This infiltration has the potential to severely hamper America’s efforts in the War on Terror. Authorities in Pakistan, a key U.S. ally that also is an Al Qaeda hotbed, acknowledge that their army has been infiltrated by radicals. Recently, Willie Brigitte, a French convert involved in an Al Qaeda plan to attack Australia, revealed how elements from the Pakistani army worked hand in hand with the Lashkar e Taiba (LET) terrorist group. Brigitte told French interrogators that there was “complete complicity between the Pakistani Army and LET” and that the army was providing weapons and ammunition to LET.
Moreover, Brigitte also claimed that he had met Pakistani soldiers who vowed to sabotage efforts to capture Osama Bin Laden. This revelation should come as no surprise to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, who last June ordered a review of the files of all army officers in the rank of colonel or above to identify potential Al Qaeda sympathizers. Musharraf issued this directive after a number of army officials participated in two Al Qaeda plots to kill him. [The enemy within]

Lashkar, one of the terrorist groups operating in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir have changed their focus to Iraq.

The Heritage Foundation came up with its 2005 Index of Economic Freedom and India was ranked 118 in a list of 155 nations. India’s neighbours did not perform well either, except Sri Lanka which was ranked 79. The New Nation has an article analyzing the situation in South Asia regarding economic freedom.

The five nations from South Asia have not fared well in the IEF ranking with the exception of Sri Lanka. One reason for the poor showing of South Asian nations could be the governmental tweaking of the economy. The high tariff imposed on luxury goods by the South Asian nations is also another detriment to climb up the list. Another factor could be the high borrowing by these nations from IMF and World Bank to undertake many developmental projects, which helps the poor but not liked by the Heritage Foundation

When Pervez Musharraf reneged on his promise to step down as the Army Chief, his pal in the State Department had nothing to say. The State Dept. spokesman, aka Washington Bob said that United States will continue to promote democracy in Pakistan but did not have the courage to ask the General to step down. But US Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist had the guts to say what Colin Powell could not, and that too standing in Pakistan. But even Bill Frist did not say it at the General’s face, it just came as an after thought

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist stressed Washington’s desire to see progress toward democracy in Pakistan, and said a decision by the country’s military ruler to renege on a promise to step down as army chief could send “the wrong signal.”
“The United States and our government and our Congress are of course very interested in seeing civilian democratic rule as soon as possible,” said Frist, a Tennessee Republican.
We didn’t talk specifically about it. We probably should have brought it up. There is some concern about his reversal – and the signals that it could send – to give up his army title. Our constituents at home would ask the question, or make the statement, ‘Does that send the wrong signal?'”[Frist Pushes for Democracy in Pakistan]

If Pakistan is clashing with someone, it has to be India. This theory has been such deep roots into the world psyche, that the fact that even when Pakistanis are shooting Afghanis, the Editors do not realize it. So see the title in Jerusalem Post US spy drone crash prompts Pakistan-India clash. Now before you start wondering on the whats and whys of this story, you find that the real story is that an American drone crashed into Pakistan resulting in gunfire between the countries across the Durand line. India is nowhere in the picture.

For Wanzhou, a Yangtze River port city, the script was incendiary. Onlookers spread word that a senior official had abused a helpless porter. By nightfall, tens of thousands of people had swarmed Wanzhou’s central square, where they tipped over government vehicles, pummeled policemen and set fire to city hall.
Minor street quarrel provokes mass riot. The Communist Party, obsessed with enforcing social stability, has few worse fears. Yet the Wanzhou uprising, which occurred on Oct. 18, is one of nearly a dozen such incidents in the past three months, many touched off by government corruption, police abuse and the inequality of the riches accruing to the powerful and well connected.
“People can see how corrupt the government is while they barely have enough to eat,” said Mr. Yu, reflecting on the uprising that made him an instant proletarian hero – and later forced him into seclusion. “Our society has a short fuse, just waiting for a spark.”
Though it is experiencing one of the most spectacular economic expansions in history, China is having more trouble maintaining social order than at any time since the Tiananmen Square democracy movement in 1989. [China’s ‘Haves’ Stir the ‘Have Nots’ to Violence]

Isn’t Communism supposed to produce a classless society where everyone works for the common good ?
As we have noted before, the lofty ideals of Marx are not digested easily by common people and hence violence has to be used.

Gen. Musharraf who lies consistently to his own people and the international community has now reneged on his promise to remove the uniform. Washington Bob had already made his comment. But now his boss, Colin Powell has said that it is an internal issue of Pakistan. If so Colin, why are you spreading democracy in Iraq ?
Colin Powell’s boss, the President has made spreading democracy a major action item in his agenda. But even his own Secretary of State does not seem to believe it. Due to the War on Terror, Musharraf is being held to very loose standards. So long as he delivers one Jihadi/month, the United States is closing its eyes to many other atrocities he is committing.

The devil-you-know argument is fine as far as it goes. Its defect is the one that applies to all dictatorships: a policy built on one man is a policy built on sand. Although Mr Musharraf is plainly a man the West can do business with, it is equally plain that he will not be around for ever$(Oev(Ben if he continues to dodge the Islamic extremists’ persistent attempts to assassinate him. Meanwhile, the hope that he would use his presidency to restore and strengthen democratic institutions in Pakistan is waning. Apart from failing to doff his uniform, he has not made his peace with the secular opposition. He has not acted seriously against the madrassas. It is not clear whether he has purged the army and intelligence services of their own religious extremists. Though he has hunted down foreign terrorists who threaten his own life, he has done less to root out Pakistan’s home-grown terrorists, who are increasingly active. And when Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan’s bomb, was found to have been selling nuclear secrets far and wide, Mr Musharraf let him off for an apology.[Another promise broken (subscription reqd)]

While Pakistan wants India to withdraw troops from Jammu and Kashmir and work according to the wishes of the people, it is not doing those things in its Balochistan province. The Army is building cantonments in the province much against the wishes of the people there. As usual every disturbance in Balochistan is blamed on RAW, India’s external Intelligence Agency. But actual Balochis are calling the media and owning responsibility for the murders happening there.

Gunmen attacked a military vehicle in Pakistan’s southwestern Baluchistan province on Saturday, killing four paramilitary troops, a security official said.
“The vehicle was attacked in the early hours. They used rockets and also ambushed the vehicle,” Malik said. “Four soldiers were killed and four were wounded.”
The vehicle was returning from a routine security patrol.
A spokesman for the Baluch National Army (BNA), who identified himself as Doda Khan, telephoned several media offices in Quetta, claiming that the attack was in response to the government plans to build three military cantonments in the province. [Gunmen Kill Four Soldiers in Southwestern Pakistan]

What they teach in history books in Pakistan is very insightful.

A famous Pakistani historian says that the distorted facts and the fictitious history that is being taught in Pakistani schools is responsible for breeding hatred among the young.
Dr Mubarak Ali, a historian and editor of the magazine, Tareekh, told the audience at the Peshawar Press Club on Wednesday that the language used history and textbooks was provocative. He referred to the words conspiracies, intrigues, treachery, prejudices, enmity with Muslims, collusion, Hindu mentality and political tactics being frequently used that gave an impression that Hindus could not be friends with Muslims.
He said that the Hindu enmity was frequently mentioned in the history books.
Delivering a lecture on What should be the Pakistan studies, Dr Ali noted that history had no connection with religion and culture and that secularism was indispensable for democracy.
He said the Pakistani history had been distorted and that it was the need of hour that students be enlightened regarding the history of culture, archaeology and popular movements of different regions of Pakistan. He said folk stories and literature were an important part of history and these should be brought into the limelight.
He said the authors of the history books had not been professional with the result that the students were unaware of the true history of Pakistan.
Dr Ali refuted the frequent claim that the Muslims of the sub-continent blamed the British and Hindus for their backwardness. If we go through the real history, we find that Muslims were not as oppressed as they have been painted in the history books, he said. [Distorted history is breeding hatred]

And at the same time Communists in India are trying their best to re-write history so that some horrible incidents can be erased.

2000 years back India projected its soft power to Afghanistan and the result was the Bamiyan Buddhas and the Gandhara culture. Now again India is projecting its soft power and what may result are – some Salman Khan clones.

Among the most popular and controversial features on cable are films produced by India’s prolific movie industry. Bollywood has long been a mainstay here thanks to the similarities between the cultures and the fact that many people in Afghanistan understand Hindi and Urdu. But in recent years, Bollywood has abandoned many old taboos, allowing far more erotic scenes and songs than ever before – though the films rarely push beyond PG-13 Hollywood fare.
Prasant Satapathy, an Indian TV producer working in Kabul, says Bollywood’s influence has been a catalyst for change in the Afghan society. Movies such as “Tera Naam” (Your Name), the 2003 Bollywood hit, for example, flopped in India but was a success in Kabul. The movie became so popular here that it inspired everything from hairstyles to fashion trends, sharpening cultural differences among generations.
However, Supreme Court officials say a murder at Kabul University earlier this month is proof that gang violence portrayed in some Bollywood movies has permeated the youth culture here. A third-year medical student fatally stabbed a freshmen allegedly because he was angry that the freshman had grown his hair out like him.
“What happened was imitating Bollywood movies,” says Mr. Mozhdah. “The boy said you shouldn’t have hair like me. After the incident at the university, we said that what happened was because of the cable. Now we have … proof of that corruption.”
University professors say student gangs are cropping up. And Health officials lay partial blame on Bollywood films for a spike in teen delinquency during the last year, as more young girls are fleeing their families with boyfriends to avoid arranged marriages. [Racy foreign films prompt cable ban in Afghanistan]

Here is one piece which appeared in the Urdu press and not in any English newspapers from Pakistan.

Quoted in Nawa-e-Waqt (September 2, 2004) ex-ISI chief Hameed Gul said that Pakistan had played all its cards to get India to resolve the Kashmir dispute and now there was no card left to play. He said Pakistan first declared ceasefire unilaterally, then allowed India to fence the LoC and then talked of a solution outside the UN resolutions but nothing had happened.

Hameed Gul is right about the first part. Pakistan has played all its cards, the last one being jihad, which put the integrity of the state at stake. It is now time to change tack or sink. The new policy is to bind the wounds inflicted on Pakistan by jihad. It has its own cards, but they are different from the ones that were played in the past but got ruffed. [Khaled Ahmed