Keep it Real

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While Al Qaeda has a problem with things elongated, where the length is always roughly three times that of the width, Hindus in India trek through the roughest terrain to go to Amarnath to offer prayers before an ice lingam

By Ejaz Haider

TS Note : From the land of the pure, a hilarious piece of hilarity. Read on and enjoy the wit.

cucumbers.jpgMark Twain it was who said “Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t”. Bacon quoted a jesting Pontius Pilate as asking “What is truth?” and without staying for an answer ordered Christ to be put on the cross. Even truth, it seems, is nothing absolute, though Bacon must have made up the story like the lazy reporter who doesn’t venture out and writes desk stories that cannot be verified.

Leaving that aside, however, how about substituting truth with life in Twain’s statement? Life too, without fiction’s controlled, select treatment and the writer’s deft handling of the plot, is not obliged to stick to possibilities. But perhaps I am wrong. When infused with the literalism of faith, life can begin to lose its myriad possibilities, even its colour, slithering instead through select grooves.

One report tells me that Al Qaeda in Iraq’s Sunni belt may be losing popularity because of “imposing their way of thought on the most mundane aspects of everyday life”.

And pray, what are those “mundane aspects of everyday life”? Hold your breath, gentle reader, because “They include a ban on women buying suggestively-shaped vegetables, according to one tribal leader in the western province of Anbar”.

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Impeaching a Commando

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If past performance of the players in the game is any indicator of the things to come, the Pakistani nation better tighten up their seat belts; for the umpteenth time that is.

By Anwaar Hussain

mush-d.jpg There is no disputing the fact that the Commando in the President House, General (Retired) Musharraf, is the most out of favor man in the country right now. That is why an overwhelming majority of the peoples’ elected representatives has resolved it is time for him to go.

The love story between the Commando and his own self may be an old one but it burst forth on the national calendar on October 12, 1999, when he overthrew Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s democratically-elected government and abrogated the constitution with a real royal disdain. In this love story between the man and his ego since then, Pakistan was made hostage to his whims and wishes with the overt and covert support of toady generals and a set of most devious politicians of Pakistan.

One can say from experience of personal interaction with the man that he does come across as a forthright, competent and well meaning person. But one is at a loss to explain how come such a person has brought himself to such a sorry turn of events. Today he stands upon the gate of the inglorious hall of shame knocking feverishly to be allowed to enter to quickly earn the dubious distinction of being the first president in Pakistan’s 61 year history to be impeached by the country’s parliament. So awful is the mess that he has created for himself that even if the move doesn’t succeed, the commando will still be the first Pakistani president considered bad enough to be publicly charge-sheeted by a large number of popularly-elected lawmakers. The only reason that comes to mind for his not letting go is his obstinate ego.

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Allah, the Army and America

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By Anatol Lieven

mush.jpg The survival of Pakistan in its existing form is a vital U.S. security interest, one that trumps all other American interests in the country. A collapse of Pakistan — into internal anarchy or an Islamist revolution — would cripple the global campaign against Islamist terrorism. Strengthening the Pakistani state and cementing its cooperation with the West have thus become immensely important to Washington.

So far, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf appears firmly committed to the U.S.-led coalition, and he seems to have the solid support of his military high command. In the short term, the defeat of the Taliban in Afghanistan will strengthen Musharraf’s domestic position. Most of the causes of Pakistan’s decline over the last few decades, however, remain in place and have not been changed by the war against terrorism. If these serious flaws in Pakistan’s governance remain unaddressed, the country will sooner or later slip into a profound state of crisis. Even in the shorter term, growing unrest as a result of economic crisis could well prompt Musharraf’s military colleagues to shunt him aside in favor of a civilian government less supportive of the United States. Musharraf’s power depends very much on the will of the military, and if faced with its disapproval it is unlikely he would stay in office very long.

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Of Terrorists and their proponents

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By Huzaima Bukhari and Dr. Ikramul Haq

terrorism.gifThe likely threat of military attack by the US and its allies in the tribal areas of Pakistan using the pretext of potential strike like 9/11 and increasing activities of the Taliban is creating fear and panic amongst masses. The main agenda behind this bizarre scheme is to push the armed forces of Pakistan to the wall, get the control of nuclear arsenals and use bogey of ‘Islamic terrorism’ for the containment of China. George W. Bush Jr., now lame-duck President, before leaving the Oval, wants to ensure that the new man taking his place should have no option but to remain engaged in wars in various parts of the world.

Before one tries to understand the recent US military and propaganda outbursts against the Taliban, one must turn one’s mental clock back three decades or so, and recollect the legacy of Bush Senior. It was George Herbert Walker Bush’s ‘New World Order’ that led to the biggest and worldwide economic chaos during the Gulf War. As Vice-President and President, Bush was an unfortunate instance of ‘collateral damage’, or a ‘necessary evil’, flowing from his more primary geopolitical mission: to usher in the post-nation-state “one world order”, first spelled out in the mid-1970s Trilateral Commission studies of Samuel Huntington and Zbigniew Brzezinski, and first unleashed by the 1977-81 ‘All Trilat’ Jimmy Carter administration.

George Bush remarkable feats include inter alia amongst others:

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TS Picks

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1. The Truth Commission : By Nicholas D. Kristof : The NYT

2. War on Iran: The Perfect Storm From Hell‏ : By Timothy Alexander, Rense.com

3. Anxious in America : By Thomas L. Friedman : The NYT

4. America, its Time for some Serious Wakeup Calls : By D.L. Dewey, Dewey’s World

5. Why Gentile Americans Back the Jewish State : By Walter Russell Mead, Martinfrost.ws



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TS Picks

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1. Preparing the Battlefield : By Seymour Hersh, The New Yorker

2. Coded prejudice is cloaked dagger : By Dahleen Glanton, Chicago Tribune

3. Gloom and Doom? Nah; Just for the U.S. : Interview with Peter D. Schiff, Barron’s

4. China Inspired Interrogations at Guantánamo : By Scott Shane, The NYT

5. Amid policy disputes, Qaeda grows in Pakistan : By Mark Mazzetti and David Rohde - The IHT



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Welcome to the Badlands

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What must never, repeat never, be done is to negotiate a treaty with these elements from a weaker position. A Pathan despises weakness as much in himself as in any one else. Such treaties are not worth the paper these are written on.

By Anwaar Hussain

oie_talibanselected4.jpgThe badlands were not always badlands.

The Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan, or FATA as these are more commonly known, are an amazing place with a fascinating history. This unique region of pine-scented vales, tall mountains, deep gorges, harsh topography and even harsher demography has traveled a tortuous path throughout its known history.

Starting from 500 BC to date, the region which includes Afghanistan and the North-West Frontier of Pakistan has seen perhaps more invasions in the course of history than any other country in Asia, or indeed in the world. However, during most of this period when the plains surrounding this region had been dominated by great powers of the times, these hill tracts and the tribes that inhabited these remained fiercely independent.

The people of Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and FATA as well as the adjacent eastern regions of Afghanistan are overwhelmingly Pathan, or Pashtun as they are alternatively called, with a total population of around 40 million. About 18 million of these are living on the Pakistani side. Within the NWFP province, geographically, FATA runs north to south, forming a 1,200-kilometer wedge between Afghanistan and the settled areas of the NWFP. The Durand Line supposedly divided Pathan tribes between British India and Afghanistan in 1893. Supposedly because the line has never been effectively able to divide these tribes and since then this delineation has been viewed with great contempt and bitterness by Pathans on both sides of the line.

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Christian fundamentalists fighting spiritual battle in Parliament

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By David Modell

religion.jpg They think society should be built on their beliefs. They claim non-believers are damned. But these radical Christian groups are not in America - they are here and are aiming to change the laws of our land, discovers the Bafta-winning film-maker David Modell

It’s Tuesday morning and the infants’ classroom in Carmel School is filled with the sound of children’s voices reciting a rhyme. “The Lord has not dealt with us according to our sins nor punished us according to our iniquities.” These are not easy words to remember if you’re six. Melony, the teacher, goes on to explain: “Before Jesus came, people who disobeyed God got turned to a pillar of salt. So thank God for Jesus because we can say ‘Jesus, I’m sorry’ and we don’t have to fear getting turned into a pillar of salt, which really happened in the Old Testament.” One little girl has to do a science test. A classroom assistant kneels next to her, takes her hand and says: “We pray, Father, that you’ll help her check all her spellings. In Jesus’s name, Amen.” The test is multiple choice. Question five is: “God made the world in [BLANK] days.” The options are “five, six or seven”. The six-year-old carefully writes “six”. The right answer.

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Stoning of the Songbirds

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By Anwaar Hussain

The story below has been inspired by the news of a recent stoning of a man and a woman in Northern Pakistan. It is a work of fiction.

songbirds.jpgThe first stone whizzed way above her head missing her exposed torso by a wide margin. She was half buried into a hole dug the previous day. Wrapped in a white shroud with her hands tied to her sides, only her face was uncovered. She was able to see the throng of devout people who would stone her till death. She was hysterical with fear and it showed on her beautiful face.

The next one found its mark. She was struck on her chin. It was a medium sized, sharp stone thrown by the lead mullah, the man who had passed the verdict on them. Pain shot through her body forcing a whimper of agony from her dry lips. With that, she started crying uncontrollably. Crimson drops of blood started to drip on to the white cotton shroud on her chest. “God is great!” shouted the mullah and waved on his followers with a renewed fervor. The crowd reached for the stones lying in heaps in front of them. Collected a day earlier, it was made sure that these would be of just the right size; neither too small as to be ineffective, nor too large as to finish the person with just a few hits. The barrage would start soon.

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The War of Drones

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By Pervez Hoodbhoy

dynamite.jpgDRONES, machine and human, have drenched Pakistan with the blood of innocents. On the one side are US-made drones such as the MQ-1B General Dynamics Predator - a remote controlled, self-propelled, missile-bearing aerial system. On the other side are the low-tech human drones, armed with explosive vests stuffed with ball bearings and nails.

These lethal engines of destruction, programmed by remote handlers, are very different. But neither asks why it must kill, nor cares about the death and suffering it causes.

On Jan 13, 2006, a bevy of MQ-1Bs hovering over Damadola launched a barrage of ten Hellfire missiles at the village below. They blew up 18 local people, including five women and five children. Such cold statistics say nothing about the smashed lives of the survivors, or the grief of the bereaved. The blame was put on faulty local intelligence.

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Anwaar’s articles appear simultaneously here at Truth Spring and at Soul Vibes in The Pakistan Tribune.


US loses its status as economic world power
DAVOS, Switzerland, 2008
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