Beating of war drums

EDITORIAL FRONTIER POST
PPP, too, has declared war. The PML (N) was already on the warpath. And with their beating of war drums, the two have demonstrated conclusively how unsurpassable are their leaderships in intellectual bankruptcy, how unbeatable are they in immaturity, how incomparable are they in stupidity, and that they are no statesmen, not even politicians, but mere operators driven by their power lust. The nation’s true leaders they are not; slaves to their own selfishness they actually are. Not that the people were any much impressed by their alliance. A marriage of convenience they had said it was. Neither, they averred, was sincere to the other; both they perceived were deceiving each other. Parting of ways, anyway, is not an unheard phenomenon. Even in functional democracies, political alliances do break up. But were these times for these two to separate and declare war? Weren’t it these times to get united, not get divided; to reconcile, not fight, and to engage, not disengage? Aren’t we in the clutches of a deadly extremism vilely threatening to destroy us to the roots and make a Somalia of us? Aren’t lawlessness and criminality of all brands evaporating the little bit of sense of security our people are left with? Aren’t foreign investors getting increasingly scared of doing any business with us? Aren’t we in the thicket of a declining economy and living on foreign loans and doles? And aren’t outsiders from one to all proclaiming that we on the way of becoming a failed state, if not have we become already? So what is that has impelled these two parties’ leaderships to act so irresponsibly as have they? Of course, both have their cheerleaders, who do cheer. But it is only jeers, and in bucketfuls, that the street has for both the two. So blemished and culpable is their track record that neither has a moral ground to strike the posture of grandstanding as are they doing now. So ugly is their past that the street hates even to spit at it. And they are making it uglier with the day with their petty politics and power plays. Sure, their respective cheerleaders, in the media and in the intelligentsia, have hit the field, defending the indefensible. Some are frighteningly raising the spectre of jackboots marching in to roll up the democracy shop? But what democracy? We are no democracy; we are a plutocracy, pure and simple. What we have is a rule of the elite for the elite and by the elite. A democracy of the people for the people and by the people we palpably are not. Had we been one, these aristocrats would have dared not to play with the destiny of this nation’s mostly hapless 160 million people as playfully as they are? Still, this country is no personal property of anybody’s mama or papa; neither Asif Zardari’s nor Nawaz Sharif’s. It is owned by these heartlessly robbed and plundered 160 million people on whose sweat and blood have they stashed mountains of cash in foreign banks and built to themselves palatial homes and flourishing businesses abroad. And they are no people’s men; neither Zardari nor Nawaz. Had they been, neither would have had so deeply fractured poll mandate as they have, particularly Nawaz who couldn’t come out from the contest even as Punjab’s sole spokesman and subedar, although his fawning cheerleaders misleadingly project him to be a national leader which the election showed he was not. Even Zardari saw his PPP in the election being marginalised in Balochistan, trailing far behind in Punjab and Frontier, and cobbling up a tottering minority government at the Centre. So this puerile talk of their credentials of being national leaders should stop. Had indeed we been an emancipated democratic polity and had there been no aristocrats and oligarchs to dictate their enslaved constituents’ choice, the poll outcome would have been not what it was. There would have been other faces and true leaders in the real sense to lead this nation. Yet since the lady luck has smiled on these two, they must behave, and make not this land their abominable clashing egos’ battleground and this nation their silly fight’s unwilling victim. It is no participant in their selfish warfare. And spare it they must of this unwanted atrocity. Pull back they must even now, keep the street calm and start attending to the gigantic challenges confronting the nation internally and externally, lest they are thrown out by an angry people in the history’s dustbin for good.

Explosions at the tomb of Afghan Poet Rahman Baba

By-Zar Ali Khan Musazai
This was shocking news to hear that terrorists and miscreants bombed the holy tomb of the Pashto language greatest mystic poet Rehman Baba situated in Hazar khwani village of Mahmand tribe of Pashtun/Afghan in the south of Peshawar city. It was about 5pm when my eyes suddenly opened due to a big bang of the explosion. It does not mean that I was lying near to the site where this unfortunate incident occurred, but actually the intensity of the explosion was so severe that it shook the suburb of the Peshawar city and the sound could be heard at a distance of more than 8-9 kilometers in radius of Peshawar from the shrine of Rehman Baba. This was further shocking when I was called by one of friends in morning that the big bang we heard in dawn was of the terrorist explosion went off in the mausoleum of Baba. This unfortunate tragic news saddened me a lot and immediately thought that miscreants who committed this heinous crime could not be named as Pashtun, Muslims and human being. Such unlucky and mean terrorists committed a crime which could not be pardoned at any cost. Rehman baba is a mystic poet of Pashto language who preached love, humanity and fraternity in the world. He taught people to spread message of peace and humanity. He asks people to learn to be human being. Pashtun/Afghan all over the world shows him great respect and reverence and there is no single Pashtun who will oppose him. He is a person who has no enmity with no one and he is respected by all and sundry alike. Baba in Pashto language is one who is the most dignified personality among the Pashtun/Afghan and Rehman baba comes at the top of such list of the Pashtun. Besides, Khushal Baba, Mirwais neeka (Baba) and Ahmad shah baba are the dignified and greatest personalities of the Pashtun/Afghan nation. These are the persons who have made place in the hearts of Pashtun and have made the history. Any one dares to show disrespect to the said personality’s means that he/she invites wrath and rage of the Pashtun/Afghan. The unfortunate incident happened to the grave of Rehman baba caused great unrest and angered Pashtun / Afghan and his followers. This is intolerable. Pashtun show respect to the graves of the people and wish other to respond in same manner. Bombing tomb of Rehman baba means a clear declaration of war against Pashtun/Afghan. Pashtun are being burnt in fire for last 30 years in fire. Their houses destroyed, schools and colleges demolished, hospitals ruined, roads and entire infrastructure bombed and made debris. Pashtun children were made ignorant and illiterate. The purpose behind was to get this nation forget its past history, its culture, its language, its leaders, its politicians, its Mashran, its religious entities, its poets, its heroes, its brave deeds, its land and national cohesion and Unity. This is our past and we are proud of it. We are proud of our history, culture, language, geography, poets, politicians and their brave deeds and never repent what our elders have done. For last 30 years on one pretence or other Pashtun/Afghan have been forced to forget their history and leave their culture and adopt the orthodox and fundamental type of dogmatic belief which has no relation with religion Islam rather it is a particular belief of Arabs. This exercise is being practiced by some misled and strayed minds and wish to destroy all what shows a little bit difference with their particular kind of dogma. People need to show tolerance and endurance. Every one should have to have a courage and steadfastness to stand boldly and face this storm which has been hitting the heads of Pashtun since long. But unfortunately such inhuman deeds are being performed by the state agencies and support these for the ulterior motives under a well cooked conspiracy to defame the Pashtun nation for being named as terrorists. The culture of Pashtun is at stake. Pashtun singers/Artistes are kidnapped by militants and get released on the condition that they will be bound to go to Lahore, a city of Punjab where they will have to spend 120 days in Tableegh(A preaching Islamic religious group of Lahore brand ). Among them who is unwilling to go to Lahore then he/she is intimidated to the extent that leaves the country and settles abroad. One who sings for Pashtun, he is punished and orders him to forsake singing? When poets and singers are disrespected and discouraged how language and literature will be promoted. This will destroy the Pashtun/Afghan nation. All Pashtun intellectuals, Poets, Politicians, Literary minds, students, teachers, Journalists and Pashtun belonging to all walks of life should have to wake up from deep slumber to protect their past, brighten the present and leave good for future posterity.

(The writer is Chairman Pashtun Democratic Council.)

REHMAN BABA POETRY

Sow flowers so your surroundings become a garden
Don’t sow thorns; for they will prick your feet

If you shoot arrows at others,
Know that the same arrow will come back to hit you.

Don’t dig a well in another’s path,
In case you come to the well’s edge

You look at everyone with hungry eyes
But you will be first to become mere dirt.

Humans are all one body,
Whoever tortures another, wounds himself.

Attack on Rehman Baba is attack on Pashtun identity

Editorial:
DAILY TIMES
On Thursday, terrorists from Khyber Agency blew up the mausoleum of the great poet of the Pashtun and put the state of Pakistan on notice once again about their intent against Pakistani culture. The tomb of Rehman Baba was rebuilt as a complex in 1994 and it included other tombs of great Pashtun cultural icons, such as Akhund Darweza. The Taliban had come to the mausoleum and told the devotees that saying namaz at the mosque attached to the grave was “haram”. The administration knew that a strike would take place but did nothing.Rehman Baba (1632-1707), who appeared on a Pakistani postage stamp in 2005, is an acknowledged cultural symbol of the Pashtun and Afghan people. While Khushal Khan Khattak (1613–1689) stands together with him as a classical foil, Rehman Baba has moved the soul of the Pashtun far more. He also stands at the root of Pashtun nationalism and has been adopted in the past by all kinds of secular and conservative movements. He marks a significant phase in the development of Pashto language and his lines are often quoted spontaneously by the speakers of the language. The various schools of thought in the Sufi tradition like the Naqshbandiya, Chishtiya and Qadiriya have claimed him as their own, so great was his appeal among the masses.In Pakistan, religious culture has been traditionally represented by the Sufi tradition. The culture of the elite, represented by painting, architecture and calligraphy, doesn’t touch the masses whose way of life is reflected more accurately in the collective celebration of Islam’s mystical heritage. The Sufi taught the people how to link their faith with their entertainment and imbue their culture with their religious belief. It is often said that many of the Muslims of the region of Pakistan were brought inside the pale of Islam by the Sufi who sang of Allah’s divinity in the music and dance he inculcated among them, composed in the classical tradition.It is this culture of the masses that has been targeted by Talibanisation, a new faith born out of the terrorist coercion of Al Qaeda which is steeped in the anti-mystical Saudi-Wahhabi Islam. The trend towards anti-culture extremism, however, is seen across the Islamic world, much aided in the 1990s by Saudi investment in the spread of the Wahhabi faith. Pakistan’s culture has also been under assault from the Taliban who target the dominant Barelvi school of Pakistani Hanafi jurisprudence as representing the “impure” faith. In 2006, a large congregation of Barelvi clerics and leaders was suicide-bombed in Karachi where, too, scores of Barelvi mosques have been grabbed by the more powerful Deobandis.Pakistan committed cultural suicide when it allowed a purely Deobandi jihad in Afghanistan after 1996, empowering jihadi militias increasingly under the influence of Al Qaeda. Those who planned this strategy were devoid of any sense of culture. This was helped by the fact that Pakistan’s Constitution is silent on culture, most probably because the framers, bedevilled by clashing linguistic and regional identities, were unwilling to define it. Today, the violence of terrorism is expressed through its assault on culture, on entertainment in general, on female education, and the destruction of cultural landmarks.In Khyber Agency, the Sufi tradition was defeated and ousted by the Taliban as the state stood by and watched. The Sufi leaders fled the agency and left the field open to the extremists. In Swat, a Sufi leader was killed and later exhumed from his grave and made to hang in the city square. Without the refinement of culture, Pakistan is a rudderless society characterised by extremism. The masses are deprived of all collective celebration and are losing their male children to the Taliban as suicide-bombers. The Sindhi, whose mysticism-based culture is still intact in the interior of the province, is yet to appear as a suicide-bomber in the service of Al Qaeda. But even that could change in the face of relentless assault by the Taliban and the desperate secession of the writ of the state.

NAWAZ SHARIF........HYPOCRITE

M WAQAR
I am surfing the net for latest global news and I read Govt of China opened their congress session in which their President is reading progress report and talking about China’s future and what Govt can do for citizens progress and their future, development etc, In America President Obama and his team working hard to fix current economic problems and making moves for better lives of Americans, Same going on in Russia, Latin America , Europe etc, where elected officials are discussing problems, solving problems etc. Then I read about Pakistan, where innocent people getting killed, Taliban kidnapping and beheading foreign workers. Govt seems helpless and clueless, seems like there is no law and order, there is elected Govt but I don’t read in news that they are discussing how to take care of their voters problems, how to get rid of load shedding etc, citizens are on their own, they are selling kids and kidneys, none of elected officials talking about creating jobs, building educational institutions ,controlling poverty, health benefits for citizens etc. Where is the discussion about the higher education in Pakistan? How are the top notch scientists, engineers and doctors going to be trained? When will govt start pouring funds into these fields? There is also EDUCATIONAL FAILURE in Pakistan, a country with over 40 million illiterate people can’t progress and develop . The lack of modern schools and scientific education shows no potential for Pakistan to develop economically or politically in the future. Pakistani elite betraying the better educated parts of its population and turn itself into a backward nation, and they are doing it so they can rule and no one can question them .Pakistan as a nation is failing miserably and corrupt and opportunist politicians and power hungry Generals are responsible for that. If Pakistan is bankrupt ,even all the loans from IMF, World Bank, Paris Club, London Club, overt and covert aid from US, and repeated refinancing of the debt have not worked because all that aid was stolen by Pakistani elite, politicians and Army Generals. Today we see POLITICAL FAILURE in Pakistan because of The military coups, suspension of constitutional law, murders of Bhuttos , reveal no evidence of a modern political culture or democracy and none of the politicians of this country were sincere to help growing that political culture in Pakistan, Pakistani politicians have no agenda for growth or development; no plans for health and education meaningful. Most of the Politicians lack qualifications, experience and even commitment to tackle the problems of the Country. Politics and power dominates their agenda and real issues of poverty, illiteracy and disease do not fare in their book. Anyone who expects them to lead the country to peace and prosperity must be dreaming. The representatives of the people need to pass certain tests of eligibility. Character, ability, a sense of responsibility and experience are necessary ingredients of that eligibility, but in Pakistani Politics we don’t see that, there was marriage of convenience between Zardari and Nawaz but that marriage did not work from day one, Nawaz Shariff loves to destabilize democracy and there is a long list of other politicians who share his fantasy of playing ugly role in failing Democracy. Nawaz Shariff is keep talking about Justice Iftikhar but he forgets that he was involved in attacking supreme court of Pakistan, on the other hand I think it will it be better for Justice Ifthikah to join PML(N) OR make his own political party because I am pretty sure that if Nawaz gets power, he will not reinstate him because Nawaz hands are not clean either. Nawaz Sharif is a big hypocrite. He had the Supreme Court physically attacked on 28th Nov 1997 but is now standing up for the independence of the judiciary just because he hates Musharraf. And another thing is that whatever these politicians want becomes the solution to everything. They wanted democracy, it was the "solution to everything". Now they want judiciary, it is the "solution to everything". Nawaz Sharif , talks of independence of judiciary but before doing that ,at least he should eliminate the culprits of Supreme court attack case from his party. A few months ago he categorically said the reinstatement of the judges is the most crucial issue facing the people of Pakistan. (Actually, I'm pretty sure the food and electricity crises are the most crucial issues facing the people of Pakistan. Then comes the threat of militancy and terrorism. You've got to put inflation in there too. Pakistani politicians have double standards, lets put it this way, Nawaz was after the daughter of chief justice Abdul Hameed Dogar but Nawaz forgets that  Rules were bent in 1991 to admit Nawaz Sharif’s daughter Mariam Nawaz to King Edward Medical College in Lahore . According to reports Mariam was a grade-B student in matric and FSc and scored 580 out of 850, and 767 out of 1,100 in the two exams in 1989 and 1991 respectively , Clearly, she did not qualify for admission to the KEMC on open merit. She was admitted to the Army Medical College in Rawalpindi and was migrated after only a month to the KEMC, which she left without completing her degree it was ‘almost comical’ that having done something similar, the Sharifs were pointing fingers at the chief justice. PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif wants CJ Abdul Hameed Dogar to resign over allegation that his daughter received undue favor for admission in a private medical college, but he is yet to offer an apology for his own daughter Mariam actually receiving such favor for enrolment in a public sector medical college in 1991 ,I am not defending what DOGER done but all this corrupt Pakistani elite is in same boat. Its also interesting that Nawaz called Zardari worst then Musharaff but Nawaz forgets that his mentor (Dictaor Zia) was the worst dictator in Pakistan and he is no less than him. How will you promote the merit, Mr.Nawaz, you have yourself reached here on Zia's lap .We are fool to expect you anything. Mr Nawaz Sharif, people of Pakistan beg you to please not to destabilize country. People know in any hour of trial, you have your Palace and business in Saudi Arabia and you will flee in minutes but Pakistanis do not have any other place to live. Please stop playing your heinous designs and let us save PAKISTAN . So called politicians likeNawaz Sharif ,survive in politics based on their wealth and fudel background, lets not forget that majority of these politicians forefathers betrayed their nation and helped ENGLISH masters to rule Indian subcontinent . When Nawaz was leaving for Saudia Arabia, where was his pain for people of Pakistan or even of people of his own party. He left them all in crisis to have holidays in Saudi Palaces. He has been financing so called Jihadis and took funds from OSAMA to run his election campaign. In fact his political father Zia has laid all seeds of religious fanaticism. ,Benazir has lost her life ,even Gen Musharaff narrowly escaped two life attempts, ANP leadership suffered, but Do you know any leader of PML(N) to whom militants have posed life threats? If now after his political summersault he begins to believe that the problem lies in our home, Why didn’t he join hands with Zardari to crush out the militants? An indeed example of hypocrisy Nawaz Sharif . It was disappointing to watch the PMLN leadership discard the democratic framework and call upon its workers to take to the streets to voice their anger against the Supreme Court judgement that disqualified the Sharif brothers from holding public office. Perhaps the PMLN leaders think that democracy is relevant only to the extent that it facilitates the achievement of their partisan political agenda. What are the implications of street agitation for the capacity of the government to cope with religious extremism and militancy? PML-N of Nawaz loves to create problems, His party is also involved in making wrong statements on PUKHTUNKHWA name issue and are trying to divide people in Pukhtunkhwa. Nawaz Sharif is playing innocent now but does he remembers what he did to media when he was PM ?Rehamt Shah Afridi of the Frontier Post was sent to prison because FP was telling the truth about Nawaz regime .Mr. Afridi, who was imprisoned by Nawaz because his work was harming the interests of the powerful Punjabi mafia and corrupt.  Mr. Afridi was imprisoned because of his peaceful expression of his beliefs during Nawaz Sharif era of corruption. The press faced intense repression during Shariff's second term .In June 1997, Humayun Fur, Peshawar bureau chief of the daily Mashriq, was detained under charges of "anti-state" activities and sentenced to five years in jail by a military court on 9 September 1997.On 8 May 1999, Najam Sethi, editor of the Friday Times, was arrested in Lahore and held without charge for nearly a month by Inter-Services Intelligence. The government finally charged Mr Sethi on 1 June 1999 with sedition, promoting communal enmity, condemning the creation of Pakistan and advocating the abolition of its sovereignty, and violating the Prevention of Anti-National Activities Act. Two other journalists M.A.K Lodhi of The News International and Hussain Haqqani, an opposition leader and columnist for The Friday Times and daily Jang were also arrested. Rehmat Shah Afridi, editor of The Frontier Post, was arrested in April 1999.Nawaz Shariff who as the Prime Minister of Pakistan for two terms i.e. from 6 November 1990 to 18 July 1993 and 17 February 1997 to 12 October 1999 was responsible for gross human rights violations. During the first term of Shariff, even human rights defenders were oppressed. On 1 April 1993, three staff members of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, including its director, I.A. Rehman, were detained by police and documents were confiscated from the HRCP's office. Nawaz Sharif had a history of terrorizing professional journalists.   Before becoming PM he was a major share holder along with his brother and cousins of Ittefaq Group, having assets well in excess of £50m in the 90's. However he got richer when he took commissions from foreign companies for construction in Pakistan. He build the first motorway and many new roads and took heavy kickbacks. He then also stole $100m from the Iqra funds, he started a new scheme "Ghar Apna" in which he again looted around $40m, the "Mulk swaaro" scheme involving public & govt. money collections to help pay Pakistan's debts; also was pocketed .Nawaz Sharif is an autocrat with no relation to democratic norms and traditions. His each tenure in the helm of affairs was more dishonest than the previous one. His malpractices not only swayed away the economic structure of the state but also made the lives of poor disastrous . Unfortunately none of Pakistani politicians are interested in progress of their country and people. Pakistan belongs to its people and not to the bunch of rotten corrupt politicians that have come and gone. Pakistan has been resilient enough to withstand the onslaught of corruption year after year for 62 years running, watching one tyrant after another make his own heaven on earth. Nawaz sharif and other politicians have no sense of responsibility, his call for civl dissidence was not only irresponsible but also selfish just like one religious party leader FAZAL REHAMAN told his supporters to pick up arms if Islamic system not enforced in the country, do these politicians know what they are talking about? Are they aware of the situation Pakistan is in? Or they are just selfish and for their political gain they can do and say anything ? Pakistan needs new generation of politicians who are not family members of past hypocrites, dictators and traitors , Pakistani political parties never developed into viable institutions capable of generating leadership. There are talented emerging politicians in some political parties of Pakistan but they stand no chance of occupying their party top slots.  Only the educated people can help break the choking grip of wealthy, autocratic feudal politicians. In Pakistan the military has been part of the problem because it has been encouraging the monopoly of a handful of politicians in the country, perpetuating a troubled system and never encouraging its replacement with a better one.  The prevalent feudal system of Pakistan is the main obstacle in the progress of the country and the prosperity of the people. Since the creation of Pakistan the Pakistani people are left at distant from the corridor of power so that the ruling elite can do what they wanted to do in favour of their interest, leaving the Pakistani people at the mercy of circumstances. As this policy is denial of right of Pakistani people to rule their country according to their aspiration and desire to build this country, which can provide equal opportunity to all without any discrimination for the establishment of welfare society.  It would be wrong to blame Pakistan army alone for having usurped power for more than half of its life. It was in fact feudal corrupt politicians that facilitated first martial law in Pakistan and again in 1999. How long shall we suffer? How long the future of our coming generation will be at stake. With a population of over 160 million, Pakistan is the sixth most populous country in the world and the second most populous country with a Muslim majority. However, the country faces significant development challenges, with one in 10 children dying before their fifth birthday, and 50% of adults classed as illiterate, no clean drinking water, load shedding and so many other countless problems Pakistanis face everyday.  Pakistani politicians failed to develop stability in Pakistan, because they lack an all-Pakistan vision.
By the age of 62, a COUNTRY - like a man - should have achieved a certain maturity. After decades of existence we know, for good and for bad, who we are, what we have done and how we appear to others, warts and all. But unfortunately, Pakistan remains curiously immature, a Country with less then 50% rate of literacy can’t bring political wisdom that usually accompanies age. Therefore ,Pakistanis needs to wake up , stand up for their rights and reject these corrupt and failed politicians.

Who will save Pakistan?

The attack on Sri Lankan cricketers underlines the risk to an already fragmented state of becoming an international outcast

Simon Tisdall
guardian.co.uk.

The audacious attack on Sri Lanka's cricket players as they travelled through Lahore has underscored fears that politically fractured, economically destitute and militarily challenged Pakistan, if not already a failed state, is heading rapidly towards the status of international outcast.

The virtual certainty that Pakistan's days of hosting Test cricket are over for the foreseeable future is the least of the country's problems. The attack in the heartlands of the Punjab, the army's traditional stronghold and the most populous province, looked like a deliberate throwing down of the gauntlet to army chief of staff, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.

It is barely six months since the democratically elected civilian government of President Asif Ali Zardari succeeded in ousting General Pervez Musharraf, a Kayani predecessor who had ruled the country for nearly a decade following a 1999 coup d'etat. But Zardari and his Pakistan People's party (PPP) are mired in domestic controversy and appear increasingly unable to manage Pakistan's multiplying problems.
Kayani has vowed to keep the military out of politics, a pledge he reportedly renewed during talks in Washington last week on a new, combined military and political strategy for what the Americans call "Afpak" – Afghanistan and Pakistan. But the Obama administration's confidence in Zardari, as with the Afghan leader, Hamid Karzai, is wearing thin.

If Kayani and his fellow generals felt obliged to step in "for the good of the country", then Washington, more concerned about defeating the Taliban and al-Qaida than preserving a democratic system that daily appears to be more and more of a travesty of itself, might well go along. After all, it wouldn't be the first time.

Like other Pakistani commentators, author and journalist Ahmed Rashid pinned blame for the attack against the Sri Lankan team squarely on Islamist militants with whom Pakistan is fighting a spreading battle along its north-western flank. Involvement of Baluchi separtists or Tamil Tiger renegades from Sri Lanka itself was largely discounted.

There was also broad consensus about the purpose of the attack, which was widely compared, in terms of tactics and aims, to that carried out by the Punjabi group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, in Mumbai last November. "I think this is a deliberate attempt to undermine the government at the time when there is a huge political crisis in the country," Rashid said. "They are trying to create a vacuum of power in which eventually they can take over."

If internal chaos is the aim of the jihadis, they are being ably aided and abetted by Pakistan's mainstream politicians. It is only a year since civilian governance returned to Islamabad, with the principal parties promising to work together.

That was then. The vicious infighting now under way between Zardari's PPP and Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League is strongly reminiscent of the epic battles between Sharif and Zardari's murdered wife, Benazir Bhutto, that led directly to Musharraf's coup. If unchecked, it may not only encourage the militants; it may also open up a path to power to Pakistan's religious parties, in alliance with or separate from Sharif.
Last week's supreme court ruling barring Sharif, and his brother, Shahbaz, chief minister of Punjab, from elected office, was widely seen as a political putsch engineered by Zardari. His decision to sack Punjab's government and imposed direct rule recklessly upped the ante even further. Now the Sharifs and their angry supporters are planning to lead a massive protest march on the capital on March 12.

The march will commemorate the dismissal two years ago of the chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who Sharif says should be reinstated. It is being organised by a lawyers movement but will also be supported by Jamaat-e-Islami, an Islamist party which wants sharia law adopted throughout Pakistan. This is an unholy alliance, even by Pakistani standards. The potential for a violent confrontation, and for a further, possibly fatal weakening of Zardari's grip on power, is not inconsiderable.

The president's authority is already under fierce fire on several other fronts, not least the impenetrable north-western tribal areas where Pakistani Taliban groups are variously reported to have formed an alliance to fight Nato in Afghanistan, to be in the process of reneging on a recent truce, or to be giving up the fight in agencies such as Bajur.

This confusion is typical in a region where alliances shift as quickly as the winds blowing off the Hindu Kush. But one thing is certain: the government in Islamabad is not in control of events and, more often than not, is a victim of them. For instance, Washington's anger at the peace deal in Swat allowing the introduction of sharia law there is tempered by the expectation that, like previous agreements with the ungovernable Pashtun hill tribes stretching back to the days of the Raj, it will not stick.

The US is offering massive new infusions of economic aid, in addition to conditional military assistance, to help root out the jihadi menace. But at a time of growing febrility, there's little doubt US pressure, increasing under Barack Obama, is also making matters worse, at least in the short term.

The rise in cross-border attacks by US forces using Predator drones armed with Hellfire missiles since Zardari took power has further alienated tribal leaders and encouraged radicalisation, Pakistani officials say. Washington argues the policy is necessary in the absence of better answers from Pakistan. Critics say Zardari has secretly sold out the country's sovereignty in return for Obama's support.

Pakistan's economic troubles, compounded by a fast expanding population, chronic poverty, high unemployment, and lack of education, have added to a sense that the country is isolated and in danger of imploding. Islamabad was obliged to accept a $7.6bn emergency IMF loan package in November. It may yet need much more to stave off collapse.

Heightened tensions with India following the Mumbai attacks, friction with Afghanistan's government over security, China's rising alarm over its neighbour's predicament, and international worries about the safety of Pakistan's unregulated nuclear weapons stockpile form the wider context to this dramatic, apparently ineluctable descent.

Pakistan's disintegration, if that is what is now being witnessed, is a tragedy of Shakespearean dimensions, a riveting spectacle, and a clear and present danger to international security. But who in the world can stop it?

Zardari's War

Pakistan's president is finally turning his sights on his most bitter foe. The trouble is, it's not the Taliban or al Qaeda he's after -- it's his chief political rival.
Family feud: Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari's rivalry threatens to overshadow the fight against terrorism.
Last week, Washington was abuzz with a remarkable act of three-way diplomacy. Upbeat Pakistani and Afghan delegations streamed in and out of government offices, enjoying the rare experience of being included in the United States' policymaking process.

Unfortunately, back in Pakistan, politics was taking a nasty turn, one that could be far more consequential than any of the meetings in Washington.

This time, it wasn't Islamist militants or al Qaeda stirring up trouble. Rather, Pakistan's government -- elected in the wake of former President Pervez Musharraf's resignation -- has gone to war with itself.

The country's Supreme Court is once again implicated in the action, having disqualified from office the leaders of Pakistan's main opposition party: former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother, the sitting chief minister of Punjab. Soon after the court's decision, President Asif Ali Zardari imposed governor's rule, effectively placing his own man in charge of his country's most populous and politically dominant province.

In response, the Sharif brothers accused Zardari of manipulating the court and have vowed to take their case to the streets. This is no idle threat. According to public opinion surveys, Sharif is now Pakistan's most popular politician. His party, the Pakistan Muslim League (N), might well succeed in mobilizing violent street rallies that would test the capacity of state security and could even deliver a deathblow to the coalition government in Islamabad.

In short, Pakistan's major political leaders are now in a no-holds-barred contest for political power. The time for unity and compromise appears to have passed; the era of stable democratic governance (and a loyal opposition) was fleeting.

Where does this leave U.S. President Barack Obama's bid to revive flagging U.S. fortunes in the region? As long as Pakistan's political leaders are struggling for their own survival, they will have little time for fighting the Taliban along the Afghan border or for rooting out the networks of extremist militants like those who attacked Mumbai last November. And as long as Pakistan's politics remain deeply unsettled, the United States will have a hard time building sustainable partnerships to confront the region's underlying challenges, from poverty and poor education to inadequate judicial and security structures.

Despite the claims of Pakistan's many conspiracy theorists, the United States cannot dictate political outcomes in Islamabad. Judging from the recent history of Bush administration efforts to navigate the messy end of the Musharraf era, Washington's leverage in the tussle between Zardari and Sharif will be limited. Still, the Obama team should be clear on the potential outcomes of this political clash and should do its utmost to avoid the worst.

At the moment, U.S. diplomats are most likely trying to help put a lid back on the crisis, urging both sides to retreat from battle and identify a compromise that could keep partisan competition out of the streets and inside the constitutional process. To the extent that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Special Representative Richard Holbrooke can support this effort, they should; a Zardari-Sharif compromise is unquestionably Washington's most appealing outcome.

But three other, less pleasant outcomes are now more likely. First, Zardari could succeed in quelling Sharif's protests, effectively sidelining his primary opponent and consolidating his own national standing. Second, Sharif could leverage street protests and existing cleavages within Zardari's party to claw his way to power. Third, destabilizing violence and prolonged political uncertainty could convince the Army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, to reassert control and sideline both civilian contenders.

Of these outcomes, the Obama team will find it most natural to resist the third -- return to military rule -- having just witnessed the perils of undemocratic governance and knowing that it would throw a major wrench into plans for a closer partnership and increases in U.S. assistance. Washington should encourage Kayani to keep his men in the barracks, but if the violence gets out of hand, U.S. entreaties will fall on deaf ears. The United States must therefore prepare for that unwelcome contingency by formulating a list of its highest-priority demands for any new military regime, including, but not limited to, a timeline and plans for Pakistan's return to constitutional democracy.

And there might be even worse things than military rule in Pakistan. Sharif's well-publicized Islamist ties may not determine his policies, but from a U.S. perspective they are troubling. Washington should work to avoid the worst-case scenario, in which a Sharif-led government would curtail partnership with the United States in ways that undermine critical U.S. counterterrorism goals. To some degree, Sharif's behavior will depend on whether he feels resentful or threatened by the United States, on which political allies he brings with him to Islamabad, and on how he conducts relations with Pakistan's top military and intelligence leaders. If Sharif's stock continues to rise, Washington should move quickly to share its primary strategic concerns with him directly and then assess his response accordingly.

If, on the other hand, Zardari weathers the immediate political storm, his government could veer dangerously toward unconstitutional and illiberal measures to ward off waves of popular protest. Washington's too-close association with an unpopular or repressive Zardari regime would prove no more effective than its recent association with Musharraf. Obama would then need to strike a difficult balance between closer bilateral cooperation on issues of common interest and the appearance of overdependence upon Zardari and his party. In particular, the Obama administration might need to rethink or condition apparent plans for vast increases in nonmilitary assistance, a policy intended to support Pakistan's ongoing democratic transition, not civilian authoritarianism.

There are many situations around the world bidding to become Obama's first major foreign-policy trial. But addressing the political drama in Pakistan -- a nuclear-armed state whose cooperation on the war in Afghanistan is essential -- should be high on his agenda. At the very least, the Pakistani turmoil will test the new administration's ability to avert or mitigate a crisis while it plots a comprehensive strategy for one of the world's most dangerous and complicated regions.

An outrageous feud

The Frontier Post
Commitment to Journalism
An outrageous feud
Given the prevalent political conditions when the bigwigs of the mainstream PPP and the PML (N) formations are out with daggers drawn, the promulgation of the presidential ordinance regarding the establishment of mobile courts could only raise eyebrows. The contentions of the president's spokesman are too slim to wash. Even if the intent is, as he would have it believed, to provide for speedy justice in rural areas bereft of judicial infrastructure, what was the urgency of promulgating it by stealth at the dead of night? And that too, when the National Assembly was in session? Doesn't the constitution strictly forbid legislation by presidential enactments when the parliament is in session? The spokesman's assertion that the ordinance had actually been promulgated on February 27 could only be the worst crooked kind of a travesty of truth. Not even a half-wit would give credence to such a mendacity. That an ordinance was enforced two days earlier but the announcement of its enforcement was kept pending to make late at night two days later is just a bunk that not even the most gullible would buy. There is no point for the spokesman to beat about the bush. The pungent reality underlying this presidential enactment is too obvious to hide or understate. Its long-term objective may be what he states. But its immediate intent is what he doesn't state: to deal with a clenched fist with the street agitation launched by the disqualified Sharif Brothers and with the lawyers' planned long march to Islamabad and sit-in there. Not that we are in any way in the corner of the Sharif Brothers or the lawyers. Even as we do empathize with their grouses, we are absolutely abhorrent of any kind of street turmoil at this point in time when the nation is caught up in existential threats, both internally and externally, and while the national economy is on a sharp decline, the people's economic plight is worsening irreversibly. The urgent need of the nation is a complete calm and tranquility on the street so that the rulers could attend single-mindedly to the catastrophic challenges confronting the country and the calamitous woes afflicting its people. But the regret is that the ones to whom this inviolable necessity should come home compellingly are the ones who are least alive to it. With gloves off, knuckles bare, the bigwigs of the PPP and the PML (N) have jumped in the ring, seemingly to fight their own battle to the finish. In equal measures, both the partisans are whipping up the temperatures to the boiling point, ratcheting up the tempers to irreconcilable heights and escalating their rigid positions to the point of no return. And it would be no wrong to say that they have opted to sacrifice the good of this unfortunate nation at the altar of their personal vendetta and revenge, making our hapless people the guinea pig of the clash of egos of their two leaders, Nawaz Sharif and Asif Zardari. But what for? What have they given to the nation, for which they are exacting such a high price on it? They divide up their time between home, where they land to agitate or to reign and rule, and abroad, where they keep stashed bundles of their slush cash and heaps of their prized properties, luxury apartments and booming businesses. But why have the masses become such a silent spectator of their inherently disastrous show, which could potentially push up their country to a precipice and hurt it irreparably. These charlatans and imposters masquerading as their leaders will feel no hurt. They have many places abroad to go to. But the masses have to live here; no place outside they have to go to. Their destiny is linked with this land; if it thrives, they flourish; if it sinks, they too will sink. They must stand up and condemn with their full-throated voice the outrageous feud of these partisans and in no event should they become part of it. This feud is not their feud. Where were these bigwigs when they were under the rule of the jackboots? Fugitives; were they not? Luxuriating in their palaces, chateaus and villas in distant resorts; were they not? And are they seeing the menacing clouds creeping in over their land from the western and the eastern horizons, which the masses are seeing with so much of dread and horror? Certainly, they are not. So the masses must abjure and denounce their feud, and ask them to stop it or face the consequences.
Saved from: http://www.thefrontierpost.com/News.aspx?ncat=ed&nid=264&ad=03-03-200
Dated: Tuesday,March 03, 2009, Rabi-ul-Awwal 05, 1430 A.H.

SNOWED-IN..................NEW YORK

LET IT SNOW LET IT SNOW..................CHEERS ALL IN THIS WEATHER.......

Playing With Fire in Pakistan

EDITORIAL
NYT.COM
Almost no one wants to say it out loud. But between the threats from extremists, an unraveling economy, battling civilian leaders and tensions with its nuclear rival India, Pakistan is edging ever closer to the abyss.In a report this week, The Atlantic Council warned that Pakistan’s stability is imperiled and that the time to change course is fast running out. That would be quite enough for any government to deal with. Then on Wednesday, Pakistan’s Supreme Court added new fuel upholding a ruling barring opposition leader Nawaz Sharif — a former prime minister — and his brother from holding elected office. That touched off protests across Punjab Province, the Sharifs’ power base and Pakistan’s richest and politically most important province.The Sharifs charge that the Supreme Court is a tool of President Asif Ali Zardari. They are backing anti-government lawyers who have long campaigned for the reinstatement of the country’s former top judge who was dismissed by former Gen. Pervez Musharraf in 2007.We don’t know if Mr. Zardari orchestrated this ruling, as Nawaz Sharif and many others have charged. (The government actually argued Mr. Sharif’s side in the case, which stems from an earlier politically motivated criminal conviction.) We do know the danger of letting this situation get out of control.
When Mr. Zardari became president, he pledged to unite the country. He has not. Like Mr. Zardari, Mr. Sharif is a flawed leader and no doubt is manipulating the combustible court ruling for personal political gain.For Pakistan’s democracy to survive, a robust opposition must be allowed to flourish and participate peacefully in the country’s political life. That includes finding a way for Mr. Sharif to run for office.It also means Pakistan must get serious about tackling its problems, including the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Mr. Zardari, whose wife, Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated by extremists, seems to understand.Unfortunately, the powerful chief of the Pakistani Army, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, still seems far more focused on the potential threat of India than the clear and present danger of the extremists. He is said to have supported the recent deal in which the government effectively ceded the Swat Valley — in the border region but just 100 miles from Islamabad — to militants in a misguided bid for a false peace.Pakistanis need to understand that this is their fight, not just America’s. We hope top American officials delivered that message loudly and clearly when General Kayani visited Washington this week.There was a time when Messrs. Zardari and Sharif pledged to work together for the good of Pakistan. Their country is in mortal danger. And they need to find a way to work together to save it.

The Swat deal is wrong

Shaukat Qadir
The Swat deal amounts to the opening of a Pandora’s Box: where will it stop? The other chapters of the Taliban are only waiting to ask for their own ‘Islamic’ government. Is this the beginning of the real Talibanisation of the NWFP?
The Taliban in Pakistan are far from a monolithic structure. There is, at best, a loose union with a disputed leadership and undefined hierarchy. However, the undisputed Taliban leader in Swat is Fazlullah. Pakistan has attempted to strike a peace deal with the Swat Taliban, in return for the imposition of sharia — Islamic law — in Swat. The attempt has been heralded by some, viewed sceptically by others, and condemned by a few. Let us attempt to examine what is wrong with this deal.
To begin with, the government’s deal has been brokered with Sufi Muhammed, Fazlullah’s father-in-law, not with Fazlullah who, despite their relationship (or because of it), is not on the best of terms with Sufi. If Fazlullah accepts Sufi’s terms, it might result in Sufi becoming more powerful; else the endeavour could deteriorate to an internecine battle for turfs, doomed to fail from the outset.
If one vectors into this equation that the Taliban are hated by the population for all that they stand for and can rule only by force, it is obvious that the deal can, at best, offer a breather and no more.The provincial government, having announced that it is prepared to go the extra mile to ensure the success of this deal, has now announced its intention of arming the local population to fight against the Taliban and that ‘arms not being used against the Taliban would be withdrawn’. How that will be discovered or how the arms, once given, will be recovered remains a mystery. The central government is having second thoughts anyway.However, irrespective of whether it works or not, this deal is a recipe for disaster, unless we are prepared to hand Islam over to the Taliban and allow them to legalise their violation of every law of the land and every tenet of Islam. The Quran states again and again that Islam is progressive; even Saudi Arabia that had been living with its archaic laws is attempting to change. Pakistan is, on the other hand, prepared to allow itself to be held hostage to these self-styled saviours of Islam.I have persistently numbered among those who advocate negotiating with terrorists, though from a position of strength, and that the use of force alone is not the answer. I have continued to quote the IRA and Sein Fenn as an example of erstwhile terrorists who are today negotiating the fate of Ireland with the British government.However, there is a line beyond which it is not possible for any state to cede its authority. While it is possible to negotiate a mutually acceptable form of government that reflects the aspirations of the people, no state should be prepared to accept a state within a state, which is governed by force, irrespective of the wishes of the governed.
One meaning of the word ‘Islam’ is peace; the Quran forbids its followers to kill innocent people or to take their own lives. However, the Taliban preach that to take one’s own life as a suicide bomber is not only the path to heaven for the bomber, but that he/she is also doing a favour to those killed for, unknowingly, they too will have died in the cause of Allah and will thus go to heaven.Hazrat Bibi Khadija RA asked the Prophet PBUH for his hand in marriage. Islam permits each woman to choose her mate and seek divorce if unhappy, just as to the male. Yet the Taliban find justification for ‘honour killing’; the killing of disobedient female offspring, and women who choose their own mate or seek divorce against their parents’ wishes.
Islam asks its followers to seek knowledge and educate themselves; one of the most famous sayings of the Prophet PBUH is ‘seek knowledge, even if you have to travel to China for it’. Yet the Taliban condemn knowledge as being un-Islamic: they burn girls’ schools, throw acid on the faces of girls who defy them in persisting to seek knowledge, and murder persistent teachers.Even if schools in Swat resume classes, what will they teach? If they have their own courts, what justice will they offer? Will not the next generation of Swatis be condemned to become Taliban?They forget history and declare democracy to be un-Islamic. The first Caliph, Hazrat Abu Bakr RA was deemed to have been nominated by the Prophet PBUH, since he was asked by the Prophet PBUH to lead the Friday prayers when He fell ill. Yet, Abu Bakr RA did not assume his office until the Friday congregation following the death of the Prophet PBUH, when he was accepted unopposed and unanimously by the congregation. The same occurred following the death of Hazrat Abu Bakr RA when Hazrat Omer RA became Caliph. Following Hazrat Omer’s death, Hazrat Ali RA decided to contest the nomination of Hazrat Osman RA, but withdrew when he realised that Hazrat Osman RA was likely to win. What else is an election or democracy?In fact, Islam is the first democracy in which not only was the Caliph appointed in accordance with the wishes of the people, he was accountable to the people during his rule. Numerous instances are recorded in history when common people challenged ruling Caliphs and had to be satisfied.
Finally, the Swat deal amounts to the opening of a Pandora’s Box: where will it stop? The other chapters of the Taliban are only waiting to ask for their own ‘Islamic’ government. Is this the beginning of the real Talibanisation of the NWFP?If so, does no one realise that if they are permitted to take over a province, they will find time to consolidate and, some day in the not too distant future, threaten Islamabad, something they are incapable of doing, now or ever, unless the state gives them such an opening in Swat.

SWAT VALLEY IN DARKNESS !!!!!

M Waqar
Another shameful day for Pukhtuns.Bad news that the government has given in to demands of the scoundrels in Swat...they say that Nizam i adl is to be imposed in Malakand/Swat now...thus giving in to the mullahs by the authorities...a black day, sad and shameful...how could you let murderors and criminals to have their way like this...instead of crushing them like pests and vermin that they are, they're being rewarded by giving in to their medieval, absurd, and contorted demands. Way to go! Be that as it may, looks like this cancer will spread and spread until it will eventually remove the smug smirks from the faces of johnies who call themselves arjuns, jaypees, ajeyas, nkgs and stuff...and all their baniya's hard painstaking work that they have done for themselves in business finagling would eventually come down to aught.So called leaders of pukhtuns and Pakistani regime surrendered to thugs and criminal and killers of Pukhtuns. This is indeed a shameful day, when the elected representatives of the swati people were ignored and the state put under the tender mercies of the scoundrels who wear the mask of "islam" and "sharia" to hide their power-grab.Will these mullahs and ignorant Taliban leaders will be punished for killing so many people?, destroying busnises, destroying schools,will they be punished for using bombs and suicide bombers for imposing their views on majority?
Pakistani elite,bourgeious and corrupt politicians,one more time pushed Pukhtuns in backwardness.

analysis: In a state of failure —Salman Tarik Kureshi

Daily Times
Analysis: In a state of failure —By Salman Tarik Kureshi
The painful processes of state collapse lead to the emergence of precisely such quasi-governmental set-ups. It is rule by the most ruthless and violent, to which the ordinary people are obliged to acquiesce in the absence of available alternatives
The region of Swat, along with various other parts of FATA and the NWFP, as effectively lost to the state of Pakistan.This is an example of localised state failure. Over the derelict remnants of Swat’s former administration and judiciary, alienated as it was from the people by reasons of incompetence and corruption, a makeshift and semi-barbarous revolutionary regime has been erected.Do the people of Swat ‘approve’ of this new regime? Would they vote for it if they could? It does not matter, since Maulana Raidwa (‘Radio’), as Maulvi Fazlullah is called, and his colleagues are clearly not interested in winning any beauty competitions, popularity contests or elections. Quite vocal about considering democracy to be anathema to Islam, they believe in brute force, in terror and in power.Is it possible for a non-representative regime, one perhaps hated by its subjects, to endure? It would be nice to think that it could not. But consider only the fact that the longest-lasting Pakistani regime to date was the seemingly endless nightmare of the usurper Zia-ul Haq, which sowed the furrows that Maulvi Fazlullah and his ilk harvest today.
Moreover, it was no popular movement that eventually removed that satanic dictator, but the secretive conspiracy of a band of still unknown assassins. No, dear reader, unpopular dictators can and do continue in power and twist and warp the societies they rule, provided they are effective rulers. And, as I also suggested in my last article, the TNSM has indeed been effective in establishing its administration and courts, according to its own brutal ideology.The painful processes of state collapse (such as have been permitted — indeed, fostered and encouraged — in Pakistan’s north-west) lead to the emergence of precisely such quasi-governmental set-ups. It is rule by the most ruthless and violent, to which the ordinary people are obliged to acquiesce in the absence of available alternatives.Could the kind of state failure that we see in FATA and Swat spread through the breadth of the poverty-stricken, multiethnic country of Pakistan, with its violent history and its many fault lines? Could the horrors attendant on state failure afflict all of us?Let us recall that, at the very beginning of our national existence, in what is now our largest province, the state did in fact fail for a time. There were three specific issues in Punjab in 1947, beyond those in the rest of the country.First, there was the Radcliffe Award that irrationally sliced through the province. Second, in the hiatus following the resignation of the Unionist Party government of Khizar Hayat Tiwana and before the appointment of Iftikhar Hussain Mamdot of the Muslim League, all governance and law and order totally disintegrated under the Governor’s Rule of Sir Francis Mudie. Third, and too little examined, was the social tinder of more than three million recently demobilised soldiers, the Punjabi Muslim and Sikh soldiers who had fought World War II in North Africa, Italy, the Middle East and Burma.The result was that independence brought to Punjab the very worst kind of communal violence and massacres and the largest forced migrations of refugees in human history. Is it far-fetched to regard the Punjab upheavals of 1947 as an example of state failure?I believe not. That order was restored and a functioning state machinery became effective quite quickly speaks volumes for the political leadership and the indefatigable administrative services of those times.Fast-forwarding to 1971, we see that the 'Islamic ideology' trumpeted by the state establishment proved a failure as a binding cement against the realities of ethnic and linguistic differences, geographic separation, denial of democratic and provincial rights, capped by naked exploitation, arrogance and discrimination.Taking advantage of the political ferment engendered by the standoff between Mujibur Rahman and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the army staged its now infamous action in Dhaka on March 25, 1971, almost simultaneously with the Mukti Bahini's atrocities in Chittagong. The region of what had been East Pakistan descended into civil war and state collapse for a prolonged period. The trauma of the military defeat that terminated the Yahya regime in December 1971 threatened to cause anarchy in West Pakistan as well.Again, it took political skills of a high order — those of Bhutto here (remember the “pieces, the very small pieces, from which we must rebuild”?) and of Mujib in Bangladesh — to permit the regeneration of organised states. (It is interesting that both these institution-building leaders were eventually assassinated by military putschists.)As the examples of 1947 and 1971 show, state failure on a still larger scale than what has already occurred in Swat, Bajaur and FATA, is certainly a possibility in Pakistan. A failing state is defined by the Fund for Peace as having such qualitative attributes as loss of physical control of its territory or losing the state’s monopoly on the legitimate use of force.Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? It includes erosion of legitimate authority to make collective decisions; inability to provide reasonable public services. Look around you, dear reader.
How does the country in fact score on these counts?
Well, in 2008, the Failed States Index (FSI) of the Fund for Peace judged five countries — Somalia, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Chad and Iraq — as the most failing states, with an FSI of over 110. Next among the Top Ten, with an FSI of over 103, were the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, the Ivory Coast, Pakistan and the Central African Republic. Pakistan had in fact ‘risen’ by three positions to attain this ranking as the ninth most failing state in the world. Where we will be adjudged to be in 2009, I do not know.
The FSI rankings are based on twelve indicators of state vulnerability — four social, two economic and six political. The social indicators are: (a) Demographic pressures, including high population density relative to food supply and other resources; (b) massive movement of refugees and internally displaced peoples, both within and between countries; (c) legacy of vengeance-seeking group grievances, including atrocities committed with impunity against communal groups and/or specific groups singled out by state authorities or dominant groups; and (d) chronic and sustained human flight, the ‘brain drain’ of professionals, intellectuals and political dissidents and voluntary emigration of the middle class.
The economic indicators are: (a) Uneven economic development along group or regional lines, determined by group-based inequality in education, jobs, and economic status; and (b) sharp and/or severe economic decline, measured by a progressive economic decline of the society as a whole (using per capita income, GNP, debt, child mortality rates, poverty levels, business failures) and the growth of hidden economies, including the drug trade, smuggling and capital flight.
The six political indicators are: (a) criminalisation of the state, endemic corruption of ruling elites and resistance to transparency, accountability and political representation; (b) deterioration of public services, including failure to protect citizens from crime, terrorism and violence, and collapse of essential services like health, education, sanitation and public transportation; (c) disregard for and widespread violation of human rights, emergence of authoritarian, dictatorial or military rule in which constitutional and democratic processes are suspended or manipulated, public repression of political opponents, religious or cultural persecution; (d) security apparatus as a ‘state within a state’ that operates with impunity; (e) use of nationalistic political rhetoric by ruling elites in terms of communal irredentism or of communal solidarity, e.g. “defending the faith”; and (f) intervention of other states or external actors, military or paramilitary, in the internal affairs of the state.
These indicators are like milestones along, what we can sadly call, the Road to Swat. At a national level, we have crossed almost all of them. And this has not been the ‘achievement’ of one or the other party or government. All have made their contributions in bringing us to this pass. Worst of all has been the role of our supposedly educated elite that continues to place self before principle.
Does the shoe fit, dear reader? Then, what should we do about it, other than wave our Green Cards on the way to the airport?
The writer is a marketing consultant based in Karachi. He is also a poet

AFZAL KHAN LALA VS CRUEL TALIBAN !!!!!!!

Mwaqar
Afzal Khan Lala , who spent most of his time struggling for getting the rights of his nation. The enemies of Pashtun are bent upon to eliminate him physically and create a vacuum in the Pashtun for a leader of the caliber of Khan lala. It is evident to all including international community that Pashtun region is engulfed by the terrorists and their promoters .What is happening to the people of Swat is a tragedy. When Swat has gone out of control and there is no writ of the government and even the elected member of the assemblies have either been killed by the terrorists or they have fled the area, there is one person who is like ‘Last Man Standing.’ One man who hasn’t bowed in front of ignorant Taliban despite of many attempts on his life and property. That brave son of pukhtunkhwa is, ’’AFZAL KHAN LALA’’. Through your newspaper, I salute him for his courage and bravery. I salute to his heroism,he is Pukhtun’s Hero. Mohammad Afzal Khan has chosen a place in history for himself. From the gravity of the situation it seems he is up against insurmountable odds. It is a do or die situation for the veteran nationalist leader. His opposition to the Taliban puts his opponent in unfavorable position. Mohammad Afzal Khan will be remembered as a brave leader of the landed classes and of Pakhtun nationalism. In spite of leaving his people he will prefer to die and only a real man, a brave man can face death without any fear. Afzal Khan Lala is one of those leaders who is willing to risk his life for his people. He is presently resisting the ignorant and thugs TTP (Tehrik Taliban Pakistan) from his village near Matta, Swat. Unlike some other leaders who have decided to take shelter in Islamabad or Norway ,Afzal Khan Lala does not want to abandon his people to the brutality of the TTP. Today People of Swat are suffering under the mediaeval and archaic and cruel “laws” being “administered” by the illiterate and backward Taliban in full sight and hearing o f the “law-enforcement agencies”. Where is Islamabad’s writ??? Why one powerful army can’t control this situation??? Why can’t you shoot or arrest leaders of Taliban who are involve in crimes against humanity? Are they more powerful then Army??? It is a matter of life or death for the country, the way in which the Taliban have been allowed to have their way. I use the term “allowed to” advisedly and purposely. The question to ask, however, is who will hold the security agencies to account for what has been wrought by the Taliban in Swat? Who will hold the intelligence establishment to account for its shameful and massive failure in Swat and also in Fata? Who, indeed, will take stock of the present standards of training of the army which seems helpless against the motley and ragtag Taliban. (A passing thought: if the much-touted and very expensively maintained Pakistan Army cannot handle the Taliban whom they outnumber 1,000 to one how the devil will they face a greater, numerically superior enemy? From all accounts it is not even picketing and patrolling, the two most important military operations that are absolutely essential for Frontier/tribal warfare. What Pakistani Govt doing for all those kids who can’t go to schools any more? Where is the writ of the government? Why is not anything being done is the questions generally raised by people after reading the bloody incidents taking place in Swat on daily basis. While scrutinizing the theory of Taliban aiming at enforcement of Shariah one can see that the brutal acts done by them on daily basis do not justify any context of Islamic preaching. One can find many references and quotations made by the Holy Prophet and Kalifas of Islam that instead condemn these acts. For instance; in a hadith narrated by the Caliph Omar (Bukhari, 4:258): Abu Bakr, the first caliph and friend of the Prophet Mohammad, summarizing the Prophet's message, telling the leaders of his armies, "Do not kill a woman, a child, o r an old man. Do not cut down a blossoming tree, do not destroy a building, and do not kill a sheep or camel, except for the purpose of eating it. Do not submerge or cut down a palm tree. Do not be excessive, and do not be cowardly." What Islam do they want to preach? The people of swat have been in this suffering for almost 18 months now, and they are all alone in their suffering as they have suffered more than the Taliban and the military forces who are supposed to fighting each other. According to local sources, there have been more than 2800 deaths (official sources, always trying to reduce the numbers, put it at 1000), and more than 90% of them innocent civilians. There is no electricity, no water, no gas, no education, no health facilities, not even a good night sleep. There are reports that the people of Swat pray for American drones to come and bombard the bases of Taliban. Today Swat is also waiting for justice that has been denied to many in the pages of history.

In the view of analysts, the growing nightmare in Swat is a capsule of the country's problems: an ineffectual and unresponsive civilian government, coupled with military and security forces that, in the view of furious residents, have willingly allowed the militants to spread terror deep into Pakistan. This bloody movement started with "Maulana radio" and his radio and should end with silencing his 500 KV FM radio! I can't believe that Pakistani Government and its allies in terror can not afford a one Mega Volt radio to silence .Why can't the Government shut down his radio and start information warfare against these ignorant, criminals of pukhtuns, thugs, religious fanatic Taliban.??? How is it possible that a killer uses a tool, the radio, a tool of civilization, for spreading his message of killers around? Obviously technology is then good when the notorious criminals are calling for support of his crimes! For how long that stupidity will be tolerated??? This Taliban "lea der" communicates by radio instead of coming out in the open to do so , but what can one expect from someone who, under all that religious bluster, is probably just some spineless coward who uses religion to deal with his personal issues about the world. Those so called religious Waco’s should read the Qur'an! Their violence and subjugation is so anti-Muslim. How can they not see it! And their misinterpretation of "jihad' is so off the real meaning. These people are nuts.

The crushing, un-Islamic cruelty of this fanatical movement is felt by all, but mostly by the women and girls who are being punished, even killed, for having careers and for desiring to get an education. I remember Swat from the 80s and 90s as a peaceful place, where people were gentle and polite, the environment was pristine, and girls schools were flourishing , female literacy was actually higher than the national average. I cannot believe the brutal crimes that are being committed in this beautiful region in the name of some mis-guided concept of religion. Pakistani citizens everywhere must stand up against this terror and reject this inhumanity. Taliban got to be crushed and there is no other option. Pakistani army and security establishment has failed in making any real progress, despite all claims that army operation has been undertaken to control the situation. What is pakistani army for? Why is it so ineffective? Why cant it control a group of few thousand hardliners and mercenaries who have terrorized the whole region. People are being misled and great efforts are being made in pakistani media to portray all this as the price of supporting the American war on terror. The civilian government, led by nationalist party, in the Frontier province has been made totally ineffective as elected representatives fear for their lives. Who is supporting and financing taliban? Why is no one talking about Saudi connection as huge amount of private saudi money is coming to support the arab millitants operating in the region. Islamic radicalism like Saudi-supported wahaabism and the taliban movement could be strongly denounced by sincere and true and educated Islamic thinkers and theologians. Governing by fear and destruction is a direct path back into the dark ages. What kind of educational back ground do these Taliban "leaders?" have ... 6th grade or less? Too bad they are not required to at least have a bachelor's degree.

ISI brought out this jinnee from the bottle. World and Pakistan government should ask ISI to go to Swat and face this terrible music. Pretty faces of women activists appearing on Paki TV to " defend" their rights, have a lot to defend, before Taliban reaches their cozy homes in Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi. Pak armed forces keep warning India about giving befitting reply in case of a conflict ,they too should feel ashamed that they are unable to rein in these mercenaries.

Anyone who thinks that Govt should talk to Taliban is either living in fools paradise or hiding their heads in sand, how can we reason with individuals who throw acid on young girls for attending school? This is humanity at its worst and it is an ideology that must be exposed for what it is. It must become socially and morally unacceptable in their own culture and that can only be achieved through education and example. For every school you burn, we will build two more. Enemies of education and Pukhtun’s are targeting schools. They started out with girls schools. Now it is indiscriminate and boys schools are being destroyed too. Swat was a state found in early 20th century on modern principles. The only way to defend against the menace of ignorance is education to innocent minds. Can we stop destruction of existing beacons of light. This systemic and well planned brutality will have a huge price for humanity. There are no more schools in Charmang, a rural village of mud-brick homes and lush wheat fields nestled in the mountains of Bajaur, a tribal territory, along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The Taliban are in control now, dreams of pukhtun kids are shattered by ignorant Taliban.

Some interesting questions remain though, who is paying the mercenary Taliban foot soldiers? Where are night goggles and FM transmitters coming from? Who is paying the suicide bomber's families? I suggest the Pakistani Government and Swat residents do the following:
1-Since almost everyone have guns in their home, they should accompany their daughters/sisters to schools....2000-4000 Taliban can not fight every one.
2-Start effective propaganda and information warfare separating Taliban from being the custodian of Islam. Their name should be "anti-Islam" not Taliban(which literally means students!)
3-shut down their radio!
4-The houses of suicide bombers be demolished and family watched for receiving compensation money
5-Put the soldiers on the ground rather than tucked in insulated areas. Stop using long range ineffective artillery indiscriminately.
6-Increase the ratio of soldiers to Taliban to 10:1, provide them with modern spying gears/equipment.
7-Make s pecial courts for trying these bastards and legislate the sentence as hanging for documented Taliban combatants.
8-No one should impose their will on Swatis ...if any doubt...do opinion polls/referendum.

I find it highly distressing that this erstwhile idyllic, peaceful and picturesque Swat valley is now hounded by these ignorant religious zealots. A corrupt and inept political system has given rise to illiteracy and lack of economic opportunity. Combine that with the puritanical form of Islam imported from Saudi Arabia during the anti-Communist Jihad in the 80s .Taliban is an evil which must be destroyed. These Talibans are product of thousands of madarsas set up throughout Pakistan by ISI and its military initially to fight USSR in Afghanistan with the help of CIA ,West and Saudi Arabia.

At the advent of 21st century intellectuals the world over predicted that the new millennium will usher in peace, human rights and dignity of man. Mankind will show tolerance, endurance and maturity. The man of this planet who has conquered space will be a messenger of peace to other planets. But unfortunately this century began with such chaos, wars, religious and sectarian extremism, violence, brutality, suicide bombing, and destruction that it rather disgraced humanity. There seems no end to this phony, aimless reign of terrorism. Economy is shattered in Pakistan and particularly in Pakhtunkhawa. The Gateway towards central Asia for international trade is closed. The worsening law and order situations and fragile economy have led to capital flight. Investors in Hayatabad “Industrial state” are compelled to shift their business from Peshawar.

Taliban have no right to force their views on people who disagree with them . Swat, a city of breathtaking natural beauty turned into a nightmare by those who use the name of Islam but all their actions are against Islam. Taliban have no right to deny girls education, Taliban are not only denying pukhtun girls education but they are destroying whole generation of pukhtuns by denying education and destroying their schools.

The Pukhtun belt stretching from Kandahar to Swat is burning, roads, bridges, schools, houses are blown , people get beheaded on mere suspicion. Hundreds of people are kidnapped every day for ransom or as part of campaign to eliminate the elements who oppose the thugs. Is it Islam? Pukhtuns are caught in the middle in a fight which serves OTHERS strategic interests. Normal day to day living has become a painful experience leave alone Education, economic,social, cultural activities. In such a situation we Pukhtun are in a state of shocksimply flabbergasted. Our minds have turned blank as if we all have collectively suffered a concussion injuries to our head. Our eyes are wide open but see nothing. It is for the Muslims to raise against these psychopaths ignorant Taliban. What are the oil-rich countries doing? If the Muslim world will not raise against this evil, their future generations would look back in d isgust and shame for what their fathers and grandfathers did or did not do.. (like Germans reckoning with their Nazi past!). It's really up to them. I think the Swat residents would welcome foreign help in removing the Taliban, if the Pakistani government would be courageous enough to invite them or afraid to use iron hand against them. People in Pakistan should realize that the Taliban are as much a foreign power as western nations are. The Taliban are not about religion, but only about gaining power to abuse people. We need brave leaders like AFZAL KHAN LALA, who can look into eyes of these monsters and not afraid of them, what a great man of principles, I salute his moral values and courage.

POLISH ENGINEER VIDEO,Pakistan unsure over identity of man beheaded in Taliban video

video is from youtube.com,I am not sure if its reaaly him,but its very sad and I offer my condolences to his family in Poland,Readers comments are welcome on this story.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistani authorities have not confirmed that a kidnapped Polish engineer is the man that was beheaded on a Taliban video, despite assertions from Polish officials that they are certain the man is Piotr Stanczak.
"We want to be absolutely sure," said Abdual Basit, a spokesman for Pakistan's foreign office."Hopefully we would be able to confirm it shortly, but unless we are 100 percent sure, it would be premature for us to react."He noted that the Pakistani government is waiting to be informed by "concerned authorities."News of Stanczak's death came on Friday. Polish officials have said they were kept in the dark during negotiations for his release, but Basit denied that.Stanczak was kidnapped September 28 from the city of Attock in the Punjab province. He had been based there for a Polish survey company searching for natural gas.Polish embassy spokesman Peter Adams said there had been no demands for ransom. The Taliban had demanded the release of Taliban prisoners being held by the government and a pullout of government security forces from the tribal areas.Adams said all efforts had been made by Polish authorities to pressure the Pakistani government to do whatever it could to secure Stanczak's release."From the Polish side we did whatever we could, pressuring the Pakistani government on the presidential and prime minister level," Adams said. "Problem was, this was solely Pakistan's responsibility. Demands were only towards (the) Pakistan government."While there were assurances that the Pakistani government was doing everything it could and that Stanczak would be freed soon, Adams said it was never clear what the government was actually doing to secure his release."We are waiting for confirmation and waiting for any answer (about) how this happened and why did this happen," Adams said.Kidnappings and attacks against foreigners have risen sharply in recent months throughout the country. Most recently, an American working for the United Nations was kidnapped in Quetta, and Peshawar has also been the scene of various attacks against foreign diplomats and journalists.