ravishingravi Posted May 3, 2011 Posted May 3, 2011 http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-05-02/salman-rushd ie-pakistans-deadly-game/# Salman Rushdie: Pakistan's Deadly Game by Salman Rushdie May 2, 2011 | 4:21pm Are we really supposed to believe that Pakistan didn’t know Osama bin Laden was living there for five years? Salman Rushdie on why it’s time to declare the country a terrorist state. Osama bin Laden died on Walpurgisnacht, the night of black sabbaths and bonfires. Not an inappropriate night for the Chief Witch to fall off his broomstick and perish in a fierce firefight. One of the most common status updates on Facebook after the news broke was “Ding, Dong, the witch is dead,†and that spirit of Munchkin celebration was apparent in the faces of the crowds chanting “U-S-A!†last night outside the White House and at ground zero and elsewhere. Almost a decade after the horror of 9/11, the long manhunt had found its quarry, and Americans will be feeling less helpless this morning, and pleased at the message that his death sends: “Attack us and we will hunt you down, and you will not escape.†Anjum Naveed / AP Photo Many of us didn’t believe in the image of bin Laden as a wandering Old Man of the Mountains, living on plants and insects in an inhospitable cave somewhere on the porous Pakistan-Afghan border. An extremely big man, 6-foot 4-inches tall in a country where the average male height is around 5-foot 8, wandering around unnoticed for ten years while half the satellites above the earth were looking for him? It didn’t make sense. Bin Laden was born filthy rich and died in a rich man’s house, which he had painstakingly built to the highest specifications. The U.S. administration confesses it was “shocked†by the elaborate nature of the compound. We had heard—I certainly had, from more than one Pakistani journalist—that Mullah Omar was (is) being protected in a safe house run by the powerful and feared Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) somewhere in the vicinity of the city of Quetta in Baluchistan, and it seemed likely that bin Laden, too, would acquire a home of his own. In the aftermath of the raid on Abbottabad, the old flim-flam (“Who, us? We knew nothing!â€) just isn’t going to wash. In the aftermath of the raid on Abbottabad, all the big questions need to be answered by Pakistan. The old flim-flam (“Who, us? We knew nothing!â€) just isn’t going to wash, must not be allowed to wash by countries such as the United States that have persisted in treating Pakistan as an ally even though they have long known about the Pakistani double game—its support, for example, for the Haqqani network that has killed hundreds of Americans in Afghanistan. This time the facts speak too loudly to be hushed up. Osama bin Laden, the world’s most wanted man, was found living at the end of a dirt road 800 yards from the Abbottabad military academy, Pakistan’s equivalent of West Point or Sandhurst, in a military cantonment where soldiers are on every street corner, just about 80 miles from the Pakistani capital Islamabad. This extremely large house had neither a telephone nor an Internet connection. And in spite of this we are supposed to believe that Pakistan didn’t know he was there, and that the Pakistani intelligence, and/or military, and/or civilian authorities did nothing to facilitate his presence in Abbottabad, while he ran al Qaeda, with couriers coming and going, for five years? Pakistan’s neighbor India, badly wounded by the November 26, 2008, terrorist attacks on Mumbai, is already demanding answers. As far as the anti-Indian jihadist groups are concerned—Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Muhammad—Pakistan’s support for such groups, its willingness to provide them with safe havens, its encouragement of such groups as a means of waging a proxy war in Kashmir and, of course, in Mumbai—is established beyond all argument. In recent years these groups have been reaching out to the so-called Pakistani Taliban to form new networks of violence, and it is worth noting that the first threats of retaliation for bin Laden’s death have been made by the Pakistani Taliban, not by any al Qaeda spokesman. India, as always Pakistan’s unhealthy obsession, is the reason for the double game. Pakistan is alarmed by the rising Indian influence in Afghanistan, and fears that an Afghanistan cleansed of the Taliban would be an Indian client state, thus sandwiching Pakistan between two hostile countries. The paranoia of Pakistan about India’s supposed dark machinations should never be underestimated. For a long time now America has been tolerating the Pakistani double game in the knowledge that it needs Pakistani support in its Afghan enterprise, and in the hope that Pakistan’s leaders will understand that they are miscalculating badly, that the jihadists want their jobs. Pakistan, with its nuclear weapons, is a far greater prize than poor Afghanistan, and the generals and spymasters who are playing al Qaeda’s game today may, if the worst were to happen, become the extremists’ victims tomorrow. There is not very much evidence that the Pakistani power elite is likely to come to its senses any time soon. Osama bin Laden’s compound provides further proof of Pakistan’s dangerous folly. As the world braces for the terrorists’ response to the death of their leader, it should also demand that Pakistan give satisfactory answers to the very tough questions it must now be asked. If it does not provide those answers, perhaps the time has come to declare it a terrorist state and expel it from the comity of nations. Salman Rushdie is the author of eleven novels—Grimus, Midnight’s Children (for which he won the Booker Prize and, recently, the Booker of all Bookers), Shame, The Satanic Verses, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, The Moor’s Last Sigh, The Ground Beneath Her Feet, Fury, Shalimar the Clown, The Enchantress of Florence, and Luka and the Fire of Life—and one collection of short stories, East, West. He has also published three works of nonfiction—The Jaguar Smile, Imaginary Homelands: Essays and Criticism 1981-1991, and Step Across This Line—and co-edited two anthologies, Mirrorwork and Best American Short Stories 2008. He is a former president of American PEN.
The Outsider Posted May 3, 2011 Posted May 3, 2011 India' date=' as always Pakistan’s unhealthy obsession, is the reason for the double game. Pakistan is alarmed by the rising Indian influence in Afghanistan, and fears that an Afghanistan cleansed of the Taliban would be an Indian client state, thus sandwiching Pakistan between two hostile countries. The paranoia of Pakistan about India’s supposed dark machinations should never be underestimated. [/quote'] The unhealthy obsession is with Kashmir, specifically. As I've said repeatedly the day the Kashmir issue is resolved is the day the region can start moving away from this nonsensical violence, arms race, terrorism towards a working economic and peaceful relationship. And the only resolution of Kashmir is acknowledging and legitimizing the Line of Control as the international border by all concerned parties.
ravishingravi Posted May 3, 2011 Author Posted May 3, 2011 Outty, what would you do with Kashmir ? The international line of control has been invalidated from both sides with the war. And why do you think it ll stop at Kashmir. To me it seems the problem is wound of 1971 which they are struggling to get over.
satyam1729 Posted May 3, 2011 Posted May 3, 2011 The unhealthy obsession is with Kashmir, specifically. As I've said repeatedly the day the Kashmir issue is resolved is the day the region can start moving away from this nonsensical violence, arms race, terrorism towards a working economic and peaceful relationship. And the only resolution of Kashmir is acknowledging and legitimizing the Line of Control as the international border by all concerned parties. Oh really . Kashmir is the reason behind Mumbai's attack.:hysterical::hysterical::hysterical: Pakistan's main aim is the islamization of entire India. Don't believe the crap they feed to you. And btw Pakistan's indulges in terrorist activity because it is mentally incapable of development.
King Tendulkar Posted May 3, 2011 Posted May 3, 2011 Kashmir will not create peace even if solved, which is not possible anyway cos paks want everything. But lets say it is solved they will carry on with their hate and proxy wars through jihadis. They will then demand hydrebad or musilm enclavce in Gujurat etc etc. They will not be happy and till their kaffir borothers are ruled under the flag of islam
King Tendulkar Posted May 3, 2011 Posted May 3, 2011 The unhealthy obsession is with Kashmir, specifically. As I've said repeatedly the day the Kashmir issue is resolved is the day the region can start moving away from this nonsensical violence, arms race, terrorism towards a working economic and peaceful relationship. And the only resolution of Kashmir is acknowledging and legitimizing the Line of Control as the international border by all concerned parties. Well India will always accept that. But like the pakis will ver go for that!!! In fact kashmir dispute is good for India as it means pakistan focuses all their energy in to that crappy dispute while we continue to grow in to a mighty superpower:--D
EnterTheVoid Posted May 3, 2011 Posted May 3, 2011 Agree with Satyam. Solving Kashmir won't solve jack ****. Ideally, the LOC should be made an international border and each side keep their half of Kashmir they already have but that aint gonna happen. Pak wont stop tell they get the the Kashmir valley and with their fundoo indred ideology, they'd probably start looking at islamisizing other parts of india.
satyam1729 Posted May 3, 2011 Posted May 3, 2011 Pakistan is not a a state or county. It is armed kabilla(tribe) possessing a real estate. It is a slave dynasty whose sole motto is to harm India. It doesn't mean anything to them if their entire country is destroyed as long as they are able to harm India.
The Outsider Posted May 3, 2011 Posted May 3, 2011 Outty' date=' what would you do with Kashmir ?[/quote'] What would I do? Visit the place and give it a few tourist dollars, the only thing within my control. But seriously, the only viable solution for the Kashmir issue is to legitimize the Line of Control as the international border. That would require : 1. India acknowledging that Azad Kashmir and Northern Areas are no longer and can never be part of India. The local population of these places has drifted so far away from mainstream India that they would never be able to integrate in a reasonable time span for a peaceful solution. I think India has come to that realization by and large and only have the unified Kashmir rhetoric as a front and given an option India would accept the LoC as the international border after a bit of outward fibbing. 2. An option for all Kashmiris on the Indian side who want to move across the border and live in an Islamic state. Making it clear that any ideas of autonomy or Islamic laws will not be an option in India. This is also achievable. The local support for an independent Kashmir is limited to 3-4 districts. 3. Pakistan giving up it's claim on Indian Kashmir and put a full stop to try and internationalize the issue. Stop bringing up archaic UN resolutions from 65 years back. Stop support for any militant group demanding independence for Kashmir. This is the missing piece and a practical impossibility over the foreseeable future - a significant number of Pakistani groups owe their very existence to the idea of an Islamic Kashmir. If Pakistan does shun the notion, then there is hope else the region would be in turmoil forever.
ravishingravi Posted May 3, 2011 Author Posted May 3, 2011 ^Satyam your hate will not make India safer. You need to calm down and look at things more objectively rather than be constantly provocative.
The Outsider Posted May 3, 2011 Posted May 3, 2011 Oh really . Kashmir is the reason behind Mumbai's attack.:hysterical::hysterical::hysterical: Uhhh...yeah.....last I checked LeT was a Kashmir specific organization.
Sachin=GOD Posted May 3, 2011 Posted May 3, 2011 The Kashmir issue can only be solved if both sides are ready to put aside their egos and think rationally. I honestly cannot see that happening for some time.
EnterTheVoid Posted May 3, 2011 Posted May 3, 2011 What I seriously don't understand is why Pak feels they're the moral guardians of Muslims everywhere :dontknow:
satyam1729 Posted May 3, 2011 Posted May 3, 2011 Uhhh...yeah.....last I checked LeT was a Kashmir specific organization. Now i know why i got banned 2 times :hysterical::hysterical::haha::haha:
satyam1729 Posted May 3, 2011 Posted May 3, 2011 ^Satyam your hate will not make India safer. You need to calm down and look at things more objectively rather than be constantly provocative. Oh really. You really believe Pakistan is a country.:hysterical:
ravishingravi Posted May 3, 2011 Author Posted May 3, 2011 What I seriously don't understand is why Pak feels they're the moral guardians of Muslims everywhere :dontknow: I am reading a great book "Tinderbox" by MJ Akbar on Pakistan. He quotes Zia when he is asked is Pakistan an Islamic state. He replies "Ofcourse it is. What else can be the purpose of its existence ? It would only be a second rate India."
The Outsider Posted May 3, 2011 Posted May 3, 2011 Now i know why i got banned 2 times :hysterical::hysterical::haha::haha: Yeah, for making inciting, irrelevant, and racist statements, more so in the cricket forum. :hysterical::hysterical::haha::haha: You forgot this one - :giggle::giggle:
satyam1729 Posted May 3, 2011 Posted May 3, 2011 http://www.dailypioneer.com/236078/Pune-terror-alert-ignored.html Read this article. Pune, hyderabad and Gujarat is also on their agenda.
satyam1729 Posted May 3, 2011 Posted May 3, 2011 Yeah, for making inciting, irrelevant, and racist statements, more so in the cricket forum. :hysterical::hysterical::haha::haha: You forgot this one - :giggle::giggle: http://www.dailypioneer.com/236078/Pune-terror-alert-ignored.html B->B->
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