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Showing posts from February, 2013

Listening In

New revelations at Guantánamo show the walls have ears, and justice is being made a mockery. BY LAURA PITTER Just when you think it couldn't get much worse in the military commissions at Guantánamo, something happens to prove you wrong. It all began in late January when, during pretrial hearings in the case against five men accused in the 9/11 attacks, the audio feed -- which runs on a 40-second delay to prevent leaks of classified information -- was abruptly cut off. The media and observers, who sit behind a soundproof glass wall at the back of the court, noted the silence. But the cut surprised even the military judge, who believed he was the only one with authority to press the button and who did not consider the information being discussed at that moment classified. The audio cutoff was initiated "not by me," the judge, Army Col. James Pohl, said angrily at the time, and "I'm curious as to why." He added, "If some external body is

Strategic Importance of Gwadar Port, Pakistan

 Report published as shown on www.pu.edu.pk

The shadow over Pakistan

By Ayaz Amir The Soviet pullout from Afghanistan in 1989 was a triumph for our military establishment. The ISI and the Zia regime, while not solely responsible for that outcome, had helped bring it about. But the American pullout from Afghanistan, now underway and to be completed in about a year’s time, far from being any kind of triumph looks set to be a disaster...one for which we are wholly unprepared.   Afghanistan in 1989 was a simpler proposition, the highs and lows of it etched in black and white. Afghanistan in 2013 is a place infinitely more complicated and dangerous...not just for itself but for us as well.   This is because of one vital difference. Afghanistan then was a country contained within its borders. Afghanistan now, to our misfortune, is stretched across the Durand Line. Ask yourself two simple questions: (1) Are the Taliban based in Fata more loyal to Mullah Omar or to the state of Pakistan? (2) Is North Waziri

Afzal Gurru Blots India’s Face

The hanging of Afzal Guru is a stain on India’s democracy Indian police bring Afzal Guru to court in Delhi in 2002. Photograph: Aman Sharma/AP Despite gaping holes in the case against Afzal Guru, all India’s institutions played a part in putting a Kashmiri ‘terrorist’ to death By Arundhati Roy Spring announced itself in Delhi on Saturday. The sun was out, and the law took its course. Just before breakfast, the government of India secretly  hanged Afzal Guru , prime accused in the  attack on parliament  in December 2001, and interred his body in Delhi’s Tihar jail where he had been in solitary confinement for 12 years. Guru’s wife and son were not informed. “The authorities intimated the family through speed post and registered post,” the home secretary told the press, “the director general of the Jammu and Kashmir [J&K] police has been told to check whether they got it or not”. No big deal, they’re only the family of yet another Kashmiri terrorist. In a moment of ra

Britain: A safe haven for traitors, terrorists and criminals!

Britain has gained a notoriety of being safe haven for exiled, traitors, terrorists and dismissed or ousted political leaders? By Sethi Mushtaq Is Britain a safe haven for exiled, dismissed or ousted political leaders? I have always been quite curious that whenever Political leaders or a dictator, be it a deposed President or Prime Minister, an insecure political party head or an ousted dictator is forced to leave his country he/she, always beelines straight for London ?. Most of them being from the South Asian countries. What attracts them to choose this particular destination? Makes one wonder! Could it possibly be, Madame Tussaud famous wax museum or the London Bridge? The same one which we all seem to have been so brainwashed with during the school going day’s with repeated recitation of the old nursery rhyme attributed with it and which went as “London Bridge is falling down, falling down…..”No, I don’t think so. Then it could be the world famous cricket grounds or may