was never a fan
so didn’t know much of Shakira
till I came across the FIFA World Cup Song
(and got pulled back to watching a fairly dull tournament so far).

I read,
she will be appearing in Glastonbury this year.
ho hum, I said,
thanks for the information.

then I read about her charity work.
I sat up for a second read.

she founded it
in 1997 when only 18 years old.
Pies Descalzos, or Barefoot, has a double significance;
it is the name of the record that made Shakira’s music internationally known
and it also recognizes the thousands of children living in such poverty that they cannot even afford shoes.
The Barefoot Foundation works to ensure that every Colombian child can exercise their right to a quality education.

I find honesty in her generosity
how can I not become
a fan?

” … You paved the way, believe it”

shakiraBarefoot Foundation

the dust has settled,
so has the shock, the anger, the grief – and the emotional voices

let us go back to what did happen
on a weekday morning at 08:40 at a busy roundabout in Lahore Pakistan
12/14 individual – fired automatic weapons – launched grenades
and escaped ON FOOT, unhurt and remains undetected

I read Chris Broads narration of events:

Broad fury at Pakistan security

Source: ESPN Star | Wednesday 4th March 2009

Broad, who expressed fears for his security before the start of the tour, said at a press conference: “I am angry at the Pakistani security forces.” He added: “We were promised high level security and in our hour of need that security vanished and they left us to be sitting ducks.“

Broad continued: “I had an inkling before the Test match leg of the tour that something might happen. “I raised my concerns with the ICC before the tour started and they passed on those concerns to the Pakistan Cricket Board and they assured me through email that all security would be taken care of, presidential-style security. And clearly that didn’t happen.

“When we were in the van we weren’t aware of what was going on outside. But afterwards when you watch the TV pictures you can clearly see the white van we were in, in the middle of a roundabout and not a sign of a policeman anywhere.”

and I also read these reports – duplicated on multiple websites

‘Anonymous call led police to change route of SL team’s bus’

Source: TOI | 4 Mar 2009, 1313 hrs IST, PTI

LAHORE: A last minute call by an unidentified person led the city police to change the route of the bus taking the Sri Lankan cricket team to Gaddafi stadium here, a Pakistan media report said on Wednesday.

An unknown caller asked police escorting the Sri Lankan team to use the Gulberg route leading to the stadium instead of travelling along Ferozpur road as had been decided earlier, The News daily quoted interior ministry sources as saying. Police followed the caller’s instructions without ascertaining his identity, the report said. This led to the police falling into a “trap”, the sources said.

I do not believe any policeman regardless of how dumb or stupid he maybe
would change routes unless he knew the authority of the caller

the best form of protection would have been for the two teams to travel together
the ultimate human shields
so where were the
Pakistani players!

Younis says Pakistan team lucky to escape attack

Source: reuters UK | Tue Mar 3, 2009 2:32pm GMT

LAHORE (Reuters) – Pakistan captain Younis Khan said his team were lucky to escape the attack on Sri Lanka’s team bus Tuesday.

“Thank God we decided to leave our hotel five minutes after the Sri Lankans” Younis told a news conference. “We are a young team and God forbid if both buses had been moving together it could have been catastrophic.”

in the last minute the route was changed
in the last minute the Pakistan team decided to travel separately

just luck?

Pakistan team avoid attack thanks to late change of plan

Source: Guardian UK | Tuesday 3 March 2009 13.09 GMT

Pakistan’s cricketers came within a whisker of being caught up in the terrorist attack in Lahore this morning and owed their near-miss to a last-minute change of plan, according to the team’s coach. Intikhab Alam said that the captain, Younis Khan, decided not to leave for the stadium at the same time as the Sri Lankans as they had previously.

According to Alam, both teams usually departed together at about 8:40am, but that did not happen this morning. “The Sri Lankans decided to leave five minutes early today and our captain had decided we would go separately,” he said.

I find that very hard to believe.

This was a pre-planned and well executed ambush.
The timing had to right,
the target too had to be precise – the Pakistani players could not be touched.

The Pakistan team must have been held back by someone who knew -
so sending the Sri lankans alone into the ambush – they had been the intended target.

What the killers did not account for,
the grenades missing the bus or rolling under unexploded,
the driver of the bus would be alive and be able to drive the bus to safety.

Terrorists turn guns on cricket in Pakistan, a nation at war with itself

Source: Times Online | March 4, 2009

Pakistani officials have already suggested that the attack bore the hall-marks of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the militant group believed responsible for the siege of tourist hotels in Mumbai.

CCTV footage showed the gunmen, like the Mumbai attackers, working in pairs, armed with assault rifles and grenades in backpacks. But they also carried rocket-propelled grenade launchers, a weapon of choice in the Afghan and Pakistan tribal areas. Their escape, melting into the Pakistani city least hospitable to Islamist extremism, will raise fresh and disturbing questions about their links to the security and intelligence services.

Lashkar-e-Taiba is one of several militant groups created by Pakistan’s powerful Inter Services Intelligence to battle Indian rule in Kashmir.

The attacks on Mumbai and Lahore are classic “fedayin” assaults – suicidal rather suicide – taught in Lashkar’s training camps by ISI officers. What Pakistan experienced in Lahore was the backlash, deepening the sense of crisis confronting the flailing civilian Government.

If I take you back to Chris Broad’s remark that,

“we were in the middle of a roundabout and not a sign of a policeman anywhere.”

does it all seem coincidental?
not to me, it does not.

on a weekday morning at 08:40 at a busy roundabout in Lahore Pakistan
12/14 individual – fired automatic weapons – launched grenades
and escaped ON FOOT, unhurt and remains undetected

there was no presidential-style security
forget military guards or armed convoys
there is no report that the terrorists had been fired back upon,
no bodies,
no DNAs,
any possibility that they could be IDENTIFIED, DEAD OR ALIVE, like in Mumbai – had been excluded

Referee in deadly Pakistan ambush says police fled

Source: Associated Press | By RIZWAN ALI – 04 March 2009

On Wednesday, new video from a surveillance camera broadcast on local TV showed several attackers apparently escaping along a deserted side street on motorcycles while carrying weapons. Three were also shown walking down the middle of the street, apparently in no hurry, indicating they did not believe police were in the area or hunting them down.

“They were not under pressure … nobody was firing at them,” said team captain Mahela Jayawardene said.

Someone in Pakistan Military or the ISI
I clarify NOT the President or elected government -
but the pro-Taliban element in their military knew or authorised this attack.

I truly feel sorry
for the policemen, and their friends and family,
who gave their lives for the Sri Lankan players – for they were the intended collateral loss

cricketterrorismpakistan

i stumbled back on this song from the

flower power days
when some had the courage to stand up and say no more to violence
when to bring change needed courage and sacrifice
not the sanctimonious voices

younger generation – john sebastian at woodstock

why must every generation think they’re folks are square
and no matter where they’re heads are, they know mom’s aint there.
cause’ I swore when I was small, that I’d remember when
i knew what’s wrong with them that I was smaller then

determined to remember all the cardinal rules
like sunshowers are legal grounds for skipping school
i know I have forgotten maybe one or two
and I hope that I recall them all before the baby’s due
and I’ll know he’ll have a question or two

like hey pop can I go ride my zoom
it goes twohundred miles an hour, suspended on balloons
and can I put a droplet of this new stuff on my tongue
and imagine frothing dragons, while you sit and wreck your lungs
and I must be permissive understanding of the younger generation

and then I know that all I’ve learned my kid assumes
and all my deepest worries must be his cartoons
and still I’ll try to tell him all the things I’ve done
relating to what he can do when he becomes a man
and still he’ll stick his fingers in the fan

and hey pop my girlfriend’s only three
she’s got her own bitty phone
and she is taking lsd
and now that we’re best friends she want’s to give a taste of me
but whats the matter daddy how come you’re looking mean
can it be that you can’t live up to your dreams

40 years and more has gone by, do we even care
what kind of a world we leave behind for the future generations
a world where they still will have to fight for their equal rights, if any at all

not one we can be proud of

[flowerpower: 1967 photograph of George Edgerly Harris III by Bernie Boston]

from the party that will do or say anything to keep their muslim vote bank intact.
the voice of the pseudosecularist, negationist-in-chief, the Indian National Congress,

Term ‘Islamic terrorism’ wrong : Pranab

Press Trust of India | Kolkata, Dec 29 (PTI)

Describing as “unacceptable” the term ‘Islamic terrorism’, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said a “disinformation campaign” has been launched to vitiate the atmosphere and asked the people to protest it.

“Not only is this expression Islamic terrorism unacceptable, there should be protest against it. Islam has nothing to do with terrorism. The patriotism of Muslims is no less than others in the country,” Mukherjee told a programme to mark 200 years of the Bengali translation of the Quran here.

He said deliberate attempts were being made to vitiate the atmosphere but Islam, which preached love and communal harmony, was against terrorism. “Terrorism is against humanity.” He said universal brotherhood was the basis of Islam which attracted people all over the world to it.

Mukherjee said that after 9/11, people in Europe and US coined the phrase ‘Islamic terrorism’ and tried to project it was a conflict between Islamic and Christian civilisations. Challenging those who described Islam as a religion of fundamentalists, Mukherjee asked them to show which part of the Holy Book encouraged fundamentalism. PTI

through the hypocrisy of a Pranab Mukherjee

Minister for External Affairs of India
Constituency: Jangipur in West Bengal
one of the 12 constituencies (out of entire 543 Parliamentary seats) with a Muslims majority.

and what was he doing when he made the statement?
he was attending a programme to mark a bengali translation of Quran,
it does not take two brain cells to recognise who his audience were.

not to create an universal brotherhood you moron,
but to terrorise the world to accept the islamic caliphate, the ummah wahida
this is what an Islamic scholar and thinker Maulana Wahiduddin Khan himself has admitted
“Muslims have gained nothing from terrorism”

you moron,
it is not only a conflict between Islam and Christians,
it is a conflict between Islam and Jews and Hindus and every other religion.

If India was their target,
why did the 10 spawns of evil that came over on 26/11 kill innocent Jews?

does this moron at all know who are or why they are the Taliban’s
does this moron know what is the ultimate aim of the AlQaeda?
does this moron know what religion are the Lashkar-e-Taiba
those that trained the 10 killers that landed on mumbai?

muslims practice religious tolerance?
is this moron aware that muslims do not accept the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?
that they set out their own version in cairo 1990 – a declaration that does not guarantee EQUAL RIGHTS, but merely EQUAL DIGNITY
above all does not give a guarantee of FREEDOM OF RELIGION?
does this moron need a bigger proof of religious intolerance?

does this moron know the concept of Islamic Ummah or the Caliphate?
to have the entire world under the sharia law?
would this moron himself convert to Islam?
or live life of a ‘dhimmi’ – a second class citizen and forced to pay a ‘jizya’ tax?

does this moron think Ajmal Amir Kasab is a hindu? a christian? a jew?
or was Md Atta? or Mr Osama bin Laden or Abu Musab al-Zarqawi?

do they learn to hate and to kill in a catholic school or the madrassa?
did they kill in the name of Christ? or Buddha? or the 33 crore hindu gods and goddeses?

above all, does this moron know of the existence of the verses of Islamic laws of Jihad?
- that directs jihad against the rejecters (non – believers) of “truth after it has become evident to them”

for a minister to challenge that islam is a religion of fundamentalist, beggars belief.

come to my website you shameless hypocrite,
I have a verbal diarrhoea from a muslim fundamentalist that says it is.
proud to be a muslim fundamentalist, shat he.

islamic terrorism: a fundamentalist finds justification

3. I am proud to be a Muslim fundamentalist
I am a fundamentalist Muslim who, by the grace of Allah, knows, follows and strives to practise the fundamentals of Islam. A true Muslim does not shy away from being a fundamentalist. I am proud to be a fundamentalist Muslim because, I know that the fundamentals of Islam are beneficial to humanity and the whole world.

to accept and perpetuate the propaganda that Islam is a religion of peace
to appease his muslim vote bank, stinks of disgusting hypocrisy

it is an insult to every soul that died to the “cause for Islam” for centuries.

it is a national disgrace that the Minister for Foreign Affairs can so blatantly support
and broadcast the very propaganda that the “moderate muslims” would like to hide behind today.

with ministers like this,
India might as well lay down out the redcarpet to the next wave of terrorists
till someone in his own family gets a bullet through the head,
ONLY THEN he will confirm what he really believes.

Mr Mukherjee, and a nation that elects him,
deserves to be terrorised.

my previous article was based on facts
none of my points are fiction
the events of Mumbai is no tolkein fantasy
the chain of events has no definition other than terrorism

the one terrorist caught alive and has confirmed his nationality,
he has given details of his training, the orders he was given and the way he executed it

The hard facts are,
173 people were killed and 308 injured by 10 Pakistani muslims

these are no extras in a film set, they are very real,
killers doped with cocaine and sent to kill innocent indians, british and jews.

regardless of the rights and wrongs it is cannot be disputed that no other religion is in anyway linked to THIS meaningless act of violence but Islam.

I am yet to come across a “moderate muslim” who has accepted these facts of this attack.
not one will hold up their hand and have the honesty to accept the truth.
or admit that it was committed in the name of Islam.

it has been finger pointings elswheres
excuses, after excuses and theories and anecdotes.
this is the primary reason why there will never be an end to terrorist killings by muslims.

This is a response to the comment left on my last post.

A comment by Naj,

While i am fully aware of how fanatics may interpret Quran to promote violence, I disagree with you that Islam IS the root cause of violence. Jihad is the political umbrella which is abused by the war mongers … war mongers, irrespective of religion, capitalize on IDIOCY of those whom they can brainwash …

A few years ago, Indians of one cult brought down an Air India flight carrying Indians of another cult … a few years ago, I saw a documentary by Anand Patwardhan, I don’t remember the film but it was footage from an Indian Nationalist rally, where the speaker was preaching Indian Supremacy, and how they couldn’t wait to take revenge in the “white” men who had subjugated them for so long … he was praising the nuclear achievements and technological advancements of India, professing “revenge” …

Such idiocracy is NOT particular to Muslims … it is universal and it is motivated by shadowy figures who stand to gain in a very material and tangible way from the intangible faith of the idiots …

My article is based on the global concept that Islamic terrorism is a reality.

I first clarify that
1.I did not say Islam is the root cause of all violence, I have said that if it is Islamic terrorism then the root cause of it can only be Islam, NOT poverty.
2. the idiots I refer to in my article are the GW Bushes and G Browns of this world who have created a frankenstein next door to us.

I do not judge the rights and wrongs of any religious extremism, what disgusts me is the lack of honesty to take responsibility. When the Khalistanis brought down the Air India flight, they did not give any fairytale excuses, they honestly admitted their separatist ideology to create Khalistan. If an Indian nationalist is preaching Indian Supremacy – at least he is honest in admitting his supremacist beliefs.

When a muslim or a muslim organisation carries out killings and themselves admits it to be in the name of Islam, I do not see how the rest of the muslim world say it wasn’t? It is this denial from the so called “moderate muslims” that perpetuates these terrorist beliefs and activities.

sorry Naj, i disagree,
the easily identifiable “fanatics” are never the problem,
the real problem is the dishonesty, hypocrisy and gutless cowardice of the “moderates” who persistently deny the existence of verses in Quran that does direct the killing of non-believers.

I do not agree that any muslim can be brainwashed to believe something that is not written in the pages of the Quran. It is a fact that there is the directive for jihad, to kill non-believers in the Quran; I do not see why muslims the world over does not admit it.

and to claim that poverty is the cause of Islamic terrorism, is an absolute myth.

Mr Osama bin Laden

Let us discuss one person whose name has become synonymous with Islamic terrorist movements. Mr Osama bin Laden.

I challenge anyone to convince me that

1. it was poverty that led Mr bin Laden to form a terrorist organisation. on the contrary it is his own $$$ billions he has used to create terror.

2. Mr bin Laden is of subnormal intelligence or literacy to have been brainwashed.
What ever he has achieved, he has achieved because of his firm convictions of the teachings of the Quran.

3. Mr Bin Laden has any need for war mongering.
He has been honest about his ideology, building an islamic caliphate, the ultimate aim of al Qaeda. and his proposed form of struggle for this ultimate aim the global jihad.

I have no problems with anyone initiating his global jihad as long it is honestly admitted that it is in the cause of Islam for the objectives of the movement is clear and others who do not believe in it can take appropriate steps to protect their own rights.

I have written many times, I would trust the words of the extremists, of the Talibans – for they are not scared to say what their aims are and which passages of Quran they follow in their holy fight. I do not trust the “moderate” muslims who will only find excuses.

So please discuss in specific reference to events of 26/11,
Mumbai was not just words – it has led to 173 deaths of civilians.

Can you explain why Pakistan, even after being shown clear proof of terror arising within her boundaries, is so hostile towards accepting the evidence?
If this attack was indeed war mongering by selfish individuals / organisation – why do they not accept the evidence and prove it was the motive of “shadowy figures” for material gain?

The extreme reluctance to accept the evidence and act on it, it signifies only one possibility,
the Pakistani military or its intelligence is/was involved as alleged –
that is state sponsered terrorism on an international scale.

to fight Mr Bin Laden’s mujahideen is not the problem,
the problem was to have the backstabbing pakistani military of Musharraf as an ally in the war.

if “moderate muslims” accepts that islamic terrorism exist,
then please do not cloud the issues with excuses and misleading rhetorics.

if “moderate muslims” believes in and says they too are in the global “war against terror”
then please do not mislead as to who the real enemies are or what their ideals are.

if “moderate muslims” across the globe expects the world to condemn
the invasion of muslim sovereign soil by US or any other nation, then at least be prepared to acknowledge the atrocity of muslims on another sovereign state, you cannot have it both ways.

if “moderate muslims”
deny the very existence of verses of Islamic Laws of Jihad in the Quran,
deny the very existence of Islam based terrorism, then that is a very different discussion,
please do not waste my time debating it here.

a Pakistani has been caught alive
like a rat he has been squealing his guts out,
giving his life’s details – confirmed by his father and corraborated by his villagers

yet pakistan refuses to believe, even after the truth has been made evident to them

Pak rejects proofs of 26/11 attacks shared by Britain, US

Published on Sun, Dec 28, 2008 at 22:01
Islamabad: Pakistan has dismissed evidence on the Mumbai attacks shared by the US and Britain.

The evidence included information given by India and corroborated through other sources. It included Ajmal Kasab’s confession, transcripts of mobile telephone intercepts, and also the logs of recorded conversations.

The US and Britian have given to Pakistan “clinching evidence” of involvement ofelements within the country in the Mumbai terror attacks but has been dismayed over Pakistan’s pussyfooting and not doing enough. Intercepts of satellite and mobile conversations between the attackers in Mumbai and the Pakistan-based elements guiding them, were handed over to Islamabad by the two countries.

However, Islamabad says this will not stand up in court.

this is beyond what will stand up in court and what will not,
this is a clear proof of international terrorism originating from Pakistan

what do the leaders of the rich west do to show they are “fighting the causes of terror”?

Britain promises more anti-terror aid to Pakistan

Associated Press: Published on Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 10:23
Brown said Britain promised Pakistan counter-terrorism equipment for detecting bombs and explosives at airports. Britain also pledged $9 million to lure youths away from extremist activities by offering them educational materials and programs.

when will these oafs learn
that giving Pakistan more dollars will create more terror

one 7/7 in London
one 9/11 in New York were lesson not hard enough
every cent poured in will be used to create more terror on the non-muslim world
every cent poured into that cess-pit will come back as AK-47s, and bombs and death

GW Bush sunk $10 billion into Musharraf’s pakistan
now G Brown promises to put £9 million more into Zardari’s
there are millions of human individuals starving “peacefully” – who would benefit from it

the root cause of Islamic terror? it is NOT poverty idiots,
it is not poverty that “lures” these youths to become international criminals
for there are muslim youths of western origin who travel to pakistan to learn how to kill

the root cause of Islamic terror? it is the cause of Islam
it is the writings in Quran that is being preached in pakistan
it is the nations and its military’s obsession to possess Kashmir
it is the covert orders of their military presidents through the evil ISI that
encourages their mullahs and madrassas to preach spreading islam through terror

this frankenstein was created by Britain
and has been nurtured for their own nefarius needs by the CIA and US
the innocents of Mumbai and elsewhere on earth that are now suffering for it

the world cannot fight terror if at every opportunity countries like US and GB helps feed it

Pakistan is blackmailing the world with their N-weapons
nukes they could manufacture only by stealing, blackmarketing and illegal n-proliferation

confiscate their nukes,
stop pouring in the millions and billions -
let the “moderate” muslims really starve – only then they will stand up against their evil military

those who wants to live and kill for a stoneage religion
should also live in the stoneage

Quran directs jihad
against the rejecters of truth after it has become evident to them
Pakistan fits the description perfectly, it is time the long suffering world called for a
jihad against Pakistan

Pakistanislamterrorismjihad

just as night follows day and hides everything under darkness

the kashmir propaganda invariably follows every islamic atrocity in India
the ultimate excuse for a perpetual lie

and does it come any more blatant as this – I Am A Muslim…

it is said a picture conveys a thousand words but it does not have to be the truth
the perfect tool for clever propaganda

this photograph
published on an obscure and untraceable URL
with no means of confirming its source, its context or authenticity
becomes “this picture is of KASHMIR” –
a lie – to be repeated over and over again –
till it becomes accepted by the intentionally lazy ignorants – as the truth.

Kashmir as it is today
is because of atrocities committed by pakistani muslims
on both MUSLIMS and HINDUS, the true kashmiris of 1947 –
as a planned campaign by the pakistani army to invade and annex Kashmir

the muslim founder fathers of Pakistan
could not legally ‘demand’ Kashmir for their new nation
so they had to get their claws into it any which way –
even if it was by setting muslims on muslims

and obsessively so for 60 more years.
why else would Musharraf initiate a war in Kargil?
what right had he to invade and to fly the Pakistani flag atop the Srinagar Assembly?
he is no “terrorist”.
Or is he?

strange that
no muslim will ever mention how “Kashmir” started
no muslim will ever explain how the Pakistan Army happens to be in Kashmir
no muslims will ever mention that Pakistan was ordered by the UN security council to withdraw it forces from the territory that was the Princely state of Kashmir.
no muslim crying for a plebiscite in Kashmir will ever mention the withdrawl of Pakistani troops and militants was a pre-requisite
no muslim will ever acknowledge that Pakistan has occupied Kashmir in breach of UN resolution

UNCIP Resolutions of August 13, 1948

PART II: TRUCE AGREEMENT
Simultaneously with the acceptance of the proposal for the immediate cessation of hostilities as outlined in Part I, both Governments accept the following principles as a basis for the formulation of a truce agreement, the details of which shall be worked out in discussion between their Representatives and the Commission.

A.
(1) As the presence of troops of Pakistan in the territory of the State of Jammu and Kashmir constitutes a material change in the situation since it was represented by the Government of Pakistan before the Security Council, the Government of Pakistan agrees to withdraw its troops from that State.

(2) The Government of Pakistan will use its best endeavour to secure the withdrawal from the State of Jammu and Kashmir of tribesmen and Pakistan nationals not normally resident therein who have entered the State for the purpose of fighting.

(3) Pending a final solution the territory evacuated by the Pakistan troops will be administered by the local authorities under the surveillance of the Commission.

to every non muslim Indian who happens to read such propaganda, I ask
why is it that no muslims in india will ever march with banners asking for withdrawl of pakistan from kashmir?
why if Islam is indeed a religion of peace and tolerance and forbids all killings then how could the ghazni’s and ghoris of history, not once or twice but for centuries; loot, plunder, rape, convert, enslave and systematically destroyed hindu temples in the name of spreading Islam?

so convenient there were no cameras, no photographers in those days
to record the plight of the hindus
not in hundreds
nor in thousands
but in hundreds of thousands;
NOT episodic acts of human rights abuse or extremism – but a hindu GENOCIDE

muslims try to portray themselves as world’s eternal victims
if at all they are ‘victims’, it is only of ‘generalisation’ –
none else to blame but their unquestioned faith
in the teachings of Islam

what I read there is not just a propaganda,
but extremely nauseating in its dishonesty and hypocrisy

the banner should read

“I kill
for I am a muslim and it is my religious duty
to spread Islam – and if necessary to terrorise, invade and kill”

but that would be the truth…

Remember the rhetorics of the 9/20 amidst applause and standing ovations to a

Joint Session of Congress and the American People

In a historic address to the nation and joint session of Congress Sept. 20,
President Bush pledges to defend America’s freedom against the fear of terrorism.
White House by Eric Draper.

“Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make.
Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.
(Applause.)
From this day forward,
any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism
will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime“

In Pakistan,
America created a new frontier to fight their perceived enemies of terror.
Never realising that they could ever get the support of one muslim to fight another.
It is said, Pakistan was threatened to be bombed back to stone ages if Pakistan did not comply.
Musharraf took full opportunity to overtly show support -

And he was rewarded with aid, arms, ammunitions, F-16s and missiles.

Pakistan’s $4.7 Billion ‘Blank Check’ for U.S. Military Aid

After 9/11, funding to country soars with little oversight

By Nathaniel Heller, Sarah Fort and Marina Walker Guevara
Data analysis by Ben Welsh

WASHINGTON — In the three years after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, U.S. military aid to Pakistan soared to $4.7 billion, compared to $9.1 million in the three years before the attacks — a 50,000 percent increase — boosting Pakistan to the top tier of countries receiving this type of funding.

More than half of the new money was provided through a post-9/11 Defense Department program — Coalition Support Funds — not closely tracked by Congress.

CSF money has continued to flow despite growing U.S. concerns over Pakistan’s assistance in the global war on terror, and the Congressional Research Service estimates Pakistan’s total take of CSF through August 2006 at $4.75 billion.

A recent study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies estimates the total value of all American aid, including military, economic, and development assistance, to Pakistan since 9/11 at more than $10 billion.

In June 2004, President Bush designated Pakistan as a major non-NATO ally. And eligible to purchase advanced American military technology

which includes:
* purchase of depleted uranium anti-tank rounds
* priority delivery of military surplus (ranging from rations to ships)
* possession of War Reserve Stocks of DoD-owned equipment
* permission to use American financing for the purchase or lease of certain defense equipment
* reciprocal training
* expedited export processing of space technology

And went on to sell more arms and ammunitions.

US ‘agrees’ Pakistan missile sale

BBC News: Thursday, 1 June 2006, 16:59 GMT
The Bush administration says that it has agreed to sell Pakistan advanced missiles designed to be launched from ships and submarines. It says that it has also agreed to sell $375m worth of related equipment.

In a notice to Congress, which has to agree the proposal, the Pentagon said the sale would significantly upgrade Pakistan’s existing weapons systems. It said that the security of the US would be improved by aiding what a “key ally in the war against terror”.

The US lifted restrictions on arms sales to Pakistan last year, when it announced an expansion in two-way defence trade, missile-defence cooperation, technology transfers and weapons co-production. The restrictions were put in place in 1990, but lifted after The Pentagon said Pakistan had “demonstrated its willingness to fight terrorists”, especially in Waziristan.

Hold on a moment – “demonstrated its willingness to fight terrorists”?.
I don’t think they ever said that.
He had made it clear he was going to save Talibans.
What Musharraf in response to America’s call for support did say was:

Address to People of Pakistan:

September 19, 2001, (Original Text Copyrighted)

Musharraf addressed the people of Pakistan and stated he supported the Taliban, and he was trying his best to come out of the critical situation without any damage to Afghanistan and Taliban. And he would looking for ways to save Afghanistan and Taliban.

It has gone all horribly wrong; today the battle lines are about to be re-drawn.
The US Forces in Afghanistan risks facing strikes by the same F-16s
the ground troops shot at by the same depleted-U tankbusters
that they had so willingly given to them.

US Congressional panel to examine supply of F-16 to Pakistan

Press Trust of India Sridhar Krishnaswami
Washington, Sept 15 (PTI)
In the backdrop of an upsurge in unilateral American strikes on militants near Pakistan’s Afghan border, a US Congressional panel is set to examine the rationale of F-16 programme with Islamabad as part of its war against terror.

Democratic Congressman Gary Ackerman, the Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, has convened a hearing entitled “Defeating Al Qaeda’s Air Force: Pakistan’s F-16 Programme in the Fight Against Terrorism”. Ackerman and many of his colleagues on Capitol Hill have for long questioned the rationale of giving the F-16s to Pakistan as a part of the war on terror.

The congressmen now want a comprehensive statement from senior officials about the complete scope of the F-16 programme with Pakistan that include the number of planes, updates made to existing planes, proposed armaments, schedule of delivery and source of payment.

It is a bit too late,
the party is coming to an end
the most powerful idiot on earth has realised he now has a headache…

AmericaPakistanMusharrafGWBushterrorismlittleindian

Yet again the rabid animals have killed innocent civilians.
Yesterday 5 bomb blasts in a Delhi market place have left 20 dead and 90 injured.

20 DEAD IN DELHI SERIAL BLASTS

CNN-IBN
New Delhi: Five bomb blasts rocked popular shopping destinations in the national capital within a span of 22 minutes on Saturday evening killing at least 20 people and leaving over 100 injured.

The first blast took place at Ghaffar Market in the Karol Bagh area at about 1815 hrs IST in which 16 people were killed and over 20 injured.
Soon after the blast in Ghaffar market, two explosions took place in Connaught Place killing four people.
The two blasts in Connaught place took place at the Central Park near Palika Bazaar and at Barakhamba Road.
There were two blasts in Greater Kailash-I, too, with the first one taking place near Levi’s store and the other blast took place near the Prince Pan Corner damaging 10 shops.
The blasts were of low intensity and ball bearings were used to maximise the impact.

The Indian Mujahideen emailed IBN-CNN minutes before the blasts claiming responsibilities.

Indian Mujahideen claims responsibility

NDTV Correspondence

An e-mail purportedly from a group calling itself the “Indian Mujahideen” claimed it carried out the attacks, adding: “Do whatever you can. Stop us if you can.”

Killed by muslims.
Killed by mujahideen
Killing in the name of Allah.
Killing in the name of Islam.

Yet, there are muslims who will shrug of responsibility under their traditional excuse.
Such as,

All India United Muslim Mocha (AIUMM), in a communique, termed the blasts as an attack on sovereignty, integrity and secularism. “Terrorism has nothing to do with Islam. Persons involved in such heinous acts cannot claim to be a Muslim,” Kamal Ashraf, spokesperson of the AIUMM, said.

On a discussion forum,
when asked to condemn these killing in the name of Islam, a muslim member wrote

those who are killing for repligion are not the followers of the real religion. those who work for peace like myself are the followers of the real religion.

I can only read in disbelief.
With one evasive word and an evasive excuse – the responsibility is wiped off.

Any act that has been committed in the name of a religion the entire religion has to stand up and take responsibility. When there are a series of such acts with the same message it is all the more reason that the religion takes the responsibility to stop it.

Those who killed they were all muslims.
There are no ‘non-real’ muslims, just like there is no ‘non-real’ Islam.

There is only one Quran.
There is only one text from their God – one teaching.
Those who kill also finds justification in the same text.
There is no two ISLAMs.

The question in my mind is,
if and when the perpetrators are arrested, tried and found guilty of mass murder,
should they be hung?
or should they be shot?
or should they be pardoned because their act was in the name of religion?

Should we not ask the victims and their families?

TerrorismIslammujahideenDelhihuman rightslittleindian

anyone,
any group,
any religion,
any ideology,
any nationality
who is/are capable of this

Image: From: Sify News
Scene of a blast site outside the Civil Hospital in Ahmedabd on Saturday.

Unborn, yet blown up – Doctor, pregnant wife die in blast

From: Telegraph India

Ahmedabad, July 27: As an orthopaedic surgeon at Civil Hospital, Prerak Shah, 32, would have been preparing for a busy night tending to one blast injured after another as they were wheeled in.

Instead, he was blown up with his wife and unborn child as last evening’s terrorists made the hospital their 16th and last target, hitting the injured a second time and turning a healer into a victim.

The bomb went off in a car in the parking lot as the young doctor and his wife, who had just arrived for a gynaecological check-up, walked past the trauma centre yards from the site.

Many indoor patients left the hospital today. Amid the atmosphere of fear came news that a car bomb had been defused near the trauma ward of Surat’s Puna Hospital. It was a Maruti 800, with a Vadodara registration.

I can no longer believe they too deserve any human rights
the world would be a better place for other humans
the sooner they are exterminated.

Its beyond human tolerance.

]]> http://littleindian.awmyth.net/2008/07/28/rabid-animals/feed/ 5 http://littleindian.awmyth.net/2007/08/22/kashmir-myths-pakistan-is-their-friend/ http://littleindian.awmyth.net/2007/08/22/kashmir-myths-pakistan-is-their-friend/#comments Wed, 22 Aug 2007 15:08:09 +0000 littleindian http://awmyth.wordpress.com/2007/08/22/kashmir-myths-pakistan-is-their-friend/

…india is their enemy

The Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir
is geographically and politically distinct and different
from the Azad Kashmir and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.

Pakistan has direct control of the “Pakistan Occupied Kashmir” or POK.
Pakistan has indirect but overwhelming control in “Azad (Independant) Kashmir.

Click to enlarge image

The Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir is secular and a democracy.
The regions under Pakistan control is Islamic, and under a military dictatorship.

The Indian State of Kashmir has no restriction of freedom of expression, any new of atrocities are hence quickly highlighted to the world.
The Pakistan controlled regions have no freedom of expression
the human rights abuses and atrocities never get to reach the outside world.

Most anti-India propaganda
will ONLY speak about the sufferings of Kashmiris in the Indian state,
but cleverly avoid talking of the fate of the Kashmiris in areas under Pakistan’s control.

They will deliberately blur the distinction between the different areas of control to give
the impression that atrocities are being committed ONLY in the Indian state.

This document will break that myth.
To keep the information clear and objective,
this is has been quoted word for word from a Human Rights Watch Publication.

For those of who may question the neutrality of the source,
this is about the Human Rights Watch.

“With Friends Like These…”

Summary:

Pakistan says they are our friends and India is our enemy.
I agree India is our enemy,
but with friends like these, who needs enemies?

—Mir Afzal Suleri, Muzaffarabad resident

The massive earthquake that struck on October 8, 2005, wreaking death and destruction on Kashmir, instantly conflated Kashmir’s long-running man-made crisis with a natural one. The poor response of the Pakistani government and military to the earthquake, and the attendant further loss of life, served to highlight that even natural disasters in Kashmir have a strong human component.

Major cities and thousands of villages in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK, Azad Kashmir), including the capital Muzaffarabad, were reduced to rubble. The devastation was immense—at least eighty-eight thousand people died, more than one hundred thousand were injured, and more than two million were left homeless. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimated that seventeen thousand children were among the dead.

Kashmir is one of the most heavily militarized regions of the world, and those buried under the rubble and their relatives who tried frantically to dig them out with their bare hands would have been justified in thinking that help would arrive rapidly. It was fair to hope that the armies massed on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC) separating Azad Kashmir and Jammu and Kashmir state, ostensibly to protect the Kashmiri population, would move quickly to save Kashmiri lives from a natural threat. But as time passed and the sound of life beneath the rubble began to grow silent, it became painfully and brutally clear that the hope was misplaced. In the aftermath of the disaster, the Indian and Pakistani militaries simply did not make the saving of Kashmiri lives a top priority. As India and Pakistan engaged in diplomatic one-upmanship—making and refusing offers of help based on political opportunism rather than humanitarian concerns—the death toll mounted.

In the first seventy-two hours after the earthquake, thousands of Pakistani troops stationed in Azad Kashmir prioritized the evacuation of their own personnel over providing relief to desperate civilians. The international media began converging on Muzaffarabad within twenty-four hours of the earthquake and fanned out to other towns in Azad Kashmir shortly thereafter. They filmed Pakistani troops standing by and refusing to help because they had “no orders” to do so as locals attempted to dig out those still alive, sending a chilling message of indifference from Islamabad. Having filmed the refusal, journalists switched off their cameras and joined the rescue effort themselves; in one instance they shamed the soldiers into helping. But unlike the death and destruction, the media were not everywhere. The death toll continued to mount.

Many Kashmiris told Human Rights Watch that prior to the earthquake, the Pakistani military kept a close watch on the population to ensure political compliance and control; this was facilitated by the placement of military installations frequently in close proximity to populated areas. In the context of a military presence that was more abuser than protector, and domineering Pakistani political control, the failure of the authorities to respond quickly and more humanely to the aftereffects of the earthquake in Azad Kashmir came as little surprise. That failure generated massive public resentment against the Pakistani state, and it highlighted the need for an examination of the conduct of Pakistani authority in Azad Kashmir. This report on the state of human rights in Azad Kashmir shows longstanding restrictions on fundamental freedoms, as well as politically motivated mistreatment of persons supporting an independent Kashmir.

The earthquake put the international spotlight on Azad Kashmir for the first time. Previously, attention had been almost wholly on Jammu and Kashmir state in India, which since 1989 has endured a brutal insurgency and counterinsurgency. Human rights abuses by the Indian security forces and separatist forces in Jammu and Kashmir have been relatively well documented and often condemned. But the world knows little about Azad Kashmir, other than that the territory has been used by Pakistan-backed militant groups as a staging ground for attacks in Jammu and Kashmir.1

Aid organizations and donors that wanted to learn about Azad Kashmir after the earthquake so that they could respond in a useful and informed manner quickly discovered that there was virtually no published information. This is because prior to the earthquake, Azad Kashmir was one of the most closed territories in the world. While Jammu and Kashmir state had known considerable tourist traffic prior to the beginning of the insurgency there, the areas of Kashmir on the other side of the LoC had seen little external interest or presence after the end of the British colonial era in 1947—a situation used by Pakistan to exercise absolute control over the territory.

Information, particularly about the human rights situation, governance, the rule of law, and the institutions that hold real power in Azad Kashmir is more important than ever as the territory rebuilds and, by necessity, opens up to the international community in the aftermath of the earthquake. In the coming years, international engagement with the territory is likely to be intense. For that engagement to be effective and beneficial to the people of Azad Kashmir, it is essential that international actors approach the territory with an awareness of its particular history and its fraught, often tense and unhappy relationship with the Pakistani state in general and the Pakistani military in particular.

Azad Kashmir is a legal anomaly.
According to United Nations (U.N.) resolutions dating back to 1948, Azad Kashmir is neither a sovereign state nor a province of Pakistan, but rather a “local authority” with responsibility over the area assigned to it under a 1949 ceasefire agreement with India. It has remained in this state of legal limbo since that time. In practice, the Pakistani government in Islamabad, the Pakistani army and the Pakistani intelligence services (Inter-Services Intelligence, ISI) control all aspects of political life in Azad Kashmir—though “Azad” means “free,” the residents of Azad Kashmir are anything but. Azad Kashmir is a land of strict curbs on political pluralism, freedom of expression, and freedom of association; a muzzled press; banned books; arbitrary arrest and detention and torture at the hands of the Pakistani military and the police; and discrimination against refugees from Jammu and Kashmir state. Singled out are Kashmiri nationalists who do not support the idea of Kashmir’s accession to Pakistan. Anyone who wants to take part in public life has to sign a pledge of loyalty to Pakistan, while anyone who publicly supports or works for an independent Kashmir is persecuted. For those expressing independent or unpopular political views, there is a pervasive fear of Pakistani military and intelligence services—and of militant organizations acting at their behest or independently.

Human Rights Watch has previously reported that torture is routinely used in Pakistan, and that acts of torture by military agencies primarily serve the purpose of “punishing” errant politicians, political activists and journalists. Azad Kashmir is no exception. Though torture is not commonplace, it is threatened often, and—when perpetrated by the military—is carried out with impunity. Human Rights Watch knows of no cases in which members of military and paramilitary security and intelligence agencies have been prosecuted or even disciplined for acts of torture or mistreatment. This report documents incidents of torture by the ISI, and by Azad Kashmir police acting at the ISI’s and the army’s behest.

Tight controls on freedom of expression have been a hallmark of the Pakistani government’s policy in Azad Kashmir and are also documented in this report. This control is highly selective. Pakistani-backed militant organizations promoting the incorporation of Jammu and Kashmir state into Pakistan have had free rein— particularly from 1989 when the insurgency began to 2001—to propagate views and disseminate literature; by contrast, groups promoting an independent Kashmir find promoting their views sharply curtailed. But frequent official repression of freedom of expression and assembly is not limited to controls and censorship specific to Kashmiri nationalists, journalists and election cycles. This repression can also be violent and very publicly so. For example, Pakistani police used lahtis (canes) and rifle butts to break up a peaceful demonstration in Muzaffarabad on November 11, 2005, by approximately two hundred earthquake survivors protesting eviction from their makeshift camp. Several protestors, including children, were injured as a result of police efforts to break up the demonstration.

Since 1994, when the ISI organized thirteen militant groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir state into the Muttahida [United] Jihad Council, army-backed militant organizations have shared, with the Pakistani military through the ISI, real decision-making authority and the management of the “Kashmir struggle.” Even mainstream political parties allowed representation by Pakistan in the Azad Kashmir Legislative Assembly are largely sidelined. As the government-backed militant groups gained strength and dominance, Kashmiri nationalist militants left the movement or were sidelined and eventually began to be persecuted by the authorities and their proxies. Soon after Pakistan began supporting the U.S.-led “global war on terror” in 2001, the United Jihad Council ceased to operate publicly. Several groups simply changed their names and now operate independently or through clandestine underground networks. The Pakistani intelligence apparatus retains close associations with these groups.

Virtually all independent commentators, journalists, as well as former and serving militants, Pakistani military officers and Pakistan-backed Azad Kashmir politicians speaking off-the-record told Human Rights Watch that there was continuing militant infiltration from Azad Kashmir into Jammu and Kashmir state, but were not willing to be quoted for fear of reprisal from the ISI. Most of those interviewed were of the view that though the level of infiltration had decreased substantially since 2004 (a brief spike in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake notwithstanding), there have been no indications that the Pakistani military or militant groups had decided to abandon infiltration as policy.

It was thus no accident that militant groups were the first on the scene dispensing relief goods and other aid after the earthquake. Nor was it a sign of their great organizational prowess. As the Pakistani military prioritized the rescue of its own personnel, it probably sought the assistance of its closest allies in Azad Kashmir, the militant groups. These groups, which had undoubtedly suffered the loss of personnel and infrastructure themselves in the earthquake, won much local appreciation for their rescue and relief efforts. This public relations coup could not have been possible without logistical support from sections of the Pakistani military’s intelligence apparatus. For example, one of the first groups to set up operations was the Jamaat-ud-Dawa —the Lashkar-e-Toiba group operating under a new name. In January 2002 the Pakistani government had banned the LT as a terrorist group. However, in the aftermath of the earthquake, President Pervez Musharraf went out of his way to praise its relief work and brushed off calls to restrict its operations. The Pakistani military apparently saw the earthquake as an opportunity to craft a new image for the militant groups rather than as an opportunity to disband them.

This report also documents discrimination against Kashmiri refugees and former militants from India, most of whom are secular nationalists and culturally and linguistically distinct from the peoples of Azad Kashmir. The last major episode involving these former militants took place on April 7, 2005, when Pakistani security forces prevented them from greeting the inaugural bus service between Srinagar (the Jammu and Kashmir state capital) and Muzaffarabad and arrested, jailed and beat them. A primary motive for the discrimination would appear to be that many of these people DO NOT SHARE the vision of a UNIFIED KASHMIR under PAKISTANI CONTROL.

Successive Pakistani governments have asserted that Kashmir’s political future must be determined in accordance with the wishes of the people. But the reality of Azad Kashmir prior to the earthquake was life dominated by governmental restrictions on fundamental freedoms. As the international community supports the task of reconstruction, it must insist on a new respect by Pakistan for the human rights of the people of Azad Kashmir. No viable solution to the Kashmir issue can exclude the exercise of fundamental civil and political rights for the people of Azad Kashmir in an environment free of coercion and fear.

Key recommendations:

The October 2005 earthquake brought into focus the dominant role of the Pakistani army in the governance of Azad Kashmir and the almost complete absence of any independent civil society in the territory. While Pakistani civil society’s immediate, rapid mobilization in the aftermath of the earthquake is commendable, the Pakistani military’s blundering and ineffective response to the humanitarian disaster was indicative of more than just the military’s different priorities in the region. It also highlighted its inability to assume the role of civil society that, as a matter of security policy, it has prevented from taking root. The army must greatly reduce its political role in Azad Kashmir in order to make way for genuinely civilian governmental institutions that respect basic rights.

The post-earthquake situation provides the international community with a unique opportunity to engage with Azad Kashmir’s population, government officials, civil society, and the Pakistani military to improve the state of civil and political rights in the territory. Reconstruction in Azad Kashmir, for which the international community has pledged U.S.$6.5 billion, can only be successful if central to the process is the creation of an open, empowered, rights-respecting society.
Specifically, Human Rights Watch makes the following key recommendations (a full set of recommendations is given at the end of this report):

To the Pakistani government

* Release all individuals imprisoned or detained and withdraw immediately all criminal cases against anyone, including Kashmiri nationalists, for the peaceful expression of their political views, including that Azad Kashmir should be independent.

* End the practice of arbitrary arrest and detention, other forms of harassment, and torture and other ill-treatment of persons exercising their right to freedom of expression, including those who peacefully oppose Kashmir’s accession to Pakistan or demand greater autonomy for the territory.

* Repeal constitutional curbs on freedom of association, expression and assembly in Azad Kashmir so that the constitution and Azad Kashmir law are consistent with international human rights standards.

* Prosecute to the full extent of the law and in accordance with international standards those members of the armed forces, its intelligence agencies, government officials and police personnel implicated in serious violations of human rights, including arbitrary arrests and torture.

* Respect press freedom and allow full independent coverage of both past and ongoing events in Azad Kashmir. Remove formal and informal prohibitions on news gathering and reporting by the Azad Kashmir and Pakistani media, and accord all journalists full freedom of movement. End the practice of banning books and literature.

* Ensure that human rights organizations have freedom of movement throughout Azad Kashmir and allow them to carry out investigations and fact-finding missions free from intimidation and interference by military authorities.

To Azad Kashmir-based militant groups

* Cease threatening civilians who do not cooperate with or support the activities of militant groups.

* Publicly denounce abuses committed by any militant group in Jammu and Kashmir state and call for accountability for such abuses on both sides of the Line of Control.

To donors and other international actors

* Ensure greater civilian oversight of relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts. Aid should be handled through a process that involves the Azad Kashmir government, as well as local, national and international NGOs, civil society groups (particularly those working in the field), and the affected population.

* Ensure the continuing distribution of reconstruction aid without regard to political affiliation. In particular, there should be no discrimination against Kashmiri nationalists who do not support Kashmir’s accession to Pakistan or refugees who have entered Azad Kashmir from Jammu and Kashmir state since 1991.

* Use every available opportunity to press for an end to impunity for perpetrators of serious human rights abuses, including members of the military, intelligence agencies, police and militant groups. Urge respect for international due process and fair trial standards and press for impartial inquiries into, and accountability for, cases of arbitrary detention and torture and other ill-treatment in detention.

Link: To read the full documant.

If the future of Kashmir is to be decided by the choice of the the Kashmiris,
people in Pakistan occupied areas have no fundamental freedom to make a free choice.

Since 1989,
the Indian security forces have been
the persistent victim of a (Pakistani masterminded) Islamic Jihad.

(Without condoning the abuses committed by the Indian forces),
is it not possible that none of these abuses would have ever taken place if
there had not been any killings and atrocities by Islamic militants in the first place?

You decide.

historyKashmirIndiainsurgencyhuman rightspropaganda