in the
commander's room as one of his men chatted to a
Taliban officer in Pashtu. "How are things?" asked the
Alliance fighter, an ethnic Tajik. "Fine. And you?"
came the good-humoured reply.
Elsewhere the exchanges are not so polite. "You are
not mujahid (holy warriors). You are the sons of
America," came the crackling message from Taliban
soldiers to the opposition troops crouched in trenches
dug out of shale on the mountains of the Ghurband
Valley. "You are the terrorists, the sons of bin
Laden," Abdul Khaliq radioed back.
Gen Jan believes that the US raids had struck their
intended military targets in and around the capital,
the impact was less than claimed as the Taliban had
moved men, tanks and artillery out of their bases to
camouflaged sites in woods and valleys in the run-up
to the offensive.The move came as there were
indications that the US was preparing to send in
special forces backed by Apache and Black Hawk
helicopters to pursue bin Laden.
Despite planning for a protracted war on terrorism,
Washington is keen to make rapid progress before the
weather worsens and to ease domestic pressure on
Pakistan, its reluctant ally.
Iqbal Latif
<I wish Musharraf well, but your positive spin is I am afraid just that. >
Militant political Islam is vocal strain but a force that is now facing its final death. Muslims own failures have resulted in the emergence of militancy as a response to the abject failure of Muslim society to provide the essentials needed for dignified human existence. When dignified human existence is denied unfortunately 'dogma' becomes the acceptable currency.
Grossly unequal distribution of wealth in Muslim countries, suppression of fundamental human liberties, mistreatment of minorities and women, and populations soaring out of control, have produced a nightmare in the populace. This is very well exploited by the likes of Osama's of the Islamic world, which see in this failure of governance the possibility of painting new rosy picture of the waiting houries. This is one reason that 'genital' organs of all these suicide bombers are well protected. They sometime wear several underwear’s before the devilish attempt to make sure that everything is functioning when they meet their 'maker of evil' and get their booty; not a second to be lost in last minute re-attachments problems. With these perverted minds in ascendancy, lack of democratic expression and consensus building, a social vacuum emerges that is a natural associate of such perversion. If one forgets usefulness of this life and think of it as a burden and make next one an objective you detach the basic contract of life gifted by god, once this is tragically severed nothing can mend it.
It is for this that you see amongst Muslim states that most of them have massacred their own citizens by the thousands in Iraq, Syria. There are dictators and coups, nepotism and corruption. Heads of government in Muslim countries rarely retire they are either overthrown or they often meet violent death through assassination. We are little lucky, no other country in the Islamic world could have stomached the kind of fundamentalist rioting we are seeing, the reason we can see through it is that they are allowed to do what they are doing, allowed to express themselves until they take law in their hands, this basic difference is one fact that you will see that Pakistan with all its inherent contradiction will be able to deliver on this one commitment to get this man and clean this mess.
The riots and upheavals are part of expression and no one can stop it but the leadership will also not relent that know it well that this is the time that Pakistan has to deliver. In any other Islamic country such expression could not be imagined or the rulers would be too afraid to take the populace on, in Pakistan call it weakness but the very ability to call the bluff of the fundamentalist gave us the ability to choose our sides well defined, their is no ambiguity. Now states like Saudi whose very power structure and ruling family is at the heart of this conflict is ambivalent and cannot take a stand for two reasons they have no idea how their population is going to respond and the militant strains of this unholy 'jihad' has germs of Wahabism and extremism that were reinvigorated by none else than Abdul Wahab and Syed Qutb.
If you just look at Iraq and Yugoslavia and Afghanistan the latest in last one decade and try to find similarities with Pakistan, you may on paper find a lot but in actuality none, Iraq, Yugoslavia and Afghanistan all were given chances to roll back the crime, Iraq by getting out of Kuwait until 15th Jan in Geneva Baker was proposing this to Tariq Aziz, next was Yugoslavia given a lot of chances in Kosovo after Bosnia, and Afghanistan until today is being told not to harbour Osama and hand his cohorts and him but all these states have dogma or vain arrogance more important than security of its people. Now look at what Pakistan did, it did not waver for a second and joined the coalition within seconds of the call on that 11th midnight, if one would have gone by media depiction of Pakistan, we should have made similar errors of arrogance and political highhandedness rather bigger considering our ego should have been greater as we are a ‘crude nuclear power,’ but as fate would hold it, the entire posturing of the world media that Pakistan is a rogue state fell on its face, for one reason we are not, we are very open society, openly critical of our countries wrong doing and openly critical of our ideological mooring. The open mass demonstration against a military ruler depicts the difference we have with Iraq or Syria or any of the other Muslim dictator ship, we cannot quell these by mass removal, we will quell them by continuing the policy of removing the cancer from our northern borders and than addressing these bandits within our own borders. This clamp down is unique as far as I remember and it will hopefully change our image and hopefully help us to regain a enhanced status of semi-enlightened state.
The things I write here are things I talk about in my own country, as you know I spend a lot of time in Pakistan. Pakistan is not a case of lost opportunities rather you may see that it will pick up from here, the best thing happened to us is this show down with extremist right and if we come out successful by calling their bluff of ‘street power’ agitation the extremists may have now discovered that the days that they could use Pakistan as their cot state are over, deny them sanctuaries and vacuums and you will never have Osama’s of the world threatening you, this Afghan war is all about deny a crib of terrorism to crazy lunatics, I hope that India and Pakistan can resolve a bundle of differences once our country is freed from this dark forces of terror. I surely do credit Indian culture for teaching me 'jeeven jeeven ka sathi' that is monogamy, and respect for life, the reason we don't have that Arab gassing methods is because we were and part of Indian sub-continent and not Arab an land. We saved our neck because we did not get involved with that false pride where raining bombs decimate populations but not the false cry of jihad for Allah. WE are seeing one other example of this kind of vainglory being punished but unfortunately religious extremisms breeds this exceptional insanity.
Iqbal Latif
Ike : Hope this news report is wrong. USA still has a long way to go. In a worst case cenerio, if the Pakistan has problem supporting USA due to Northern Alliance problem or due to pressure from local people, China will be a dominant player.
If China does not take on US side, it is too early for wwIII speculation I guess.
I noticed lately if some news are not in US favor, US media is reporting 2 days late or may be they want 100% confirmation.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=1564666456
Why is it all of sudden U.S. is facing the anthrax threat?? U.S. has been bombing Iraq for so long and had no anthrax threat, Israel has not faced it..howcome all of sudden this thing is all over the U.S. soil???
Bush Family's dirty little secret:
http://www.siliconinvestor.com/stocktalk/msg.gsp?msgid=16501173
Alien :
An interesting article about another terrorist group.
http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=3492
Shameless disgraceful post <We should use the gun to the head approach as we did with Pakistan.>
http://www.siliconinvestor.com/stocktalk/msg.gsp?msgid=16490213
I was just talking to Governor of Sind Mohummad Mian Soomro, a close friend of mine, he comes from Jacobabad, Sind. He is head of Soomro tribe, 4 millon Soomros live in immediate vicinity of Jacobabad. This is the airport with Pasni where C-130’s and US helicopters are landing, a ground assault will be led from here, he was telling me just now how proud did he feel to order his tribe to protect US life’s as their own. It was on one hand that selfless devotion on the other your tasteless letter with no respect of history or honour of other nations.
These are people who know war and these are people who has seen off USSR with all their might, I assure you that it was no gun on our head, my President and we all went for fighting 'terror' and that is what it is all about.
Let me take you to a brief history of our institutions, we are no mercenaries and we have honour and respect for human life, this is the history of our institutions, next time you write think, if you can’t say thank you don’t hurt us with your 'ugly pride'. My father served with pride in 'Probyn Horse'..see our Military history and you will realise that why Powell loves us and why republicans treat us with respect. Look at our military history we don’t give in to threats, we give in to love, we just love US and we are their oldest allies, we like them that is why we went for US. Read and know. We don't sell ourselves as prostitutes to highest bidder or give in to guns or intimidation. It is just our natural in built tendency to fight terror, like we have done since centuries, please note that and we are allies of US since 1949 we were not flirting with USSR and its socialism or communism...These traditions and background are honours and my dead father soul will be hurt if I don't highlight the distinctions with which he and our ancestors have served the world..
PAKISTAN REGIMENTS & CORPS..
combined battle honours of 89th Punjabis, 90th Punjabis, 91st Punjabis (Light Infantry), 92nd Punjabis, and 93rd Burma Infantry, plus:] The Great War: Loos, France and Flanders 1915, Macedonia 1918, Helles, Krithia, Gallipoli 1915, Suez Canal, Egypt 1915, Megiddo, Sharon, Palestine 1918, Tigris 1916, Kut al Amara 1917, Baghdad, Khan Baghdadi, Mesopotamia 1915-18Afghanistan 1919Second World War: North Malaya, Jitra, Gurun, Malaya 1941-42, Trigno, Perano, Sangro, Villa Grande, Gustav Line, Monte Grande, Senio, Italy 1943-45, Donbaik, North Arakan, Shweli, Myitson, Kama, Burma 1942-45
Baluch Regiment ..In August 1947, the Baluch Regiment was allotted to Pakistan, the Dogra companies remaining in India and transferring to, among other regiments, The Indian Grenadiers.
The Frontier Force Regiment as it had now become since most of the infantry regiments had lost their numbers, was logically assigned to Pakistan. Pathans and Punjabi Mussalmans were retained whilst Dogras and Sikhs were routed to India.
The regular battalions on transfer of power were the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 8th.
BATTLE HONOURS
Pegu, Mooltan, Goojerat, Punjaub, Delhi 1857, Ali Masjid, Kabul 1879, Ahmed Khel, Kandahar 1880, Afghanistan 1878-80, Chitral, Malakand, Punjab Frontier, Tirah, Pekin 1900, Somaliland 1901-04.
Suez Canal, Egypt 1915, Megiddo, Sharon, Nablus, Palestine 1918, Aden, Tigris 1916, Kut-al-Amara 1917, Baghdad, Sharqat, Mesopotamia 1915-18,
NW Frontier, India 1914, 1915, 1916-17, Afghanistan 1919.
Gallabat, Tehamiyam Wells, Agordat, Barentu, Keren, Amba Alagi, Abyssinia 1940-41, Gazala, Bir Hacheim, El Adem, North Africa 1940-43, Landing in Sicily, Sicily 1943, Landing at Reggio, The Sangro, Mozzagrogna, Romagnoli. The Moro, Impossible Bridge, Cassino II, Pignataro, Advance to Florence. Campriano, Gothic Line, Coriano, The Senio, Santerno Crossing, Italy 1943-45, Athens, Greece 1944-45, North Malaya, Kota Bharu, Central Malaya, Kuantan, Machang, Singapore Island, Malaya 1941-42, Moulmein, Sittang 1942, 1945, Pegu 1942, 1945, Taukkyan, Shwegyin, North Arakan, Buthidaung, Maungdaw, Ngakyedauk Pass, Imphal, Tamu Road, Shenam Pass, Bishenpur, Kyaukmyaung Bridgehead, Arakan Beaches, Ramree, Taungup, Mandalay, Myinmu, Fort Dufferin, Kyaukse 1945, Meiktila, Nyaungu Bridgehead, Capture of Meiktila, Defence of Meiktila, The Irrawaddy, Rangoon Road, Pyawbwe, Toungoo, Burma 1942-45.
On transfer of power, the active battalions were the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 7th.
BATTLE HONOURS
Aden, Reshire, Bushire, Koosh-ab, Persia. Delhi 1857, Central India, Abyssinia, Kandahar 1880, Afghanistan 1878-80, Egypt 1882, Tel-el-Kebir, Burmah 1885-87, British East Africa 1896, British East Africa 1897-99, China 1900, Messiness 1914, Armentieres 1914, Ypres 1914-15, Gheluvelt, Festubert 1914, Givenchy 1914, Neuve Chapelle, St. Julien, France and Flanders 1914-15, Egypt 1915, Megiddo, Sharon, Palestine 1918, Aden, Kut-al-Amara 1917, Baghdad, Mesopotamia 1916-18, Persia 1915-18, NW Frontier, India 1917, Kilimanjaro, Behobeho, East Africa 1915-18, Afghanistan 1919.
Gallabat, Barentu, Massawa, The Cauldron, Ruweisat Ridge, El Alamein, North Africa 1940-43, Landing in Sicily, Sicily 1943, Castel Frentano, Orsogna, Arezzo, Monte Cedrone, Citta di Castello, Monte Calvo, Gothic Line, Plan di Castello, Croce, Gemmano Ridge, San Marino, San Paulo-Monte Spacata, Monte Cavallo, Cesena, Savio Bridgehead, Casa Bettini, Idice Bridgehead, Italy 1943-45, Athens, Greece 1944-45, North Malaya, Machang, Singapore Island, Malaya 1941-42, Kuzeik, North Arkan, Point 551, Maungdaw, Shwebo, Kyaukmyaung Bridgehead, Mandalay, Capture of Meiktila, Defence of Meiktila, The Irrawaddy, Pegu 1945, Sittang 1945, Burma 1942-45
1999
1947 President's Bodyguardformed from Muslim personnel withdrawn from Governor General's Bodyguard at independence and partition
1773 Governor's Troop of Moghals also known as Governor's Troop of Bodyguard; Troop of Horse Guards; Troop of Black Cavalry
1781 Governor General's Bodyguard
1859 Governor General's (or Viceroy's) Bodyguard
1947 President's Bodyguard
Probyn's Horse
(5th King Edward VII's Own Lancers)
1921 11th/12th Cavalryformed by amalgamation of 11th (King Edward's Own) Lancers (Probyn's Horse), and 12th Cavalry
1922 5th King Edward's Own Horse
1927 Probyn's Horse (5th King Edward's Own)
1937 Probyn's Horse (5th King Edward VII's Own)
1947 allocated to Pakistan at partition and independence
1956 5th Horse
6th Duke of Connaught's Own Lancers (Watson's Horse)
1921 13th/16th Cavalryformed by amalgamation of 13th Duke of Connaught's Lancers (Watson's Horse), and 16th Cavalry
1922 6th Duke of Connaught's Own Lancers
1927 6th Duke of Connaught's Own Lancers (Watson's Horse)
1947 allocated to Pakistan at partition and independence
1956 6th Lancers
The Guides Cavalry (10th) (Queen Victoria's Own Frontier Force)
1922 10th Queen Victoria's Own Corps of Guides Cavalry (Frontier Force)formed by reorganisation of the cavalry element of Queen Victoria's Own Corps of Guides (Frontier Force) (Lumsden's)
1927 The Guides Cavalry (10th Queen Victoria's Own Frontier Force)
1947 allocated to Pakistan at partition and independence
1956 The Guides Cavalry (Frontier Force)
Prince Albert Victor's Own Cavalry (11th Frontier Force)
1921 21st/23rd Cavalry Cavalryformed by amalgamation of 21st Prince Albert Victor's Own Cavalry (Frontier Force) (Daly's Horse), and 23rd Cavalry (Frontier Force)
1922 11th Prince Albert Victor's Own Cavalry (Frontier Force)
1927 Prince Albert Victor's Own Cavalry (11th Frontier Force)
1947 allocated to Pakistan at partition and independence
1956 11th Cavalry (Frontier Force)
13th Duke of Connaught's Own Lancers
1923 13th Duke of Connaught's Own Bombay Lancersformed by amalgamation of 31st Duke of Connaught's Own Lancers, and 32nd Lancers
1927 13th Duke of Connaught's Own Lancers
1947 allocated to Pakistan at partition and independence
1956 13th Lancers
19th King George V's Own Lancers
1921 18th/19th Lancersformed by amalgamation of 18th King George's Own Lancers, and 19th Lancers (Fane's Horse)
1927 19th King George's Own Lancers
1937 19th King George V's Own Lancers
1947 allocated to Pakistan at partition and independence
1956 19th Lancers
1922 8th Punjab Regimentformed by union of the 89th Punjabis [1st Bn], 90th Punjabis [2nd Bn], 91st Punjabis (Light Infantry) [3rd Bn], 92nd Punjabis [4th Bn], 93rd Burma Infantry [5th Bn], and the 2nd Bn, 89th Punjabis [10th Bn].
1947 allocated to Pakistan at partition and independence
1956 united with The Baluch Regiment, and The Bahawalpur Regiment, to form The Baluch Regiment.
1956 united with The Baluch Regiment, and The Bahawalpur Regiment, to form The Baluch Regiment.
8th Punjab Regiment, by John Gaylor (Defence Journal)
[
1922 10th Baluch Regimentformed by union of the 124th Duchess of Connaught's Own Baluchistan Infantry [1st Bn], 126th Baluchistan Infantry [2nd Bn], 127th Queen Mary's Own Baluch Light Infantry [3rd Bn], 129th Duke of Connaught's Own Baluchis [4th Bn], 130th King George's Own Baluchis (Jacob's Rifles) [5th Bn], and the 2nd Bn, 124th Duchess of Connaught's Own Baluchistan Infantry [10th Bn].
1945 The Baluch Regiment
1947 allocated to Pakistan
1956 united with 8th Punjab Regiment, and The Bahawalpur Regiment, to form The Baluch Regiment.
Iqbal Latif
<Hello Ike
I am interested in your take on what will happen to the fundamentalist training camps in Pakistan. Will they be tolerated or also taken out after the Afghan situation is taken care of.
Enjoying your posts.
Regards
Neil >
I think all these will have to go but also lot of other changes will come; lot of issues on backburner may finally be addressed very firmly. Lets cross the first bridge, I will be happy to see the back of all of these extremists in my country, they had taken us hostage, and we have now called their bluff.
Don't forget that Aiyman Al Zahweri is a wanted man in Pakistan and Egypt for last 5 years, he has a Swiss passport, he was responsible for bombing of Egyptian Embassy in Islamabad, this bombing took place after he raised 3 million $'s in a fund raising mission from Muslims of North America in US, the Egyptians while he was there raising funds asked US/European governments to help them arrest him on the charges of terrorist activities in Egypt but human right considerations were in the way the first hurdle that no one could cross, soon after he came back from that fund raising missions from US and blew the Egyptian Embassy ion Pakistan.
For me, these icons of terror has been around and leniently looked at far too long as a balancing factor on geo-strategic chess game that super powers use to play. All faults cannot be heaped on the doorstep of poor nations in a garb of human right protection these terrorist had field day all around. They travel on special passports and have multiple entry visas no questions asked, since they are rich and can show money in the bank they are preferred over poor of the world who would never have the opportunity to come to US.
Saudis and UAE’s can get in no questions asked ‘just send your passport in’ oil is a ‘greatest healer man’ any oil rich nation can go ahead with any crimes and still be darling imagine as I shudder with horror if these 19 were from any other nation. But still the fault lies with poor nations if they do something evil. I think some evil people are holding up Afghanistan like a shield as a hostage. I hope that human side of that tragedy is not being forgotten.
The evil could be thought and planned because the fault line where it exists is never investigated, the rich bored ARABS from oil rich-nations, that is where the problem starts. I tell you that it is not Pakistan that is at the center of terror it is the Arab clan and puritan parties that are growing like mushroom in those regions, too much of wealth no fun lets people go towards the promise of real fun after death, that anomaly does produce a lot of suicidal bombers, I think. It is over simplication of a very complex state of society where death is better than life, it must be a very dreadful state of mind that thinks along those lines.
The core clan that does not think Pakistani or for that matter any non-Arab Muslim to be trustworthy enough to be a part of the greater plot of the great terror, this is the reason all 22 top notch are Arabs not a single non- Arab in it. Look at the fear created, no one even talks about Saudi or any of the nations where these 22 are national it is usually Pakistan or other states which are highlighted as hot beds, these states who has no one as a think tank or brain behind this, simply because these Arab terrorists only trust an Arab, the Pakistani could be plant from CIA. Now may be the new recruits may come from poorer societies as Osama promise of next world with 70 houries becomes too much an attraction. WE need to see that some social structures are evolved after all this.
This blind wrath on poor nations of the world is dangerous deviation and therefore I try to highlight the misery of the poor, imagine they use all these poor for their extensive games and than hide amongst them so that greater Islamic unity game and Jihad can be proclaimed and their necks saved. Why he does not do this 'jihads' in his own rich native land or blow his own company that practically owns everything in ME even all around. He makes sure that his brothers wealth is kept fine and nice.
The situation in Pakistan is not as bad as situation in many other parts where a carte blanche has been given to these pious looking people, as they are the moneyed guys, I hope that thrust is shifted towards them. His children always surround Osama I was reading today and wives as a protection and human shield this is what this coward life is all about. This is unique blind terror and has no comparisons with many other extremists activities that are going on in my region, hopefully all will be equally attended.
11th Sept has changed a lot in Pakistan in our region and in ME; these pockets of terror will have to go now immediately. The sources of these problems will be looked at also very hard, but for my country the release of its ‘core’ from the gutter of extremism is best thing that could have happened to our region, we are in my opinion richer now in terms of our ability to take on the extremists, we have called their bluff and disarmed them hopefully once Osama and colleagues are out of the way the terror Inc. will die, it will have a massive impact on Pakistan too, in terms of Pakistan dependency, many thought that we are going to implode or become a new Yugoslavia but our ability to act on that midnight call demanding us as ‘friend or foe’ made us dependable people, we distinguish between horror and vain Islam.
Muslims as a nation rarely miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. Look at sad characters of Yaser Arafat, Saddam Hussein Ghaddafi or Assad, it is that conceited bragging that has destroyed these nations, remember that ‘mother of all wars’ that became mother of all defeats.’ Not many a Muslim nations in the past including Palestine, Iraq, Syria or Libya or any o the rejectionists state have taken right decisions at he right time. Even Muslim Turkey during the First World War made the wrong decision to side with Germans, that resulted in dismemberment of Turkish Empire.
The wrong decision on 11th night would have dismembered Pakistan, a script that was very much liked by many in our region and out of our region. No one expected that Pakistan would do a responsible thing, that has lot to do with propaganda, most of our action as a nuclear power has been very very responsible but the image given to the world by the media was that we are a trigger free nuclear state, our army is about to implode, people who have no idea of the structure and ethos of our army would consider Musharraf dead or killed in coup any time without knowing that their has been no colonel coups within Pakistan army and all our ex-Presidents are not dead or killed, the two who died without natural cause Liaquat and Bhutto only one was assassinated one in 1950 other in 1978 was hanged after a Supreme Court decision where he was charged for being found accomplice in a conspiracy to take out an political opponent, I was sent a post yestrday by a poster that soon we will see Musharraf not coming alive out of this ordeal as Pakistan will implode, but the guy had no idea that even coups are bloodless in Pakistan, and scenes on CNN are little far from reality, no one really wants under the bombs,this is nice eye opener for those who wanted us to be under this barrage, we have in our country freedom that I can write all this in my name and ISI has no dossier on me. All this non-sense is some thing that today the critics of Pakistan are unable to re-concile with a state that has shown absolutely a different civilised face. Of curse the propaganda and propagandists have their own hidden views, we as a nation has sold our self all the time for the sake of Islam too cheaply, Arafat is closest Indian ally is their all the time but when it comes to Israel uses us as a bait, now we will soon have the ability to ditch this baggage once for all free our foreign policy go ahead and recognise Israel. That will help us regain a good media in the west.
What most of the analysts fail on when the ‘sad saga or death of Pakistan as a state was being planned’ it was always a violent end as Pakistan heroically would decide to put ‘greater Islamic needs and as fortress of Islam we would go ahead of nation hood, what these guys don’t understand that by ditching ideological bearing and mooring with Islam comes first we have now burnt our boats, we have shown to the world that our national interest comes first and not anymore Muslim brother hood, that is the change and that change alone could never ever anticipated by any of our enemies in the region.
However, the net result is that nations are known by their ability to stand in time of need with the victim, we did when it was required from us, that have earned us our laurels, not to be aim of this justice mission is a great reprieve. Nest time this will be an ice lesson also that improper behaviours will be chucked so hopefully this cross border terrorism will stop and most of the pending political issues looked at.
For sake of ‘not antagonising’ our extremists populace and our neighbours the things that are happening are not being reported, however our contribution is far bigger than Britain or any other ally, we have done what even Nato has not done so far, this is game of ‘balls’ and ‘game of attitude’ we have both and that troubles many, this is what a brave nation IS ALL ASBOUT.. WE are proud of standing on the side of civilised nations and those who can still think we go to dogs they need to know that it is once in history that events like 11th sept happen, irresponsible nations fall, only responsible one stand up to the challenge that is what is the big difference between Omar of Afghanistan, Saddam of Iraq and others, we defied all apprehensions and that is what it counts in global strategy the check mate, we went for the jugular. We will come out strong and part of the civilised nations that makes me feel good and hopefully we will be a force in the region to ensure stability, if we are stable and progressive the region will flourish.
Iqbal Latif
Iqbal Latif
On rumours of implosion in Pakistan,,,... the nonsense being spread..
After the Sep 11 attacks in USA the concerns regarding Pakistan
centered on
two main parameters:
1. Economic
2. Political
Economic
The main concern here was with regards to the fragile economic
situation
vis-à-vis the BOP, budget deficit, currency etc. The events of the
last few
days have clearly shown that if nothing else Pakistan may come out much
stronger economically speaking from this crisis. The country has
already
received debt write offs (Canada writing off USD 300mn) and more are
expected (total bilateral debt at USD 8-9bn out of which USA alone has
USD
3bn <USA can follow Canada and write off debt>); debt rescheduling of
Paris
Club seems a forgone conclusion, the IMF funds are coming in and the
country
is to start talks on the PRGF which basically is longer term funding to
the
tune of USD 2-2.5bn at concessional rates etc. So you see things are
improving economically for Pakistan at a much faster rate after the
country
wisely decided to side with the US on terrorism. Furthermore there is
also
some talk of the country getting preferential trade access and removal
of
trade quotas and restrictions; trade not aid is also the focus here.
The decision of the US to target financial assets of terrorist has
benefited
Pakistan's currency as it has appreciated by roughly 5% in the last
week to
10 days. The reason being that we have seen USD inflows coming back
into
the country as black money, drug money, Afghan money or whatever name
you
want to call flow back in as people panic and fear US action and
investigation into their accounts. The govt. has no problems with US
dollars coming back home; the currency remains firm, forex reserves
improve,
and every one is happy.
Thus, as is clearly evident from the above the Sep 11 events have
rather
ironically become a economic positive for Pakistan. The entire world
is
tripping over each other to provide aid, help, money and what have you
to
make sure that Pakistan remains safe, secure, and firmly on their side.
As
far as the Pak govt. is concerned they are more than happy to oblige!!
Political
The biggest concern here was with regards to the reaction internally
after
USA attacks on Afghanistan. Concerns here centered on response from:
1. Army
2. Civil Law and order
To tackle the Army issue we have seen the Chief Executive completely
change
the top brass of the Army. We now have a new DG ISI (the intelligence
agency much responsible for executing the Afghan policy), a new Chief
of
General Staff and a new Vice Chief of Army Staff. The ex-army
personnel
shown the door were reportedly more conservative in their views and may
have
had a slightly fundamentalist approach. The new servicemen who have
taken
their place besides being more moderate and balanced in their views
also
bring fresh blood and new decision making approach to give a new and
more
realistic direction to the country's Afghan policy and other defence
related
issues. With one stroke Musharraf has changed the face of the Army
from
being slightly fundamentalist prone to a now more moderate and western
feel;
someone with whom the West can do business. Also, the changeover has
been
smooth and the new aspirants have taken charge of their new
responsibilities. All in all, the Army is firmly behind the Chief
Executive
and his decisions and there appears little internal rift or concerns
going
forward. This is a big positive.
There were some concerns that there might be a civil break down in
Pakistan
after attacks on Afghanistan and that we will see mass scale rioting,
severe
law and order problems etc. Well, to put it mildly, NOTHING DOING!!
Yes,
we have had problems of street protests, rallies, some rioting etc but
this
is nothing that has not happened in Pakistan before. In a country of
140mn
people if the religiously bent leaders manage to bring out on the
streets
50-70,000 people in total all over the country then in all honesty it's
a
joke. The country has seen worse. Having said that, the border towns
like
Quetta, Peshawer and the adjoining tribal areas near Afghanistan are
tense
with much more intense protests than other parts of the country but in
all
fairness this was and is expected. In fact, what we are seeing is much
less
than what we had initially expected them to be. And as the attacks
linger
on the intensity will reduce as people let off steam and become more
"accustomed" to the new reality.
As far as business centers in Karachi and Lahore are concerned there
was
fear on the first day of the attack but since then it is business as
usual:
people go out to have lunches and dinners, young couples still date,
the sea
side is still littered with people in the evenings, sectarian killings
still
pepper the week and the KESC continues to give black outs due to its
inefficiency. If someone were to remove TVs and newspapers from the
city
then you can bet your last rupee that you cannot tell the difference
b/w now
and 6 months back. So where is the break down in civil law and order?
It's
not going to happen. Everything is well under control and manageable.
Business as usual but we now have Western support to look forward to!!
And the market....
With the economic and political scenario well under control we now have
to
take a view on the market. Is it a good time to enter the market? A
short
and simple answer is YES. After Sep 11 the market did take a beating
of
about 10-12% but since then has recovered roughly half of that. The
main
problem in the last few days was one large local institution having
huge
margin financed positions which ran into problems in a falling market.
The
State Bank of Pakistan and SECP had to intervene and get other
investors
(the large local nationalized banks) to buy off this local institution
to
save the market. This has happened and approximately USD 30mn worth of
weak
position has been taken over and delivery picked up by the nationalized
banks.
All in all the weak holding has been picked up and there are very few
genuine seller at current rates. In fact, local institutions are
buyers at
market dips. To give you an idea the total badla or margin financing
of
weak holdings in the market was approximately USD 70mn around 4-5
months
back; last Monday it was only USD 15mn!!! Where has this USD 55mn worth
of
stock gone? Picked up? Evaporated? Your guess is as good as ours.
Thus, at
current levels there are not many weak holders, not many genuine
sellers and
the negative war news is already factored into prices. Does this mean
that
the market is at good entry levels? Well, YES. BUY!!
With politics well under control and manageable, the economy likely to
get
further IMF / WB / US support going forward, the current cheap market
presents a good opportunity to go long and build positions in PTCL,
Hubco,
PSO, Fauji and MCB.
Iqbal Latif
Alien :
Thanks for the indian history info, you have a profound knowledge in Indian history.
During Indo-pak war, India had supremecy to occupy entire Pakistan but then PM withdrew the army because it is against the Indian constitution to occupy somebody's land.
I remember, Srilanka requested Indian army to help them against LTTE's aggression. If India had not helped them, Srilanka would have been another terrorist country like Afganistan/Pakistan without democracy. LTTE militants are expert in suicide attack.
Indira Gandhi created sikh terrorist for her personal gain and later on those terrorist piled up guns and ammunitions in sikh gurudwar. When she raided their temple, they took revenge on her. Dictator Musharraf did the same thing by supporting talibans and terrorists around the world and hope he will survive next 3 months at least. WHAT GOES AROUND, COMES AROUND. Some terrorist muslims in India are piling up ammuntions in mosque and they plot those violence in a prayer meeting noon friday in a mosque. We have clashes in the city where I live mostly on fridays. US supported Iraq and Afganistan one time and it backfired bigtime.
Why does Osama bin laden wants US to get out of middle east. US is there at their request to defend them.
Sripad
I think most of these factors are exaggerated accounts, we in that region live very peacefully, my mother still watches every Indian programme, my whole country is crazy about Indian movies, we have some rather too many problems but I assure you that when we see a Indian in Pakistan he is highly respected, the media can say anything, the fact is that we in sub-continent will never annihilate each other like the Jews were annihilated by Germans, we will not bomb each other despite of what press may say, and we will one day come out clean from all this, the religious hatreds I admit are there but we have big hearts, when any Indian comes to Islamabad he is treated as a star likewise us when we go to India, it is our second home, one day we will rationalise, one day we will love and the whole world will see, India annexations or Pakistani intrusions all have nothing in common, we in our three wars but have protected our civilians, we have never bombed schools and we have protected our POWS. We have history and tradition and love that go beyond this temporary hatred that CNN and global media depicts. Scratch the surface a bit and you find the truth. In partition we know millions were killed but million and scores were saved too by Hindus and Muslims alike in each side of the border.After my country my region i.e. sub-continent comes first and than anything else even Arabs or Muslims. Amen
Iqbal Latif
India supports terrorism? maybe the US will go after them next. With 1200 mil people they could use some relief.
India, a Threat to the World Security.
India's methods for achieving regional hegemony have not been limited to
supporting covert terrorist activities in neighbouring countries.
Whenever it got the chance, it outrightedly invaded independant
countries, without regard to the international law. Kashmir is not the
only case. The State of Hyderabad, had a population of 14,000,000 and an
area of 70,000 sq. miles. It was over-run in 1947 by the Indian military
to "restore law and order" there, just as it did in Kashmir. It was later
annexed. Then came Junagadh, which had acceded to Pakistan and was
formally part of Pakistan, when it was invaded and annexed despite
protests by Pakistan. The Porteguese colony of Goa followed. The
independant Kingdom of Sikkim on Indo-Tibetan border suffered a similar
fate. In 1971 India organized a major insurgency in the then East
Pakistani province of East Bengal, cut off the air-link between West and
East Pakistan and then invaded to "restore order". During this period it
took full advantage of its military alliance with the ex-Soviet Union.
Even though its military superiority was clearly established v.v its
neighbours, it undertook a major re-armament programme with the help of the
Soviet military. Citing security threats from already intimidated
neighbours India has regularly inducted weapons of mass destructions to
its arsenal. Three years after the invasion of East Pakistan, it exploded
an atomic bomb right next to the Pakistani border "for peaceful purposes".
After introducing atomic weapons in the region it went ahead with the
development of thermo-nuclear devices. It has also gone ahead with a massive
program to build missiles as large as ICBMs, and other weapons of mass
destruction. Now most of the Asian continent is directly
under Indian nuclear umbrella. It has left no stones unturned to acquire
such global weapon systems as Nuclear Submarines and Aircraft Carriers
to further its aims.
Such a massive weapons programme of global consequences, with an
amply demonstrated desire for territory rings the bells when Hitler
embarked on his way to massive re-armament(10). Countries as far as
Australia felt the heat when they were forced to re-think their defense
policies in face of the growing Indian threat.
However, these adventures on the Indian establishment
are not limited to Kashmir and Pakistan alone. The massive repressionary
tactics of the Indian Security Forces in the State of Punjab have drawn
harsh criticism from both inside and outside India. At one stage, the
hatred amongst the Sikh community for the Indian Government had reached
such a stage that the years old trusted bodyguards of the then Indian PM
Indira Gandhi, shot her dead in her official residence. India has
actively organized and funded a proxy civil war in Sri-Lanka
to bring the country to its heels. It is now an open secret
that Rajiv Gandhi, the ex-Premier if India, took personal interest in
the formations and activities of the terrorist outfit LTTE in northern
Sri-Lanka. He used LTTE to blackmail Sri-Lanka in order to bring its
foreign policy in-line with that of India. The violence that followed
destroyed Sri-Lanka's tourism based economy and caused a lot of bloodshed.
Hatred against such activities was obvious when Rajiv Gandhi got beaten with a
stick by a Sri-Lankan Guard, when the ex-Premier was taking a Guard of
Honor while on a "good-will visit" to that country, This happened in front
of cameras for the rest of the world to see. The havoc brought forward by
terrorism in Sri-Lanka eventually resulted by the death of Rajiv Gandhi
in a suicide bomb attack, by the same LTTE he formed and funded.
http://alumni.caltech.edu/~mughal/kashmir/www.humanity
Some more facts or fiction..as Pakistani press sees it..
So far apart, the two presidents — George W. Bush of the USA and Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, could not be as perilously close since September 11. Their sudden convergence at the crossroads of history is nothing less than a deus ex machina—hard to conceive and harder to contrive. That the head of the world's sole superpower would stoop to win over the head of a 'failed' state was beyond anybody's wildest dreams.
History, said St Augustine, is the unfolding of the Divine Will. How else could one explain the meltdown of the Twin Towers and the air invasion of the Pentagon? The shocking outrage, viewed in disbelief on TV the world over, paved the way to Bush-Musharraf detente and a US-Pak joint stand against the global threat from an invincible enemy. Osama bin Laden, supposed to be behind the catastrophe, remains, at best, the prime suspect.
After Osama, the other individual engaging Bush's personal attention is Musharraf. Osama as the 'prime suspect' and Musharraf as the prime pillar and mainstay of Bush's Operation Enduring Freedom: one the most wanted terrorist, the other easily the most eagerly sought-after leader in the global hunt for perpetrators of the appalling outrage.
It should be said to Musharraf's credit that considering the stunning magnitude of the happening, he did not hesitate for a moment to pledge his country's full cooperation to Bush.
No quid pro quo, no reward, even remotely mentioned, even if naturally expected. Musharraf's decision, duly endorsed by his senior commanders, was timely and mature. In his telecast on 13 September he urged all countries to join the common cause and 'concerted international effort' to fight terrorism "in all its forms". A loaded statement pitting him face-to-face with the jehadi elements in his own country. It had a wide enough margin of being misinterpreted as a reflection on the ongoing freedom struggle in Kashmir and a volte face, almost a betrayal of Taliban Afghanistan. Pakistan would be either for or against the Taliban, much as Bush insisted on leaving Pakistan little freedom to choose.
Pakistan struck a balance between the two mutually inimical choices as best as it could in circumstances of unparalleled gravity. It opted for siding with America without alienating the Taliban.
To his Pakistani critics, Musharraf's loud response was 'Pakistan comes first, and everything else afterwards.' He spoke of 'some religious scholars' as 'inclined to take emotional decisions' and reminded them of Prophet Muhammad's (PBUH) hijrat from Makkah to Madina in the face of the challenge from the Kuffar (dissenters) of Makkah. That was strategy at the highest level, enabling the Muslims to garner their forces and conquer Makkah eight years later.
Even greater than the risk of incurring the wrath of the jehadis within Pakistan, were the 'designs of our neighbouring country' — India. Without hesitation, India offered 'all' their facilities, 'all' their bases and their logistical support to America gratuitously to upstage Pakistan. India's grand design was to have Pakistan declared a 'terrorist' state, put it on the wrong side of the US and thus harm its "strategic assets"...'
India might have been straining on to join forces with America against the Taliban to topple their government and have it replaced by an anti-Pakistan regime. Musharraf's two-word message to India was 'Lay off'. Pakistan Armed Forces and every Pakistani citizen, he said, was 'ready to offer any sacrifice in order to defend Pakistan and secure its strategic assets...' In practical terms, its conventional and nuclear-missile structures. Kahuta and the strategic structures around would almost certainly have been the target of a joint US-India invasion of Afghanistan.
In an extreme contingency like that, Pakistan could do no better than it did by unhesitatingly choosing to stay on the right side of the world community. It was practical politics and diplomacy, at its best, for the slightest hesitation on Pakistan's part would have given India its best chance to snatch the initiative and isolate Pakistan.
Pakistan's initiative earned it America's instant gratitude and appreciation. Both President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell extended their personal thanks and compliments to President Musharraf. For the first time since 1989 in the aftermath of the American displeasure over Pakistan's refusal to roll back its nuclear programme, and the imposition of sanctions under the Pressler Law, no American president had expressed such cordiality and goodwill for his Pakistani counterpart. A most welcome development, even if against the gruesome background of the disaster that shook the world on 11 September.
President Bush's personal confidence, along with the Administration's, in President Musharraf's dramatic emergence as a strong and stable leader remained unshaken until about the last week of September. At that point, some re-thinking appeared to have crept into their earlier assessment and perception. On September 24, while talking to reporters at the White House, Bush said he had 'consulted' with America's allies to make sure that President Musharraf's government remained stable. He went on to add (and I quote): "We have also talked to our other friends about how to make sure that Musharraf's presidency is a stable presidency in that part of the world."
Now, who might be the 'other friends' and what might have been the provocation behind Bush's personal advice (consultation) to his allies to shore up Musharraf's government? The element of anxiety underlining Bush's observation is too obvious to miss. What might have happened, through the first fortnight after the horrific happenings in New York and Washington, to worry Bush and to make him express it in so many words before a group of Press reporters?
President Bush's remarks coincided (fortuitously, to be sure) with a statement of Ms Benazir Bhutto appearing in the Washington Post about the restoration of democracy in Pakistan. Since I have not seen the text of Benazir's statement as yet, I choose to withhold my own comment on that. What would appear to have provoked President Bush to react to the talk of democratic restoration in Pakistan would be Musharraf's (Pakistan's) stability as his one preferred choice at this critical juncture.
Bush gave 'opposite vibes' in stressing the need for maintaining 'political stability' in Pakistan. "We are mindful," he went on to add that, "every action we could take has consequences," in an indirect reference to the growing protest by religious extremists.
Such demonstrations of the bearded crowds hitting the streets raising pro-Osama/Taliban and anti-American slogans could be looked at in more ways than one: as a wonderful photo opportunity for the young zealots seemingly forming the bulk of the protestors as much as the ventilation of real anger and fury within. See and interpret it as you will.
What is to be noted about the TV coverage, is that every such demonstration looks many times its size on the screen. Especially the angry faces of the young and old in close-up, appear incomparably more menacing than in real life. The CNN and BBC coverage of these events may well have overawed TV viewers in Europe and America with the street power of surging zealotry of the protestors to create certain doubts about the sustained stability of the Musharraf government. But that would be hardly reason enough for Bush openly to talk about the necessity of shoring up the Musharraf government in consultation with his allies and friends. There must be something deeper than meets his eye to shift the US focus from expressions of camaraderie to those of concern.
Iqbal Latif
The press has their own agendas, look at this one!! Iti s the question of who you are reading, if yuo reading Pakistan's you find things different..a satirical article I suppose...
This was a report from a mole in the White House. The editor had underlined the word ‘mole’ in red pencil and written in the margin, ‘Impossible. Destroy’. Here is the text of the report.
Bush: ‘Mr. Jaswant Singh, the reason why I pulled you away from that meeting was, that at this moment of crisis, the biggest democracy of the world should talk to the largest democracy of the world.’
Jaswant: ‘My very sentiments sir. And may I add sir that I am greatly honoured by this gesture of trust in India that you have shown by granting me a private audience.’
Bush: ‘The purpose of this meeting is to take you into confidence about what we intend to do in Pakistan.’
Jaswant: (happy) O, then you have decided to bomb Pakistan.’
Bush: ‘On the contrary, we have decided to pump in money and material there to stabilise its government.’
Jaswant: (Upset) — ‘That is bad news for India. What I fail to understand is...’
Bush: (Interrupting him). ‘What you fail to understand is that if Pakistan is destabilised you may end up having a Taliban style of government sitting right next door to you. So instead of their being in Kabul with their Kalashnikovs, they would be sitting in Lahore with their nukes and long range missiles.’
Jaswant: ‘I see your point. And yet I want to say that these Pakistanis are bad enough as they are.’
Bush: ‘So what would you want us to do?’
Jaswant: ‘At least get them out of Kashmir.’
Bush: ‘My problem is that the Pakistanis want us to get you out of Kashmir.’
Jaswant: ‘We are the legitimate rulers there. How can they ask you to remove a legitimate ruler. It is they who have in fact taken away part of our Kashmir.’
Bush: ‘My Law Department tells me that unless the Kashmiris decide in a free vote which side they want to go, both you and Pakistan are there unlawfully.’
Jaswant: ‘Kashmir is an integral part of India.’
Bush: ‘Not according to the UN.’
Jaswant: ‘As a friend of India and a powerful member of the Security Council, you can surely make the UN accept our position.’
Bush: ‘We can try but so far no other country in the world accepts your position. All the world maps show Kashmir as a disputed territory. So when we go and tell our NATO friends that India is suffering terrorism they can turn round and say what are they doing in a disputed land any way.’
Jaswant: ‘Our position sir is that India was unfairly divided in 1947. The British did wrong to us by giving chunks of our land to others. Since then we have been trying to get that back. We got back Junagarh and Munawadar from Pakistan, Goa from Portugal, Hyderabad from Nizam and Kashmir from Sheikh Abdullah. All of India is ours regardless of what the International community thinks. We are not on any disputed land. We are on our own land. Therefore, you should bomb Pakistan because that land is ours too. After all what are friends for.’
Iqbal Latif
The more real truth is that Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has asked his External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh to visit Pakistan at a reasonable time.
Foreign Office spokesman Riaz Muhammad Khan told journalists on Tuesday that the Indian Foreign Minister will arrive in Pakistan very soon to hold talks on various topics.
He said that during a conversation with President General Pervez Musharraf the Indian PM said that India was ready for broad-based talks on all issues.
The spokesman said that President Musharraf had also invited Vajpayee to Islamabad but he showed unavailability due to his ‘engagements’.
The officials of both the countries will contact each other to schedule the proposed visit, the spokesman said.
India ready to strengthen trust in Pakistan
Our Delhi Correspondent adds: India Tuesday said it was prepared to make new initiatives to strengthen confidence and trust with Pakistan provided Islamabad carries out ‘adequate’ and ‘satisfactory’ responses and ‘moves away from its unifocal approach of talking on Kashmir only.’ Indian External and Defence Minister Jaswant Singh here also for the first time Tuesday admitted providing assistance to Afghan opposition Northern Alliance.
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee Tuesday morning briefed the union cabinet about various aspects of the US-led air strikes against Taliban. It was the first full cabinet meeting since the US started its air campaign on Afghanistan.
Among other things, Vajpayee briefed his cabinet about his recent meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and his phone conversations with the Russian President and Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf.
The meeting also discussed in detail the nature of support that India could provide to the US-led coalition. Jaswant Singh gave a detailed presentation on US attacks, developments in Afghanistan and its impact on India.
Meanwhile, India here for the first time admitted providing logistical support to Afghan opposition Northern Alliance holding almost 10 per cent of the total area of Afghanistan. Defence and External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh here said that India was extending help to Northern Alliance, as it recognises the Alliance as “true” and “legitimate” government of Afghanistan.
He said that India has built a hospital near Parakhor town on the Tajkistan-Afghan border for the benefit of “true” and ‘legitimate’ government of Afghanistan. Saying it was part of Indian humanitarian assistance for the Afghan people, Singh said the hospital had already started functioning, catering to both inpatients as well as outpatients.
The Defence Minister’s statement comes amid reports that the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) has cleared a proposal to send humanitarian assistance to Kabul. However, Singh declined to elaborate on when and how the assistance would be routed.
In the meantime, official spokesperson of External Affairs Ministry here said that India was ready to open new chapter of relation of confidence and trust with Pakistan, provided the rulers in Islamabad reciprocate India’s gestures and leave behind “unifocal approach on Kashmir only.”
“We are prepared to make initiatives to further strengthen confidence and trust between the two countries. It takes two to tango,” said Mrs. Nirupama Rao, spokesperson of India’s External Affairs Ministry.
She was asked about government’s reading of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s telephonic call to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee advocating resumption of Pak-Indo dialogue.
India, she said, had taken the Lahore and Agra initiatives. ‘We have approached the question of normalisation of relations with Pakistan in a very comprehensive, rounded manner.’ she said, “it is very necessary for Pakistan to make adequate and satisfactory responses to meet the gestures we have made.”
“The way forward in the future is for that kind of response which confirms that Pakistan fully reciprocates India’s desire for peace and dialogue and confidence-building that will help open new vistas for peace and cooperation between the two countries,” she said.
Earlier, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Monday night spoke to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee over telephone. The spokesperson said that Pakistani President was told by Prime Minister Vajpayee that “harping on Kashmir issue alone would not result in meaningful dialogue.”
In their first contact in the last two months, Musharraf suggested that the two countries should resume dialogue and should not do anything to heighten tension in the region.
During the 15-minute conversation beginning at around 9 pm, Vajpayee told Musharraf that dialogue cannot be meaningful “if Pakistan remained unifocal by talking only about the Kashmir issue,” Indian spokesperson said.
Vajpayee said ‘for meaningful progress in bilateral relations, the two countries have to work for their all-round development taking into account the totality.’
Iqbal Latif
The facts are this, truth is a big vicitim in that post..if this was true Pakistan would not be a PART BUT target today and Mehmood would not live scott free in Islalambad..
Deposed ISI Chief Lt Gen Mahmood Ahmed became a victim of his "over-ambition" in the glory of powers he was enjoying as Pakistan's super spymaster.
He tried to outmanoeuvre his seniors in hasty moves to grab the coveted office of Vice Chief of Army Staff, and at the end himself fell flat. Three key incidents were reported to have terminated his career, though many saw in the person of 'retired' Lt Gen Mahmood as an emerging dark horse for the office of the Vice Chief of Army Staff.
Firstly he prevented President Gen Pervez Musharraf from visiting Kandahar for a one-to-one meeting with Taliban spiritual leader Mulla Mohammad Omar.
Secondly he misbehaved with almost all the key military and civil aides to the President and one of the service chiefs in a meeting held after his return from the United States in the second week of last month.
Finally he refused to accept President Gen Pervez Musharraf's offer to become Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and tried to influence the President to change his mind through common friends.
Top sources in the power circles told The News that Lt Gen Mahmood as ISI Chief turned down President Musharraf's desire to visit Kandahar some months back. He argued that the President should travel to Kandahar only when he (Mahmood) had prepared the ground for him.
By pursuing the President not to visit Kandahar, he managed to influence the mind of the President to approve the visit of Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider to meet Mulla Omar. That exercise, as reported by military circles, was in vain.
Mahmood also blocked an opportunity for the President to talk to Mulla Omar for resolution of the problems, bringing Taliban in the mainstream and tackling the issue of terrorist training camps in Afghanistan.
The President, said an insider, started watching Mahmood more carefully, although he was one of those who helped him come to power in October 1999. General Musharraf gave him the benefit of doubt.
But things started moving in the reverse direction when on his return from the United States, Lt Gen Mahmood snubbed or misbehaved with some military and civilian officials in a closed-door meeting held to analyse the situation emerging out of September 11 developments. He was probably over-confident after his visit to the US where he met important Bush Administration people.
One of the participants of that meeting told The News that Mahmood even shouted at some participants and snubbed one of the service chiefs who tried to give his opinion on a matter under discussion. It all happened in front of President Musharraf, who gave Mahmood a hard dose the following day.
When President Gen Musharraf decided to announce new appointments as Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and creating new office of VCOAS, he offered CJCSC post to Lt Gen Mahmood.
"Instead of taking the offer in good faith, Mahmood thought that the President was trying to throw him outside his team of inner-circle," confided a top source. "Mahmood used a common friend and conveyed his non-acceptance of the offer with a request to allow him carrying on as DG ISI. He even indirectly conveyed to the President that he wanted to be adjusted as VCOAS, which displeased the President.
It is not sure whether before taking decision to appoint Lt Gen Yousaf as VCOAS on his promotion as General and General Aziz Khan as CJCSC, President Musharraf consulted any body. It appears to be his own decision based on various facts he himself witnessed and scrutinized," said a senior official. The President, said the source, took these decisions with a heavy heart as both Mahmood and Usmani were his closest friends and comrades and whose opinions he heard seriously.
Iqbal Latif
ISI chief. Gen. Mehmud was involved in transfering $100k to mohammed atta and he was removed from the job. The key here is he transferred money with or without Gen.Musharaf knowledge. I doubt whether this Gen. Musharaf's support to US will last long.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=1454238160
Sripad
Ike: We come here to see your comments whether it's market, food/wine or your political view, audience are waiting.
I hope this will help you understand my region better...
<<Pakistan and its rulers encouraged terrorism. Its President/CEO/dictator/army general is a person who encouraged terrorism and now he is changing face. IMO.>>
Dear Tony,
Do you remember your exchanges with me during the Kargil episodes in which you asked me why our than Prime Minister agreed to such an intrusion into India so soon after the Lahore declaration when Mr Vajpayee visited us?
I replied then that the than government had little knowledge about the front and this was an operation carried out in retaliation to the old loss of the Quaid post (by the famous Indian Subedar Singh who was awarded the highest medal of gallantry and our General Zia, then military C-C at the time, was sent a ‘burkha’ by Benazir Bhutto on that loss) in the Siachin. That lost and ridicule was never forgotten by the generals on our side!!
These are two professional armies that were originally one. These professional armies have a certain conduct and carry out their operations to show each other down. Soon after the fall of Dhaka, when General Niazi laid down his arms with 92,000 soldiers, instead of being butchered by the ‘Mukhti Bahinis’ (freedom fighters of the Bengal) these soldiers were saved by Indian forces and in the evening General Aurora (Commander of the Eastern Command) and General Niazi were sharing a gin tonic at Calcutta Gymkhana. They both were a product of Daredoun (military academy).
These Generals who attend war courses and plan strategies to overcome each other do make serious errors of judgments where war games are played in life. Kargil was one such war game and ultimately was not successful. However, from a military standpoint, this was a continuation from the Siachin dispute and they wanted to show themselves equal to the task and pulled a quick one vas-a-vis India. We can discuss it as neutrals and distance ourselves from vain patriotism but you have to give some credit to the Generals who are paid to do what they do. Much as I condemn Kargil, I believe that India and Pakistan have in the course of the last 54 years are not the greatest of friends. They have fought 3 wars and countless border skirmishes and all this dates back to cruel Muslim invasions of India where the invaders from the north pillaged the subcontinent at will. The remnant hatred in sub-continent finds its roots in history and unfortunate tendency of stamping authority on past subjects.
Until we do not have objective analysis of the background, we are not going to tear ourselves from our ugly past. I can see it that the Muslim invaders of India over the peaceful Hindus were invasions for bounty. Imagine Ghazni invading Somnath 17 times with the only incentive being to recover the gold in the temple not Islam, they were bandits.
ATTACK ON SOMNATH TEMPLE
Date: January 8, 1026 Weather: Cold
TERRAIN: Flanked on one side by sea and a lightly wooded forest on the other. Desert less than 50 miles northwest (direction taken by the attacking force).
STRATEGY: Mahmud of Ghazni marched from Multan with 30,000 cavalry and a multitude of volunteers eager for plunder. Mahmud employed a combination of swordsmen and archers on horseback in an arc with a deep defensive force in the middle. The surprise attack resulted in a shower of arrows from archers and was followed by a ladder-borne mounting of the temple ramparts. The king of Somnath fled with his entourage while the temple was protected by 50,000 poorly armed faithful with little military training. Mahmud scored with surprise, cavalry charge, better logics and motivation of jihad, it was not a Jihad byt robbery and banditry.
SIGNIFICANCE: The temple's ruthless plunder was a psychological setback to Hindustan. It set an example of India as a very rich but very poorly defended place-ripe for loot.
The 200 million Muslims of united India are a product of these following invasions as a result of coercive conversion or some others being descendants of these
invaders. THE SECOND BATTLE OF TARAIN
Date: 1192 Weather: Moderate
TERRAIN: Flat. Western extremity of the Gangetic plains.
STRATEGY: Prithviraj Chauhan, the king of Delhi was complacent after his success in the First Battle of Tarain in 1191 where he had defeated Mohammed Ghauri. This time Prithviraj was hamstrung as his two chief generals were unavailable. Ghauri attacked the rear lines of Prithviraj which were completely outflanked. Though Prithviraj's cavalry launched a very effective counter-attack, forcing Ghauri's retreat, the Rajput ruler didn't press home the advantage. The flanks of Prithviraj's forces were attacked by Ghauri's light cavalry. The sideways disruption caused a sudden halt and hesitation in Prithviraj's advance, and chaos in the rear which was moving forward. Tactically it was brilliant-it resulted in denial of space to Prithviraj which neutralised his numerical superiority. Once boxed in his troops were massacred.
SIGNIFICANCE: The battle established the sultanate in Delhi.
ATTACK OF TAIMUR THE LAME
Date: 1398 Weather: Cold
TERRAIN: River-crossing a Attock-the same place where Alexander had crossed the Indus 1,700 years earlier. Slightly hilly.
STRATEGY: The attack was in line with the Turkish-Mongol style of massed waves of attacks. Estimates vary but with 92 squadrons of cavalry the number could have been as high as 60-80,000. The Mongols who attacked Delhi were cavalrymen of a different order who could virtually live on horseback. This force, drawn by news of weak sultans in Delhi (the Taghlaq dynasty had ended and Delhi was ruled by Nusrat Shah), simply steamrolled all opposition till its destination. Nusrat Shah fled after weak resistance. The victory was followed by the sacking of Delhi and a general massacre of the population.
SIGNIFICANCE: Taimur's raid ended the supremacy of the sultanate in India. In the aftermath of the attack the influence of the sultanate remained only for 200 miles around Delhi. It also marked a power shift form Afghans to Turks and Mongols.
First Battle of Panipat
Date: April 21,1526 Weather: Hot
TERRAIN: Flat alluvial plain near the city of Panipat.
Strategy: Babar, the invader from Samarqand, had 25,000 infantry and cavalry while Sultan Ibrahim Lodhi had a massive army of 1,00,000. For the first few days neither army moved. Then Babar sent 5,000 men swung in night attack. Although they were beaten, the momentum of battle swung in favour of Babar-Lodhi's armies moved the next day. Babar employed his cannons with great effect and induced terror in Lodhi's ranks. The well-defended middle of Babar's army pressed forward in flanking 'flying column' attacks with his cavalry. The attack from the left showered Lodhi's forces with accurate musket fire while the right absorbed the brunt of Lodhi's counter-attack and pounded his defences with artillery fire. The battle ended by late after with at least 20,000 of Lodhi's troops dead including Lodhi himself.
Significance: First major battle to be won by artillery and against such superior numbers. The battle led to the establishment of the Mughal Empire in India. "Not for us the poverty of Kabul again," Babur records in his diary.
Second Battle of Panipat
Date: November 5, 1556 Weather: Cold and windy
Terrain: Flat alluvial plain.
Strategy: Hemu(Hemchandra), the King of Delhi had lost most of his artillery in an earlier battle where his advance guard had been defeated. However, his 50,000 soldiers struck rapidly at Akbar's force at 25,000 and were turning the battle into an easy victory for Hemu. Suddenly, Hemu was struck in the eye by an arrow which also pierced his brain. As in many medieval battles the loss of the leader caused panic among the troops and the tide turned the other way. At his point a concentrated artillery attack by Akbar's general-and mentor-Bairam Khan turned the tide of the battle. Later, Akbar beheaded Hemu and exhibited his head on a spike outside the gates of his fort in Agra.
Significance: The battle gave the Mughal Empire a firm base. This was the first empire which ruled with the capability to aggregate as many as 5,00,000 troops aat short notice and, therefore, had a qualitatively firmer grip on its empire than the preceding sultanate.
The geographic situation of Indian sub-continent where Pakistan is situated in the north historically demanded that all these invasion routes run through these northern parts of India. This is the same land of King Porus who fought against Alexander the Great. This was a total Hindu land that was converted by these multiple invasions from the north. The central Asian republics and Afghanistan were converted to Islam in the time of Omar bin Khatab. These invaders from barren lands made the India subcontinent a land where they would just run across, rape, pillage and loot at will. WE were a riparian society hence peaceful and timid people the invaders were rough hardened nomad people who found this peaceful people as great objects of embezzle and loot. This is the history of our sub-continent.
You ask me to justify why Musharraf is a dictator and why the Pakistan army does what it does and throws away democracy. Can you disassociate the ideology, habits custom of people and the habits of people or past of what we rise from? You cannot! Since we are slaves of history. Gentleman, democracy is habit and its very nature requires tolerance we have none of it in our strain of ideology we practice in land we call Pakistan. We are a product of abuse of power over centuries.
King Sher Shah Suri the ruler of India who made the GT road from Calcutta to Peshawar, and who had forced the mogul emperor Humayun to abdicate, used to say that Afghans will always be warriors and will always fight and will be at each other throat. How prophetic! In his memoirs, you will find that he wanted to destroy Afghanistan and rehabilitate all the Afghans in the sub-continent. Today, the Subcontinent is as it is since the ideological divide has created two different ideologies. Unfortunately, Pakistan and the Islamic world are still caught up with carrying forward the standard of Islam. As such, it is prone to far more mistakes that are only natural when governance is mixed with religion.
When someone asks me why Pakistan is not democratic. I spin the question around. Which other Islamic country from Morocco to Malaysia has a democratic government?
The sad truth is that the people of my country are of the same stock as you are but the difference being the ideological intolerance and inbred Islamic system that encourages a strong man to lead them has brought intolerance and democracy to be sacrificed.
Caliphate was one such an institution. Until Ata Turk came and destroyed the Caliphate, the Ottoman Empire was the centre of worship by the entire Indian Muslims. The Turkish caliphates names were a part of the daily 5 time prayers of all the Muslims in the world. Dictatorship, Intolerance, the emergence of strong man is a part and parcel of the Islamic society as a whole that is not just prevalent in Pakistan. Islamic societies do create demons and we have to live with them. Saddam is one; Ghaddafi is another to name a few. We are now facing one intolerant man in Afghanistan, Mullah Omar. There is a galaxy of villains around and I have been fair to myself by acknowledging the problems within the Islamic world and trying my utmost to address these issues in my analysis.
When I am faced with Omar, Saddam, Asad and Ghadaffi as compared to someone reasonable like Mahathir or Musharraf, I take it as a blessing in disguise. In Kargil, I had totally opposed his policy but at this juncture when we are fighting a far greater evil, to fight Musharraf or to discredit him does not help the delicate situation to retrieve the real culprits.
The issue boils down to whether we are going to carry the whole cross for the whole world? Yes, the Indian hijacking was wrong but India should not have allowed once the plane landed in Amritsrar to take off to its eventual journey to Kabul. That would have sorted out a lot of complications, which arose as a result of the hijackings. Your ‘black-cats commandoes’ could have done a clean job when the plane was still on Indian Territory. To send it to Pakistan or let it fly to Afghanistan was a strategic error.
These very terrorists are friends of no one. Today they are chanting death to Musharraf. The point is what does the world coalition achieve by hitting Pakistan or its dictator? That is not the issue of the day. Unfortunately in politics, the every national interests are far superior to justice. I can see your point and justice demands that all these people who have been involved in committing these atrocious acts should and must be brought to justice.
Talking of politics, when Kemal Ata Turk fought the last battle in this century for the enlightenment of the Islamic world by destroying the intolerant institutions of the Ottoman Islamic Empire, do you know who led the movement in India for the restoration of this distorted institution? Mohammed Ali brothers and Mr Gandhi who told the Indian Muslims that they should all fight this western attempt to Caliph of Islam led the movement. This was expediency but the strongman image in Islamic society was condoned by Mr Gandhi although he himself was a great democrat. He himself realised that without a strong man or centre, these societies seem to wither.
A prime example of contemporary history is when Saddam was left of the hook by Colin Powell. The Allied forces could have flushed Saddam out of Baghdad but again Mr Powell thought that this was not an objective and they could not create a vacuum in the region only for Iran to regain the initiative and conquer the spoils. They wanted a strong Iraq as a counter balance between Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia. I understand your concerns as to why Musharraf and Pakistan are not being punished?
But imagine, as I have explained to you above the issue between India and Pakistan is a historical dispute between estranged cousins and people of the same stock. Who wants a vacuum in the north of India at confluence of China, Russia, Afghanistan and the Central Asian Republics?
Strategic realities require that Pakistan should have fallen in place and provided all the facilities that they have so that they can be part of a future stable nations of the earth. I just don’t buy this blind attack by some strategists to take Pakistan out. The only strength I feel in myself is my ability to see the weaknesses of my nation. You denounce my country as a beggar nation and I see your point but history also tells me that Mahatma Gandhi gave his life for the sake of Pakistan. He was martyred by a Hindu extremist because he was keeping “Maranbrath” (which means fasting till death) so that the Indian government may judicially fulfil its obligations to pay 80 crores rupees due to Pakistan on its independence from India. Do you know that the sum was never paid?
This is one of the reasons Mahatma Gandhi is my model. He was a man above these artificial boundaries. Blind hatred of any nation is not good. I want every good that India has for my nation and I pray that all the bad that my nation has should not even go near to India. The only way this world can survive is to appreciate each other’s position and form a greater alliance and understanding of human beings that should use history of past as its tool for our future conduct. With all my faults and shortcomings, I have overcome vain national pride and patriotism in favour of realisation that one should love his country but not at the expense of others. I wish India all the best but I know that a fragmented Pakistan would be a nightmare for India from which India can never recover. I will come back to you on Kashmir, I have to go to bed, my best regards to you and yours, lets keep our love strong, that is how we can beat hatred.
Iqbal Latif
Ike: We come here to see your comments whether it's market, food/wine or your political view, audience are waiting.
All Pakistani generals with pro-taliban tendencies have been removed, a cull that was needed.Including ISI chief Mehmood..Lt. Aziz Khan , Lt. Gen. Mahmoud Ahmad ud Ahmad , Lt. Gen. Muzzaffer Usmani
A major reshuffle in the Pakistan Army on Sunday saw two new generals, a new chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, premature retirement of the ISI Chief and Deputy chief of army staff and shifting of several corps commanders. The reshuffle was done as US and allied forces launched their much-awaited attacks on Afghanistan and military analysts saw a sidelining of all those elements who were not considered to be like-minded in the present demanding set of circumstances.
As Corps Commander of Lahore, Lt. General Mohammed Aziz was promoted to the rank of a full general and named Chairman of the JCSC, in a late night development, official sources confirmed, Lieutenant General Ehsanul Haq, corps commander of Peshawer, had been named as the new Director General Inter-services Intelligence (ISI), to replace superceded Lt. General Mahmood, who decided to retire.
Alongwith Lt General Muhammad Aziz Khan, Lt. General Muhammad Yousuf, Chief of General Staff Pakistan Army was also promoted to the rank of the General with immediate effect. General Yousuf was appointed Vice Chief of Army Staff," a brief ISPR announcement said. Earlier with these two promotions, and the two premature retirements of ISI Chief Lt. General Mahmood and Deputy COAS, Lt. General Usmani, who were superceded, the old team of the country's top military made for new faces as President General Pervez Musharraf's historic decision to completely overhaul Pakistan's Afghan policy started to take shape.
In another significant development , the corps commander Quetta Lt. Gen.Mohammad Mushtaq has also been tranferred. He will be replaced by Lt. Gen. Abdul Qadir Baluch , who was commanding the corps in Gujranwala. The new corps commander Gujranwala has not been named. At least two or more senior most major generals are expected to be promoted as three-star generals to fill the positions vacated in the latest reshuffle. It is for the first time in many years that the position of chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee has been separated from the office of the COAS as General Karamat kept on acting as CJCSC besides his post as Army Chief. General Musharraf, since his appointment as Army Chief on Oct. 7, 1998, also held this concurrent appointment.
Chairman NAB Lt. Gen. Khalid Maqbool, Commander 2-Corps, Lt. Gen. Syed Muhammad Amjad, Corps Commander Quetta Lt. Gen. Mushtaq Hussain are in line to be appointed as Chief of General Staff to replace General Yusaf, although several other names could also be considered. With Lt. Gen. Mohammad Yusuf and Lt. Gen. Aziz Khan's promotion as full generals, Pakistan Armyfor the first time since Gen. Zia-ul-Haq's days would have three four star generals, a move that would trigger a number of high level promotions in Pakistan Army.
Officials told The News that Lt. Gen. Hamid Javed , the chief of staff of President Musharraf , who also got superseded because of the promotions announced Sunday night has been requested by the President to stay on. Lt. Gen. Rao Zulfikar Ali Khan , an officer of the corps of engineer, also got superseded but he will continue as Chairman WAPDA.
This top level reshuffle at the GHQ means that Lt. Aziz Khan , Lt. Gen. Mahmoud Ahmad ud Ahmad , Lt. Gen. Muzzaffer Usmani -- who had served as the closest associates of General Musharraf , since he took power in a military coup that was staged by the same set of generals have now been asked to make way for a fresh team - and possibly for a new era of Pakistan's foreign and national security goals.
On October 12 1999, Lt. Gen. Mahmoud Ahmad than corps commander Rawalpindi had ordered his troops to take over the Prime Mninister;s house and the PTV and the general himself had went to arrest former prime minister Nawaz Sharif .Lt. Gen. Aziz than the chief of general staff at the GHQ had served as an anchor and had prevented Nawaz Sharif's hand picked team to take control of the GHQ. In Karachi Gen. Usmani had secured the safe landing of Gen. Musharraf's plane by defying orders from the former prime minister and his chosen COAS.
Because of his promotion as Chairman Joint Chief of Staff Committee, widely considered a ceremonial assignment in Pakistan's military hierarchy, Lieutenant General Mohammad Aziz Khan - the senior most corps commander before his promotion - would no more be involved in active day to day consultation and his presence would not be required during the corps commanders meetings - the crucial decision making forum of Pakistan Army.
As reports emerged late Sunday night that Lieutenant General Mahmoud Ahmed , the director general inter-services intelligence (ISI) has sought pre-mature retirement for being superseded by Lt. Gen. Aziz Khan -- who was junior to him by six months , the President, sources said, would like to make some consultations before he names Mahmoud's successor at the ISI , that would play a crucial role in the government's decision to fix a new direction for Pakistan's Afghan policy.
Because of his rank as the Deputy Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen.Usmani was closely associated , like Gen. Aziz and Mahmoud , with President Musharraf in crucial consultations on Pakistan' s reaction to the terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11. Usmani is the senior most lieutenant general of Pakistan Army General Mohammad Yusuf , who would take over as the Vice Chief of Army Staff from today , is widely known in the army as a moderate armour corps officer with excellent professional credentials . Officials said that the new contours of Pakistan's Afghan policy would be finalised once the new team of key generals take their new assignments on Monday.
Iqbal Latif
Please go ahead..
Iqbal Latif
"Post mortems on overvaluation"
If you were caught in this bubble and lost chunk of your capital, please read the following posts: very insightful and in details for valuation.
http://www.siliconinvestor.com/stocktalk/msg.gsp?msgid=16469504
Mucho tried to defend his position by himself. It is more important but more complicated and tedious for valuation:
http://www.siliconinvestor.com/stocktalk/msg.gsp?msgid=16469579
Ike, I pointed the link you provided to the article
you wrote in the www.Iranian.com site. Everyone
who read the article was so impressed by your article plus
your insight into the Middle East that they pointed the
link to their friends,and others who are teachers for their students
to read. They also asked if it would be okay to
repost some of your other writings on your thoughts
about the Middle East and the conflict from your viewpoint.
So I thought I'd ask you first for permission, as they want
to learn as much as the can about Islam, from someone
who is very knowledgable on the subject.
Thanks
Wither flowers wither, Kabul is not for you!
Withering flowers and grimy Kabul environment reminds me of this sad story. Wali Jan, an important tribal leader who has met Mullah Omar several times, tells a story about Mullah Omar’s definition of entertainment. Wali Jan asked Mullah Omar "What are people supposed to do for entertainment. 'Look at flowers,' Omar replied coolly. In a sign of God’s wrath even flowers have died today in Kabul; drought has taken a big toll on people and nature.
The chief inspiration of one-eyed Mullah Omar appeared to be able to lead Afghanistan down a blind alley into the middle ages. So far he has been very successful in achieving that under his short span of 6 years of puritan shariah rule. Kabul today is a drab place with stinking open sewers; the wind leaves a thick layer of dust on everything. During the Soviet occupation, the city remained largely untouched, but when the mujahideen took over in the 1990s, heavy fighting between factions flattened much of it, and the capital is now bracing itself for the next attack. Mullah Omar rarely visits Kabul; he prefers his Kandhar power base. When he does venture out, it is in a convoy of Japanese off-road vehicles with darkened windows and gun-toting bodyguards. Kabul is ripe for a takeover and waiting for its new leader that may bring some normalcy to this wicked town, a city turned into a wasteland as a result of extreme ideological delusions of its present masters.
As attacks on Afghanistan have begun the strategic destruction of Talibans is coherently followed with political integration of Afghanistan's fractious tribal and monarchist opposition leaders. They plan to hold a summit of chieftains and commanders within the next 10 days to draw up a strategy for a post-Taliban government, as the country's warlords jockey for power. The life in Kabul shops and chai khanas, the local teahouses, have re-opened after immediate air-strike possibility was discounted. The theory of terrorism, the most important effect it is supposed to have is to cause a draconian response: this is what is wanted most by terrorists, and who better to deliver a draconian response than the entire damned world. The response of carrot and a stick is very imaginative, on one hand hitting them hard where it matters the most, on the other food drops by Pentagon to get the helping Afghan populace breaking the chains and yoke of slavery of Talibans.
It is firmly believed that these terrorists in Kabul wanted, indeed foresaw a nuclear attack on Kabul or if Pakistan could have been implicated, on Islamabad as well. The reason they want that sort of thing is that it would help galvanise the people who they consider to be their potential allies but who are presently not their allies - millions and millions of people across the globe who are Muslim, the terrorist wanted Islam v/s rest of the world war that would have led them to the leadership of the entire Islamic nation by default. They certainly failed to achieve the first objective due to the measured response and promise of a targeted battle from the west. As a result the main bazaar by the muddy Kabul River is now functioning after being abandoned soon after 11th of Sept. The poor Afghan population that is hostage of Omar - Laden axis and their few thousand hardliners is trying to survive with the little they are left with. Drought-stricken Mullah Omar’s Kabul even has no flowers left for the populace to look and enjoy!!
Now the political battle of unseating Mullah Omar has begun in all its earnest. Britain and America are hoping to topple the fragile Taliban regime through diplomatic pressure and replace it with a broad-based government taking in the country's many opposing factions. They are offering support to ex-monarch Zahir Shah, to form an ethnically mixed interim government, restore law and order and bring Taliban leaders to trial. The commanders, mostly former anti-Soviet mujahideen who initially joined the mullahs either out of expediency or because they were bought off, are now crossing the mountainous frontier with their families for the Loya Jirga.
Zahir Shah, the 86-year-old deposed king now based in Rome, and the Northern Alliance of ethnic Tajik and Uzbek fighters will each send 60 delegates to the so-called Supreme Council. The meeting comes as several warlords have already opened new fronts, raising fears that the country will slide back into civil war if American attacks force the Taliban regime's collapse. The Taliban arose in the first place only because Afghanistan became a kind of international black hole, where any lunacy could flourish. This time international efforts are directed to stop that. Abdul Haq, a former mujahideen commander is in Peshawar to promote the king's Loya Jirga, or grand gathering of tribesmen. The prospects of a Taliban implosion have increased after several senior figures in the regime fled across the border to Pakistan. A complex cast of assorted warlords with chequered pasts, backed either by the US or Afghanistan's neighbours, is already fighting for a share of the spoils.
The opposition Northern Alliance, which holds northeastern Afghanistan, is a ragtag assortment of local tribal chiefs united by their opposition to the Taliban. However the recent assassination of their leader, Ahmed Shah Masood, has raised doubts about whether their fragile unity will hold. General Rashid Dostum is a perfidious bear-like Uzbek who regularly switches sides and in the past ran his own airline, visited Scotland to cut a deal with whisky distillers and punished disobedient soldiers at home by running over them with tanks. The general recently launched a fresh offensive to recapture his old northern stronghold of Mazar-i-Sharif. But he has acknowledged that his men had suffered heavy losses after the Taliban sent reinforcements to the north to counter possible US attacks.
There is also a report of fighting around the western city of Herat where Ismael Khan, a short, wily former mujahideen commander who escaped from prison in Kandahar two years ago, is attempting to surround the Taliban forces. A third front opened in the snow-capped central Hindukush mountains where Karim Khalili, the short, rotund leader of the Hazara tribes, who customarily presents visitors with an Afghan carpet, is marshalling his fighters against the Taliban. Even Gulbuddin Hekmatayer, the notorious "spoiler" of Afghan power struggles, best known for throwing acid in the faces of unveiled female students while at university, announced his likely return from exile in Teheran.
The regional candidate most strongly promoted by Britain and America is Mr Haq, who laid down his arms after Moscow's pullout in 1989, or Pir Gilani. Mr Haq, who met Margaret Thatcher twice at Downing Street during the guerrilla war against the Soviets, is the only Afghan power broker to have remained aloof from the country's bloody internecine wars. Unlike the tribal opposition in the north, he could command the support of his fellow Pathans, the country's largest ethnic group, and he supports the king's return. He is bitterly opposed to the Pathan-led Taliban, believed to have sent the assassins who murdered his wife, 11-year-old son and a bodyguard in Peshawar in 1999. Mr Haq, who comes from a powerful landowning family in eastern Afghanistan, moved to Dubai for business, but has now returned to Pakistan and met a stream of turbaned tribesmen and ex-Taliban and mujahideen commanders. He is, however, highly critical of plans for an American offensive which he fears will further destabilise the country. He prefers Taliban to be politically toppled.
The political elimination of Taliban sounds impossible and difficult but it would be much more easier than what it is made to look like. A study into the background of Taliban would reveal that this terror based a-human government might be just a house of cards that will collapse once their bluff to seek confrontation is called. The name Taliban, meaning students, was chosen in the summer of 1994. "There were 60 or 70 who decided to disarm the checkpoints where these bandits were taxing people for vast sums of money. At first they had to fight, but soon they just gave in. Many of them were addicted to heroin and hashish.
Legends spread about Mullah Omar: that he lost his left eye in a bold attack on a Soviet position, that he was a deadly shot with a manual rocket launcher. According to confidential reports from his physician who treats him in Kandahar, the one-eyed Taliban leader suffers fits and brain seizures that he claims are ‘visions’, such a mythical status has grown around the man who holds the fate of Afghanistan in his hands, that he is able to pass off his fits as visions during which he receives instructions for creating a pure Islamic state. The Taliban leader suffers from serious depression, alternating with bouts of childlike behaviour where he sits in the driving seat of one of his cars, turning the wheel while making the noise of an engine.
The disclosures according to Telegraph’s Christian Lamb suggests that there is little prospect of the American-led coalition against terrorism being able to enter into any rational negotiation with the man who holds the fate of Afghanistan in his hands. The Taliban swept through southern Afghanistan to capture Kabul in 1996, where for the first time they said they would conquer the rest of the country. That was the moment when Omar first met up with bin Laden and the two became close friends.
Bin Laden introduced Omar to the wider world of Islamic radicalism, global jihad and hatred of the United States. Bin Laden flattered Omar calling him the Amir or leader of the whole Muslim world. While the Taliban granted him sanctuary and facilities, bin Laden built a bombproof house for Omar and his wives, funded the Taliban movement and recruited thousands of Arabs to fight in the Taliban army. He also facilitated business ventures with the Taliban - the smuggling of consumer goods from Dubai and Pakistan and drugs trafficking from Afghanistan. It is rumoured that bin Laden did organise the assassination of the Taliban's worst enemy, leader of the anti-Taliban alliance, Ahmad Shah Massoud, to further ingratiate himself with Mullah Omar just before the 11th Sept attacks.
Laden whose psychotic hatred sees no bounds in words of Mr Algosaibi, Saudi Ambassador to London: “I was amazed at the intensity of his anti-American rhetoric. It was as if bin Laden had a psychotic hatred of anything American. He simply wanted to kill Americans for being American.” The seizures of Mullah Omar coupled with psychotic hatred of Laden is an explosive mix and strange mad radicalism that has seen its manifestation in most cowardly of acts. These strange bedfellows have unfortunately the most serious of delusions to rule the entire Islamic world; Osama encourages and leads his ambitions on by calling him his Amir. Anyone can target the entire Islamic world as perpetrator of this evil act in NY and they have on their hands a new mix of Sunni-dominated Islamic revolutions with Omar-Laden axis emerging as natural leaders to lead the jihad against the infidels. A very disturbing thought that was diffused and prevented by intelligent piece of diplomacy by UK and US.
Omar in post seizure fit issues edicts like prohibiting kite-flying, football and music, in addition to banning women from working and wearing high heels or shoes that click under their burkhas, the tent-like garments that all Afghan women must wear. Omar has three wives, one a teenager called Guljana whom he married in 1995, and has five children.
Mullah Omar’s Kabul, terrorised by Osama’s psychotic hatred, is no city of joy. It is a derelict city. A cosmopolitan place once where women wore mini-skirts and make-up, and French was the court language, today, it is living embodiment to the notion how ideological radicalism can destroy once stable societies. Much of the time people sit at home, listening to the BBC World Service and Voice of America, the only sources of independent news.
Thousands have left Kabul, food and petrol prices have rocketed and there is no kerosene for lamps. There is electricity in wealthier parts of the city; the poorer mud-walled areas are plunged into darkness at night. Most government servants haven't been paid for six months. And no one has seen the "6,000 Taliban soldiers" that the Taliban radio station reported had been sent to protect Kabul. Bin Laden's Arabs and their families, who were once a feared presence in Kabul have all disappeared. Their two-storey houses, behind high-gated walls in the affluent suburb of Wazir Akbar Khan, are locked and empty. Since Pakistan has frozen the bank accounts of Talebani Afghans and Arabs - wanted by US under the charges of terrorism – the situation of these rich suburbs of Kabul has even further deteriorated. Under two circulars of the State Bank of Pakistan, one each issued in January and August 2001, banks operating in Pakistan have been instructed to freeze and then provide details of accounts and assets, if any, being maintained by 146 leading Taliban leaders, 10 Arabs including Osama bin Laden and three Afghan business entities.
In pursuant to the UN resolution 1333, the Arabs whose bank accounts and assets were frozen include Osama bin Laden, his senior lieutenant, Mohammed Atif Aiman Muhammed Rabi Al-Zawahiri (an Egyptian and a former leader of Egyptian Islamic Jihad now a close associate of Osama), Sa'ad Al-Sharif (brother in-law and close associate of Osama, Saudi national and said to be head of Osama's financial organization), Saif Al-Haq (an Egyptian national thought to be responsible for Osama's security), Amin Al-Haq (an Afghan who coordinate's Osama's security), Ahmed Sa'id Al-Kadr (thought to be holding dual nationality of Egypt and Canada), Zain Al-Abidin Hussain (holding Saudi/Palestinian and Jordanian nationalities happens to be a close associate of Osama and facilitator of terrorists' travel), Saqar Al-Jadawi (an aide of Osama holding dual nationality of Saudi Arabia and Yemen) and Bilal Bin Marwan (a senior lieutenant of Osama).
Kabul today is a city of only poor people who are left in the city. There is no one who could lead an uprising and people are too tired and frightened to fight. "Few dare question the man declared Amir-ul-Momnein or Ruler of all Muslims in 1998, only the third person ever to receive such a title. Mullah Omar and his cohorts who rule Afghanistan has refused to undergo a brain scan. His doctors believe that these mood swings may be a result of shrapnel lodged in his brain when he lost his eye in 1989 during a Russian rocket attack on his mosque in a village just north of Kandahar.
According to one of the many legends that surround him, he pulled out the useless eye and threw it on to the floor. The Taliban arrived from the villages to rule the city. Their education lies in the Koran and the gun. Mullah Omar is a typical product of a generation raised in rural Madrasas who went on to spend much of their manhood fighting the Soviet forces or, later in the civil war, their countrymen. Southern Afghanistan, dominated by the Pashtun tribe, has always been a bastion of conservatism. The new, more radical fundamentalism was inflamed by bitterness by the betrayal of holy warriors turned bandits after the Soviet forces had been expelled.
Like Mullah Omar, the governor of Kandahar, Mullah Mohammed Hassan, was among a group of Madrasa graduates around Maiwand, the south of Kandahar that forms the core of the movement. Rumour has it that Mullah Omar was spurred to form the Taliban by the rape of three young women by local militiamen. "I don't know what was the final spark, but he was the first man who approached everybody and asked us to fight against corruption, that we should follow pure Islam. We decided he should be our leader," said Mullah Hassan.
One myth is that they always defeat their invaders. In fact a long succession of invaders have been quite successful in Afghanistan, from Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan to the British in the 19th century. But these invaders have been successful only when they carried out a series of quick hits then staged a well-planned withdrawal. When the invaders think of staying on, like the British in the 1840s, or the Russians in the 1980s, the Afghans eventually overcome their own differences long enough to see them off. If the Americans, with British help, attack the Taliban hard from the air, put in special forces to help anti-Taliban forces take on Kabul and someone in an established old-fashioned treachery tradition turn in Osama bin Laden and his associates, in such a case the allies may do really well.
(on eve of Kabul coming under attack)
Iqbal Latif
Marketwise where do we go from here?
Well we have obviously entered sideways
action short term on QQQ,OEX,SPX.
OEX and SPX broke the numbers posted
before. Indexes tested the 40 day ema,
and are now sitting on supports of 1058
for SPX and 536 for OEX. These support
levels are critical to maintain. A break below
and we revisit 487 for OEX and 957 for SPX.
Maintaining these present support levels
and a test past the 40 day ema into
1142 for SPX; 584 for OEX short term.
Next week I would expect will tell the story.
QQQ at this point could go either way,
it's stuck between 33.6 and 30.75.
A break above 33.6 and 36.8 is in the works,
but a break below 30.75 and 27.6 is the result.
All closing day basis.
"Quite Period". Does anybody know the SEC rule at to the "quite period" before earnings announcements. It's been my understanding that, if a company is going to have a drastic change vis-a-vis prior guidance, they must go public before they enter the "quite period", and I thought this was 15 days prior to scheduled announcement. Therefore, once you get within 15 days of earnings, and you have not had an announcement, you (probably/shouldn't) won't have actual earnings that vary much, up or down, from guidance. Can someone validate or correct the above?? Thanks.
Taleban were a product supported by West/the political right in the west and Pakistan military who thought that these radicals are good counterbalance to Russian influence rising from CAR have now proven that extreme religious organisations contitute the largest threat to mankind. Lets look into history, religious fanaticism is hte worst of mental illness and mankind should never support it..in any case, communists are far better than these fundos anytime any day.. Even British made this mistake..
<"Nadir Khan, the father of Zahir Shah, also entered Afghanistan from the same route in 1930," he recalled. Nadir Khan was a commander of Amanullah's army in early 1920s. But he never felt comfortable with the haste, his king wanted Afghanistan to get modernized. And, preferred to live a life of exile in Paris. Amannullah Khan established very deep political connections with the communist revolutionaries, who took over Russia in 1917. He also was very inspired with the nationalist fervour and policies, Mustafa Kamal Pasha had unleashed in Turkey after dismantling the monarchy in his country, which was sustained in the name of "Khilafat."
The British rulers could not tolerate a "radical modernizer" too close to their "jewel in the crown," the colonized India. Like the CIA of 1980s, their intelligence operatives cultivated some Afghan Mullahs to drum the impression that Amanullah was pushing their country to "infidel culture of the West." Eventually a Tajik "fundo" of those days, Bacha-e-Saqqao became the ruler of Afghanistan. Though an earlier prototype for Taliban, he wasn't acceptable to the majority of Afghans. Just because he was a Tajik and low class. The Pushtun elite began looking for a "blue blooded Durrani" as their king. And, the British cunningly prodded Nadir Khan, a cousin of Amannullah.
Nadir was encouraged to land in Waziristan, where the British political agents gathered the Loya Jirga for him. And he reached Afghanistan only after nine months of Bacha-e-Saqqao's rule. But, before taking the throne of Kabul he had to accept some noted and rich Ulema (the Muslim religious scholars) as legitimate partners of the ruling elite. He got murdered within three years of his rule which brought Zahir Shah on the scene in 1933, who got deposed and exiled in 1973 after forty years of a dormant ruling. >
Iqbal Latif
Pakistan wants to ditch Taleban, opens unprecedented negotiations with King Zahir Shah for the future set up.. the end game starts for the Talebans!!
Just in last 30 minutes President Pervez Musharraf breaking from so far policy not to interact with former King has invited former Afghan king Mohammad Zahir Shah to send an emissary to Islamabad as soon as possible to discuss a post-Taliban government, Italy's minister of state for foreign affairs said Wednesday.
Margherita Boniver told reporters here after meeting the President for 40 minutes that he believed King Shah had a role to play in helping form a unified government in Afghanistan.
A former President of Pakistan, Sardar Farooq Khan Leghari, wants to become a bridge between the deposed king of Afghanistan, Zahir Shah, who now lives in Rome and the government of President General Pervez Musharraf.
Leghari, who has had a lengthy meeting with Musharraf in Rawalpindi late Monday evening, partly revealed his desire to an American journalist, Arnaud De Borchagrave, editor at large of United Press International.
Both boarded the same PIA flight to Karachi from Islamabad after Leghari's meeting with Musharraf the other day. The president of Pakistan, Leghari is reported to have told Borchagrave, "enthusiastically endorsed" the idea that the exiled king of Afghanistan should be invited to take up residence in Pakistan and convene a tribal assembly to decide the fate of his nation.
Leghari also claimed to have devised his plan to "obviate the US urge to put its diplomatic chips on the Northern Alliance to the exclusion of other political forces (of Afghanistan)." The Leghari-scheme can also "enable Musharraf to formally ditch Taliban" and set a new course designed to align Pakistan "to the United States without any unspoken reservations."
Leghari didn't appear to have told the American journalist that before reaching the president of Pakistan with "his plan," he also had a lengthy one-to-one working lunch last week with a senior Lt General in Lahore, who also had served in ISI when the Baloch Sardar was living in the presidency from 1994 to 1997. It is yet not clear as to who invited who for the said lunch.
Not fully aware of Leghari's "Afghan connections and links," many politicians in Lahore and Islamabad kept imagining as if the former president's meetings with top generals of Pak army hint the possibility of "a national government," which should be run and led by politicians, preferably from all recognized political parties of Pakistan.
The need for such a government is there, believed the expectant politicians. "Because, the military is finding it extremely difficult to handle the crisis situation, Pakistan is enduring since the suicide-hijack attacks on New York and Washington, on its own." It's only now that we have begun finding out the real purpose of Leghari's meetings with some top generals of Pak Army. For being the son of a Pathan mother, Leghari is fluent in chaste Pushtu. His wife also hails from a Pushtun family. But to the Afghan elite, he is connected through a cousin of his who is married into the famous Gillani family, which is very close to Zahir Shah, the exiled king.
There already are reports that Zahir Shah intends to appoint Pir Syed Ahmad Gillani as the prime minister of the interim government, he wants to set immediately after the fall of Taliban regime, till the time an appropriate power structure is propped through holding of Loya Jirga. Farooq Khan Leghari was not available for comments at his Lahore and Islamabad telephone numbers throughout Tuesday. Some people close to him only revealed that he had gone to Karachi for attending a meeting with some top industrialists of this country.
He, however, was expected at PTV studios in Islamabad for talking to the news night programme, which goes live in late hours. It's yet not possible for The News, therefore, to get the rumours confirmed that after getting his plan of inviting the exiled king to Pakistan "endorsed" by General Musharraf, Farooq Khan Leghari was now preparing to fly off to Rome for a meeting with Zahir Shah.
Hamid Karzai, a Quetta-based chief of an elitist Pushtun tribe of Kandahar, is in active contact with Zahir Shah these days. He was clueless regarding the possibility of Farooq Khan Leghari having a meeting with the deposed king of Afghanistan, when The News contacted him on phone on Tuesday. But Karzai did reveal that he was himself leaving for Rome on Thursday. Karzai's rushing to Rome provide substance to rumours that instead of landing in any neighbouring country of Afghanistan, Zahir Shah wants to directly land in his country, once the Taliban are no more and a "secure launching site" is established for the returned king to deliver.
Hundreds of Afghan refugees, who had crossed over to Pushtun areas of Balochistan from Kandahar and villages around it, have already been planning for the past two weeks to "return to their motherland in waves," in case the exiled king returns there. Farooq Khan Leghari does not appear thinking that Zahir Shah can directly land in Afghanistan in the immediate future. As if to prepare Zahir Shah for the "eventual return" to Afghanistan, Leghari is also reported to have suggested to Musharraf that once in Pakistan, Zahir Shah should be encouraged to "take up residence" at a spot in tribal Waziristan, which happens to be only six kilometers away from Afghanistan.
Leghari also wants Zahir Shah to convene Loya Jirga at the same site for the purpose of establishing an interim government for Afghanistan. Mehmud Khan Achakzai, a Pushtun nationalist leader, tried to explain as to why Leghari had recommended Waziristan as the "launching site" for Zahir Shah, when The News contacted him on phone Tuesday. "Nadir Khan, the father of Zahir Shah, also entered Afghanistan from the same route in 1930," he recalled. Nadir Khan was a commander of Amanullah's army in early 1920s. But he never felt comfortable with the haste, his king wanted Afghanistan to get modernized. And, preferred to live a life of exile in Paris. Amannullah Khan established very deep political connections with the communist revolutionaries, who took over Russia in 1917. He also was very inspired with the nationalist fervour and policies, Mustafa Kamal Pasha had unleashed in Turkey after dismantling the monarchy in his country, which was sustained in the name of "Khilafat."
The British rulers could not tolerate a "radical modernizer" too close to their "jewel in the crown," the colonized India. Like the CIA of 1980s, their intelligence operatives cultivated some Afghan Mullahs to drum the impression that Amanullah was pushing their country to "infidel culture of the West." Eventually a Tajik "fundo" of those days, Bacha-e-Saqqao became the ruler of Afghanistan. Though an earlier prototype for Taliban, he wasn't acceptable to the majority of Afghans. Just because he was a Tajik and low class. The Pushtun elite began looking for a "blue blooded Durrani" as their king. And, the British cunningly prodded Nadir Khan, a cousin of Amannullah.
Nadir was encouraged to land in Waziristan, where the British political agents gathered the Loya Jirga for him. And he reached Afghanistan only after nine months of Bacha-e-Saqqao's rule. But, before taking the throne of Kabul he had to accept some noted and rich Ulema (the Muslim religious scholars) as legitimate partners of the ruling elite. He got murdered within three years of his rule which brought Zahir Shah on the scene in 1933, who got deposed and exiled in 1973 after forty years of a dormant ruling.
Iqbal Latif
"How America went for broke" by The Spectator
http://www.spectator.co.uk/article.php3?table=old§ion=current&issue=2001-09-29&id=11...
What went wrong.
The CIA and the failure of American Intelligence.
http://www.siliconinvestor.com/stocktalk/msg.gsp?msgid=16445709
Peter Lynch's comment on stock market.
http://www.siliconinvestor.com/stocktalk/msg.gsp?msgid=16445922
Bush said us to get on back to our life, such as traveling, going to Disneyland, etc. On the other hand, Ashcroft said us we are in danger of another terrorist attacks. If new terrorist bill is passed, does FBI have better chances to find terrorists or to use the police power to violate more human rights? Which exactly happened in Latin America to fight communists or whoever are they think their enemies.
To Fight terrorists is one thing and to keep our freedom is another thing.
Is this bear market like the others? Originated from The Motley Fool (from G&K)
http://leviticus.www.fool.com/Specials/2001/sp011002.htm
This is excellent analysis for high tech in May but still stands for. He predicts it for two years. I should follow his advice but not. It is worth reading. He did not change his view yet. Maybe next Month?
http://www.siliconinvestor.com/stocktalk/msg.gsp?msgid=15810530
Forget to link for my post.
http://luskinreport.com/default.htm
Market is bottom or not? An uncertain time needs a different kind of strategy. A professional opinion about the market and how to approach. Comments on Intel, Rambus, Avanex, and JDS Uniphase. (Source: Mike Buckley)
http://luskinreport.com/hager/archive/20011001hager.htm
p.s. Disclosure: Hold rmbs for April only. Lucky enough to get out that time. avnx still holding and waiting for recovery at least to March's level(G).
p.s. Abuse of language. This guy used "Jihad" as Jihad portfolio. The absurbity is beyond my comprehension. He needs some lecture about current meaning of jihad and origin of jihad from our regulars.
The steep decline in stock market force people to change their retirement plans or come back from retirement. Sep. 11 further damaged people's lives in various ways.
http://www.siliconinvestor.com/stocktalk/msg.gsp?msgid=16438997
After Sep. 11, I was very suspicious about a patriot game that Media advised small investors to buy or hold instead of sell when the stock market reopened. This person gave a proof that big institutions betrayed us, small investors again.
http://www.siliconinvestor.com/stocktalk/msg.gsp?msgid=16439694
Now James Cramer knows long term is sucks. Now he is saying the same thing as in the above post; fund-brokerage-media complex's manipulation.
http://www.siliconinvestor.com/stocktalk/msg.gsp?msgid=16438843
Ike, I didn't know you still hold those core stocks you said long time ago. I hope you keep selling calls to cover the cost at least.
We all have to deal with all religious or political fanatics regardless of their names. You name it if any religion or political system doesn't have any atrocity under it's name. It is a shame in our humanity but we have to keep fighting with the evils in us. The best way is education and increase of living standards. If people worry about their basic needs, many of them will trade it at whatever costs.
For one thing, people are hard to change the way of life. Japaneses traditionally hunt down whales and consume them. Even nowadays they are unwilling to give up even though whales are endangerous species. That is their tradiion. I don't try to blame Janpaneses here but the article reminds me of how difficult the task of change a society is. Can we (of course including Muslims who live there) change Islamic society to democratic Islamic countries? Every country has some kinds of things against international pressure or opposition like the one of Japaneses. It won't be easy but can't be given up for our humanity?
http://www.siliconinvestor.com/stocktalk/msg.gsp?msgid=16438937
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