Nuclear Armed

Getting a nuclear arsenal is one thing, retaining it another.  Congratulations to the Pakistani nation on being able to keep its nuclear arsenal safe from the real enemy and keeping the future safe with the present.

Sri Lankan people win

As i was rounding yesterday i browsed through the news briefly.  It appears that Tamil Tigers have been finally defeated and destroyed in the north of Sri Lanka.  After quarter century of war and terrorism this front has cooled down.  One hopes that it stays cold for years and years to come.  I have little understanding of the internal political dynamics of the country but I think this is a landmark victory for the people of Sri Lanka.  It is not very often that civil wars come to a happy conclusion.  This is a rare instance in the history.  The Sri Lankan people must be congratulated whole heartedly for their perseverance in the face of all odds and against all evil that cluttered their beautiful island.  The Pakistani people, I am sure, are with their Sri Lankan fellows in the celebrations for their victory.

I think of all the more important things that lead to this victory education was one of the more important and decisive ones.  In all these years of hardship and trouble what kept the people of Sri Lanka sane and one was their ability to interpret the situation rationally and not emotionally as a nation.  An educated nation is a must for accomplishing such a feat.  Pakistan should take a lesson from this war and make amends at the very basic level.

Lessons from Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is on the verge of declaring victory over the separatist movement of the Tamil Tigers.  After years of struggle and constant state of war Sri Lanka has done what Pakistan would be able to achieve some day.  In our struggle against the elements that declare terror upon us we must learn our lessons from Sri Lanka.  Tamil Tigers were the first people in the modern history to utilize living humans as payload delivery systems.  So they are very much similar to the fanatic elements that we are coming across in our north west frontier province.  They fight a guerilla war and hide and attack.  And in all possibility they have been trained by the same agency that trained the Tami Tigers.  Therefore it would be a great idea to get some ideas from the Sri Lankan friends in helping us fight the resistance movement.

If Sri Lanka can do it so can we.

But as I was thinking about these lines i read about SSG being paratrooped behind enemy lines.  Now it could be as simple as a battle tactic.  Para trooping soldiers behind enemy lines.  But could it be paratrooping reinforcements for the enemy.  Or could it be Paratrooping SSG to retrieve valuable human assets from the hot zone.  I don’t know.  It could be anything.   I think Fazlullah will not be found.  He will disappear now like a ghost from the scene.

Made in Pakistan – UAV!

This news item is very interesting and apparently something that has been floating on the internet circles for a long time without coming into my notice.  I must admit that I am amazed every day with the amount of unique knowledge that comes my way when I open the doors of world wide web.  Sometimes I do wonder that it would be a life worth living as ‘John Henry’, from TSCC but then again human brain is a miracle in itself with 20 billion calculations going on simultaneously in an average brain and a potentially limitless memory.  I would not want to trade off mine for a cord connected ‘John Henry’.

Pakistani private sector is shining in the field of arms making and development of low cost alternative solutions to modern warfare.  This should not be something new as Pakistani north is famous for its uniqueness in manufacturing weaponry of every kind from a mere pistol to a rocket launcher.  But things have progressed from the times of the old Afghan war.  Now we have private defense

contractors with very impressive portfolios.  I would link to and copy paste an article that appeared in Dinar Standard and since then has been copy pasted on multiple sites all round the world.

The growing reliance on armed drones (aka Predators) by Americans in Afghanistan and Pakistan's FATA region to target militants has been making headlines with increasing casualties.

This technology of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) or drones designed and manufactured in Pakistan has also been making news since the IDEAS (International Defense Exhibition and Seminar) 2008 event, a 5-day biennial arms show held November last year in Karachi, Pakistan. Among the largest foreign pavilions at the exhibition, Turkey had 28 companies and United States had 22. Other major exhibitors came from China, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, South Korea, South Africa, the Ukraine and the United Kingdom. Among other products, Pakistani companies showed off JF-17 fighter plane built by Pakistan Aeronautical Complex in partnership with China's Chengdu Aircraft, Al-Khalid main battle tank, and a variety of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) designed, developed and built in Pakistan.

Integrated Dynamics is a full-service UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) systems provider based in Karachi, Pakistan. The company has been in business since 1997 and designs and integrates UAV systems primarily for the Government of Pakistan, the Pakistan armed forces and export.

In addition to supplying drones to the Pakistani military, the company exports its products to Australia, Spain, South Korea and Libya and the United States. The US Homeland Security Department uses ID's Border Eagle surveillance drone for border patrol duties.

The complete article can be read here.

A similar article appeared in the Wired magazine.

Since 2002, Pakistan has dramatically expanded its robotic fleet in the sky, Defense News reports. The Pakistani Air Force has two UAV squadrons -- and is looking to build up to six.

So companies like East West Infiniti are building SIGINT [signals intelligence] for small drones and robotic blimps, to capture those conversations.

This article can be read here.

Technorati Tags: Pakistan,Army,USA,UAV,Dinar Standard,Predator,military,integrated dynamics,ID,TSCC,John Henry

Kill Bill

The title of the post has nothing to do with the actual post.  This is a disclaimer, I am writing, right in the beginning so that I do not have a nagging feeling while I am in the process of typing away.  Much has changed in this world like each time before this time.  Both things of greater consequence and that of lesser one, happen within a matter of seconds here and a lot changes only to come back to what it originally was.  I have failed to recognize that original beginning towards which everything seems to gravitate.  I am satisfied in part that I am not the only one in this world to think of that particular beginning but only the least experienced one.  I know this for a fact that each and every soul before me at more than one occasion in its life has thought about the real reason for its creation.  Some have tried to solve this problem in greater depth and others have dedicated their lives to this quest thus giving birth to the field of philosophy.  Yet the true nature of everything has always been a mystery for the best of the best minds.  I, therefore, stand little chance of unveiling that which has been hidden for so long and so deep.  Therefore, it is my intention to only marvel at what transpires and then kind of appreciate our inability to learn the intricate complexity of this world’s real simplicity.  This simplicity is too complex to be understood.

Lahore has been under the limelight these days just the way Kabul was in 2001 and Baghdad was in 2003.  Blood and guns are everywhere and there is a lot of instability.  What amazes me is that why are innocent people targeted in these attacks.  The police cadets who died last week or the poor people on the liberty round about had nothing to do with what is happening anywhere in the world.  If anything it is the corrupt leaders who should be taken to task not innocent people who have hardly anything to do with anything.  This makes me think if all this is happening to make us realize that those who were happy over 9/11 should not be anymore as there is 9/11 all over in Pakistan.

I fail to accept that the masters of these terrorists are Muslim or have anything to with Islam.  The game plan is big and the arena even bigger.  We the people of Pakistan are just caught up in the fight.  We will die right left and center and will pay for everything that we never did or even sanctioned.

Think about this from Taliban’s perspective.  Why would they want all the people of Pakistan against them and lose both monetary and moral support.  Taliban would have to be very foolish to be killing Pakistanis.  Therefore it is not Taliban extremism but some other masters that have reigns of these idiots.

This then means that Taliban will have to do something about this.  They can not just sit there and watch their support base erode.  They must take to task those who are tarnishing their name with these violent acts.

My next post will touch upon something related to this post.

Long March

I have been thinking about some stuff to write on the long march that seems to have started in Pakistan.  Nothing solid or concrete comes to mind.  But I was watching this old program by Hamid Mir and saw a mullah vehemently defend Asif Ali Zardari.  This reminded me of one of my old high school teachers.  He was one of many who introduced our young minds to logical thinking and political role playing.  Of many characteristics that he possessed the hatred for the religious elite was one of the strongest emotions within him.  He would narrate a story almost every week of the evils that these mullahs spur in our society and then make sure that he spent considerable time loathing the corrupt ones amongst them.  I remember one very solid thing that he made us remember.  He would tell us that these bearded fanatics had only three things in mind. One, they liked to nourish their fat and hair so that the ton that they devoured every day in form of meat and miscellaneous would be reduced to few solid chunks of crap that is painful on its way out.  Second they love to inseminate above and beyond all social, cultural and religious lines with fervor and teach their followers sexual restraint.  Third, their only business of the day is to misinterpret religion so that every Muslim is a sworn enemy of the other.

I think he was right on every count.  There might be a few exceptions but most of these religious bulls in our times at least live to these evil ends.  This also reminds me of my own mullah who had the honor of teaching me the first four books of the Holy Quran at my home.  He was famous for carrying a pistol concealed under his shirt 24/7.  He owned only a motorcycle and there were always three passengers on it.  He himself, riding in the front, his body guard in the back seat and his very young daughter of 5 or 6 tucked on the front gas tank of the motorcycle.  I would always remember envying his Yamaha for its strength and resilience in the face of a collective at least 1000 pounds that its 100 cc engine had to push back and forth in the whole town.  Any ways, the reason he kept the concealed weapon on his person was to ward of any assailants that might want to rid his soul of the heavy body that it possessed.  He thought he would be able to fight off any life threats.  Luckily for many and unluckily for him the assassin's bullet travels much faster than his neural network in collective and he was on the ground before his hands could reach his belt.  The action was short lived for every passer by, with his personal body guard in flight to save his life and the assailants AK47 jerking off in succession and his one hand on his chest trying to plug bullet holes and the other missing his pistol and cursing independently.Three minutes later there lay his whole body, a mass of meat and little blood and dysfunctional neural network twitching in pain, dumped on the ground that lay thirsty for some blood.  All his years of preparation and all his money spent on the gun and his body guard could not save him from those determined bullets that have their own head of steel.  Once they make their mind it is difficult and often futile to argue with them.  They march one after the other and rest not.

He was lucky though in the sense that he was awarded the medal of martyrdom by his followers and his son was appointed incharge of the mosque that he built through years of persistent trickling corruption.  Funny how things work; how one man's death paves the way for another's freedom to insemination at a relatively young age.

I have been trying to listen to news and media all day long today in an effort to update myself of the ground reality in Pakistan.  The long march has begun with a mellow response from some circles.  I hope it gains momentum and transpires into yet another peaceful demonstration of the strength of the people of this country.  I have certain fears.  In the first long march we lost one leader and in the second long march it seems the second one will be visiting the higher courts of ultimate justice.  Although I find no reason for the suicide bombers to be striking the long march but if the present masters keep on working their intrigue there will just be one who has his mind set on blowing Nawaz Sharif up for Zardari's sake.

Evil is around us and evil surrounds us.  But does that mean we let it prevail.  I think not and will think not till the end of time.  One such thought doesn't matter but one too many do.  Maybe if all of us start putting up resistance against all that we see evil and do evil we will help make a better Pakistan.  A peaceful and just Pakistan.  I hope that no lives are lost in this struggle but to hope this is to hope for a miracle.  No revolution can be brought without the color red.  The amount of mistakes that our leaders and us have committed over the past 66 years predicts that all will not be rosy in the days to come and there will be lives of value lost.  But what is a life without its freedom and a soul without its independence?

Long March

Governor's Rule

The past one week has been very unrestful for the people of Pakistan.  We have been turning and tossing either in the comfort of our sofas or on the streets about the developments that have transpired in the past seven days or so.  The developments are huge and the consequences will be huge still.  But should we not see how did this change of heart come into all of a sudden on Zardari's part.  I think the change of heart is not sudden in fact it is more planned and worked out and therefore will last longer than we think.  It will, for the same reason, be difficult for the people's resistance to trounce.

As there were clear indications that Nawaz Sharif was feeling threatened by the present courts he decided to continue his struggle with the lawyer's movement.  Had he decided to do otherwise it would have been a political suicide.  He is in a catch 22 of a sort.  Zardari on the other hand is a product of NRO and feels threatened by any other court, other than the DOGar court.  In the setting of the Punjab govt. actively supporting the long march and the subsequent sit on of the people the struggle would have gained much more momentum.  As Islamabad is adjacent to mostly Punjabi jurisdictions supporting the protestors would have been very easy for the Punjab govt. and any such protest would have by every means paralyzed the central govt. until it succumbed to the desires of the protestors.  Furthermore in the event of a PML-N govt in Punjab the long march itself during its passage through Punjab would have received enormous support from the govt., therefore sustaining it.  This is something unacceptable to Zardari and his company.  It was therefore suggested to him most likely by the governor Punjab that steps should be taken to dissolve the present govt. in Punjab so that for the time period of the long march control over govt. machinery could be obtained.

Sharif brothers were therefore disqualified from the elections in retrospect and thrown out of the politics.  This meant a Punjab without a chief minister and very infuriated Sharif brothers.  Zardari took a big chance at this moment.  He was banking on a strong response from the two foolish bothers so that he could get a reason for imposing governor's rule in Punjab.  Sharif brothers fell right into this trap and started making calls for unrest.  Situation started slipping out of hands and Zardari moved in.

Now as the Govt. is paralyzed in Punjab and the PML-N supporter is exhausted in protesting here the wind from the long march sails is fast blowing out.  The long march will take place in a circumstance where they have no support from the biggest province and people will be actively prevented from participating in it.

There is a lot that everyone will gain and loose in it.  Zardari thinks that he will be able to perpetuate his rule in the center and now in Punjab with the support of PML-Q or other factions.  The governor of Punjab with his third rate tactics thinks he will be able to avenge the sharif brothers and also help Zardari open up his business on horse trading in Punjab and turn the tables.

PML-Q hasn't decided yet.  They have not decided on the question of wether they should move with PML-N and through this move wipe their sins off and come out with a clean slate thus rejuvinating their tarnished image and becoming a party again.  This would mean that Shujaat and Elahi will have to give up their role as leaders and accept Sharif brothers as their leader again thus forming a united party.  But they can come up with an understanding with PML-N where they retain their role as independent entity.  They now have the most bargaining power.  Sharif wants them and PPP wants them.  They have a lot to gain in the coming days and as things appear right now it seems they will decide to sit with PML-N both in center and Punjab thus creating a win win situation for themselves.  They get clean slates and they get share in govt.  I don't think Shujaat could have asked for more.  He is jubilated right now.

The other way of looking at things is with a deeper inspection.  What if this is a ploy being played by both Sharif brothers and Zardari together to destroy the people's resistance and the lawyer's movement.  By playing enemies for the time being Sharif brothers are out of control and therefore will not be blamed if they are not able to support the long march.  They will be in less pressure to actively support it.  Once all is back to normal they will resume their duties as they were before the long march.  What if this is an interim shift of power to help bail them out from the moral high ground that they were stuck in since the time they decided to bail out the judges.  If this is the case then after all dust is settled, this would mean an end of the transition as planned by Benazir and Nawaz Sharif.  Surely there was more to charter of democracy than mere democracy.