:::: MENU ::::
Posts tagged with: India
Sep 17, 2009    |       18 comments

TEDIndia Fellowship YES

It was only in June that TED.com had announced the opportunity to apply for the prestigious TEDIndia fellowship. The selection to this TED Fellows group was limited to bringing together some brilliant future leaders from this region together. I must say that had it not been due to Faisal Chohan, a TED Fellow himself, we in Pakistan would have probably never have heard about this prestigious event, let alone apply

I was fortunate enough to have taken the opportunity to apply and only recently have been informed that I have been selected as one of the 103 TEDIndia Fellow to becoming a part of the Global TED family.


Continue Reading

Aug 21, 2009    |       9 comments

Jaswant, Jinnah Jam

On Aug 14, commenting on Nehru, Patel 'conceded' Pakistan to Jinnah: Jaswant Singh I quoted from the article:

Mohammed Ali Jinnah did not win Pakistan as Congress leaders Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel "conceded" Pakistan to the Quaid-e-Azam with the British acting as an ever helpful midwife, says senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh. According to Singh both Jinnah and Nehru wanted special status for Muslims. "It is ironical that among the great constitutionalists of those times, Jinnah and Nehru became the principal promoters of 'special status for Muslims'; Jinnah directly and Nehru indirectly. "…The irony of it is galling when sadly, we observe that both of them, these two great5 Indians of their times were either actually or in effect competing to become the 'spokesman of Muslims' in India."

Continue Reading

Jun 7, 2009    |       7 comments

TEDIndia invites TED Fellows applications from Pakistan

TED IndiaFor those who have been dotting the internet arena for sometime must have bumped across one or more inspirational presentations on TED.com. Only recently Faisal Chohan had been selected as TED Fellow 2009 and it is through his efforts that we extend an open invitation to Pakistanis. The selection to this TED Fellows group is limited to bringing together some brilliant future leaders and doers from this region.

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader. The annual conference now brings together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).

Continue Reading

Apr 29, 2009    |       44 comments

Where is the Pakistan Army?

map_taliban_takeoverDr. Farrukh Saleem writes for The News analyzing the strategic deployments of the Pakistan Army according to his rough estimates a total of 89,568 square kilometers of Pakistani territory is either under complete ‘Taliban control’, ‘contested control’ or ‘Taliban influenced’; that’s roughly 11 per cent of Pakistan’s landmass.

The sickening reality is that having lost control of roughly 11 percent of your land the Pakistan Army is busily deployed facing its guns at the Indian threat – I Corps is in Mangla, II Corps is in Multan, IV Corps in Lahore, V Corps in Karachi, X Corps in Rawalpindi, XI Corps in Peshawar, XII Corps in Quetta, XXX Corps in Gujranwala and XXXI Corps is in Bahawalpur, In effect, some 80 to 90 per cent of our military assets are deployed to counter the threat from India
Continue Reading

Apr 23, 2009    |       44 comments

You Asked for it Col. Harish Puri!

This is in reference to the article of Colonel Harish Puri – “An Open Letter to Gen Kayani”

india-pakistan1A majority of Indian authors including this Col (R) Harish Puri, are always keen to convey their loaded messages from across the border with laden sarcasm. Indian writers have a convincing way to convey the message in a very subtle manner which appeals to the sensibilities of the liberal class and pro-Indian segment in Pakistan and hence cook stories quite well to defame Pakistan internationally.

Even here how tactfully he incited the sentiments of people of Bangladesh by blaming that Bengalis were never considered as Pakistanis and he makes a fake story of how Pak army had inflicted immense atrocities on the Bengalis without any remorse or inhibitions. Pardon me… but what happened in 71 is a published and established fact now. What was done by the Indian army is revealed to the world… Even the best army under best General would not have done any better at that time. The catastrophe was a foregone conclusion since it was an international conspiracy to detach East Pakistan from the rest of Pakistan.
Continue Reading

Apr 16, 2009    |       29 comments

View from the other side – An open letter to Gen Kayani

Pakistan Chief of Army Staff - General Ashfaq KiyaniThis article appeared in The News yesterday 14th April 2009, a letter from an Indian Colonel to Pakistans COAS General Kiyani, it raises some very valid questions but more importantly the mere fact that the Signal Corps of the Pakistan Army cannot locate the broadcast center of Mullah Umar’s weekly radio transmission, broadcasted on a fixed FM frequency at a well established time. The mere fact that the Pakistan Army allows this broadcast to occur may make us believe that the Pakistan Army has deliberately allowed this insurgency to prosper.

by Col (r) Harish Puri
Published in The News: Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Dear Gen Kayani,

Sir, let me begin by recounting that old army quip that did the rounds in the immediate aftermath of World war II: To guarantee victory, an army should ideally have German generals, British officers, Indian soldiers, American equipment and Italian enemies.
Continue Reading

Mar 4, 2009    |       29 comments

This is Not Cricket

Guest blog by Temporal from Baithak Blog

The Sri Lankan cricket team was attacked in Lahore yesterday by terrorists. SSS terms this a “shift”. I think it is a “deterioration” or “escalation” of lawlessness. If Pakistan is to retain its independence this tide will not be curbed easily by a solitary act (like the restoration of the judiciary) nor by the efforts of one individual or one institution. Both Zardari led government and the Army under Kayani have appeared ineffective to stem this.

More pertinent is to view Tuesday’s attack in the context of the peace deals in the Swat Valley and the tribal areas .. Prior to the signing of the deals, the matter of the release of militants who did not belong to the Swat area was raised, that is, non-Pashtun militants… However, after deciding on the level of compensation packages for the families of militants killed or injured by the security forces and other matters related to Swat and the tribal areas, the matter of non-Pashtun militants was deferred and the peace agreements were signed. In effect, non-Pashtun militants have been ignored and the attack in Lahore could be a bloody message to the government that the “Punjabi militants” have the capacity to cripple urban centers at any time and place of their choosing. Syed Saleem Shezad

So what should the ordinary citizen do? Packing up and leaving is NOT an option. Burying their heads in the sand? More prayers to Allah? Joining the orthodox fringe? Or if not joining, then fighting them for their rights?
Continue Reading

Mar 3, 2009    |       42 comments

Sri Lankan players attack amid a ‘political’ security lapse

lahore-sri-lanka-attackEarly today morning a number of terrorist people on foot attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team as it was approaching Gaddafi Stadium the bus was brutally attacked by almost twelve gunmen as it passed through the Liberty Roundabout.

The bus was miraculously shielded from about two rocket attacks and serious damage was avoided as Police Security escorts retaliated for about twenty-five minutes with heavy gunfire. This sadly resulted in critical injuries to police forces and about five of these selfless public servants lost their lives protecting the lives of our cricketing guests.

Reports initially emerged that quite a number of Sri Lankan players were injured but as the news filtered through two players received serious wounds one was a grazing wound to the chest and the other to the ankle. Remaining players received minor injuries due to flying debris and shrapnel. As of now the Sri Lankan team has been evacuated via a helicopter to Lahore airport for an onwards journey to Sri Lanka via Dubai aboard an Etihad Airways flight

Watching different channels and looking at the footage of the attack, it is clear that religious fundamentalists may have struck yet again. They were armed with hand grenades, rocket launchers, modern rifles and other sophisticated weapons apparently they were with a small beard and looked to belong to Pushtoon origin [?].
Continue Reading

Feb 3, 2009    |       184 comments

The Partition of Territory, Not Hearts

Guest Blog by Vaneet Kundra

THE Partition of India ranks, beyond a doubt, as one of the 10 greatest tragedies in human history. It was not inevitable. India’s independence was inevitable; but preservation of its unity was a prize that, in our plural society, required high statesmanship. That was in short supply. A mix of other reasons deprived us of that prize – personal hubris, miscalculation, and narrowness of outlook.

The bare details of 1947 and its legacy are stark. The territorial partition that created modern India and Pakistan involved the internal division of Punjab and Bengal provinces, which – in unimaginable conditions of collapse of authority, flight, and massacre – resulted in the forced movement of 20 million people (Hindus and Sikhs to India and Muslims to Pakistan) and approximately 1.5 million deaths.

My grandfather used to tell me stories of partition and the emotions attached to it. I was quite interested to know, why the same sons of soil were detached by our founding fathers. He read a small article, which he had preserved.
Continue Reading

Jan 11, 2009    |       8 comments

Stop, Think, Cry, Love: A young girl’s thoughts on the Madness in Mumbai

This article was written by a 14 year old girl who discusses the Mumbai incident, worth a read

Written by
Payoshi Roy (Class XI)
Bishop Cottons Girls School (Bangalore).

The siege on Mumbai left the most experienced of us stunned. Even those who have become immune to grief and tragedy stopped for a second. The 48-hour encounter with these extremely sophisticated and trained terrorists of Pakistani origin left India burning in every sense of the word. The versions and accounts are endless. Trying to quantify people’s grief would not only be futile but indeed low down. People who went for their daily evening session of beer and gossip at the Leopold café, that special once a month dinner at the Taj or for the bitter sweet occasion of farewell at CST Station never returned. This isn’t the first time we’re hearing about something like this. These stories have been talked about through out this year and to be honest through out our lives. We have experienced five separate series of bomb blasts across the country in this year alone. The dreadful cries of the Gujarat riots are yet to recede from recent memories. The 2006 and 1993 Bombay blasts and riots haunt their victims even now.
Continue Reading

Jan 5, 2009    |       474 comments

Why is India behaving like Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)?

Guest Blog by Azhar Aslam

India today is considered by the world to be an established state. Indians think they are on the brink of acquiring super power status. LeT on the other hand is a banned organization considered to be a terrorist non-state actor. So why is it that the belligerence and jingoism Indian state and media is what would be expected of an organization like LeT. How come Indian state is behaving like a terrorist organization?

Non-state violent actors, until recently have been called mercenaries and have been used, by different powers throughout human history. British imperialism started its life in this shape and form, the most famous being the East India Company. Sir Drake , Sir Raleigh and other such “privateers,” were all non state entrepreneurs who advanced state power. Lawless violence often preceded the rule of law.

More recently after the Second World War United States has employed several non-state forces in various parts of the world to further its foreign policy agenda, often at high human and economic cost to that country and its people. Ironically Afghanistan was one such theatre. The Indian support for Baluchistan insurgency is an open secret. There is a strength of evidence for Indian and US support for ‘Jihadist’ groups operating on Pakistani territories.
Continue Reading

Dec 21, 2008    |       34 comments

A Blessing in Disguise

Guest Post by Temporal from Baithak Blog

The UN Security Council Committee condemning LeT and its parent JD should be a blessing in disguise for the political leadership of Pakistan.

They could use this powerful international nudge to clamp down on the ISI and the terrorist breeding factories masquerading as madaris and religious charitable organizations.

This is the time to kill two birds with one resolve backed by firm action. The beards and ISI (backed by support from a segment of the occupying army) would thwart and resist every inch of the way.

They should, they could and they won’t.

Why?

Because there is a qehhat ul rejaal in the political leadership. There are no statesmen, no giants, no leaders either in the centre or in the provinces.

Self serving pygmies react – they do not act.

Dec 15, 2008    |       52 comments

Heartfelt letter to the Leaders of Pakistan – Stop Taking Dictations & Start Taking Actions

I received this email from Fuaad Alawi, who happens to be an email subscriber of this blog where he shares his comments with me probably after reading the Indian Jet incursion post late last night. When I did get around to reading his email, I must admit, I felt in-sync with the sentiments conveyed by Fuaad, he is definitely a patriotic Pakistani who feels frustrated at watching our ineffective bunch of leaders playing a casual game of charades with the dignity and pride of the people of Pakistan. Read the entire article and you too might join Fuaad when he finally pleads to our President and Chief of Army Staff, to Stop taking dictations & Start dictating to the forces who want our Pakistan Destroyed.

Dear Teeth Maestro!!

I have a very burning question or questions which I need to put forth & I want you as well as your readers as well as all who read them give me an answer & lets put these questions as a petition in front of the sitting dummy assembly, the dummy president who is not working for the interests of Pakistan which is very apparent & finally in front of the sitting C.O.A.S. who is supposed to have his men protect our borders & serve the nation which he has failed miserably. If you look at the previous Generals, he is the most stupidest looking General I have ever seen. This General has no balls, no character, no self esteem & no love for the nation. This sitting General is allowing his nation to be raped by outsiders in the name of terrorism. This sitting General is a disgrace to his uniform.
Continue Reading

Dec 14, 2008    |       9 comments

Indian Jets intrude Pakistani Airspace – a technical analyses

Considering the heated debate surrounding the Indian Jet ‘inadvertently’ invading Pakistani airspace yesterday afternoon.  Saad Abdullah analyses the situation in detail, he believes the Indians deliberately needed to test the preparedness of the PAF which has inferior aircrafts.  But considering the quick intercept done within 4km of the intrusion it does go to show that PAF has truly outdone its readiness. The article analyses the controversy from both sides of the argument, what might be the Indian agenda and conversely the poor political response by the Pakistani government which has cowered behind accepting it to be a mere technical error, without so much as issuing a strong condemnation.  Bottom line, hats off to the Pakistan Air Force for having stood their ground – Read the entire article on Saad Abdullah’s Blog

Dec 14, 2008    |       82 comments

Indian Planes Violate Pakistani Airspace – An act of WAR

It is being widely reported that around 12:40am today December 14, 2008 fully armed Indian fighter jets violated Pakistani airspace at two specific locations, one around Kashmir area and the other near Lahore traveling 4km into the territory.  Agile Pakistani fighter jets were scrambled and distracted the Indian encroachment very quickly.

The official response by Indian sources is said to be an inadvertent mistake.  But one must seriously question this lame explanation specially in light of the coordinated violation in two separate sectors and within the close proximity of the heated propaganda being waged by the India government.
Continue Reading

Pages:‹123456789›