Pakistani Punjab governor Salman Taseer shot dead in Islamabad

[Nagraj]

wow i am proud to be indian.............
did you know he was a one of the most liberal pakistani politician???

thats one of his tweet..
thank god he died..
earth already has enough donkeys(even donkeys are smarter)

 

[ejazr]

Killing of Salman Taseer: An open letter to Maulana Ilyas Qadri

New Delhi: Civil society members in India have felt deep pain at the brutal killing of Salman Taseer, Governor of Punjab (Pakistan), and have condemned the gruesome act. In an open letter to Maulana Ilyas Qadri, leader of Dawat-e-Islami group to which the assassin is believed to have attached, Muslim intellectuals, students and civil rights activists have said the killing of the governor was un-Islamic and did not match the character of the Prophet.

Text:

Aassalam-o Alikum

We are unable to restrain ourselves from writing to you with regard to the recent killing of Mr. Salman Taseer, governor of Punjab (Pakistan), because it is learnt that the man allegedly responsible for this killing is a cadre of your organization Dawate-islami (jamat).

We would like to request you to ponder if this is in conformity with the teachings of Islam and the path which the Prophet has shown us. We reproduce below some verses of the naa't, describing Prophet's personality, which we have heard on your channel several times.

salaam us par ke jis ney khoon key pyason ko qabain deen
salaam us par ke jis ney gaaliyaan sun kar duaien deen
salaam us par ke asrare mohabbat jis ney sikhlaeen
salaam us par ke jis ney zakhm khaa kar phool barsaey
salaam us par ke jo majruh huaa bazaar-e Taif mein "¦

The person responsible for the killing seems to be the anti-thesis of the above-mentioned aspects of the greatest personality ever born on this earth.

Can a true follower of Islam forget the scene of Taif, where our great prophet was being beaten; though badly injured, he did not even utter a word of hatred for those who were throwing stones at him; on the contrary, he prayed for their well-being. It seems that your followers have forgotten important lessons from the life of our beloved prophet.

Please recall that, in the light of Islam, the killer of prophet's uncle, Hazrat Hamza, was forgiven by the prophet.

Please recall that Ubai bin Salool kept on torturing prophet all through his life, but Prophet led the proceedings at his funeral service.

Your organization claims to follow sufis (saints). Please enlighten us if that is the way shown to us by the likes of Moinuddin Chishti, Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, Data Saheb, Baba Fareed.

I am pained that those claiming to be Muslim are responsible for, and have rejoiced, the heinous murder, whereas the true followers of Islam ought to condemn this brutal killing. We demand that you apologize to the family members of late Salman Taseer on behalf of your organization. In order not to tarnish the image of Islam, Prophet and Sufis, we request you to renounce the politics of murder and mayhem in their name.

Signatories to the open letter:

Asad ashraf -- NSAF
Dayaan hussain -Advocate -ASSAM
Faisal khan - NAPM -Delhi
R. kauser -socaial activist -West Bengal
Nasir pathan --RTI activist -Gujarat
Ehtisham Hashmi- Advocate --MP
kaleemullah - Social activist - Bihar
Shahab Ul Haque- J & K
Nazim Abbasi – Musician, New Delhi
Wassem Khan – Saudi Arab
Fahad Hasan – AJK Mass Communication, J.M.I
Shakeel Ahmed- Management Student, Delhi
Maulana Mujeeb Qasmi – Student, Deoband
Mohsin Ali – NSAF, Saharanpur
Danish Qureshi- J.M.I, New Delhi
Syed Perwaiz- Journalist
Enab Khizra – Pioneer Foundation of India
Maulana Feroz- Kargil student forum
Mehdi Hasan – Social Activist Dhubri, Assam
Maaz Khan- Journalist- E.T.V
Hammad Khan- R.T.I Activist, Amroha, U.P
Atiq Ahmed- Ghar bachao,Ghar bano, Mumbai
Mohd Khalid –Software Engineer, Mumbai
Mohd.Asghar-Social Activist, Orissa
Mohd.Ahmed,Asha Pariwaar, Haryana
Mohd.Anwar-K.K.Trust, Chennai
Dr.Zakia Akhtar – Research Scholar, New Delhi
Mohd.Abid.Youth movement of India, Bhilwara, Rajasthan
Syed.Ali Akhtar- Yuva Koshish, New Delhi
Mehboob Subhani-Student leader-Nellore, A.P
Maulana.Fateh Mohd. Nadwi-U.P
Shah Alam-Filmmaker-Ayodhya
Shariq Ahmed- Advancement of social Action, Uttarakhand
Jabir Boga- Social Activist,Vapi, Gujarat
Shamsul Rehman- Advocate, Assam
Zahid Khan- Journalist, New Delhi
Farah Kausar – Student, Delhi
Akram Akhtar- Student leader, Delhi University
Zubair Darzi – Photographer
Adil Khan- Poet, Panipat, Haryana
Syed Anisur Rehman-Student, Jamia Miliia Islamia
Shawaiz Danish-P.N.,Delhi
Shoaib Akhtar- P.N.I
Dr.Zubair Ahmed – Medical Student, Ghaziabad
Ali Adil khan-Editor –Isma Times, Delhi
Syed.Rishad Ikmal, Orissa
Asif Mazhar Ansari- S.S Engineering College, Mumbai
Mohd.Tariq-M.S.W, Aligarh Muslim University
Salaman- Asha Pariwar-Delhi
Danish Ahmed- Political Activist, Gujarat
Dr.Islam- Jind, Haryana
Mohd.Gufran Khan –Prominent Photographer
Mohd.Shafi- Social Activist, Godhra, Gujarat
Mohd.Kaunain Rizvi- Haideri Foundation
S.Aleemuddin- Khera, Gujarat
Ghulam Rabbani- Social Activist, Delhi
Feroz Vani-Social Activist, Srinagar
Yousuf Ansari-Chairman-Salam India Foundation
Fazal Abbas-Social Activist
S.Mohd.Akhtar- Software Engineer- Gurgaon
Sana Maryam- Ajk Mass Communication, Jamia Millia Islamia

 

[LurkerBaba]

The Pakistani Liberal

I had never heard of the Governor of Punjab Salman Taseer before I joined Twitter. Several times I had been forwarded (RT-ed to use the proper jargon) his tweets by people I follow. Most of them, containing ridiculous clap-trap like India fomenting terrorism in Pakistan, the absence of proof of Pakistani involvement in 26/11, the RSS did-it innuendo,the brave freedom-fighters of Kashmir struggling against the demoniacal Indians, just made me chuckle in the same way that Zaid Hamid and Johnny Lever does, as a result of which I slotted Taseer away in my mind as yet another "Pakistani public intellectual."

Well Salman Taseer died today, shot to death by one of his own guards. His crime: he had been working to prevent the death sentence for blasphemy to a Christian Pakistani citizen Aasia Bibi. She had been refused access to water because she was Christian. She had resisted conversion to Islam, for which she was dragged on the street, gang-raped and then the Pakistani courts gave her the death sentence for insulting Islam. All that Taseer had tried to do was to prevent her from being killed. He was not trying to bring to justice those who had gang-raped her. Just to prevent her for being put to death.

"The death of a liberal" moaned the wise men and women on Twitter. I wondered why. Was it because as Rajdeep Sardesai said "Salman Taseer used to drink and womanize" (He had an out-of-wedlock son with a prominent Indian journalist)? But if reckless drinking and multiple partners were a sign of liberalism, Saudi princes would be Noam Chomsky. Or was it because Salman Taseer mirrored the ideals of the garden-variety Indian liberal i.e. those who think India, Israel and the US are imperial powers, those who are convinced that India is massacring its minorities and that the RSS is even more dangerous than Islamic fundamentalism?

Yes I was being facetious in the last line.

But honestly, can Salman Taseer be called a "liberal" as we understand it? Perhaps not. But in the context of Pakistan, what he did, an act of simple humanity (that of campaigning for a totally innocent woman who had been raped not be put to death) was one of great courage. It surely was not a politically expedient move since supporting a Christian woman was guaranteed to be immensely unpopular in a violently intolerant country like Pakistan. If you want proof, one need only to go to the Facebook page supporting and lionizing the assassin of Salman Taseer that sprung up hours after the murder, getting "Likes" at the rate of 5/minute and where Pakistani Net-users were applauding the murder of reprobate Salman Taseer and the death sentence of the Christian woman. These people (and I surfed over to a few of their profiles) were not goat-herders in the backwaters of Pakistan, deprived of a modern education, but students of Karachi and Lahore colleges, schools and universities, the elite of the elite. And if these youngsters, those that typically form the background of the politically "liberal" culture of any country (I write "politically" because one of the most rabid posters there had as his favorites "Sexy Belly Dancers") wrote the messages that I saw there, one could only comprehend what the Madrassa-graduated and the uneducated masses would be like.

In India, being liberal is a "fashion statement" like wearing Prada, with the "liberal" tag a prerequisite for being considered an "intellectual", essential for walking in some of the exalted circles of the country, for being a poo-bah in the national media, for government honors. In Pakistan, the bar for "liberalism" is much much lower. It does not mean gratuitous self-flagellation. It does not mean calling one's own country a terrorist nation (like our liberals do) or calling another country, whose Navy and secret services send trained killers to massacre innocents a "great neighbor to have". Nor does it entail supporting those who wage an armed insurrection against the Constitution and the rule of law (which our Maoist apologists do).

It means things like taking a stance in support of a woman, who has been raped, so that she not be executed just on account of her religion.

And the consequences of even this type of liberalism in Pakistan? Not good. Not good at all.

http://greatbong.net/2011/01/05/the-pakistani-liberal/

 

[LurkerBaba]

An excellent article
------------------------------
This death in Pakistan

Shekhar Gupta

The number of obituaries written ruing the terrible loss of Salman Taseer tells how popular he was among his fellow liberals on both sides of the border. In his death Pakistan has lost one of its most articulate, modern and fearless liberal leaders. But as somebody who knew Salman more than a bit, particularly in his street-fighting years (and my pavement-thumping years as a reporter), I am surprised by how little is said of him as a genuine Pakistani patriot and a proud Muslim. Also, while he had the Pakistani liberal's usual respect for India's democracy, his belief in the two-nation theory, the ideology of Pakistan was unshakeable. He would pamper silly a friend visiting from India — but if you as much as mentioned Kashmir, he would pounce on it as if somebody had bowled one short outside Inzamam ul-Haq's off-stump.
By merely remembering him as a Pakistani liberal, as if that would disqualify one from being a staunch Pakistani nationalist and Muslim, we are not only being unfair to a most fascinating, brave and charming politician, but also missing a most significant and scary developing story in Pakistan. Pakistani anti-Indianism can broadly be divided into two categories. One is its liberal elite's intellectual dislike/ suspicion/ distrust of India based purely on our contrasting national ideologies, further coloured by an almost unanimously shared outrage over the "injustice" in Kashmir. The other stream is more simplistic, represented by some in the religious right, particularly in Pakistani Punjab, who detest India on purely religious grounds: "How seriously can you take a country run by infidels?" Until a decade ago, this was a tiny minority you could ridicule or ignore. It is no longer so. And Taseer's death has further shifted the balance in favour of these India-hating lunatics, and weakened those not exactly friends of India, the more rational, India-baiting, modern Pakistani nationalists.


This fundamental complexity in Pakistan needs some explaining. Just being a liberal in Pakistan does not mean being pro-India. Jinnah, for example, has been the most liberal Pakistani leader so far. You wouldn't call him pro-India. The original Pakistani distrust — even fear and hatred — of India has been rooted in its new nationalism that Jinnah founded. The English-speaking Pakistani military-bureaucratic-political-intellectual leadership may have viewed India as a rival, a threat, an expansionist, arrogant, militaristic hegemon, whatever. But all this was rooted entirely in their own faith in the two-nation theory and Jinnah's idea of nationhood as against that of Nehru's India. For the first 50 years since Partition, this was the dominant — in fact mostly the only — anti-Indianism. Sometimes we merely argued with it intellectually, and sometimes we fought wars. But even our wars were fought quite cleanly, not like communal riots. Since this phenomenon was more about competitive nationalism, there was also a cute, sort of sporty side to it, laced with nostalgia, and even some shared ideals. At the extreme right of this "Ideology of Pakistan" were those that questioned the legitimacy of the Indian state and believed in its ultimate self-destruction, thinking it too unwieldy, large, diverse or chaotic to survive. Taseer, actually, belonged to the very left of this nationalistic stream.

The other thought is the one we earlier laughed at; for these five decades it was only believed by a small group of right-wing clerics or the extreme right-wingers in the Pakistani army (mostly of lower ranks). They believed that India was not just an unviable or unmanageable state, but an immoral, illegitimate and even an infidel one. Their dislike for India was pure hatred, and their belief in the "inevitability" of "Hindu" India's destruction was rooted in faith. How could a country of India's size be run successfully by infidels? For far too long this was such a marginal view that it was seen as good comic relief by policy-making elites on both sides. That is why, when a prominent Pakistani cleric declared in a public speech that he was leading a jihad that would unfurl the green flag of Islam on Delhi's Red Fort, the late S.K. Singh, then our high commissioner in Islamabad, made a (very gently) mocking statement that Maulana Sahib was most welcome to visit India and should he come to his mission for a visa, he would be welcomed with folded hands, a bouquet and a fruit-basket. You cannot laugh it away in the same manner now when the cleric says something similar now.

Let's try to simplify it further. In the older, gentler and more reasonable, ideological nationalist view, Kashmir was, and is, the "core" issue between our two countries. You settle this, and we can live peacefully, even like the US and Canada. For the now rising wave of Islamic nationalists, Kashmir is merely a small symptom: the very existence of India, or to put it more brutally, and correctly, "Hindu" India is the problem.

You can no longer dismiss these people as mere nutcases. This last post-9/11 decade has seen this lunatic, religious and fundamentalist version of Islamic nationalism increasingly marginalise the modern nationalists. It started slowly with Zia-ul-Haq's infiltration of Pakistan's institutions with the religious right. In fact, Pakistani writer Shuja Nawaz describes this lot of recruits to the Pakistan army as "Zia bharti" in his brilliant Crossed Swords: Pakistan, its Army and the Wars Within. They have also spread into the ISI and have nonchalantly run rogue operations in India — including, as is now becoming clearer, 26/11. You will also find their fingerprints on the first (post-Babri) serial bombings in Mumbai in 1993. Salman's death is one more shot, their biggest victory after Benazir's. It will stun the modern nationalists. It will further shake the elected government's already minimal resolve to take on the violent right. And it will narrow India's options and ideas on how to respond to this new reality in Pakistan.

Postscript: Here is my favourite Salman Taseer story. Sometime in 1993, I took him out to lunch on one of his visits to Delhi, and we talked the usual stuff for a couple of hours. He came back with me to my office (at India Today) for some more gossip, and as we were climbing the narrow Connaught Place steps to the second floor, he asked me what would be the problem if a plebiscite was held and the Kashmiris opted for Pakistan. I said, it would be a mortal blow to the secular nationalism we are building as, thereon, all other Muslims will be seen as suspect, and may even be victimised. His jaw tightened, he made a mock gesture to roll up his sleeve, and said, "if you victimise your Muslims, you think the 14 crore Muslims of Pakistan will sit like cowards and do nothing?" (His exact expression: "Hum 14 crore Pakistani Mussalman bhi chudiya pehen ke nahin baithe rahenge.") Now how would you describe Salman? In my book, a liberal Pakistani nationalist, a proud Muslim, and of course so bluntly Punjabi.

 

[ejazr]

Saudi Based Arabnews editorial by the owner on Blasphemy laws

Why Pakistan must think of reviewing blasphemy laws

In Pakistan, Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab, the country's largest province, was shot and killed at close range in the capital city of Islamabad with bullets right through the heart by one of his armed guards, a member of the provincial police's elite force.

The perpetrator, Malik Qadri, managed to discharge 26 rounds into the governor before he was finally apprehended.

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani announced three days of mourning for Taseer and the Punjab provincial government ordered all institutions and schools shut down on Wednesday, Jan. 5. It appeared that many Pakistanis were not saddened by his violent death. His end came about at the hands of his bodyguard, allegedly enraged by Taseer's vocal opposition to a blasphemy law that was used to punish those who defiled the Holy Book or made insulting remarks about the Prophet (peace be upon him). On a TV show, a caller went as far as to state, "It was a glorious act that Qadri did for Islam."

It was during Gen. Muhammad Zia-ul Haq's military dictatorship in the 80s the blasphemy laws were introduced into the legislature, including punishment by death for those charged with defiling the sacred name of the Prophet.

Zia-ul Haq, as president, added new laws to the penal code, including 295-B in 1982, which made desecrating the Qur'an or making a derogatory remark about it punishable by life imprisonment, although in practice such sentences are sometimes not applied, thus adding to the confused state of affairs behind these laws. Sometime back, two Pakistanis were sentenced to seven years in jail for allegedly burning a Qur'an.

In 1984, clause 295-C of the blasphemy laws came into effect. It sweepingly stipulated that "derogatory remarks, etc., in respect of the Holy Prophet . . . either spoken or written, or by visible representation, or by any imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly . . . shall be punished with death, or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine."

A few years later, the Federal Shariah Court, the guardian of all cases relating to Islamic affairs issued a flat decree, "The penalty for contempt of the Holy Prophet . . . is death and nothing else."

Over the years it became evident that the blasphemy law was used more and more for political vendetta, land disputes or political rivalry than an actual event. The law became a way to challenge someone's status and a powerful tool to intimidate anyone, Muslim or non-Muslim. Since the death sentence was enacted in 1986, the number of those charged under these laws has soared to 962, but most of these cases under close examination reveal personal vendettas behind the moves or are often used by Islamic extremists as a cover to persecute religious minorities.

Taseer, a liberal politician was the first to speak out against the treatment of Asia Noreen, a Christian farmhand who had been sentenced to death under the blasphemy laws. It all started over 18 months ago in a small village in Punjab province. Over a hot summer day, a group of female farm workers were suffering in the heat. Asia Noreen, an illiterate 45-year-old mother of five, offered them water, but her offer of kindness was rejected.

Their reason? Noreen was a Christian, and therefore her water was unclean, not an uncommon insult hurled at Pakistan's beleaguered Christians. But rather than accepting the insult, she mounted a stout defense of her faith. Her outburst quickly filtered through the village and the resident mullah took to his mosque's loudspeakers, beseeching his followers to take action against Noreen. Quickly, her defense of her faith was twisted into an accusation of blasphemy against Islam and the Prophet.

"These laws are used to victimize Christians and other groups," Taseer told reporters back in November. "They are a foul leftover from the military regime of General Zia-ul Haq which lasted from 1977 till his death in a plane crash in 1988."

Others have called the blasphemy law "wide open to abuse, through and by the miscreant mullahs for political, repressive and vindictive purposes...It is part of a rising wave of aggressive ignorance, incivility and intolerance as well as the medieval theocratic darkness."

In a statement, the Jamaat-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat Pakistan said, "No Muslim should attend the funeral or even try to pray for Salman Taseer or even express any kind of regret or sympathy over the incident." The group also added that anyone who expressed sympathy for the death of the Punjab governor was also committing blasphemy.

What right does this Jamaat have to demand that Muslims not pray for the souls of the dead? Who allowed these bands of misfits to hijack Islam, a religion of peace, to spread their brand of terror on people of other faiths or beliefs? And what gives them the right to encourage further violence against those minorities of differing faiths. Muslims must wrest their religion back from these wretched terrorists.

Enough is enough, I say! Quit promoting your distorted interpretations of Islam to justify the murder of the innocent. Murder of those standing in defense of minorities when no case of blasphemy had been proven is not an Islamic agenda.

 

[ashdoc]

'' If Salman Taseer was an Indian , he would be alive today '' --Said by Indian muslim M. J. Akbar .:thumb:
__________________

 

[ajtr]

'' If Salman Taseer was an Indian , he would be alive today '' --Said by Indian muslim M. J. Akbar .:thumb:
__________________

you never know if he would've been alive or not if he was an indian.coz indian citizenship dont make anybody immortal....................

 

[Bangalorean]

you never know if he would've been alive or not if he was an indian.coz indian citizenship dont make anybody immortal....................

Don't be a "literality Nazi". Look at the spirit of the comment instead of taking it literally.

 

[Oracle]

you never know if he would've been alive or not if he was an indian.coz indian citizenship dont make anybody immortal....................

Truth: Man are mortals. Death comes to us all!
Sarcastic but the truth: It comes sooner in Pakistan with the help of the ISI and PA.
Being Neutral: India is safer than the most secular Muslim country in this present World order.

 

[ajtr]

Truth: Man are mortals. Death comes to us all!
Sarcastic but the truth: It comes sooner in Pakistan with the help of the ISI and PA.
Being Neutral: India is safer than the most secular Muslim country in this present World order.

Truth: Death comes when its written in in ur fate.country religion doesnt matter.
Sarcastic and truth: Its true thats it comes with help of ISI and PA but will it remain sarcasm when it spill over to east across the border like 26/11.yes then it may not be sarcastic for u but it can be sarcastic for others across ur borders to the west.
Being Neutral:India can never be safe untill its neighborhood remains unsafe.you can laugh sarcastically at the death tandav in ur neighborhood but remember when ur neighbour house is on fire it can burn ur house too to ashes.

 

[Oracle]

Truth: Death comes when its written in in ur fate.country religion doesnt matter.
Sarcastic and truth: Its true thats it comes with help of ISI and PA but will it remain sarcasm when it spill over to east across the border like 26/11.yes then it may not be sarcastic for u but it can be sarcastic for others across ur borders to the west.
Being Neutral:India can never be safe untill its neighborhood remains unsafe.you can laugh sarcastically at the death tandav in ur neighborhood but remember when ur neighbour house is on fire it can burn ur house too to ashes.

Truth: I do not believe in fate! I believe in Karma. Death comes to us all, but dogs die like dogs!
Sarcastic but the truth: 26/11 was an eye opener. We are growing stronger by the day. We got money and we are making sure rabid dogs cannot cross over.
Being Neutral: I do not think at all about my toilet. The zamadar comes and cleans it once a while. Pakistan will soon have it's zamadar when another 9/11 occurs.

 

[Bangalorean]

Truth: Death comes when its written in in ur fate.country religion doesnt matter.
Sarcastic and truth: Its true thats it comes with help of ISI and PA but will it remain sarcasm when it spill over to east across the border like 26/11.yes then it may not be sarcastic for u but it can be sarcastic for others across ur borders to the west.
Being Neutral:India can never be safe untill its neighborhood remains unsafe.you can laugh sarcastically at the death tandav in ur neighborhood but remember when ur neighbour house is on fire it can burn ur house too to ashes.

I don't agree completely with you, ajtr. This statement that 'a stable Pakistan is in India's interest' has been parroted so many times that people have started taking it to be the gospel truth. Your analogy of a house on fire is ok when we speak of houses in a neighbourhood, but it need not hold good for nation states, and not at all for India-Pak. I say, a stable Pakistan is as dangerous to India as an unstable Pakistan at best. And is much more dangerous at worst. This might not be the best thread to discuss this in, maybe create a new thread and a poll to find people's views on this.

 

[ajtr]

I don't agree completely with you, ajtr. This statement that 'a stable Pakistan is in India's interest' has been parroted so many times that people have started taking it to be the gospel truth. Your analogy of a house on fire is ok when we speak of houses in a neighbourhood, but it need not hold good for nation states, and not at all for India-Pak. I say, a stable Pakistan is as dangerous to India as an unstable Pakistan at best. And is much more dangerous at worst. This might not be the best thread to discuss this in, maybe create a new thread and a poll to find people's views on this.

you love to jump on conclusions so soon...
Certain things should be left unsaid.Its not always advisable that one should 'sprout' out everything!!!!

 

[Bangalorean]

you love to jump on conclusions so soon...
Certain things should be left unsaid.Its not always advisable that one should 'sprout' out everything!!!!

Well, it needs to be said that the people who advocate 'a stable Pakistan so that India's interests are served' are wrong.

They are either plain wrong, or are just being diplomatic in public. I try to present this point to as many people as I can.

 

[Oracle]

Btw, who cares if a Pakistani has been shot dead. Pakistanis are better dead than alive and being the scavengers!

 

[smartindian]

Well, it needs to be said that the people who advocate 'a stable Pakistan so that India's interests are served' are wrong.

They are either plain wrong, or are just being diplomatic in public. I try to present this point to as many people as I can.

or serving there own interest , like american president barak obama , he was the one who advocated that stable pakistan is good for India .

i like ask one question ? how a direction less country ruled by direction less fellow be stable

 

[The Messiah]

Stable pakistan is good for India but destroyed and beaten pakistan is even better.

Whats even better is that entire population is driven into the arabian sea and we take over the land....im sure ajtr would be weeping massive tears by then.

 

[civfanatic]

Pakistan MUST be partitioned. There cannot be peace in South Asia until it is done. The following things must happen:

1) Pashtun areas of Pak (FATA and Khyber Pakthunkwa) must be reunited with Pashtun-dominated Afghanistan. This will do a lot to end the tribal and ethnic conflict in the region. The eventual reunion is facilitated by the fact that Afghanistan does not recognize the Durand Line as the official Af-Pak border, and the constant alienation of the Pasthun population in Pak thanks to PA operations and Yankee drone strikes.

2) Balochistan must become independent, as a pro-India state. This will cut off the Chinese plans to directly access the trade routes in Arabian Sea via Gwadar port, and establish Indian commercial dominance in the region.

3) PoK and Giligit-Baltistan must be reunited with India. This will effectively end the Kashmir conflict, by reuniting the entire Kashmiri population, and will also cut off China's strategic Karakorum Highway (KKH) in the region. No less important, it will give us direct land access to Afghanistan, and will make our trade with Russia and Central Asian states much easier. This is a must if India wants to have a positive, powerful influence in CAR.


So far, America is working day and night on Objective #1, and the Balochis (with cover assistance, no doubt) are doing a good job with #2. All we need is for the GoI to plan for #3. Hopefully, such plans actually exist and are not just my personal fantasy.

Godspeed.