On Sobbing and Backtracking

By Ahsan Waheed


ZoneAsia-Pk

The sight of a federal cabinet minister sobbing as she tendered her resignation to a visibly astonished Prime Minister was unnerving to say the least. Her sobs turned into smiles when her resignation was rejected and promises made to take care of her concerns. Of course while sobbing and resigning she had been careful to stress her confidence in the visionary leadership of the Prime Minister and 'ownership of the President'---whatever that means. This inevitably led to the view that the sobs for her job were of the crocodile variety and the lingering impression was that the whole thing had been most demeaning and undignified. A storm in a teacup if ever there was one but it did provide comic relief because the minister is already the favorite of all stand-up comedians and the butt of many jokes.

Backtracking reached new heights when the Prime Minister clarified that his earlier remarks about a 'state within a state' etc were not about the military at all but were aimed at the Federal secretary of Defense who had truthfully told the Supreme Court that the ISI and Army were not operating under the Ministry of Defense probably because the Defense Minister had never ever visited military headquarters or the troops on the western border or anywhere else for that matter. Nor was he ever part of the meetings between the Prime Minister and Service Chiefs or the ISI Chief and nor had he ever chaired a Defense Council meeting in the Ministry. The Secretary Defense, a highly regarded retired three star, is still in place and without him there the Ministry would be as dead as the Dodo. The Prime Minister added that he was 'happy' with the Army Chief, that he had given extensions in service to the Army Chief and the ISI boss and that the talk about sacking them was so much foolishness. He carefully avoided any clarification on his pathetic comment on the visa to OBL and the equally inane remark about raising the salaries of armed forces personnel. That his clarifications came after a most mature and responsible response to his earlier immature provocations explained everything. Some Prime Ministers need to stick to a prepared text otherwise they end up sticking their neck out-a most unwise act.

The media and all the wise men of Gotham who people it are going purple in the face talking about the 'civil-military confrontation' that they think is at its peak. They foresee dire consequences in spite of the fact that the Army has publicly stated that they will not do anything to derail democracy; the Supreme Court has said that they will not countenance any unconstitutional act and the entire political structure has ruled out any return to military intervention. The basis for the 'confrontation' idea is the response by the military and the government to the Supreme Court on the infamous 'memo' issue---the government says it is a non-issue while the military wants it investigated. You do not get an ambassador to resign and ask a parliamentary committee to investigate a non-issue. In any case instead of bleating about a civil-military confrontation the sensible option is to wait for the Supreme Courts verdict and the report by the parliamentary committee. Political leaders feel muscular and macho when they can publicly criticize the military or ask for resignations or target their own military institution in other ways. Besides parliamentary resolutions the military needs to be given a strategic directive on which to base military strategy and the Ministry that is to oversee the military should be made functional and competent. Civilian supremacy will kick in when the government has credibility and capacity to govern.

The 'Imran phenomenon' is thriving because it has targeted the people of Pakistan and is being seen as the vanguard of the change that they want. The people in Pakistan are the real Pakistan. Their aspirations, concerns and grievances are the only things that matter. Imran is talking to them and telling them that he will deliver what they want. They believe him. Unfortunately when faced by such reality his opponents can only come up with vague allegations of 'establishment support'---they have no excuse for neglecting the people and not thinking beyond family and pelf. Imran is leading the charge and the buzz words are dynamism, change and a new order that will save Pakistan from itself. As he gains momentum and the people behind him swell to tidal proportions Imran will be able to confidently articulate the challenge of forging a new relationship with the US, of developing good bilateral relations with our neighbors India and Afghanistan and ensuring human security by combating radicalism and intolerance. Once he has the support of the people on these issues not only is he home free but he would have put Pakistan on the road to stability and economic prosperity. The talk in the US about a 'curtailed relationship' with Pakistan is premature and not fully thought out-it does not factor in what the real Pakistan wants.

CIA fueling Russian fire

Tacstrat

WMR has learned from an eastern European intelligence source that the CIA. Britain's MI-6, and George Soros, who actually fronts for the Rothschild family, has been funneling money to Russian protest movements through the Republic of Georgia.

The Soros-style "themed" revolution for Russia is being called the "White Revolution" or "Snowy Revolution,| with the color white being chosen as the thematic color for the attempted Russian uprising. Perhaps not coincidentally, the White Army was also the name for the counter-Bolshevik revolutionary forces composed of czarist loyalists supported by British, French, American, Japanese, and Czech troops who, from 1917 to 1922, attempted to invade Russia and restore czarist rule. The White Army invaded Russia from Poland, Lithuania, the Caucasus, and Siberia.

The western media is mocking Russian Prime Minister for suggesting during a television interview that when he saw protesters in Moscow wearing white ribbons, he thought they were wearing condoms. Putin said, "I decided it was propaganda against AIDS, that these were, pardon me, dangling contraceptives . . . I didn't really get it . . . But on the whole, my first thought was that this is good, that people are fighting for a healthy lifestyle." Putin said he could not understand why people unrolled a condom (gandon) before pinning it to their chest.

In fact, Putin, a KGB veteran, was signalling to the West's disruption network in Russia and neighboring countries that he is aware of how the protesters are receiving their funding from the West, including Soros, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) - the main cipher for CIA funds - and MI-6. Time magazine and other corporate media operations are trying to portray Putin as insensitive with his comment about condoms and white protest ribbons but his answer to the question posed to him was a direct message to Washington and London that he is aware of the destabilization efforts being conducted by western intelligence services in concert with Soros and the government of Georgia.

Some of the money earmarked for HIV/AIDS prevention in Georgia by USAID is being diverted to Russian dissident groups, according to our eastern European intelligence source. On December 10, U.S. ambassador to Georgia John Bass attended a World AIDS Day ceremony in Tbilisi along with Georgia First Lady Sandra Roloefs, the Dutch wife of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. Roloefs is a long-time associate and operative for Soros since her days at Columbia University. The SOCO Foundation in Tbilisi, which claims to champion women's reproductive rights, was founded by Roloefs and receives funding from Soros. Conveniently, SOCO's bank account is at the ABN AMRO Bank in Terneuzen, Netherlands, Roloef's hometown.

The money from USAID for Russian dissidents is being funneled through the Georgian Ministry of Education. The Georgian Minister of Education Dmitry Shashkin also attended the Tbilisi ceremony, which provided cover for the covert aid program to the Russian dissidents. Georgia has become the nexus for the U.S. aid to the Russian opposition trying to unseat Putin. In March, Georgia sponsored, with CIA, Soros, and MI-6 funds, a conference titled "Hidden Nations, Enduring Crimes: The Circassians and the People of the North Caucasus Between Past and Future." Georgia and its CIA, Soros, and British intelligence allies are funneling cash and other support for secessionism by ethnic minorities in Russia, including Circassians, Chechens, Ingushetians, Balkars, Kabardins, Abaza, Tatars, Talysh, and Kumyks.

The EU is also funneling money on behalf of European intelligence services, including MI-6, to Russian dissident groups through grants to Georgian non-governmental organizations. The money flows through the EU's Commission for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy, the chief of which is Stefan Fule, a Czech diplomat who served as Czech ambassador to London and NATO and who attended Moscow State University of International Relations during the Soviet era and established a number of contacts who are now active in the present-day anti-Putin movement.

CIA’s failure to acknowledge its demise

Based on its recent string of failures, most notably those that have occurred under America's top general-turned-spymaster David Petraeus, the CIA has become a third-tier intelligence agency that is trying to prop around the world up a failing, financially bankrupt, and over-extended super-power the United States.

The CIA, started in 1947 with veterans of the war-time Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and military personnel, who were soon supplemented by economists and international relations graduates of America's top Ivy League universities, is now attempting to promote itself as a "made-for-television" futuristic high-tech spy and covert warfare agency, operating intelligence-gathering and armed drones from over 60 bases around the world. All that is missing from the CIA's over-inflated view of itself are the X-Men and Jason Bourne.

The record of the CIA speaks otherwise. The agency has become a bloated and ineffectual spy agency that is heavy on inflating intelligence reports while being responsible for major intelligence failures.

Recent major failures of the CIA in its drone operations in the Middle East and Africa have some congressional sources wondering what is afoot with the CIA. Under Petraeus's watch the CIA has experienced its worst foul ups since those that occurred when it failed to foresee the Iranian embassy hostage situation and the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Petraeus's first major failure, Lebanon, involved Hezbollah's exposure of the CIA's agent network in the country. The CIA station chief, Daniel Patrick McFeely, has been outed as the CIA station chief at the U.S. embassy in the Awkar neighborhood of Beirut. Not only was Hezbollah able to out McFeely, who operates as "official cover" as part of the embassy staff, but they identified his predecessor, Louis Kahi.

By conducting surveillance of meetings at Pizza Huts and Starbucks in Lebanon between CIA case officers and agents, Hezbollah -- and their Iranian allies -- were able to construct the CIA's network that included over 1000 top Lebanese politicians, academics, medical doctors, journalists, military personnel, and celebrities. Essentially, the CIA's network in Lebanon has been largely rolled up. According to Al Manar television, the code names of the agents, names like Nick, Jim, Youssef, Liza and Jonah, were also exposed.

The U.S. corporate media has refrained from publishing the names of the CIA station chiefs or the cover names of their Lebanese agents. In more and more cases, the U.S. media has run from its duty to report all the facts about intelligence-related matters, succumbing to either appeals or threats from spy agencies that they should not write about intelligence-related matters because of some nebulous and non-provable "threat" to national security.

Almost simultaneous to the Lebanon roll up, Iran announced it discovered a network composed of at least 42 CIA agents operating within its territory, operatives that worked in nuclear and other scientific centers, the military, biotechnology, and various universities. Iran's chief prosecutor has already indicted fifteen of the 42 for espionage on behalf of the CIA.

On November 26, a U.S. air strike killed 24 Pakistani military personnel on the Pakistani border with Afghanistan. The incident, which frayed already poor relations between the United States and Pakistan, resulted in the U.S. being expelled from the Shamsi airbase in Pakistan, one from which CIA drones were launched, with few successes and many failures, against "terror" targets in Pakistan's volatile mountainous frontier region bordering Afghanistan.

The debacle that resulted in the loss of the Shamsi drone base was followed by the biggest intelligence failure to date, the downing by accident or hostile action, including through possible electronic warfare "spoofing," of an RQ-170 Sentinel stealth-enabled drone over Iran. President Barack Obama was under pressure to launch a commando raid on Iran to retrieve the state-of-the art technology drone or bomb it and its security detail once it was discovered to be in Iranian hands. Obama chose to ask the Iranian to return the drone to the United States, something Tehran has refused to do, without, at the very least, an official apology.

ZoneAsia-Pk

Obama had on his hands a "Jimmy Carter moment" and his Republican opponents eagerly jumped on him for not sending in a commando team to retrieve the drone or order air strikes to destroy it. Obama left himself open to charges that he is a weak and ineffectual president because he allowed the RQ-170 to fall into the hands of not only the Iranians, but, as the rhetoric from his political enemies has alleged, the Russians and Chinese, as well. The right-wing claims that Russia or China, or both, will attempt to re-engineer the CIA's expensive toy, what is known as the mysterious "Beast of Kandahar," in order to leap frog the United States in stealth drone technology by years.

And just when Obama did not need any more bad news from his problematic CIA director, news came that an Air Force-operated MQ-9 Reaper drone on counter-terrorist and counter-piracy duty in the Indian Ocean crashed and burst into flames on landing at the international airport on Mahe island in the Seychelles. Most Air Force Reapers are remotely-piloted from Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The CIA's drone wars, which are supplemented by the U.S. Air Force's own Global Hawk, Predator, and Reaper operations, are increasingly being seen around the world as America's use of technology to commit the "joy stick and button" mass murder of people accused of being terrorists. In fact, the CIA and the Air Force have no idea who they are killing when its drones launch their deadly payloads. The building anger against the United States will continue to place the CIA's professional and increasingly amateurish personnel in danger in conflict zones like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Libya and in rear echelon support countries like Djibouti, Seychelles, Ethiopia, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, and Saudi Arabia.

The CIA's political influence operations around the world are also being exposed every day. Run in tandem with international financier George Soros and his network of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and not-for-profit foundations, the CIA's attempts to foment rebellions through "themed revolutions" and election engineering are becoming better understood, ironically through the media that Soros and the CIA champion the most - social networking. From the streets of Egypt and Syria, where the CIA's and Soros's involvement in artificially-created uprisings is no longer a secret, to Russia, Venezuela, Belarus, and China, where political intervention by the CIA and its team of Soros "do-gooders" is now being met with strong opposition, the cat is out of the bag.

While the CIA has for decades enjoyed the luxury of hiding behind NGOs, missionaries, aid workers, and journalists, the Internet has allowed CIA influence networks to be exposed and its agents, shills, and dupes to be identified. Time magazine has named as its "Person on the Year" for 2011 the generic "protester." However, as the CIA's worldwide operations become further exposed, the "protester" lauded by Time will no longer be a paid provocateur working for the CIA or Soros - taking orders and money from Human Rights Watch and Global Witness -- but one who is genuinely protesting the interference and aggression of the United States. And that protester will be found not only in Cairo, Moscow, Caracas, and Beirut but in New York, Washington, DC, Chicago, Miami, and Los Angeles.

Commonality between Veena Malik photo & Mansoor Ejaz's memo

Area 14/8

Question: What is common between a Veena Malik photo and a Mansoor Ijaz memo?

Answer: Both are excellent advertisements for the ISI, and both pinch it right where it hurts.

And then there is more.

Both surfaced out of nowhere, both are explosive, both evoke passions amongst average Pakistanis, both are allegedly a threat to the supreme national interest of the country, both potentially tempt articles 5 and 6 of the constitution, both are being categorised as traitorous and criminal and both are the instigators of the wrath of the ghairat brigade in Pakistan.

The only question that remains to be answered is how long both of them will last and how. Would these ghairat-shattering phenomena fizzle out just like so many other ghairat shattering phenomena of the past? I mean does anyone even remember who Raymond Davis was, or what our cricketers are doing in a British jail, or what happened in Abbottabad on May 2nd, and …well, I have been thinking for five minutes and can't recall any other ghairat-shattering phenomenon to complete what I am sure is a long list.

My point exactly.

The trouble with us Pakistanis is that we have too much hatred in our hearts and too little imagination in our heads to fully appreciate people for their confidence and perseverance alone, if nothing else.

Look at the poor president for instance. He takes all sorts of pressure from all sides for too long, falls ill eventually, goes for a check-up abroad, and all hell breaks loose.

I mean what does a president need to do to fall ill in peace around here?

And speaking of Zardari

Question: What is common between Veena Malik and president Zardari?

Answer: Both of them have the maximum number of enemies in Pakistan, and both of them don't give a flying UFO to that.

And then there is more.

Both of them are ambitious, both take calculated risks, both are shrewd enough to know what they are getting themselves into, and both bask in the glory of the aftermath these risks generate.

By the way, I think the president should make Ms Malik his media advisor. She is a wise girl, isn't she? For starters she fully knows what sells in the world, especially coming from Pakistan. It's women empowerment; either an oppressed woman (no offence intended to the oppressed woman), or the defying woman (no offence intended to the defying woman either).

Look at her and how she moulded herself to be both these women all packaged in one.

A partially nude starlet of an Islamic Republic; trying to cover up some essential secrets, while balancing herself on one leg; sporting an oversized ISI tattoo on a perfectly shaped arm, and holding a ready to go hand grenade, right where the head is.

Potent, isn't it?

Is it me or is there something really uncannily ironic about this image?

I mean does anyone else see it the way I see it?

If we were to believe what General Jim Jones said about Pakistan being the country hell-bent on self-destruction, and then we were philosophical enough to see the symbolism in the Veena Malik photo shoot, then don't we have a life time logo for all things nationalistic?

Unless of course the PTI comes into power, and all the ghairat related scores are settled once and for all.

When BBC asked Ms Malik what she was thinking when she decided to do a nude photo shoot, she replied by calling it a 'personality shoot' (whatever that is) and not a nude shoot, and insisted that she had been wearing a little something, which got morphed out of the picture.

"I was topless, but not that topless", said the brave girl, and probably said it with a straight face too.

Imagine Ms Malik being the media advisor for the government, and the government is asked whether it was privy to the Osama bin Laden operation. What would be our official response?

We were aware, but not that aware. Period.

Spot on, isn't it?

But in all honesty, I don't see that happening to Ms Malik for at least in the near future.

Pakistani women are empowered alright, but not that empowered.

Even Rehman Malik, the coolest person over such issues, has promised that he is going to look into the nudity matter himself.

I mean, c'mon Mr Malik! Aren't you in enough trouble already? What exactly are you going to achieve by looking into the nudity matter? Don't you know that we need at least four pious witnesses to look into the nudity matter (or something like that)? And the last time I checked, you were neither pious nor four (or were you?).

I think the best thing to do would be to form a committee for the nudity matter and let the committee look into it. Or maybe we can save money and ask the parliamentary committee on national security to do the job. I am sure they have nothing better to do for a long time.

And while they probe the nudity matter, may be they can also probe what would happen if Veena Malik wears her clothes, or the Mansoor Ijaz memo changes into a yellow butterfly. Would it change the life of an average Pakistani?

Question: What is common between Veena Malik and an average Pakistani?

Answer: Both of them need attention, and now!!

USA's Pak Agenda And Resistance Called Gen. Kayani

Tacstrat

Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kayani is under criticism for not taking action against the most corrupt and inefficient political government bent upon destroying the country. His critics have gone to the extent of saying that lollypop of 3-year extension has silenced him. It must not be forgotten that whenever the Army general stepped in, the overall situation was always chaotic and people were fed up of politicians. Opposition parties kept nudging GHQ to save the country from ruination. Each time a man on horseback took over the reins of power; he was hailed as a savior. Happy tidings of the military rule, however, never lasted for more than 2-3 years after which the tide got rough and once again people clamored for return of democracy. This see-saw is still going on but the Army seems to have learnt its lesson this time.

It is an established fact that as long as the military ruled the country singly it produced excellent results. Seized by a desire to gain legitimacy and to become democratic, the moment it brought in discarded and disgruntled politicians and made them run the facade of democracy, things went haywire. The deadly military-civilian combine always ended up in tarnishing the reputation of Army and the death of military rule. All military rulers irrespective of their good performance left the scene as discredited rulers. Fate of democratic leaders was no less pathetic. This cycle has gone on since 1958 and so far military has ruled the country four times totaling about 33 years. Making a dispassionate comparison, even the worst critics of Army would grudgingly agree that Army rulers had at least kept things in order. They were surely superior in governance and management and had taken GDP to 7% as against 2-3% GDP and rampant chaos during civilian rules.

It was wishfully hoped that after the fall of Gen Musharraf and takeover by the coalition government of PPP-PML-N tied to charter of democracy, the established practice of seeking a change for the sake of change would end. However, after seeing the true face of Zardari-Gilani led democratic regime, the people are once again vying for a change and are looking towards the Army since it is not within the capacity of another political party to bring a healthy a change. People who had celebrated the ouster of hated Gen Musharraf are now often heard saying that his rule was much better than the current democratic rule which is an insult to democracy. Notwithstanding their wish, Gen Kayani and his team of Generals also know that their infatuation towards the Army would be temporary. Within six months the dice would get loaded against he Army and all the ills placed at its doorsteps. This genuine apprehension is keeping Gen Kayani restrained.

Apart from few disgruntled superceded officers, all ranks have full faith in leadership of Gen Kayani who has done a lot for the welfare of lower ranks and is devoting lot of attention towards development works in FATA and Balochistan to win their hearts and minds. He monitors the ongoing war on terror from the front and the credit for turning the tide in favor of Army goes to him. Not only he has kept the Army away from civil affairs, he has shown respect to the elected government and has shunned all surreptitious moves made by self-seeking groups to derail democracy since he wants the people and political forces to decide what is good for them and the country.

Besides self-centered groups inside Pakistan desiring the Army to show door to the PPP government, outside powers are equally interested. It is now an established fact that US-UK combine brokered peace between Gen Musharraf and Benazir, got infamous NRO issued and paved the way for most corrupt, and thoroughly incompetent regime to rule the roost. The rulers are serving US agenda and are least pushed about Pakistan's national interests and whether it survives or breaks up into quasi states as is again being drummed up by foreign media. The ruling class and their rich companions have amassed so much ill-gotten wealth that they can live lord's life abroad. That is why they are least concerned about dismal politico-economic situation, America's bellicosity and its dangerous designs against Pakistan, India's military buildup and its efforts to dry up Pakistan by building over 62 dams on rivers doesn't bother them.

Notwithstanding their subservience to Washington's diktats, it has become disconcerting for the US to find all-powerful President Zardari unable to fulfill its core objectives because of military's obstruction. It is upsetting for USA to find that when its darling Musharraf was at the helm of affairs and was performing in accordance with its wishes, he didn't have a strong political government to support him to meddle into sensitive issues. Now that a popularly elected government is in power, Gen Kayani is not prepared to play the game. It would have been ideal for USA if Gen Kayani and Lt Gen Pasha were on the same page. In utter confusion, the US assaults the government and Army in rotation and at times simultaneously.

In desperation, Indo-US-Israeli nexus is now trying to create conditions for military takeover since with reins of power in the hands of Army it becomes that much easier for them to foment agitation and force the military to use force against protestors and thus prepare grounds to exploit human rights violations and subsequently justify war to dismember Pakistan. None will come to the rescue of Pakistan under military rule or shed tears on its dismemberment. Ongoing media war portraying the democratic government in poor light and egging on the military to step in is governed by this hidden motive.

Given the deteriorating state of affairs of the country when everything is in shambles, takeover by the Army will certainly be welcomed but the euphoria will subside all too soon and Kayani will be scoffed at. It will give justification to the ousted regime to project itself as a victim. Same old music will be played that the Army never allows democracy to flourish and axes it when it starts maturing. All the sins of politicians will be forgotten and the entire blame put on the Army in accordance with the past practice. Kayani is neither ambitious nor he has shown any inclination to overstep his authority vested in him. Even when he is showing deference to the civil government and is carrying out the instructions of the president and chief executive dutifully, the Army is still criticized for being domineering. This perception has been built by the cynics in the backdrop of Kayani taking up a principled stand on certain matters and showing the grimmer side of the picture.

He had prevailed upon PM Gilani to rescind his order of placing ISI under Ministry of Interior in August 2008 which if implemented would have been catastrophic. He had advised the top leadership not to send DGISI to New Delhi in the aftermath of 26/11 when India was in a highly belligerent mood. He had explained the gravity of the situation in the backdrop of cavalcade of long march in March 2009 which had reached Gujranwala and had advised the President that it will be in fitness of things if judges were restored and governor rule in Punjab terminated. His sane advice was heeded to and crisis averted.

He did express his deep reservations over certain clauses of Kerry Lugar Bill (KLB) which impinged upon security of Pakistan. Basic purpose of KLB was to wash away misgivings and grievances of Pakistan against USA and to build trust and promote better understanding between two countries. It was to act as a harbinger for sustainable Pak-US relations. It backfired and bred more suspicion and resentment since it was widely perceived as an instrument with which USA planned to deprive us of our dignity and sovereignty.

The bill was based on the presumption that Pakistan was guilty of terrorism, nuclear proliferation and that continuation of aid money would be dependent upon its performance. Pakistan was directed to stop nuclear proliferation and procurement of fissile material; cease support to terrorists and stop cross border terrorism and to allow drone attacks in Quetta. KLB sought direct access to all Pak nationals associated with nuclear proliferation or acquisition of nuclear materials for our nuclear program. Civil government was asked to exercise tight control over military budgets as well as on chain of command including promotions and appointments of senior officers. Expansion of US Embassy in Islamabad and facilitation of large number of CIA agents disguised as coordinators and project managers into Pakistan were dovetailed in KLB package.

It is an open secret that our Ambassador in Washington Hussein Haqqani was instrumental in adding certain anti-Army clauses since he carried a grudge against the Army. He is widely seen more as a spokesman for US than of Pakistan. All PPP leaders were distressed when objections were raised and repeatedly said that there was nothing wrong in the bill. Genuine reservations expressed by Kayani were taken personally by President to Washington and as a result an explanatory note was attached with the bill. This attachment was an admittance that original document was harmful but was gladly accepted by Haqqani and former foreign minister Qureshi.

Gen Kayani has been advising the government not to cede to the pressure of USA to launch a major operation in North Waziristan since the timings for opening another front was not in Army's favor. It was owing to his stand since early 2010 that this operation has so far not been launched. The Army and ISI had no role in the release of Raymond Davis in March 2011, yet Lt Gen Pasha is wrongly blamed. His only role was to extract maximum amount from USA for the families of murdered persons and to impose restrictions on CIA activities. From that time onwards and particularly after Abbottabad incident, these two institutions have been tirelessly working to emasculate CIA network in Pakistan. Gratuitous Stoppage of $800 million close support fund was meant to break the resistance of Army. The Army once again showed its mettle by declaring that it will continue fighting war on terror without the US aid as it had been doing in the past.

This kind of resistance put up by the Army against USA is unprecedented particularly when power is in the hands of most powerful civilian president duly remote controlled from Washington. Series of cockeyed allegations made against Gen Kayani and Lt Gen Pasha in particular and the institutions in general and media war by foreign and local media is the direct outcome of this resistance. While the Army and ISI have become eyesores for India, Israel and USA, ironically the US cannot make further headway in Afghanistan without their intimate support and hence cannot afford to get de-linked.

While the officers and men of Army are shedding their blood to safeguard the motherland, the politicians having sold their souls are bartering away national interests. Karachi, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA are bleeding, but our rulers are more concerned about power play. They least care about our sovereignty getting bruised and Pakistan getting neo-colonized as long as Uncle Sam promises more aid and cash flows in. This contrast has been there right from inception of Pakistan.

Soldiers perform their tasks with total dedication, devotion and patriotism and do not hesitate sacrificing their lives if the situation so demands, be it internal or external threat or manmade or natural catastrophes. Such a stance is not possible if moral fiber is weak. Honor, integrity, esprit de corps, values and discipline rank high in their personal lives. These traits are drilled into their minds in PMA and regimental centers and later on further honed in regiments and training institutions. Inbuilt accountability system takes care of all cases of indiscipline, sidelining all those who show lack of morals, camaraderie, professionalism, valor and leadership qualities. Only the best rise to higher ranks.

In contrast, the politicians enter corridors of power without any grooming from an academy. Family background and wealth becomes the basis for their election. They work with fervor only when their self interest is at stake, otherwise they adopt a lackadaisical posture and are least interested in national interests. Whatever patriotic slogans they raise are meant to befool the gullible public. They loot rather than protect national kitty. Morality, values and principles are of no consequence to them. They believe in the principle of making hay as long as the sun shines. Let the people judge the worth of politicians themselves and throw them out rather than the Army performing this act and getting blamed. Those who are instigating and provoking Kayani to takeover are not his well-wishers.

Notwithstanding that the higher judiciary and Khakis stand on high moral ground in obtaining contaminated environment where evil is promoted and virtue undermined, the only crib the people have against the two institutions is that they are not asserting their authority to put fear of God in the hearts of immoral rulers, making them set things right and pressuring them to agree to bring back ill-gotten wealth stashed in Swiss banks. Huge heaps of Pakistani wealth deposited abroad if invested in own banks can address all our problems of dependence, joblessness, poverty, extremism, ethnicity and sectarianism and make Pakistan healthy and wealthy. Prosperity will automatically reduce radicalism in the society and will promote peace and harmony.

If the judiciary and Army fail to take stock of the fast dwindling situation and assert moral pressure on the government to mend its ways, they will be held equally responsible if Pakistan becomes a failed state and collapses from within because of incompetence, poor governance and widespread corruption.

Crimes of Intellect: Cheating, Stealing and Misusing

Area 14/8

It all began with false eyelashes. Growing up in the 1960s I could not fathom why actresses with plastic insertions appeared attractive to their fans. The equally disgusting discovery of fake-coloured nails on Americans was made in the late 1980s. An office mate explained these were off the shelf and not obtained through careful tending of the cuticles.

Returning to academia in Pakistan in the first half of the last decade, one discovered how expats and other Pakistanis were applying and getting jobs in our institutions using fake degrees from fake universities - here and abroad - using fake publications. In the context of this article, a fake academic journal is an online journal that has no referees (despite a long list of editorial board members) and that takes a fee from the author to get the article published online, very quickly.

Nearly eight years ago, I informed Dr Atta-ur-Rahman of a fake journals publishing racket in Faisalabad, which needed to be squashed by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and the law agencies, failing which it would grow and entice academics to take the short-cut to promotion and privileges. The damaging role of substandard universities in our midst that had received a charter was also highlighted.

Unfortunately, the advice was not heeded. As a result, we have parliamentarians with fake degrees hoodwinking the HEC and the Election Commission for over two years. Sadly, the Supreme Court has also failed to take up an old petition by members of civil society outlining a simple process for verifying degrees that could be completed in a few weeks.

The issues of plagiarism, fake degrees, fake and substandard universities and dishonest politicians are intimately linked. A common response to this hydra-headed problem is despair. Wait until society reforms itself, some say. Proponents of this approach would like society to attack seemingly far more important issues, the solution of which would make such 'minor' issues disappear.

The wiser approach is to be holistic in one's analysis yet split the problem into doable parts and attack each swiftly. This latter approach is how the HEC ought to tackle the issue. Failing to do so will cause the few centres of excellence and genuine researchers here to be viewed with suspicion internationally further dampening their morale.

A weeklong intensive research led to findings of large-scale use of fake journals. These are approved by the HEC and appear on its site in the resumés of its certified PhD supervisors. The HEC chairman, Dr Javaid Laghari, and several holders of the HEC Distinguished National Professorships have been notified of this. I can email interested readers the documents provided to the HEC.

My research and the follow-up letter to HEC was prompted by the encouraging news report in a newspaper titled, 'Laghari says HEC believes in zero-tolerance policy with regard to plagiarism'. It said: "Dr Laghari … said that the HEC believed in a zero-tolerance policy on plagiarism in the theses of teachers and that if any university was found favouring plagiarists, the HEC would take stern action against it".

The other spur to this effort was the unsolicited bulk mail that I received advertising patently fake journals. On investigating their claims I found a large number of Pakistani academics associated with them as editors and contributors. One such person, in addition to being on the editorial board of such a family of journals, had also contributed an article to them - this article was part of this person's application for promotion to professorship in Pakistan's premier public university. The HEC approved this ascension earlier this year.

Becoming suspicious of these editorial boards, I checked the names of four professors from prestigious western universities whose names appeared on these sites, including two from Cambridge, England, and the University of Maryland (UMD). They were both horrified by this revelation and the UMD professor got her university's attorney to get the offending website removed. The others have been requested to do so similarly. But surely this is what one would like the HEC to do too.

One of the editors on the blanked-out site may have a little to worry about though. He is on the board of many such journals, and despite working for a university with a dubious reputation following a PhD from an equally poor university, published 11 papers in 2010, and in the first half of 2011 had nine 'foreign' publications, in fake journals. [The HEC website lists them as 'recognised'.] Courtesy of his many papers, he has managed many foreign junkets, in fact 13 in the past five years. Most amusing is his attendance at a workshop in Lahore on Research Ethics and Anti-Plagiarism Strategy! I wouldn't be surprised if the HEC footed the bill for this one.

One could continue offering other such anecdotal evidence of large-scale fraud, but I return to the warning I gave to the past HEC chairman in 2003, which has now been vindicated by articles by Jeffrey Beall of Colorado University at Denver. He has shown how the racket that began in Faisalabad has proliferated. It now has offices in the capital, as my investigations show.

Without doubt, the HEC's quality assurance programme has failed. There is an urgent need for an internal and external review followed by the institution of a robust system that maintains transparency and restores the integrity of research publications and higher education in Pakistan. One hopes that such a change will not be relegated to endless committees. The treatment is known; it is time for action.

Chinese Navy prepares for War

ZoneAsia-Pk

Hu Jintao, China's leader, has publicly commented for the first time on the country's naval ambitions saying they must prepare for warfare.

China has been locked into territorial disputes with the Philippines and Vietnam calling them historically Chinese. However the real reason appears to be that China believes that major oil and natural gas lay beneath the ground or sea floor within those two countries.

U.S. Navy spokesman Adm. John Kirby said in response that "Certainly we wouldn't begrudge any other nation the opportunity to develop naval forces." China recently completed sea trails of its first aircraft carrier, although the ship is a used ship that was heavily modified and looks cloers to the WWII ear Aircraft Carrier, the USS Lexington.

Though China has increased its defense spending to record levels over the last several years, most analyst say China's ground army is still primary focus on training and equipping its forces for domestic purposes and its nascent navy is about the size of the state of California's Naval Reserve forces and comprised mainly of small craft.

In response to increased Chinese muscle flexing in the region, the U.S. too has been busy doing much the same, it recently announced it is sending a well armed and special operations capable Marine force to be permanently stations in the tropical northern areas of Australia after reaching a Status of Forces Agreement with the long time American ally.

Those Marines will be within stroking distance of most of southeast Asia within a matter of hours. And Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and other have express a relief as American forces are headed to their neighborhood of the world. Additionally, a small contingent of U.S. Navy assets will be set up in Bangkok.

Both the Philippines and Vietnam have repeatedly accused China of overt aggression in the region. Analysts say the US move is a direct challenge to China's attempts to dominate the area, and is likely to bolster US allies in the South China Sea dispute.

Australian Uranium: If India can get it why not Pakistan

Tacstrat

Pakistan says it should be allowed access to uranium from Australia, after a long-standing ban on exporting the substance to India was overturned.

Delhi welcomed Sunday's vote by Australia's governing Labour Party to drop the ban on the sale of uranium.

But Pakistan's high commissioner to Australia responded by saying his country should get equal treatment.

Australia, which holds an estimated 40% of the world's uranium, already exports it to China, Japan, Taiwan and the US.

It has traditionally banned uranium sales to countries that are not signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty - this includes both India and Pakistan.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard persuaded her party that India was being so closely watched by the international community that the sale would be safe.

But Pakistan's High Commissioner Abdul Malik Abdullah told Australia's ABC radio that past concerns about the security of Pakistan's nuclear industry had now been set aside.

He said the case of AQ Khan, a Pakistani scientist accused of passing nuclear secrets to Iran and Libya, was in the past.

He denied Pakistan was a volatile state, unsuitable to receive uranium supplies. The Australian government has not responded to his comments.

Australia's uranium industry has welcomed the policy shift.

Diverging Roads

By Zoon Ahmad Khan


ZoneAsia-Pk

Quite often the truth becomes what it is believed to be.

The 21st century; where every tom, dick and harry has an opinion and the power to impose it.

If Pakistan were to manage a decent start to wrapping up a decades old mess, is now the right time?

The recent airstrikes at the Pakistani Check Post in the Mohmand Agency of Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal areas left a nation of 187 million in shambles. With the Shaheed Jawaans' funeral and photographs repeatedly playing all over Pakistani television, the fingers pointing towards the US have increased exponentially in this week. The NATO airstrike fueled a sentiment that has for years discovered a decent abode in a perturbed and beaten down society. This disposition is reflected in the jaw-dropping success of an anti-drone and predominantly anti-Imperialist streak visible in Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf's campaign accompanied by a widespread murmur of 'puppet leaders' quandary that several opposition parties and the media have raised. Post Memogate Fiasco, one attempts to link the two events: Is this the Iron fist to intimidate Pak Army? We might never find out for sure, but there is enough evidence to highlight divergence.

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White House: Obama won't apologize for Killing Pakistani Troops

Tacstrat

The White House said US President Barack Obama will not issue a formal apology or condolences on the death of 24 Pakistani soldiers in a Nato attack on the Pak-Afghan border, said a report by The New York Times.

However, the State Department officials feel that there is a need for such an apology to mend the straining relationship between the two countries, according to the report.

The report stated that US Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter, through a video conference, told White House officials that the anti-American sentiment has reached its peak in Pakistan stressing the need for a formal apology by the US. But the White House argued that condolences offered by senior US officials and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were enough till the US completes its investigations into the matter, the report said.

"The US government has offered its deepest condolences for the loss of life, from the White House and from Secretary Clinton and Secretary Panetta," said Tommy Vietor, spokesman for the National Security Council, referring to Defense Secretary Leon E Panetta, "and we are conducting an investigation into the incident. We cannot offer additional comment on the circumstances of the incident until we have the results."

Pakistan has strongly responded to the attack on the Pakistani checkposts by cutting off Nato supplies to Afghanistan through Pakistan and refusing to attend the Bonn conference in Germany. The Pakistani government has also demanded for the Shamsi airbase - being used for the drone strikes - to be shut down.

The Pakistan Army said that the attack was unprovoked and was a 'deliberate act of action', while in a recent statement, top US military officer General Martin Dempsey denied the allegations.

Nato helicopters and fighter jets attacked two military border posts in northwest Pakistan on Saturday in the worst incident of its kind since Islamabad allied itself with Washington in 2001 in the war on militancy.