Driving Zionist Agenda: Corrupt Feudal Politicians Push Pakistan To The Edge

Pushing Pak Military To Revolt?

The Kerry-Lugar-Berman Big Bribe will go into the usual pockets.  In return, the ‘democratic’ Pakistani government is permitting Washington to secretly create a small mercenary army inside Pakistan.  Arrogant US diplomats and complicit politicians in government are pushing the Pakistani military to the point of revolt.

By Eric S. Margolis
Thursday, 22 October 2009.
WWW.AHMEDQURAISHI.COM

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Official Washington watches in mounting alarm and confusion as Pakistan spins out of control.

The US-led war in Afghanistan has now poured over into Pakistan, bringing that nation of 167 million close to civil war.

Bombings and shootings are rocking Pakistan’s northwest regions, including a brazen attack on army HQ in Rawalpindi and repeated bombings of Lahore and Peshawar. Pakistan’s army has launched a major offensive against rebellious Pashtun tribes in South Waziristan.

Meanwhile, the weak, deeply unpopular government of Asif Zardari that was engineered into power by the US faces an increasingly rancorous confrontation with its own military. Like the proverbial bull in the china shop, the Obama administration and US Congress chose this explosive time to try to impose yet another layer of American control over Pakistan – just as Nobel peace prize winner Barack Obama appears likely to send thousands more US troops to Afghanistan.

Tragically, US policy in the Muslim world continues to be driven by imperial arrogance, profound ignorance, and special interest groups. The current Kerry-Lugar-Berman bill approved by Congress and signed by Obama is ham-fisted dollar diplomacy at its worst.

Pakistan, bankrupted by corruption and feudal landlords, is being offered US$7.5 billion over five years. Washington claims there are no strings attached. Except, of course, that the US wants to build a mammoth new embassy for 1,000 personnel in Islamabad, the second largest after its giant fortress-embassy in Baghdad. New diplomatic personnel are needed, claims Washington, to monitor the US$7.5 billion in aid. So a small army of US mercenaries is being brought in to protect US “interests”. New US military bases will open. Most of the billions in new aid will go right into the pockets of the pro-western ruling establishment, about 1% of the population. Washington has been also demanding veto power over promotions in Pakistan’s armed forces and intelligence agency, ISI. This crude attempt to take control of Pakistan’s proud, 617,000-man military and intelligence service has enraged its armed forces. It’s all part of Washington’s “Afpak” strategy to clamp tighter control over restive Pakistan and make use its armed forces and intelligence agents in Afghanistan. The other key US objective is seizing control of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, the cornerstone of its national defence against much more powerful India. Welcome, Pakistan, to the American Raj. However, 90% of Pakistanis oppose the US-led war in Afghanistan, and see Taliban and its allies as national resistance to western occupation. Alarmingly, violent attacks on Pakistan’s government are coming not only from once autonomous Pashtun tribes (wrongly called “Taliban”) in Northwest Frontier Province, but, increasingly, in the biggest province, Punjab. Recently, the US Ambassador in Islamabad, in a fit of imperial arrogance, actually called for air attacks on Pashtun leaders in Quetta, capital of Pakistan’s restive Baluchistan province. Washington does not even bother to ask the Islamabad government’s permission to launch air attacks inside Pakistan, only informing it afterwards.

The Kerry-Lugar-Berman Big Bribe comes as many irate Pakistanis accuse President Asif Ali Zardari’s government of being American hirelings. Zardari, widower of Benazir Bhutto, has been dogged for decades by corruption charges. Washington seems unaware of the fury its crude, counter-productive policies have whipped up in Pakistan. The Obama administration listens to Washington-based pro-Israel neo-conservatives, military hawks, and “experts” who tell it what it wants to hear, not the facts. Pakistan’s military, the nation’s premier institution, is being pushed to the point of revolt. Against the backdrop of bombings and shootings come rumours the heads of Pakistan’s armed forces and intelligence may be replaced. Pakistanis are calling for the removal of the Zardari regime’s strongman, Interior Minister Rehman Malik. The possibility of a military coup against the Zardari regime grows. But Pakistan is dependent on US money, and fears India. Can its generals afford to break with patron Washington?

Eric S. Margolis is a contributing editor to the Toronto Sun chain of newspapers, writing mainly about the Middle East and South Asia. This column is originally titled, Pakistan joins the American Raj.

US-NATO Military Agenda: The Destabilization of Pakistan

Global Research, April 17, 2009

Author’s note:

In an article published in December 2007, following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, I suggested that the US-NATO course for Pakistan consisted ”in  fomenting social, ethnic and factional divisions and political fragmentation, including the territorial breakup of Pakistan.”
Recent developments (including the aerial bombardments of Pakistani villages under the auspices of the “war on terrorism”) indelibly point to a broadening of the Afghan war theater, which now encompasses parts of Pakistan. The underlying tendency is towards an Afghan-Pakistani war.
Michel Chossudovsky, April 17, 2009

Excerpts of the December 2007 Article
Already in 2005, a report by the US National Intelligence Council and the CIA forecast a “Yugoslav-like fate” for Pakistan “in a decade with the country riven by civil war, bloodshed and inter-provincial rivalries, as seen recently in Balochistan.” (Energy Compass, 2 March 2005). According to the NIC-CIA,  Pakistan is slated to become a “failed state” by 2015, “as it would be affected by civil war, complete Talibanisation and struggle for control of its nuclear weapons”. (Quoted by former Pakistan High Commissioner to UK, Wajid Shamsul Hasan, Times of India, 13 February 2005):

“Nascent democratic reforms will produce little change in the face of opposition from an entrenched political elite and radical Islamic parties. In a climate of continuing domestic turmoil, the Central government’s control probably will be reduced to the Punjabi heartland and the economic hub of Karachi,” the former diplomat quoted the NIC-CIA report as saying.

Expressing apprehension, Hasan asked, “are our military rulers working on a similar agenda or something that has been laid out for them in the various assessment reports over the years by the National Intelligence Council in joint collaboration with CIA?” (Ibid)

Continuity, characterized by the dominant role of the Pakistani military and intelligence has been scrapped in favor of political breakup and balkanization. According to the NIC-CIA scenario, which Washington intends to carry out: “Pakistan will not recover easily from decades of political and economic mismanagement, divisive policies, lawlessness, corruption and ethnic friction,” (Ibid) .

This US agenda for Pakistan is similar to that applied throughout the broader Middle East Central Asian region. US strategy, supported by covert intelligence operations, consists in triggering ethnic and religious strife, abetting and financing secessionist movements while also weakening the institutions of the central government.

The broader objective is to fracture the Nation State and redraw the borders of Iraq, Iran, Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
To read the complete December 2007 article, click here:
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7705

Alert: If Not Stopped, US Plans Will Lead To A Pakistani Civil War

US Plans Will Lead To A Pakistani Civil War

A pro-US fifth column inside Pakistan is now talking about southern Punjab as the hub of Al-Qaeda just as it earlier pointed to Balochistan in the same manner.  For those who had failed to connect the dots to the US grand design of targeting Pakistan a year ago, it should be easier today. There are covert US operatives now spread across the length and breadth of Pakistan; drone attacks have increased in frequency since Obama took office; aid packages are demanding unacceptable conditions; the military is being pushed on all fronts, with India increasing its deployments along the western border with Pakistan and aiding low intensity conflict through Afghanistan.

By THE NATION

Tuesday, 29 September 2009.

WWW.AHMEDQURAISHI.COM

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—The US design to destabilize Pakistan is becoming clearer by the day, even for the most blinkered Pakistani.

As the US continues to be stalemated in Afghanistan, it has sought to move the centre of gravity of the “war on terror” to Pakistan.  Initially it was assumed that this shift would be restricted to FATA, but now it is evident that the US is seeking to engulf the whole of Pakistan in an asymmetric conflict, which will eventually pit the people against the state, especially the military.

Reports of a US plan to target Balochistan, including its capital city Quetta are, in all likelihood, correct – more so because the US has not issued even a half-hearted denial on this count.

Pakistani officials are admitting that the US has sought to extend drone attacks to Balochistan, especially Quetta.  Given the present government’s proclivity to accede to all US demands, it should not come as a surprise to soon see these drone attacks taking place.

However, for Pakistan such a development will be suicidal, given the prevailing instability in Balochistan and the continuing lack of trust between the Pakistani Baloch people and the Pakistani federation.  Worse still, Quetta is an urban centre with a concentration of population.  It is also a major military station with the Command and Staff College as well as other formations present in the heart of the city.

How far is our military prepared to accommodate the US desire to undermine the country’s sovereignty?

After all, the drones will push the separatists closer to their goal, while the US will think it can move towards its concept of Greater Balochistan through the breakup of Pakistan and Iran.

Unfortunately for the US, the Iranian leadership shows no signs of falling prey to such US designs, unlike their Pakistani counterparts.

Again, if today drones are allowed to target an expanded area of the country, what will stop the US from expanding into southern Punjab next?  With receding red lines, the whole country could be up for targeting by the US in its growing despair over the inevitable failure in Afghanistan.

There are many fifth columnists in our midst now talking of southern Punjab as the hub of Al-Qaeda just as earlier they pointed to Balochistan in the same manner. For those who had failed to connect the dots to the US grand design of targeting Pakistan a year ago, it should be easier today. There are covert US operatives now spread across the length and breadth of Pakistan; drone attacks have increased in frequency since Obama took office; aid packages are demanding unacceptable conditionalities; the military is being pushed on all fronts, with India increasing its deployments along the western border with Pakistan and aiding low intensity conflict through Afghanistan, and the US demanding we withdraw more troops from the eastern border to FATA and begin a premature conventional operation there; and the US-dominated IMF and World Bank pushing through threatening price hikes and taking charge of policy making in Balochistan and NWFP.

This editorial appeared today under the title, US War On Pakistan.

Pictures: Anti-Pakistan TTP Terrorists Equipped With U.S., Indian, Israeli and German Weapons

In one case, Germany sent 10,000 small weapons to Afghanistan.  Half of them have disappeared.  This is a classic way of supporting insurgencies without being caught.  German investigators can never accuse German intelligence of crossing the NATO mandate and helping CIA in extracurricular activities.  The Americans are good at dismissing their double actions in Afghanistan as conspiracy theories.  Here is a brief, detailed and sourced account of what types of foreign-origin sophisticated weapons are in use against the Pakistani military.  A ragtag army of criminals, throat-slitters and mercenaries could never have faced one of the world’s largest organized armies if not for outside sophisticated support.

By Akhtar Jamal

Wednesday, 21 October 2009.

ISLAMABAD – Reports reaching here confirm that hundreds of militants from Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), or the so and other associated groups are equipped with most sophisticated American, Indian and German weapons.

According to a survey the weapons in the possession of these militants included U.S. made M249 automatic machine guns, U.S.-made Glock pistols, Indian hand guns, FN Browning GP35 9mmx19mm, Indian automatic machine pistols GLOCK 17 9mmx19mm, Indian machine guns Heckler & Koch MP5A3 9mmx19mm, Indian made Sterling L2A1 sub machine guns, Israeli licenced Indian made UZI 9mmx19mm sub machine guns and German Walther-P1 pistols.

During Swat operation, a number of the Indian army used Vickers-Berthier (VB) light machine guns were also recovered.  The recovery of Indian designed weapons were not astonishing for Pakistan But what was more surprising for Pakistani officials is that the U.S. and German weapons were recently introduced in the Waziristan area.

German sources today confirmed that thousand of German guns are being sold illegally on Afghan, Pakistan black markets.  The German guns were sent to Afghanistan for police and army via a U.S. agency.

The weapons were sent in 2006 and were intended for local police and army personnel.

According to the latest reports in 2006, the German Defense Ministry shipped 10,000 old Walther-P1 pistols to the Afghan Interior Ministry to equip Afghan police and army.

However, both the German government and the responsible US-led security team in Afghanistan failed to properly monitor the guns’ distribution and use.  The U.S. unit was quoted by a German source as saying that “it only had detailed records of German Walther-P1 pistols, numbering 4,563 pistols out of a total 10,000.”  It is believed that German officials failed to pursue the investigation in Afghanistan due to non-cooperation from the Afghan Government.

In February this year, CNN has reported that more than one-third of all weapons the United States has procured for Afghanistan’s government are “missing.”

On February 12, 2009, CNN had quoted a U.S. Government Accountability Office report as saying that the U.S. military failed to “maintain complete inventory records for an estimated 87,000 weapons — or about 36 percent — of the 242,000 weapons that the United States procured and shipped to Afghanistan from December 2004 through June 2008.”

The report elaborated that the U.S. military “is unable to provide serial numbers for 46,000 of the missing 87,000 weapons” and that “no records have been maintained for the location or disposition for the other 41,000 weapons.”

Mr. Akhtar Jamal is a senior journalist and founder editor of the independent PPA News Agency.  He can be reached at pakpress@yahoo.com

Special Report: How Pakistani Foreign Minister’s Son Was Appointed In Kerry’s Office

Let’s just hope that he lost Pakistan’s case on the Kerry-Lugar bill because of personal lack of conviction than a soft corner for Mr. Kerry who gave his son a job in a powerful place.

Special Report

Wednesday, 21 October 2009.

WWW.AHMEDQURAISHI.COM

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—Normally, it would be great to have a Pakistani citizen join the staff of a powerful US legislator like John Kerry, the former presidential candidate, chairman of the US senate foreign relations committee and the man who was being considered for Obama’s secretary of state before Hillary got the job.

It is another thing, however, if this Pakistani turns out to be the son of a serving Foreign Pakistani Minister working in the office of Mr. Kerry, the sponsor of the Kerry-Lugar bill with which most Pakistanis have a problem.

There is a strong hint here of impropriety and conflict of interest.

The problem can be summed up in this question: Mr. Qureshi is supposed to be protecting Pakistani interest at a time when the US-Pakistani ties are going through a rough patch.  Does having his son work for Mr. Kerry create a conflict of interest for Foreign Minister Qureshi?

If you are a father, you develop a soft corner for the powerful man who has given your son an entry job in a powerful place.

Did this natural gratitude affect Foreign Minister’s judgment as he tried to manage the controversy over Kerry-Lugar bill?

Most observers agree that Foreign Minister Qureshi’s performance in the Kerry-Lugar bill fiasco was weak, to put it mildly.  He refused to acknowledge Pakistani concerns and showered grandiose praise on the bill.  When he returned to Pakistan and was told of the reservations, he chose to go back to the United States supposedly to press for Pakistan’s rights.  Only that he was sidelined in no time and forced to accept an ‘explanatory’ note instead.  And again he showered exaggerated praise on the note, calling it ‘historic’.

Some in Pakistan rightly suspect he did not even press Mr. Kerry on Pakistan’s reservations mainly because his government in Islamabad couldn’t care less.  It was the Pakistani military, opposition parties and the public opinion’s demand and Mr. Qureshi’s government was alone in accepting the anti-military US conditions.

Did Mr. Qureshi not fight Pakistan’s case as strongly as he could because he was not convinced or because Mr. Kerry gave his son a big break?

Others have also noticed this.

Longtime journalist Anjum Niaz, in her column The Boston Brahmin published in today’s The News, wrote the following:

After a number of phone calls to Senator Kerry’s office, I finally found out from one of Kerry’s male staffers that ZHQ did indeed work for Kerry but had now left. Why has ZHQ gone into hiding? Did he do something wrong? Yes. And the Foreign Office finds itself between a rock and a hard place. How can it condone its boss’s act of getting his son a job with Kerry when the KLB talks were at a critical stage? Even if fate smiles upon ZHQ because he’s the favoured son of our foreign minister and the doors of the high and mighty in Washington open up for him, we have the right to know whenever the son’s job compromises his dad’s position. More importantly if it is in direct conflict with Pakistan’s interests.  Would you not call this a conflict of interest? Should the foreign minister resign? And if Zardari cannot afford to let him go, then the FM must seek a public apology […] Would he have given ZHQ the time of the day had the young man not been the son of Pakistan’s foreign minister?”

The impression that something is not right in Mr. Qureshi being Pakistan’s foreign minister while his son works for Sen. Kerry is also underlined by how Mr. Qureshi’s brother has reacted to the story.  An Urdu-language daily newspaper, the Express, quoted the brother as saying that members of his feudal land-owning family ‘does not seek employment’ anywhere.  He said this while denying his nephew was ‘employed’ by Sen. Kerry.

There is also an interesting background to how Qureshi Jr. got the job on Capitol Hill.

This version of the story is not verified but comes from a knowledgeable source at the Pakistani Foreign Office:

“Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s relations with Haqqani had become very tense in the early part of this year. During Zardari’s for AFPAK consultations, Qureshi and Haqqani had a shouting match because the ambassador had sent something to the president without going through the foreign minister. Haqqani had direct line to Zardari, and he had some of Qureshi’s decisions reversed. After the Long March when Zardari became a little weaker and Yousaf Raza Gilani a bit stronger, Haqqani decided to patch up with Qureshi. What did Haqqani do: He used his contacts with Kerry and had Qureshi’s son appointed as his intern. With that favour, Qureshi has no more complaints against Haqqani.  So powerful is Haqqani that he has never allowed Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir to set foot in Washington.

Whatever the truth, two points are clear:

One, Foreign Minister Qureshi should have had the courage to refuse to fly back to Washington to renegotiate the controversial anti-Pakistan clauses if he was not personally convinced.  That he did so merely to placate the powerful Pakistani military reflects poorly on his record.

Second, his son’s internship in Sen. Kerry’s office raises a legitimate question of a conflict of interest. Mr. Qureshi should have seen this one coming since he is known to be an upright politician by the standards of politicians in this country.

Let’s just hope that he lost Pakistan’s case on the Kerry-Lugar bill because of personal lack of conviction than a soft corner for Mr. Kerry.

Targeting Pakistani Nukes: 'Don't Mess With Us'

Air Commodore Khalid Banuri from the Strategic Plans Division that controls the nuclear button in Pakistan issues a warning to foreign powers contemplating targeting Pakistan's strategic arsenal. This is a rare public appearance, in an interview with Ahmed Quraishi done in December 2007, when the US media launched its most virulently anti-Pakistan campaign in the history of Pak-American ties. The warning is as valid today.