Pakistan Revival

Pakistan Conference: Save Pakistan From America, Terror & Zardari

2009-11-14T16:20:00.000Z

[2:30pm Sun 15th Nov. 173 - Friends House, Euston Road, NW1 2BJ. London, United Kingdom]

Over a thousand concerned Pakistanis including Community Leaders, Academics, Students and Intellectuals will meet in a Central London venue to provide a solution to end the anarchy and fitna that is being faced by Pakistan.

At the behest of America, the Zardari regime is creating a disastrous civil war in Pakistan leading to the loss of her sons in the army, the death of men, women and children in Waziristan and the displacement of over 150,000 Muslims in order to further America's agenda of weakening Pakistan. The root cause of this bloodshed is Obama's expansion of America's war on terror and Zardari's collusion with the US against the people of Pakistan."

"We call upon all concerned Pakistanis in Britain to support this campaign which calls to :

* Stop the American plan for Pakistan

* Stop use of the Pakistan Army to enforce US security through the offensive in Waziristan

* Stop the Zardari regime in its collusion with America

* Support the establishment of the true representative, accountable Government i.e. Khilafah in Pakistan which will bring a new and sincere leadership to Pakistan"

[Ends]

Notes for Editors:

1) The conference will take place on [Sunday November 15th 2009 at 2.30 p.m.] at Friends House, 173 Euston Road, London, NW1 2BJ.

2) Press accreditation is necessary and requests for press accreditation should be made via email to press@hizb.org.uk

3) Interviews can be conducted in Urdu, English, Arabic.

CONTACT:

Hizb ut-Tahrir
+44(0)7074-192400

http://hizb-pakistan.info/
press@hizb.org.uk
www.hizb.org.uk

To Unsubscribe please reply to email with "Unsubscribe" in subject

Photos: Demonstration against Zardari - Mr 10% has no legitimacy in Pakistan, Pakistan needs a New Leadership and New System

2009-09-19T00:10:00.000+01:00

Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari's first major policy international speech has been overshadowed by protests against his leadership in London.

Around 200 demonstrators gathered outside the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS), holding placards which stated 'Stop Zardari-Gilani slavery to UK' and 'America is the root cause of terror in Pakistan'.

News Links

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/13+democracy+has+produced+results+says+zardari-za-05

http://www.politics.co.uk/news/foreign-policy/protestors-blight-zardari-visit-$1328309.htm

http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Politics/19-Sep-2009/AntiPPP-protest-in-London

http://www.iiss.org/whats-new/iiss-in-the-press/september-2009/protestors-blight-zardari-visit/

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/14/20090918/tpl-protestors-blight-zardari-visit-81c5b50.html

http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\09\18\story_18-9-2009_pg7_34

Press Release
Thursday, 17 September 2009
A letter delivered to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) ahead of President Asif Zardari's address - "Pakistan: Strategic Challenges & Opportunities"

Dr John Chipman
The Director-General
The International Institute for Strategic Studies
13-15 Arundel Street
Temple Place
London
WC2R 3DX

17th September 2009

Mr 10% has no legitimacy in Pakistan
Pakistan needs a New Leadership and New System

The warm reception for President Asif Zardari at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London on the 18th of September once again shows the close relationship between the West and the corrupt and illegitimate rulers in the Muslim world. Unfortunately while Pakistan faces momentous challenges, Zardari's speech will contain nothing new. It will repeat the same party line that Washington, London and Islamabad have now agreed like a tired record for eight years since 9-11. Regardless of which member of the Pakistani elite rules Pakistan, the same failed policies remain in place. For the people of Pakistan the last sixty-two years have been like a recurring nightmare. A continued cycle of democracy, corruption, dictatorship and foreign interference continues to ravage the country. Many in western capitals spurred on by think tanks like the IISS, as well those who currently head the country, see Pakistan as part of the wider 'war on terror'. Yet, ironically for a war that claims to concern itself with ending terror, it has brought unprecedented terror to thousands of people in the North West Frontier of Pakistan, FATA, Baluchistan, and Afghanistan and has fuelled 'terror' throughout the world.

After witnessing the corruption of the Bhutto administration in the late 1980's, then falling for it again in the early 1990's during the second tenure of the PPP, Pakistan is now facing an unprecedented third sting from the same hole in an open insult to the historical recollection of every Pakistani. This process proves, without a doubt, that the politics of Pakistan have been permanently usurped by aristocratic elite, whether feudal or military in nature. This elite supported to the hilt by the US and UK have a wide ranging disregard for any real sustainable development, progress and relief from abject poverty that a state such as Pakistan, with its huge agricultural and industrial potential should enjoy. The relevant fact is that the PPP lead by President Zardari represents a feudal aristocracy, a phenomenon long consigned to the political dustbin of history even in most parts of the developing world. The PPP is a secular, aristocratic organisation that seeks to stir up mass support using red herrings of democracy, social justice and an end to army tyranny as its rallying cries.

Today there are two diametrically opposite views as to what constitutes the problem in Pakistan. According to the West and its plethora of think tanks the trouble is all due to extremists and radicals. The response to this is to resume the three-century-old western struggle to ensure the Muslim world remains compliant and its resources feed the international capitalist system. According to the Muslim masses, it is the old western capitalist order, now degenerate and corrupt, that are crippling not just the Muslim world but bankrupting the western world. The solution to this malaise is a return to an Islamic State rooted in representative and accountable politics. It is the call for a return to the Caliphate that is gaining traction not just in Pakistan but also throughout the Muslim world from Mauritania to Jakarta.

Hizb ut-Tahrir calls for the following:

An immediate withdrawal of all NATO and US forces from Afghanistan, Pakistan and the wider region. In a recent Pew survey released in August 2009 72% of Pakistanis want the U.S. and NATO to remove their military troops from Afghanistan as soon as possible. Only 16% approve of Obama's decision to send more troops to Afghanistan. The root cause of all the terror and instability in the region is undeniably the presence of occupying forces.

Pakistan has had enough of dictatorship, martial law, states of emergency or the sham of secular democracy led by its current President who is not just tainted by corruption but who treats politics as a family business. Pakistan must establish a true Islamic constitution. This constitution should guarantee real elections, true accountability, an independent judiciary and a rule of law that is equally applied.

Pakistan also needs to regain full sovereignty over all its affairs. At present Pakistan is a chessboard for all types of foreign interference whether it is from the United States, the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth or the IMF.

Pakistan needs to establish an Islamic society that is vibrant, forward looking, which is technologically proficient and which embraces all its citizens irrespective of their gender, sect, religion or race.

Pakistan needs to urgently tackle its chronic domestic problems of corruption, law and order and economic malaise. Only radical solutions from Islam's tried and trusted political system can solve such problems not the cosmetic secular solutions provided by the current ruling elite.

Lastly Pakistan needs to chart its own independent course in foreign policy, not be a conduit for the United States. Pakistan's future lies as part of a unified Muslim world who constitute a quarter of the world's population, who control key strategic waterways and who sit on a majority of the world's energy reserves. Only a unified Muslim world can confront the challenges that will emerge in the 21st century from the United States, the EU, Russia, India and China.

Hizb ut-Tahrir therefore proposes a new leadership and new system for Pakistan through the establishment of the Khilafah (Caliphate) system. This is based upon our detailed study of the Islamic texts and through a profound study of the current problems facing Pakistan. Hizb ut-Tahrir, unlike any other political party based in Pakistan is global in nature, located in over 40 countries. We are the only party that has such a global footprint and outlook, yet our local presence ensures that we are always close to specific problems that exist in any country. Hizb ut-Tahrir in Pakistan has been at the forefront of the struggle against politicians like Zardari, consistently calling him to account over both his domestic and foreign policy.

We therefore call you to debate our vision for Pakistan and for the region. We know that millions of people in the west share our discontent with the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and we are sure some good can come from this terrible episode. We believe that there are root causes of the problem in Pakistan and Afghanistan that have not yet been fully debated, that there are productive future solutions to the conflict if only those who have goodwill can have the courage to act on them.

Hizb ut-Tahrir
Britain

27th Ramadhan 1430
17th September 2009
www.hizb.org.uk
Location: London outside The International Institute for Strategic Studies

The Taliban are going to take over Pakistan – NOT

2009-04-25T14:13:00.000+01:00

For immediate release

The Taliban are going to take over Pakistan – NOT

U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke said April 20 that the Taliban's refusal to lay down its arms as part of a peace deal in the Swat Valley is a "wake up call" to Pakistan, Holbrook said, "It seems to me that, that would be a wakeup call to everybody in Pakistan that you can't deal with [the Taliban] by giving away territory as they creep closer and closer to the populated centers of Punjab and Islamabad. They are less than a hundred miles from Islamabad after this deal."

We are well aware of the love of United States for Pakistan and greater Muslim world. Richard Holbrooke who is more affectionately called "the Balkans Bulldozer" or sometimes "Raging Bull" due to his carrot and stick policy in the Balkans, of which Pakistan has only seen the stick (Drones, CIA/FBI kidnappings, Bases) is dripping with the blood of innocent Pakistanis, Afghanis and Iraqis.

Similarly U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said April 22 that Pakistan's government has abdicated to the Taliban by agreeing to Islamic law in part of the country and that the nuclear-armed nation poses a danger to world security. Clinton's remarks come after she was asked about Pakistan's decision to sign a regulation enforcing Islamic law in the Swat valley region. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates also on April 23 called for Pakistani leaders to fight the spread of Taliban militancy, saying a failure to act could impact U.S.-Pakistani ties. Gates said some Pakistani leaders see the "existential threat" the Taliban pose to Pakistan's democratic government, but that the leaders must also take action against that threat.

So what is the reality of this special care that Holbrooke, and other US officials are showing for Pakistan? US is working on a new strategy for the region in which the problem is not viewed in isolation in Afghanistan but as an Af-Pak problem.

The reality is that US is miserably failing in their objectives in Afghanistan. The occupation has turned into a nightmare for US where other countries are taking advantage (Russian/Georgia) of US weakness being bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan. The so called liberation of Afghanistan by Neo-Cons to create a liberal democracy (Gas pipelines) in the heart of Muslim world turned into a brutal occupation which is facing resistance.

Pervez Musharraf was doing the same thing to legitimize his rule when he engineered MMA into power in the Baluchistan/NWFP to remind the US that he is the last-man-standing against the spread of radical Islam and same tactics are being used by Zardari. These statements above from US officials, those that Zardari regime is promoting under the guise of "our war" are to legitimized the support that our corrupt rulers are giving to US. To justify the continual support for drone attacks in violation of Pakistan territorial sovereignty, to continue CIA/FBI free reign in Pakistan and the logistic support which is the life line of NATO/US in Afghanistan, this lie is being sold as a "Pakistan war" to the people of Pakistan.

What is becoming clear now is that Unites States end game was never going to be played in Afghanistan but Pakistan was the real target. The undeclared war that is going on in Baluchistan and NWFP under the guise of fighting the Taliban by NATO, US and India is in reality a war to accomplish number of US foreign policy objectives. To name a few they are to remove Pakistan army offensive-defensive capability against India by pitching it against its population, to denuclearise Pakistan, to solve Kashmir problem on Indian terms and make Pakistan "India ka Chota Bahee" or Akhand Bharat to allow India to focus on containing China.

Zardari government started where Musharraf left with no change in policy. Clinton's sensational recent remarks are designed to ratchet up and continue the propaganda to malign and build the case against Pakistan. In a matter of months we have seen US and British officials talk up the threat from nowhere to supposedly emanating from Pakistan. The reality is that whilst US officials publicly criticise the efforts of the Pakistani regime, in private the Zardari regime is in full co-operation with America. Similarly Nawaz Sharif who was all too eager to lead a Long March to reinstate judges is not doing the same regarding drone attacks – clearly showing, he knows who not to upset. This is why America currently enjoys access to several bases inside Pakistan including those from which it operates its drones to launch airstrikes in Pakistan's tribal areas. This is why over 400 trucks carrying 80% of the fuel, weapons and other supplies for the American and NATO armies cross over from Pakistan into Afghanistan every day. None of this would be possible without the continued co-operation and treachery of the Zardari regime against its own people.

The fact of the matter is that the Zardari regime is colluding very closely with the Americans. Whilst Clinton made her remarks, the US Joint Chiefs Admiral Mike Mullen yet again made his way to Islamabad. The decision by Zardari to assent to the implementation of so called 'Shariah law' in Swat is mere eyewash. It is a matter of fact that the complete Shariah can only be implemented at State level by the Khilafah – a few elements such as the penal code do not constitute an Islamic state. Instead the promulgation of this ordinance by the Zardari regime is part of the American agenda deliberately created and exploited by Western officials such as Hillary Clinton to continue to build the public case against Pakistan to set the scene for Western intervention. It is simply incredulous to believe that a country with a professional army of 700,000 men and a modern air force would simply capitulate in a matter of weeks. The Zardari regime is deliberately helping to create a perception of Pakistan that America desires: a failing lawless state that is about to be completely overrun by terrorists who will gain access to Pakistan's nuclear arsenal.

This also explains the continued American led attack on the integrity of the Pakistan armed forces and it's elite intelligence service the ISI. America is again resorting to the same scaremongering and character assassination that we saw in a narrative reminiscent to the run up before the Iraq invasion and occupation. The real issue at hand is the failing American led occupation of Afghanistan and the continued American attacks inside Pakistan which has displaced over a million Pakistanis and killed hundreds of innocent men, women and children.

The internal security of Pakistan can never improve whilst the FBI and CIA maintain bases inside Pakistan. America has every motive to deliberately destabilise Pakistan as it fears a powerful nuclear armed Muslim nation in which there is a growing tide calling for Islam. Contrary to Clinton's assertions, what Pakistanis actually despise most is the continued support by the American government for Zardari's corrupt regime. For many Pakistanis both inside and outside Pakistan the real threat they perceive is not from Islam but from America which is desperate to expand her 'War on Terror' to Pakistan. America knows that it is losing the battle for the hearts and minds not only of the Muslims of Pakistan but that of the Pakistani military too. That is why America seeks to malign the reputation of Pakistan because her armed forces have the power to establish the Khilafah while America struggles with her financial collapse and military overstretch.

Note to the Editors: Tauseef Zahid is a freelance columnist

Demonstration calling Muslim Armies to Move - Pictures

2009-01-04T23:35:00.002Z

There were over three thousand people who demonstrated today Sunday 4th January 2009. They called the Arab armies to defend Gaza and the innocent people who continue to be terrorised by the occupying Israeli army. The demonstration started from Paddington Green and travelled through Edgeware Road and concluded with a number of speeches at Marble Arch. Many speakers, including Mohamed Ali, CEO of Islam Channel, Mozzem Beg, the former detainee of Guantanamo and Dr Abdul Wahid from Hizb ut Tahrir, the Islamic political party who were the organisers of the demonstration urged the Muslim armies and governments to help the Muslims of Gaza.

After months of a siege that starved hundreds of thousands, the Zionist occupiers of Palestine have killed over 300 men women and children in a wave of missile strikes on Gaza and have seriously injured thousands. Where are the Muslim rulers? Where are the Muslim armies? Where is the governement that will respond to the ongoing massacre of Muslims in Gazza and across the globe?

Over many months, the regimes in the Muslim world have been silent over Israel's siege of Gaza. The Egyptian regime even blocked aid to Gaza and the Saudi regime has appeased the murderous occupiers by promoting a so-called 'peace process', which is nothing more than a process to strengthen Israel's grip on the region. Their appeasement has been repaid by this massacre.

No amount of negotiations, UN resolutions or condemnations will liberate Palestine from occupation. While the sincere Palestinians continue to bravely struggle against occupation, it is only when well resourced armies from Muslim lands, currently confined to barracks by treacherous agent rulers, are released that this land will be defended. Egypt has the military capability to defend the people of Gaza if it used its 220 F-16 fighter planes and 450,000 strong military.

Who grins while Pakistan burns?

2008-12-17T17:35:00.001Z

I hope that my email finds you in best shape of your health. I am sharing here the latest article I wrote on the worsening situation of the South Asian region and the deteriorating

health of Pakistan in the international arena. Any comments or views will be welcomed and appreciated greatly.

Regards,

Bilal

Who grins while Pakistan burns?

In the aftermath of Mumbai attacks, Pakistan has emerged as the new Bogeyman for the people living in the West.

While Delhi has been blaming Pakistan for sponsoring a mass murder, a vicious campaign has been launched by the Western media against Pakistan. Accusations are also made by the US and her allies by condemning Pakistan in the context of the Mumbai attacks. And once again Pakistan is in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

And while this melodrama of Indian and western media continues, a very basic and simple question that a reasonable man would think of has never been answered: Why ISI or Pakistan based militant organisation would be interested in face saving of Indian army by murdering ATS chief Hemant Karkare, who had already exposed links between right wing Hindu groups and the Malegaon and Samjhuta express incidents, and was in middle of the investigation that was set to expose the secret links between the Hindu terrorists and Indian Army?

A sinister game is being played here that is reaffirmed as Delhi's claims were fully endorsed by the United States and Britain. A carefully orchestrated and well formulated strategy is practised to shape the international opinion regarding Pakistan. Ignoble mention of Pakistani nukes, defamatory statements regarding Pakistan army and her premier spy agency ISI and declaration of Pakistan as the biggest threat to the world security are just a few examples of how well the script written in Washington DC is being executed.

The reality is that Indian accusations are nothing but a pathetic attempt to deflect attention from the plain and obvious failure of the Indian system in looking after its own citizens. India is a country that is beset by ethnic and sectarian strife which has the potential to implode in to a serious threat to India's territorial integrity.

But Pakistan government's decision to clamp down on Jamat ut Dawaa without any evidence only strengthens the Indian claims and plays into the hands of the anti Pakistan propaganda machines.

Gen. David Petraeus, head of CENTCOM, recently said Mumbai attacks were of more significance for Pakistan than India as these attacks comprehended the magnitude of challenges confronting Pakistan. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown also blindly accepted India's version of events and showed absolute support for the Indian position by blaming Pakistan for not clamping down on extremism. US senator John Kerry said this Monday that ISI must be tightly controlled and not allowed to act independently.

It is quite clear now that America, together with India and Britain, is building up a case against Pakistan. Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, used the Mumbai incident as a pre-text to accuse Pakistan being the epicentre of terrorism and demanded that Pakistan must close down the terror camps. US Senator John McCain during his recent visit to Pakistan is believed to have threatened Pakistan with the surgical air strikes if Pakistan did not comply to New Delhi's demands.

There were also reports linked with unnamed Indian officials that India is considering a move to launch punitive air strikes to target terror camps in MureedKeh and Muzaffarabad. On 13/12/2008 it was witnessed that two Indian jets entered Pakistan from eastern Lahore and Kashmir Sector. These violations of air space by Indian Air Force were confirmed by the Pakistan Air Force and PAF spokesman stated that the Indian aircrafts intruded up to 4 Km inside Pakistan territory. These stunts were performed by the Indian Air Force to test the readiness and preparations of PAF, according to PAF Air Commodore (Retd.) Jamal Hussein. But according to President Zardari, these violations were a technical mistake on part of IAF to fly jets loaded with weapons and explosives inside Pakistan. One can only feel pity for Mr. Zardari who has lost the sense of generating thinking and reaching to obvious conclusions.

Some weeks ago, Mr. Zardari also labelled Kashmiris who are opposed to Indian rule as terrorists. This outrageous move was aimed to distance Pakistan from the 70,000 Muslims of Kashmir who gave away their life for the cause of freedom and many more who are still living with a hope that one day they will be liberated from Indian aggression. This statement from Mr. Zardari sparked mammoth rallies throughout held-Kashmir and for the first time in the history of Kashmiri struggle, it was witnessed that the effigies of a Pakistani leader were burned.

On the geopolitical front, it is now quite evident that for the US, the focal point and the real war is not in Iraq but along the Durrand line in sub-continent as noted by Obama and his strategic gurus. Right wing Hindu parties are gaining popularity in India as a result of Mumbai attacks. BJP, a party of radical Hindu secularists, which cashed in the Kargil incident after 1999 in the general elections, is now again busy in raising the stakes so that it can capitalize on Mumbai attacks. America is overstretched in Iraq and failing in Afghanistan and the economic downturn at home only complicates the situation for her. Now the new circumstances will compel America to hasten the process of making India a regional power. But that requires settlement of Kashmir issue in such a way that favours India. Indian dominance in the region in the short run will help US to ease financial and military burden by the arrival of 100,000 troops that India is ready to despatch to Afghanistan. In the long term, for America the Indian dominance means combating China's rising influence in the global politics. Indian Military presence in Afghanistan will also help America to pressurise Pakistan to maintain its involvement in the unpopular war on terror.

But for America to proceed with her plans for India, a strong Pakistan army is the biggest hurdle. The Islamic elements within Pakistan army are continuously resisting America's attempts to give away Kashmir to India. And India cannot in any situation afford to lock horns with Pakistan militarily. Even America knows that without Pakistan's cooperation, she cannot stay in Afghanistan. So America and India have resorted to other means to malign Pakistan army to make it weak and for past several months they have paced up their efforts in this regard. Tactics employed by Delhi and Washington includes accusing Pakistan of playing double game and supporting Jihadi organisations, and moving of a resolution in the UN to label retired High Ups from Pakistan Army as terrorist to disgrace Pakistan military on the international forum. Indian agencies involvement in Baluchistan is also well known where they are working to weaken Pakistan from inside. Whereas, America has waged an undeclared war on Pakistan as it continues to launch hell fire missiles from CIA controlled unmanned aircrafts inside Pakistan. It is in the interest of both America and India to keep the fire alive in Pakistan and they are doing pretty well.

Instead of Pakistan, it is Washington and Delhi that is playing double game. War mongering propaganda machines have sharpened their knives for Pakistan that exposes the mindset of policy makers in the West. The same pattern was followed when America waged a war on Iraq on the basis of fabricated evidence. Now yet again the notorious terms such as weapons of mass destruction are floated in the media but this time the target is Pakistan. And in recent days Pakistan has also been given titles once reserved for Iraq, like a rogue and failed state by many a think tanks.

And now after Mumbai incident, as the events are unfolding, it is like déjà vu. Just some years ago, after 9/11 a call from Washington DC changed the fortune of hundreds of thousands of people living in the South Asia. And that call was made by US Secretary of State Colin Powell to Pervez Musharraf who is to go down in history as the Pakistani Gorbachev. It was that time when Musharraf traded Pakistan's sovereignty by submitting to the American pressure that has unleashed a doom in Pakistan resulting in countless civilian deaths and more than 1,400 Pakistani troops also died in the process.

But this time around in 2008, it is Delhi that is exerting pressure on Pakistan to bow down. The Democratic regime of Zardari has performed exceptionally well in continuing the policies of the Dictator Musharraf and this suggests that Zardari's response to the mounting pressure is easily and accurately predictable. The truth is that NRO beneficiary leadership is impotent and is on the same page with Washington and her cronies. It is the failure of Pakistan's political leadership to address growing problems that have left Pakistan in a catastrophic situation as it continues its slide into further chaos.

The situation is continuously deteriorating for Pakistan and the leadership of Pakistan has done nothing to change the course. Rather the PPP led government is singing the mantra that there is nothing we can do except act as we are told by the Washington and accept the US hegemony.

Whereas, the reality is such that Pakistan can change her fortune in matter of days provided there is a sincere leadership that has vision and a ruling system that is in accordance to the whims and desires of ordinary residents and that emanates from the creed that they carry. Now is the time for Pakistan to adopt a firm and dignified approach to counter the existential threats it faces today.

Pakistan is providing 80% of the fuel used by American war machine in Afghanistan. The US is using almost 575,000 gallons of fuel every day. And if Pakistan halts this supply from her refineries then the only alternative source would be a precarious supply route through rugged Central Asia thus effectively crippling the US military. There is no doubt that once Pakistan decides to abandon America it would only be a matter of days that America would have to pack up and leave from Afghanistan. This would enable Pakistan to regain the strategic advantage she had before 9/11.

Pakistan is also self-sufficient on natural gas and has huge reservoirs of coal and minerals. According to Pakistan Economy Watch, only the coal deposits in Thar can change the fate of the country if utilized in a proper way. Dr Murtaza Mughal president of Pakistan Economy Watch in a statement said that 185 billion tonnes of coal worth USD 25 trillion can not only cater the electricity requirements of the country for next 100 years but also save almost four billion dollars in staggering oil import bill annually, reduce unemployment and help strengthen the economy. This amount of coal would equal 615 billion barrels of oil. Changes are also required to be made at the macro and micro level of economic policies if woes of the masses are to be answered.

All Pakistan needs is a new leadership and a new system that has a political will to bring about the change. And that new system is none other than the very reason Pakistan was created for. Pakistan must realise her true potential and rise up to the occasion by realising the dream of becoming a true Islamic state i.e. Khilafah, A Khilafah that lead the world for more than 12 centuries and brought prosperity not only to Muslims but to humanity in general.

Muhammad Bilal Qureshi

The Evil of the US Dollar

2008-11-23T20:31:00.001Z

The Evil of the US Dollar

Imagine a large building full of about fifty people in a remote area, not accessible to other human beings.

Each person would need to have his basic needs met, i.e. food, clothing, shelter etc. In doing so, each person would have to develop skills to go about earning his livelihood to support his needs. But it would be nonsensical for every person to develop each skill that is needed to survive. What would happen in reality is that each person would develop a few key skills and use these as his source of living, for example one person may specialise in growing crops and rearing animals, whist another may specialise in plumbing and carpentry.

Now these people would have to trade with one another, in order to benefit from one another's skills. For example the farmer may trade 10 chickens with the builder in exchange for him renovating his room, or a cleaner may trade half a days cleaning in return for a knitter to knit 2 woolen jumpers for him.

As the number of skills or trades in the house (offered by the people resident there to one another) will be quite numerous, it would not only be very difficult and complex to keep track of all the exchange ratios between different goods and services, but also extremely impractical for day to day living.

Enter the use of a paper currency which would remove the difficulties faced in exchanging goods and services with one another. From now on, for example, 1 hour's worth of cleaning could be assigned a value of 1 unit of the currency, a woolen jumper as 5 units, 1 chicken as 3 units etc. So instead of the farmer dragging around a number of goats with him in order to obtain building services from the builder, he now simply needs to take with him the appropriate amount of currency in his wallet in order to obtain this service.

Now imagine all the fifty people in the house working away hard to earn a living through their particular skills – except one. This individual, let us refer to him as the central banker or just banker for short, instead of learning to lay bricks, learning to treat people, learning to cook or develop any other skill the fifty people in the building need to trade with and survive on a day to day basis, does something different and unique.

What this individual does is to print and control the currency being used in the building. On the surface this may look innocent enough, but look at the consequences for him and the rest of the people in the building.

As mentioned previously, instead of trading goods and services directly, the residents now trade with one another through the use of this currency. So if the cook needs some medical attention, instead of having to bake a number of cakes there and then, he now simply offers the doctor in the building the necessary amount of currency. This currency the cook has earnt, which he is now using for his treatment, may have been earnt by him for example in the previous week by selling cakes to the farmer.

But what does the banker need to do if he falls into a similar predicament? Does he spend hours working away providing a service or days making a product in order to save up for his treatment? No - he does not need to; the banker simply prints some of the paper currency which the people in the building trade in and exchanges this for his treatment. And he does this for whatever goods or services he may require.

The net result is that whilst the other forty nine people in the building have to work (i.e. producing physical goods or providing tangible services) to earn their paper currency and therefore purchase other goods and services through the use of this currency, the banker needs not engage in any real work. As mentioned all he needs to do is simply ensure that he has the means to print the currency he may require and further ensure – through force if necessary - that the other people in the building will use his paper money for all the transactions occurring in the building. And this leads to a very important conclusion at this point – that effectively the banker is obtaining the goods and services he needs to survive with absolutely free from the rest of the residents (minus of course his cost of printing the paper notes, which is negligible).

As mentioned, to maintain this privileged position the banker will resort to force or intimidation to make sure that only his currency is used in the building at all times. Effectively the behaviour of the banker's is more akin to that of a gangster's.

And this arrangement will remain to be the case as long as the rest of the people trade in his currency and that the banker can print this currency freely without any restriction – i.e. he does not have to back up the currency he prints with any material substance of value, like gold or silver, e.g. for every 1000 units of currency printed he would have had to have one ounce of gold in reserve.

So the question arises, if the banker's currency is not backed up by gold or silver, why is it worth anything considering it is just bits of paper at the end of the day? Well as illustrated above, paper currency will have value but as long as there are people who will trade goods and services using it.

It is interesting to note the effects on the price of goods and services as currency is printed and fed into circulation. Let us assume that in the above building there are a total of 5000 units of currency collectively amongst the 50 people living there and that the price of an adult cow is 400 units as currently sold by the farmer. Further, at present, there is only person interested in buying this cow at this price.

Now imagine that the banker prints an extra 1000 units of currency. With this extra currency, he loans part of it to some of the other people, say 400 units each to two people (each of whom help the banker exert his dominance in the building). Now suddenly these two people are also interested in purchasing the cow, since they now have the funds to do so. However the farmer is now faced with a total of three people all wishing to buy his cow for 400 units. As a result the farmer increases his price to 480 units which results in only one of the people still managing to stay in the bidding to buy the cow. This may well be the originally bidder, but now he has to dig deeper into his savings to pay for this product.

Essentially what has happened in the building is the process of inflation, which has caused the prices of goods and services to rise substantially. And this has happened simply because there is now more paper currency in circulation chasing the same number of goods and services.

But so far we have just examined the effects of this currency arrangement on one large household. Imagine now a small community of ten such buildings, each with about 50 people residing in it and living in a similar fashion. They too would have their own currencies circulating in their respective households.

However, our banker from the first building has designs on these other buildings as well. Where at the moment the value of his currency only exists because 50 people in total trade in it in his building, if in addition he could get other neighbouring buildings trading in it as well, then he would increase the number of people trading in it. If this were too happen, then the purchasing power of his currency would increase.

For example, imagine in one of the other buildings the main product which was produced there was paraffin oil, and this was an essential but costly item for day to day living in not just that building, but all the other buildings. If the banker himself from the first building wished to buy this product, then he would have to for once offer a tangible physical product or service as opposed to just exchanging his paper currency for the goods.

But rather than actually having to work to pay for this valuable commodity, the banker has a better solution for himself – to simply get the other building to trade in his currency as well. How does he achieve this? The banker identifies in the paraffin producing building, and brings into dominance, a family living there who will agree to make their whole building trade in the banker's currency. In return, the banker will provide physical assistance to the family to stay in power and help legitimise their position. In addition, the banker will support the family's claim that the paraffin produced in the building is their property, and that the other people resident in this building have no claim to it (even though they have a right to).

So just as with the occupants in the banker's building, the occupants of the paraffin producing building will now also be trading in the banker's currency. The effect? The value of the currency will go up since the residents of the banker's building can now go and purchase paraffin from this other building using the currency they have been earning.

And further, the effect of this will now be felt across the entire community of buildings. Since they all need this essential and costly item of paraffin oil, to purchase it they will also be required to trade in the banker's currency. And to earn this currency, they will have to offer physical goods and services to the banker in return for his currency. This will further drive up the value of this currency.

Thus under the above equilibrium, the bankers currency and hence the bankers wealth will flourish. However, if ever the other buildings stopped trading in his currency and setup their own ones, particularly the building which drives the micro-economy in the community (namely the paraffin oil producing one), the bankers influence and wealth will shrink drastically. If the banker could not persuade the other buildings to continue with his currency, especially the paraffin one, whether politically or commercially, then the banker would end up using force (as a criminal) as a last resort to make sure that they do not switch over to their own currencies.

Does this entire scenario sound like a fantasy when considering reality? Actually not – in fact it is happening right now and on a global scale. The banker is called the USA and the currency in question is of course the US Dollar.

At the close of the Second World War, the USA had managed to place itself in the position where its currency was effectively the reserve currency of the world via the Bretton Woods agreement, but was still linked to the gold standard. However it was not until 1971 that the Bretton Woods agreement between the major world powers was abandoned on America's initiative. From this point onwards, the US Dollar was no longer backed by the gold standard; i.e. unlike prior to this, on demand one US Dollar would now not yield its supposed value in gold.

The thinking behind the Bretton Woods agreement, enacted in 1944 in the USA, was to ensure that all the major currencies in the world would be backed by the gold standard; thereby theoretically assuring that no country would be able to print its currency freely. But as the other powers in the world declined in their influence, and as the USA simultaneously gained further hegemony globally, the agreement was broken at America's behest. The USA was fundamentally able to resort to this scenario due to the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) agreeing (in 1971) to trade oil in US Dollars which was then, and still is, a valuable commodity. By now having the sale of crude oil barrels, relatively costly and traded in their millions per day, in Dollars, the US Dollar was now an essential requirement to facilitate trading on an international level. Not only was crude oil now traded in Dollars, but other major commodities also followed suit, e.g. gold.

Today almost 40 years on, due to a mixture of reckless lending practices, fundamentally flawed trading processes of the likes of short selling, credit default swaps, derivatives trading etc, the western banking system has been placed on the verge of collapse due to the gigantic losses the banks have incurred. Despite dictating their capitalistic philosophy globally (e.g. forcing third world countries to liberalise their markets by removing trade barriers, allowing the privitisation of state assets at heavily reduced prices etc.), when their turn has finally come, the western governments are hypocritically demonstrating that they are not prepared to let their financial institutions collapse by being subjected to the much advocated force of the free market.

Apart from the plugging of a few holes via various investment means (e.g. from Gulf nations etc.), the western banks have been essentially left with no option other than to go with begging bowl in hand to their respective governments and plead for bail-out packages. The governments in turn, having close ties with the elite of the financial world and to avoid a run on the banks and total economic pandemonium engulfing their societies, have in turn been left with no option other than to plough billions of Dollars, Pounds or Euros into the banks.

Most crucially if the funds do not exist currently in order to raid from, then the governments are resorting to simply printing the money and injecting it into the system. Recently the US government announced a $700 billion bailout package for its financial sector. In reality, according to some financial experts, the US government is actually pumping a fresh $400 billion a day or $2 trillion per week into the system.

But this injection of readily created capital may stave of the banks from collapsing at the moment, but in reality all that has happened is that the problem or debt is being passed from one entity to another. As the money is printed and fed into the banks to avoid them collapsing, the money will then find its way into the economy. As this is happening, inflation is taking root as ever more paper currency is chasing a static number of goods and services. The result of which will be only one thing – hyper inflation around the world including western economies in the coming months and years. Thus the current deficit problem of the banks is effectively and criminally passed on to the masses.

Make no mistake – this is theft, and a theft on a colossal and universal scale. And it is a theft of a unique nature, not being possible beyond the workings of this model. There is no need to take possession of the physical sums of money individuals in the society may possess. But rather, whether people's hard earnt funds are placed in vaults or under mattresses, the values or purchasing power of these savings are gradually being siphoned away by those who are the recipients of the newly generated funds, i.e. the banks. The more Dollars that are printed and placed into circulation, the more the value of existing Dollars (and currencies which are pegged to the Dollar, e.g. the Saudi Riyal) are being stolen.

What countries around the world urgently need to do is to ditch the US Dollar, particularly the Middle Eastern states. As long as they trade in the Dollar, they give it strength. Furthermore since they, along with the Chinese, have some of the largest reserves of Dollars that exist (earnt through the sale of physical assets and services), they are only losing out as America criminally dumps more such Dollars into the world.

Even if today the Western world were to resort back to some form of a Bretton Woods model, i.e. reintroduce the gold standard with regard to currency, then there still will be no guarantee that this would again be brushed aside at some future point if any one of these powers gained greater global dominance relative to the others.

Rather the real solution is to deal with the actual underlying capitalistic model that legitimises such behaviour. We must recognise now, that as with the communist system before it, capitalism has proven to be a failure. The world must now search for another model to govern its finances.

And in Islam we have this. To summarise briefly, in an Islamic economic system, the gold standard is compulsory, thereby preventing the generation of unsupported paper currency. In addition, Islam does not permit the various aforementioned capitalistic trading practices as undertaken by current day banks, which are effectively bringing down the Western economic system. Moreover, unlike a man made system, the principles in Islam (i.e. the Shariah) are unchanging; therefore Islamic rules will remain in effect no matter what the situation.

Asif Salahuddin

asif@evocadrinks.com

Expose America’s Undeclared War on Pakistan

2008-11-16T22:08:00.001Z

http://www.war-on-pakistan.info

Expose America's Undeclared War on Pakistan
On 7 November, American military aircraft once again violated Pakistani airspace to launch another missile attack on
civilian targets in northern Pakistan. This was the 20th attack since August in which many civilians have been made
shaheed. Furthermore in September, American Special forces launched a raid on Angoor Adda killing 20 civilians in
Pakistan after secret orders were given to them by President Bush to launch land attacks. Since the fighting in FATA over
700,000 people have been displaced from their homes and are now facing the harsh winter in the northern areas.

AMERICA'S UNDECLARED WAR ON PAKISTAN
While America, fearful of fighting a country with the world's sixth largest army, has not formally declared war on Pakistan,
it is carrying out regular military incursions on Pakistani soil. President Bush has given orders for 13,000 additional troops
to be sent to the Afghan border and Barack Obama during his campaign speeches pledged he will "move two battalions"
to the border. Furthermore, he went on to state "we must get off the wrong battlefield in Iraq and get on the right one in
Afghanistan and Pakistan". He has openly declared that if Pakistan is not prepared to kill the so-called militants operating
in the northern regions, then America will unilaterally attack targets in Pakistan. It is now a daily occurrence that the
American military is violating Pakistan's sovereignty. Are these not the statements and policies of war?

THE WAR ON TERROR
The state of affairs in Afghanistan today is not due to terrorism; rather it is the result of the American invasion. The people
of Afghanistan have retaliated by fighting these occupiers using "hit and run" tactics. Have we not seen how America
created a similar situation in Iraq? Did we not witness how they took what was one of the most developed Arab nations at
the time, imposed on it harsh sanctions before dividing it into three weak states which they control through a puppet
government in Baghdad. Now the American's have turned their attention to the most powerful Muslim country, Pakistan.

PAKISTAN – THE NEXT IRAQ
By accusing Pakistan of harbouring terrorists and the military of being terrorist sympathisers the Americans are following
the same path as in Iraq. The infamous 45 minute lie was used to create panic in the West so that there would be
justification for attacks. Today, the media is reporting that Pakistan, with its nuclear weapons, is a failed state and out of
control in order to justify its attack. By forcing the Pakistani army to attack the people in FATA, the American's have
created civil conflict in Pakistan and are using the very same conflict to suggest that Pakistan is out of control. Some of
the American policy think-tanks are openly suggesting that Pakistan should be divided into smaller states and have part
of the land annexed to Afghanistan and Iran. The Indian government and the Mayor of Kabul, the American agent Karzai,
have been the most vocal in supporting the American propaganda.

PAKISTAN'S PUPPET DEMOCRACY IS THE PROBLEM
When Musharraf pledged his unrelenting support to the American's and assisted them to attack Afghanistan he allowed
them to establish themselves in Afghanistan. Today's democratically elected corrupt government has continued the same
policy by helping the American's in their attacks. Despite the half hearted protests against the attacks the Zardari-Gilani
government continues to allow supplies for American forces to be sent through Karachi. They have given open support to
the American attacks and supported the American media lies to suggest that Pakistan is facing an internal insurgency.
They have betrayed the people of Kashmir by moving troops from Kashmir to the FATA to support American troops,
which has also assisted the Americans to strengthen the hand of their new allies, the Indian occupiers, in Kashmir.

PAKISTAN'S ECONOMIC CRISIS
Decades of Western economic solutions and adherence to the IMF have brought Pakistan to the brink of disaster.
Despite Pakistan having abundant agricultural and mineral resources and even being able to manufacture its own heavy
weapons the economy was built on the imitation of weak western solutions by corrupt democratic and dictatorial
governments alike. Now the IMF is being used as a political tool to further weaken the country by demanding cuts in
defence spending before the Zardari government will be permitted to line their pockets. The people of Pakistan already
facing great hardship and are now faced with up to 10 hours of load shedding and huge price hikes for basic foodstuff.

ONLY KHILAFAH CAN ADDRESS THE NEEDS OF PAKISTAN
Only the Khilafah will establish a sovereign government that is not a puppet to Western colonialist nations where
democracy and dictatorship have established subservience. It will be obliged to establish unity and defend the blood and
honour of the people against foreign aggression. It will establish a stable economy with gold backed currency and utilise
the resources to provide for people, not privatise to provide profits for foreign companies and corrupt parliamentarians.

Join Hizb ut Tahrir's Campaign to Expose America's Undeclared War on Pakistan
Join us in opposing the Pakistani Governments collusion with America
Join us in calling for unity with Kashmir and Afghanistan
Join us in establishing a new leadership, a Khilafah for Pakistan

O you who believe. Answer the call of Allah and His Messenger when he calls you to that which gives you life.

http://www.war-on-pakistan.info

Jewel of Medina: More Insults to come against our Beloved Prophet (SAW)

2008-10-08T13:55:00.001+01:00

Dear friends,

I am writing to inform you about the latest campaign of insult that West is launching against Islam in the form of a novel under the guise of freedom of speech. While it is clear to anyone who has spent time in the West that freedom of expression exist in the West as a mirage as there are laws against anti-Semitism, libel, etc and freedom of speech has always been used selectively, it is also becoming clear that it is an open season in the West to hurl abuse at Islam and its institutions. Over the last few years we have seen this manifest in the form of disgusting cartoons of Prophet Mohammad (saw), videos e.g. Geeert Wilders etc. I hope you take this issue up at different forums according to your obligations under Islam. Please publish this letter where you can. Remaining silent is not an option. Please find details as follow:

The latest provocative attacks on Islam and Muslims are set to follow the publication of a book titled 'The Jewel of Medina' scheduled for October 2008. It is a book rejected for publication in the USA, but the British publishers of the hysterical anti-Islamic diatribe 'Londonistan' have decided to publish it, under the pretext of free speech.

The content and nature of the insult to Allah's Messenger (SAW) and the Mother of the Believers Aishah (RA) according to media reports give some idea of what may be in store. Texas University Professor, Denise Spellberg, did see an edition and said it "made fun of Muslims and their history" describing the book as a "very ugly, stupid piece of work" and saying "You can't play with a sacred history and turn it into soft core pornography." We wait to see what will actually emerge.

Yet there is little doubt that publication will be a launch for the next in the series of attacks on Islam that we have become used to in the West - to add to the attacks on the Hijab, the offensive cartoons against the Prophet (SAW), the calls to ban the Qur'an and other insults we have seen over the last 2 years. These are all examples of the so-called 'tolerance' and 'moderation' of western values oft repeated by politicians.

In the light of the coming attacks on Islam, it is very important that Muslims be aware of the agenda and respond in the best Islamic way.

Part of their agenda is to intimidate Muslims so as to push us to accept the western value of free speech. They want us to follow the argument that we may dislike the insults, but we should absolutely accept the right to be insulted and worse still passively accept insults of those things we hold sacred. This is unacceptable for several reasons.

Firstly, Islam does not permit the celebration to wantonly insult anyone's sacred beliefs the way we see Islam insulted by secularists in the modern day.

Secondly, the famous hadith of the Prophet (SAW) that obliges changing munkar, obliges us to hate the munkar in the heart if the munkar cannot be changed by the hand or by words. Hence, it would be impossible to appreciate the value of unlimited free speech that allows such insults of Islam without falling far below the 'least of Iman' mentioned in the hadith.

Thirdly, western free expression is a value that has caused great harm in society. In Europe, insults of the blessed Prophet 'Esa (Jesus) son of Maryiam (AS) are now common place. Christians in the west have become used to such insults and usually say little. However, societies that so easily abuse the best people in human history also bemoan the lack of respect for parents, teachers, authority and indeed each other in their societies - and fail to see any link between the two. Moreover, unlimited freedom of expression is a freedom to insult, and a free license to insult others cannot produce a decent harmonious society. At the very least this explains why secular Europe is so unable to tolerate diversity; and worst Europe's history shows how this freedom to insult rapidly slips into the freedom to persecute others.

On the other hand responding to such deliberate provocation with threats of violent action simply plays into a trap set by the publishers - who no doubt hope to make millions from the controversy attracted by a 3rd rate book. Anyone who falls into this trap would simply complete the work of the enemies of Allah and His Messenger.

So how should Muslims respond?

1. Firstly, we should know that there will never be any defence of the honour and dignity of Islam without the Islamic State (Caliphate/Khilafat) -a government that will act and speak to defend Islam and Muslims on the world stage. Today Western leaders fanatically defend their values of freedom and democracy which equate to nothing more than occupation and exploitation. Where is the Muslim leader who stands up to defend our beloved Prophet SAW? Where is the Muslim leader who stands up to the daily insults against Islam?

When the Khilafah existed, western governments thought twice before allowing mockery and insults against Allah and His Messenger. So, the need today is the re-establishing of the Islamic Khilafah, the method of unity and leadership of this Ummah. The current regimes in the Muslim world - such as the Al Saud family - who have used their influence to have fraud investigations - in the UK - into their own suspect business activities suspended, remain silent over the insults to Allah's Messenger.

All Muslims should join the call for the Khilafah, for it is the only way to ensure these matters are truly dealt with. Indeed, the frequent attacks on Islam should make us redouble our efforts towards establishing the State which upholds the dignity of Islam.

2. Secondly, we should address these issues with effective arguments and protests that show to the wider society the fruits of their values that allow insults to Prophets and Messengers, which has caused a systemic disrespect in society that they have no solutions for. We should do this through letters, articles, phone calls in the media, petitions, talks, debates and - if necessary - vocal protest on the street.

3. Muslims should take this opportunity to educate the world about who the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) really was - the best of creation, and the best of examples. Many people will ask questions about the true nature of our beloved Prophet and we should harness this opportunity to answer their questions.

It could be that the response to this book and other disgusting insults is similar to that to Geert Wilders' foolish film - that people view him and his film as the pathetic worthless trash that they are. But, it could be that the response of the society to this book is like that to the filthy Danish cartoons - some politicians and the media uphold the issue as a celebration of free speech and in so doing society collectively celebrates the insult to Islam. In such a situation, Muslims should mobilise themselves collectively, and not only vocally condemn the action, but also openly declare in front of Allah (SWT) that they are free from blame on this issue.

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آَمَنُوا كُونوا أَنصَارَ اللَّهِ كَمَا قَالَ عِيسَى ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ لِلْحَوَارِيِّينَ مَنْ أَنصَارِي إِلَى اللَّهِ قَالَ الْحَوَارِيُّونَ نَحْنُ أَنصَارُ اللَّهِ فَآَمَنَت طَّائِفَةٌ مِّن بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ وَكَفَرَت طَّائِفَةٌ فَأَيَّدْنَا الَّذِينَ آَمَنُوا عَلَى عَدُوِّهِمْ فَأَصْبَحُوا ظَاهِرِينَ

O ye who believe! Be helpers in the cause of Allah, even as Jesus son of Mary said unto the disciples: Who are my helpers for the cause of Allah? They said: We are helpers for the cause of Allah. And a party of the Children of Israel believed, while a party disbelieved. Then We strengthened those who believed against their foe, and they became the ones that prevailed. [TMQ 61:14]

Hotel Bombing quick analysis

2008-09-21T12:07:00.001+01:00

I think the bombing was conducted by the faction of Taliban i.e. Baitullah Massud type who want the army to stop the attacks or settle the score. I think before we jump onto the 'who benifit the most from this' I would like to point that the Talibans are no longer one body and there are too many grievances against the PK state and there are various movers and shakers. The stake holders at strategic level include NATO, India (revenge of Kabul bombing) , Afghanistan and US. At tactical level is anyone who can take the shot.

The war between PK army Taliban and US entered new phase. This phase i.e. post Musharraf era where Zardari is fully in US pockets and Kiani is left to bring the old balance back where the army is respected and national interest is protected along with satisfying US demands to do more. Under Musharraf the understanding was that whenever there is reliable intelligence you can use drones and they will be coordinated with ISI however at too many times US felt that intelligence is leaked. After Musharraf and even around the time of Feb elections there were reports calling for US to increase the pressure on the new Govt so they don't step out of line with US policy on WOT. With Zardari it seems the policy is protected.

The pressure applied on Pakistan in the post Musharraf era is about consistent pressure to do more. This means that do the air strikes with a ground strikes as options keeping Pakistan on their toes in terms of delivering results on the ground i.e. if you do not act then we will come in.

After Abraham Lincoln meeting Kiyani and his cohort were conveyed that US will launch ground offences if there is reliable intelligence. I think it was mutely accepted at that time but when back in Pakistan the strategy was to counter this by creating public opinion against US attack on PK sovereignty –clear when both Kiani and civilian leadership condemned attacks

National interest as far as Army is concerned is to have a minimum deterrence against India in the form of pro PK Taliban. Talibans now divided between those who are being used by US for their goal, those Pakistan want to protect and those with Alqaeda ideology.

The new strategy drawn by pentagon and DOD includes Afghanistan&Pakistan as the problem is not viewed in isolation anymore.

some important articles to read

According to BBC Most of the dead were Pakistani. The Czech ambassador was among at least four foreigners killed, and the death toll is expected to rise. US, German and Vietnamese citizens were also killed in the blast, which injured at least a dozen foreign nationals. Four Britons and an unknown number of Saudi, German, Moroccan, Afghan and US citizens, were among those hurt.

Where the blast happened the residences of the president, prime minister and chief justice, as well as the parliament, supreme court, TV stations, state radio and almost all ministries are all located nearby

At the time of the bombing most of the country's top civil and military leaders (including President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, and army chief Gen. Ashfaq Kayani) were attending a gathering in Prime Minister House, located about half a mile from the hotel

This attack provided an opportunity for PK govt/army to crackdown hard on the militants - as illustrated by the statement made by zardari soon after the bombings "This is an epidemic, a cancer in Pakistan which we will root out," he said. "We will not be afraid of these cowards." this will now allow army to use more lethal force which will be backed by US military. Please note US military observers arrived in Pakistan on the day of the blasts. the public opinion in the coming days will be build to work more closely with US to eradicate this 'evil'.

Geo reported that

Pakistan's National Assembly Speaker Fehmida Mirza was hosting an Iftar dinner reception in honor of President Asif Ali Zardari at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan, when the hotel was bombed Sept. 20, Pakistani Daily The News reported. Zardari reportedly was not at the dinner, but the report said other important figures were present, without giving names. That some 100 people may have been killed in the attack. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Bush also made a statement saying it is a reminder that it is PK war

News reported there was also a secret US Army presence in the hotel

ISLAMABAD: Was there a top secret and mysterious operation of the US Marines going on inside the Marriott when it was attacked on Saturday evening? No one will confirm it but circumstantial evidence is in abundance.

Witnessed by many, including a PPP MNA and his friends, a US embassy truckload of steel boxes was unloaded and shifted inside the Marriott Hotel on the same night when Admiral Mike Mullen met Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and others in Islamabad.

Both the main gates (the entrance and the exit) of the hotel were closed while no one except the US Marines were either allowed to go near the truck or get the steel boxes unloaded or shift them inside the hotel. These steel boxes were not passed through the scanners installed at the entrance of the hotel lobby and were reportedly shifted to the fourth and fifth floors of the Marriott.

Conclusion
The obvious beneficiaries is US as this bombing is going to provide pretext to PK army to fight the WOT as their war - This bombing is from AQ inspired Taliban but the indirect link can go back to either India or US easily as US need this to create public opinion for the war and India to settle score and/or force Pakistan to change their views regarding Afghanistan and Indian presence.

The Undeclared War on Pakistan

2008-09-06T15:26:00.001+01:00

The Undeclared War on Pakistan

Friday, 05 September 2008

On September 3, the US military sent a force of commandos across the border from Afghanistan into Pakistan on a raid in which 20 innocent civilians were reportedly killed, including women and children. The attack took place in Angoor Adda, the last Pakistani town near the Afghan border in the South Waziristan area. An eyewitness reported, "Later, I saw 15 bodies inside and outside two homes. They had been shot in the head". He said the dead included women and children and that all were civilians. Other local residents said that the attack involved both American and Afghan troops backed by helicopter gunships. The attack was the latest in a series of attacks across the Pakistani border from Afghanistan. Similar strikes were carried out on February 28, by foreign forces in which they launched three missiles in South Waziristan. In this attack 13 innocent residents were killed and 11 sustained critical injuries. On March 12, US led forces again launched a guided missile in Waziristan on a compound in which two Pakistani women and two children were killed instantly. The US in the past has used unmanned Predator drones to attack inside FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas). On June 10, US led forces along the Afghan border launched an air strike on a Frontier Corps at Sheikh Baba border post in the mountainous Gora Prai region in Mohmand Agency. 11 Pakistani paramilitary troops including one major, 10 civilian killed and several injured. The incident took place inside Pakistan, near the border with Afghanistan. The US Pentagon subsequently confirmed that coordinated artillery and air strikes were carried out. On June 14, 2008 US Drone again hit Maceen village located in South Waziristan killing one. This most recent attack was clearly an escalation and was described by intelligence analysts Stratfor as "the most overt full-scale U.S. raid on targets within Pakistan". pk-map.gifThe escalation of attacks pain a picture of what is clearly a changing message from the US administration. On April 12, this year, American President Bush said that Pakistan, and not Afghanistan or Iraq, is now a most likely place "where a plot to carry out any 9/11 type attack in the US" could be concocted. This was echoed by arch neo-conservative Bill Kristal, in early July, when he reported that President Bush "conveyed the following impression that he thought the next president's biggest challenge would not be Iraq, which he thinks he'll leave in pretty good shape, and would not be Afghanistan, which is manageable by itself... It is Pakistan." We have "a sort of friendly government that sort of cooperates and sort of doesn't. It's really a complicated and difficult situation." This was followed up shortly when presidential candidate Barack Obama took the baton from Bush in his speech on July 15, in which he argued that more focus and resource were required on both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

While these incidents have been presented as "fighting the militants", the fact is that American led forces have been projecting air power to bomb targets, they continue to use artillery and they have conducted special forces operations in Pakistan. As noted, they have made deeper and more daring expeditions in to Pakistan where they have not only killed "militants" but have engaged the Frontier Corps and the Pakistan Army. It was reported in the Washington Post in April that Captain Chris Hammond said that "a greater frustration is that they cannot trust their Pakistani counterparts. The Pakistan military is corrupt and lets people come through." It was also reported that a U.S. soldier who spoke on the condition of anonymity for security reasons said Pakistan's Frontier Corps, which mans several border checkpoints, is viewed as nearly an enemy force. "The Frontier Corps might as well be Taliban… They are active facilitators of infiltration". When viewed from this perspective it is hard to reach a conclusion other than the fact that America is already fighting an undeclared war with Pakistan on its border with Afghanistan.

While it is true that there has been no attempt to occupy territory in Pakistan it is also true to say that the US administration has indicated a need to escalate the number of forces deployed on the border, a necessary prerequisite to a major escalation of the engagement with Pakistan. Another prerequisite would be to broaden the justification for the engagement which was cited in a recent report by RAND Corporation entitled "Counterinsurgency in Afghanistan" funded by the US DOD. The report did not confine criticism to the FATA but stated that the insurgency also found refuge in the North Western Frontier Province (NWFP) as well as the province of Balochistan so extending the area for future retaliation substantially. In June this year Islamabad's newly appointed ambassador to Washington, Husain Haqqani, said that U.S. leaders have told his government that if the United States suffers an attack that is traced back to Pakistan, Washington will have to take steps to retaliate.

Following the June 10 attack, Prime Minister Yousuf Gilani condemned the deaths, telling parliament: "We will take a stand for the sake of this country's sovereignty, for the sake of its dignity and self-respect". He further revealed that "We do not allow our territory to be used. The Foreign office then called US ambassador Anne Patterson to the office and handed over the strong protest against the coalition forces attack. The response to the most recent attack has been equally pathetic. Perhaps the real indication of the extent to which IS administration considers the Pakistani government is indicated by the fact that the very same day that the Pakistani Prime Minister Gilani landed in Washington, America launched lethal strikes on South Waziristan and killed innocent victims.

The Pakistani government has shown an utter lack of leadership and is completely compliant to the US plan and has given the green light to the invasion of Pakistani sovereignty. Silenced, it seems, by the burden of the funding agreed in Washington and perhaps the opportunity to line their pockets for the next ten years. The democrats have been absorbed by the intrigue in Islamabad. The complacency over the territorial integrity of Pakistan is astounding. Rather than preparing for the defence of Pakistan against a clearly belligerent army, the Pakistani government and army are pursuing policies which are placing huge pressure on the federation that is currently Pakistan.

If the Pakistani government was indeed serious in addressing the murder of innocents by US led forces it could take the measure of closing access to the Karachi port which currently provides Washington a supply route for its troops in Afghanistan. It would cease all domestic attacks in pursuit of an US war and it would deploy the army along the border to ensure that there were no further "expeditions".

Despite the sheer absence of courage and leadership, the sentiment of one of the residents of Angoor Adda show that while the leadership in Pakistan is weak the people are not. He commented, "There was darkness at the time when the Americans came and killed our innocent people. We would have not allowed them to go back alive if they had come to our village in daylight."

Clearly the democrats in Pakistan are as compliant with US plans, just as Musharraf was before them. The only path is for the Pakistani people to reject failed democratic or dictatorial politics, which sell the sovereignty to foreign powers. The only viable solution for Pakistan's predicament is to adopt the new transnational politics of unity, implemented by the Khilafah, which would address Pakistan's problems as part of the Ummah. Working with Hizb ut-Tahrir to re-establish the Khilafah will make Pakistan truly independent, ensure accountability and representation and provide real solutions to problems that democratic and dictatorial politics have failed to solve over the past half century.

From the website of Hizb ut Tahrir Britian.

Who has 74% of the world's oil reserves?

2008-08-07T18:38:00.001+01:00

* Who has 74% of the world's oil reserves?

* Who has 57% of the world's gas reserves?

* Who has more than 1 trillion in gold reserves?

* Who has 4.7 million armed personnel?

* Who?

Can't see the attached video? Click here to view http://www.hizb.org.uk/hizb/multimedianew/video/video-trailer-conference-2008-who-has-the-resources.html

Fwd: PakNationalists - Pakistan Politics - Zardari + Nawaz Sharif ...

2008-06-30T09:21:00.001+01:00

Pakistan Politics

Coalition car

to take Pakistan and all Pakistanis on one big rid...

News 28 June

2008-06-29T03:27:00.001+01:00

US anti-Islamic policies responsible for terrorism
Asif Haroon Raja is a retired Brigadier from Pakistan Army and author of several books. He is an analyst on security and political matters.

http://www.asiantribune.com/?q=node/11972

Pakistan sends 'tough' message to militants
The region has been plagued by sectarianism, with the Pakistan Army launching frequent offensives against the insurgents. Post 9/11, the NWFP has became a ...

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world-news/pakistan-sends-tough-message-to-militants_10065563.html

Pakistan Army Launches An Operation Against Militants In North
Islamabad, Pakistan (AHN) - Pakistan army has deployed paramilitary troops on Saturday launching a major offensive against Taliban fighters in the north ...

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ncl=http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7011414348

Pakistan Army refutes US report of aid irregularities
Rawalpindi, June 28 : Te Pakistan Army has rubbished an American Accountability Office (AAO) report that aid provided to Pakistan was being misused. ...

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ncl=http://www.topnews.in/pakistan-army-refutes-u-s-report-aid-irregularities-249942

Islamabad, Isaf to reactivate tripartite commission
The commission, which brings together representatives of the Pakistan Army, Afghanistan National Army and Isaf for coordinating action against militants, ...
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ncl=http://www.dawn.com/2008/06/28/top6.htm

Fears rise that key Pakistani city will fall to Islamic militants
Whenever an operation starts, the army chief will be overall in charge," said Maj. Gen Athar Abbas, the spokesman for Pakistan's army.

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ncl=http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/42511.html

Suddle appointed as new IB DG

KARACHI: Sindh Inspector General of Police (IGP) Dr Shoaib Suddle has been appointed the new director general of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), according to a notification issued on Saturday

http://geo.tv/6-29-2008/20017.htm

Security forces take control of Bara in Khyber Agency

http://geo.tv/6-29-2008/19997.htm

Baitullah Mehsud suspends peace talks with govt

PESHAWAR: Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud told foreign news agency on Saturday he was suspending peace talks with the government.

http://geo.tv/6-28-2008/19987.htm

Over 4 billion Pakistan's investment bonds sold

KARACHI: The government of Pakistan sold Rs.4.25 bn bond here on Sunday.
All the recommendations for five years bonds have gone in vain.
According to State Bank of Pakistan the auction, due on 28 June, has brought Rs. 4.25 billion recommendations.

Economic crisis in Pakistan

2008-05-29T05:39:00.002+01:00

Assalam o alaikum

The following are some clippings from "Express" from the last few days. It shows a glimpse of the extent of Economic Crisis in Pakistan!!! These are clippings only from one newspaper and of last few days only!!!

28 May 2008:

27 May 2008:

27 May 2008:

26 May 2008:

26 May 2008:

26 May 2008:

May 26, 2008

May 26, 2008

24 May 2008:

23 May 2008:

22 May 2008:

22 May 2008:

22 May 2008:

20 May 2008:

THE END

Received by email

Political Dilemma of Pakistan

2008-05-25T23:35:00.002+01:00

28th may 1998 was the day when Pakistan announced that it had successfully conducted five nuclear tests. “No more shall the West humiliate Muslims” thundered the Imam of Al-Aqsa mosque who saw in the explosion of the Pakistani bomb “the beginning of the resurgence of Islamic power”. The Egyptian mufti called upon the Muslims to rally support for the nuclear blast by Pakistan. The whole Muslim world was proud on this achievement and celebrated this act of sheer bravery with great joy.
Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, who was Prime Minister at that time, after these tests recited a verse from Holy Quran in which Allah SWT says:
"Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, (steed of war will mean the latest war technologies in the present context) to strike terror into (the heart of) the enemies of Allah and your enemies and others beside whom you do not known but Allah doeth know, whatever ye shall spend in the cause of Allah shall be repaid unto you and ye shall not be treated unjustly" (VIII: 60)
And Pakistan joined the Nuclear Club along with six other countries. The world labelled these nukes of Pakistan as the Islamic Bomb. According to Christian Science Monitor these detonations “transformed the global balance of power setting the pace for remaking the world order”. The West feared that an Islamic State is on a horizon and its emergence would end the era of a unipolar world.
The danger of Political Islam was sensed and it was feared that Secular Capitalism would face an intense ideological battle on the re-emergence of Islam. It was not merely feared because of the rising power of Pakistan, but generally the Muslims were getting more and more vocal against the taghooti system. And it was this moment the scaremongers vigorously started to attack Political Islam. All major western politicians made ignoble mention of Caliphate in media interviews and various speeches. Tony Blair remarked this concept of Caliphate as an ‘evil Ideology’ and stated “ They demand the elimination of Israel, the withdrawal of all Westerners from Muslim countries, irrespective of the wishes of people and government; the establishment of effectively Taliban states and Sharia law in the Arab world en route to one caliphate of all Muslim nations”. Henry Kissinger and General Richard Myres both stated that the real and greatest threat of the age is the re-establishment of Caliphate.
On the other hand Pakistan had been subject to crisis after crisis. A country which was tipped to lead the Islamic world in bringing back the true glory, is struggling to meet the basic needs of its citizens. The inflation rate in the month of April 2008 touched the 17.2% mark. There is a shortage of wheat and electricity. People are so frustrated because of poverty that some have even committed suicides together with their children. And while Pakistan descends into turmoil due to the failure of horrific economic policies, the finance minister Ishaq Dar reassured the World Bank that “We will continue the previous government’s economic policies”.
Today Pakistan is at a crossroads. The numbers of suicide attacks from July 2007 to January 2008 in Pakistan were higher than those in Afghanistan or Iraq. In early January 2008, Pakistan was declared as the most dangerous place in the world. Though the failure of the ‘war on terror’ is evident, still John Negroponte, Master of the Chaos, and the notorious Richard Boucher has been rounding Pakistan to make sure the continuation of the Republican policies in this regard. Pakistan on the other hand seems to be stuck in between the Anglo- American struggle. David Milliband, British foreign secretary, supported the reconciliation process and stated that there is “no military solution”. Whereas America has been striving hard to sabotage any peace negotiations with the militants. That is why the negotiations with Mehsud Tribe resulted in a drone attack in Damadola by the spy-plane. And US senate rushed to express its grave concerns on the recent agreement in Malakand and demanded the talks to be abandoned and Baitullah to be arrested. Pentagon has stated that senior Al-Qaeda leaders are present in tribal areas of Pakistan, and Bush has been on record in saying that any attack on the West would originate from Pakistan. Increasing the likelihood of such an attack already in making and Pakistan would be held responsible for its incapability to eliminate militants.
Though Pakistan is member of Nuclear Club, but its role is no more than any other subordinate country which revolves around the policies and interests of the foreign powers. It has officially being acknowledged that 38 times foreign forces have violated Pakistan’s territory and bombarded its citizens. And not a single statement of aggression from Pakistan.
The Muslim world, which hailed Pakistan as a saviour from colonialists brutal oppression, were left mourning when the only Muslim nuclear power turned cold-hearted towards fellow Muslims while Taghoti forces were conquering the land of believers and hammering the walls of Masjid Al-Aqsa. America senses this danger that Muslims feel for each other, they have a strong bond among themselves and can unite at any time. That is why in Pakistan, America has been focused in establishing strong relationships with Pakistan Army by the means of military aid and training programs for army personnel. Paul Wolfowitz on 10 August, 2004 told the House Armed Services Committee that failure to train Pakistani officers could mean “pushing them to into one alternative, which is the Islamic extremists…”
And Muslim intellectuals should respond to the propaganda of the west against Islam which is coming out of the White House and Downing Street.
President Bush in his speech has labelled Caliphate as an ‘Evil Ideology’ which on reappearance would spread Chaos, hate and would give rise to mass murder.
The aim of such propaganda is to distort the true message of Islam and create false image in the minds of the people.
We should portray the true picture of Islam, and expose the hypocrisy of the Western Governments.
Consider this scenario, a Caliphate is established that has unified the Islamic World and it is armed with nuclear weapons. No doubt it would be competing with the US in the international arena. But who is more like to use such weapons? Foreign policy of the Caliphate is to spread the message of Islam. And using nukes to annihilate entire section of population, would defeat that central objective of spreading the message of Islam. Nukes and Jihad does not go hand in hand unless it is entirely for defensive purpose. Where as the US as a Capitalist nation is a far better candidate for using such means, as it has a track record for using such weapons. It seeks to maximize its interests at any cost, so annihilating other races fits with its philosophy and morals, and it has a strong record for committing genocide on a massive scale in order to exploit natural resources and enforce hegemony.
Allah SWT says in the glorious Quran:
“And when it is said unto them: Make not mischief in the earth, they say: We are peacemakers only. Are not they indeed the mischief-makers? But they perceive not.” (2:11-12)

Now to heal the political turmoil in Pakistan, it should abandon taking dictation from the foreign powers. Ex-generals of army, who are about to protest in front of GHQ to force Musharraf to vacate the Army House, should pursue their current counterparts to replace the corrupt ruling system with the Islamic ruling system. Islam after coming into power would secure the basic needs of the people as it is an obligation on an Islamic State. It would focus on distribution of wealth rather than just increasing production. Caliphate would not pocket Rs. 80bn in foreign rich farmers’ hand rather it would encourage the local farmer to cultivate and would root out feudalism in order to utilize all of the available land. The introduction of Islamic Economic system will tie down the gold and silver with the supply of money which would result in the decreased inflation and prosperous economy.
As far as the security matters are concerned, there is a saying of Rasool Allah SAW:
“The Imam (Caliph) is a shield, we fight behind him and are protected by him”
And from a realistic perspective too, no positive change is possible in the Muslim world until it removes itself from the shackles of Western colonialism. This is not possible without a political change and a new, fresh and sincere leadership for the Muslims. So we must return to the book of our Lord and the Law of our Prophet SAW.

M. Bilal Qureshi

Political 'establishment' of Pakistan.

2008-05-20T22:13:00.002+01:00

'The Power Behind The Throne'

Pakistan has been in a state of instability ever since it was created. A strange mixture of dictatorship and democracy is being witnessed throughout its history.
In Pakistan there has always been an 'elite group' of individuals who dictate foreign and internal policies, create defence budget and control intelligencia. This elite group which takes all the key decisions is referred generally as the 'Establishment'.

In addition to shaping overall policies, this establishment is also considered to be responsible for creating political parties and alliances. 'Strong' judiciary and, at times, media also serve the interests of this elite group.

In a book 'idea of Pakistan' written by Stephen P. Cohen, Cohen describes this establishment as a "moderate oligarchy". He defines it as an informal political system that ties together the military, civil service, key members of judiciary, and other elites.

Unlike Russia and the US, Pakistan's oligarchy has its own dynamics and does not include heads of multi-national corporations or imperialists giants, but it is the 'knights' in the khaki uniforms who dominate this group. A brief study of past events of Pakistan's history will help us to understand how this military-bureaucracy consolidates power.
The roots of this military oligarchy can be traced back to the 1950s.

1958-1971

It all started with almost a decade long rule of Field Marshal Ayub Khan when he took power in 1958. It was then when the regime established its 'strong' links with the United States primarily aimed at containing the influence of the communist block. And this in return led to major economic aid from the U.S but the consequences were the same as they are today, increased inequality in the distribution of wealth and of no benefit to the ordinary citizens. The power resided in few hands. No one was in a position to protest the massive military crackdown in the troubled Balochistan area and against the unrest in eastern part which became apparent as well. The rules of the game were simple, no one was allowed to play 'foul'.

An interesting incident took place, when the first speaker of assembly, Moulvi Tammizudin challenged the dismissal of the first constituent assembly by Ayub. Tammizudin had to take a rickshaw, wear a burka and go through Sindh Court backdoor to seek justice. Obviously this was dismissed by the Federal Court.

When the Ayub Regime fell apart as a result of uprising spurred by political repression of its citizen, Gen. Yahya khan took over the head of another martial law regime. Then came 1971, when the eastern part of Pakistan was ripped off.
The script writers were still the 'knights'. The power obsessed rulers were willing to retain their power even at the expense of its citizen's blood and resources. The refusal of the establishment to honour the verdict of the elections in 1970 resulted in the operation searchlight. Bangladeshi authorities claim that 3 million people were killed during this military operation by Pakistan Army. Whereas the independent sources claim that the figures for the lost lives vary between 200,000 to 3,000,000. The aftermaths of such a tragic event resulted in huge defeat of Pakistani army and 93,000 troops were held as war prisoners by India, who intervened to help Bangladesh.

1971-1977

In late 1971 after Gen. Yahya resigned, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto became the sole heir with unshared authority of the country when he occupied the post of President, Army commander in chief, as well as the first civilian chief martial law administrator.

During his time he nationalised major industries. He established an atomic power development programme and inaugurated the first Pakistani atomic reactor. Once in office, he made all the right noises about the inordinate power enjoyed by the military and the bureaucracy, but went no further than effecting a few cosmetic changes in the structure of these institutions. When the opposition parties became vocal against Bhutto and his unpopularity grew, Bhutto, like others before him, used state power against his opponents. He
banned National Awami Party and journalists were also targeted by him. These tactics have always being used by the powerful men of establishment to keep their supremacy alive.

Soon after a short while, Bhutto steadily started losing his grip on the powerful military- bureaucracy. A new player emerged in the complicated 'power' game, this time with a visible support from a foreign power. Gen. Zia ul Haq ousted Bhutto's government and imposed martial law in 1977. In the book if I am Assassinated written by Bhutto, he revealed that Henry Kissinger had said to him in 1976 "we can destabilise your government and make a horrible example out of you".

1977-1988

Again the power was dominated by the new players of the old game. A foreign power had global interests in the region, and the love affair with the establishment was essential to achieve such aims. Russians involvement in Afghanistan rang bells to many influential ears and in a short while Pakistan was a strategic partner to the United States. Pakistani regime was fully supported by the United States militarily and financially for taking on the Russians in Afghanistan for the time being. It was during Gen. Zia's tenure when the doctrine of necessity was innovated. The name of the Islam was used by the ruler to justify his actions. Twisted tiny bits of Islam were also introduced to neutralize the growing demand of Islam's implementation as Zia promised while grabbing power.

During this era, some political parties were also given birth by the establishment to strengthen its own arms and to cater the influence of Pakistan's Peoples Party in Sindh. For instance MQM which is a party being created by the ISI as disclosed by former Chief Minister Ghous Ali Shah.

Another alliance by the name of IJI (Islami Jumhoriye Itihad) was also given birth to confront the rising popularity of PPP. This is being confessed by Gen. (ret) Hamid Gul himself.

Gen. Zia's reign ended with his death in 1988, many believe that America is responsible behind the mysterious crash of airplane. America had achieved her desires and for them Gen. Zia was a closed chapter. This proxy was of no further use to the US.
Primary interests of the America were to enslave Pakistan to achieve its global aims in this region. They did so partly by using their 'sound' relationships with the ruling elite and moreover by economic means, giving huge debts, building infrastructure and controlling economic policies.

Here I would shed some light why these notorious foreign powers are so kind when it comes to bring economic 'prosperity' in third-world countries.

This, the economic enslaving web, was a new invention to dominate countries. These tactics are practised to exploit the resources owned by the third world countries, who serve as suppliers of services to its consumers, the developed countries.
Ones who execute these plans are called Economic Hit men. John Perkins describes these 'Economic Hit Men' as highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. Their tools include fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion and murder. They play a game as old as Empire but one that has taken on terrifying dimensions during this time of globalization.

And this is the innovation of the CIA, when in 1951 one of its agent Kermit Roosevelt (grandson of Theodore, American president) overthrew Muhammad Mossedegh's government in Iran. And the Americans intervened because Mossedegh nationalized Iran's major institutes including AIOC(Anglo Iranian Oil Company), now known as BP. John Perkins, a former economic hit man, confessed the use of such third graded methods to secure the vested interests of American Empire.

Anyways, United States managed to establish strong relationships with the Pakistani military. The need of the time was to deal with the growing danger of Soviet Union. And Pakistan did served the Americans interests well by supporting mujahideen to topple Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.

1988-1999

Though civilian governments occupied the Premiership slot in this era but still it was the military oligarchy dictating the terms.
In 1988, Benazir Bhutto was sworn in as Pakistan's Prime Minister in the elections held after the death of Gen. Zia. Still the actual power was enjoyed by the military and Benazir knew about it very well. That is why after becoming Prime Minister, She tried to take charge of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) by replacing its chief Lt. Gen. Hameed Gul with a retired civilian officer close to her father.

Ethnic riots rocked Karachi and corruption, custodial deaths, extrajudicial killing was on a high as disclosed by Amnesty International. In 1990, Benazir's government was dismissed on charges of corruption and deteriorating law and order.

Nawaz Sharif became Prime Minister in 1990. Sharif was elected as the Leader of Pakistan Muslim League and IJI by the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) as documented by the testimony of the then Army Chief in Supreme Court of Pakistan.
But the romance with establishment lasted not for so long. Shairf and President Ishaq Khan under pressure from the armed forces both resigned from their office in 1993.

Later the duo, Benazir and Sharif enjoyed yet an other term as Prime Ministers but none completed the 5 years tenure. Military bureaucracy was too powerful for them.

1999 – 2008

Armed forces were unhappy with Nawaz Sharif for having dismissed their former Chief of Army Staff Gen. Jehangir Karamut. Gen. Jehangir was of the point of view that a National Security Council should be formed to take care of the security issues and Nawaz Sharif was strongly opposed of this idea.

Lt Gen. Musharraf was promoted over other senior officers on account of his obedience, and took over the command of Army as its Chief.
In October 1999, Gen. Musharraf seized power and became the Head of government of Pakistan following a bloodless coup d'état.
America, as discussed above, was quite successful in penetrating among military officers through CIA.

Gen. Musharaff was the Director of Military Intelligence when the Taliban were strengthened in Afghanistan during Gen. Zia's era. Musharraf had very 'good' relationships with the foreign agencies since 1980s. This fact can be established when in 80s, Musharraf covered the connection of a lady, Jane Doe, to foreign intelligence agency. Agent Jane Doe, who got divorced by her husband John Doe in Rawalpindi, was also a close relative of Musharraf. Abid Ullah Jan wrote a detailed article 'Musharraf had handlers in Mossad-US Agency since the 80s' on this subject.

In this era of Musharraf, rifts within the military oligarchy were on a sky high. These rifts became apparent when Musharraf sided with America in the aftermath of 9/11.

Gen. Aziz, Gen. Mehmood and Gen. Usmani who were senior in experience to Musharraf differed with Army Chief. These Generals were of the opinion that Pakistan should not side with America on Afghanistan and should not provide bases to CIA and FBI. As a goodwill gesture Musharraf remove these Generals and proved his loyalty to America.

Chief of Air staff Mushaf Ali was also not in agreement with Musharraf on his conduct of Afghanistan war. Mushaf was opposed to Musharraf's policy and planning. Many believe this is the reason why Chief of Air staff plane crashed and Mushaf died with his closest confidants.

After getting rid of these trouble makers, Musharraf tightened his control over armed forces. And due to the barbaric oppression of Musharraf, Pakistan Armed Forces also lost the respect and trust of its countrymen.
Musharraf lost some ground after resigning as Chief of Army Staff, but still he is the Supreme Chief and holds the right to make appointments at top military offices.

Conclusion

Pakistan has lost its influence in the region by siding with America against Afghanistan. Separist movements are more vocal then ever in Baluchistan. President Bush has already stated that if any attack takes place in America, the origin of such attack would be the tribal areas of Pakistan. And now after Bush's comments, there is an increased likelihood of such an attack already in making.

And it is not the corruption and misdeeds of the civil politicians elected to high state offices are not primary factors which lead to the direct military interventions and marshal rule. They are rather integral part of capitalist system globally.

It is about time to look back at our history and eradicate the roots of the failed ruling system.

For Pakistan to truly progress and regain its strategic advantage, it should ditch the failed policies and act in accordance to the whims and desires of its residents. A survey supported by the US Department of Homeland Security and conducted by the University of Maryland between December 2006 and February 2007, revealed that the majority of Muslims in Pakistan held a goal "to unify all Islamic countries into a single Islamic state or Caliphate".

Pakistan was created on the name of Islam, as a state for Muslims. Unfortunately this vision has not truly being realised. The politics of Pakistan have been based on a cocktail of un-Islamic political thought and alien ideologies. Those who profess Islam have discredited the Islamic alternative due to lack of principles.

Both Military & Civilian rulers of Pakistan have failed its citizen and let the nation drift from one crisis to another. And US proxy rulers like Musharraf use politicians as their pawns to keep them in power.

For Pakistan to truly progress it needs politicians that can look after its affairs both domestically and internationally.
The Khilafah ruling system will allow statesman and politicians to enter into politics and encourage them to play their role for the betterment of society.

It is the time for the honourable Generals of the army of Pakistan to step up and oust the rulers, who have humiliated and disgraced the ummah, and dignify the residents of Pakistan from its current miserable state by establishing Khilafah.

M. Bilal Qureshi

Make every e-mail and IM count. Join the i'm Initiative from Microsoft.

Pakistan: Talibans & Geo-politics of Afghanistan

2008-05-20T06:04:00.000+01:00

Pakistan: Talibans & Geo-politics of Afghanistan

Background
Pakistan in many senses is an example of how absence of sincere leadership and solid vision results in loss of identity and direction for the nation. Once the direction is lost, outcome is the very purpose for that nation's existence being lost. Quick glance at the history of Indo-Pak shows how Muslims of South-East-Asia are reduced to Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh etc from a position they collectively once enjoyed as rulers.

Whether Muslims acted at times as conquerors or governors when they made entry to the region from Sindh or from Khyber, with time the loss of direction open the way for the colonialism by Britain and other European powers, who divided the world into their sphere of influence, the continuation of their legacy meant creation of new nation-states out of Ottoman Caliphate, using vicious divide and rule.

The intensified movement for Pakistan by 'Muslim' League post-Khilafat movement was another attempt by the Muslims to make sense of their politics in the region and find that direction. The mixture of nationalism with Islam, demand of Kashmir as integral part of Pakistan but forsaking Delhi who until middle of eighteenth century was their capital and the division of India around artificial borders drawn in Whitehall in the form of Durand Line or Red-Cliff award made sure that the region will remain unstable strategically and politically artificial.

Hence Pakistan came into being in the name of Islam, struggling to identify as a nation, a country which had Muslims in Pakistan but also in India-Afghanistan-Iran-China, Baluchis in Baluchistan but also in Iran, Pushtuns in NWFP but also in Afghanistan, Punjabis in Punjab but in India too, and a powerful Army emerged as the sole guarantor for the unity of Pakistan using force as a only mean to unite the country. Instead of uniting the country over ideas and shared values the sheer use of force by the military junta to keep the country intact and use of un-Islamic concepts such as nationalism i.e. Pakistan first, resulted in Baluchis, Pashtuns, Kashmiris, Bengalis and other ethnicities demanding separation on the backdrop of their race first too.

Reality
Today Pakistan faces a national security threat, which is bigger than any of the debates occupying our policy makers in Pakistan at the moment. The presence of NATO in Afghanistan along with increasing presence of India is going to choke Pakistan when US will leave the region.

In April Afghanistan Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak made a one-day visit to Indian-occupied Kashmir to see counter-freedom operations.

Wardak also visited the 15th Corps of the Indian army headquartered in Srinagar, the capital of Indian-administered Kashmir, and the Indian air force's training command and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in Bangalore in southern India. These visits are coming amid reports that Afghanistan might be considering sending its air force pilots for training to India. Moreover, Wardak said his country would seek New Delhi's help in maintaining Soviet-era helicopter gun ships and medium helicopters to provide logistical support to its armed forces. India also plans to help Afghanistan set up local government institutions through a system called the India-Afghanistan Joint Working Group on Local Governance. A memorandum of understanding was signed May 17 during a four-day visit to Afghanistan by government official Mani Shankar Aiyar, a Panchayati Raj minister. Under the collaboration, Indian experts and local Indian governance bodies will be attached to local Afghan representatives.

India and Afghanistan are pushing the idea that the faster India trains the Afghan army, the quicker NATO can withdraw troops from Afghanistan. India's goal is to gain a toehold in the Afghan military establishment, creating goodwill that it can cash in when the time comes. Antony assured Wardak that India would remain "actively engaged" in the reconstruction and rehabilitation of war-wrecked Afghanistan.

Past
To understand these developments, one must understand Pakistan's recent history of backing Islamic groups and how Pakistan has tried to use Afghanistan to gain strategic advantage against India. Long before the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan during the 1980s, Islamabad viewed Kabul as aligned with New Delhi. Pakistan felt sandwiched between its archrival to the east and a hostile regime to the west. Another issue was secular left-leaning Pakistani Pashtun forces were pushing for a separate homeland for their ethnic group — a demand backed by Afghanistan in those days.

In 1996, the Pakistani military realized its objective of installing a pro-Islamabad regime in Kabul when it supported the Taliban, that controlled Afghanistan until the U.S.-backed coalition drove them from power after Sept. 11, 2001. Pakistan had hoped that with its rear flank secure it could then deal with India, especially in the context of Kashmir, which it unsuccessfully tried to do in the Kargil mini-war in 1999.

During the five-year-long Taliban regime in Afghanistan, Pakistan had gained several advantages with a friendly neighbor at Kabul. It shifted large elements of its XI and XII Corps close to the Indian border in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), Punjab and Rajasthan. The 9 Infantry Division of XI Corps had been deployed opposite Dras with Headquarters at Gulteri, under X Corps. For six years until November 2001, Pakistan kept the forces next to Indian borders.

It must be remembered that the Taliban took control of most of Afghanistan in the first place because they were militarily funded by Pakistan. The Pakistani government, worried about excessive Russian or Iranian/Indian influence in Pakistan and interested in a relatively stable Afghanistan, supported the Taliban. That support proved decisive. Various tribal and factional leaders calculated that given Pakistani support, the Taliban would be the most capable military force — and that therefore resisting the Taliban made no sense.

Present
Today like before Pakistan see Taliban as a strategic tool, so even though Pakistan opened a process of normalization with India and established a cooperation of sorts with Washington against al Qaeda, Islamabad continued to maintain an ambiguous stance toward the Taliban. That was because the Pashtun Taliban movement was the only available card Islamabad could play as it pursued its interests in Afghanistan and keep India out.

The United States is approaching a paradigm shift regarding its policies toward Afghanistan and Pakistan because Washington has reached the conclusion that Pakistan is unable and/or unwilling to control the situation with the Taliban. The Bush administration is thus pressing ahead with a new policy of denying the Taliban sanctuary in Pakistan. This new policy is not constrained by concerns regarding Pakistani stability.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte said May 5 that Pakistan urgently needs to live up to its commitment to the "war on terror" by establishing its writ in the country's northwestern Pashtun areas. Speaking at the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington, Negroponte stressed that the United States "will not be satisfied until all the violent extremism emanating from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas is brought under control." Regarding the new Pakistani government's approach of negotiating with the militants, Negroponte warned that the United States would have to examine any such agreement or understanding in the light of the U.S. policies he just stated.

Three weeks prior to Pakistan's Feb. 18 general election, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen on Jan. 25 openly spoke of the possibility of U.S. forces operating on Pakistani soil. Negroponte's May 5 comments are the most direct to this effect. Washington not only has altered its rhetoric, it has matched statements with action given the recent increase in strikes in the tribal region.

Last week, US in a bid to sabotage Waziristan Peace accord made a naked aggression by resorting to strike missiles on the Pakistani village of Damadola. As per the media reports more than 14 Muslims died while many were injured. America had committed such blatant aggressions more than three dozens times earlier within Pakistani territory killing hundreds of Muslims. In the last American attack on Damadola 80 students of the madressa died that also severely damaged the earlier Peace Accord. And at a time when again a Peace Accord is on card after the exchange of prisoners, America want to sabotage this agreement. However, after the martyrdom of our citizens, the masses strongly demand that the government immediately respond to this unprovoked American missile attacks in a blow for blow.

Now
The only way to stabilise the region in Pakistan favor is to expel NATO from Afghanistan. Islamabad then should work to help create a Pakistan friendly government in Afghanistan but unlike in the past, leaving Taliban government to its own devices, this time Pakistan should work to stabilise the government by taking part in infrastructure rebuilding, schools, training of civilians, bureaucracy and military. This would allow a long term partnership between the two countries. Eventually Pakistan should work to create a union between the two countries as fundamentally people of both lands share a common belief.

Islamabad must work to take leadership in the region moving towards Eurasia. A survey supported by the US Department of Homeland Security and conducted by the University of Maryland between December 2006 and February 2007, revealed that the majority of Muslims in Pakistan held a goal "to unify all Islamic countries into a single Islamic state or Caliphate".

Countries bordering Afghanistan i.e. Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan are ruled over by the brutal dictators. Any sincere move by Pakistan which put forward the case for Islam is going to give Pakistan a leading role in the region. This would mean not only gaining leadership from Indian, Bangladeshi, and Chinese Muslims located in the Xingjian province and liberating the Afghan Muslims from occupation but also long term stability in the region.

Pakistan must move away from protecting her interests half heartedly. The policy of training militants in the region, 'slow bleeding' of India and supporting US and Talibans side by side is an outdated and dangerous strategy with no use in the present reality. With Khilafah system in place, the systems of Islam, will allow the Muslims of the region to unite politically, gain representative government which is only accountable to its citizens with independent judiciary and the ownership of energy and food resources to its people rather than to few capitalist.

Note to the Editors: Tauseef Zahid is a freelance columnist.

--
To remove yourself from the mailing list - reply with "No" in the subject line. Thank you.

Visit for news and analysis
http://www.paknewsblog.com/
http://pakrevival.blogspot.com/

O Muslims of Pakistan!

2008-05-15T13:56:00.001+01:00

O Muslims! When will you escape the slavery through re-establishing the Khilafah?

O Muslims of Pakistan!

You have seen another change in the faces of your rulers, as you have seen countless times before. And all those who examine the events closely, will have realized that the newly elected representatives will ensure continued slavery to the West, rather than bring a real change to your declined situation.

Previously, Musharraf's government embraced the road of slavery to the West and declared Pakistan an ally of America in its war to attack Islam and the Muslims and occupy the lands of the Muslims. He used the resources of Pakistan and its army to assist America in its war. Due to this continual assistance, America was able to establish an occupation and maintains its occupation of Afghanistan to this day due to this assistance. All this is why you hated Musharraf's government and prayed for its end. However, America has been successful in ensuring the new government is also committed to its war. The new rulers expressed regret at the chaos resulting from America's war, yet fully committed to it. In fact, the very first words of the very first speech of the new Prime Minister, Yusuf Raza Gillani, after he obtained a vote of confidence were a commitment to America's war on Muslims. He said, "Our first priority is the War on Terror. This War on Terror is our war." On the very same day that Gillani announced that the parliament would decide about the War on Terror, the US Assistant Secretary of State, Richard Boucher, and the US Deputy Secretary of State, John Negroponte, were openly meeting key figures in the tribal areas! And on 1 April the new Foreign Minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, declared at a press briefing outside Zardari House, "The War on Terror is not America's issue, but ours." So, even at a time when global support for America's War on Terror has diminished, the new government announced its full support for this war. This amounts to an announcement to allow the sacrifice of hundreds of Paksitan's soldiers to protect America's occupation, operations by American intelligence agencies including its FBI and the provision of oil for the NATO forces in Afghanistan through Pakistan. So, just like the previous government, the new government will also support America in its war of occupation of Islamic Lands.

Previously, Musharraf's government embraced the World Bank and IMF and strictly implemented their policies, leading to the devastation of Pakistan's economy. Endlessly rising prices and the inability to secure even the basic needs have added to the woes of the people, whilst a small capitalist elite and foreign multinationals have accumulated great wealth through exploiting the economy. This is also why you hated Musharraf's government and prayed for its end. However, the new government has also embraced the same international financial institutions and senior officials of the World Bank have begun their meetings with the new finance minister and even the expected future Chief Minister of Pakistan's largest province, Punjab, Shahbaz Shareef. And just like the previous government, the new government is pursuing World Bank and IMF policies to privatize the important public assets and utilities. The new Federal Minister for Privatisation and Investment tried to dress-up the ugly face of privatization by declaring on 1 April 2008, "Privatisation of government assets, in a professional and constructive manner, will continue," even whilst the people are crippled by price rises in fuel and utilities. In reality not a single party in government has any alternative to the capitalist model of economics which the Western nations have enforced over the entire world in order to exploit resources. This is why there is no hope in the new government to end poverty or solve the economic problems that people face. So, just like the previous government, the new government will maintain economic slavery to the West.

Previously, Musharraf's government openly violated the laws that emanated from the Qur'an and the Sunnah, holding the defective man-made laws and systems higher than the laws and systems given by Allah سبحانه وتعالى the Creator of the Universe. Musharraf's government mocked and detested both the laws of Islam and those people who call for the implementation of Islam, under the banner of condemning "extremism." So, much so that Musharraf did not spare any effort to annihilate innocent children in Lal Masjid with white phosphorus bombs for calling for the implementation of Islam. And this is the reason that you hated Musharraf's government and prayed for its end. However, the present government has also sworn allegiance before Musharraf to this system and these laws and has taken an oath to protect the colonialist system in Pakistan. And the Prime Minister, Yusuf Raza Gillani, did not even make the traditional mention of working for implementing Islam in his maiden speech after the vote of confidence. So, in fact, just like Musharraf's government the new government does not attach any importance to the protection of your aqeedah and the implementation of your deen. This is also why when Holland followed Denmark in defaming your deen, your new rulers merely lodged a protest with the Holland's ambassador, even though they have the means to expel both the Dutch ambassador and the large Dutch companies that are generating huge revenues from Pakistan's economy. Not only this, the new government is fully prepared to use force to prevent the implementation of Islam (so-called "extremism"), just as the Musharraf government before it. After his briefing with the Chief of Army Staff, the Prime Minister, Yusuf Raza Gillani, announced to the media on 2 April, "Policies will be made for the end of terrorism and extremism… and if the need be the army will be used." So, just like the previous government, the new government will maintain the war to prevent the implementation of Islam.

Previously, Musharraf's government struck a dagger in the heart of the Jihad in Kashmir, banned the mujahideen groups and condemned Jihad against the brutal Hindu army in Kashmir as terrorism. Musharraf gave India the opportunity to seal the Line of Control, thereby allowing the Hindus to strengthen their control of Kashmir. And because of its betrayal of the Muslims of Pakistan and Kashmir and the Jihad in Kashmir, you hated Musharraf's government and prayed for its end. However, the new government has also made clear that it will continue Musharraf's Kashmir policy. On 6 April 2008, Nawa-e-Waqt reported that the new Foreign Minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, said, "The Kashmir policy of the previous government will be followed." So much so, that the leader of the second largest party in the coalition and former Prime Mininster, Nawaz Shareef, is so desperate to make friendship with the Muslim-hostile country India that he stated in an interview with Indian TV that, "Pakistan should unilaterally end the visa restrictions upon Indian citizens and it is not necessary to expect that India does so too." The Muslims of Pakistan have the right to ask Nawaz Shareef why he does not talk about open relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan, when Pakistan has committed over tens of thousands of troops to seal the Pak-Afghan border, so as to save the government of the American-puppet Karzai. And why does he not ask to end the borders and visa between the over sixty Muslim countries so as to establish a single state for the Muslims, at a time when the Muslims demand unity of the Ummah. So, the new government will maintain the American-designed foreign policy of the previous government and will continue to preserve the colonialist interests in the region, instead of strengthening Islam and the Muslims.

Previously, Musharraf's government mounted a campaign to remove Islam from the hearts of the Muslim youth in the name of Enlightened Moderation. The government attempted to spread immodesty and corruption throughout Pakistan, through changes in the curriculum, cultural programmes and media propaganda, so much so that you began to experience its ill effects in your homes and neighbourhoods. And this was yet another reason that you hated Musharraf's government and prayed for its end. However, the new government does not have any room within its agenda for securing the Islamic grooming of your daughter and your sons and did not even take the smallest of steps, even though it could do so at the stroke of a pen. So, the new government will continue the work to destroy the Islamic values of the youth. The Western colonialists are completely satisfied with the new government. The Western powers supervised the transition at every stage, openly maintaining close contact with all those parties that stood for elections, including those politicians that condemned the policies of the Musharraf government and claimed that they stood for the sake of the Muslims. In fact, the West recognizes these politicians for what they really are. And they are satisfied that the new rulers will now combine their efforts with those of Musharraf to extend your subjugation at the hands of the Western colonialists.

All of the above makes clear that the only new thing about the new government is that it provides a new face for slavery to the West. The colonialist system in Pakistan, which is the cause of your woes, is constitutionally secured. It is this system that gives preference to the laws of man over the laws of Allah سبحانه وتعالى and RasulAllah صلى الله عليه وسلم. . A system that allows men who have sold their akhira for this dunya to manipulate law to secure colonialist interests, forsaking what Islam has decided for them. Indeed, it is only self-deception to have any hope that this system, or those who rule through it, will rescue you from your miserable situation.
The only genuine change is to uproot the current corrupt system and replace it by the Khilafah state that implements Islam in all its aspects, whether it is the economic, social, judicial and ruling systems or the education and foreign policies. The change of system is only possible through the Khilafah, the system that is built exclusively on the Islamic aqeedah and the pure laws that emanate from it, rather than the kufr concept of democracy.
O Muslims of Pakistan!

Eight years ago when Musharraf ended the democratic government of Nawaz Sharif, you were relieved and gave Musharraf a chance, even though from the beginning of his rule, he made commitments to the colonialists. Hizb ut-Tahrir warned you from the beginning of Musharraf's rule about the evil that he would unleash upon you, but it took you a full two years to accept this. And now that the new government has made the same commitments as Musharraf made, how long will it take you to accept that any government within the present system will never change your situation or rescue you from the colonialists?

O Muslims! The current system has already stung you many times, so are you still ready to be stung yet again? And even though RasulAllah صلى الله عليه وسلم said,

لَا يُلْدَغُ الْمُؤْمِنُ مِنْ جُحْرٍ وَاحِدٍ مَرَّتَيْنِ
"The believer is not stung from the same hole twice."

You must immediately reject the rulers who have sold out Islam and the Muslims to achieve power and preserve Western colonialism. And you must reject this system that has always given rise to traitors. Uproot this corrupt man-made system and mobilize for the re-establishment of the Khilafah state in its place, which will liberate you from both the colonialists and your current woes. Allah سبحانه وتعالى has forbidden Muslims from accepting the kufr systems over you and those rulers that rule by kufr laws, let alone supporting such a system and such rulers. And Allah سبحانه وتعالى will punish all of us, irrespective of whether we were amongst those who committed the sins or not, if we did not involve ourselves with the obligation to remove the sin.

RasulAllah صلى الله عليه وسلم said,
إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ لَا يُعَذِّبُ الْعَامَّةَ بِعَمَلِ الْخَاصَّةِ حَتَّى يَرَوْا الْمُنْكَرَ بَيْنَ ظَهْرَانَيْهِمْ وَهُمْ قَادِرُونَ عَلَى أَنْ يُنْكِرُوهُ فَلَا يُنْكِرُوهُ فَإِذَا فَعَلُوا ذَلِكَ عَذَّبَ اللَّهُ الْخَاصَّةَ وَالْعَامَّةَ
"Indeed Allah Azza Wa Jal will not punish the people in general for the actions of the few, until they see the munkar amongst them and do not deny it despite being capable of doing so. And if they do not deny the munkar, the people in general will be punished along with the few." (Musnad Ahmad)
And RasulAllah صلى الله عليه وسلم said,

سَتَكُونُ أُمَرَاءُ فَتَعْرِفُونَ وَتُنْكِرُونَ فَمَنْ عَرَفَ بَرِئَ وَمَنْ أَنْكَرَ سَلِمَ وَلَكِنْ مَنْ رَضِيَ وَتَابَعَ

"Amirs will be appointed over you and you will find them doing good deeds as well as bad deeds. The one who hates their bad deeds is absolved from blame, the one who disapproves of their bad deeds is also safe, but the one who approves and follows is doomed." (Muslim)

And it is an obligation for you to implement Islam in its entirety, its economic, social, judicial and ruling systems as well as its education and foreign policies, a matter that can only be achieved through the Khilafah state. Allah سبحانه وتعالى said,
فَاحْكُمْ بَيْنَهُمْ بِمَا أَنزَلَ اللَّهُ وَلاَ تَتَّبِعْ أَهْوَاءَهُمْ عَمَّا جَاءَكَ مِنْ الْحَقِّ

"And judge between them by which Allah has revealed and do not follow their desire lest they take you away from the Haq which has reached you." (Surah al-Maida 5:48)
So for how long will you abandon this great fard? The famous saying that "as the people are their rulers will be," is correct from the understanding that if you keep the Allah's deen limited to the mosques and individual worship, and do not move to fulfill the fard of implementation of Islam as a system, then rulers will remain over you who confine the deen of Islam to the mosques and exclude it from ruling and matters of state.

Thus it is incumbent upon you that you take the right step to fulfill this great fard. Join the sincere dawa carriers who are giving you advance warning of the evil of this system and calling you towards the matter that will give you life and saves you in this life and the Akhira. You must join the ranks of Hizb ut-Tahrir in its struggle for the establishment of Khilafah, as it works with utmost effort, comprehension and seriousness.

O people of power!

Your responsibility is not that you safeguard those governments who are acting as helpers and well-wishers of the colonialist powers, instead of Islam and the Muslims. Rather, your duty is to protect Islam and the Muslim lands and to assure that nothing but Islam is in the authority. We call upon you to give Hizb ut-Tahrir the Nussrah (material support) so we can rule by nothing but Islam, through the Khilafah State, and this is the true success.

إِنَّ اللّهَ اشْتَرَى مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ أَنفُسَهُمْ وَأَمْوَالَهُم بِأَنَّ لَهُمُ الجَنَّةَ يُقَاتِلُونَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللّهِ فَيَقْتُلُونَ وَيُقْتَلُونَ وَعْداً عَلَيْهِ حَقّاً فِي التَّوْرَاةِ وَالإِنجِيلِ وَالْقُرْآنِ وَمَنْ أَوْفَى بِعَهْدِهِ مِنَ اللّهِ فَاسْتَبْشِرُواْ بِبَيْعِكُمُ الَّذِي بَايَعْتُم بِهِ وَذَلِكَ هُوَ الْفَوْزُ الْعَظِيمُ

"Indeed, Allah has purchased of the believers their lives and their properties, for the price that theirs shall be the paradise. They fight in Allah's cause, so they kill others and are killed. It is a promise in truth which is binding on Him in the Taurat and Injeel and the Qur'an. And who is truer to his covenant than Allah? Then rejoice in the bargain which you have concluded. That is the supreme success." [Surah At-Tawba 9:111]

Hizb ut-Tahrir - Wilayah Pakistan

This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are intended only for the addressee and may contain information that is confidential or privileged. If you are or not the intended recipient you must not use, disclose, distribute, copy, print or rely on this e-mail. If an addressing or transmission error has misdirected this e-mail, please notify the author by replying to this e-mail. Any views or opinions presented in this email/articles are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent me unless otherwise stated.

Miss your Messenger buddies when on-the-go? Get Messenger on your Mobile!

Messenger's gone Mobile! Get it now!

Stand For Islam: Prosperous Economy

2008-05-14T23:57:00.001+01:00

Stand For Islam: Prosperous Economy
Issues Explained

Economics is one discipline above all where the West feels it needs no lessons from others. The demise of the Soviet Union is widely attributed to the unsustainable economic practises of the communist/socialist ideology. With regards to the Islamic world, the great wealth brought by the oil boom windfall cannot disguise the apparent underlying fragility of most of the economies of Muslim countries. As regards Islam's view of economics, both Muslim and non-Muslim economists are sceptical about how an Islamic model can run a modern, dynamic economy.

This supremacist attitude is unsurprising yet wildly misplaced. As Western economies enter a period of stagnation and in the midst of a near financial meltdown - a little more humility is clearly in order.

Capitalist economic illusion

On the face of it Western capitalist economies appear unassailable - the US tops the league with an economy worth $14 trillion (2007) and per capita incomes of nearly $46,000 for each of its 302 million citizens. In fact, according to the IMF, six of the top 10 countries by Gross Domestic Product (the most commonly recognised though flawed measure of worth) are western with China, India Brazil and Russia making up the rest. Take away the recent rapid growth in China, India, Brazil and Russia's substantial windfall from today's oil price at over $100 a barrel would leave the west (basically the US, Canada and European countries) with nine of the top 10 economies in the world - Japan being the anomaly. Hence the West's arrogant rejection of any other economic model than the capitalist model. What GDP statistics fail to reveal is the huge accumulated debt driving economic growth. In 2007, the external debt the US owed to the rest of the world totalled an astounding $12 trillion - accounting for a massive 85% of GDP. External debt is defined as the total public and private debt owed to non-residents repayable in foreign currency, goods, or services. The debtors can be the government, corporations or private households while the debt includes money owed to private commercial banks, other governments, or international financial institutions such as the IMF and World Bank.

Unsurprisingly, though rarely noted, there is a canny correlation between economies that top the GDP table and the biggest debtors in the world.

The Top Debtors in the World

   External debt
($ trillion) GDP
($ trillion)
US       12.2                         13.5
UK       8.2 2.2
Germany       3.9 2.7
France       3.5 2.0
Italy       2.0 1.9

Source: IMF, 2007 data.

The table underestimates debt levels in actual fact. With the US and European governments pump priming financial markets heavily recently with hundreds of billions of dollars, external debt levels have risen substantially already in 2008.

The stark reality is that the high GDP numbers of capitalist nations are not much of an economic achievement (let along being sustainable) when GDP growth is propelled by debt. When this economic reality is understood, the recent remarks of David Cameron about the failure of the Brown government to "put aside" some wealth during the boom years seem totally absurd!

Inequality is rife

GDP and income per capita also conceal unjust income inequality and poverty in capitalist countries. According to official figures there are between 40-45 million American's, equivalent to two thirds of the population of the UK, relying on welfare payments for mere survival, which makes the $46,000 GDP per capita figure redundant and misleading. This is also an indictment on the world's 'leading' economy.

GDP also does not distinguish between "good" and "bad" economic output. Time, effort and resources devoted to producing, distributing, marketing and then dealing with the health and societal break down aspects of alcohol, for example, is all classified as 'economic output' and contributing to the $14 trillion GDP per annum but is in fact hugely destructive for society, families and households. Likewise, the painfully adverse impacts on society of huge and rising debt levels and home repossessions, often contributing to family breakdowns and wider social ills.

As the credit crunch bites there is real and present danger that a financial meltdown could result in a major depression. If banks are unwilling to lend due to a lack of liquidity or are more selective with respect to the creditworthiness of individuals and households then consumer demand from car to washing machines - most of it financed by unsecured debt - will collapse. Factories that produce these goods and the shops that sell them will close and unemployment will rise. This in turn will lead to further falls in peoples' purchasing power resulting in less output and higher unemployment. A vicious downward cycle.

While inequality in the US and Britain has worsened in the boom times as the rich got even richer, ironically it is the poor and most vulnerable that are worst impacted by recessions. As tax receipts fall in a recession Governments cut back spending on health, education and local services such as public libraries, help for the aged and the vulnerable. This is justified as being necessary to get the 'public finances in order' despite the urgent need for such spending at a desperate time by the ones most in need.

Such contradictions were exemplified recently when the British Government found £50 billion to bail out large and previously profitable banks but in the same week announced the abolition of the 10 pence income tax rate, which will reduce the take-home incomes of the lowest paid. What's more, the abolition of the 10 pence tax rate will save the Chancellor a mere £7 billion. With basic necessities such as food and energy costs at an all time high, such policies are disastrous for the low income sector of society and entrench poverty.

Islam's economic approach

In Islam the success of the economy is not judged by the size of GDP as this tends to be only mildly related to the welfare of every citizen. This is exemplified by the millions living in poverty in the affluent West in spite of high GDP levels and growth rates. By way of analogy, increasing the size of the national 'cake' does not ensure that all individuals will get a bigger slice due to the elusive 'trickledown effect'. Thus high GDP is therefore not a necessary and sufficient condition to lift each and every citizen out of poverty.

In contrast to Capitalism, the success of the economic model in Islam is judged by its ability to secure the satisfaction of the basic needs of every citizen.

Bukhari narrated from Ibn Umar: The Prophet (saw) said: "The Imam is in charge (ra'i) and he is responsible for his citizens."

The Prophet (saw) also said: "Do you have, son of Adam, of your property except that which you ate and consumed, that which you wore and exhausted, and that which you donated and kept (for yourself)?"

Unlike, Capitalism, where distribution of income is seen as a handout and conditional upon the other 'priorities' of government, in Islam distribution of income is the basis of the economic system and a principal role of Government.

According to the Islamic evidences, wealth and riches must circulate in the whole society and not just among the rich and wealthy.

Allah (swt) says:

"Lest it circulates solely among the wealthy from amongst you" [TMQ: Al-Hashr]

Furthermore, the Prophet (saw) actively distributed wealth from the Ansar to the Muhajireen at the time of the hijra to Medina. It has been reported on the authority of Ibn Abbas that the Messenger of Allah (saw) said to the Ansar: "If you wish I could ask you to share your homes and your wealth with the Muhajireen and divide among you this booty, or if you wish you could keep your homes and your wealth and I shall not have to give you anything from this booty."

Moreover, the hoarding of gold and silver, the currency in the Islam State, is strictly prohibited.

Allah (swt) says:

"And let those who hoard gold and silver and do not spend in the way of Allah know that a severe and painful punishment is awaiting them." [TQM: At-Tauba: 34]

Distribution of wealth is thus an integral aspect of the economic system in Islam. It is not based on hand-outs, charity or the good will of the rich. Islam strongly prohibits hoarding and at the same time actively promotes circulation of wealth - a two pronged attack on poverty. Thus everyone has the opportunity to earn a living, make an investment or profit from others' investments such that deprivation does not become entrenched in society.

Conclusion

Capitalists like to goad about the apparent success of western economies. However, scratching the surface uncovers debt-ridden economies with hollow financial systems where inequality and poverty is rife. These economies, therefore, do not deserve to be emulated by developing nations or the Muslim world. By contrast, the Islamic ideology provides real practical solutions to the economic problems of the day. The Islamic economic system with its focus on the real (not financial) economy and with the money supply tied to gold and silver provides a model of sustainable and responsible growth, with distribution of the nations wealth at its core.

--

This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are intended only for the addressee and may contain information that is confidential or privileged. If you are or not the intended recipient you must not use, disclose, distribute, copy, print or rely on this e-mail. If an addressing or transmission error has misdirected this e-mail, please notify the author by replying to this e-mail. Any views or opinions presented in this email/articles are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent me unless otherwise stated.

Pakistan: Post elections, new government and geo-politics

2008-04-08T09:30:00.001+01:00

Pakistan: Post elections, new government and geo-politics

Summary

After recent elections in Pakistan the power has shifted from one man-Musharraf to many actors in Pakistan. While most observers are commenting what this mean for Pakistan in the short term, let's look over the horizon and try to understand what the return of civilian rule in Pakistan means for the country and its behaviour on the international scene most importantly in US war of terror.

Analysis

Since the recent elections in Pakistan there is an air of jubilance amongst some sectors of Pakistani public who term the new developments in Pakistan as a new dawn which is going to usher representative legislator and independent judiciary after almost a decade long brutal dictatorship by General Parvaiz Musharraf.

While the above is going to become more clear with time, one thing is clear that this air of jubilance is not new, as most Pakistanis have learnt that after every election or coup, the new government in power give new false promises and new dawns only to be worst than the previous government. It is also clear that United States with its strategic interests in Pakistan along with the Pakistani military are going to remain dominant players in Pakistani politics.

However, lets give credit where it is due and see what this means for Pakistan and geo-politics. Pakistan today have an assertive judiciary, emerging civil society along with increasingly independent media, it is also a correct understanding that the recent elections were in reality an anti-Musharraf vote rather than to the policies of political parties, Pakistan today is more politicized and its population is more politicized than ever before. The gulf between Kiyani and Musharraf due to various reasons resulted in the distancing of the military from the politics was also the main factor behind largely fair elections.

The above situation has put the new formed government in a difficult position. They understand the wishes of Pakistani public is to distance Pakistan from United States war of terror on Islam, however, the new government is as pragmatic as Musharraf. Under public pressure as Gillani ordered the release of judges he is also under pressure not to appoint them under pre-emergency conditions from pro-Musharraf forces and Negroponte intensive campaign in Pakistan recently.

The reason for Gillani government pragmatism lies in the US's extensive economic and military aid to Pakistan, which is conditional on Islamabad's support in the "war on terror".

Pakistani military under General Kiyani is looking forward to use the willing feudal dominated parliament in exactly the same fashion as they used the alliance of Islamic parties post 2002 rigged elections. Pakistani military under Musharraf used the victory of Islamic parties as a bargaining chip, by reminding the West that if Musharraf is not given support in the form of aid and weapons then mullahs are going to come in power with a finger on the button. This bargaining chip also heavily utilized to draw a strategic balance between US demands to intensify operations against the Talibans who Pakistani army considers an asset, if and when US leaves the region against India and Northern Alliance.

A series of recent public statements helps illuminate the Pakistan-U.S. situation. On April 2, a spokesman for Pakistan's Foreign Ministry stated that the government would consider any action by U.S. or NATO forces in Pakistan's tribal areas an enemy assault and would be forced to react accordingly. This comes on the heels of a related statement by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on April 1 that no foreign forces are allowed to operate on Pakistani soil and an announcement the same day that Pakistani officials will be reviewing the country's role in the U.S-led war on terrorism. (The first such review meeting was promptly held April 2 with all of the heads of the major political parties present.) These statements are an attempt to show disagreement with the tight, unilateral grip the U.S. had on Pakistan under Musharraf's watch and to increase Pakistan's bargaining power.

On the other side United States is carefully watching the statements by the new government and is beginning to criticize it in public. On March 27, for example, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte publicly questioned the viability of the Pakistani government's proposed peace talks with pro-Taliban forces, claiming the militants are too hard-line to talk.

In addition to these statements, the new Pakistani government is emphasizing that it will now make decisions in a parliamentary fashion, rather then leave them up to one person (as it was done under Musharraf), and that the Parliament is the supreme body of the country. This plural decision making means that Pakistan's moves will now be subject to agreement by multiple political forces, making the United States' relationship with Pakistan and its agreement on the war of terror more difficult to continue than it was under Musharraf.

While the diplomatic dance between the United States and Pakistan appears tense at the moment, in reality huge changes in how the two countries relate to each other are unlikely. This is due to some core underlying factors that ultimately limit Pakistan's options. Pakistan needs to maintain a cordial relationship with the United States in order to continue to receive loans in building up its economy. Further, Pakistani army thinks that it is in Pakistan's best interest to continue to work with the United States in order to offset an emerging stronger relationship between the United States and Pakistan's main foe, India. Also, even though Pakistan appears committed to its new parliamentary process, in reality military will still maintain a crucial role in Pakistan's decision making, as a strong military is necessary to keep the various ethnic groups within Pakistan from constant clashing and to keep the country intact.

What Pakistan should do

United States is not longer a super power as it emerged from the cold war period. Iraq war is an example of how far US militarily can stretch. There are already echoes of defeat in Afghanistan and recent NATO summit in Romania is the last straw to save the coalition and its occupation of Afghanistan.

In Pakistan, the current political show is nothing but a game to further individual interests at the cost of the nation. According to the BBC, Gillani appointment ''Many believe he would be willing to quietly step aside if Ms Bhutto's widower Asif Zardari becomes an MP and therefore eligible to become prime minister''. A retired general and prominent policy analyst, Talat Masood, noted to the AP news agency that the new PM would be "easier to dislodge" than other prime minister candidates who were considered for the position (including the party's president Makhdoom Amin Fahim).

Notwithstanding this, the real 'democracy in Pakistan' was elaborately epitomized in earnest as US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher arrived in Pakistan last week , the very same day that the new PM, Yusuf Raza Gillani, was sworn in. Commentators were clear in stating that the timing clearly implies that the US was trying to influence the policies of Pakistan's new government. Zaffar Abbas, an editor with Pakistani newspaper Dawn, said the arrival of the US delegation on the day the new prime minister had been sworn in suggested they were "trying to dictate terms." President Bush has already phoned the new PM Gilani and invited him to Washington "at his convenience," and Gilani's office quoted the Premier as saying, "Pakistan would continue to fight terrorism." US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher held talks with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), with Pervez Musharraf, General Ashfaq Kayani and the head of the ISI. The US is clear; it expects Pakistan's new government to remain a mercenary force along the country's border with Afghanistan.

Last but not least, with the US firmly ensuring its agenda remains at the forefront of any government, it has in President Musharraf its ailing proxy. The US and UK ensured that the demands for Musharraf to go were dropped early.

The above reflects the real plight for the ordinary citizen of Pakistan. The interests and needs of the people of Pakistan are 'secondary' if at all on the agenda of any of the above, as has become abundantly clear. Furthermore, Pakistan is not alone in this type of betrayal and treachery. This 'cocktail of democracy' is the same currently being served to the people of occupied Iraq under Nouri Maliki, that has been served in occupied Afghanistan under Hamid Karzai and is in store for the peoples of Iran and else where in the Muslim world. It is the type of western, colonial interference in the affairs of the Muslims that makes Egypt support Israel's blockade of Gaza and the undermining of the elected Hamas government. It is a continuation of the interference and betrayal that weakened the Ottoman Caliphate by sowing the seeds of division along nationalistic lines, which paved the way for the invasion and division of the Muslims lands after the First World War.

Thus, the true alternative and only the real form of governance which will reflect the interests and needs of the people, whilst ensuring accountability and good governance for the citizens is provided by Islam in the form of its Khilafah ruling system. Until this is realised, the citizens of Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan and other states around the world will continue to suffer under the oppression and guise of the 'sham democracies' that will be given to them.

Note to the Editors: Tauseef Zahid is a freelance columnist.

The ‘Democracy Game' goes on in Pakistan, whilst its citizens continue to suffer

2008-04-04T23:45:00.001+01:00

After much delay, on Saturday 22nd March, the PPP finally announced its chosen candidate for the role of the Prime Minister, Yusuf Raza Gillani. As expected, he was seamlessly voted in as Prime Minister on Monday 24th March, before being officially sworn into office the following day.

Internal Wrangling
After nearly a month of internal wrangling and political aspirations spilling over from numerous contenders all keen to savour the opportunity for the coveted 'top job', it was Gillani, who according to many analysts was a 'back runner', who emerged as the victor. Gillani, has been a 'careful choice' if analysts are to be believed. With speculation rampant that the PPP would nominate a 'stop-gap' prime minister and Bhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari, who now leads the party, would take over the post after entering parliament via a by-election, the 'temp' PM would have to be someone willing to 'play ball'. A senior PPP member, a longtime aide of former PM Benazir Bhutto and a party loyalist, Gilani, told reporters that he would serve in office "as long as his party wants him to," and be willing to accept strong direction from the party leadership thereby leaving the future of the post open to such discourse. According to the BBC, ''Many believe he would be willing to quietly step aside if Ms Bhutto's widower Asif Zardari becomes an MP and therefore eligible to become prime minister''. A retired general and prominent policy analyst, Talat Masood, noted to the AP news agency that the new PM would be "easier to dislodge" than other prime minister candidates who were considered for the position (including the party's president Makhdoom Amin Fahim).

US Interference Continues Unabated

Whilst to the innocent bystanders the customs and formalities of the last few days may have ushered in a long awaited sigh of relief welcoming the return of 'democracy' to Pakistan, the internal 'goings-on' are a clear reminder, if not representative of exactly what type of 'democracy' is in store for the people of Pakistan as each person vies for the coveted lions share of the spoils of war i.e. the posts of the Premier and the cabinet. Notwithstanding this, the real 'democracy in Pakistan' was elaborately epitomized in earnest as US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher arrived in Pakistan early Tuesday, the very same day that the new PM, Yusuf Raza Gillani, was sworn in. Commentators were clear in stating that the timing clearly implies that the US was trying to influence the policies of Pakistan's new government. Zaffar Abbas, an editor with Pakistani newspaper Dawn, said the arrival of the US delegation on the day the new prime minister had been sworn in suggested they were "trying to dictate terms." President Bush has already phoned the new PM Gilani and invited him to Washington "at his convenience," and Gilani's office quoted the Premier as saying, "Pakistan would continue to fight terrorism." US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher held talks with Nawaz Sharif, who heads the PPP's coalition partner, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), with Pervez Musharraf, General Ashfaq Kayani and the head of the ISI. The US is clear, it expects Pakistan's new government to continue a crackdown on the so-called 'Islamist militants' along the country's border with Afghanistan.

Pervez Musharraf

Ardent as ever to retain the powers to potentially annul any parliament, he has been quoted as intending on remaining as president for the remainder of his five year tenure to further ensure the legacy and path that he has placed Pakistan upon during his last 8 years of dictatorship continue unabated-namely ensuring US hegemony over Pakistani politics and interests.

Sham Democracies
The above reflects the real plight for the ordinary citizen of Pakistan. The interests and needs of the people of Pakistan are 'secondary' if at all on the agenda of any of the above, as has become abundantly clear. Furthermore, Pakistan is not alone in this type of betrayal and treachery. This 'cocktail of democracy' is the same currently being served to the people of occupied Iraq under Nouri Maliki, that has been served in occupied Afghanistan under Hamid Karzai and is in store for the peoples of Iran and else where in the Muslin world. It is the type of western, colonial interference in the affairs of the Muslims that makes Egypt support Israel's blockade of Gaza and the undermining of the elected Hamas government. It is a continuation of the interference and betrayal that weakened the Ottoman Caliphate by sowing the seeds of division along nationalistic lines, which paved the way for the invasion and division of the Muslims lands after the first world war. The Islamic Khilafah Ruling System: The True and Only Real Alternative Governance to Represent the Interests of its Citizens.

Pakistan: Islamabad restaurant blast and US backed terrorism

2008-03-17T07:10:00.000Z

Pakistan: Islamabad restaurant blast and US backed terrorism

Last week in Pakistan was a continuation of what can best be described as fruits of Musharraf decision to join United States War of Terror on Muslims of Pakistan and around the world.

Three major events happened in the form of bomb blast at Luna Caprese restaurant in Islamabad, United States firing 'precision guided' missiles from Afghanistan into Pakistani territory killing women and children along with a retaliatory strike by US using unmanned drone killing 16 people, and lastly there was double suicide bombing in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore at a secret government installation housing FBI.

We also saw General Kayani making a U-turn statement regarding Kashmir saying Pakistani army is committed to Kashmir. We saw the last corruption case against Asif Zardai being quashed by Pakistan's anti-corruption court over importing a German limousine. More so we saw, Asif Zardari and Nawaz Sharif making plans to visit US backed dictator in Saudi Arabia (who exercise considerable influence on Nawaaz Sharif) after the coalition government is formed along with a statement from senior PPP leader Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar who said there are no plans for interim Prime Minister anymore.

Analysis

To make sense of the above events we need to look at the events under the context of US war on Muslims also called War of Terror. United States imperial ambitions in the region require satisfaction of number of regional foreign policy goals which includes stabilization of Hamid Karzai puppet government along with securing Caspian Sea resources. In the long run US would like to use the bases in the region to keep a check on rising China using India and reduce Pakistan military capability after destroying Pakistani nuclear arsenal and reduce the role of Pakistan in the region to mere client state of India.

The major hurdle US faces is the rise of the resistance movement around the Durand line termed Talibanization. It was clear to US policy makers from the beginning that they can not consolidate the occupation without support from Pakistan. However, some elements in the Pakistani establishment remain suspicious of US designs in the region. There exist in Pak army a school of thought which correctly believes that US is going to leave the region once her foreign policy objectives are fulfilled, leaving Pakistan to the disposal of hostile India on both eastern and western borders of Pakistan along with Northern Alliance. This school of thought is referred to as Islamic sympathizers in the ISI or the Army and they remain committed to their former allies i.e. Talibans to keep US foreign policy in check.

Faced with this support for Talibans from within the Pakistani Army and public, US over time started to rely more on their loyal servant Musharraf. As Musharraf popularity dwindled post Lal Masjid, US sent another loyal servant with the help of British, Benazir Bhutto, to help him setup a sham democratic government.

Part of US broader strategy is to isolate the Talibans morally and politically within Pakistan. There is a widespread believe in Pakistan that US is behind suicide bombing and much of violence in Pakistan is backed by US to create support for US war on 'terror' and present this to the people of Pakistan as a shared goal.

According to Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz, "United States, India and Afghanistan were involved in creating lawlessness in Pakistan and that it was believed that US and Afghanistan were backing militant outfits involved in terrorism in Pakistan". Qazi Hussain Ahmed also made a similar statement after Lahore bomb blasts saying "friends of Gen Retd Pervez Musharraf were behind all the bomb blasts and terrorism in the country".

Bomb Blasts

The bomb blast that struck at Luna Caprese, in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, on March 15, an Italian restaurant popular with foreigners, including staff from British and US embassy and one of those few restaurants in Islamabad which serves alcohol. According to reports, as many two people (both foreigners) have been killed and 15 injured (also mostly foreigners). Most of the wounded are U.S. nationals, including four U.S. FBI agents, CNN reported March 16. The bomb was planted near the rear wall of the facility adjacent to lawn of the restaurant, where the foreigners were dining. The building is located in sector F-6/3 of the capital, an upscale residential area housing diplomats, western multinational corporations and high-ranking government offices.

This latest attack involved a command-detonated improvised explosive device (IED). It would have been quite difficult to get a suicide bomber past the security check at the gate but the bombers evidently were able to smuggle an IED into the back of the restaurant without being caught. The perpetrators appear to have known that the foreigners would be dining in the lawn area of the facility. In light of the fact that seven U.S. nationals were injured — the single largest national group among the wounded — the FBI personal can be considered the target of the attack. It should be noted that, thus far, most of the attacks brought on by the jihadist that has raged since late 2006 have targeted Pakistan security agencies.

The other attack that happened in Lahore, it remains unclear who was involved in a twin suicide attack that killed 27 people and injured another 150 in the eastern city of Lahore on March 11, Punjab province police chief Azhar Hasan Nadeem said March 12. A mosque prayer leader and 47 people have been arrested in connection with the blasts so far.

The kind of bomb used had not been seen in Pakistan before - bombs packed with sharp blades meant to maximize casualties. The Australian reported March 13. Trucks packed with explosives containing the blades were used in the attack. Investigators said they had not encountered bombs like this before in attacks by al Qaeda- and Taliban-linked militants in Pakistan

The attackers targeted a Federal Investigation Agency facility and a private house in an upscale residential area of Model Town in Lahore that housed a U.S.-trained special investigation unit, AAJ TV reported. The investigative unit uses high-tech equipment to track militants and probe attacks, and the AAJ report said it is affiliated with a U.S. intelligence agency. The March 11 attacks came within days of a similar attack on the Naval War College in the eastern Pakistani city.

The special unit's presence in these facilities targeted March 11 remained secret until several hours after the attacks. This means contacts within the Pakistani intelligence services probably tipped off jihadists about the facilities.

What Pakistan should do?

Within just a few years, a secure state in this region has been transformed by Musharraf to a state with unbelievable levels of insecurity, afflicted by violent civil strife. These are the fruits of the U-turns taken in the name of "Pakistan First," after 9-11. Musharraf has the dubious distinction amongst all rulers, of a ruler who has used the army and airplanes to bomb its own territory, kidnapping and selling own citizen to US. The powerful bomb blasts in Lahore have shown that joining with America in its war has only succeeded in setting our own house on fire. To put out this fire, the people must stop the government from engaging in the America's war.

Pakistan's interior minister's recent statement accusing America of being involved in acts of terrorism in is in accordance with the reality and with the people's understanding. On the one hand this comment has given fuel to the anger and grief of the people and on the other hand it has exposed the government as being two faced in its policies. What an extreme act of betrayal that the government sticks to America's side, even whilst knowing fairly well that US is actually sponsoring terrorism and the killing of Muslims. The 44 FBI offices, whose existence was confirmed by the Bush administration is the actual cause of terrorism and daily attacks in Pakistan. The people must demand that the government acts in a sane manner and reject any alliance with America. This is not only required by Islam, it secures the people and the state.

The sincere people with in the government and the army need to ask themselves how long they can run Pakistan by surrendering sovereignty to other nations and by doing patchwork politics. It is time that they unite Pakistanis over the idea of Islam and the ideology for which Pakistan was created. This is the ideology from which the ruling system of Khilafah emanates.

Notes to the Editors: Tauseef Zahid is a freelance columnist

--
To remove yourself from the mailing list - reply with "No" in the subject line. Thank you.

Visit for news and analysis
http://www.paknewsblog.com/
http://pakrevival.blogspot.com/

Pakistan: US behind Suicide Bombings, Kashmir Singh & Cartoons

2008-03-10T06:34:00.000Z

Pakistan: US behind Suicide Bombings, Kashmir Singh & Cartoons

If anyone is looking for a crash course on politics of Pakistan and how the State function then look no further just look at last week events.

It is widely believed in Pakistan that United States is behind much of upheaval in the country e.g. kidnapping of Pakistani citizens, interference in the politics of Pakistan, influence over puppet Musharraf, influence over the military, illegal military operations on Pakistani territory since 2003 etc but nobody ever thought that government will ever accept openly any of the above universal truths.

However last week Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz confirmed widely held view amongst Pakistanis that United States is behind terrorism in recent months in Pakistan. In his interview with an Arab television channel, Hamid Nawaz said that the United States, India and Afghanistan were involved in creating lawlessness in Pakistan and that it was believed that US and Afghanistan were backing militant outfits involved in terrorism in Pakistan.

United States propaganda machinery was quick to put things straight when American Embassy in Islamabad, in a statement, said the US Ambassador NW Patterson talked to the Minister of Interior Hamid Nawaz on telephone to communicate concern over his statement. Since then the interior minister could not be 'reached' for comments.

However, those who are familiar with the politics of Pakistan above statement from the Interior Minister come with no surprise. United States like Britain, applies deadly divide and rule policy, US application of this policy can easily be seen in Iraq when Shias and Sunnis were put against each other to consolidate the occupation. Similarly US, since the occupation of Afghanistan working hard to make the resistance to the occupation in Afghanistan, Pakistan's problem.

Last week we saw many protest around the Muslim world and in Pakistan regarding the reprinting of cartoons by the Danish Newspaper insulting Prophet of Islam, Mohammad (PBUH) and the upcoming video by Geert Wilder in which he compare Quran with Mein Kempf of Hitler and insults Prophet of Islam and Sharia. While anger of Muslims is clear, no head of major political parties or Pakistani senior officials condemned Denmark. Surely the correct response, if the Pakistani government hold the honour of Prophet (PBUH) high is to expel Danish ambassador from the country and sever all ties.

Last week we saw Musharraf pardoning India spy Kashmir Singh who has been sentenced to death. One wonders was the crime of the innocent children of Lal Masjid so horrible that he could not rest until he had burnt them alive? One should ask Minster of Human Rights, Ansar Barni, if a convicted Indian spy is so deserving of human rights, why is it that he could not liberate a single missing person amongst the hundreds of Muslims languishing in the torture cells of Musharraf and US?

And lastly we also saw under the guise of National Reconciliation Order, crimes of national thieves washed away. The state of rule of law in Pakistan is such that rich and powerful gets away while poor and weak perish in the jails of Pakistan. These people are now heading to parliament to make a government of 'consensuses'.

Just by looking at last week one can sum up whole of Pakistan politics. It is a country devoid of sovereignty as shown by US interferences, CIA bases, FBI offices and leaders like Musharraf subservience to Washington. It is a country where the population hold Islam very dear contrary to what the leadership hold i.e. fear and obsequiousness. It is a country where there is one rule for the rich and powerful and one for the weak and poor. It is a country that is yearning to be liberated through Khilafah from the occupation by its western feudalistic elite who are holding the whole country ransom.

--
To remove yourself from the mailing list - reply with "No" in the subject line. Thank you.

Visit for news and analysis
http://www.paknewsblog.com/
http://pakrevival.blogspot.com/

US backing militants in Pakistan

2008-03-05T12:20:00.001Z

ISLAMABAD: The US embassy on Sunday expressed grave concern over the statement of caretaker Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz claiming that US was behind lawlessness and terrorism in Pakistan.

"The US Embassy describes as 'untrue' recent claims made by Pakistan's Interior Minister concerning the United States," said a statement from the US embassy. "American Ambassador Anne W Patterson today telephoned Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz to express her grave concern over his remarks made in a television interview." In his interview with an Arab television channel, Hamid Nawaz had said that the United States, India and Afghanistan were involved in creating lawlessness in Pakistan and that it was believed that US and Afghanistan were backing militant outfits involved in terrorism in Pakistan.

Although India and Afghanistan have been blamed in the past for problems in Pakistan, it is for the first time that a government minister has directly pointed finger at the US for lawlessness in Pakistan.

The interior minister could not be reached for comments.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C03%5C03%5Cstory_3-3-2008_pg1_7

http://www.topix.com/world/pakistan/2008/03/us-to-train-pakistan-military-officers

2008-03-05T12:14:00.001Z

Posted by The Associated Press on Monday

U.S. trainers will travel to Pakistan this year to teach military officials counterinsurgency techniques to aid soldiers along the Afghan border in the fight against al-Qaida and Taliban militants, U.S. officials said Sunday.

The training will also leave the Pakistani border force better able to cooperate with U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, a U.S. military official said.

Twenty-two U.S. trainers will arrive in 'drips and drabs' this year and could be in place as soon as June or as late as October, the military official said on condition he not be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.

http://www.topix.com/world/pakistan/2008/03/us-to-train-pakistan-military-officers