Comment by Riaz Haq on June 2, 2015 at 7:00am

Naturally, this treaty (China-Pak economic corridor or CPEC) has turned a lot of heads. And no country is more obsessed with Pakistan than India. India’s paranoia and lunacy-inducing obsession with Pakistan has found a new face under Mr Narendra Modi’s leadership. This obsession is not mutual. Our prime minister or leaders of the second and third largest party did not feel the urge to make remarks about India in their election campaigns. Our federal ministers and advisors have not, until very recently, commented on Indian Research and Analyses Wing’s (RAW) involvement in covert activities within our borders, as opposed to India blaming everything from a bombing to their prime minister’s bowel movement on our Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) for years.

Modi is very open about his nationalism and Hindu fanaticism, his security advisor is very blunt about his intentions towards Pakistan. Under Modi, India seems to have done away with subtleties and is now openly expressing its designs to further weaken Pakistan by all means necessary. Modi, behaving typically like a jealous toddler, has termed CPEC as “unacceptable” for India. He did so in his incredibly awkward, over-excited, selfie-inclusive, posing and proposing visit to China, but the Chinese president snubbed his unsolicited opinion like any prudent adult would snub the tantrum of a spoilt toddler.

Modi has now repeated his unsolicited opinion through one of his ministers.

It appears that Modi’s cabinet deliberated in length over its stance on CPEC. Of course, it was pre-decided that they would oppose it, but on what grounds? They couldn’t just say “because we say so” or “because we don’t want Pakistan to prosper”. Honest as these statements would be, they just wouldn’t be diplomatically correct. So the geniuses came with the stance that CPEC passes through Pakistan-held Kashmir, and since Kashmir is disputed, we cannot accept CPEC.

And they now wait, hoping this ludicrous stance would find an international audience. If you want to find Indian-supported local opponents to CPEC in Pakistan, look for an equally insane stance; some Baloch nationalists have spoken against CPEC on grounds that since it would bring heavy investment and development to the region, there will be consequent migrations from different parts of Pakistan, hence rights of Gwadar locals may be infringed.

India would not stop here though. China has already warned Pakistan of RAW’s intentions of sabotaging CPEC with help from local militants. Pakistan has only recently broken its decade’s old silence on RAW and India’s involvement in terrorist activities in Pakistan. India is, undoubtedly, our bitter rival.

http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/27940/indias-unhealthy-obsession-...

Comment by Riaz Haq on June 2, 2015 at 5:24pm

Brown U Study: 149,000 war deaths and 162,000 serious injuries in #Afghanistan and #Pakistan since #American invasion http://cnn.it/1ETh7UY

Civilian casualties have been particularly high, according to the report, totaling around 26,270 deaths in Afghanistan and 21,500 in Pakistan. The study says that most of the civilian casualties in Afghanistan are caused by militant groups, but the number caused by international forces has been increasing since 2012...The turmoil in Pakistan, which has its own Taliban and al Qaeda factions, has become more closely related to that of Afghanistan, with refugees and anti-government militants crossing borders. "It is important for policy makers and others to view the effects and implications of these wars together, because they are so interconnected," said Neta Crawford, the author of the Brown study.

Comment by Riaz Haq on June 13, 2015 at 4:35pm

Excerpt from US diplomatic cable from UAE leaked by Wikileak:

1. (S//NF) SUMMARY. On December 15-16, 2009, Treasury Department
Acting Assistant Secretary of the Office of Intelligence and
Analysis Howard Mendelsohn, along with GRPO officers and Treasury
analysts, met with senior officials from the UAE's State Security
Department (SSD) and Dubai's General Department of State Security
(GDSS) to discuss suspected Taliban-related financial activity in
the UAE. Prior to these meetings, GRPO and Treasury passed to SSD
and GDSS detailed information on the financing of the Taliban and
other terrorist and extremist groups based in Afghanistan and
Pakistan. .....
----
----
4. (S//NF) Mendelsohn acknowledged the important steps the UAE has
taken to combat al-Qaida and the Taliban-to include sending troops
to Afghanistan-and highlighted the importance the USG places on
combating Taliban financing. He stated that the Taliban receives
significant money from narcotics trafficking and extortion, but
noted that the U.S. believes that the group also receives
significant funds from the Gulf, particularly from donors in Saudi
Arabia and the UAE. He further stated that the Taliban and Haqqani
Network are believed to earn money from UAE-based business
interests. Security officials from both SSD and GDSS agreed that
the Taliban and Haqqani Network are serious threats. Officials
from SSD added that Iran supports the Taliban with money and
weapons, helps the Taliban smuggle drugs, and facilitates the
movement of Taliban and al-Qaida members. SSD officials stated
that Iran's IRGC and navy are involved with these activities. GDSS
officials noted Iran's support to Taliban in Pakistan, adding that
GDSS believes that India also has supported Pakistani Taliban and
Pashtun separatists.

https://www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/10ABUDHABI9_a.html

Comment by Riaz Haq on June 15, 2015 at 11:30am

Mani Shankar Aiyar: What #India's #Modi Has Not Recognised About #Pakistan: ITS RESILIENCE AND NATIONALISM http://www.ndtv.com/opinion/pakistans-resilience-beats-modis-56-inc... … via @ndtv

"unlike numerous other emerging nations, particularly in Africa, the Idea of Pakistan has repeatedly trumped fissiparous tendencies, especially since Pakistan assumed its present form in 1971. And its institutions have withstood repeated buffeting that almost anywhere elsewhere would have resulted in the State crumbling. Despite numerous dire forecasts of imminently proving to be a "failed state", Pakistan has survived, bouncing back every now and then as a recognizable democracy with a popularly elected civilian government, the military in the wings but politics very much centre-stage, linguistic and regional groups pulling and pushing, sectarian factions murdering each other, but the Government of Pakistan remaining in charge, and the military stepping in to rescue the nation from chaos every time Pakistan appeared on the knife's edge. The disintegration of Pakistan has been predicted often enough, most passionately now that internally-generated terrorism and externally sponsored religious extremism are consistently taking on the state to the point that the army is so engaged in full-time and full-scale operations in the north-west of the country bordering Afghanistan that some 40,000 lives have been lost in the battle against fanaticism and insurgency.

"And yet," as was said on a more famous occasion, "it works!" Pakistan and her people keep coming back, resolutely defeating sustained political, armed and terrorist attempts to break down the country and undermine its ideological foundations. That is what Jaffrelot calls its "resilience". That resilience is not recognized in Modi's India. That is what leads the Rathores and the Parrikars to make statements that find a certain resonance in anti-Pakistan circles in India but dangerously leverage the impact on Pakistani public opinion of anti-India circles in Pakistan. The Parrikars and the Saeeds feed on each other. It is essential that both be overcome.

But even as there are saner voices in India than Rathore's, so also are there saner - much saner - voices in Pakistan than Hafiz Saeed's. Many Indians would prefer a Pakistan overflowing with Saeeds to keep their bile flowing. So would many Pakistanis prefer an India with the Rathores overflowing to keep the bile flowing. At eight times Pakistan's size, we can flex our muscles like the bully on the school play field. But Pakistan's resilience ensures that all that emerges from Parrikar and Rathore are empty words. India is no more able than Pakistan is to destroy the other country"


http://www.ndtv.com/opinion/pakistans-resilience-beats-modis-56-inc...

Comment by Riaz Haq on June 24, 2015 at 7:28am

BBC News - #Pakistan's #MQM funded by #India #RAW. MQM officials tell British Police http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33148880 …

Officials in Pakistan's MQM party have told the UK authorities they received Indian government funds, the BBC learnt from an authoritative Pakistani source.

UK authorities investigating the MQM for alleged money laundering also found a list of weapons in an MQM property.
A Pakistani official has told the BBC that India has trained hundreds of MQM militants over the last 10 years.
The Indian authorities described the claims as "completely baseless". The MQM said it was not going to comment.
With 24 members in the National Assembly, the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) has long been a dominant force in the politics of Pakistan's largest city, Karachi.

British authorities held formal recorded interviews with senior MQM officials who told them the party was receiving Indian funding, the BBC was told.

Meanwhile a Pakistani official has told the BBC that India has trained hundreds of MQM militants in explosives, weapons and sabotage over the last 10 years in camps in north and north-east India.

Before 2005-2006 the training was given to a small number of mid-ranking members of the MQM, the official said.
More recently greater numbers of more junior party members have been trained.

In the course of the inquiries the UK authorities found a list itemising weapons, including mortars, grenades and bomb-making equipment in an MQM property, according to Pakistani media reports that the BBC believes to be credible. The list included prices for the weapons. Asked about the list, the MQM made no response.

As the UK police investigations have progressed, the British judiciary has been taking an increasingly tough line on the MQM. Back in 2011 a British judge adjudicating an asylum appeal case found that "the MQM has killed over 200 police officers who have stood up against them in Karachi".

Last year another British judge hearing another such case found: "There is overwhelming objective evidence that the MQM for decades had been using violence."

The MQM is also under pressure in Pakistan. In March the country's security forces raided the party's Karachi headquarters. They claimed to have found a significant number of weapons there. The MQM said they were planted.

Comment by Riaz Haq on July 2, 2015 at 7:45pm

Here's a Wikileaks excerpt on Ajit Doval's connections with Indian underworld:

US Embassy Cable TERRORIST DAWOOD IBRAHIM HAUNTS INDIA FROM AFAR AS DAUGHTER WEDS IN AN AMERICAN-BRANDED HOTEL
Date:2005 August 8, 09:38 (Monday) Canonical ID:05MUMBAI1682_a

The media quickly linked the murky arrest of several
alleged underworld figures in New Delhi on July 11 to Ibrahim
and the wedding. Subsequently, however, it became unclear how,
if at all, the arrests were tied to Ibrahim. In early July a
group of Mumbai policemen traveled to Delhi to stake out Vicky
Malhotra, an underworld figure who had been charged with
numerous crimes, including murder, extortion and arms smuggling.
On July 11 the Mumbai police arrested Malhotra while he was
driving through central Delhi. Accompanying Malhotra was Ajit
Kumar Doval, former head of the Indian Intelligence Bureau (IB).
Doval was allowed to go free, whereas Malhotra and two
associates who were picked up later were taken to Mumbai where
they now face criminal charges. Doval himself as well as GOI
officials from the Home Ministry later declined to comment about
the incident.

Thereafter the Indian media was rife with speculation
about why the former head of India's premier intelligence
service was caught with a known underworld figure. As is often
the case on media coverage of the underworld, Ibrahim was
quickly assumed to have had a hand in the incident. Malhotra is
the right hand man of gangster Chhota Rajan, a fierce rival of
Ibrahim. Rajan was once Ibrahim's lieutenant, but broke up with
Ibrahim after the 1993 Mumbai bombings. The two have reportedly
been fierce rivals since. Communal tensions between Ibrahim, a
Muslim, and Rajan, a Hindu, were also believed to have
contributed to the breakup. Rajan reportedly objected to the
bomb attacks, which were part of a chain of violent retributions
surrounding right-wing Hindus' destruction of the Babri Masjid
mosque in 1992. Rajan was thought to be living somewhere in
Southeast Asia, but recent press reports claim that is now
hiding in Europe. He and Malhotra are believed to have been
responsible for the targeted killing of a number of Ibrahim's
associates.

The GOI and the Mumbai police have not commented on
the incident. The arrests and the presence of former IB chief
Doval are established facts. Since the authorities are not
publicly talking, everything else about the incident is
speculation of media outlets, which have given much
contradictory information in their reporting as the story
unfolded. For example, several newspapers originally reported
that the Delhi police were unaware of the Mumbai police presence
in their district. Later, however, the same papers wrote that
the Delhi and Mumbai police had in fact worked together to
apprehend Malhotra.

https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/05MUMBAI1682_a.html

Comment by Riaz Haq on July 2, 2015 at 8:00pm

No idea where Dawood Ibrahim is, Indian government tells parliament

In a reply submitted to the Indian Parliament on Tuesday, the Home Ministry said the government had no clue about the whereabouts of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, Indian media reported.

Indian Minister of State (Home) Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary stated that the former Mumbai underworld don is not on Indian intelligence's radar, and it would only be possible to bring him back to the country once his whereabouts were discovered.

Today's statement is in direct contrast to Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh's stand, who had alleged in November 2014 that Pakistan was providing shelter to Ibrahim. The minister had claimed that despite many requests, Pakistan had not handed him over to India.

“When the Pakistan premier came to India, our prime minister told him to hand over Dawood. We are pursuing it. We are trying to build diplomatic pressure... As he is the most wanted cri­minal... Right now he is along the Pak-Afghan border,” the Press Trust of India had quoted Singh as saying

Former Intelligence Bureau (IB) Special Director Rajendra Kumar also contradicted the Indian government's claim today, adding that there was no chance Ibrahim would leave Pakistan, a report published on IBNLive quoted him as saying.

Prior to winning the elections in India, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said he would bring Dawood Ibrahim to India to be tried for the 1993 blasts in Mumbai if he came into power.

Pakistan routinely denies Indian charges that it shelters Dawood Ibrahim — one of India's most wanted men — ever since the don became a fugitive for his alleged role in the serial bomb blasts that hit Mumbai in 1993 in apparent retaliation for the demolition of the Babri Masjid in December 1992. Over 250 people were killed in the attacks.

Dawood stands convicted in absentia in India for the blasts, together with several Mumbai accomplices.

http://www.dawn.com/news/1180133


http://www.ibnlive.com/videos/india/is-the-u-turn-on-dawood-ibrahim...

Comment by Riaz Haq on August 31, 2015 at 8:00pm

Bramdagh Bugti: "If #India wants to help us why should we refuse?" #Pakistan, #Balochistan http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-34077864 …

A leading Baloch separatist has said he is ready to consider dialogue with Pakistan, as long as the army ends military operations in the province.
Brahamdagh Bugti told BBC Urdu his party could drop calls for independence if "the Baloch people agree".
Mr Bugti, who lives in Switzerland, is accused of leading an armed struggle.
Balochistan has seen a long-running conflict between security forces and separatists who want a greater share of the province's natural resources.
Brahamdagh Bugti, 34, is regarded as one of the most hardline of the Baloch separatist leaders and has until now been opposed to any rapprochement with the Pakistani state which he has vowed to "fight to the death".
His remarks are being viewed as an olive branch to the military and could signal the first softening of attitudes within the separatist movement.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-34077864

Comment by Riaz Haq on August 31, 2015 at 9:36pm

AK-47s, Motorcycles, Money, Desperation: #Balochistan Ex-Militants Tell All After Surrender in #Pakistan http://nbcnews.to/1N2KNIP via @nbcnews

AWARAN, Pakistan — The promise of an AK-47, money and a new motorcycle tipped Hammad into militancy at the age of 20.

"I was given three men, a motorbike, a Kalashnikov and 15,000 rupees [$150] per month," the 23-year-old said.

This was a big deal for a middle-school dropout from a region with few jobs and even fewer roads. Hammad learned how to assemble bombs, which added to the thrill of fighting to carve out a separate state for his people, the Baloch.

"My task was easy. To destroy [military and paramilitary] vehicles…Just plant a mine or fire a rocket and zoom off," said Hammad, who asked to be identified by his first name only.

But fighting for independence from Pakistan soon turned sour.

Comment by Riaz Haq on October 3, 2015 at 3:41pm

#Pakistan gives UN files claiming that #India foments violence. #Terrorism http://wpo.st/_3de0

Lohdi told The Associated Press the dossiers include information about “India’s involvement and support to terrorism in different parts of Pakistan.”

One dossier relates to Pakistan’s tribal areas, another relates to Karachi, and the third to the southwestern region of Baluchistan, she said. “So the idea is to really go to the international community through the U.N. secretary-general and to expose the kind of destabilizing actions that India is taking against my country.”

Pakistan and India have a history of uneasy relations and they have fought two of their three wars over the disputed Kashmir region, which is claimed by both countries. Forces on both sides of the Line of Control, which divides Kashmir, have traded fire several times in recent weeks.

Lohdi cited the “escalating tensions in the region” as the reason Islamabad was taking this step. “We believe that these actions must stop,” she said, and she called for a return to dialogue. “We’re ready to go anywhere, at any level, to resume the dialogue process, but this dialogue cannot be on the basis of preconditions.”

She said India had not responded to her move, and she said her country was “disappointed” at the response that India’s foreign minister gave to Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Wednesday speech to the U.N. General Assembly — in which Pakistan offered a four-point peace initiative.

She called India’s response the following day “non-serious” and called on India, “Why don’t you put something on the table, too?”

She said Pakistan is in conversation with the U.N. about “how best to take this forward.”

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