How ODA 574 Installed Karzai, And Afghan Democracy

Afghan democracy is the work of US army's special forces unit, led by Major Jason Amerine. This is a fake, imposed democracy. It will not last.

The Afghan election is not about George Washington, Cromwell or the French Revolution. It is more about Major Jason Amerine and his battle-hardened covert operations boys who introduced Hamid Karzai to the world, along with fake, warlord-backed, drug-money-financed Afghan democracy that will never work.


For the people in Afghanistan and Pakistan, whose historical emperors ruled a large swath of Central and South Asia, they would never accept a ruler installed by an occupation force. The setup in Kabul is there as long as the Americans are in Kabul with the coalition of the unwilling, NATO. The only other country that is keen to sustain the Afghan mess is India, for reasons that have to do with Pakistan than anything else.


Hamid Karzai was brought to power seven years ago by US special forces unit ODA 574.


His rival, Abdullah Abdullah, is worse. He was a smalltime PR person working for the northern alliance force, a proxy militia created by the Indians and Iranians, with Russian backing.


Remember the breaking news on CNN and BBC on Nov. 2, 2001 when the two Am-Brit channels aired a planted news story about a heroic Hamid Karzai entering Afghanistan with fighters from his tribe to liberate Kabul from Taliban government?
 It was a drama orchestrated to legitimize the US- and UK-installed pawn in Kabul.


You can see here a private picture taken by someone from ODA 574. It shows what Karzai was actually doing on the ground about the same time that the American and British media was glorifying Karzai's solo attempt at 'liberating' Afghanistan.


On September 11, 2001, US Army's lead special forces unit, ODA 574, was in Kazakhstan reportedly training the Kazakh army. Three days later, its members were secretly entering Afghanistan, one month before the formal launch of the American-British invasion of Afghanistan. ODA 574 entered Afghan territory even before the United Nations granted Washington the right to wage war in response to 9/11.


ODA 574 does not operate as part of the US military on the ground. Its job is to infiltrate other countries, carry out sabotage and generally help break the target from the inside. This includes assassinating political or religious leaders, destroying power plants, or sparking ethnic or sectarian clashes.


In a way, what the unit was doing in this picture above was a dry run for all the mess introduced to the region in the following years, in Pakistan, in Iran, and in China's Xinjiang. Pakistanis are almost convinced that the miraculous and sudden rise of the so-called Pakistani Taliban to spread terror inside Pakistan had everything to do with support from covert elements inside Afghanistan, possibly a setup similar to ODA 574.


There is little doubt also that US-controlled Afghanistan is being used by both Americans and Indians to stir trouble in China's Xinjiang.


Russia and Iran are paying the price for helping the Americans use their assets, the Northern Alliance, to occupy Afghanistan. In Russia, the fronts in Ingushetia and Chechnya have suddenly warmed up recently with mysterious attacks on vital installations. Payback time, Putin.


According to information available in the public domain, members of ODA 574 are equipped with training for unconventional warfare, special communications systems and backed by combat controllers.


The unit helped glorify Hamid Karzai, who until then was nothing more than a fixer hired by American oil interests to court the Taliban government in Kabul. Karzai worked for Zalmay Khalilzad, who worked for people close to Dick Cheney and the Bush family, who were in bed with oil giants.


Washington used the Indian-Iranian-Russian backed Northern Alliance against Kabul. But after the occupation, Washington wanted to see its own puppet in power. Karzai was 'lionized' so that he could stand up to the Northern Alliance in the negotiations to form a post-Taliban government. Needless to say, the Am-Brit media pumped so much hot air into Karzai's image that everyone else had to concede the presidency to America's nominee.


This is, of course, my version of the story. The version of the US army is slightly different. The US military does not deny that ODA 574 was there on the ground in Afghanistan helping Karzai. The US military simply constructs a myth around the help extended by ODA 574 to Afghan 'freedom fighters' led by Hamid Karzai to topple an oppressive regime in Kabul. The American version also defines ODA 574's mission as that to bolster democracy in pursuance of the ideals of America's founding fathers. In short, the usual American foreign policy doublespeak.


The worst part of this story is that the American people, who are a fine people, are spoon-fed government planted lies 24/7 through CNN and Fox News. A majority of the Americans don't know what their government and their military have done to Afghanistan, empowering thugs and drug pushers and using the occupied nation to destabilize neighboring countries.


If Afghanistan were America's war of independence, the government in Kabul today would be the equivalent of General George Howe of Britain defeating George Washington and appointing a British puppet as chief executive in White House.


Conclusion: The elections in Afghanistan were a success. A triumph for freedom. Ahem.

Anyone Still Interested In Kidnapping Dr. AQ Khan?

The credit for the two best-known cases of smuggling out nuclear scientists goes to Israel’s Mossad and Pakistan’s ISI. Israel kidnapped a renegade Israeli nuclear scientist. Pakistan helped one return home from Europe with the technology to build the bomb.

Both scientists were driven by noble impulses. The Israeli scientist, Mordechai Vanunu, wanted to expose his government's fevered push to produce nuclear weapons in a region that had none. The Pakistani scientist wanted to help his small country stand up to a nuclear-armed bully, India.

This is why Dr. A. Q. Khan, who has been much demonized by the Am-Brit media, is a hero to 180 million Pakistanis.

But a question begs itself: demonized for what?

Although former President Musharraf did a commendable job at shielding Dr. Khan from direct American access, the very act of forcing Dr. Khan to confess to something that is not a crime under any law was wrong.

Pakistan is not signatory to Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Islamabad could have simply told Washington and London to take a hike when both accused it of transferring technology to Iran and North Korea.

In fact, there was room for a deal: Ensure Pakistan's legitimate regional security requirements, including a credible nuclear deterrent in the face of Indian posturing, in exchange for avoiding any future Pakistani nuclear trade with North Korea.

By incarcerating Dr. Khan, Musharraf's Pakistan accepted undue pressure. We will have to pay for a long time, especially in bad reputation, for showing weakness when we should not have.

But since Pakistan did accept the 'crime', several international parties can make a case now for pursuing Dr. Khan if he is set free of the security detail that accompanies him. The Americans have been twisting Pakistani arm for some time demanding US officers be allowed to interrogate Dr. Khan.

Washington has direct interest in nuclear technology transfer to Iran and North Korea. But America has also been silently worried about the Pakistani nuclear program. In 1978, when there was no threat of extremists overtaking Pakistani nukes, CIA used the US consulate in Karachi to recruit 12 Pakistani nuclear scientists and technicians. The CIA ring was assigned the task of sabotaging several nuclear sites to scuttle the nascent Pakistani nuclear program and make it look like a series of unfortunate accidents by an inexperienced nuclear power aspirant.

The Israelis are also quite active in the region: In India where military and intelligence cooperation is at a peak; and in Afghanistan, which is one of the countries Israeli intelligence service is using to encircle and penetrate Iran.

In February, London's Daily Telegraph ran a report quoting unnamed 'western intelligence sources' that said Israel was quietly assassinating Iranian nuclear experts. As proof, the newspaper said Mossad was behind the mysterious murder of Ardeshire Hassanpor, the top Iranian nuclear scientist at the uranium plant in Isfahan in 2007.

Why would anyone still be interested in laying their hands on Dr. A. Q. Khan, who has had no operational access to Pakistani strategic sites for at least a decade now?

Considering Pakistan's crippled security environment, exposed thanks to a heavy US overt and covert presence in the region, Dr. Khan faces a real threat of being kidnapped. Washington's spy network has been a failure so far in assessing the exact location of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal. The Americans have also failed, despite several attempts, to gain access to the 'triggers'. Under duress, like a Guantanamo-style interrogation, Dr. Khan can provide clues that could lead to understanding where and how Pakistan is safeguarding its nuclear capability.

Security officials in Pakistan will have to balance Dr. Khan's legitimate need to feel he continues to be a revered Pakistani hero with Pakistan's security requirements and needs. This is a tough balancing act considering that Dr. Khan's original incarceration and the subsequent demonization was contrary to Pakistani interest.

In July 2008, when a justifiably angry Dr. Khan gave a series of press interviews throwing out juicy details about Pakistan's nuclear history, I authored a report assessing threats to the well being of Dr. Khan should he decide to completely dispose off of the security detail provided to him.

Here are relevant excerpts:

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—Dr. A. Q. Khan, Pakistan’s notorious nuclear scientist, is under threat of being kidnapped and bundled out of the country in a joint Israeli-American operation that could take the lid off Pakistan’s massive nuclear and strategic arsenal.

Pakistani security officials went on red alert in the last week of June 2008 after receiving information that Israel’s Mossad, possibly in a joint operation with some elements from CIA, is planning to kidnap Dr. Khan, who lives in a house in an Islamabad suburb, and take him out of the country. The officials are tightlipped about the source of the alert.

This possibility is literally Pakistan’s worst nuclear nightmare. All Pakistani scientists, technicians and other special staffers, retired and serving, working on the strategic weapons programs, follow security procedures to avert this possibility. Dr. Khan is the only retired senior scientist who is currently trying to break out of these procedures, creating a risk both for himself and for Pakistan. Islamabad has done a lot to protect him from foreign hands.

Dr. Khan no longer holds official access to Pakistan’s strategic facilities but is considered to be a treasure trove of information on Pakistan’s missile and strategic weapons, especially the two areas that bear his fingerprints: uranium enrichment technology and the development of Pakistan’s long range, nuclear capable Ghauri missile series.

The threat to Dr. Khan is part of a larger dilemma facing Islamabad these days regarding how to deal with the retired scientist. The government wants to relax his security detail assigned to him since his 2004 confession to running a clandestine proliferation network and the subsequent presidential pardon. The government wants to do this in order to calm the Pakistani public opinion that continues to see Dr. Khan as a mistreated national hero.

But the other side of the coin is the fact that Dr. Khan is privy to critical and classified information. There is no known threat to his life but he faces a real possibility of being kidnapped and shipped out of Pakistan to be debriefed by foreign interrogators. One Pakistani official puts this dilemma facing the Pakistani government this way, ‘How can we take a chance with this kind of a personality?’

Making matters worse is Dr. Khan himself, who has intensified his campaign of blackmailing the government into withdrawing his security detail and set him free of any security. Pakistani officials say Dr. Khan is a free man but that assigning him a security detail is based on threat assessments done by professionals.

[ … ]

Pakistan has firmly told everyone that Dr. Khan’s case is ‘closed.’ But the worrying aspect is that with a strongly pro-American PPP government in Islamabad, whose ambassador in Washington is keen to promote U.S. views and whose party cochairman, Mr. Asif Zardari, has used his recent international tour to confirm the presence of terrorist camps inside Pakistan, there is no towering politician or statesman left in the Pakistani capital who can come forward now and boldly defend the Pakistani position.

Alarmingly, Dr. Khan has moved the Pakistani Supreme Court to force the government to remove all security detail assigned to him. This obviously crosses a red line.

That is why Lt. Gen. Khalid Kidwai, the director of the Strategic Plans Division, which oversees the strategic weapons programs, came out on Saturday in Islamabad to say that Pakistan will protect its interest at any cost.

“There are international threats … [Dr. Khan] is being simplistic in his approach,” Gen. Kidwai told a group of Pakistani journalists during a special briefing over the weekend in Islamabad.

Although the days of the Cold War, with their intelligence intrigues, are behind us, the history of nuclear espionage and the stories of the kidnappings and mysterious disappearances of nuclear scientists are too serious and too fresh to be ignored.

Early last year, an Iranian scientist, Ardeshire Hassanpour, mysteriously died in Isfahan, Iran. He was connected to the Natanz nuclear facility which is under international spotlight. Reports suggested he was either killed by the Israeli Mossad or was eliminated by the Iranian government after he was found communicating with either American or Israeli agents. In either situation, this is a fresh and clear case that Pakistan’s immediate region is abuzz with covert activity targeting nuclear scientists and installations.

Interestingly, the credit for two of the best known cases of kidnapping a nuclear scientist and taking him to another country goes to Israel’s Mossad and Pakistan’s ISI. The Pakistani intelligence agency smuggled Dr. A. Q. Khan out from Europe to Pakistan, not to mention that it ran a clandestine operation for the purchase of prohibited equipment and recruitment of nuclear experts and technicians. So, it is safe to say that officials in Islamabad know what they are dealing with. And thus the threat perception [the chances of an A.Q. Khan kidnap] is not exaggerated.

On Sept. 30, 1986, Mossad drugged and smuggled out the rogue Israeli nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu while he was en route in a plane from London to Rome. Vanunu was a disgruntled former employee of the Israeli nuclear program. In revenge, he handed over pictures and sensitive information to a British newspaper.

For those who think the Pakistani government is not fair to Dr. Khan, they should see what the Israeli government did to Vanunu.

According to a U.S. Web report, ‘Mordechai Vanunu spent 18 years in prison, including more than 11 years in solitary confinement. Vanunu was released from prison in 2004, subject to a broad array of restrictions on his speech and movement. Since then he has been briefly arrested several times for multiple violations of those restrictions, including giving various interviews to foreign journalists and attempting to leave Israel. In July 2007, Vanunu was sentenced to a further six months' imprisonment for speaking to foreigners and for traveling to Bethlehem.’

In comparison, Dr. Khan is not in detention. He is at his home with his family. He carries a cell phone, along with his family members. Recently, he has been allowed to take meals at restaurants, with some restrictions pertaining to timings in view of Dr. Khan’s security. The Pakistani authorities have been so generous with Dr. Khan that recently he has been free to give telephone and written interviews without any problem, which indicates that his telephone calls and written exchanges are not monitored or censored.

At no point did any Pakistani official misbehave with Dr. Khan. The reason for this generosity is that Dr. Khan might have wronged by getting involved in the proliferation business and self-enrichment, but he remains a man who served his nation well.

Lt. Gen. Kidwai of the Strategic Plans Division (SPD) and Gen. Ihsan-ul-Haq, the former head of the ISI, who questioned Dr. Khan in ten different ‘sittings’ back in 2004 always addressed Dr. Khan as ‘sir’ as a sign of respect.

The evidence of wrongdoing against the prominent scientist was so strong and damning that Dr. Khan changed his testimony from an initial denial to stopping at one point to say, ‘Enough is enough. Please ask the President to pardon me.’

Gen. Kidwai and the ISI chief conveyed to President Musharraf that Dr. Khan wanted to apologize and seek a pardon. ‘This is not personal,’ President Musharraf reportedly said, ‘He should apologize to the nation.’

This is where the idea for the famous television apology came up. The National Command Authority, the main federal agency in charge of the strategic assets and the parent organization of SPD, prepared an initial draft and handed a copy to Dr. Khan for his input. The process of finalizing the draft apology took at least three to four days as the draft of the apology letter ran back and forth between the officials and Dr. Khan, who made corrections to the draft with his own pen. This draft copy is available with the officials and contradicts Dr. Khan’s recent complaint that ‘a letter of apology was thrust in his hands at the President’s office and he was asked to read it on television.’

Now Islamabad is considering presenting the evidence against Dr. Khan before a limited group of neutral Pakistanis. The evidence cannot be made public due to the sensitivity of the information. But if Dr. Khan manages to convince the Pakistani court that he needs to be freed of all security around him, then the government will come forward with the evidence before a group of prominent Pakistanis in a closed door exercise. The purpose is to prove that Dr. Khan is not as innocent as he says he is, and, second, to ensure he retains the security detail provided to him in order to protect him from possible threats, including the reports of an Israeli-style kidnapping.

Pakistani authorities have a legal document that Dr. Khan approved. The document indicates that the presidential pardon was conditional on Dr. Khan not jeopardizing national secrets and provided that no new information emerges on his proliferation activities beyond what he has already confessed.

As for the latest report on a possible plan to kidnap Dr. Khan and take him outside Pakistan, it is not clear where the information came from. Officials are tightlipped. Islamabad closely monitors Indian activities in the region and there is evidence that Indian intelligence operatives in the past have tried to volunteer information on Pakistani nuclear sites to Israel and to certain Pakistan-averse lobbies in the United States.

But Pakistan’s nuclear and strategic weapons programs remain on a strong footing. The image of instability is the result of a political failure on the part of the political class in the country.

The military resolve remains intact. In fact, voices are rising now that say that Pakistan should not be apologetic about its past cooperation with North Korea. Islamabad is not signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and its cooperation with North Korea was within the parameters of Pakistan’s own legitimate security and defense considerations and did not break any international law.

Any past and future Pakistani cooperation with the United States or the IAEA remains confined to two red lines set by Islamabad: One, no one can question Pakistan about the origins of its nuclear and strategic weapons programs, and, Two, Pakistan will not discuss at any level its nuclear cooperation with friends and allies. Iran and North Korea are the only exception because the two nations are already involved in multilateral talks about their programs.

PakNationalist Jinnah

A book in India that praises Pakistan's founder is being celebrated in Pakistan. Pakistani commentators appear apologetic in trying to seek approval. The book argues that Mohammad Ali Jinnah did not want Pakistan as a first choice. This is a common mistake made both by Indian and western writers, and even some Pakistani intellectuals. Pakistan was destined to happen, a result of ten centuries of Pakistani cultural, political and military presence in the region located between India, Iran and Afghanistan. The Quaid-e-Azam, as Pakistanis reverently call their Great Leader, understood this and became the instrument for a cause larger than him. The Indians need to correct one more fallacy: there was no 'partition' in 1947.

While we should thank India's former foreign minister for his courage in praising the charismatic leader of Pakistan's independence movement, we should stop behaving as if we are seeking validation and vindication. Mr. Jaswant Singh's book is not a Pakistani victory. It is a sincere attempt by an Indian citizen to probe what is commonly known as partition, which itself is based on the false notion that a sovereign India was wrongly divided. For us in Pakistan, we should realize that our independence – and not 'partition' – is steeped in both modern and old histories and requires no explanation.

Pakistani intellectuals continue to be afflicted with low self-esteem that prevents them from fashioning an interpretation of history supportive of the idea of Pakistani nationalism. In this, our intellectuals are far behind the thinkers in Israel, for example, who achieved the impossible by reviving a 2,000-year-old dead language to gel a nation of diverse peoples.

Our politicians and thinkers failed to make something out of Pakistan in the past six decades mainly because of the lack of pride that comes from a sense of being, a sense of destiny, a sense of history. This discussion is also important because we have seen brazen attempts during the last two years, especially in the US media, to promote the idea of Pakistan's balkanization.

Finding a nationalistic motivation, a sort of PakNationalism, is essential.

The first thing Pakistanis need to know is that Pakistan was destined to happen. Our leader, Mr. Jinnah, made it happen through his sheer brilliance because he was there. But Pakistan was going to happen anyway, in some shape or form and at an opportune time, because of the force of history. Pakistan was not a historical coincidence that the common historical version suggests and which Mr. Singh reinforced. There is no coincidence in the fact that a quarter of a century before Quaid-e-Azam's rise, a poet who wore a Turkish tarboosh (hat) and wrote Persian poetry predicted such a country. Pakistan's rise came exactly 90 years after the formal fall of the Mughal empire, Pakistan's predecessor, which was the only India the world had known for centuries. Except for that 90-year-long gap, Pakistan had existed in several shapes and forms and for at least ten centuries or more.


Pakistan's Quaid-e-Azam was a Pakistani nationalist. He was the istrument that helped Pakistan fulfil its destiny, a destiny preordained by the force of history.

Our Indian friends have the right to debate the question of India's supposed division. But today’s India, born in 1947, was never divided or partitioned. It a historical fallacy to think that Pakistan was ever part of any united and sovereign Indian state. The only thing that was divided in 1947 was a British colony that in turn was based on a defunct Muslim empire. The Indian grievance about the 'partition' that is at the core of Indian animosity toward Pakistan is without base.

What is more surprising is how Pakistan's intellectuals were drawn by Mr. Singh's book to conclude that Pakistan's founding father was an 'Indian nationalist' who did not want Pakistan as a first choice. This is incorrect because it negates the force of history that favored Pakistan. Tens of millions of people wanted to be future Pakistani citizens before the country even existed. The timely and superb leadership of Mr. Jinnah was an instrument, not the cause.

Sixty-two years later, Pakistanis shouldn't be discussing details. We know there was a Pakistan independence movement. We know it was anchored in history. We know that the fourth and fifth generations of today's Pakistanis are more integrated than ever, sharing similar ethnic and cultural roots spread over three dynamic regions that surround Pakistan.

This is the reality of Mr. Jinnah's PakNationalism. And this is the only thing that matters.

Indian Predicament In Kashmir

Just like the Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Indian army is cornered in Kashmir. If a war breaks out in the region, Indian soldiers have no doubt they will be facing enemy soldiers from the front and Kashmiris gunning for their necks from back.

Here is a groundbreaking report that shows, in the language of ground realities, India's lost battle in occupied Kashmir.

The report is titled, Indian Elections In Kashmir: The Impact On Freedom.

Here is the conclusion:

"State assembly elections have been held in Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir in the past and are likely to continue to be held in the future. If history is any guide, it can safely be inferred that they will neither be accepted by the people of Jammu and Kashmir as a substitute to the right to self-determination or plebiscite, nor they diminish freedom sentiments in the valley."

CLICK TO READ THE FULL REPORT HERE

In A Plane With Musharraf's Mother

Mr. Riaz Khan [riazkhan0427@gmail.com] is a retired senior bureaucrat and a blogger. On Aug. 19, he happened to share the same flight with former President Musharraf's mother and elder brother from Islamabad to Karachi.

This is what he wrote [my comments are at the bottom]:

"Dear Friends of Pakistan & of President Musharraf, I want to share my personal experience of Wednesday while coming on 3.00 PM PIA flight from ISL to Karachi. I was travelling in Economy Plus & had a window seat. A elderly lady in the same row on Aile seat sat who was assisted by a dignified man, I immediately recognized that she was Musharraf's mother & the man resembled like Musharraf although little thinner. In the front row was our bull dog looking finance minister Shaukat Tareen seated. Once the plane took off, I offered my respect to the lady & told her that how much we love his son. The person sitting next to me was Musharraf's elder brother, who is settled in Rome. Guys, he was such a humble and nice man that I cannot find words to explain him. We knew lot of mutual friends and talked during the flight. Besides, I mentioned to Musharraf mother about my father in law, while her husband was posted in Ankara & surprisingly she remembered the names of my sister in laws and mother in law. There was no protocol, no special treatment except wheel chair as offered to ordinary PIA passengers at KHI airport. Our bull dog Finance Minister did not had the courtesy to say hello to the aged lady. Outside the airport was Ayala, president's daughter to receive them. Can you imagine this happening to any of our other leaders, who had ruled the country for 9 years. One of my friend, who knows Musharraf very well visited him in his modest two bed room flat in London and was invited for dinner at his place. I was told that he was laying the table for dinner himself & was extremely happy, content and satisfied with life. There were no regrets or ill feelings against anybody & his only concern was Pakistan. Aren't we an unfortunate nation to lose a remarkable person like him & replace him with the likes of AAZ, NS & SS?"

MY COMMENTS: My dear Mr. Riaz, it was Mr. Musharraf's deliberate decision to leave Pakistan in the hands of these inept, tried, tested and failed politicians. No one forced Mr. Musharraf to do it. He did it to himself and to all of us. Washington wouldn't have imposed these cartoons on us if it wasn't for Mr. Musharraf's full endorsement. I say this with great disappointment because I was one of the rare few who backed him in the public arena in the hope that he would the right thing.

Nawaz Sharif In a Traffic Jam

This story is dedicated to all those Pakistanis who believe we have a savior in Mr. Nawaz Sharif.Mr. Nawaz Sharif's midweek trip to the hilly Murree resort didn't end well. On his way back, his motorcade was stuck in a traffic jam. Instead of waiting for the cars to move like all Pakistanis do, Mr. Sharif had a solution. His brother is the chief executive of the province where Murree is located. So he simply called the Chief Secretary of the Punjab province.

Resolving traffic congestions is not in the job of this bureaucrat, the Chief Secretary. But since he works for a government run by a family-run political party, the poor civil servant has to lick boots to promote his career. So he wasted no time in dispatching government employees to end the traffic jam and rescue a restless Mr. Nawaz Sharif.

Story doesn't end here.

Some thirty police officers were 'suspended' from duty the next day because they failed to make Mr. Sharif's picnic a smooth drive [What were they supposed to do? Reinvent a lousy traffic system?]

This feudalistic, paternal attitude by Mr. Sharif is nothing new to the elite, superrich class of Pakistani politicians. Ordinary middle class Pakistanis are virtually banned entry to these feudal-owned political parties.

This is why Mr. Sharif will never understand why what he did is wrong.

If Musharraf Committed Treason, The Chief Justice 'Abetted' Him, Will He Order To Hang Himself Too?

This is a guest column by Mr. Danyal Aziz [danyal_aziz47@yahoo.com]. Needless to say, it is a brillient piece.

If former President Pervez Musharraf is charged with treason, he will not be alone. So should be the politicians who supported him and the Supreme Court judges who endorsed his coup in the year 2000. Almost all of the top judges in Pakistan today fall into this category. This is why the Supreme Court did not even mention the 1999 coup and restricted itself to condemning Musharraf for his 2007 emergency rule. The incumbent Chief Justice of Pakistan was among the judges who endorsed Mr. Musharraf's coup. The Article 6 of the Constitution charges with treason not only violators like Musharraf but also the 'abettors' like the honorable judges who endorsed the violator. What a predicament.

By Danyal Aziz
Tuesday, 11 August 2009.
http://www.ahmedquraishi.com/

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan—Is Mr. Ansar Abbasi right about invoking Article 6 of the Constitution against former President Pervez Musharraf?

A dispassionate analysis of the said article of the Constitution proves that he is not right.

Article 6 states in clause 2 that "any person aiding or abetting the acts mentioned in clause 1 shall likewise be guilty of high treason".

Article 6 cannot be applied selectively on President Musharraf alone but will have to be applied equally on all those who 'abetted' him.

Musharraf abrogated the Constitution twice. First in October 1999. It was a coup against an elected prime minister. Very few judges objected to the takeover and a majority of the judges took oath under the PCO, Parliament was dissolved and remained suspended for more than three years (endorsed by the Supreme Court) until it was reinstated in November 2002. The second was in November 2007 when the so called emergency rule was imposed. Interestingly, this was not a coup. The move targeted the judiciary. The government and the Parliament remained intact and the emergency lasted for six weeks.

Once Mr. Musharraf is charged for treason, justice cannot be selectively applied only on the action of 3 November 2007 while ignoring the more serious action of October 1999. It will therefore be imperative to try Musharraf and his abettors both for October 1999 and November 2007.

Now comes the one million dollar question: Will Article 6 be applied on the abettors of the two arrogations?

The 'abettors' in the Article 6 include senior members of the present Supreme Court who abetted the coup in 1999. All members of the present Supreme Court of Pakistan had pledged their allegiance to Musharraf by taking the PCO oath in 2000.

The abettors of the coups led by generals Ayub, Yahya, and Zia ul Haq can be set aside because they and most of their abettors are no longer alive. But the 'abettors' of General Musharraf's coup are around. All of them will have to be charged for treason along with Gen. Musharraf. That is the only that across-the-board justice will be done.

Do Ansar Abbasi and Hamid Mir want to proceed with this mass trial?

My advice is this: Let's get out of the Musharraf-phobia and move on with life and the more important issues that the Nation is facing.

The writer is a Pakistani commentator who lives in Rawalpindi. He can be reached at danyal_aziz47@yahoo.com


ON PAKISTANI DEMOCRACY
Pakistan Needs Statesmen, Not Recycled Politicians
To Pakistan’s Prime Minister From An American: Step Up or Step Down
To Military: Empower The Middle Class To Save Pakistan
Pakistan’s Taxing Democracy
Time For A Pakistani Putin
Lawyers’ Iftikhar: A Messiah Or A Pawn?
Who’s Country Is It Anyway, Ours Or U.S. Think Tanks’?
A Military-Civil Intervention To Save Pakistan
Is Pakistan Doomed?
Triumph Of A Failed System, Can Kayani Do It?
Pakistan: Back To Square One, Again

Abida Hussain & Foolish Pakistani Commandos

Abida Hussain, one of the main feudal landlord-politicians in the Punjab province, appeared on the state-run PTV last night and unloaded all her suppressed anger at former President Pervez Musharraf.

She used the common cover story of democracy and dictatorship, she being a democratic warrior feudal princess, of course, [who owns hundreds of poor men, women and children who work for free on her farmlands and who are forbidden to have basic human rights. But that doesn’t matter since most of Pakistan's 'democratic warriors' belong to this same category.]

So anyway, she talked about democracy and dictatorship but never mentioned the real reason for her anger against the former military ruler:

By making graduation a precondition for running for public office, the military 'dictator' ruined Abida Hussian's career and forced her to sit for university examinations when she crossed the age of 50.

I heard she passed her graduation exams but I'm not sure what her score was. The important thing is that this feudal democratic warrior queen is seething with anger at the fact that she and her husband had to stay out of active politics for nearly a decade in which they had to hurriedly prepare their young daughter to run for office in order to save whatever clout her family wielded in her feudal domain in the backwaters of Punjab.

So you can understand Mrs. Hussain's anger when she told a reporter for Wall Street Journal in Jan. 2008 that Musharraf was a "poor thing ... a son of clerks. His mother was a typist."

Unfortunately, the Pakistani media and civil society reelected these feudal-minded inept politicians back to power. People like Abida Hussain don't make even 1% of Pakistan's population but you see how she and those of her ilk sneer at successful middle class Pakistanis. She calls them 'clerks'. Poor clerks.

During the TV show, at one point she got so angry with Musharraf that she took it out on the special operations unit of the Pakistani military just because Musharraf came from that unit. She called them 'foolish'. Well at least they get some real professional training, Mrs. Hussain. What good are you if not for your papa's wealth?

Her co-panelist on the show was a lady parliament member from Mr. Nawaz Sharif's party, someone by the name of Mrs. Ishrat Ashraf.

Members of former prime minister Sharif's party face a dilemma on TV talk shows these days. There is a competition within the party on who can heap more scorn on Musharraf. That makes the former prime minister very happy since he is obsessed with the man who threw him out of power a decade ago.

So was the case with Mrs. Ashraf. Not to be outdone by Mrs. Abida Hussain from the ruling PPP party, Ashraf said something even more hilarious.

I will let Mr. Amanullah Rabbani, one of the members of our PakNationalists Group, describe it:

"Then Ishrat Ashraf said that it is a shame that a man like Musharraf was the chief of the brave army of Pakistan. My answer to her: Can anyone please inform her who made Musharraf chief of Army Staff?!!"

Yes. Interestingly it was Mrs. Ashraf's boss, former premier Nawaz Sharif, who ignored more generals that were senior and promoted Gen. Musharraf in the belief that he would be a docile army chief.

Almost the entire Pakistani nation 10 years ago warmly welcomed the fact that Gen. Musharraf refused to be docile and saved the nation from these feudal landlord-politicians who want to run this nuclear armed nation like they run their farmlands and factories.

It's another story that Mr. Musharraf in one of his worst failures returned the country back into the hands of people like Mrs. Abida Hussain, the clerks-hater.

Indian Christians x Pakistani Christians

Pakistani Christian women during a church service in Peshawar, April 2009.

India, a country that has killed close to 600 Indian Christians last summer at the hands of Hindu terror groups, organized a protest rally today in front of the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi to protest the murder of 9 Pakistani Christians in Pakistan.

Of course, those residing in the United States and Britain didn't hear about 600 Christians killed in India last summer because CNN and BBC don't cover such news. Credit goes to the Europeans who covered the story and exposed the rise of Hindu Al-Qaeda: India’s New ‘Terror Central’ .

An Indian Christian girl, Raini, burned alive in summer of 2008.

Click here to read the story

The funniest part is that the a Web site sponsored by the Indian intelligence that posted the only picture from the New Delhi protest is listed by Google as a malicious site that downloads malware into the computers of those who visit it. [See details below].

The unfortunate murder of 9 Pakistani Christians happened during riots in a Pakistani village. It was the only such incident since Pakistan's independence 62 years ago where Pakistani Christians and Muslims were involved in a sectarian confrontation. And now the investigators confirm it wasn't even a religious issue as a local Muslim politician has been found involved in engineering riots in order to grab land owned by minority Pakistanis.

The best part is that all Pakistanis, including the Islamic religious parties, came to Pakistani Christians' defense. The Pakistani prime minister flew in to the village to be with Pakistani Christians, an act endorsed by all Pakistanis. That's far more honorable than what the Indians did. 600 Christians killed and the Indian government kept mum and hushed the matter in order to hide the reality of Incredible India from the international public opinion, with the full connivance of the Am-Brit media.

In India, where the Indian government and its intelligence tried to score a cheap point today, no Indian official had the courage to confront the increasingly powerful Hindu terrorist groups. These groups burned to death an Australian priest and his two young boys in 1999.

Graham Staines, his two sons Philip, 10, and Timothy, 8

On 25 August 2008, Hindu terrorists once again burned alive an Indian Christian lady and as usual the real criminals – Hindu terror groups – were spared after the police charged escape goats.

This is why, in one of my columns, I gave an apt description for India in the title, India: Genocide Nation , based on an objective reading into the massive religious cleansing of Indian Christians, where entire villages were wiped off.

Coming to the Indian intelligence website www.tribuneindia.com, this was the only Indian news source that covered the story of the staged demo at the Pakistani high commission in New Delhi. The only other Indian news source that covered the story is the semi-official Press Trust of India. When I tried to check the website, here is the message I received from Google:

"Of the 683 pages we tested on the site over the past 90 days, 396 page(s) resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent. The last time Google visited this site was on 2009-08-04, and the last time suspicious content was found on this site was on 2009-08-01. Malicious software includes 260 scripting exploit(s), 90 trojan(s), 5 exploit(s). Successful infection resulted in an average of 1 new process(es) on the target machine."

So much for India's impressive progress in information technology. Indian has enough IT experts. Maybe it's time RAW, the Indian intelligence agency, used some of them to clean up its sites.

A Win For Pakistani Democracy

If you know a Pakistani politician, send them a thank you note.

Today they have accomplished the most important piece of legislation. They did it religiously, without wasting a breath, and in complete harmony, government and opposition.

Pakistani politicians today amended a law that required all candidates for the federal and provincial parliaments to be educated, as in graduates, having completed 12 years of formal education.

A 'dictator' called Pervez Musharraf had put in place this condition. How outrageous of him, that military ruler. How dare he!

By insisting that the rulers of the country be educated, the 'dictator' offended the feudal landlord-politicians of the country.

Thing is, these landlord-politicians now have educated progeny that has started making its own beeline for parliament seats.

In a decade or two our parliament will be a 'graduate assembly' anyway.

So why the rush to pass this amendment?

The reason is that the 'old guard' among the landlord-politicians continue to be around and in large numbers; uncouth feudal landlords without degrees and, may I also say, pedigrees. [I have more respect for the tribal landlords of Balochistan because at least they are genuine. The rest of the Pakistani feudal landlords are fakes: All of them claim lineage from our great Prophet! And hence the right to own large pieces of land where they are also entitled to enslave people for generations! By the way, the Arabs are really offended at this large number of self-claimed descendants of our Prophet among Pakistan's landlord-politicians. One Arab friend of mine came to Islamabad last year and asked me this, 'Wait a minute, the Prophet was an Arab. How come all his progeny is in Pakistan! And that too inside the federal parliament!].

Long live Pakistani democracy [until the next military 'dictator', which looks soon by the way things are going.]

Musharraf's Chief Justice Is Illegal Too

If President Pervez Musharraf was illegal, should Pakistan's Chief Justice be removed because Musharraf appointed him in the first place?

This simple question is one reason why the honorable Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry declined to declare everything done by the former president as nil and void.

The so-called landmark decision issued by the top judge was limited to declaring Musharraf's Nov. 3, 2007, emergency rule as illegal. In a brilliant move, the Chief Justice didn't touch the scandalous piece of legislation called NRO [that legalized the illegal wealth of powerful people in the government]. Instead, he sent it to the parliament which consists of hardened and corrupt landlord-politicians who will never strike it down [unless paid big time by someone to do so!].

Mr. Daniyal Aziz sent me an email. His last line was this, "Musharraf too was an illegal President, and therefore all higher judicial appointments made by him cannot also remain legitimate."

This is a great point. Since the Supreme Court of Pakistan has managed to create a huge and unprecedented legal mess because some judges turned into kindergarten kids bent on revenge, would someone please submit a petition questioning the very legitimacy of these judges since most of their appointments were made by an illegal president?

Musharraf's chief justice is illegal. And so is his handpicked successor, Mr. Zardari.

Obama, Brown, Taliban

Obama:

To the warning of the world, Bush paid no heed,
The pangs of his venture, now I am unable to bear.

Brown:

You echo the voice of my heart, my dear friend,
This Blair legacy has brought laughter and jeer.

Obama:

But as mighty nations, we are to save our grace,
Coming empty, we will lose all our awe and fear.

Brown:

Our army says, they are giants in human shape,
For them, mountains and rivers are no barrier.
Our commanders tremble while narrating the tale,
'These Talibans fight with smile and die with cheer.’

Obama:

I have used all the wiles, my mind could conceive,
I deployed Pak-Afghan stooges from front and rear.
Our media gave their profile as most demonic race,
To our misfortune, all this made their tide stronger.

Brown:

History traces millions of our graves in that land ,
Russians have the memory even darker and bleaker.
This time we believed in NATO and your drones,
To erase the past stigma, and open a new chapter.

Obama:

Our weapons and drones have yielded no result,
The death of innocents has exposed us to sneer.
When we think, our bombs finished their creed,
They emerge again with a spirit, bolder and purer.

Brown:

I confide in you brother, my generals have told,
‘They bury their dead with eyes having no tear.’
I am convinced from what I have heard and seen,
Each drop of their blood produces a new warrior.

Obama:

I think it sagacious to discard these brutish folk,
And declare our move as a humanitarian gesture.
We both must call it the follies of Bush and Blair,
And pretend we are peaceful and morally superior.

Brown:

I admire your genius and endorse your views,
If we fail to withdraw, our future is drearier.

Dr. Mustafa Kamal Sherwani,LL. D.
Chairman, All India Muslim Forum
Lucknow,U.P. India
Phones:
+91-9919777909
+91-522-2733715
sherwanimk@yahoo. com