Malik sees global plot to destabilise Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Wednesday said in the Senate that Pakistan was being destabilized under a well-planned international conspiracy because it was an Islamic state and a nuclear power.

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Interior, Senator A. Rehman Malik talking to the media persons outside Parliament House

Winding up the debate on the law and order situation in the Senate, with particular reference to Karachi, the minister said foreign intelligence agencies trained the Pakistanis and used them for attacks in Pakistan and abroad to advance their agenda. “They also try to pit one sect against another in the country,” he said.

On the last day of discussion on the Karachi situation, the minister had to face strong criticism from the opposition senators, particularly from Professor Khurshid Ahmad and Sajid Mir, who said that the government itself was facilitating foreign hands as they referred to issuance of visas to nationals of a third country in Dubai.

During his speech, Rehman Malik also claimed that the law and order situation was improving with reduction in incidents of target killings in Karachi and Quetta.

He said a decision was taken to take action in six police stations of Quetta, which were no-go areas and as a result 103 proclaimed offenders, 97 target killers and 60 absconders were arrested and since then there had been no incident of target killing in Quetta city.

The minister offered that a fact-finding mission should be sent to determine whether the FC was in any way involved in the Panjgur incident. He said he was also ready for a judicial inquiry or inquiry within the Senate.

The interior minister said the poor law and order situation in Karachi was mainly because of political polarization and the government, including the president and the prime minister, were trying to resolve it. He said there were also other factors of unrest and violent incidents in the city like economic pressure, drug and land mafia.

Rehman Malik said he never talked about initiation of a Swat and Malakand-like operation in Balochistan. About the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, he said the province was a frontline region in the war on terror and suffered heavily both in terms of life and property. He, however, said the situation had improved as a consequence of the operations launched by the Army and law enforcing agencies and now life had returned to normal in the troubled areas.

The interior minister said the government was following the 3-D policy, which was working well. He said the government was pursuing the policy of reconciliation but it could not talk to those who trampled the Islamic teachings by indulging in acts of terrorism.

He said it was the duty of the government to protect life and property of citizens but it was the nation’s collective responsibility to sit together and formulate an effective strategy. He said he was ready to give an in-camera briefing to parliament so that the members might have an idea what actually was happening.

About issuance of visas to nationals of a third country in Dubai, the minister said the visas were issued within rules. “How the visas can be refused when there was nothing wrong with passports and applicants themselves,” he asked.

Professor Khurshid said that Pakistan government should find ways to come out of the war on terror as it had resulted in insecurity and deterioration of the law and order situation in the country. He regretted that incidents of target killings were continuing in Karachi despite assurances from the interior minister. “The government is not alive and sensitive to the law and order situation, particularly in Karachi and Balochistan,” the JI senator observed. He said culprits were receiving patronage from politicians.

Professor Khurshid said all was not good with the lower judiciary and the masses were not getting speedy justice from there. “The improvement in the working of the Supreme Court and high courts should also trickle down to the lower judiciary,” he said.

Senator Sajid Mir of the PML-N said the statements of rulers about improvement in the law and order situation and their assurances in this connection were baseless.

He said the government itself was facilitating enemies of the country and in this connection he referred to the issuance of visas to nationals of a third country in Dubai. “Such an attitude and presence of foreign agents in the country will deteriorate the law and order situation,” he said.

He observed that incidents of terrorism in the country could not be controlled till the time the US forces and Indians were present in Afghanistan.

Maulana Abdul Rasheed asked the interior minister to apprise the House of the actual reasons behind the acts of terrorism and target killings.

NNI adds: Rehman Malik said that violation of Pakistan’s territorial integrity by any country would not be allowed and Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani would raise the issue with the US.

Talking to the media outside the Parliament House, Rehman Malik said that Pakistan registered a protest with the US, Nato and Afghanistan over transgression of its territory. He said that an investigation was underway and a report in this regard would be made public soon.

Earlier, Malik told the National Assembly that Dr Aafia Siddiqui’s brother had appealed in US Supreme Court against his sister’s 86-year conviction. He said the US did not fulfill legalities of the case. He also asserted that the concerned lawyers did not defend the case as was expected from them.

Talking about his meeting with Dr Fauzia Siddiqui, the minister said Dr Aafia’s family was not seeking any assistance from the government. However, he confirmed the family was being provided all kinds of legal and monetary assistance.

Nato raid ‘kills Pakistan troops’

Three Pakistani soldiers have been killed in an attack by Nato helicopters during a cross-border attack, Pakistani officials say.

An unnamed Pakistani security official told the AFP news agency that the soldiers were killed in an “unprovoked attack” on a Pakistani checkpoint.

The Nato helicopters crossed up to 5km (three miles) into Pakistan, he said.

The strike was the third Nato raid across the border into Pakistan over the past week.

Zardari plotting against Pak Army?

By: Fatima Rizvi

On Monday, September 27, 2010, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, and the Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army, General Ashfaq Parvez Kiyani, met with President Asif Ali Zardari to discuss issues pertaining to “political and economic stability, law and order situation”, national and regional security, among others. In the meeting, the President, Prime Minister and Army Chief “resolved to defend the “resolved to defend and protect the democratic processand to resolve all issues in accordance with the Constitution”. Crucially so, “the Army chief also gave his input to the government for improving governance… [and] Action would also be taken against the corrupt who are a part of the government; however, the country would under no circumstances be allowed to be politically destabilized”. The meeting lasted for 90 minutes, and according to Pakistani media sources, the meeting of this “troika” raised more questions than it answered. True to his vigilante style, Ansar Abbasi of The News International tries to connect a lot of dots as regards this meeting; while covering the aspects of the Supreme Court’s activism, the NRO beneficiaries, the corruption allegations besmirching the present political dispensation at the highest echelons of government, and even whether there could be collusion between the Army Chief and the President, he fails to ask – and answer – one of the most critical questions in Pakistan’s present political scenario.

Read Complete Article: http://fatima-rizvi.livejournal.com/72085.html

Ministers warned against meddling in elections

By: Irfan Ghauri

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has issued directives to the federal and provincial governments that it will not tolerate interference in the election process.

Elected representatives barred from visiting constituencies after poll is announced

The strongly-worded statement came from the office of the Chief Election Commissioner who said that once the schedule for an election is announced the prime minister, chief ministers, their advisers and federal and provincial ministers cannot visit the constituencies where polls are taking place.

The commission has received complaints that the prime minister, the chief ministers and their cabinet members use state resources and their clout to get the desired results.

While unlawful, it is common practice for people in the government to visit constituencies and campaign for their party’s candidate.

In addition, elected members will not “openly or in secret give any subscription or donation or make promises” to do so, the ECP said. They will also be barred from inaugurating or announcing development projects that could influence the results of an election.

A high-level meeting to discuss the issue was held by the ECP with representatives of central and provincial governments on September 16.

In its letter to federal and provincial authorities, the ECP warned that if a person misuses his official position in a manner deemed as influencing the results of the election he can be punished with imprisonment for up to two years or be fined up to two thousand rupees. Since there is no special law ascribing punishment to public office holders if they violate the law, the commission said it would book them under contempt of court. Under the law, the CEC has powers of a high court judge and can initiate contempt proceedings.

The commission also tried to address the trend of transferring civil servants during elections, saying that transfers and postings will not be allowed once the election schedule is announced. In case of exceptional circumstances, the authorities would have to seek the ECP’s permission.

India Desperate For A Photo Op, Pakistan Shouldn’t Give It

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan-A joint photograph of Pakistan’s foreign minister with his Indian counterpart in New York could do wonders on the pro-freedom demonstrators in Indian-occupied Kashmir, Indian officials have concluded.

India is desperate in Kashmir and is hoping that a joint photograph of Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers in New York would prove a damper for the Kashmiri demonstrators, showing them Pakistan is ‘onboard’ with India’s handling of the killings in the disputed region.

This is why the Indian government is using every India-sympathizer in Washington and inside the Obama administration to convince Pakistan to send its foreign ministerto shake hands with India’s S. M. Krishna for the cameras.

Would Pakistan do it?

The race is certainly on and it seems there are some key figures in Islamabad who wouldn’t mind obliging the Indians and the Americans.

Early morning today a frantic text message reached Dr. Shireen M. Mazari, the editor of Pakistan’s The Nation daily newspaper. The message was simple:

“[President] Zardari & [Pakistan envoy to Washington Husain] Haqqani are desperately arranging for [Pakistani foreign minister] Shah Mehmood Qureshi to meet Indian foreign minister without agenda & without concrete Indian commitment to talks. Shah Mehmood is reluctant but US is pressurizing to give Indians chance to show Kashmiris that Pakistan is on board.”
Strangely, the message didn’t mention the name of Abdullah Haroon, an India-enthusiast appointed by Mr. Zardari as Pakistan’s envoy to the UN.

Dr. Mazari came on television by midday to break the news on a television channel owned by her newspaper.

If the move succeeds, India will walk away with an important psychological achievement at a crucial time, while Pakistan won’t get much, as usual.

The Indian desperation for this photo-op can be judged from the diplomatic moves India has initiated in the last five days to lure Pakistan into a meeting.

To ensure Pakistan falls for the trap, Indian officials have been generously mentioning ‘Kashmir’ and ‘Pakistan’ in the same sentence, creating the right atmospherics for jubilation in some Pakistani circles ['Wow, India is conceding its position on Kashmir …'].

But a careful look at these statements shows a desperate India cooking up a ruse

NIRUPAMA RAO: The India foreign secretary was apparently the first to be tasked with luring Pakistan into a photo-op in New York. She issued a misleading statementin Boston, US, saying India is ready to discuss ‘all outstanding issues’ with Pakistan ‘including Kashmir.’ Unfortunately, much of the Pakistani and world media ignored the remainder of her statement. Buried somewhere else in her media interaction was the line, “It is an internal affair because it (Kashmir) is an integral part of India.” So, is India discussing Kashmir or not? Ms. Rao’s next line explains it all: “The issue of Jammu & Kashmir comes up in our relationship with Pakistan and we’ve said very clearly, very confidently and very transparently that we are prepared to discuss all outstanding issues with Pakistan.” What India’s second most senior diplomat is saying is that ‘Kashmir does come up in our bilateral relationship’ with Pakistan in the form of the so-called cross-border terrorism and Pakistani meddling in Kashmir. The choice of words is careful not to indicate any concession to Pakistan.
S. M. KRISHNA: Her boss, the foreign minister, has reiterated over the weekend that Pakistan can’t force India to discuss Kashmir in future talks because his country won’t accept ‘preconditions’, which means another round of endless talks where India will keep delaying Kashmir while insisting on discussing nonissues such as trade and cultural exchanges.
S. M. KRISHNA: In a classic sign of Indian desperation, Mr. Krishna couldn’t wait a day to throw coldwater on the feel-good effect of his number two’s statement when he childishly advised Pakistanto ‘stay out of Kashmir’ and vacate ‘its side of Kashmir’ before ‘lecturing’ Indian on what to do in Indian-occupied Kashmir.
These statements underline how desperate India is this time on Kashmir.

If Pakistan goes full throttle now and demands international intervention to stop Indian state-sponsored Kashmir genocide, New Delhi can’t cry foul. It can’t say Pakistan is feeding the insurgency, not when thousands of Kashmiris have shown they want Indian occupiers out. Nor can India’s usual supporters in Washington and London cover up the clear signs of Indian genocide in Kashmir.

Pakistan and the Kashmiris have India by the tail this time. Whatever Islamabad does, it shouldn’t grant India a photo-opportunity so it could use it to demoralize Kashmiri demonstrators.

Govt files plea seeking adjournment of NRO verdict

Irfan Ghauri & Zia Khan

ISLAMABAD: The Attorney General of Pakistan has submitted an application on the government’s directives to adjourn the hearing of the National Reconciliation Ordinance’s (NRO) implementation.

For all its sabre-rattling and show of defiance, the government has agreed in principle to remove other beneficiaries of the NRO from key official slots.

The Supreme Court was to resume its hearing on the NRO verdict today (Monday).

According to sources, the petition asks for a postponement citing the Prime Minister’s national and international commitments as well as the ongoing flood crisis.

In the hearing, the Attorney General was also required to present a summary approved by the Prime Minister for writing a letter to the Swiss Government for re-opening the case.

The court had directed him to submit the contents of the summary to the bench at today’s hearing.

Showdown?

A nervy but defiant government threw down the gauntlet on Sunday with Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani questioning the Supreme Court’s powers to amend the constitution ahead of a crucial hearing into cases involving dropped graft charges in Switzerland against President Asif Ali Zardari.

The court will resume hearing on Monday of the case regarding the government’s non-implementation of its verdict on scrapping the ‘controversial’ National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), a political-cum-legal deal between former president Pervez Musharraf and slain ex-premier Benazir Bhutto.

A separate bench will also hear several petitions clubbed together against some clauses of the 18th constitutional amendment that the parliament approved early this year including one envisaging the parliamentary scrutiny of judges’ appointments in the higher judiciary.

“The Supreme Court does not have the right to amend the constitution… extra-constitutional steps will not be tolerated,” Gilani told a group of television anchors and senior columnists. The premier also ruled out the possibility of reopening the Swiss cases against the president. Analysts see his remarks as a red flag for a ‘lethal’ confrontation between the executive and the judiciary.

Yet, at the same time, Gilani voiced hope that the court would not issue any order that would destabilise the country politically. “The economic stability of Pakistan depends upon smooth functioning of political institutions,” the premier told reporters during a surprise visit to one of Islamabad’s weekly bazaar.

This indicates that the government is ready to confront the increasingly-assertive apex court should it press the authorities to write a letter to Swiss attorneys for reopening graft cases against President Zardari.

In such an event it will submit a summary in the court, arguing that Zardari, by virtue of being the head of state, enjoyed immunity under the still-uninterrupted Article 248 of the constitution.

Gilani told the Senate last Friday that since parliament was an integral part of the constitution it alone could revoke the president’s immunity from prosecution. “Half of his term is over … and if somebody wants to drag him to court, (they) should wait for another two and a half years,” the premier had said.

But, according to officials close to the rapidly unfolding political developments, Gilani’s government has decided in principle to remove from key official slots the other beneficiaries of the NRO, including some close associates of the president.

It is unclear whether some federal ministers against whom the cases were dropped under the October 2007 ordinance would also be asked to step down.

In Friday’s speech to the upper house, Gilani called upon the top bureaucrats, who had benefited from the NRO and were still holding official posts, to quit themselves. However, he did not say a word about the federal ministers who had extracted similar benefits from the NRO.

Key players and change

In an interaction with senior anchors, Gilani, however, sought to ease speculation that the government might be collapsing. “Those who wish to send the government packing through unconstitutional ways will be disappointed,” he said.

The premier said he met Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry a couple of days ago and would be having another session with him soon. He, however, refused to share with media what transpired between him and Justice Chaudhry in the meeting.

“I have a meeting scheduled with Chief of the Army Staff (General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani) today,” he disclosed.

Also on Sunday evening, Gilani said he talked to Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif over the phone and both agreed to resolve political as well as administrative issues through mutual understanding.

Message to the court

Gilani was not the only one who came up with a carefully-worded message for the Supreme Court not to ‘encroach’ upon parliament’s domain.

Last Friday, a parliamentary committee that crafted together the 18th constitutional amendment cautioned the court against undermining parliament’s supremacy by challenging its decisions.

“The parliament is a sovereign institution. It has the right to amend the constitution and laws the way it wants … no other organ of the state can overrule its decisions,” a participant quoted committee members as saying.

On Sunday, an aide to the premier, Sardar Latif Khosa, questioned on constitutional grounds the extension in the services of higher court judges.

“The Supreme Court did it following the law of necessity,” Khosa said in a veiled message for the higher judiciary, indicating that the government may retaliate if pressed further.

He also rejected a ‘widely-accepted’ notion that the Supreme Court could call the military to implement its decisions, arguing it was possible only with the consent of the federal government.

Separately in Karachi, a parliamentary party meeting of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), vowed to defend democracy “at any cost”.

No method to the madness

State of Pakistan

By Yousuf Nazar

More than one trillion dollars and nine years later the alleged and self-confessed master mind of 9/11, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has not been convicted. Osama bin Laden, Ayman Al-Zahwari, and Mullah Omar have not been caught, dead or alive; the Talibans instead of being eliminated are set to take over Kabul again, and Pakistan which hardly had a Taliban presence on September 11, 2001 has been rocked by bomb blasts and has had its worst year of violence since 2001. And Americans still cannot see what the problem is?

But then if their policies had a bit of wisdom, we never would have had Vietnam, Cambodia would not have been ruined, Shah of Iran would never have been allowed to suppress dissent, Afghanistan would not have been abandoned after 1989, and a just settlement of the Palestine conflict would have been achieved. It is easy to forget lessons of history in the confusion and noise of day-to-day reporting and in the age of 30 second sound bites of electronic media.

And it is ok for much over-rated Newsweek and its editor to declare Pakistan as the most dangerous country and the home of Al Qaeda and confess, without much regret or shame, three years later that Al Qaeda is not really that deadly a threat.

I would like to believe this sensational bit of journalism had little to do with the fact that Newsweek magazine had been making losses for years. As of 2003, worldwide circulation was more than 4 million, including 2.7 million in the U.S; however as of 2010 it is down to 1.5 million. The financial results for 2009 as reported by the Washington Post showed that advertising revenue for Newsweek was down 37% in 2009 and the magazine division reported an operating loss for 2009 of $29.3 million compared to a loss of $16 million in 2008. During the magazine’s first quarter of 2010, it lost nearly $11 million. By May 2010, Newsweek was said to be up for sale. The magazine was sold to audio pioneer Sidney Harman for just $1 on August 2, 2010.

Fareed Zakaria, then a Newsweek columnist and editor of Newsweek International, attended a secret meeting on November 29, 2001 with a dozen policy makers, Middle East experts and members of influential policy research organizations to produce a report for President George W. Bush and his cabinet outlining a strategy for dealing with Afghanistan and the Middle East in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. The meeting was held at the request of Paul D. Wolfowitz, then the deputy secretary of defense. The unusual presence of journalists at such a strategy meeting was revealed in Bob Woodward’s 2006 book State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III.

In the May 9, 2005, issue of Newsweek, an article by reporter Michael Isikoff stated that interrogators at Guantanamo Bay “in an attempt to rattle suspects, flushed a Qur’an down a toilet. The magazine later revealed that the anonymous source behind the allegation could not confirm that the book-flushing was actually under investigation, and retracted the story under heavy criticism. But the damage had been done.

Yet, some make so much of the trash that is published in magazines like Newsweek and ignore the counsel of experienced and mature hands like Dr. Brzezinski.

The U.S. military and intelligence budgets have crossed all decent and reasonable limits. The intelligence budget alone has gone up by more than 250% since 2001 to $75 billion and the defenders of U.S. madness in Afghanistan and Pakistan do not see the irony of a mad campaign that has not achieved anything and destroyed much, including American credibility and standing in the world.

Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski, one of the foremost foreign policy experts in the U.S., who started the American involvement in Afghanistan in 1978-1979 as President Jimmy Carter’s National Security Adviser, warned the U.S. government about the potentially disastrous consequences of its foreign policy in a testimony before the U.S. senate foreign relations committee on February 1, 2007. “If the United States continues to be bogged down in a protracted bloody involvement in Iraq, the final destination on this downhill track is likely to be a head-on conflict with Iran and with much of the world of Islam at large. A plausible scenario for a military collision with Iran involves Iraqi failure to meet the benchmarks; followed by accusations of Iranian responsibility for the failure; then by some provocation in Iraq or a terrorist act in the U.S. blamed on Iran; culminating in a “defensive” U.S. military action against Iran that plunges a lonely America into a spreading and deepening quagmire eventually ranging across Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.”

He dismissed the fears about Al Qaeda saying: “A mythical historical narrative to justify the case for such a protracted and potentially expanding war is already being articulated. Initially justified by false claims about WMD’s in Iraq, the war is now being redefined as the “decisive ideological struggle” of our time.”

Dr. Brzezinski warned: ” Vague and inflammatory talk about “a new strategic context” which is based on “clarity” and which prompts “the birth pangs of a new Middle East” is breeding intensifying anti-Americanism and is increasing the danger of a long-term collision between the United States and the Islamic world.”

He added: “One should note here also that practically no country in the world shares the Manichean delusions that the Administration so passionately articulates. The result is growing political isolation of, and pervasive popular antagonism toward the U.S. global posture. “

One consequence of the bloody military and covert operations is that the control of many aspects slips out of the hands of the politicians and away from Congressional oversight. Guantanamo Bay is one such example. Dozens were kept under detention without any trial and then released without much explanation. Abdullah Mahsud was one.. captured in December 2001 and released in May 2004.

Dissent was stifled with the neo-fascist rhetoric of “either you are with us or against us”, and thus giving the press little choice but to accept the official story line without much questioning or reasoning. The psychology of fear was used to pursue a Middle East policy that had everything to do with oil and little to do with terrorism as has been acknowledged by eminent figures such as General (rtd) Wesley Clarke, former supreme commander of NATO, Bill Clinton’s economic adviser Jeff Sachs, and the former FED chairman Alan Greenspan.

The latest casualty of the U.S. military and intelligence establishment’s what Brzezinski called a “mythical narrative” is Dr. Aafia Siddiqui. She may or may not have been involved with Al Qaeda. I do not know. No court ever charged her with any terrorist act. So all that noise is irrelevant in so far it relates to her sentencing by a U.S. court for 86 years on charges of committing a crime in Afghanistan as a Pakistani citizen. If the U.S. defense and intelligence establishment wanted to delay the case and avoid provocation, which it knew it would cause in Pakistan, it could have easily delayed the trial as it did in the case of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed for reasons that remain obscure.

I won’t speculate on the motives for carrying on this trial at this time lest some naïve or biased readers accuse me of a conspiracy theory but the repercussions are obvious. It is a clear provocation even if that was not the intent. It is mystifying that while on one hand, the U.S. gives $405 million for aid for the floods; but it increases the frequency of drone strikes which for sure are going to destroy any good will it would have hoped to generate. Are they so stupid? But then even $10 billion is a small sum in the big power games when the total cost of the War on Terror is coming to over a trillion dollars according to the official figures and more than $2 trillion according to independent U.S. economists.

I quoted Dr. Brzezinski at length to make the points that some of us make but are dismissed as anti-Americanism. I worked for an American bank for 20 years. I have nothing against Americans. But their establishment’s Middle East and Central Asian policies are wrong, short-sighted, counter-productive and ultimately self-defeating. There is no method to their madness but only one way to prevent more harm than they have already caused, belated though it might be. They should get the hell out of Afghanistan and Pakistan and stop supporting or manipulating their puppets, be it in civvies or muftis. The world would be a better place if President Obama can focus on the ailing U.S. economy, which is not only in a long term decline but is not recovering well, and put an end to all costly overt and covert misadventures overseas.

Dr Aafia sentenced to 86 years in prison

A federal court in Manhattan on Thursday sentenced Dr Aafia Siddiqui to 86 years of imprisonment for the attempted murder of US officers in Afghanistan.

Rights activists clash with police during a protest for the release of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui.

“It is my judgment that Dr Siddiqui is sentenced to a period of incarceration of 86 years,” said Judge Richard Berman.

Siddiqui, 38, denounced the trial and said an appeal would be “a waste of time. I appeal to God.”

A jury found Siddiqui guilty in February of trying to kill US agents and military officers, after she was detained in 2008 by the Afghan police.

During Siddiqui’s three-week trial, FBI agents and US soldiers testified that when they went to interrogate Siddiqui, she snatched an unattended assault rifle. They claimed that the neuroscientist allegedly shot at them after abusing America.

Siddiqui was arrested in July 2008 by the Afghan police, who said she was carrying containers of chemicals and notes referring to mass-casualty attacks and New York landmarks.

According to a news agency, during the hearings Siddiqui called on Muslims to resist using violence and said she loves American soldiers.

“Don’t get angry,” Siddiqui said in court to her supporters after the sentence was announced. “Forgive Judge Berman.”

Berman responded, saying: “I wish more defendants would feel the way that you do.”

Prosecutors said Siddiqui is a cold-blooded radical who deserves life in prison. “Her conduct was not senseless or thoughtless,” prosecutors wrote. “It was deliberate and premeditated. Siddiqui should be punished accordingly.”

The defence had asked the judge for a sentence closer to 12 years behind bars. Her lawyers argued in court papers that their client’s outburst inside a cramped Afghan outpost was a spontaneous “freak out,” born of mental illness not militancy.

“I do not want any bloodshed. I do not want any misunderstanding. I really want to make peace and end the wars,” Siddiqui said.

Siddiqui said she was particularly upset by overseas reports that she was being tortured in a US prison and added that she was actually being treated well.

“I am not sad. I am not distressed. They are not torturing me,” she said. “This is a myth and lie and its being spread among the Muslims.”

However, Siddiqui’s sister, Dr Fauzia said that Aafia was being forced to make incorrect statements and added that it was evident (in published photographs) that she had been tortured.

Reaction

During a press conference soon after the verdict was announced, Dr Fauzia vowed that Siddiqui will be brought back, and that from this day onwards “Aafia Movement” will begin. “Mark my words, Aafia will come back. This is not her defeat, this is her victory,” she said.

“We had no better expectations from this Judge. Anything less than a hundred (years) would be clemency on his part.

Fauzia, along with her mother, slammed the government for failing to fulfil their promises to bring Siddiqui back. “Keep increasing the sentence, make it a century or over. This is not a punishment for Aafia, it is a slap on the face of our rulers who were responsible for bringing her back.

“The previous government sold her once; this government has sold her again and again.”

She went on to say that the judgment has proved to the whole world that the justice system that America prides itself on, no longer exists.

Protest

Earlier in Karachi on Thursday, about 400 activists of the Jamaat-e-Islami and its allied youth group, Pasban, gathered outside the Karachi Press Club carrying pictures of Siddiqui and chanting slogans against the US govt and justice system.

“Free Aafia,” “We want Aafia, not dollars!” the activists chanted, a reference to US aid funds.

India third most powerful nation in the world?

Third most desperate is more like it…

By Ghalib Sultan

As US report, “Global Governance 2025″, released jointly by the US National Intelligence Council (NIC) and the European Union’s Institute for Security Studies (EUISS), ranks India closely after the US and China as the world’s third most powerful nation. Apparently, the report “illustrates what could happen over the next 25 years in terms of global governance”. In 2010, India accounts for less than 5% of global power – a questionable statistic and an invalid metric – but this percentage of global power is expected to rise in the next 15 years. This report also claims that the US will still be the world’s most powerful nation in 2025, but will have only 18% of global power (compared to 22% in 2010).

Interestingly enough, the report makes much of India’s economic prowess – funded primarily by the export of its skilled workers and by the sale of its natural resources and territory to foreign capitalists – while ignoring the political inequities and socioeconomic backwardness that pervade Indian society.

To these analysts, most of whom are employed by the CIA (which is still searching for Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar as if grasping for a needle in a haystack), the current spate of violent uprising in Kashmir (in its third month now) does not figure into India’s percieved global dominance in 2025. These analysts are also oblivious to the rampant corruption in India’s bureaucratic and political institutions, especially in the Eastern part of the country where more than a million of “Indian citizens” are up in arms against Indian Oppression – and the Centre is happy to label them “Maoists” in order to discredit them; only to find out that a similar movement has taken the reins of democratic government in Nepal.

Crime, caste and corruption are the only things that define India in the 21st century; it brings together rural India and urban India, weaving them together in a net of bigotry, racism, hatred and gender segregation. Honor killings and murder of lower-caste Indians is an entrenched norm not only in the villages, but also in hustling bustling metropolises as well. One wonders who can label India among the most powerful nations on earth when it has more beggars and poor people than all of Africa combined. Maybe it is another ‘ego boost’ akin to the one Bollywood receives abroad; but it is a ploy, a facade to fool the First World that India really has no equals in the Third World. True, India and its filth have no equal in the Third World, as English and Australian Commonwealth Games Team members have just recently found out for themselves in Delhi, the capital of “Incredible India”.

India is just desperate to monopolize all attention and attraction towards Asia and Asians, while it fails to realize that it comes off as desperate and stereotypically overwhelming. None of these appearances are good, as the recent showing of the Commonwealth Games preparations have shown.

The report perhaps also overlooks the fact that the Indians thought existing international organizations are “grossly inadequate” and worried about an “absence of an internal equilibrium in Asia to ensure stability”. They felt that India is not well positioned to help develop regional institutions for Asia given China’s preponderant role in the region. No mention is made of the bulwark that is Pakistan, which is constantly harangued for sponsoring terrorist attacks in India – whether they are in Kashmir, in Mumbai, or even in terms of a falling bridge in Delhi! Seems like some other country is slowly and steadily gaining “global power” vis-a-vis security metrics.

More worrisome is the fact that this report, written by an intelligence agency, seems to have significant overtones of bias and incorrect analysis, which is definitely the handiwork of Indian interests in various global thinktanks around the world. Of course, one can’t paint oneself in too rosy a picture, right?

Dasti’s re-election challenged in SC

ISLAMABAD: A petition was filed in the Supreme Court on Wednesday, challenging Jamshed Dasti’s re-election from NA-178 Muzzaffargarh 111.

Petitioner holds Dasti guilty of impersonation, using forged documents.

Petitioner Nawabzada Adnan Ahmed Khan has prayed to the court to grant leave to appeal against the order passed by the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) Rawalpindi Bench on August 9.

In his petition, he submitted that Dasti was elected in the by-election held on May 15 after securing 53,811 votes against 50,102 secured by his opponent Nawabzada Iftikhar Ahmed Khan Babar.

After the election, he said, Babar filed an election petition with the Election Commission of Pakistan, challenging Dasti’s right to contest the polls since the Supreme Court had already disqualified Dasti for having a fake degree. Babar also filed a writ petition before the LHC on the same grounds in the nature of a quo warranto invoked in public interest. However, the LHC dismissed the petition on August 9, saying they could not rule on it as the matter was pending with the election commission.

He stated that the LHC had erred in holding that “admittedly the petitioner has also filed an election petition against Jamshed Dasti which is pending before the learned Election Commission of Pakistan, which has taken cognizance of the matter”.

He recalled that the Supreme Court, in its March 25 judgment, held that Jamshed Dasti had managed to “sneak” into the National Assembly by making a false statement on oath and by using forged documents. The petitioner said that Dasti was guilty of impersonation and of being a party to making false documents and then dishonestly using them for his benefit.