A Smart Coup: Why One Last Military Intervention In Pakistan Remains A Possibility



Ahmed Quraishi

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—If it comes to a military-led intervention, both military officers and politicians will have to stay out of actual power. The army chief may not become a chief executive. The military might have to look into a new concept called the ‘Smart Coup’, where the military can bring capable Pakistanis to power with a firm executable plan of reform over five years, or more, fully backed by the military. There may not be time to put the plan to vote. It will have to be implemented. This would be the absolute last option. But we are nowhere near that right now. Gen. Kayani certainly has no such thing in mind according to people who have met him.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—”This was my first interaction with the soldier who commands the seventh largest military force on the face of the planet.”

With this catchy line, Dr. Farrukh Saleem began his brief and fascinating account of a meeting with General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.

On Feb. 10, 2010, Gen. Kayani met a group of Pakistani commentators and security analysts. The briefing was the third since the military began asserting Pakistan’s legitimate security and strategic interests in Afghanistan and the region.

On January 28 and 29, Gen. Kayani told NATO commanders in Brussels that Pakistan’s legitimate security interests will have to be respected.

Earlier, he told Adm. Mike Mullen, Gen. David Petraeus, and Gen. Stanley McChrystal that instead of worrying about appeasing India, Washington better start paying attention to Pakistan.

This is a major development in the eight-year US-led war in Afghanistan.

At one point, Mr. Saleem makes an interesting observation about Gen. Kayani’s cool demeanor.

“Yes, he has the capacity for abstract thought, cold rationality and coarse creativity – all in one,” he says. “And yet he inhales reconstituted tobacco. Yes, he uses a filter and a cigarette holder. Yes, he never takes deep puffs and, yes, he only consumes half a cigarette at a time.”

At another point, Mr. Saleem makes an interesting use of pun. Talking about the general’s smoking habits, he says the following: ‘He knows that some of the things that he is doing are wrong, but still won’t give them up.’

Probably it’s a polite reference to the conspiracy theories that fill the US and British media, or the Am-Brit media, about Pakistan, its military and its intelligence agencies. So some skepticism is natural.

But the best part of his column in The News International was this concluding paragraph:

“I can tell you that I came back both proud but with a painful realisation; proud knowing that our legions are being led by strategic minds and sad to have discovered the much too visible an intellectual gap between our top political brains in Islamabad and our strategic minds at work in Rawalpindi. And what does he think about our politicians? When it’s breezy, hit it easy.

Could it be that the army rules not through the barrel of a gun but because of their intellectual superiority? Could it be that the army rules because our politicians have failed to institutionalize politics? Could it be that the army rules because our political parties do not transcend individual human intentions? Could it be that the army rules because it has structures, mechanisms of social order along with strategic thinking?”

In essence, Mr. Saleem hit at the core reason why the Pakistani military intervenes every time politicians lead the nation to a dead end.

Most importantly, the above reasoning answers even a more important question: Why the military mounts successful interventions and why the politicians can’t muster the moral authority to resist them.

Pakistani politicians remain a chaotic, undisciplined and shortsighted bunch. Their parties are messy and loose groupings of special interests in their crudest form. Almost all of them have lifetime leaders who never give way to fresh blood. And they are not public institutions but private, family-owned affairs.

Since the return to democracy in Pakistan in February 2008, hardly any of the parties in government or opposition devoted any high-level party meetings to education, health, culture and sports. None of them has plans in place for running the country. Worse, none has any vision.

The best place in Islamabad these days to see this mess in action is the National Defense University. Since 2002, the NDU has been holding the annual National Security Workshop. This is a unique 6-week course. It brings together politicians, military officers, businessmen, lawyers, social activists and journalists. The group is taken through a virtual tour into the corridors of strategic decision making in Pakistan. The course ends with a weeklong exercise that sees the class divided into a Pakistani government and a shadow government, complete with their own secretariat and staff. On the last day, the two governments frame and deliver a policy plan to deal with a hypothetical strategic crisis confronting Pakistan. The plan has domestic, military and foreign policy components. Often, senior commanders from Pakistani military’s General Headquarters attend the last day’s presentations.

NDU officials, both civilian and military, have one observation that has been constant during the past eight years of national security workshops: Military officers, businessmen, social activists and journalists often show the best performance. Politicians come last. Most can’t even draft a single-page policy brief, or work with a PowerPoint presentation.

In essence, middle class Pakistanis – military officers, businessmen, social activists and journalists – fair better than the politicians, mostly a feudal landowning elite.

This gets blurry sometimes, but you get the general idea.

And middle class Pakistanis can’t make it to political parties, let alone to the federal and regional parliaments and governments.

Elections might change this, but certainly not in the foreseeable future. And Pakistan may not have the luxury of time.

If the national deadlock continues with mounting domestic instability due to massive corruption and mismanagement by our politicians, the military may have to contend with one last intervention. It would be the last because if the military failed this time to help set Pakistan on the right track, it could be a free fall after that because Pakistanis are getting increasingly restless with the existing decay. Social turmoil simmers just beneath the surface.

If it comes to a military-led intervention, both military officers and politicians will have to stay out of actual power. The army chief may not become a chief executive. The military might have to look into a new concept called the ‘Smart Coup’, where the military can bring capable Pakistanis to power with a firm executable plan of reform over five years, or more, fully backed by the military. There may not be time to put the plan to vote. It will have to be implemented.

This would be the absolute last option. But we are nowhere near that right now. Gen. Kayani certainly has no such thing in mind according to people who have met him. He wants democracy to work for the time being and he has proven this by resisting several opportunities to intervene over the past two years.

Pakistan is full of resources and opportunities, but it lacks good leadership and clean management. Even the bare minimum of these two commodities is not available in today’s Pakistan.

Books on political science and theory in Washington and London can’t help with this. Pakistanis will have to do what’s best for their homeland.

Zaid Hamid: Khilafat-e-Rashida | Episode 14

In this latest episode by Brasstacks, Zaid Hamid sheds some light on Khilafat-e-Rashida that how it was the greatest form of governance ever by human kind

part 1

part 2

part 3

Zaid Hamid at Shifa College of Medicine

part 1

part 2

part 3

part 4

part 5

part 6


P

India Maoist rebels kill 24 troops in West Bengal

At least 24 troops were killed when armed Maoists attacked a camp of the paramilitary forces in India’s West Bengal state, officials said.

Nearly 50 rebels on motorcycles encircled the camp of the Eastern Frontier Rifles (ERF) at Silda village on Monday and started firing on it.

More fighters joined the assault on foot, firing from automatic weapons.

There has been a surge in Maoist violence in recent months

There has been a surge in Maoist violence in recent months

More than 6,000 people have died during the rebels’ 20-year fight for communist rule in many Indian states.

The Indian government recently began a major offensive against the rebels in several states.

Indian Prime minister Manmohan Singh has described the Maoist insurgency as India’s “greatest internal security challenge”.

The rebels now have a presence in 223 of India’s 600-odd districts.

Landmines

The camp was overrun by the Maoists after the troops put up brief initial resistance, district magistrate of West Midnapore district NS Nigam told the BBC.

“The Maoists then burnt down the camp and planted landmines on the entire length of the road leading to the camp. Reinforcements with night vision and anti-landmine vehicles reached the camp late at night,” Mr Nigam said.

At least 24 bodies have been recovered from in and around the camp and some of them are badly charred, he said.

The government has launched a major offensive against the rebels

The government has launched a major offensive against the rebels

The seriously injured troops were being taken to the state capital, Calcutta, for treatment. Officials said at least 12 soldiers were still missing.

It took four hours for reinforcements to reached Silda as there were landmines planted on the entire stretch of the road.

Police officials leading the reinforcements that reached Silda late at night said many of the paramilitary troops were shot dead by the rebels as they tried to escape the fire.

West Bengal’s police chief Bhupinder Singh said there were nearly 50 ERF troops in the camp when the attack took place.

The Maoists pulled out of Silda after looting a huge amount of weapons from the camp’s armoury.

Chief of the rebels’ military wing, Koteswara Rao – alias Kishenji – claimed responsibility for the attack.

He said this attack was the beginning of “Operation Peace Hunt”, the Maoist answer to the government “Operation Green Hunt” launched against the Maoists recently.

“We are looking for peace but we are forced to fight and kill the poor troops of the government forces. We will mourn the death of those killed but the government is responsible for their death,” Kishenji told the BBC by phone from an undisclosed location.

The Maoist leader warned of more such attacks unless Operation Green Hunt was stopped.

Earlier this month Home Minister P Chidambaram held a meeting of four Maoist-affected states – West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar and Orissa – in Calcutta.

He threatened to intensify Operation Green Hunt if the rebels did not start talks by abjuring violence.

The Maoists said they would agree to talks if four of their senior leaders now in jail were released and Operation Green Hunt was halted.

The government has not responded to that conditional overture.

Army won’t abandon tribals: Gen Kayani

ISLAMABAD – Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, on Monday assured the tribesmen of Waziristan Agency that the Pakistan Army would not abandon them and continue playing its role in rehabilitation of the displaced people and development of the area.

He held out these assurances while talking to notables of Mehsud and Wazir tribes during ground-breaking ceremonies of two major projects including Tank-Jandola-Sararogha-Makeen Road and Tank-Khajuri-Tanai-Wana Road. He also reviewed progress on quick impact projects for the rehabilitation of the displaced people.


These projects are being undertaken by the Pakistan Army, in consultation with local tribes and in coordination with the civil administration. The COAS emphasised the need for rapid development of the area to consolidate gains made through Military Operations.

General Kayani asked the local tribesmen to come forward and assume ownership of the development works being initiated in their areas.

Earlier, the COAS visited South Waziristan and met with Army Officers and Jawans participating in the Operation Rah-e-Nijat. He mixed up with officers and Jawans and praised their morale and professionalism.
Gen Kayani said that the officers and jawans of Pakistan Army made the operation successful by sacrificing their lives, adding the Army has complete support of the nation and the operation to be completed soon.

Maria B on SAMAA News Program Nai Rahain.

]



Threats To Pakistan’s Strategic Nuclear Assets


Shahid R. Siddiqi

Indian explosion of its nuclear device in 1974 drew only a customary “show of concern” from the Western powers. But Pakistan’s nuclear program, initiated in response to the Indian acquisition of nuclear weapons, evoked immediate and “serious concern” from the same quarters. Ever since, Pakistan has been under immense pressure to scrap its program while the Indians remain uncensored.

That Western discriminatory attitude can also be seen by the religious color it gave to Pakistan’s bomb by calling it an ‘Islamic bomb’. One has never heard of the Israeli bomb being called a ‘Jewish Bomb’, or the Indian bomb a ‘Hindu Bomb’, or the American and British bomb a ‘Christian Bomb’ or the Soviet bomb a ‘Communist’ (or an ‘Atheist) Bomb’. The West simply used Pakistan’s bomb to make Islam synonymous with aggression and make its nuclear program a legitimate target, knowing full well that it merely served a defensive purpose and was not even remotely associated with Islam.

With India going nuclear soon after playing a crucial role in dismembering Pakistan in 1971 and enjoying an overwhelming conventional military superiority over Pakistan in the ratio of 4:1, a resource strapped Pakistan was pushed to the wall. Left with no other choice but to develop a nuclear deterrent to ward off future Indian threats, Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto declared: “Pakistanis will eat grass but make a nuclear bomb”. And sure enough, they did it. Soon, however, both he and the nuclear program were to become non-grata. Amid intense pressure, sanctions and vilification campaign, Henry Kissinger personally delivered to a defiant Bhutto the American threat: “give up your nuclear program or else we will make a horrible example of you’.

And a horrible example was made of Bhutto for his defiance. But he had enabled Pakistan to become the 7th nuclear power in the world. This served Pakistan well. India was kept at bay despite temptations for military adventurism. Although there has never been real peace in South Asia, at least there has been no war since 1971.

Ignoring its security perspective, Pakistan’s Western ‘friends’ refused to admit it to their exclusive nuclear club, though expediency made them ignore its ‘crime’ when it suited their purpose. But driven by identical geo-strategic interests in their respective regions and seeing Pakistan as an obstacle to their designs, Israel and India missed no opportunity to malign or subvert Pakistan’s program.

Due to its defiance of Indian diktat, Pakistan is for India an obstruction in its quest for domination of South Asia and the Indian Ocean region. Israel’s apprehension of Pakistan’s military prowess is rooted in the strength Pakistan indirectly provides to Arab states with whom Israel has remained in a state of conflict. Conscious that several Arab states look up to Pakistan for military support in the event of threat to their security from Israel, it is unsettling for Israel to see a nuclear armed Pakistan.

Israel can also not overlook the fact that Pakistan’s military is a match to its own. The PAF pilots surprised Israeli Air Force, when flying mostly Russian aircraft they shot down several relatively superior Israeli aircraft in air combat in the 1973 Arab Israel war, shattering the invincibility myth of Israeli pilots who believed themselves to be too superior in skill and technology. The Pakistanis happened to be assigned to Jordanian, Syrian and Iraqi air forces on training missions when the war broke out and, unknown to the Israelis then, they incognito undertook combat missions.

After successfully destroying Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981, Israelis planned a similar attack on Pakistan’s nuclear facilities at Kahuta in collusion with India in the 1980s. Using satellite pictures and intelligence information, Israel reportedly built a full-scale mock-up of Kahuta facility in the Negev Desert where pilots of F-16 and F-15 squadrons practiced mock attacks.

According to ‘The Asian Age’, London, journalists Adrian Levy and Catherine Scott-Clark stated in their book ‘Deception: Pakistan, the US and the Global Weapons Conspiracy’, that Israeli Air Force was to launch air attack on Kahuta in mid 1980s from Jamnagar airfield in Gujarat (India). The book claims that “in March 1984, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi signed off (on) the Israeli-led operation bringing India, Pakistan and Israel to within a hairs breadth of a nuclear conflagration”.

Another report claims that Israel also planned an air strike directly out of Israel. After midway and midair refueling, Israeli warplanes planned to shoot down a commercial airline’s flight over Indian Ocean that flew into Islamabad early morning, fly in a tight formation to appear as one large aircraft on radar screens preventing detection, use the drowned airliner’s call sign to enter Islamabad’s air space, knock out Kahuta and fly out to Jammu to refuel and exit.

According to reliable reports in mid 1980s this mission was actually launched one night. But the Israelis were in for a big surprise. They discovered that Pakistan Air Force had already sounded an alert and had taken to the skies in anticipation of this attack. The mission had to be hurriedly aborted.

Pakistan reminded the Israelis that Pakistan was no Iraq and that PAF was no Iraqi Air Force. Pakistan is reported to have conveyed that an attack on Kahuta would force Pakistan to lay waste to Dimona, Israel’s nuclear reactor in the Negev Desert. India was also warned that Islamabad would attack Trombay if Kahuta facilities were hit.

The above quoted book claims that “Prime Minister Indira Gandhi eventually aborted the operation despite protests from military planners in New Delhi and Jerusalem.”

McNair’s paper #41 published by USAF Air University (India Thwarts Israeli Destruction of Pakistan’s “Islamic Bomb”) also confirmed this plan. It said, “Israeli interest in destroying Pakistan’s Kahuta reactor to scuttle the “Islamic bomb” was blocked by India’s refusal to grant landing and refueling rights to Israeli warplanes in 1982.” Clearly India wanted to see Kahuta gone but did not want to face retaliation at the hands of the PAF. Israel, on its part wanted this to be a joint Indo-Israeli strike to avoid being solely held responsible.

The Reagan administration also hesitated to support the plan because Pakistan’s distraction at that juncture would have hurt American interests in Afghanistan, when Pakistan was steering the Afghan resistance against the Soviets.

Although plans to hit Kahuta were shelved, the diatribe against Pakistan’s nuclear program continued unabated. Israel used its control over the American political establishment and western media to create hysteria. India worked extensively to promote paranoia, branding Pakistan’s program as unsafe, insecure and a threat to peace. The fact is otherwise. It is technically sounder, safer and more secure than that of India and has ensured absence of war in the region.

The US invasion of Afghanistan provided another opening for Indo-Israeli nexus to target Pakistan’s strategic assets. This time the strategy was to present Pakistan as an unstable state, incapable of defending itself against religious extremist insurgents, creating the specter of Islamabad and its nuclear assets falling in their hands. Suggestions are being floated that Pakistan being at risk of succumbing to extremists, its nuclear assets should be disabled, seized or forcibly taken out by the US. Alternatively, an international agency should take them over for safe keeping.

Pakistan has determinedly thwarted the terrorist threat and foiled this grand conspiracy. The terrorists have either been eliminated or are on the run. Pakistan has made it clear that it would act decisively against any attempt by any quarter to harm its nuclear assets. But if the game is taken to the next level, the consequences would be disastrous for the region.

The Indo-Israeli nexus is losing initiative. But as long as the American umbrella is available Afghanistan will remain a playground for mischief mongers. It is now up to the US to walk its talk and prove its claim that it wants to see a secure and stable Pakistan. It must pull the plug on conspiracies to destabilize Pakistan.

Wataniya International Topup Receive Balance on Ufone and Warid from Kuwait


Google Buzz

10years  Wataniya International Topup Receive Balance on Ufone and  Warid from Kuwait PakPoint.com
Kuwait based mobile phone operator Wataniya International is now offering international topup services. Now the mobile users in kuwait can send credit/balance to their loved one in Pakistan on Ufone and Warid network. The official procedure to send money from kuwait to Pakistan is mentioned below in the screenshot taken from wataniya website.

Screen shot 2010 02 17 at 07.05.44  Wataniya International Topup  Receive Balance on Ufone and Warid from Kuwait PakPoint.com

Information about the Charges. Wataniya will charge per outgoing Message: 10 fils

Top up amount:
* PKR 250 (KWD1.20)
* PKR 500 (KWD2.20)
* PKR 1000 (KWD4.30)

These conversations may changed based on currency rates.

Google busy fixing bugs to make Buzz better

  Google busy  fixing bugs to make Buzz better PakPoint.com

Google is committed to improve its newly launched service Google Buzz . There were many reports and concerns over the Google Buzz auto follow mode. Where it was exposing your frequently emailed contacts without your emission. Google have already fixed this auto follow model. The other privacy concerns are geo-location and exposing your google name in your buzz profile which may make you valuable to spam. The resents steps taken by the Google including apologizes for buzz privacy issues indicate that Google is really busy in improving the Buzz and really want to take a huge share in the social media

Telenor Djuice International Pakka Dost


Djuice IDD   Telenor Djuice International Pakka Dost PakPoint.com

Keeping in mind the rising need of international calls among youth Djuice is proud to announce new amazing offer “Djuice International Pakka Dost” Now all Djuice subscribers’ cal avail special rates to UK, USA & Canada on one number. Djuice customers can also avail amazing SMS rates on the International FNF number.
To subscribe for this new offer Djuice customer need to dial *345*101#.
Charges can be checked at: http://www.djuice.com.pk/html/buy/int_PakkaDost.php

Nokia and Intel Joins Hands to Create New Mobile OS


109318 matter  Nokia and Intel Joins Hands to Create New Mobile OS  PakPoint.comNokia and Intel joins hands with each others to work on a new operating system for mobiles namely MeeGo - a new Linux based platform. Basically this a merger of Nokia’s Maemo OS which recently appeared in the N900 smartphone and Intel’s Moblin OS intended for netbooks. The new OS MeeGo is intended for smartphones, tablets, netbooks, in-vehicle technology and for digital smart televisions. It is expected to be launched in the 2nd quater of 2010. You can find more details from the MeeGo official website link provided above. With the increaseing popularity of mobile devices all the big hands Google, Microsoft, Apple, Nokia, Intel etc are jumping into OS. Intrestingly most of these i.e Google Chrome, Apple’s IPad etc will be based on Linux/Unix

189385 meego original  Nokia and Intel Joins Hands to Create New  Mobile OS PakPoint.com

Nokia 3310 A SmartPhone with Video Camera


nokia 3310  Nokia 3310 A SmartPhone with Video Camera PakPoint.com

Let us recall our memories with Nokia 3310. It was once a very popular handset. See how it looks like with all the latest features.

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