The US & others working with Pakistan

[davidbfpo]

Carl's comment above included:

Well actually, you don't know I don't like Pakistan. I on the other hand do know. I asked myself that question and I believe I received an honest answer. I like Pakistan just fine. How can you not like a country that produces people like the Karachi cop and ambulance driver profiled in a video highlighted on this site some time back, or that produces hyper-brave men like the Pakistani journalist beaten to death by the ISI last year.

I posted this last year on the 'Pakistani Politics' thread, but do not have the journalist's details to hand.

Peter Oborne, one of the UK's best reporters IMHO, has been in Karachi, Pakistan's commercial capital and a huge city beset with problems:

In the last 60 years the population of Karachi has risen from 300,000 to nearly 20 million. The pressure for homes, water and food - compounded by high levels of unemployment - has lead to furious conflict between the rival ethnic groups, with around 1300 people killed in gangland violence last year.
His report is based on following an ambulance driver, employed by a charity and a shorter period with a police inspector, who states at least 100 of his officers have been killed in the past year.

The film clip on:http://www.channel4.com/programmes/u...ld/4od#3180510

The written summary is on: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/u...2011/episode-4

The links do work in the USA and a SWC viewer responded:

They should stop making cop shows about Americans and make cops shows about Karachi cops. That was something.

[carl]

The journalist's name was Saleem Shahzad.

http://warincontext.org/2011/07/04/u...ni-journalist/

[VCheng]

Interesting development, to say the least, perhaps showing that things might not have been so upright with the assailant's family as were made out to be:

from: http://dawn.com/2012/04/30/widow-mot...victim-killed/

LAHORE: The widow of a Pakistani man shot dead by a CIA contractor last year in an incident that sparked a major crisis in American-Pakistani relations, was killed by her father on Monday for refusing to remarry, police said.

Zahra Faizan, 24, and her 50-year-old mother, Nabeela Shehzad, were allegedly shot dead by Mohammad Shehzad in Lahore after a family quarrel.

................

Zahra’s first husband, Mohammad Faizan, was one of two Pakistanis shot dead by CIA contractor Raymond Davis in Lahore in January 2011....................

[Ray]

VCheng,

That is logic for you!

Very modern!

Lost your husband. Marry again and get out of my house and life!

[VCheng]

Originally Posted by Ray

VCheng,

That is logic for you!

Very modern!

Lost your husband. Marry again and get out of my house and life!

"Marry again and leave" is one thing, but to shoot her dead?

That, Sir, is way beyond any logic that I can recognize.

[Ray]

Originally Posted by VCheng

"Marry again and leave" is one thing, but to shoot her dead?

That, Sir, is way beyond any logic that I can recognize.

I was being sardonic!

The epsiode indicates that the Wild West has come to roost in Pakistan.

Maybe the woman told the father to take a hike. She forgot that the bloke had a rifle handy and was the fastest gun this side of Suez!

[VCheng]

Originally Posted by Ray

I was being sardonic!

The epsiode indicates that the Wild West has come to roost in Pakistan.

Maybe the woman told the father to take a hike. She forgot that the bloke had a rifle handy and was the fastest gun this side of Suez!

I do realize your intent, but the depravity of the misogyny woven into the present day Pakistani society is simply beyond any such comment.

[tequila]

New report on this disgusting story:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/01/wo...olice-say.html

The widow and mother-in-law of a Pakistani man killed by a C.I.A. contractor last year were killed Monday, apparently by the widow’s father, who may have feared that she would remarry and take the money she received as compensation with her, the police said. The families of the two men killed by the contractor, Raymond A. Davis, in January 2011 received hundreds of thousands of dollars of “blood money” in exchange for pardoning Mr. Davis, a common legal practice in Pakistan. Mr. Davis said he shot the two men because they tried to rob him. The United States denied paying compensation to the families, but many believe it was simply routed through Pakistani officials. Zohra Haider, the widow of one of the men, wanted to remarry and was supported by her mother, said a police officer, Athar Waheed. But her father, Shahzad Butt, apparently killed the two women because he was outraged that his daughter planned to remarry and take her money to a new household, Mr. Waheed said. He is still at large, the police said.

[Ray]

Shocking to say the least.

Money is more important than life!

[omarali50]

see http://www.brownpundits.com/the-saus...falling-apart/

[davidbfpo]

There is some pleasure in reading such phrases as this:

11 rockets were fired by miscreants at the police

Link:http://docs.brecorder.com/top-news/1...in-lyari-.html

One does wonder at some of the footage, taken on the police side of the "line", with plain-clothes police, some with head coverings, joining in the firing.

[omarali50]

On this blog, where people know such things, one can also note that shooting over a wall with an assault rifle (or an LMG) in the general direction of Lyari as all those policemen seem to be doing, is rather dumb.

[VCheng]

One could write a small thesis based on this photograph and its captions, I am quite sure:


What's the problem? by vcheng552000, on Flickr

[omarali50]

Vcheng, that looks photoshopped.

[VCheng]

Originally Posted by omarali50

Vcheng, that looks photoshopped.

No, the picture is from Gayari and believed authentic, only the captions were added later.

[davidbfpo]

Patrick Porter's forthright column that opens with:

THE conflict in Afghanistan has been Australia's longest war. Measured in time and complexity - if not in blood - it has been one of the hardest. But who or what have we been fighting?

The problem, allegedly, is the Islamist extremism that found a host in the world's poorest land. The solution is to empower this broken nation to govern and secure itself....For 10 years we have tried to combat poverty, corruption and state failure by birthing a strong Afghan government. Not an easy task in a country hard to govern from the centre, and where our favoured regime is an unloved kleptocracy.....But Afghanistan is not the centre of this war. This is primarily a war over - and against - Pakistan.

He ends with:

We wanted the war in Afghanistan to be about fighting one enemy within those borders. But we got an aggregation of other conflicts that spilled across borders, beyond our power to resolve. This may be the hardest lesson of all. Often the wars we want are not the ones we get.

Link:http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/soc...506-1y6yj.html

Patrick blogs on:http://offshorebalancer.wordpress.com

[omarali50]

Blowback from Afghanistan? http://www.brownpundits.com/blowback-from-afghanistan/

The fact that the "militants" in Waziristan were able to kill 14 soldiers, behead them, and hang two of the heads in the town, tells you volumes about the state of affairs.
Pakistan is paralyzed by its own ideological mythmaking. The army high command may know that an American withdrawal will not solve their "militant" problem, but they are frozen like a deer in the headlights.
its not looking good.
This, btw, is the guy who ghostwrote Musharraf's book: http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2012...orm-does-turn/
He is exactly the kind of person GHQ relies on to create a suitable national narrative for them. Read and despair.

[omarali50]

initial (extremely cynical) thoughts: http://www.brownpundits.com/kargil-i...in-the-bazaar/

[VCheng]

Originally Posted by omarali50

initial (extremely cynical) thoughts: http://www.brownpundits.com/kargil-i...in-the-bazaar/

Fair comments, but in the long run, Pakistan may have short-changed itself immensely:

from: Targets, not drones, draw ire from Pakistan: Weinbaum | DAWN.COM

...............

Do you see a future relationship between the United States and Pakistan after 2014?

Both the countries can ill-afford a complete separation. They will struggle to find those areas of common interest that serve their purpose. There should be no illusions that it is going to be a broad-based strategic partnership. It is going to be a narrowly construed and transactional arrangement.

Why can’t the two countries have a successful strategic partnership?

The military and the elements in the government are willing to develop a strategic partnership but the public opinion prevents it from happening. Political forces in Pakistan do not want a resolution of tensions between the two countries. Despite controlling the country’s foreign policy, the military in Pakistan involved the public and the media in key debates concerning the relations with the United States as was seen in the Raymond Davis affair. The Bin Laden raid and the killing of soldiers last November has created a set of expectations among the public which serves as the limiting factor for the policymakers.

................

Some sections of opinion in Pakistan believe that the United States is eying their nuclear program and would eventually take away the country’s nukes.

That is nonsense. Anything that weakens the government in Pakistan should be treated contrary to the US interests. The US needs a predictable partner. A partner that is distracted from issues cannot be an interlocutor in any kind of negotiations. If the US has to worry about Pakistan’s nuclear program, it would be for the fear of a break up within the Pakistani military. Does the US worry about it? Yes, it does. The US does not expect the imminent break up of the country but the consequences are catastrophic if junior officers (with support to Jihadi elements) turn on the senior officers causing a serious command-and-control challenge. Fortunately, we are not there at this point. It is not in the interest of the US or even India to deliberately weaken the Pakistani government or the military.

[Ray]

Pak blinks on Afghanistan routes, gets Nato invite for talks

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/w...w/13159783.cms