The South African team react during their defeat against Pakistan in their ICC World
Twenty20 cricket semi-final match in Nottingham.—Reuters

NOTTINGHAM: Shahid Afridi shone with bat and ball as Pakistan dumped South Africa by seven runs to storm into the World Twenty20 final here on Thursday.
The maverick batsman smashed 51 from 34 balls and then grabbed 2-16 with his leg-spin as Pakistan successfully defended 149-4 to restrict the favoured Proteas to 142-5 before a sell-out crowd at Trent Bridge.

Pakistan, runners-up to India in the inaugural World Twenty20 in South Africa two years ago, await the winners of Friday's semi-final between Sri Lanka and the West Indies in Sunday's final at Lord's.
Afridi plundered eight boundaries, including four in succession off Johan Botha, after Pakistan elected to bat on a wicket that slowed down as the evening progressed.
Veteran Jacques Kallis made a brave attempt to take the South Africans home, striking seven fours and a six in 64 from 54 balls, but the other batsmen faltered against the spot-on attack.
South Africa made a steady start in reply as openers Kallis and Graeme Smith reached 40 by the sixth over.
Smith failed to make use of an early chance when he was dropped by Umar Gul as he skied a return catch to Mohammad Aamir after making 10.
Afridi, coming on to bowl in the seventh over, struck twice in four deliveries when he bowled Herschelle Gibbs and AB de Villiers to make South Africa 50-3 in 8.3 overs.
Afridi and fellow-spinner Saeed Ajmal, made runs hard to come by, and when the dangerous Gul came on to bowl in the 14th over, South Africa needed a further 77 from 42 balls.
Kallis and JP Duminy raised South Africa's hopes by adding 61 from 53 balls for the fourth wicket, but Ajmal broke the threatening stand by having Kallis caught in the deep in the 18th over.
Duminy remained unbeaten on 44 from 39 balls but the task of needing 23 runs in the last over bowled by Aamir proved too much for him and Mark Boucher.
It did not matter at the end that Pakistan, who were 120-3 after 15 overs, failed to build on the early advantage and managed just 29 runs in the final five overs.
Pakistan had made a frenetic start, racing to 28 off the first 15 deliveries but at the cost of two wickets.
After Kamran Akmal had taken eight runs in Dale Steyn's first over, Shahzaib Hasan fell in the second over for zero when he miscued a big hit off left-arm seamer Wayne Parnell.
Akmal struck a six in Steyn's second over, but fell off the next delivery as he top-edged a pull to Morkel at mid-on. Akmal made 23 from 12 balls with four boundaries and a six.
Afridi, promoted to number three, swung Kallis for two fours in one over as Pakistan reached 47-2 by the time the field restrictions ended after the sixth.
Afridi brought up his half-century off 33 deliveries after slamming off-spinner Botha for four consecutive boundaries in the 11th over that realised 18 runs.
A desperate Smith turned to slow bowler Duminy in the 13th over and struck gold first ball as Afridi holed out to mid-wicket.—AFP

Updated at: 0630 PST, Friday, June 19, 2009


ISLAMABAD: The former right hand of Baitullah Mehsud, Haji Turkistan Baetani has alleged Mehsud of plotting the assassination of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto.Talking to Geo news, Baetani said I myself heard him say, “I have moved two of my associates to Rawalpindi slaying of Mohtarma B.B”.He also divulged that Baitullah Mehsud is an American agent so US never targeted him through drone attacks.Mehsud is being funded by Israel and India for brainwashing of young innocent Muslims to prepare them for suicide bombings in Pakistani mosques and educational institutes, he concluded.

Clashes at Maoist 'area' in India


Protesters have blocked roads with trees to keep the authorities out

Indian security forces have clashed with protesters in the Lalgarh region of West Bengal state, where Maoist rebels have taken control.
Hundreds of baton-wielding police charged and fired tear gas shells at a crowd of almost 3,000 in Pirakata.
Villagers backed by the rebels have blocked roads to prevent security forces from entering Lalgarh.
The state government has called in more than 1,000 paramilitary troops to retake the area after police fled.
Meanwhile, the bodies of four more communist workers have been found, taking the number of party workers killed in recent violence to 10.
The four bodies were found outside Lalgarh. The men were among six party workers who police suspect were kidnapped by the rebels.
Maoist-linked violence has killed 6,000 people in India over the past 20 years.
'Bloodbath' fears
Reports from Lalgarh say tension is running high in the area as the villagers have formed "human shields" to prevent the security forces from moving in and wresting control of the area.

West Bengal interior minister Ardhendu Sen has appealed to villagers to allow the security forces to enter Lalgarh.
"Please don't get used by the Maoists. Please move away. We don't want a bloodbath," Mr Sen said in an appeal to the villagers.
Separately, rebel leader Kishanji told the BBC in a telephone interview that the federal and state governments should stop troops from entering the area.
He said the government should hold meetings with the local people to learn about their grievances.
The tribespeople-dominated Lalgarh area in West Bengal's West Midnapore district has been under the virtual control of the rebels since November.
Armed rebels are now reportedly patrolling roads there.
Over the past few days, villagers backed by the rebels have taken over more villages in the area and burnt down and demolished offices belonging to the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M).

'Liberated zone'

The BBC's Amitabh Bhattashali in Calcutta says hundreds of CPI(M) workers have left Lalgarh in recent days.

Communist party offices have been
set on fire by villagers in Lalgarh

Maoists claimed it as their first "liberated" zone in West Bengal.
Our correspondent says that taking control of Lalgarh is part of a long-term plan for the Maoists.
The area encompasses vast tracts of the forests of West Midnapur, Purulia and Bankura districts of West Bengal and adjoins parts of the states of Jharkhand and Orissa.
Violence in Lalgarh began last November after West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya narrowly escaped a landmine blast blamed on the rebels.
Protests were launched when a number of locals were arrested on suspicion of attempting to assassinate him.

Muslim pilgrim found to have swine flu in Saudi

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia is gearing up for a possible outbreak of swine flu among Muslim pilgrims to Mecca after the first case in the holy city was detected in a Malaysian boy, a senior health official said. The nine year old boy was found with his family in a hotel near Mecca’s Grand Mosque and referred to a local hospital after tests showed he was infected with the A(H1N1) flu virus, the health ministry said. His was one of five new cases announced on Wednesday, taking the total to 22 since the disease first appeared in the kingdom on June 3. The case underscored the threat of an outbreak of the disease among the more than two million Muslims expected to arrive in the country from around the world during the August-December pilgrimage season, health ministry spokesman Khaled Marghlani said. Host to Islam’s two holiest sites, Mecca and Medina, the Saudi government is already working with experts from the World Health Organisation and other international organisations to finalise a plan for dealing with the threat, Marghlani told AFP on Wednesday. ‘The whole world is worried about it,’ he said. ‘We are trying very hard. The people coming here are guests of Allah.’ The health ministry has stockpiled doses of the antiviral medication Tamiflu equivalent to 10 per cent of the country’s 25.3 million population, he said. Commercial pharmacies have been reporting heavy sales of the drug as well amid rising public concern, according to media reports. Tamiflu is effective in treating swine flu in its early stages. Before the Malaysian boy’s case, members of a Mauritanian family visiting Medina from Canada were diganosed with A(H1N1), underscoring the threat that already exists from the thousands of off-season pilgrims undertaking the umrah, or minor pilgrimage. The government expects the threat to rise dramatically when the umrah season picks up in late August, during the fasting month of Ramadan, and then with the main hajj pilgrimage in late November, Marghlani said. The hajj sees some 1.7 million people from around the world jam into Mecca and Medina for a two-week period, most of them arriving through the Red Sea city of Jeddah. Marghlani said Saudi Arabia already has a well-organised health plan for prevention and then care of disease among pilgrims. ‘The hajj and umrah have a pretty sophisticated surveillance system,’ he said, adding that there have been no major disease outbreaks among pilgrims in recent years. For swine flu, the health ministry expects to finalise its plans with the WHO this month. The kingdom is already inspecting airport arrivals with thermal cameras.However, the recent infections underscore the challenge. The Malaysian boy and a Saudi student arriving from the United States on June seven were detected with feverish temperatures by thermal equipment at Jeddah airport. But for unexplained reasons both were able to continue travelling — the student taking another domestic flight — before finally being contacted by health officials and taken to hospital. In addition, some of the newest infections are hospital staff who came in contact with the infected patients, the health ministry said.

“Think not of those who are slain in Allah’s way as dead.
Nay, they live, finding their sustenance in the presence of
their Lord; They rejoice in the bounty provided by Allah.
And with regard to those left behind, who have not yet
joined them (in their bliss), the (martyr’s) glory in the fact
that on them is no fear, nor have they (cause to) grieve.”

Captain Bilal Zafar, a commando of the Pakistan army SSG (the world’s best elite force), embraced martyrdom on the 17th of May, 2009 – fighting terrorists and militants in the embattled valley of Swat.
He always used to say “Bullets can’t harm me”, and thus it proved true. He was hit on the arm by a bullet but he carried on until he was hit by an RPG (Rocket propelled grenade) where he embraced martyrdom on the spot.
His last message has been circulated widely on print and electronic media. This is what he had to say:
“In the volleys of fire…in the thunder of bombs, there are a few who just do not stop…knowing that they are surrounded by death…knowing that they could leave their wives widows and children orphans…but they just keep on moving because something is pumping in their hearts…and flowing through their veins known as honour, devotion and motivation…death over surrender…that is why they say death before disgrace…Pakistan Army Zindabad”.
We Salute your courage, Sir! This sacrifice of your’s for this nation will never be forgotten. At least not by us: the people of Pakistan. Let this martyrdom also dispel the notion that the army lacks any motivation to defeat these extremist militants, it is obvious that their spirits are very high.

We hope to secure better access to European markets
rather than more aid, Zardari told journalists in Brussels.

BRUSSELS: President Asif Ali Zardari said Wednesday he hoped to secure better access to European markets rather than more aid, ahead of a landmark EU-Pakistan summit focused in part on trade.
‘What I need is trade, not aid. I'm looking for MOUs (memoranda of understanding) and not IOUs and I intend to get them,’ he told journalists after meeting with Nato ambassadors in Brussels.
‘I'm always hopeful. I'm a man who has walked from the gallows to the presidency.’
Zardari was speaking shortly before heading to the first ever EU-Pakistan summit where trade links are to top the agenda with the ultimate goal being further down the line of a free trade agreement.
According to a draft text, the EU will ‘explore’ how Pakistan could benefit from its preferential tariff regime, which affords customs privileges in return for respecting principles in the areas of workers' rights and the environment.
Meanwhile, a European Commission official said the EU will pledge to give Pakistan 20 million euros in humanitarian aid to help cope with the aftermath of fighting in the Swat valley.
The official said the executive Commission would also urge member states to set aside a further 45 million euros in aid from a reserve fund during a summit that will discuss the fight against terrorism and trade.
‘The Commission will announce later today that the EU will give Pakistan 20 million euros in humanitarian aid,’ the official said before talks scheduled between President Zardari and EU officials.
‘The Commission will also request from member states and the European Parliament to provide an additional 45 million euros from the EU's reserve fund,’ the official said, referring to a fund set aside for emergencies.
The summit is the first between the 27-country EU and Pakistan.

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has confirmed reports that the Obama administration is quietly urging India and Pakistan to resume their dialogue stalled after the Mumbai terror attacks.
‘We believe that India and Pakistan actually face a number of common challenges, and we welcome a dialogue between them,’ said Mrs Clinton in her address to the US-India Business Council in Washington.
‘As we have said before, the pace, scope and character of that dialogue is something that Indian and Pakistani leaders will decide on their own terms and in their own time,’ she added.
In early June, the United States launched a diplomatic push, sending Special Representative Richard Holbrooke and Under-Secretary of State William Burns to South Asia. On Wednesday, Secretary of State Clinton confirmed that she would visit India and Pakistan next month.
After the Swat operation, the Americans believe that Pakistan is now serious in combating the Taliban and want India to help Islamabad win this fight.
Secretary Clinton also acknowledged this in her speech, saying that ‘as Pakistan now works to take on the challenge of terrorists in its own country, I am confident that India as well as the United States will support those efforts’.
Other US officials, however, say that a full revival of the dialogue process is not possible yet. But they point out that Washington’s efforts are already beginning to show results.
On June 15, President Asif Ali Zardari and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met for the first time since the November 2008 Mumbai attacks.
Officials in Washington say that US diplomatic pressure played a major rule in arranging this brief meeting between the two leaders on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Russia.
Diplomatic observers in Washington say the Obama administration sees easing India-Pakistan tension as an essential part of its regional stabilisation strategy.
The Americans believe that it would enable the Pakistani military to focus on fighting the Taliban without having to worry about its eastern border with India.
APP adds: The US has also sought more engagement from European countries with Pakistan and Afghanistan. ‘We are indeed actively encouraging the Europeans to do more on the civilian side in Afghanistan and Pakistan, just as we are (doing),’ Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Gordon told a Congressional hearing, according to the Business Standard.
‘There’s a Pakistan pledging conference this week, and we have been strongly encouraging our European allies to get more engaged there and do what they can, because we have also reached the conclusion that you can’t solve Afghanistan unless you solve Pakistan, and that requires a lot of assistance,’ Mr Gordon said.
‘We have told them we understand there are constraints on what you can do on the military side, but it’s in our common interest that you do more on the civil side. And we hope that they will,’ he said in his testimony.

LAHORE: A former close aide to Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud has said the US, India and Israel are behind the Taliban commander, who he termed the biggest enemy of Islam, Dunya News reported on Wednesday. Qari Turkistan told Dunya News that the cause of his differences with Mehsud was his attacks on mosques and madrassas, explosions in markets and the slaughtering of religious scholars and troops – “which is not Islam”. He said jihad was being fought in Afghanistan, Kashmir and Iraq but there was no jihad in Pakistan. He said he hoped the operation launched against Baitullah would succeed within a month. Qari claimed he had the support of a majority of the Mehsud tribes, adding that Baitullah is only supported by Chechens, Uzbeks and between 300 to 400 Mehsud tribesmen. daily times monitor

By Juan Lagorio – Mon Jun 15, 4:17 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. credit card defaults rose to record highs in May, with a steep deterioration of Bank of America Corp's (BAC.N) lending portfolio, in another sign that consumers remain under severe stress.
Delinquency rates -- an indicator of future credit losses -- fell across the industry, but analysts said the decline was due to a seasonal trend, as consumers used tax refunds to pay back debts, and they expect delinquencies to go up again in coming months.
"I find it hard to believe that it is really a trend. You need to see stabilization in unemployment before you see anything else," said Chris Brendler, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus. "It is too early to see some kind of improvement."
Bank of America Corp -- the largest U.S. bank -- said its default rate, those loans the company does not expect to be paid back, soared to 12.50 percent in May from 10.47 percent in April.
The bank is paying the price of expanding rapidly in recent years and of holding one of the highest concentrations of subprime borrowers among the top card issuers, analysts said.
In addition, American Express Co (AXP.N), which accounts for nearly a quarter of credit and charge card sales volume in the United States, said its default rate rose to 10.4 percent from 9.90, according to a regulatory filing based on the performance of credit card loans that were securitized.
The credit card company also holds a large exposure in California and Florida, two of the states most affected by the housing crisis and unemployment.
Citigroup (C.N) -- the largest issuer of MasterCard branded credit cards -- reported credit card chargeoffs rose to 10.50 percent in May from 10.21 percent in April.
"Chargeoffs went up to record highs," said Walter Todd, a portfolio manager at Greenwood Capital Associates, referring to the entire U.S. credit industry.
Credit card losses usually follow the trend of unemployment, which rose in May to a 26-year high of 9.4 percent and is expected to peak over 10 percent by the end of 2009.
If credit card losses across the industry surpass 10 percent this year, as analysts and bank executives expect, loan losses could top $70 billion.
"Until lenders show stabilization then trend-bucking improvement over a several-month period, we remain bearish on credit card lenders -- and the U.S. consumer," said John Williams, an analyst at Macquarie Research.
"We continue to believe that macro challenges and credit quality concerns will pressure U.S. card issuers over the next 12 months," he added.
However, some smaller credit card companies such as Capital One Financial Corp (COF.N) and Discover Financial Services (DFS.N) reported defaults rates grew less than expected.
Capital One said its credit card default rate rose to 9.41 percent from 8.56 percent, while Discover said its charge-off rate increased to 8.91 percent from 8.26 percent.
JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) -- the second-largest U.S. bank and the biggest issuer of Visa-branded credit cards -- said its default rate rose to 8.36 percent in May from 8.07 percent in April, but it still holds the best performance among the largest credit card companies.
LOWER DELINQUENCIES
Among credit card issuers, Citigroup and American Express showed a third straight month of a decline in delinquencies in May. While the data was encouraging, analysts said it was too early to claim victory.
"Past May, seasonally it gets more challenging," said Sanjay Sakhrani, an analyst at KBW, as unemployment will keep rising and the tax refund effect will dissipate.
Credit card lenders are trying to protect themselves by tightening credit limits, raising standards and closing accounts. They have also been slashing rewards, increasing interest rates and boosting fees to cushion against further losses.
But that could come to an end soon. The U.S. government approved a law last month limiting credit card fees and interest rates, which is expected to tighten lending further and ultimately boost defaults as consumers find it harder to refinance their debts.
Bank of America's shares closed 2.8 percent lower at $13.33 on the New York Stock Exchange. JPMorgan was down 3.22 percent at $33.99, and Citigroup retreated 2.9 percent to $3.37.
American Express also surprised investors as it sold some loans that it had already written off, reflecting a partial recovery of such losses. Its stock ended 0.3 percent higher at $25.23 on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Juan Lagorio, editing by Matthew Lewis)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A $106 billion bill to pay for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was headed for a close vote Tuesday in the House of Representatives. Complicating the outcome is that the legislation includes money for poor countries, aid to Pakistan, pandemic flu preparation and government rebates to people who trade in gas-guzzling cars.
The Pentagon has said that without the bill, the Army could start running out of money to pay for the war as early as July. President Barack Obama has pushed for the package, arguing that it is crucial to his efforts to wind down operations in Iraq while boosting personnel and fighting power in Afghanistan.
Anti-war members of Obama's Democratic Party, who are demanding a quicker end to operations in the area, have been a hard sell for backers of the bill.
House Republicans have mobilized in opposition to $5 billion needed to secure a $108 billion U.S. line of credit to the International Monetary Fund to help poor countries deal with the world recession. Obama committed to that amount at a G-20 meeting in London last April.

By Ben Ehrenreich
June 15, 2009

Perhaps we protest too much. Torture, after all, is a venerable American tradition. If not quite as homespun as apple pie or lynching, it is at least as old as our imperial aspirations. We were waterboarding captives in one of our earliest wars of occupation, the Philippine-American War, which cost as many as 1 million civilian lives. In 1902, Teddy Roosevelt himself wrote with laconic praise of "the old Filipino method."
Other techniques, crude or sophisticated, have filled the war bag since. CIA interrogation manuals from the 1960s, which lay out the basic stress-position and sleep- and sensory-deprivation techniques later applied at Bagram and Guantanamo, have been public since 1997. Despite our protestations, we have little to be surprised about. The Bush administration's great act of hubris was not to allow torture -- that was nothing new -- but to attempt to shelter it within the law. Now, when President Obama vows that "the United States does not torture" and spars with the former vice president over details, he crosses his fingers behind his back and saves himself a loophole. Via "extraordinary rendition" -- a Clinton administration innovation -- our government is still free to outsource torture and claim it doesn't know. The Obama administration has been relying increasingly on foreign intelligence services to detain and interrogate our suspects for us. Our hands, in a way, are clean.

Yet as more classified documents dribble into the headlines, we hold tight to our outrage. The scandal has been slowly breaking for five full years (I wrote about the abuse of detainees in these pages in April 2004), but still we claim not to recognize ourselves. Despite hundreds of front-page stories, we pretend we didn't know, that it was all somehow kept secret from us. " 'Secret,' " author Mark Danner has observed in the New York Review of Books, "has become an oddly complex word." It refers not to things we don't know but to things we won't admit to seeing. This blindness serves a function. By declaring torture anomalous, by pushing it once again to the margins of legality, we can preserve a vision of U.S. military power -- and of American empire -- that is essentially benevolent.
That vision -- of our nation's messianic role, its unique destiny to shower the world with freedom and democracy -- has for more than a century been at the root of our self-image. Even when we know better, we are loath to let it go, even when we understand that those showers often take the form of 500-pound bombs and that self-determination is not something that can be bestowed at gunpoint. Maintaining military and economic hegemony over the planet remains an inherently bloody affair. Seen from the other side, empire is a synonym for subjugation, and hence for violence on a massive scale.
You don't have to be Khalid Shaikh Mohammed to find our self-regard wanting. All that's required is minimal attention to the fates suffered by the citizens of the nations to which we are currently delivering democracy. Take the residents of the Bala Baluk district of Afghanistan's western Farah province, where, on the evening of May 6, U.S. airstrikes killed either 147 or 20 to 30 civilians, depending whether you prefer to believe, respectively, the people bombed or the ones who bombed them. Survivors described extended families wiped out, a nightmare landscape littered with human limbs. Being waterboarded 183 times suddenly doesn't sound so bad.
That bombing was hardly extraordinary. You may remember the 37 civilians killed outside Kandahar last Nov. 4, the 90 killed near Herat on Aug. 22, the 47 killed in Nangarhar province on July 6 or the 15 killed in Nuristan two days earlier. If not, don't blame yourself. Unless the body count approaches 100, these kinds of deaths barely merit a word on CNN's crawl.
And as our war spreads into Pakistan, such incidents are on the rise. Missiles launched from unmanned drones have killed 700 civilians in Pakistan since 2006 and, we are assured, 14 Al Qaeda leaders. (Obama has been drastically increasing the number of drone strikes, which Leon Panetta, his CIA director, has called "the only game in town.") Meanwhile, back in Iraq, one of the more moderate estimates of the civilian death toll hovers near 100,000. Doesn't it seem odd that it's only torture that appalls us?
As the deaths mount, we will continue to beat our breasts about the treatment of detainees. The outcry is not unjustified. My point is not to relativize torture: We should not torture anyone. But we do, and have done so, both directly and with the help of client states, for many years. Just as in war after war, the alleged costs of our well-being have been borne by people we will never see, most of them noncombatants.
This is the price of global sovereignty, of being, in Colin Powell's words, "the biggest bully on the block." President Bush and Dick Cheney knew this, and they were unapologetic. Obama knows it too, but he has worked hard to let us believe otherwise, to patch up the tattered fantasy that we are the country we imagine ourselves to be.
Our outrage over torture, like the president's rhetoric, lets us maintain the belief that we had innocence to lose. It allows us to deny the everyday violence of empire and to forget the many thousands of lives that we continue to sacrifice for something that we persist in calling freedom. I don't mean that we should be less outraged, but more, and more broadly. The rest of the world cannot afford our good conscience.

While the Pakistani government is reluctant to confront the Americans about the activities of America’s Indian allies, the Pakistani military has given the Americans solid evidence about the activities of Indian intelligence in Pakistan’s tribal belt and Swat. These activities appear to be facilitated by the Karzai regime and the U.S. military and intelligence. The latest discovery of Indian weapons inside Pakistan is the Indian army standard issue Vicker-Berthier light machine gun.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—The Pakistani military through its own channels has shared evidence with the U.S. military about Indian support for terrorism in Pakistan’s tribal belt and Swat.

The evidence was embarrassing for the Americans because they have been defending Indian presence in Afghanistan and have also been defending the opening up of Indian consulates in areas close to the Pakistani border.

More embarrassing for the Americans is that besides some Indian weapons and the proof on the presence of Indian-origin special forces personnel and assets, a large amount of standard issue U.S. military weapons have been confiscated by the Pakistanis from dead terrorists. Washington is explaining this by saying these weapons were sold on the black market by the U.S.-trained new Afghan army. But the quality of the weapons – including anti-aircraft guns and launchers – and their quantity eliminates the possibility that smuggling is the only explanation.

The Pakistani government is reluctant to make the evidence public, possibly because it does not want a confrontation with the Indians and the Americans. But the Pakistani military has made its strategic red lines clear.

This is one explanation for why U.S. Undersecretary of State William Burns raised for the first time in New Delhi last week the need to “trim” the Indian consulates working in Afghanistan, among other things.



A number of the Indian army standard issue Vickers-Berthier (VB) light machine gun, manufactured in India, have been found by the Pakistani military in the hands of the terrorists in Swat. This LMG has a 30-round box magazine and a bipod stand, and is sometimes mistaken for the Bren. Apart from India, it was only sold to a few Baltic and South American states. The picture here has been procured by BRASSTACKS from its own sources in Swat.

In addition to weapons and local assets, a large number of trained special operations personnel working for intelligence agencies are believed to be moving along with the local recruits of the Pakistani Taliban. These foreign operators pose as ‘Islamic fighters’. These foreigners are in addition to foreign fighters that have existed in the area before 2001. The mysterious new foreigners are believed to have introduced in Pakistan actions such as group throat slittings, mass executions, brutal murders, and kidnapping, molesting and raping of women of the poor villagers in the tribal belt in the name of religion. Pakistani soldiers have been consistently discovering uncircumcised dead terrorist fighters in the area over the past three years, something unusual for a militia fighting in the name of Islam. Pictures were posted on this forum of the latest discovery of such fighters.

The bulk of the heavy weapons, communications equipment and huge stacks of cash owned by the so-called Pakistani Taliban are all supplied by unknown sources in Afghanistan. The size of this entire enterprise precludes the possibility that this is the work of unorganized elements. Supporting evidence suggests that there is more than one intelligence agency in Afghanistan involved in this operation.

It is unthinkable that the Indians would risk sending Indian-made weapons to terrorists. It is believed that these weapons were sent in small numbers to a select group of operatives who slipped from Afghanistan to Pakistan’s tribal belt. The most probable thinking might have been that the agents operating these weapons will not fight on the front lines and will not be captured. Obviously the foreign backers of the so-called Pakistani Taliban did not anticipate that the Pakistani military might at some go for an all-out war against these terrorists by draining the swamp, which means emptying up Swat from its civilian population in order to have a free hand against the terrorists.

Dear All,
Assalam - o - Alaikum,

I am writing to announce that a new Live Online Radio Station is being launched. We will start our test transmission today 12pm Pakistan Standard Time! I will be asking your support and help in this effort. Our radio station will broadcast live and recorded programs, national songs and A NATIONALIST point of view.

I would like to ask you to please allow us to broadcast your programs and embed our radio links on your website. We are optimizing our streams right now.
But you can listen to the radio station pre-test transmission through the url given below
This is a big step in promoting our ideas and encourages debate. Now we will be able to telecast live shows as well on PakistanFirst.com. This means we can take live questions and answers from Pakistanis across the world. Our programming target is youth and Pakistanis across the world. Let’s Make this Happen!

Waiting for your response!

Ali Khan

Keeping national Interest First!

pakistanfirst(dot)com/radio/paklive.html

"Gp Capt KAISER TUFAIL writes a fascinating account of PAF's effective but little known role in defence of Arab skies. Post-haste summons for volunteers found an eager band of sixteen PAF fighter pilots on their way to the Middle East, in the midst of the 1973 Ramadan war. After a gruelling Peshawar-Karachi-Baghdad flight on a PAF Fokker, they were whisked off to Damascus in a Syrian jet. Upon arrival, half the batch was told to stay back in Syria while the rest were earmarked for Egypt. By the time the PAF batch reached Cairo, Egypt had agreed to a ceasefire; it was, therefore, decided that they would continue as instructors. But in Syria, it was another story.
The batch in Syria was made up of pilots who were already serving there on deputation (except one), but had been repatriated before the war. Now they were back in familiar surroundings as well as familiar aircraft, the venerable MiG-21. They were posted to No 67 Squadron, 'Alpha' Detachment (all PAF). Hasty checkouts were immediately followed by serious business of Air Defence Alert scrambles and Combat Air Patrols from the air base at Dumayr.
Syria had not agreed to a ceasefire, since Israeli operations in Golan were continuing at a threatening pace. Israeli Air Force missions included interdiction under top cover, well supported by intense radio jamming as the PAF pilots discovered. The PAF formation using the callsign 'Shahbaz' was formidable in size - all of eight aircraft. Shahbaz soon came to stand out as one that couldn't be messed with, in part because its tactics were innovative and bold. Survival, however, in a jammed-radio environment was concern number one. As a precaution, the Pakistanis decided to switch to Urdu for fear of being monitored in English. Suspicions were confirmed during one patrol, when healthy Punjabi invectives hurled on radio got them wondering if Mossad had recruited a few Khalsas for the job!
After several months of sporadic activity, it seemed that hostilities were petering out. While the Shahbaz patrols over Lebanon and Syria had diminished in frequency, routine training sorties started to register a rise. Under these conditions it was a surprise when on the afternoon of 26th April 1974, the siren blasted from the airshafts of the underground bunker. Backgammon boards were pushed aside and the 'qehva' session was interrupted as all eight pilots rushed to their MiGs; they were airborne within minutes. From Dumayr to Beirut, then along the Mediterranean coast till Sidon, and a final leg eastwards, skirting Damascus and back to Base - this was the usual patrol, flown at an altitude of 6 km. The limited fuel of their early model MiG-21F permitted just a 30 minutes sortie; this was almost over when ground radar blurted out on the radio that two bogeys (unidentified aircraft) were approaching from the southerly direction ie Israel. At this stage fuel was low and an engagement was the least preferred option. Presented with a fait accompli, the leader of the formation called a defensive turn into the bogeys. Just then heavy radio jamming started, sounding somewhat similar to the 'takka tak' at our meat joints, only more shrill. While the formation was gathering itself after the turn, two Israeli F-4E Phantoms sped past almost head-on, seemingly unwilling to engage. Was it a bait?
Flt Lt Sattar Alvi, now the rear-most in the formation, was still adjusting after the hard turn when he caught sight of two Mirage-IIICJ zooming into them from far below. With no way of warning the formation of the impending disaster, he instinctively decided to handle them alone. Peeling away from his formation, he turned hard into the Mirages so that one of them overshot. Against the other, he did a steep reversal dropping his speed literally to zero. (It takes some guts to let eight tons of metal hang up in unfriendly air!) The result was that within a few seconds the second Mirage filled his gunsight, the Star of David and all. While Sattar worried about having to concentrate for precious seconds in aiming and shooting, the lead Mirage started to turn around to get Sattar. Thinking that help was at hand, the target Mirage decided to accelerate away. A quick-witted Sattar reckoned that a missile shot would be just right for the range his target had opened up to. A pip of a button later, a K-13 heat-seeker sped off towards the tail of the escaping Mirage. Sattar recollects that it wasn't as much an Israeli aircraft as a myth that seemed to explode in front of him. (The letter 'J' in Mirage-IIICJ stood for 'Jewish', it may be noted.) He was tempted to watch the flaming metal rain down, but with the other Mirage lurking around and fuel down to a few hundred litres, he decided to exit. Diving down with careless abandon, he allowed a couple of sonic bangs over Damascus. (Word has it that the Presidential Palace wasn't amused!) His fuel tanks bone dry, Sattar made it to Dumayr on the vapours that remained.
As the other formation members started to trickle in, the leader, Sqn Ldr Arif Manzoor anxiously called out for Sattar to check if he was safe. All had thought that Sattar, a bit of a maverick that he was, had landed himself in trouble. Shouts of joy went up on the radio, however, when they learnt that he had been busy shooting down a Mirage.
The Syrians were overwhelmed when they learnt that the impunity and daring of the Pakistani pilots had paid off. Sattar was declared a blood brother by the Syrians, for he had shared in shedding the blood of a common enemy, they explained!
Sattar's victim Captain M Lutz of No 5 Air Wing based at Hatzor, ejected out of his disintegrating aircraft. It has been learnt that the Mirages were on a reconnaissance mission, escorted by Phantoms of No 1 Air Wing operating out of Ramat David Air Base. The Phantoms were to trap any interceptors while the Mirages carried out the recce. Timely warning by the radar controller (also from the PAF) had turned the tables on the escorts, allowing Sattar to sort out the Mirages.
The dogfight over Golan is testimony to the skills of all PAF pilots, insists Sattar, as he thinks any one could have got the kill had he been 'Shahbaz-8' on that fateful day. Sattar and his leader, Sqn Ldr Arif Manzoor, were awarded two of Syria's highest decorations for gallantry, the Wisaam Faris and Wisaam Shuja'at. The Government of Pakistan awarded them a Sitara-e-Jurat each. Sattar, an epitome of a fighter pilot, befittingly went on to command PAF's elite Combat Commanders' School and the premier PAF Base, Rafiqui. He retired recently as an Air Commodore."

The traitor government plans selling us off once again. What khair can we expect from President Zardari or Rehman Malik? It is time for a regime change in Islamabad. Enough is enough!!

India to deploy advanced aircraft along Pakistan, China borders

NEW DELHI: As part of a plan to build up forces along the borders of Pakistan and China, India on Monday deployed four Sukhoi fighter aircraft on Tezpur airbase in Assam along the Chinese border. The base would soon have a full squadron of the multi-purpose Sukhoi aircraft. Along the Pakistani border, the Indian Air Force would deploy a Sukhoi squadron each in Halwara near Ludhiana in Punjab and Jodhpur in Rajasthan by the end of 2010. Chabua, another fighter base in Assam, is also being prepared to host a Sukhoi squadron in the future. IAF plans to acquire over 200 Russian-made Sukhoi in the next five years.

Monday, June 15, 2009

News Desk

KARNATAKA: Police on Sunday said they suspected that Kaiga atomic power plant scientific officer Loganathan Mahalingam, 47, had committed suicide by jumping into the swollen Kali river June 8 when he was reported missing.
“We suspect it to be a case of suicide... by jumping into the river, which has been in spate due to heavy monsoon rains,” Mallapur police inspector KG Gaonkar told IANS from Kaiga, about 500 km from Bangalore.
The decomposed body was identified to be that of Mahalingam by his widow Vinayakar Sundari from the clothes he wore and a finger ring after it was shifted to the Kaiga hospital from the river bank, adjoining the township. A senior police official said it was too early to suspect any foul play, as investigation into the tragic incident was still in progress.

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has called for more international aid to combat extremists, saying that the Taliban could otherwise move into India and the Gulf.
The warning from Mr Qureshi, in an interview published in the Financial Times on Monday, comes two days before the first summit of the European Union and Pakistan leaders in Brussels, at which aid for Pakistan would likely top the agenda.

He called for $2.5 billion alone in emergency relief and reconstruction aid for the northwest, where troops have been locked in heavy combat with Taliban militants since late April.
Mr Qureshi’s comments come as Pakistan expands its anti-Taliban offensive in the northwest to the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.
‘They (militants) have a global agenda, they have a regional agenda, and they are not confined to Pakistan. They could go into the Gulf, they could go into India, they can go anywhere,’ Mr Qureshi said.
‘There is a collective interest and there has to be a collective realisation that this is not Pakistan’s problem. It’s a larger problem.’ The foreign minister said the international community needed to help Pakistan improve its counter-terrorism capacity and stabilise its flagging economy.
‘When we do it with our own resources, obviously other areas will suffer because we’ll have to divert resources. This cannot be ignored,’ Mr Qureshi said.
The US House of Representatives voted last week to triple US aid to $1.5 billion annually through the 2013 fiscal year. The House and the Senate now need to reconcile their aid bills, which lawmakers say could take months.
Pakistan has earmarked Rs50 billion ($617 million) for aid to the northwest in its budget for fiscal 2009-2010 starting from July 1, unveiled at the weekend.
Mr Qureshi warned that if more money needed to be diverted from state coffers to help the two million people displaced by the fighting in the northwest, the country’s economy -- and its efforts to fight the Taliban -- would suffer.
‘It will slow down our recovery. It will compromise our ability to fight militancy, obviously poverty levels will go up, obviously it will help the militants,’ he said