The AfPakIndo Theater

[AzariLoveIran]

[skyhook77sfg]

THINGS OUT OF ALL HANDS

we are on autopilot with dozens of conflicting inputs


If you don't smell ozone, the radiation won't kill you before next week.

[AzariLoveIran]

[skyhook77sfg]

THE ORIGINAL BONE OF CONTENTION
STILL STUCK IN REGIONAL CRAW



New Delhi think tank Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis said that India should be assertive and proactive to claim the strategically vital parts of Kashmir “illegally” occupied by Pakistan where China has increased its footprints leading to fears that Beijing may take over the territory by 2020. The report asked the Indian policy makers to adopt a pro-active approach towards Azad Kashmir, which is an integral part of India. It further says that India should not only rethink its approach but also try and mobilise international opinion against bad governance and (the) unlawful occupation since 1947.


On what basis they claim Azad Kashmir to be integral part of India when even the India held Kashmir is not an integral part of India and instead has a status of internationally recognised disputed territory? On 21st April 1948 Security Council passed a resolution, which called for a fair and free plebiscite in Kashmir. Even the Indian leaders accepted its status as a disputed land. Indian Prime Minister Nehru promised to hold a plebiscite in Kashmir, according to the wishes of Kashmiri people, at more than one place. India claims the right over the territory due to the signing of a dubious Instrument of Accession with Maharaja. The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), based in Geneva passed a resolution in 1993, which proclaimed Kashmir’s accession to India as bogus and null and void. Arundhati Roy, a well respected Indian writer, claimed that soon after independence in 1947, India became “colonizing power”. She said, “Kashmir has never been an integral part of India. It is a historical fact”.


According to the data compiled by the Research Section of Kashmir Media Service, in the year 2008, the occupation troops during their raids, firing and shelling injured 4,824 persons, destroyed 106 residential houses, arrested 1,408 civilians and molested 93 women. The killings rendered 85 women widowed and 164 children orphaned. Forty four youth were reported missing in custody. Molestation of Kashmiri women by BSF officers and jawans has become a common practice in IHK. In Kashmir, the Indian Security Forces are employing harassment, torture and rape of women as a regular tactic to suppress the freedom movement of the Kashmiri people. A study by the Medecins Sans Frontiers revealed that the Kashmiri women were among the worst sufferers of sexual violence in the world. According to the study “Sexual violence has been routinely perpetrated on Kashmiri women, with 11.6 per cent of respondents saying that they were victims of sexual abuse”.


http://www.thefrontierpost.com/?p=17082


well they must have been asking for it...

those sexy burkas are just irresistable

[Najar]

http://www.dawn.com/2011/05/23/for-paki ... point.html

For Pakistan the pressure is just beginning. The world is running out of patience with Islamabad running with the hares and hunting with the hounds. It will have to cooperate to hunt down Mullah Omar, Aiman Al Zwahiri and others. For Pakistan there’s no avoiding the denouement. The sham of the caricaturised accountability of security failure of the intelligence agencies in parliament is far from enough. There is no shift in policy post-Abbottabad. An anti-US, pro-military resolution by parliament may have only ensured Pakistan will be dealt with the hard way. Because Pakistan refuses to become a ‘normal’ country like those in the rest of the world, its extraordinary posture will be dealt with extraordinarily. Pakistan will have to admit its failing and call for help. It’s the only way to stop from tipping over.

[YMix]

[skyhook77sfg]

normal countries have an army.

this is an army with a country.

that is not normal.

C'est vrai.

Tatsaechlich.

Da.

[YMix]

Normal countries commit acts of terrorism (and worse) when it suits them.

[skyhook77sfg]

certainly sometimes true also.

not necessarily disproof though.

perhaps we should pursue the idea

the abnormal is becoming normal.

[Ibrahim]

[skyhook77sfg]

THE INDIAN CONNECTION TO THE PAKISTAN CONNECTION TO AFGHANISTAN


The Pakistan Taliban launched a brazen attack on a Pakistani naval base, killing at least 11 people and destroying two spy planes provided by the United States. Not only did the melee last through the night, the terrorists appeared to call on the power of the Dark Side of the Force to press their assault.

Pakistan’s humiliations compound. About twenty gunmen and suicide bombers successfully infiltrated what’s supposed to be a secure facility in the southern port city of Karachi, right as Pakistan is trying to project an image of martial strength in the wake of Osama bin Laden’s killing and a brief gunfight with NATO forces. Then the interior minister, Rehman Malik, made the bizarre statement that the terrorists resembled… Star Wars characters.

This is the second time in under two years that the Pakistani Taliban have struck deep and destructively into the heart of Pakistan’s military. The first, in October 2009, targeted the military’s General Headquarters in Rawalpindi. Like the Rawalpindi attack, the raid on Karachi’s PNS Mehran base — very, very far from the tribal areas — most likely involved operatives with knowledge of the facility. Not only were they able to infiltrate successfully, they found the hangars housing the P-3 Orion maritime surveillance aircraft, blowing them up like the Death Star.

Let’s pause for the message here. The Orions are supplied by the United States, something of a bribe for Pakistan’s counterterrorism aid. They play absolutely no role against al-Qaida: Orions hunt submarines — Indian submarines. It’s possible that the bin Laden killing prompted the Taliban to target any U.S.-supplied spycraft. But they attacked a navy base, not the Shamsi airfield used for the drone war.

The Pakistani Taliban appear to be saying:

Continue your alliance with the Americans, and your struggle with the Indians — Islamabad’s major strategic concern — will be a casualty.

[Azrael]

[skyhook77sfg]

REMEMBER A POST NAMING IQBAL
as the key to the Mumbai attack?


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/worl ... 575606.cms


He's acquiring the status of mythic villain, and Bollywood scriptwriters may soon caricature him in the mold of Mogambo and Shakaal, among their more famous screen scoundrels.

But the way David Headley aka Daood Gilani describes him, Major Iqbal was not given to loud laughs or corny dialogues. A serving ISI officer, he was a cold, calculating operational mastermind of the Mumbai 26/11 terrorist attack who handled its logistical aspects, including forking out the money, choosing targets, and liaised with other shadowy ISI operatives and terrorist outfits.

From the time US Department of Justice attorneys named the mysterious "Major Iqbal" in their indictment following Headley's disclosure during investigations that he was his principle ISI handler, investigators have struggled to get a fix on him. Who did Major Iqbal report to? Where is he now? What is his full and real identity? And most importantly, will Pakistan identify and extradite him – or will it hide him as it has done with many wanted terrorists?


Headley says "Major Iqbal" disclosed to him that a previously scheduled attack on Mumbai in September 2008 had to be abandoned after terrorists deployed for the purpose lost their moorings -- and their boat. He also advised Headley to befriend influential people "who live in military facilities" in India, and while he was thrilled with the advances the Pakistani-American made in infiltrating Shiv Sena, he was disappointed that Headley did not scout the Mumbai airport as a target.

Headley also revealed that his principle ISI handler directed that the Jewish community center Chabad House be added to the list of targets because he believed it was being used as a front for Israel's Mossad intelligence agency.

[Demon of Undoing]

The message is that there is no level of strategic security in the country that can not be penetrated. They are telling everybody that the nukes are not safe. The US has only one real choice if that is the case . We just about have to suspend Pakistani sovereignty as needed. This is the kind of dramatic , heavy handed interventionist move the wahabist types want . If this hit doesn't acheive that , they will keep hitting until it does .

I respect skyhooks optimistic assessment , but I think this is unwinding , fast. I don't think Pakistan is turning over a new cooperative leaf. I think the extremists will use the OBL raid as the tipping point in saying the state is American owned. It's not what the big regional players want , but I think local apeshittery may take events out of all hands. I promise you , the state did not just run a false flag and trash their ASW capability vs the Indians in order to make it look authentic.

[skyhook77sfg]

getting dicey as you say DEMON

by the way do you have any hands on info

on .45 mag round?

[Demon of Undoing]

I understand it exists. I seem to remember someone making a 1911 for that some time ago, but I seem to remember it being awful hard on the pistol . It ran in the .44 Mag range in terms of bite, IIRC, though of course you couldn't load it up like a .44 .

Here we go .



And with ammunition of proper construction , it would go right the hell through any doggie vest .

[Ibrahim]

[skyhook77sfg]

regional climate change bulletin:






US welcomes India’s keenness to train Afghan Army

WASHINGTON: United States Thursday welcomed India’s willingness to help Afghanistan build capabilities of its security forces in accordance with Kabul’s priorities and termed the development as a "positive thing."

"We do not have any specifics on this, but if this is about helping to train Afghan national security forces, that is a positive thing," Pentagon spokesman Col Dave Lapan told reporters during an off-camera briefing.

According to Indian media reports, Lapan was responding to questions on Indian Defence Minister A K Antony’s meeting with his Afghan counterpart Abdul Rahim Wardak in New Delhi during which the two discussed the security situation in the region.

"Well, I do not know about the specific report. But our point has always been that the more support we can get in the training mission from NATO, other allies, we welcome it," Lapan said.

During an hour-long delegation-level talks, Antony conveyed India’s "willingness to work with the Afghan government in building capabilities of its security forces in accordance with their priorities." Gen Wardak, along with a seven-member Afghan delegation, is on a three-day visit to India.

http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?240019


DO YOU COPY RAWALPINDI?

[Demon of Undoing]

Screws tightening .

[Ibrahim]

US realignment behind India would have a number of benefits, but there are too many people in the DoD and State Dept. who spent their whole careers backing the Pakistani alliance and casting suspicion on India for their soft stance on the Soviets.

Maybe in a generation though....

[skyhook77sfg]

China's Pakistan Corridor



Balochistan is treacherous territory for many, but Beijing keeps buying its way in.

In the Pakistani province of Balochistan, South Asia and central Asia bleed into the Middle East. Bordered by Afghanistan, Iran and the Persian Gulf, and well endowed with oil, gas, copper, gold and coal reserves,

Balochistan is a rich prize that should have foreign investors battering at the gates. But for a half-century it has been the exclusive playground of the Pakistani government and its state-owned Chinese partners. China would prefer it to stay that way.

China is Pakistan's oldest military and political ally, but in the last two decades it is the economic component of the alliance that has taken center stage. Pakistan, and in particular Balochistan, is China's physical link to its sizable investments in Iranian gas, Afghan hydropower and Gulf oil. Explains Andrew Small, a fellow at the German Marshall Fund, the Sino-Pak relationship "matters more now, because of India's economic growth. Pakistan being a trade and energy corridor means that possible pipelines and projects [in Pakistan] have a strategic significance beyond the specific investments." Chinese control of Pakistan's commodities corridor can "bind India down in South Asia, restricting its capacity to operate elsewhere."

According to the Pakistani government, Chinese companies have poured at least $15 billion into Baloch projects: an oil refinery, copper and zinc mines and a deepwater port at Gwadar, in the Gulf of Oman. "They wanted Gwadar to be another Dubai," says Khurram Abbas, the port's managing director, "to capture the transit trade with countries that are landlocked, like Afghanistan, and to encourage transshipment trade from the Persian Gulf to East Africa."

China's Tianjin Zhongbei Harbor Engineering has invested $200 million to build the first three berths and plans to invest a total of $1.6 billion to expand the port in the future. But business at Gwadar has been slow. Though the three berths have the capacity to handle $2 billion worth of cargo a year, the port saw only $700 million in 2009. "The challenge," says Abbas, "is that Gwadar is not yet linked to the rest of the country. The government was supposed to provide road connectivity. Without roads there can be no commercial activity [in Balochistan]. And we need commercial activity, investors to set up factories around Gwadar, to get cargo for the port."

China is taking matters into its own hands, starting to build a highway from Gwadar to the capital of Balochistan, Quetta, on the Afghan border, where it will connect to Pakistan's national highway network, and from there to the Karakoram Highway that leads into China. China's Harbor Engineering Corps is also working on a new airport at Gwadar, due to open in 2013.

Infrastructure is not the only challenge that Chinese investors in Balochistan face. The province is a key battleground in the wars currently threatening Pakistan. Quetta is rumored to be hiding wanted leaders from the Afghan Taliban. Small towns in the Baloch heartland, meanwhile, are a launchpad for a decades-old separatist movement that capitalizes on populist resentment of federal agencies and foreign investment.


http://pakistanthinktank.org/component/ ... l-ventures

[skyhook77sfg]

PAKISTAN TRIBUNE POINTS FINGER.....

Foreign secret agencies behind Peshawar blast: Taliban


PESHAWAR: The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), on Sunday, denied responsibility for twin bomb blasts that ripped through a crowded market in Peshawar, killing 39 people and injuring dozens, while claiming that foreign agencies were behind the blast.
The attack devastated the Khyber Super Market district which includes a hotel, shops and student accommodation. The TTP denied any role in the bombing and said they only aim their strikes at the government and military.

“We did not carry out this attack in Peshawar. It is an attempt by foreign secret agencies who are doing it to malign us,” TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told AFP on phone.

“We do not target innocent people. Our targets are very clear, we attack security forces, government and people who are siding with it,” Ehsan said.



Foreign powers behind terror acts, claims Qazi


NOWSHERA: Former Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad on Sunday accused the United States, Israel and India of being directly involved in acts of terror in Pakistan in general and in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in particular.

Addressing the Kashmir Conference at the Khushal Khan Khattak Memorial Hall in Akora Khattak, he said the US-Israel-India axis in Afghanistan was turning the friends of Pakistan into our enemies to make the western border of the country vulnerable. He said this was aimed to weaken Pakistan and establish the hegemony of India in the region while endangering the very foundation of the country.


NOTE "US ISRAEL INDIA AXIS IN AFGHANISTAN"

[skyhook77sfg]

NOT REPORTED IN WEST BUT PERHAPS OF SOME INTEREST

B


Brahma Chellaney, professor of strategic studies at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi:

“In this past year of military freeze, China has added thousands of troops in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, increasing its presence on the Sub-Continent and adding weight to Pakistan’s claims in the region.”

http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?240547

[Demon of Undoing]

[skyhook77sfg]

sorta like the name calling before the divorce papers are served....


but gotta say my respect for admiral mike mullen steadily increases

far beyond any past opinions of any harbor ducks.


proud you are one of ours admiral mullen