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The CENTCOM

This OSINT publication contains foreign media derived entirely from open sources in and around the CENTCOM AOR.

18 May 2012

NEWS KP Hit by Grenade, Rocket Attacks: Daily Times Three low-intensity blasts killed a man, wounded two policemen and many private guards on Thursday, as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa remains tense amidst militants continuing to build up pressure on the government, officials said. LeT Threatens to Blow up Attari Integrated Check Post: Daily Times Pakistan and India have beefed up security at Wagah border after receiving a letter from the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) threatening to blow up the Integrated Check post (ICP) at Attari in opposition to doing Indo-Pak trade before resolving the Kashmir dispute. SC Takes up Plea Seeking Amendment to Army Act 1952: Daily Times The Supreme Court (SC) has directed the judge advocate general (JAG) to furnish reasons today (Friday) for not giving a charge sheet to the accused of court martial before confirmation of his sentence. Pak, India cannot be Treated Equally on Nuclear Issue: Daily Times Australian High Commissioner Tim George on Thursday said that Pakistan and India had different cases and both could not be treated equally for provision of civil nuclear technology from Australia. SHC Orders Sindh Govt to Hold Local Body Elections in 90 Days: Dawn News The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday directed the Sindh government to hold local body elections within a period of 90 days, Dawn News reported. Another Muslim League Faction Faces Uncertain Future: Dawn News Is Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q) destined to end up in the dustbin of history like so many other factions of the mother All-India Muslim League that conceived and created Pakistan did in the past? Memo Commission Completes Probe: Dawn News A session of the commission probing the memo scandal concluded at the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday, Dawn News reported. The commission is being headed by Balochistan High Court Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa. The State Bank of Pakistan Injects Rs 169.550 Billion: Dawn News The State Bank of Pakistan in its reverse repo open market operation in treasury bills and Pakistan Investment Bonds has injected Rs169.550 billion in the banking system. Baton Armed IJT Wreak Havoc in Lahore: The News Islami Jamiat Tulaba (IJT) workers armed with batons let loose a reign of terror in the provincial capital city, while demonstrating against the murder of a Punjab University student here. Nawaz Sharif a Failure in Sindh, says Soomro: The News Nawaz Sharifs attempt to make inroads into Sindhs politics has failed, said Sindh Minister for Law, Muhammad Ayaz Soomro. He was talking to various delegations in his office on Thursday. Joint Session of Parliament on May 21: The News On the advice of the Prime Minister, President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday summoned a joint sitting of the Parliament on May 21 at 5 pm. The session will be addressed by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Bid to Smuggle Explosives to AJK Foiled by Police: The News

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The CENTCOM

This OSINT publication contains foreign media derived entirely from open sources in and around the CENTCOM AOR.

18 May 2012

The Kahuta Police, following an intelligence report, foiled an attempt to transport a heavy quantity of explosive material to the AJK on Thursday morning. Two men, belonging to Bajaur Agency and AJK, were taken into custody and they were shifted to an undisclosed location for further investigation, the police spokesman said. Pakistan Seeks $5,000 Transit Fee for Each NATO Container: Pak Tribune Pakistani negotiators have proposed a fee of about $5,000 for each NATO shipping container and tanker that transits its territory by land into and out of Afghanistan said a report in Washington Post. PML-N Trying to Step in Judges' Shoes: Gilani: Pak Tribune Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Thursday criticized the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and said it is not written in the constitution that any political party, particularly the PML-N, would implement the SC orders. NAB Launches Inquiry against Nawaz Sharif: Pak Tribune The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Thursday said it has started investigations against the Sharif brothers in a $32 million money laundering scandal. Pakistan Accepts NATO Invitation: Pak Tribune The Foreign Office said on Thursday President Asif Zardari would visit Chicago to attend the 25th NATO summit on May 20-21 at the invitation of NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. EDITORIALS EDITORIAL: Raising Tariff for Absent Electricity: Daily Times While load shedding of anywhere from 10 (official) to 23 (empirical) hours a day continues unabated, the government in its infinite wisdom has chosen to sprinkle salt on the publics wounds by raising the electricity tariff by 16 percent. SECOND EDITORIAL: Dr Chishti as a Test Case: Daily Times Dr. Khalil Chishti has finally arrived in Pakistan on an interim bail for five months after spending 20 wasted years in Indian custody. He became a victim of the typical mindset of the authorities on both sides. Dr. Chishti had gone to India in 1992 to meet his mother in Ajmer, Rajasthan. COMMENT: Drone Attacks: Need to Separate Politicking from Statecraft: Daily Times Statecraft and statesmanship demand a cold, logical assessment of the situation and adopting a course of action most likely to promote state interest in the given environment. VIEW: Targeting the Tombs: Daily Times The decision to reopen the NATO supplies to Afghanistan without achieving any reciprocal benefits debunks Pakistans costly image of being a great nuclear/regional power. VIEW: NATO Supply Line and the Ummah: Daily Times It was our prerogative to jeopardize the success of the infidels against our Taliban brothers and to help (once again) the freedom fighters in Afghanistan. COMMENT: Snap!: Daily Times In practice, we sternly follow the principle guilty as hell until you can prove yourself innocent and incidentally, this has nothing to do with our constitution or the law.

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The CENTCOM

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18 May 2012

Supporting Documentation:

NEWS (Top) 18 May 2012 Daily Times KP Hit by Grenade, Rocket Attacks PESHAWAR: Three low-intensity blasts killed a man, wounded two policemen and many private guards on Thursday, as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa remains tense amidst militants continuing to build up pressure on the government, officials said. A hand grenade was reportedly lobbed at a police check post in Billitang area of Kohat district, leaving two policemen wounded. The area is infested with local militants, and has been hit many times in the past. Separately, an MBR-12 rocket hit a check post near an industrial area along the border with Khyber tribal region, injuring two private guards, local police official Fazle Wajid said. He said the rocket had been fired from the neighboring Khyber tribal district where militants were being chased in security forces-led operations. Meanwhile, an explosion at a spare parts shop near Scheme Chowk on Kohat Road killed a man and wounded two others. Superintendent of Police (Rural) Shafiullah Khan said it was a cylinder blast, which was confirmed by the Bomb Disposal Squad personnel.

18 May 2012 Daily Times LeT Threatens to Blow up Attari Integrated Check Post LAHORE: Pakistan and India have beefed up security at Wagah border after receiving a letter from the Lashkar-eTayyaba (LeT) threatening to blow up the Integrated Check post (ICP) at Attari in opposition to doing Indo-Pak trade before resolving the Kashmir dispute. Security sources told Daily Times that they had received reports in the recent past about banned groups planning to hit some celebrities or key spots, adding that they had forwarded the information to the authorities concerned so that adequate security measures could be adopted. A Punjab Rangers spokesman said the force was as usual on a high alert at the Wagah border. However, he added, he had no information if the LeT had issued a letter that threatened to blow up the check post. Some sections of society, especially fundamentalist groups in the two countries, are not happy with normalization of relations and increase in trade between the two neighbors who have fought four wars since their independence. LeT has written the letter at a time when India and Pakistan are boosting their efforts to normalize their relations and have initially allowed trade through Wagah. The archrivals are also considering opening more trading routes as well as easing visa policies. LeT is a banned organization in Pakistan and all its offices and other activities have been eliminated from the country. The organization is reportedly involved in Mumbai terrorist attacks and also has linked with other terrorist groups such as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.

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18 May 2012

Reportedly, the Indian Border Security Forces (BSF), in cooperation with the Punjab Police, has tightened security, putting rescue teams, ambulances and fire brigade vehicles on alert to deal with any emergency near Attaris ICP. Attari ICP was established to ease trade between Pakistan and India at the Wagah border on April 13. The route has helped double the volume of trade between the two countries. Almost 150 truckloads of 700 export items cross over to India on a daily basis. Similar numbers of trucks arrive in Pakistan each day.

18 May 2012 Daily Times SC Takes up Plea Seeking Amendment to Army Act 1952 ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) has directed the judge advocate general (JAG) to furnish reasons today (Friday) for not giving a charge sheet to the accused of court martial before confirmation of his sentence. The court said that this was against the norms of basic justice and violation of Article 10-A of the constitution that the accused of court martial was unaware about charge sheet, framed against him before confirmation of his sentence. A three-member SC bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, heard a 13-year-old petition filed by Col (r) Muhammad Akram who sought amendment to Pakistan Army Act 1952. The chief justice said that before joining the army everyone should be aware that laws were strict in the army regarding such matters. The petitioner termed some clauses of the Army Act against the constitution of Pakistan and submitted that such discriminatory clauses should be amended. The Section 31 of the Army Act allows an accused to submit a petition against the findings or decision of a military court, Ikram said, adding, The finding (s) and sentence of all military courts except summaries are required to be confirmed. He added it was discriminatory and against the constitution if verdicts by military courts were not immediately announced to the accused. The JAG, submitting a concise statement before the SC, said the petition was not maintainable under Article 184(3) read with Article 8(3) of the constitution as the petitioner had no locus standi to file this case. The plea of bringing provisions of the Pakistan Army Act (PAA) in conformity with other laws cannot be a ground for admissibility/maintainability of the instant petition, as each law has its own significance, relevance and utility. The provisions of PAA have successfully withstood the test of time and judicial scrutiny, JAG said.

18 May 2012 Daily Times Pak, India cannot be Treated Equally on Nuclear Issue ISLAMABAD: Australian High Commissioner Tim George on Thursday said that Pakistan and India had different cases and both could not be treated equally for provision of civil nuclear technology from Australia.

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18 May 2012

Yes, Australia has an agreement with India but it is not against Pakistan, he said, adding that the Nuclear Suppliers Group has allowed India while Pakistan does not have this option. Answering a question after a press conference, the envoy said Pakistan and India had totally different situations for the provision of nuclear supply, but Pak-Australia relations improved during his three-year stint as the high commissioner to Pakistan. Answering another question, the envoy said Pakistan was confronting security situation and was a victim of terrorism. The Australian government wishes that Pakistan should get out of security concerns as soon as possible, he said, adding that terrorism is a complex issue and we should work together to deal with it. About Afghanistan, George said stable Afghanistan was essential for Pakistan because there were millions of Afghan refugees in Pakistan. Pakistan has strong common interest in Afghanistan. The envoy said Australian forces are in Afghanistan and would like to see stability and commitment for Afghanistan after 2014, when coalition forces withdrew from there. About NATO forces attack on Pakistan military check post at Salala, he said, We understand feeling of Pakistan. The envoy welcomed the negotiations process and willingness of Pakistan to cooperate with foreign forces in Afghanistan. The envoy, whose three-year term comes to an end shortly, said he was privileged to serve as high commissioner during a period of strong growth in Australias relationship with Pakistan. He said, I particularly welcome the deepening of our engagement, which is based on a productive, friendly and mutually beneficial partnership. We see Pakistan as a valuable long-term partner. We also wish to support Pakistan in facing its significant challenges. Australias development assistance to Pakistan has expanded significantly in recent years, to an estimated A$96 million in 2012-13. The signing of the Australia-Pakistan Development Partnership (APDP) was an important milestone, providing a positive framework for long-term bilateral development cooperation. He said cooperation between Australia and Pakistan in combating terrorism and transnational organized crime has expanded substantially. A landmark development has been the establishment in 2010 of the high-level PakistanAustralia Joint Working Group (JWG) on border management and transnational crime, which meets annually. Defense cooperation has also grown strongly with an emphasis on mutually beneficial training programs, and the regular high level strategic dialogue, and, since 2010, the highly successful 1.5 Track Security Talks. The envoy said there was much scope to boost links in the fields of trade, investment, and joint ventures.

18 May 2012 Dawn News SHC Orders Sindh Govt to Hold Local Body Elections in 90 Days KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday directed the Sindh government to hold local body elections within a period of 90 days, Dawn News reported. A two-judge bench, comprising Justice Nadeem Ahmed and Justice Faisal Arab, of the court directed the provincial government in its ruling on a petition filed by Sukkurs former Nazim, Nasir Hussain, two years ago. The bench ruled that the provincial government was constitutionally bound to hold the local body elections. Local government elections have not taken place since the tenure of the last government ended in 2009.

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18 May 2012

Moreover, on several occasions, Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry has observed that holding local government elections was a constitutional obligation. Earlier in April, the chief justice was quoted as saying that under the constitution the government was bound to hold local government elections. Moreover on May 1, Advocate Generals of all provinces presented reports to the chief justice on the issue of local government elections.

18 May 2012 Dawn News Another Muslim League Faction Faces Uncertain Future ISLAMABAD: Is Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q) destined to end up in the dustbin of history like so many other factions of the mother All-India Muslim League that conceived and created Pakistan did in the past? At least it looks a possibility after seeing its members not just the likeminded brand deserting to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the party from which they had broken away in 2000 to share power with the last military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf. PML-Q ruled the roost from 2002-2007 but came third in the general elections held in February 2008 on the crest of political and judicial upheavals which forced the military ruler to leave. Gen. Musharrafs exit from the scene in August 2008 left the PML-Q a political orphan, condemned to a slow death. But credit goes to its astute leader, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussian, who saw to it that the party he had formed not only survives the strife inside and hostility outside but becomes relevant to the never-ending political games in the country. It is significant that it took its likeminded dissidents in the Punjab Assembly four years to make the final break and formally joined the PML-N a union that leaves more egg on the face of PML-N than of the PML-Q as the former threw away its principles to readmit betrayers in its ranks. No doubt, however, the Chaudhrys of Gujrat have to work harder now to hold their flock with them until the general elections. In background interviews, several senior party leaders betrayed worries of Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, who head the PML-Q at national and Punjab level respectively. The PML-Q has 50 MNAs which makes it the third largest parliamentary party in the house and had 80 MPAs in Punjab until last week when the 45 likeminded formally crossed over to the PML-N. Most of the sitting PML-Q lawmakers are said to be busy weighing their chances in the next general elections, due within a year. Some are in talks with other political parties and may take the path the likeminded took, said a senior PML-Q leader who wished to remain anonymous. According to him, the major concern for the PML-Q leadership at the moment is to keep its lawmakers together in order to strike a good election deal with the ruling PPP. Though leaders of the PPP and PML-Q speak of an electoral alliance between them, PPPs co-chairman and shrewd tactician, President Asif Ali Zardari, will take advantage of the open fissures and indiscipline in the PML-Q in an electoral deal.

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18 May 2012

During every Central Executive Committee (CEC) meeting of the PML-Q, we are told that the PPP is willing to accommodate all sitting lawmakers of the party in next general elections, meaning that the PPP will not be contesting against any of us, said a PML-Q MNA from central Punjab. Such a scenario would be ideal for the PML-Q candidates in next general elections, but so far there is no such guarantee from the PPP, he said. The 50 PML-Q MNAs in the present National Assembly are a major source of strength for the governing PPP in its ongoing and sharpening stand-off with the PML-N. It is their support which allows Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani dare the PML-N to bring a vote of no-confidence against him if the opposition wanted a new prime minister following his conviction by the Supreme Court. Chaudhry Shujaat accompanied the beleaguered PM in each of his three appearances before the Supreme Court, to show that his party would stand by the PPP through thick and thin. Still, there are certain ground realities that the PML-Q leadership is aware of and trying its best to keep the political partnership intact. For example majority of the PML-Q MNAs have captive constituency. Be it Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat from Jhang, Riaz Fatiyana from Toba Tek Singh, Hamid Yar Hiraj from Khanewal, Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada from Bahawalpur or Jam Mir Muhammad Yousuf from Awaran-cum-Lasbella (Balochistan), the party nomenclature hardly matters to them. It was not PML-Q that won them National Assembly seats. It was the other way round; the party exists because of them. Come the next general elections, they will choose the party flag they feel suites them the most. A PML-Q MNA candidly but secretly admitted that he was in talks with both the PTI and PML-N and would decide close to general elections which one to choose. And if Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain gets the deal from President Zardari, he had been assuring party lawmakers, he would prefer to stay with the PML-Q. I have no qualms in retaining my seat under the PML-Q, he said. In Punjab, the 35 MPAs remaining with the PML-Q are said to be mulling over their political future after the 45 likeminded formally joined PML-N. In Balochistan, PML-Q has 19 MPAs in name only as, from day one; all of them had been acting independent of the central party leadership. Except one, all of them are part of the provincial government. In Sindh, the party has 11 MPAs. But former Chief Minister Sindh, Arbab Ghulam Rahim is now siding with Nawaz Sharif. It is not certain how many of the remaining 10 MPAs Chaudhry Shujaat will find interested in contesting the next election on PML-Q ticket. The party is facing a difficult task in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP), too. There its sitting MNA and former provincial chief, Amir Muqam has left the PML-Q and joined the PML-N. The party won five seats in the KP during last general elections. Three of them are with Mr. Muqam. It is a real hard test for Chaudhry Shujaat Hussains political acumen. In the past he came out successfully. Will his charms win him the death struggle looming large is yet to be seen?

18 May 2012 Dawn News Memo Commission Completes Probe

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18 May 2012

ISLAMABAD: A session of the commission probing the memo scandal concluded at the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday, Dawn News reported. The commission is being headed by Balochistan High Court Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa. After the session, the BHC chief justice said that the commission had completed its proceedings and only one in camera hearing remained to be held. The commission would soon present its report to the Supreme Court of Pakistan, he added. The commissions secretary Raja Jawad presented to it his statement recorded under oath along with a forensic report of US businessman Mansoor Ijazs Blackberry set. In his statement, the secretary informed the commission that eight companies had been contacted for the forensic examination of Ijazs Blackberry set and after evaluating the quality standards the company with the least price and best quality was chosen. Furthermore, Jawad also submitted the list of companies along with contact and pricing details, informing the court that both Ijaz and Pakistans former ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani had been notified of the forensic examination. He added that two experts from the chosen company had analyzed the handset in his presence and that the Pakistan High Commission in London did not interfere during the examination. Deputy Attorney General Tariq Jahangiri questioned the credentials of the examining experts upon which the relevant documentation was handed over to him. Counsel for Mansoor Ijaz, Barrister Akram Shaikh told the court that Haqqanis lawyer Zahid Bukhari had issued a statement to the media about boycotting the commissions hearing whereas his client Haqqani was fully cooperating with the commission. Qazi Isa said it was best not to depend on media reports. He added that no request had been received from Haqqani in this regard. In a related development, PML-N chief Nawaz Sharifs counsel, Barrister Mustafa Ramday requested the commission to summon President Asif Ali Zardari in a personal capacity.

18 May 2012 Dawn News The State Bank of Pakistan Injects Rs 169.550 Billion KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan in its reverse repo open market operation in treasury bills and Pakistan Investment Bonds has injected Rs169.550 billion in the banking system. According to SBP here on Friday, the offered amount was Rs. 235.750 billion while the rate of return stood at 11.59 per cent per annum.

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18 May 2012

18 May 2012 The News Baton Armed IJT Wreak Havoc in Lahore LAHORE: Islami Jamiat Tulaba (IJT) workers armed with batons let loose a reign of terror in the provincial capital city, while demonstrating against the murder of a Punjab University student here. Lower Mall Road has turned into a battle ground as the demonstrators armed with batons went violent and clashed with the police, burned tires, voiced fiery slogans against the authorities, pelted stones injuring two policemen, while the police in retaliation arrested ten demonstrators. IJT baton wielding strong workers had gathered at the Nasir Bagh for staging a demonstration against the murder of a Punjab University student triggering police raids and arrests, where having seen the police they went berserk taking a head-on clash with the police. The police in retaliation also baton charged and fired a few teargas shells to push back the angry demonstrators at a distance, who yet kept pelting stones and played hide and seek with the police for hours injuring two policemen.

18 May 2012 The News Nawaz Sharif a Failure in Sindh, says Soomro Karachi- Nawaz Sharifs attempt to make inroads into Sindhs politics has failed, said Sindh Minister for Law, Muhammad Ayaz Soomro. He was talking to various delegations in his office on Thursday. Soomro said that Sharif wanted to enter into the politics of Sindh with the help of a few landlords and Waderas. However, the people of Sindh would resist such a conspiracy, he added. He said the Waderas who are unable to win even a councilors seat are not in a position to provide any support to the PML-N chief. Soomro said that there was no Sindh card and that Sindh was a reality, and those who intended to play Sindh card or talked of the division of the province lived in a fools paradise.

18 May 2012 The News Joint Session of Parliament on May 21 ISLAMABAD: On the advice of the Prime Minister, President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday summoned a joint sitting of the Parliament on May 21 at 5 pm. The session will be addressed by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Turkish Prime Minister will be on a three-day visit to Pakistan. Prime Minister Gilani was earlier invited to address the Turkish parliament, during his last visit to Turkey.

18 May 2012 The News Bid to Smuggle Explosives to AJK Foiled by Police RAWALPINDI: The Kahuta Police, following an intelligence report, foiled an attempt to transport a heavy quantity of explosive material to the AJK on Thursday morning. Two men, belonging to Bajaur Agency and AJK, were taken into custody and they were shifted to an undisclosed location for further investigation, the police spokesman said.

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18 May 2012

Police sources said that the Kahuta Police, on information provided by the intelligence agencies, intercepted a Suzuki pick-up, bearing registration number RIU-6773, at Pajar Chowk in Kahuta, the most sensitive area of the country, and detained two men identified as Sher Zaman, a resident of Mareeza, Tehsil Narang, Bajaur Agency, and Mohammad Nadeem hailing from Sadhnoi, AJK. During search of the vehicle, police recovered 10 kilograms of explosive material concealed under the seats.

18 May 2012 Pak Tribune Pakistan Seeks $5,000 Transit Fee for Each NATO Container LAHORE: Pakistani negotiators have proposed a fee of about $5,000 for each NATO shipping container and tanker that transits its territory by land into and out of Afghanistan said a report in Washington Post. The newspaper says the amount is a key sticking point in discussions about the terms of a deal that would allow the traffic to resume, about six months after Pakistan closed its border crossings, according to US and Pakistani officials. Officials said on Tuesday that a deal was imminent, after they reached agreement in principle on reopening the transit corridors. But the details are being negotiated. "The framework is ready, but we are now looking at rates," Washington Post quoted a Pakistani official as saying, while a US official also emphasized that Washington had not agreed to any figure. According to officials from both countries, who spoke on the condition of anonymity about the closed-door negotiations here, the newspaper says Pakistan proposed the figure after calculating its total outlays for damaged infrastructure primarily wear and tear on its roads from the heavy vehicles as well as security costs and a new tariff. Pakistani officials said they had also taken into account their belief that NATO, by using alternative, far longer transport routes through Central Asia, is paying at least double the amount they had requested. Nonetheless, the notion of payment for using what are known as the Pakistani ground lines of communication has been difficult for the Pentagon to swallow, because access previously was considered free. But other US officials have pointed out that the United States had given Pakistan billions over the past decade as compensation for its counterterrorism efforts. That money is expected to be discontinued as the new arrangements are put in place, the paper claims. Pakistan says it is still owed more than $3 billion for past operations; the United States puts the figure at about $1.3 billion. The transport agreement is being considered as a matter separate from other aspects of the bilateral security relationship, including Pakistan's rejection of US drone attacks inside its borders. Discussions on that issue are continuing between senior intelligence officials. Before the closures, more than 70 percent of NATO's supplies in Afghanistan largely paid for and utilized by the United States travelled over land from Karachi. The route has become even more important to US and coalition forces as they begin the combat troop withdrawal scheduled for completion by the end of 2014. The pullout will be discussed at a NATO summit in Chicago this weekend. The alliance invited President Asif Ali Zardari to the summit this week once it became clear that a transit agreement was near.

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18 May 2012

The newspaper further reports that some analysts speculated that Zardari might wait to announce in Chicago any new deal with NATO. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani's cabinet took up the matter but ended the day with no decision except to reinforce parliament's recommendation that shipments contain no weaponry or lethal supplies. US officials noted that the parliamentary recommendations being debated referred only to non-lethal supplies travelling into Afghanistan but proposed no such restriction on outgoing goods. Although Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira told reporters after the Wednesday meeting that "no decision on NATO supplies will be made under any pressure", the US government is eager to resolve the issue, which has left thousands of containers sitting in lots near two border crossings and idled countless Pakistani transport and other workers, the newspaper concluded.

18 May 2012 Pak Tribune PML-N Trying to Step in Judges' Shoes: Gilani ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Thursday criticized the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) and said it is not written in the constitution that any political party, particularly the PML-N, would implement the SC orders. Talking to reporters after a telecommunication event, a confident Gilani bluntly said they were not bound to implement the court orders. To a question regarding the appointment of the chief election commissioner, the premier said he had sought recommendations from the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, but the latter said he did not accept him as the PM. Gilani said that the Parliamentary Committee on Appointment of Election Commission, headed by PPP lawmaker Khursheed Shah, would now oversee the issue. The prime minister said those conspiring against him wanted to expel him from his office before the creation of Saraiki province, adding that creation of this province was not only his wish, but also the aspiration of 40 million people of the Saraiki belt. To a question about resumption of NATO supplies, Gilani said the supply routes would be opened once talks of various ministries conclude. To another question regarding the Chicago conference, he said President Asif Zardari would attend the summit and Pakistan had been invited unconditionally. The prime minister said the government was trying to end load shedding. About the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project, Gilani said work on the project was underway. To a question about army offensive in North Waziristan, Gilani said that the army could take measures against foreign militants on its own. Earlier, addressing the event, Gilani said, "We need to ensure that the dividends of any economic and technological progress trickle down to the people of Pakistan, particularly to the vulnerable and disadvantaged groups such as women and girls.

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18 May 2012

In a globalised world, women and girls play a key role in reducing poverty, fostering economic development and promoting social cohesion for themselves, their families and their countries. Here I would like to pay special tribute to the daughter of this country, late Arfa Abdul Karim Randhawa, who proved that therefore, it is very important to bring women into the mainstream so that they can play their due role in the development of our country." He announced to establish Arfa Karim Institute of Information Technology in Islamabad. He directed the Information Technology Ministry to provide community computers at schools, colleges, union councils and other rural hubs within three months. For increasing broadband penetration, he ordered the Capital Development Authority to make broadband wiring mandatory in every building plan such as electricity wiring and gas piping.

18 May 2012 Pak Tribune NAB Launches Inquiry against Nawaz Sharif ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Thursday said it has started investigations against the Sharif brothers in a $32 million money laundering scandal. "The reference against Sharif brothers was sent by Interior Minister Rehman Malik and it will be decided on merit," NAB spokesman Zafar Iqbal said while addressing a media briefing at the NAB headquarters. Replying to a question about the reports that President Asif Ali Zardari has directed the NAB chairman to initiate an inquiry against the Sharifs and reopens pending cases against them; the spokesman said the president had only directed the NAB chairman to ensure that there was no political victimization. Malik had earlier claimed he had evidence to prove that the PML-N leaders were involved in laundering $32 million. Iqbal said NAB has so far recovered Rs 2.012 billion from Rental Power Plants (RPPs) on the directives of the Supreme Court (SC). Giving details, he said Rs 109 million were recovered from Pakistan Power House and Walter International, Rs 546 million from Techno Engineering, Rs 50 million from Young Generation, Rs 225 million from Gulf company and Rs 100 million from Reshma company. The bureau has recorded the statements of former power minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Shaukat Tareen and Liaquat Jatoi, but no money has been recovered from them, he said, adding the three will be summoned again if needed. The NAB spokesman said the Interior Ministry has not yet put the names of ministers involved in RPPs' case on the Exit Control List (ECL) despite a request by NAB. Responding to a question, he said that nobody has been given clean chit in the case; rather NAB is in the process of recovery from the RPPs. Moreover, the bureau has also sent its teams to inspect the sites of RPPs and teams are busy finalizing their reports. Iqbal said NAB was in contact with an army team questioning generals named in NLC corruption reference.

18 May 2012 Pak Tribune Pakistan Accepts NATO Invitation ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office said on Thursday President Asif Zardari would visit Chicago to attend the 25th NATO summit on May 20-21 at the invitation of NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. On Tuesday, Rasmussen telephoned the president and invited him to participate in the summit. The decision to attend the summit was made after both the Defense Committee of the Cabinet (DCC) and the cabinet endorsed the invitation.

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Earlier, Pakistan clarified that matters regarding apology for Salala attack and end to drone attacks would be taken up with the US. To some speculative media reports about current Pak-US talks, the Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman said the government would abide by the recommendations of parliament in letter and spirit. "As decided by the DCC, negotiations on NATO supplies, question of apology, fresh border ground rules and cessation of drone attacks are being carried out in a transparent manner," the spokesman said. The spokesman said further that Pakistan would continue to remain engaged with the US on all issues and decisions would be taken in the best national interest.

EDITORIALS (Top) 18 May 2012 Daily Times EDITORIAL: Raising Tariff for Absent Electricity While load shedding of anywhere from 10 (official) to 23 (empirical) hours a day continues unabated, the government in its infinite wisdom has chosen to sprinkle salt on the publics wounds by raising the electricity tariff by 16 percent. The raise will yield an extra Rs 88 billion, which the government hopes to set aside for relieving the circular debt impasse that has prevented installed capacity from being utilized fully, producing a power deficit of 4,000 (official) to 5,200 (independent estimates) MW. But why quibble about the number of hours people are subjected to power cuts, especially with summer looming and the temperature finally rising after a false extended spring into the middle of May. Or, for that matter, whether the shortfall is 4,000 or 5,200 MW. In either of these cases, the end result is the same. People are not just uncomfortable; work has been badly affected, if not ground to a halt throughout the country. One shudders at what lies ahead when the full blast of summer is finally upon us. Already irate tempers will explode, if that does not happen even earlier. While the raised tariff will go some way towards retiring the circular debt (estimated to be around Rs 400 billion by now), one, it will not prove the final solution to the problem; two, it will raise peoples ire even further at a tariff rise for absent electricity. Since the raise cuts across domestic, commercial, industrial and agricultural consumers, the inflationary impact can only be imagined. So what the government gains with one hand on the swings (tariff raise), it loses on the other on the merry-go-rounds (increased inflationary pressure). In the light of the anticipated negative reaction of the public to this latest burden to be inflicted on them without any sign of relief in load shedding, it is interesting to see in the media reports about the cabinet meeting in which almost all the ministers were so irritated by the fact that they were in no position to face the electorate in their constituencies because of load shedding, and the fear that the opposition was going to town on the issue, that they put both the finance and water and power ministers on the mat. Their fear was that come the next elections, they would have to bear the loss of their constituencies because of the absence of electricity (it may be noted in passing that whatever the government has or has not achieved in the last four years has by now been wiped out by the generalized anger at the governments inept handling of the electricity issue). Such was the intensity of their grilling that the prime minister was forced to forego the scheduled agenda in

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favor of a full discussion on the electricity crisis. Certain Platos even went so far as to suggest that the government should prevent any negative fallout of the electricity shortage amongst the electorate by printing as much money as was required for wiping out the circular debt and ensuring the supply of electricity. This wisdom was shot down unceremoniously by the finance minister. Peeved by the unremitting attacks on his ministrys handling of the crisis, the finance minister, Hafeez Sheikh, is reported to have snapped that it is easier to talk about things than understand them. The mutual ire of cabinet colleagues at each other will prove nothing in comparison with the storm of anger and protest that awaits the government as the summer advances and electricity retreats (demand is bound to rise with temperatures). Even the control room reportedly set up in the presidency to monitor the load shedding may prove unable to make a dent in the situation. Similar remarks apply to the Rs 3 billion released to the water and power ministry for payments to PSO to ensure additional supply of furnace oil to the power producers. Another Rs 7 billion has been requested, but with the finance minister pointing to the straitened financial and economic circumstances of the country, there is no guarantee that extra amount will be available soon. The incumbents are staring down the barrel of a shotgun in electoral terms if they fail to salvage the country from ever rising costs of utilities and everything else in the midst of unrelieved heat and darkness.

18 May 2012 Daily Times SECOND EDITORIAL: Dr Chishti as a Test Case Dr. Khalil Chishti has finally arrived in Pakistan on an interim bail for five months after spending 20 wasted years in Indian custody. He became a victim of the typical mindset of the authorities on both sides. Dr. Chishti had gone to India in 1992 to meet his mother in Ajmer, Rajasthan. On one fateful day, amidst a brawl, one of Chishtis nephews killed somebody in the neighborhood. Ignoring the facts, Dr Chishti was arrested, confined to his ancestral home for 18 years and in January 2011 was sentenced to life imprisonment. Not granting Dr Chishti the right to prove his innocence and dismissing evidence amidst fears and speculations surrounding his Pakistani origins was unjust and inhuman. The gloom of incarceration was severer for being without cause. However, with those 20 years behind him, Dr Chishti has become a test case for those languishing in Indian and Pakistani jails, either on spurious charges or because they had inadvertently crossed the land or maritime border. The treatment of such people in either country is a matter of collective shame. Now that Pakistan and India are opening up trade and economic cooperation, can some time also be spared for the victims of irrational state policies on either side? People from the business and cultural spheres are now moving across the borders more freely. The time has come to find solutions for issues confronting ordinary people, the fishermen, the herdsmen, the ordinary folk walking along the fences and the visitor who has to prove his identity and constantly report to the police on arriving in either India or Pakistan. Is all this bureaucratese not in sharp contrast with the feelings of warmth and bonhomie the people of either country encounter in the other? It is such a pity that despite being neighbors sharing thousands of years of common history and culture, the proximity of India and Pakistan has not helped the cause of interaction between the two peoples on a scale commensurate with the deep seated desire in both countries. On returning to Pakistan, Dr Chishti expressed his desire to meet Sarabjit Singh, held in Lahore Jail for 21 years. He is said to be a victim of mistaken identity. Is it not amazing and tragic that an incarcerated prisoners identity

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could not be determined even after 21 years? No doubt the fact that he is an Indian national has queered the pitch for so long. All sane people in both countries would join those activists, especially Justice Markandey Kutju of the Supreme Court of India, who wants the Pakistan government to reciprocate Indias humanitarian gesture by releasing Sarabjit. Like the recently opened trade gate at Wagha, both countries need to open more gates of mutual respect and understanding in our hearts to give the Chishtis and Sarabjits relief from their unnecessary ordeal.

18 May 2012 Daily Times COMMENT: Drone Attacks: Need to Separate Politicking from Statecraft Jamal Hussain Statecraft and statesmanship demand a cold, logical assessment of the situation and adopting a course of action most likely to promote state interest in the given environment. Introduction: the term administration rather than establishment has been used deliberately since the latter as understood in our part of the world identifies the men in khakis in GHQ, with some elements of the bureaucracy in tow. Administration on the other hand encompasses all major players of the state headed by the directly elected political elites who alone have been given the mandate of formulation and execution of national policies at all levels. Administration, rather than the establishment, therefore, must answer for the current ambiguity in the covert and overt stands on the CIA drone attacks on Pakistani soil. Critics would point out that despite the democratic credentials of the present government, the establishment, rather than the administration crafts and executes the countrys security policies, which parliament merely rubber stamps. On the issue of the drone strikes logically, the establishment rather than the administration should be asked to come clean. Even if this assertion is true, it would still reflect the failure of the political leadership for abandoning and abdicating one of its key responsibilities to a non-elected entity of the state while in the final analysis only they are answerable to the general public, who voted them into power. Should the administration express their inability to harness the establishment and exercise the mandate given to them by the people, they should make way for those who have the gumption to do so. This article will examine the rationale being presented by the administration for its fierce public opposition to the US drone attacks and the harsh realities that had earlier forced them to adopt a far more conciliatory tone in private. Currently a complete cessation of the armed drone operations in our tribal belt is one of the key conditions for the resumption of the NATO supply routes through Pakistani territory. Because of some inherent shortcomings in the logic being presented for Pakistans opposition to the CIA-operated drone strikes, the US is unlikely to agree to such a demand. Subsequent paragraphs will elaborate on this aspect. Drone attacks violate Pakistans sovereignty: sovereignty like honor is a very noble concept and like honor, it is not an absolute entity and varies according to circumstances and environment. The more vulnerable one is the lower would be the threshold of honor and also of sovereignty. Pakistans stand on the violation of its sovereignty by the US drones when viewed in isolation is on solid moral and legal grounds but when seen in light of the existing environment, it gets diluted. For one, where the writ of the state is absent, the claim to sovereignty weakens and unfortunately in the unruly tribal belt of Pakistan, the states writ is at best marginal. And finally, the presence of ISAF/NATO forces in neighboring Afghanistan has been sanctified by

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a UN resolution. Much as the Pashtun Afghans and nearly all Pakistanis look at them as an occupying force, they are there with the legal if not the moral go-ahead of the premier world institution, which has the mandate of sanctifying or declaring illegal military interventions by a country. The UNs rules of business condemn the territorial use of any part of a country for mounting offensive raids/campaigns against another state. If the party at fault is either unwilling or unable to control acts of sabotage and subversion of a neighbor from its soil, the latter can, after UN approval, mount raids across the border, and these will not be considered violation of sovereignty. Pakistan is confronting such a perilous scenario where should the US decide, they can get the UNs endorsement for boots on the ground cross-border raids in our tribal belt. That they have not adopted this line of action so far has more to do with their being overstretched militarily in two major conflicts and that Pakistan with all its perceived inadequacies is still considered a better bet as an ally than as an adversary. Drone strikes may provide tactical gains but are strategic disasters: drone strikes may provide tactical gains but are strategic disasters is the conventional wisdom few in Pakistan can dare to disagree with. It is not easy to verify the accuracy of the statement because besides the alien drones, the campaign against the non-state actors in our tribal belt has other components as well that have a direct bearing on the outcome of the anti-insurgency operations. In this form of asymmetric warfare, military actions are but a small part of the overall strategy to defeat the enemy. Establishing the states writ where the insurgents are based, bringing visible development in the area, creating job opportunities and enhancing the quality of life for the locals are necessary steps to win the hearts and minds of the people. To paraphrase Mao, only then the rebels would not have the medium of water to swim and flourish. How has the state of Pakistan fared in these critical fields once military actions by our own forces in Swat and Waziristan had managed to create a window of opportunity for other strands of strategy to be applied? Are the drone strikes the principal cause of the failure of the state to eliminate the insurgents? Unbiased analysts and historians can better answer the question. That the drone attacks result in collateral damage is irrefutable though the extent of damage is open to debate. Criticism of drones as a promoter of terror has much merit but Pakistans objection is weakened to an extent because the state itself employs air power assets (fixed and rotary wing) to target insurgents in the tribal belt. The weapons employed in these operations have a much larger warhead (hence wider footprint) and less accuracy than the much smaller and more accurate Hellfire missiles fired by the drones. All other factors being equal, the Pakistani aerial onslaught is likely to cause comparatively more collateral damage than the drones. Since Pakistan has not discontinued the aerial assaults despite the collateral damage risk, which it makes all efforts to minimize, its objection is not so much on the use of armed drones as a launch platform but because it is owned and operated by its so-called ally, who fails to coordinate and inform about the types of targets that are engaged. While the US is unlikely to cease drone operations over FATA in the near future, it might be more amenable to allowing a greater role to Pakistan in intelligence sharing and final target selection. This part appears to be doable. Conclusion: sentiments have no place in statecraft and slogans like most allied ally and higher than the Himalayas are excellent after dinner and post-negotiation speeches but have little relevance in the states final decision-making process. Statecraft and statesmanship demand a cold, logical assessment of the situation and adopting a course of action most likely to promote state interest in the given environment. Politicking, on the other hand, cannot ignore public sentiments even if these might not be beneficial in promotion of national interest.

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Successful leaders in democracies do keep the public sentiments in mind but are able to mould them sufficiently if they are convinced following their logic will eventually harm the wellbeing of the state. To be able to do that leaders must have the vision of a statesman and also enjoy the confidence and trust of the people they represent. Are the current leadership of Pakistan and those waiting in the wings up to the task? The writer is a defense analyst and Director of Centre of Airpower Studies. He can be reached at jamal4701@yahoo.co.uk

18 May 2012 Daily Times VIEW: Targeting the Tombs Shahab Usto The decision to reopen the NATO supplies to Afghanistan without achieving any reciprocal benefits debunks Pakistans costly image of being a great nuclear/regional power. We have seen terrorists blow up the shrines of mystics and saints Bari Imam, Data Ganj Baksh, Abdullah Shah Ghazi, Sakhi Sarwar but now even poets and political icons are in the crosshairs of terrorism. Akora Khattak, a small city in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has been twice hit by terrorism; one to destroy the mausoleum of Khushal Khan Khattak, a great Pashtun poet and freedom fighter of the 17th century, and then to destroy the under-construction tomb of Ajmal Khattak, a left-leaning politician and poet. For years, Pakistan has been an eerie lab of extremism. Ever new arts and artifacts of terrorism are invented here to achieve religio-political objectives. Often the ingenious terror operators leave security and intelligence apparatuses dumbfounded. Bombing of shrines are not new in recent and contemporary history. In fact, shrine, seminary and mosque have respectively played a pivotal role in the Iranian revolution, the anti-Soviet war in Afghanistan, and the ongoing Arab Spring. Nevertheless, the sufis, saints and folk poets are much revered in the subcontinent. People feel affinity with their spiritual and emotional lures that transcend scholastic divisions and touch chords of humanism, love, amity and aesthetics. Indeed, the local mystical traditions have been anti-monarchical and anti-dogmatic clergy. No wonder, there are many shrines in Pakistan that are visited by both Muslims and non-Muslims. And that explains why shrines came under parochial and sectarian eyes, particularly since the times General Ziaul Haq imported from Saudi Arabia a virulent (Salafi) narrative of Islam that, inter alia, berates grave worshiping as un-Islamic. Salafism is akin to, or some would say, a branch of Wahabiism that stresses a narrow puritanical version of Islam. The House of Saud adopted it in the early last century. Its tenet going back to the basic of Islam-- was used to unite and turn the tribal Saudi peninsula into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Since Wahabiism and Salafiism, with its going back to basics slogan, developed as a reaction both to liberal Islamic and modern western traditions, the Wahhabi and the Salafi political message was to resist both diversity and modernity. The emergence of al Qaeda, and later the Taliban, is case in point. Luckily, the sub continental culture is too diverse and too variegated to fit into a narrow scholastic version. History witnessed socio-political conflicts whenever such an effort was made. Indeed, many historians would agree that the unraveling of the centuries-old Mughal Empire began with Emperor Aurangzebs rise to the throne in the wake of a bloody fratricidal war in the 17th century. It was largely his narrow vision of Islam that disturbed the delicate balance between the minority Muslim and the majority non-Muslim

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populace crafted by that great syncretic king, Akbar, and continued by his successors. Aurangzeb kept the Mughal Empire alive with his sword. But the Indian subcontinent plunged into decay and anarchy soon after his death. Pathans invaded Delhi from the north and west, the Hindu revivalists from the south, and the English from the east. Except for a brief interlude of the war of independence (1857-58) when a transient quest for redeeming India from the clutches of the English had transcended religious and social boundaries, the Muslims saw a continuous downturn in their social, economic and political fortunes vis--vis the Hindus and British. Unfortunately, Pakistan has undergone the same trajectory since it was turned into a vehicle of promoting a narrow narrative of Islam in emulation, if not the wishes, of our Arab patrons. Like the House of Saud, General Zia used his narrow puritanical Sharia laws to upstage liberal democratic forces, to use non-state actors in the region, to transform the professional ethos of the armed forces, his political constituency, into an army of Islam. And interestingly, like 18th-century Delhi, todays Islamabad is also faced with existential threats from its northwestern and eastern borders. But Pakistan is paying a heavy cost of this policy. Drawn into incessant ideological, political and sectarian conflicts, it has torn its social fabric, damaged its polity, surrendered its foreign policy, and suffered economic losses. Indeed, just as the post-Aurangzeb Mughal monarchs had turned helpless before the marauding forces; our central authority has been sapped to being ineffectual. The decision to reopen the NATO supplies to Afghanistan without achieving any reciprocal benefits debunks Pakistans costly image of being a great nuclear/regional power, thanks to our emotional and unwise international posturing. Ironically, if our eastern borders have turned quiet, it is because India has successfully convinced the international community of the Pakistani states complicity in the Mumbai attacks. And if our traditional policy strategic depth is imperiled on the western borders, it is because the US-led 49 states strong ISAF wont allow any safe havens in Pakistan to be used against them in Afghanistan. Neither did the long-awaited parliamentary resolutions demanding the stopping of drones operation and an apology from the US, nor the much trumpeted anti-US Difa-e-Pakistan rallies deter the world that is determined to stamp out terrorism from the region. Instead, Pakistan would have stood isolated if it had not reviewed its policies at a crucial time; rather, it would have been omitted as a stakeholder in the future of this region. Thus, Pakistan stands caught in its own web, threatened by forces it nurtured. It is time the state shredded its ideological and partisan agenda to become a legally neutral, politically democratic, foreign-policy-wise peaceful, and socio-economically welfare-oriented state. It needs a supportive and mutually invested world that should not be accusing it of playing a double game of simultaneously fighting and sheltering terrorists. We must remember, destroying economic and administrative infrastructures is not different from targeting tombs and shrines one scares off capital and investors, the other alienates the masses from a state that cannot protect their spiritual and emotional mentors. Either way, the state ends up losing its authority, legitimacy and face before its people and the world at large. The writer is a lawyer and academic. He can be reached at shahabusto@hotmail.com

18 May 2012 Daily Times VIEW: NATO Supply Line and the Ummah Syed Kamran Hashmi

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It was our prerogative to jeopardize the success of the infidels against our Taliban brothers and to help (once again) the freedom fighters in Afghanistan. Pakistan has been ordained to become the vanguard of the human race and to win all wars against its enemies because it is the closest ally of God in the entire seditious world. In this regard, we are convinced, as Pakistanis, about our rightfulness and rectitude; (pseudo) threats regarding economic sanctions from NATO and the US cannot intimidate us. Being on His side, we fear no one (except maybe the police, the army, the US, and in the end, Almighty Allah...if at all). We are tremendously proud (read needy), fiercely autonomous (lawless) and absolutely independent of US aid and assistance. It is unimaginable that NATO through their unrealistic monetary jargon and gibberish can subjugate us about our predicted financial meltdown. The infidels in NATO need to be educated about our history and our exalted past (the success of Arabs, Persians and Turks before the 18th century).Once it is clear to them, only then they can recognize the sleeping( shamefully sick) lion, a dormant (dead) volcano in us that can erupt anytime to disturb world peace altogether. The Americans would also realize that they are dealing with the toughest people on earth as we not only possess all the qualities of the carnivorous king but we can eat grass too, at the same time, if it comes to the question of protecting our sovereignty. The only problem is that grass is not available in Pakistan anymore. It requires a lot of water to grow and we lose much of it every year in floods. The aliens should also be informed that angels always protect the borders of Pakistan spiritually and no one (except the terrorists, the US, NATO, India and Afghanistan) can trespass its line of control. It is hardly ever controlled by the national armed forces because of its herculean terrain and the border being more than a thousand miles long. It has deliberately been kept porous (by the tribesmen) in some areas because the Pashtun clans on both sides of the Durand Line are in favor of a universal Islamic revolution through the United Emirates of AfghanPakistan (Af-Pak). Our faith in our impermeable (for the enemies of Islam) borders, therefore, leaves us with no other choice except to discredit the Abbottabad operation as fake and the Salala incident as a conspiracy. After the November 2011 check post tragedy for which we deserved an apology and possible compensation for the loss of our soldiers obviously, we reserved the right to shut down unilaterally the NATO supply line in Pakistan. It was our prerogative to jeopardize the success of the infidels against our Taliban brothers and to help (once again) the freedom fighters in Afghanistan. We definitely did not take this step in haste; instead we decided to move forward with extreme option after months (hours) of deliberations nationally (limited to GHQ). We performed deep and thorough analyses on multiple levels and evaluated consequences from all angles. Only after these extensive intellectual exercises in both military and civil think tanks we reached a unanimous decision about the supply line. We also consulted our friends (China and Turkey) in the region and obtained legal advice from international law experts. Our military leadership did not at all impose it, and all the right wing political parties, along with their non-political counterparts (terrorist organizations) spoke their mind independently through the council to save Pakistan. All of them chanted the same slogans together and expressed their unanimous wish simultaneously for a horrible defeat (death) to the US. The only people who opposed it were the appeasers who do not believe in jihad (through the terrorist networks) and are also known as US/Israeli agents.

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In short, our decision against NATO was backed up by sound economic indicators of Pakistan, suggesting stable growth of our GDP, in case of a trade embargo. We calculated our foreign reserves, ensured our fuel/energy supply and secured our exports before we blocked the supply route. Even today when we are planning to reopen them, we have concluded in favor of their restoration through an extensive national discourse (in GHQ) and after a thorough, deep and fair analysis. We have taken everyone on board the civilian leadership, intelligentsia, civil society and opinion makers (the generals). They all understand that the greater interest of Pakistan and the Muslim Ummah can only be served by helping NATO once again establish peace in Afghanistan. Only the terrorists disagree with this policy of friendship and peace. They must be US agents as well. In that case, there is essentially no difference between the appeasers and the terrorists because both of them are playing into the hands of anti-Pakistan forces. The writer is a freelance columnist and can be reached at skamranhashmi@gmail.com

18 May 2012 Daily Times COMMENT: Snap! Hina Hafeezullah Ishaq In practice, we sternly follow the principle guilty as hell until you can prove yourself innocent and incidentally, this has nothing to do with our constitution or the law. As children, we used to play a card game called Snap. The cards my brothers and I had were printed with Mr. Men figures; each player was dealt an equal number of cards; on his turn, he had to throw a single card, face up, onto a pile in the centre; if the pictures matched, whoever yelled out Snap first, got the whole pile! As expected, many a discord arose as to who was the first to yell and who quick enough to put his hand on the pile! Last week, at a meeting with an American from the US State Department, we were asked a question, Did you guys inherit the British presumption of innocent until proven guilty? I initially quipped, No, but then went on to clarify that in theory we did, but in practice, we sternly follow the principle guilty as hell until you can prove yourself innocent and incidentally, this has nothing to do with our constitution or the law or the precedents handed down by the apex court. We as proud Pakistanis deny our citizens the basic safeguards our ancestors probably died for. Our criminal justice system works in an exemplary fashion. It begins with two modes of lodging a First Information Report (FIR); the first choice is pay-as-you-go, which ensures that it is smooth sailing all the way. The second is the dhaka-mode; this ensures that one is subjected to endless visits to police stations, begging, cajoling, but to no avail. That is followed further by two modes: one, sabar-shukar (patience and gratitude), the other through the court. The first ensures that one just counts ones losses and tosses them into the sea, and the second ensures that one is either back to square one or back to the court again for compliance of orders. If one survives the first step, the second is the actual FIR: again one and rarely used is the real-truth-version, which simply stated is the actual truth. The other is a beefed-up-version, which nominates entire families, neighborhoods and multiple unknown persons for good measure! Putting in a few unknowns ensures that given one greases the palms of our ever zealous investigators, every possible Tom, Dick and Harry whom one has a grudge against can be roped in if and when required. Just in case one was suffering from dementia at the time of registering of the FIR, multiple persons can be

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18 May 2012

implicated by recording supplementary statements, which again have no evidentiary value and cannot be equated with the FIRs, but again who cares about small details! And most of all, strategically mentioned witnesses of the offence, who in most cases are blessed with, at the risk of sounding heretic, God forbid divine revelation, as if they know everything about the occurrence, and that too by virtue of an eyewitness account, without actually ever being there! With the FIR lodged, the ball is passed onto our extremely honest, competent and well-qualified Investigation Officer (IO). He has a Herculean task ahead of him, which involves preparing a site plan, recording statements, investigating the offence and apprehending the suspect or suspects as the case maybe. Since the weather in our country is not conducive for either of these menial and entirely useless efforts, most of them can be carried out while sitting at the police station. Depending how much grease is used, an entire army of extremely dangerous and habitual criminals can be apprehended and implicated; whether or not they were involved in actual commission of the offence is a petty issue and not really worth wasting time on! Most suspects can be apprehended by simple alleged inkishafs or revelations or disclosures by other accused in custody. These valuable revelations can be termed extra-judicial confessions if the persons making them ever recalled making them, between nursing themselves from being subjected to mandatory health benefits. Those include promoting circulation to the brain by being hung upside down for hours on end, from deadly mosquitoes being swatted on their bodies by a 17 number chittar (which of course is better than dying of dengue), or from a roller being applied to their bodies with two men on either side, using it as a rolling pin to flatten all that disgusting flab. Lets not forget various tests that test the effectiveness of all five senses like cigarette burns, eyes being taped, exposure to intense sound, thus expediting the inkishafats, which become blessed with Godspeed! Sometimes, our efficient IO takes it upon himself to get an alleged, apprehended offender properly identified. The normal course for these identification parades is to get permission from the district and sessions judges who deputes a magistrate to go into jails and conduct the same, ideally, strictly in accordance with the principles laid down. These principles include the fact that witnesses do not see the suspects prior to the identification process; there is no delay between the occurrence and the time when the parade is held in order to ensure that the recall process and the memory of the witness are reliable. There have to be a certain number of dummies mixed up with the suspect in the line-up who are similar in height, physique, features, complexion, appearance and dress. At the police station, these dummies and the suspect are usually made to sit in a circle and the witnesses have to identify or pick out the suspect from within the group. Now since we are well aware that unfortunately memory fades and sometimes recall does not work that well, our ever efficient Punjab Police who support the motto No Fear comes to the help of the needy, poor, defenseless witnesses. In the interest of justice and fairness, our police, keeping in line with the directives of our unknowing government, have taken to a little self-help refresher course to facilitate the citizens. Now after procuring or apprehending the suspects, as the case may be, they invite the witnesses for a little peek-aboo to the police station. Not only do the witnesses get a chance, which is much needed, to acquaint themselves with the suspects, get to know their preferences, likes and dislikes, which may come in handy later, they can indulge in a little photo session for the benefit of, of course, the suspects, which might put Athar-Shahzad, Rollo, Zaidis and the like to shame! After all, everyone knows a picture is worth a thousand words! The role played by the custodians of our liberties and fundamental rights is commendable. Either they are in a redapple-induced slumber, which puts Sleeping Beauty to shame, or have become such an ingrained part of all these practices that they do not even blink an eye. Physical remands are given with suspects never being produced in court; no record is ever checked to ensure that there was indeed tangible evidence that required the arrest of an individual. In spite of blatant torture, suspects are continually remanded into police custody; no access to counsel

OSINT Phone #: 813.827.1441 - Email: CCJ2-OSINT@CENTCOM.SMIL.MIL UNCLASSIFIED//FOUO

UNCLASSIFIED//FOUO
The CENTCOM

This OSINT publication contains foreign media derived entirely from open sources in and around the CENTCOM AOR.

18 May 2012

for the accused is ensured, but then isnt this what speedy justice is about? The more time is spent on these frivolities, the farther the access to justice becomes. Right? Now back to the dummies and the suspect I left sitting in the ring at the lock-up. Armed with the picture acquired earlier and extremely grateful to the IO for his facilitation, the witness skips merrily around the circle, singing Ring a ring of roses, a pocket full of posies until a stern look reminds him of the picture in his pocket and he instantly looks and out goes his hand: Snap! The writer is an advocate of the high court

18 May 2012 Daily Times VIEW: The Cannibal King and the Awaited Hero Gulmina Bilal Ahmad It is imperative for the government to remove and deal with any elements that are sponsoring and promoting the sectarian divide, if it is serious in acquiring some measure of control over the situation The reasons for the violence are many and multi-layered with some analysts terming it as a sectarian conflict, some as an artificially engineered one, some as a question of lack of political rights and some analysts believe that the violence in Gilgit is actually a consequence of Pakistans lack of effective federal system of government. However, whatever the reasons, all commentators and political analysts agree on one thing: the Northern Areas are largely seen as an appendix of the Kashmir issue. Thus on February 28, 2012 (and subsequently other incidents) when 16 men were hauled off by unidentified gunmen from four passenger buses travelling towards Gilgit and killed in cold blood, it was a case of history repeating itself. I use the term history repeating itself, because in May 1988, thousands of anti-Shia militants converged on Gilgit and let loose a killing spree. For three days, death and destruction ruled Gilgit-Baltistan, until the paramilitary was finally sent in. State complicity in these attacks is commonly pointed out. By some unofficial accounts, up to 700 Shias were killed in the assault. The recent Gilgit incident was preceded by such attacks on Hazaras in Balochistan. In both areas, men were identified on sectarian grounds and executed. The later chain of events, which consisted of reciprocal acts of violence by the opposing community, riots and protests, perhaps even eclipsed the issues and violent incidents in Karachi and Balochistan. The once picturesque holiday destination is bearing witness to unprecedented bloodshed, indefinite curfew, and shortage of basic supplies and flaring tensions between various communities. The Taliban factor: according to some field reporters, sectarianism in Gilgit-Baltistan has received fresh investment of manpower, funding and planning by the anti-Shia Taliban factions, some of whom have moved to the area. If these reports are true, then one wonders, in an area which is under the military and intelligence spotlight, how can it be considered by wanted men as a safe haven? The governance factor: there is also a baggage of decades of vacuum of political governance and alienation, fueling the violent and ethnocentric mindset that sectarianism thrives on. The total death toll in Pakistan due to sectarian conflict since 1989 is estimated at more than 7,800. In Gilgit-Baltistan, the absence of political representation, lack of economic opportunities and state complicity in dividing the community on sectarian grounds has proved to be the catalyst for the conflict.

OSINT Phone #: 813.827.1441 - Email: CCJ2-OSINT@CENTCOM.SMIL.MIL UNCLASSIFIED//FOUO

UNCLASSIFIED//FOUO
The CENTCOM

This OSINT publication contains foreign media derived entirely from open sources in and around the CENTCOM AOR.

18 May 2012

It is imperative for the government to remove and deal with any elements that are sponsoring and promoting the sectarian divide, if it is serious in acquiring some measure of control over the situation. The so-called ulema (religious clerics) responsible for antagonizing the already volatile environment, should be identified, isolated and strictly dealt with. The federal government, policy makers and the legislature should discard insensitivity towards Gilgit-Baltistan. The people of Gilgit-Baltistan should be provided with their basic rights and proper representation, while economic opportunities should be promoted in order to diminish the growing frustration, especially among the youth. What makes the case of Gilgit-Baltistan more tragic is the fact that while we may know about the incidents in Karachi, Jhang, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Quetta, the entire scenario of Gilgit-Baltistan has remained under the radar. Not only the sectarian frictions, but also other social and economic problems faced by the citizens in the area have eluded centre-stage. According to a recent analysis in Gilgit-Baltistan, 117 sectarian related murder cases have been registered since 1988 till 2010, not including the estimated 170 attempted murders. In the year 2010 alone, 44 cases of sectarian nature had been registered. In our ignorance and lack of realization regarding the severity of the situation, we have given rise to another monster. This monster has its tentacles all over the country, leaving one to wonder: in order to be safe in Pakistan, which ID card is to be carried? To find one that is acceptable to all ethnic and sectarian groups is a tall order in most parts of the country but in Gilgit-Baltistan, a good starting point would be to start the discourse from a non-Kashmir-specific angle. The writer is a development consultant and can be reached at coordinator@individualland.com

OSINT Phone #: 813.827.1441 - Email: CCJ2-OSINT@CENTCOM.SMIL.MIL UNCLASSIFIED//FOUO

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