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Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Zardari to be Pakistani PM, father to replace him?

There could be more political churning in the offing in Pakistan with President Asif Ali Zardari likely to replace Yousuf Raza Gilani as prime minister and transferring all presidential powers to the prime minister by annulling the constitutional amendments former military dictator Pervez Musharraf had effected, a senior member of the ruling coalition says.

The politician said that Zardari has taken this decision after a sustained campaign by some members of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) that he has failed to implement what is being described as assassinated party chief Benazir Bhutto's political will.

The PPP leader, requesting anonymity, said that Zardari is likely to install his father Hakim Ali Zardari or some low profile PPP sympathiser as president to avoid any controversy.

'Within the PPP, there are people who convinced Zardari to become prime minister and install his father as president,' said the leading politician, adding that if a mother- daughter duo can be prime minister and president in Sri Lanka and brothers could be prime minister and chief minister in Pakistan, a father-son duo could also occupy the top positions in this country.

Though PPP leaders officially deny any rift between Zardari and Gilani, insiders say that differences have reached the breaking point.

'Gilani has plainly refused to obey Zardari's orders, saying everything would be done on merit,' said another party leader.

The changeover is likely after the elections to the Senate, the upper house of parliament, in March, when the PPP will be able to consolidate its position from its present nine to about half of the house of 100.

Presently, the PPP and its allies lack a two-thirds majority in either house of parliament that is required to annul the controversial amendments made by Musharraf to consolidate powers in the presidency. But they are likely to get the numbers after the March polls.

The crisis within PPP and its differences with the Punjab government led by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has created severe problems for the Zardari-run government that is already shaken by the international pressure to curb terrorism, particularly after the Nov 26 Mumbai attack.

Towards this, there are rumours that Zardari has given the go ahead to his party in Punjab to make contacts with the former ruling PML-Quaid to move a no-confidence motion against Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and form a PPP-led government in Pakistan's largest province.

The PML-N and PPP have been at loggerheads since the February general elections when Zardari declined to fulfill his commitment to restore the Supreme Court judges that Musharraf had sacked after declaring an emergency last November. This had resulted in the PML-N pulling its ministers out of the government, even as it abstained from voting on the budget.

The tension in Punjab aggravated with the appointment of Governor Salman Taseer, who from day one started criticising Shahbaz Sharif and his elder brother and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif who also leads the PML-N.

Zardari chose his wife and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's death anniversary to hit out at the Sharif brothers - and went to the extent of saying that the PML-N was on power in Punjab because of him.

On Sunday, Taseer, who openly says that he was appointed governor to safeguard the PPP's interests, met Punjab's former chief minister Pervez Elahi in an apparent move to win his PML-Q's support to move a no-confidence motion against Sharif.

Elahi, who parted ways with Sharif after the 1999 military takeover and supported Musharraf's rule, has given his consent to join the PPP in Punjab but 'under certain conditions', said one of his close aides.

The aide told IANS that Elahi wants his son Moonis to be the next Punjab chief minister with 40 of his partymen as ministers.

'The PPP with limited options is likely to accept this condition,' said the aide, who claimed that Elahi will be able to win back support of party's disgrunteled elements who are not siding with Sharifs.  

IANS     Monday 29th December, 2008     

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Pakistan closes US & NATO's Afghan supply route

Pakistan has suspended supplies to US and Nato forces in neighbouring Afghanistan as security forces launch a major offensive against suspected pro-Taliban fighters.

The Khyber Pass supply route in the troubled northwest tribal belt was closed on Tuesday, as Pakistan sent tanks, helicopter gunships and artillery units into the region.

Tariq Hayat, the Khyber region's top administrator, said a curfew had been imposed in the region and the main road leading to the Afghan border had been sealed.

"Supplies to Nato forces will remain suspended until we clear the area of militants and outlaws who have gone out of control," he said.

Hayat confirmed Pakistani security forces had launched "an operation against militants and armed groups in Jamrud" - the gateway to the Khyber Pass.

'Giant operation'

Pro-Taliban fighters have carried out a string of attacks in recent months aimed at choking off supplies transported to foreign forces in landlocked Afghanistan through northwest Pakistan.

Hundreds of Nato and US-led coalition vehicles were destroyed in a series of raids earlier this month.

"This is a giant operation. It will continue until we achieve our objective," Hayat said, adding that the operation could be extended beyond the Jamrud region if deemed necessary.

Alongside putting a stop to attacks on Nato and US supply vehicles, Hayat said the operation had been launched to tackle a spate of kidnappings for ransom in the tribal belt that straddles the Pakistan-Afghan border.

Hayat said: "We have 26 targets, we will eliminate their [pro-Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters] hideouts."

Two weeks ago, several haulage companies in Pakistan refused to undertake journeys along the 50km route, saying the security of their drivers could not be guaranteed.


Source:

Agencies

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Sometimes the Dead are Envied

It was not possible to sleep here for two nights now. The events and the images of death and carnage of children, of policemen, of people that look like my mother and my son and my sister and my friends were simply too much. Gaza has run out of stretchers and many are now carried to hospitals (which are running out of supplies) and morgues on commercial street signs, in blankets or simply by their limp limbs. Three mosques were destroyed. I recalled the Israeli attacks on the Church of Nativity which was minor compared to this. I was watching Israel shell the University in Gaza city including its faculty of science and a residence dorm for female students and was thinking of my university and my lab and office at Bethlehem University. I was then shocked into more horrific scenes and news. In one house five young sisters killed. In another six family members including four children killed while eating breakfast. In a scene that haunted me where four children were killed with their mother, I saw rescue workers try frantically to pull the remaining surviving girl whose legs were crushed under a huge boulder from the roof. As some of them were calming her down and working hard, just next to them other workers pulled the dead body of her sister (looked like 3-4 year old). They quickly covered her but I think her sister noticed.
Sometimes the dead are envied for their suffering has ended. Her suffering is just beginnig. I thought of all the thousands of relatives of all the victims and how they feel…..I thought of friends
I lost and talks with people in Gaza…I thought of my mother who at 76 has seen so much suffering and still she cried at the new images of new atrocities…

My heart aches and struggles with my scientist brain. The latter wants to focus on facts and figures. The attack in its second day was in the words of Israeli leaders "the beginning" and is intended "to send Gaza back decades". So far over 300 were killed and over 1000 injured (200 of those critically), 35% women, children and elderly. I examine numbers of homes, police stations, civil society building destroyed. I read the Al Mezan Center for human rights which rationally states that most Gaza victims are civilians. But even my rational mind refuses to deal with these things. How could it handle just that one image of the young girl's anguished pained look under the rubble of her house and so tears stream down again to try to wash the image to no avail…..How could my mind examine rationally the statements of "leaders" saying this carnage is not the fault of the bombers and war criminals, but of Hamas!

Protests were organized around the world and more are being planned. The demonstrations helped vent some frustration and we hope will herald a reawakening of the heart of humanity that has been sputtering. But we hope it will go much farther to changing the rotted system of elites in power ignoring people's rights for political expediency and for profit.

In the Bethlehem demonstration, we pounded on the permanently closed gate of the apartheid wall with deafening sound and the soldiers in the tower started to through stun grenades and tear gas. Injuries were sustained for activists… .Our lungs still ache but our hearts ache more for the criminality of the apartheid regime, and the collaboration of the world governments. The Israeli occupation army killed two protesters with live ammunition in other parts of the West Bank.

Can someone asks western media or the Western governments ruled by elite racists who keep spouting the nonsense about "Hamas" and "rockets" (projectiles that are militarily of little use and have no explosives, killed one person this year), why targeting civilian police stations, mosques, homes with children, ports, fishing vessels, streets, and more in one of the most densely populated areas on earth murdering hundreds of civilians would be an acceptable action (I don't say response because Israel was killing people and massacring them for 60 years before)? And what would they expect from a starving 1.5 million people to do? Especially when one million of those are refugees or displaced people denied their rights to return to their homes and lands for 60 years while settlers live across the borders on their lands in areas like "Sderot" and "Netviot"? Would they not expect some resistance from some of those? Isn't that codified in International law for the right of occupied people to resist including violently? (note that I personally support civil forms of resistance). Even if one buys the US/Israeli government propaganda, would it be acceptable to bomb cities in Europe and the US for any perceived or actual crime of a portion of their society or even their leaders (Bush and Blair in Iraq?)?

But again I think it is not best for me to try and reason things through in such times of calamities and little sleep. I got so many letters of support but please redirect your letters and energies
elsewhere. Redirect them to challenge the injustice directly. Jesus made a statement directly relevant for us today:

"You are the earth's salt. But if the salt should become tasteless, what can make it salt again? It is completely useless and can only be thrown out of doors and stamped under foot. You are the world's light - it is impossible to hide a town built on the top of a hill. Men do not light a lamp and put it under a bucket. They put it on a lamp-stand and it gives light for everybody in the house."

It is thus the time when people who claim they want peace and justice to stop talking about it and actually work for it. Put your lamp higher. It is time for real change…It is time for a world Intifada (uprising against injustice). It is time to do something concrete (like throwing our shoes at someone?)

Below is a press release from human rights organizations in Palestine.

By:

Mazin Qumsiyeh,Phd,

Bethlehem, Occupied Palestine
27 December 2008

http://ugghani.blogspot.com/2008/12/israelhamas-civilians-must-not-be.html

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Israel/Hamas: Civilians Must Not Be Targets: HRW

Disregard for Civilians Underlies Current Escalation

December 30, 2008

Firing rockets into civilian areas with the intent to harm and terrorize Israelis has no justification whatsoever, regardless of Israel's actions in Gaza…At the same time, Israel should not target individuals and institutions in Gaza solely because they are part of the Hamas-run political authority, including ordinary police. Only attacks on military targets are permissible, and only in a manner that minimizes civilian casualties.

Joe Stork, deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa division

Israel and Hamas both must respect the prohibition under the laws of war against deliberate and indiscriminate attacks on civilians, Human Rights Watch said today.
Human Rights Watch expressed grave concern about Israeli bombings in Gaza that caused civilian deaths and Palestinian rocket attacks on Israeli civilian areas in violation of international law.

Rocket attacks on Israeli towns by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups that do not discriminate between civilians and military targets violate the laws of war, while a rising number of the hundreds of Israeli bombings in Gaza since December 27, 2008, appear to be unlawful attacks causing civilian casualties. Additionally, Israel's severe limitations on the movement of non-military goods and people into and out of Gaza, including fuel and medical supplies, constitutes collective punishment, also in violation of the laws of war.

"Firing rockets into civilian areas with the intent to harm and terrorize Israelis has no justification whatsoever, regardless of Israel's actions in Gaza," said Joe Stork, deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa division. "At the same time, Israel should not target individuals and institutions in Gaza solely because they are part of the Hamas-run political authority, including ordinary police. Only attacks on military targets are permissible, and only in a manner that minimizes civilian casualties."

Human Rights Watch investigated three Israeli attacks that raise particular concern about Israel's targeting decisions and require independent and impartial inquiries to determine whether the attacks violated the laws of war. In three incidents detailed below, 18 civilians died, among them at least seven children.

On Saturday, December 27, the first day of Israel's aerial attacks, witnesses told Human Rights Watch that shortly after 1 p.m. an Israeli air-to-ground missile struck a group of students leaving the Gaza Training College, adjacent to the headquarters of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in downtown Gaza City. The students were waiting to board buses to transport them to their homes in Khan Yunis and Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. The strike killed eight students, ages 18 to 20, and wounded 19 others.

A UNRWA security guard stationed at the college entrance told Human Rights Watch that he used his UN radio to call for medical help. He said the attack also killed two other civilians, Hisham al-Rayes, 28, and his brother Alam, 26, whose family ran a small shop opposite the college entrance. The guard said that the only potential target nearby was the Gaza governorate building, which deals with civil matters, about 150 meters away from where the missile struck. Another UNRWA security guard who also witnessed the attack told Human Rights Watch: "There wasn't anybody else around - no police, army, or Hamas."

The second incident occurred shortly before midnight on Sunday, December 28, when Israeli warplanes fired one or more missiles at the Imad Aqil mosque in Jabalya, a densely populated refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. The attack killed five of Anwar Balousha's daughters who were sleeping in a bedroom of their nearby house: Jawaher, 4; Dina, 8; Samar, 12; Ikram, 14; and Tahrir, 18. "We were asleep and we woke to the sound of bombing and the rubble falling on the house and on our heads," Anwar Balousha told Human Rights Watch. The Balousha's three-room house is just across a small street from the mosque.

The two-story Imad Aqil mosque, named after a deceased Hamas member, is regarded by Palestinians in the area as a "Hamas mosque" - that is, a place where the group's supporters gather for political meetings or to assemble for demonstrations, and where death notices of Hamas members are posted. Mosques are presumptively civilian objects and their use for political activities does not change that. Human Rights Watch said that the attack on Imad Aql mosque would be lawful only if Israel could demonstrate that it was being used to store weapons and ammunition or served some other military purpose. Even if that were the case, Israel still had an obligation to take all feasible precautions to minimize harm to civilians and ensure that any likely civilian harm was not disproportionate to the expected military gain.

In the third incident, at around 1 a.m. on Monday, December 29, an Israeli helicopter fired two missiles into the Rafah refugee camp. One struck the home of a senior Hamas commander; the other struck the home of the al-Absi family, about 150 meters away, killing three brothers - Sedqi, 3, Ahmad, 12, and Muhammad, 13 - and wounding two sisters and the children's mother. Ziad al-Absi, 46, the children's father, told Human Rights Watch that at around 10:30 p.m. on Sunday, armed Palestinians had gathered near their home, firing machine guns at Israeli helicopters. "I and the neighbors argued with the militants, told them this is a populated area and this will put us into peril," he said. According to al-Absi's nephew, Iyad al-Absi, 27, the fighters refused to leave. When their commander arrived at about 11 p.m. and ordered them to leave, they again refused. The fighters finally left at around 11:15, but only after an exchange of gunfire between the fighters and their commander. Al-Absi said that he and his family then went to sleep. He told his nephew and other relatives that there was no further armed activity in the area prior to the missile strike on his house, almost two hours later. Ziad al-Absi said the blast had thrown one daughter onto a neighbor's balcony. The children's mother is in hospital intensive care; the two daughters are also in the hospital.


Human Rights Watch noted that many of Israel's airstrikes, especially during the first day, targeted police stations as well as security and militia installations controlled by Hamas. According to the Jerusalem Post, an attack on the police academy in Gaza City on December 27 killed at least 40, including dozens of cadets at their graduation ceremony as well as the chief of police, making it the single deadliest air attack of the campaign to date. Another attack, on a traffic police station in the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah, killed a by-stander, 12-year-old Camilia Ra`fat al-Burdini. Under the laws of war, police and police stations are presumptively civilian unless the police are Hamas fighters or taking a direct part in the hostilities, or police stations are being used for military purposes.

"Israel must not make a blanket decision that all police and police stations are by definition legitimate military targets," Stork said. "It depends upon whether those police play a role in fighting against Israel, or whether a particular police station is used to store weapons or for some other military purpose."

Some other Israeli targets may have also been unlawful under the laws of war. Three teenagers were killed in southern Gaza City on December 27, when Israeli aircraft struck a building rented by Wa`ed (Promise), a Hamas-affiliated organization that defends prisoners held by Israel. Israel justified its attack on Gaza City's Islamic University on grounds that laboratories were used to manufacture explosives, but this did not address why a second strike demolished the women's quarters there. Israel also attacked the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV, but did not provide a reason. Television and radio stations are legitimate military targets only if used for military purposes, not if they are simply being used for pro-Hamas or anti-Israel propaganda.

Human Rights Watch expressed grave concern about the seriously deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, which was already dire prior to the latest attacks. A health expert with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Gaza said on December 28 that hospitals were "overwhelmed and unable to cope with the scale and type of injuries that keep coming in." The ICRC noted that medical supplies and medicines were already badly depleted as a result of Israel's prohibition of most imports into Gaza since Hamas took full internal control of the territory in June 2007. In a statement on December 29, the ICRC said that some neighborhoods were running short of water, owing to damage from attacks or fuel and power shortages. The statement also said that prices for food and basic commodities were reportedly rising fast. UNRWA had reported several days prior to the latest escalation of fighting that its stocks of essential commodities were extremely low.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which also monitors security matters in Gaza, Palestinian armed groups fired more than 100 rockets towards Israel on December 27-28; Haaretz, the Israeli daily, reported that on December 29 Palestinian armed groups fired at least 60 rockets into Israel. One of them killed a Bedouin construction worker, 27-year-old Hani al-Mahdi, and wounded 14 others in the coastal city of Ashkelon, north of Gaza; another fatally wounded 39-year-old Irit Sheetrit while she was driving home in the city of Ashdod, 35 kilometers from Gaza. The previous day, December 28, a rocket attack killed another Israeli civilian and wounded four in Netivot, some 20 kilometers east of Gaza City.

Human Rights Watch has long criticized Palestinian rocket attacks against Israeli civilians - most recently, in a public letter to Hamas on November 20 (http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2008/11/20/letter-hamas-stop-rocket-attacks
). The rockets are highly inaccurate, and those launching them cannot accurately target military objects.
Deliberately firing indiscriminate weapons into civilian populated areas, as a matter of policy, constitutes a war crime. Rocket attacks have killed 19 civilians in Israel since 2005, including those killed to date during the current clashes.

Human Rights Watch has also criticized Israel's policy of severely restricting the flow of people and goods into Gaza, including fuel and other civilian necessities, saying that those restrictions amount to collective punishment against the civilian population, a serious violation of the laws of war (http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2008/11/20/letter-olmert-stop-blockade-gaza ). Israel continues to exercise effective control over Gaza's borders and airspace as well as its population registry, and remains the occupying power there under international law. The laws of war prohibit the occupying power from attacking, destroying, or withholding objects essential to the survival of the civilian population. Israel is also obliged to protect the right of Palestinians in Gaza to freedom of movement, to secure access to health care and education, and to lead normal lives.

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Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Ignorance, Insanity or outright Fascism

Bush administration says:

Hamas Must End Attacks on Israel

Obama is totally silent in the face of the third straight days of Israeli butchery.

We know Obama well so far. He is world-renowned for his eloquence. So, are those who talk ignorant or insane because we know that it was Israel which broke ceasefire agreement on Nov 5? See: NOVEMBER 5TH, 2008 - Six Hamas activists killed during Israeli raids in Gaza Strip.

So what is going on:

Is it only the US administration that knows the best, whereas Turkey says Gaza attacks a crime against humanity , there are Anti-Israeli protests across Europe, Sarkozy calls for immediate halt to Gaza violence , Britain slams 'unacceptable' loss of life in Gaza and Asian governments roundly condemn Israel's 'genocide' in Gaza Strip .

US Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) is calling for a United Nations investigation into Israel's attacks on Gaza, criticizing Israel for a disproportionate response to Hamas rocket attacks. "All this was, and is, disproportionate, indiscriminate mass violence in violation of international law," Kucinich said in a statement. "Israel is not exempt from international law and must be held accountable."

Israel air strikes spark protests worldwide and Morgues in Gaza are overflowing with bodies. If it doesn't make any difference to anyone, it is the administrations in Tel Aviv and Washington.

Israel considers ground attack and mobilises more troops to erase Gaza off the face of the earth. Even Haaretz writes: Trying to 'teach Hamas a lesson' is fundamentally wrong.

On the other hand, the man of 'change,"


Obama, defers to Bush on Gaza genocide.

And Bush puts the blame on victims of decades of occupation, aggression, ethnic cleansing, racism and genocide. Is is so that Israel is a morally bankrupt state, which is led and supported by psychopaths. If Hitler and other fascists were psychopaths, then it might be true for the administrations in Tel Aviv and Washington as well, because the rest of the world combined cannot be out of its mind as we can see from the global reaction to the Israeli crimes against humanity so far. If Bush administation has some other solid reason for the nonsense it has spewed thus far or Obama has some eloquent lie, the world has yet to see it. At the moment, they stand as accomplices to the unfloding fascism in our age.

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Monday, December 29, 2008

An Earthquake on top of your Head

The Bombing of Gaza by Dr. Eyad Al Serraj

The bombing went on for about 10 minutes. It was like an earthquake on top of your head. The windows were shaking and squeaking. My 10-year-old was terrified, he was jumping from one place to another trying to hide. I held him tight to my chest and tried to give him some security and reassure him. My 12-year-old was panicking and began laughing hysterically, it’s not normal. I held her hand and calmed her and told her she would be safe. My wife was panicking. She was running around the apartment looking for somewhere to hide.

We live on the ground floor so we headed to the basement.

Not very far from our home is the headquarters of the police and there was a massive bomb. The chief of police was killed. Two streets away there was another bomb and more people were killed. The office of the president is about one kilometre from our house and it was also bombed.

We went downstairs to the basement and tried to hide ourselves from the shelling. The child of one of our relatives, who lives in our building, finally came home from school. We hadn’t been able to find her. All the phone connections were jammed. She came home and she was in a very serious state of shock. She was pale and trembling and she was describing dead bodies in the streets. On her way home she passed Hamas people in uniform and they were dead.

I had been very apprehensive when I woke up this morning. I had some bread, some cheese and a glass of tea. Like all the people in Gaza I felt that something was going on and something very serious. When Israel allowed the delivery of food and fuel [when it ended the blockade of Gaza yesterday] I said to myself and my friends that Israel is really planning a massive strike. They don’t want to be blamed for starving the people.

I was sitting in the living room with my family trying to figure out what to do today for lunch, it’s our main meal. What to cook and how to cook, whether we have enough to eat. There was no rice so I wanted to have lentil soup and my wife said “No, there’s no lentils in the market.” I said “What else can we do?” She said “I bought some cans of food.” We were discussing this when suddenly the whole thing erupted. Suddenly there was a big explosion.

Right now I feel very anxious about what’s going to happen. I’m worried about how many more people are going to die.

Dr Eyad Al Serraj is a practising psychologist in Gaza City.


Read Also

Sometimes the dead are envied

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THE NARIMAN HOUSE STORY

BEFORE THE ATTACKS:

The drama started weeks before the terrorist attacks - at a Jewish residential complex In Mumbai run by the Chabad-Lubavitch ultra-orthodox movement.


From CBC News (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation)

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/11/28/mumbai-attacks.html
In a telephone interview with CBC News from outside the centre, freelance journalist Arun Asthhana said there are reports that some of the militants had stayed at a guest house there for up to 15 days before the attacks.


"They had a huge mass of ammunition, arms and food there," Asthhana said.

That some stayed there before the attacks seem no longer in question.

Later news reports state that the terrorists came to Nariman House posing as Malaysian students and were given lodging. Why Ultra-orthodox Jews would give lodging to these unknown Malaysian Muslim students is baffling; they could have been 'terrorists'. After all they did not know them.

However, it is well known that those housing quarters are rented only to religious Jews passing through Mumbai, so much so that the Indian Police wanted to know why they were rented to non-Jews in this instance.


From Times of India

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Mumbai_locals_helped_us_terrorist_tells_cops/articleshow/3774106.cms

"Police are trying to find out how Nariman House rooms were given to non-Jews. Police has taken all the records books of for verification"


Guardian of UK
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/27/mumbai-terror-attacks-terrorism2

"Locals said the owners of Nariman House was a Jewish Israeli family who rented out flats to other religious Jews."

:

Mid-Day News (MID-DAY is a 28 year old well respected media establishment in Mumbai):

Food ordered in

http://www.mid-day.com/news/2008/nov/281108-Nariman-House-terror-hub.htm

"The role that Nariman House is coming to play in this entire attack drama is puzzling. Last night, residents ordered close to 100 kilograms of meat and other food, enough to feed an army or a bunch of people for twenty days. Shortly thereafter, the ten odd militants moved in, obviously, indicating that the food and meat was ordered, keeping their visit in mind, another cop added."


DNA INDIA is another well-established, well-known Indian Media house.

They reported:

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1209852

"The terrorists came to Colaba on Wednesday evening," Mukund Shelke, who runs a grocery shop at Colaba Market, said. "Before barging into Nariman House, they had purchased adequate food to last them at least three days," he said.


"They had purchased around two crates of chicken and liquor worth Rs25,000 from two shops in Colaba," another resident Joseph D'Mello said.


Here the quote says that "they" had purchased the food, and from the text, which would be a translation of the eyewitness account, it would suggest that the terrorists did the shopping. But the policeman's report and quote is more credible because any group of terrorists going to take over a place during a city-wide attack would not stop to do shopping first, selecting meat, and liquor and other items, unless of course they were right at home.


The Attacks Start:

According to a changing and shifting narrative all attackers came in by boats.
Why they did not stay in Mumbai after spending days scouting the place is unknown. That would have made much more sense. Maybe the commanders came in just in time for the operation.

It is now being reported that they landed and split into groups with two men going to the office of the ultra-orthodox Jewish group Chabad-Lubavitch which runs Nariman house. There they supposedly held an unknown number of persons hostage, while killing some.

However, eye-witnesses, and the earliest reports, state that all the men from the boat went straight to the Nariman House complex before dispersing to carry out attacks.


From Mid-Day News

http://www.mid-day.com/news/2008/nov/281108-Nariman-House-terror-hub.htm

"Mumbai: India's financial capital, Mumbai seems to be going through its longest night for the last two days. Wednesday, 9.40 pm, the affluent south Mumbai was struck by terrorists, at 12 different locations, including the VT station, a hub for all railway trains, to two of the most luxurious hotels, Taj Mahal and Oberoi Trident.

24 hours later, the attention has riveted to these hotels, and a tiny nondescript building, barely a few meters away from the Taj Mahal hotel. Housing a five-storied guest house for Israeli nationals, this building is turning out to be the 'den' for the militants.

"I saw 6 to 7 boats coming in on Wednesday evening and about ten people unloaded many bags from these boats and then gradually took them into the building, Nariman House', Vitthal Tandel, a fisherman in the area said. "The building has many rooms and these are used as guest houses by travelers, largely Israeli residents. None of us know what their names are", he said.

"Virendra Ghunawat, a television journalist who has been tracking the Nariman House shootout since the time it took place Wednesday night, said even the cops have been cagey about details".


From the Guardian of UK

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/27/mumbai-terror-attacks-terrorism2
"They came by sea, on a small skiff, and made their way in the dark through the narrow streets of old Colaba to the six-storey apartment building called Nariman House. There they stayed – an unknown number of mystery gunmen who besieged the building from the inside."


From The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/29/world/asia/29tock.html?bl=&ei=5087&en=c7382f26209af6ce&ex=1228194000&pagewanted=all
"When the terrorists landed in front of Mr. Dhanur's boat, they were just three blocks straight down a narrow lane from Nariman House, a five-storey building housing a Jewish center run by a young Rabbi, Gavriel Holtzberg, and his wife, Rivka, who had moved from New York.

But the attack does not appear to have started there. According to India's Home Ministry, the first shots were fired at the train station, and soon after that at the Leopold Café."



The account of eyewitnesses and the earliest reports are very clear. The 'terrorists' went into Nariman House. Later reports keep insisting that they 'stormed' the house.


What did they look like?
At least some of the terrorists were fair-skinned foreigners.


From the Guardian of UK
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/27/mumbai-terror-attacks-india4

"One police officer who encountered the gunmen as they entered the Jewish centre told the Guardian the attackers were "white""
"I went into the building late last night," he said. "I got a shock because they were white. I was expecting them to look like us. They fired three shots. I fired 10 back."
Now, Indians know fair skinned Indians and Pakistanis. They meet them every day, especially in Mumbai, where all the upper class Indians congregate. Indians know foreigners and they call Americans and Europeans "foreigners" or "white". It is easy for an Indian to tell the difference between a fair skinned Indian or Pakistani and a "foreigner"


Other eyewitnesses at other locations also describe the terrorists as "foreign" or fair skinned.

From the BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/south_asia/7752625.stm
Then, the "foreign looking, fair skinned" men, as Mr Mishra remembers them, simply carried on killing.
"They did not look Indian, they looked foreign. One of them, I thought, had blonde hair. The other had a punkish hairstyle. They were neatly dressed," says Mr Amir.



While at the Nariman House:
Celebrations:

From DNA India
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1209852
"Some residents claimed that the suspects were keeping track of the police's movements through a television in Nariman House.
"When the news of top police officials getting killed flashed in the television, we heard loud noises from the flat. It seemed they were celebrating," Anand Raorane, a resident in a building opposite Nariman House, said."
Some in India claim that the terrorists were targeting some of India's top anti-terrorist officers, and indeed a number of top officers including Hemant Karare, who were in the process of investigating an explosive case of terrorist activities by army officers and politicians, were killed. It is very strange that these exceptionally experienced men would so easily be killed. Some reports say they were ambushed. It was at the time that the news of these men's demise was announced that sounds of celebration came from the Chabad office.



The Arrrest of Israeli Security Officer
While the standoff between the security forces and the terrorists in Nariman House was going on an Israeli 'Security Officer' at the Israeli consulate close by was arrested while running to the scene.

From the Jerusalem Post
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1227702378439&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FS
"The security officer at the Israeli consulate in Mumbai was arrested by Indian police as he raced toward the Chabad House last Wednesday after Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg telephoned to say it was under attack."
Was this 'attack' referring to attack by the terrorists or by security forces? It is not clear as yet. The officer was released from jail a few hours later according to the Jerusalem Post.

Also India continuously refused Israeli offers to help with the crisis:
http://www.zeenews.com/world/2008-11-28/487051news.html
"Jerusalem, Nov 28: India has turned down an offer by Israel to send its Crack Commandos to Mumbai, where a Jewish centre has been taken over in the terrorist attack which have claimed so far over 160 lives, media reports said here."

The Nanny and the rescue of the two-year old Moshe Holtzberg.
As the standoff progressed, the nanny of the two-year old child of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, Sandra Samuel, came running out with the little boy. Whether he was the subject of a daring rescue or was sent out by his parents is unclear. The dizzying array of reports, many contradicting the others, that describe this incident leaves the question unanswered. Only when police question the nanny would this be resolved.


The number of hostages and terrorists at Nariman:
According to recent police reports there were fifteen terrorists in all who came by boat.

From TIMES ONLINE
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5265938.ece
"At least five terrorist gunmen might have escaped the carnage in Mumbai and could strike again, it emerged yesterday as a video surfaced showing the capture of the gang's sole known surviving member."
"However, a hijacked Indian fishing boat used by the gunmen had equipment for 15 men on board when it was discovered adrift – suggesting that several gunmen could still be at large."
"Fifteen winter jackets were found, fifteen toothbrushes," a police source said. "That more terrorists are loose is possible."
Again there are conflicting reports on the number of terrorists and possible hostages that were in Nariman House. At the end of the seige by security forces, there were six bodies of hostages found. Some reports insist five bodies were found plus two alleged terrorists. This will remain unclear until Indian security personnel who conducted the raid tell their stories.
It would seem from many eyewitness reports and local media that as the standoff continued, there were only two 'hostages', the Rabbi and his wife, and the rest were terrorists.

From DNA India
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1209852
"The six terrorists who have made an Israeli family hostage at Nariman House building in Colaba can battle with the security agencies for at least three days without having to worry about food, local residents claimed on Thursday."

From Yahoo News
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20081128/wl_time/08599186266100
"From the vantage point of three Black Cat snipers watching the building, I could see Nariman House's shattered windows. The couple who own the building are Jewish, giving rise to rumors throughout the day that "Israelis" were somehow involved in the attacks. The other people in the building, including an infant wearing a pink bonnet and green blanket, were held as hostages but released early Thursday.
The last person to leave, a young woman, told authorities that the only remaining hostages were the couple, who had made no sound or movement since the night before. By 5 p.m. they were presumed to be dead, and the Black Cat commandos moved in half an hour later, unleashing a volley of gunshots into the building. By 9:30 p.m. local time, the firing was still going on, and it was not clear whether the four to five suspects inside had been killed or captured. "


India's elite commando squad would surely have a very good idea about the number of people they were dealing with especially after speaking with the young woman and the nanny.

From Mid-Day News

http://www.mid-day.com/news/2008/nov/281108-Nariman-House-terror-hub.htm
" One of the militants called up a television news channel and voiced his demands today, but, interestingly, when he was asked where are they all holed him, he said at the Israeli owned Nariman House and they are six of them here", one of the investigating cops said. Since morning, there has been exchange of gun fire has been going on and the militants seem well equipped to counter the cops fire. To top it, they have food and shelter. One wonders if they have the support of the residents, a local Ramrao Shanker said. "



Reports at the end of the siege

Fron the New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/29/nyregion/29chabad.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all
"Jewish Center Is Stormed, and 6 Hostages Die"
"Israeli officials and Lubavitch elders confirmed later that six hostages were found dead inside. They were Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, 29, of Brooklyn, and his Israeli wife, Rivka, 28, the Lubavitch emissaries in Mumbai who ran Nariman House; another rabbi from Brooklyn who was living in Israel, Leibish Teitelbaum; Bentzion Chroman, an Israeli with dual American citizenship; an unidentified Israeli woman; and another unidentified woman, according to Rabbi Zalman Shmotkin, a Lubavitch spokesman in Brooklyn , and The Associated Press".


Two unidentified "hostages" were women. But here is a strange co-incidence. A number of reports and eyewitnesses claim that at least one of the attackers was a woman.

FROM INDIA TIMES

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3775205.cms

"Mystery woman had accompanied terrorists at Cama"

Quote – ""A man and a burqa clad woman entered from the gate opposite our quarters. The man started firing towards the hospital immediately after entering. Moments before, the woman, in a salwar kameez underneath her burqa, had even tried to enter the hospital by climbing a water pipe. As the man continued firing, the woman, who wasn't armed, knocked on one of the houses"

also

"The shopkeeper's friend said, "He told me that when he saw Azam's picture in Mumbai Mirror on Thursday, he realised it was the same youth who had visited his shop with a woman, who was also young. He mentioned they had been like any other youths."


"Hostages killed by 'terrorists' or by security forces in shoot-out?
The Indian security forces thought that the remaining people in the Chabad house with the possible exception of the Rabbi and his wife were terrorists, and they were in a shoot-out with all these people. Yet reports persist that the 'terrorists' killed the 'hostages', before they were themselves killed. Some say the hostages were killed the day before. Reports also insist that the security forces killed only two terrorists at Chabad House.

However more recent reports say that the Indian security forces may have killed some of the hostages:

From The Jerusalem Post

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1227702371655&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Haka Head: Indian forces may have killed some hostages:
"The Indian commando raid launched to save the lives of Jewish and Israeli hostages at Mumbai's Chabad House may have inadvertently ended the lives of one or more of the hostages, the head of a six-man ZAKA team in the terror-stricken Indian city told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday".


Any Terrorists Remaining?
Police insist that fifteen terrorists came ashore.

Nine are dead and one is in custody.

Where are the other five?

Where is the woman terrorist?

From Times Online:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5265938.ece
"At least five terrorist gunmen might have escaped the carnage in Mumbai and could strike again, it emerged yesterday as a video surfaced showing the capture of the gang's sole known surviving member."
Were the missing five the same persons who were killed at Chabad?


Conclusion – What really happened at Nariman House?

Time may eventually tell what really happen at the Chabad House, Mumbai. Indian security service officers may come forward with further information. More information may dispel rumors and speculation that the Israelis at Chabad house were part of the terrorist operation and that the non-white terrorists, all of whom were killed, with the exception of the poster-boy, Ajmal, were the usual patsies.

It will dispel rumors that the four or five 'hostages' killed in the center were actually part of the terrorist group and were killed by security forces in the shootout.

The only person who may be able to give an impartial report of what went on at Nariman House would be the Indian nanny, Sandra Samuel. Indian Intelligence would be looking forward to interviewing her when all the confusion ends and when she recovers from the ordeal. Lets hope that the trauma does not lead her to commit suicide or anything like that.

BREAKING NEWS
Breaking News: Nanny going to Israel

From the Jerusalem Post:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1227702371988&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
"The nanny who saved two-year-old Moshe Holtzberg from the attack at Mumbai's Chabad House on Thursday is expected to arrive in Israel on Monday along with the child, his grandparents and the bodies of his parents, Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg."

"She expressed a desire to accompany Moshe back to Israel on a special flight sent by the Israel Air Force. The toddler was reunited with his Israeli grandparents, Shimon and Yehudit Rosenberg, on Friday.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said on Sunday that her office was working to arrange for Samuel's arrival in Israel, while the Interior Ministry was considering bestowing upon her the status of "Righteous Gentile," which would allow her to remain in the country for an extended period of time".

Breaking: Nanny already in Israel:

From the Indian Express:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/after-funeral-baby-moshe-leaves-for-israel/392990/
"The orphaned two-year-old baby Moshe and his nanny Sandra Samuel, along with his maternal grandparents, left for Israel tonight in a special Israeli military aircraft from Mumbai."

BREAKING: Nanny to live in Israel

From The India Telegraph:
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081202/jsp/nation/story_10193938.jsp
ISRAEL HOME FOR MOSHE NANNY
"Dec. 1: Israel is planning to issue an immigration permit to the Indian nanny who saved two-year-old Moshe Holtzberg while his Jewish parents died in the Nariman House attack.
Foreign minister Tzipi Livni told the cabinet yesterday that her ministry was working to grant the nanny, Sandra Samuel, a residency permit so she could live there."
Sandra Samuel has made an absolutely amazing and admirable choice, to leave her own family and relatives and go to live in Israel with baby Moshe.

To continue with the conclusion:

This terrorist incident will most likely lead to much greater bloodshed unless the true culprits are found and convicted in a court of law. Some analysts say that this event could lead to a new world war.

It would just make plain sense to have kept the nanny in India for a while. India should demand her return soon, so that she could help with the investigation.

Again, to further dispel the rumors of the dead Israelis being part of the operation, autopsies would be conducted on the bodies of the dead including the Israelis at Nariman House. Autopsies would give vital clues as to their role as victims or perpetrators. Forensic science is powerful science today. For example, gunpowder residue on fingers tells a tale.


Lets see what comes of it.


MORE BREAKING NEWS….
BREAKING NEWS

NO AUTOPSIES ON ISRAELI BODIES.

From: The India Telegraph
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081202/jsp/nation/story_10193938.jsp
"Israel has requested India not to conduct post-mortems on its nationals killed in the Nariman House siege, citing what it said were "privacy and religious reasons".
"The request for not doing the post-mortem is based on privacy as well as some religious reasons," an official of the Israeli embassy here said. According to the information with the mission, seven of the nine killed in the attack were Israeli nationals, all of them Jews."


To continue with the conclusion
Indian journalists are urged to dig into this story with their very lives, because the life of our nation is at stake. India could be dragged into a game on the grand chessboard, and possibly into war with Pakistan and then China, and maybe Russia. In the end there will be only one winner, the superpower which is on the verge of economic collapse, and which can avert complete disaster only by destroying its main competitors, or getting them to destroy themselves.

PS:
The whole Mumbai operation was messy, and if Indian Intelligence agents are really doing their job, there will be need for major distractions very soon. Look out for another attack.

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Sunday, December 28, 2008

India - Defeated In The First Round

Adm. Mike Mullen asked Pakistan for a guarantee that Pakistan Air Force will not respond to Indian surgical strikes. General Kayani is said to have responded with showing Mullen a photograph of an IAF Mirage-2000 locked by Pakistan Air Forces' F-16 taken on December 13. 'Next time, we'll bring it down', Mullen was told.

To make sure the message was loud and clear, Pakistan Air Force jets started patrolling the skies in hot mode and a red-alert was issued throughout the country.

The Indian war rhetoric has failed to impress Pakistan. Instead, the focus is now shifting to Indian intelligence agencies' failure to put together credible evidence implicating Pakistan in the Mumbai attacks.


It is best to win without fighting- Sun Tzu


With India and Pakistan standing eyeball to eyeball, it was India that blinked first, with its media and officials admitting defeat on the diplomatic front.


Times of India writes:

"While the de-escalation should soothe the tense nerves of the international community, it was being feared that Islamabad, by raising the bogey of war, may have edged out India's concerns. By feeding fears of an imminent conflict between two nuclear-armed rivals, it had ensured that the focus would shift towards conflict prevention. Indian security experts noted that Gilani made it a point to mention that "our friends are persuading India against aggression".

While the government persisted with reminders to Islamabad about unkept promises, independent security experts said Pakistan may have got away with almost no cost at all. "As of now, Pakistan has managed to divert attention from the Mumbai attacks to an India-Pak conflict," said K Subrahmanyam.

It was diplomacy by fear, and Pakistan played it effectively. As it allowed passions to run high and let known terrorists join in the show of national belligerence, it was also playing victim. As part of the script, its foreign secretary, it now turns out, even summoned the Indian high commissioner in Islamabad, Satyabrata Pal, on Friday to lecture him on the need for India to bring down tensions.


The U.S. and China had on Friday asked India - in a clear sign of Pakistan's success - to engage in a dialogue with Pakistan. It's becoming increasingly evident that India has so far nothing to show for its diplomatic offensive in the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks."

How could things have gone so wrong, wonders Vir Sanghvi of the Hindustan Times:

"I am now coming round to the view that they've only gone wrong for us. They've gone very right for Pakistan. Islamabad has got exactly what it needs, and what it always wanted.

Consider what's happening today. The operation in the tribal areas has stalled. The Taliban have sworn to back the Pakistan army against India. Troops have been moved to the Indian border. The incoming Obama administration is talking about appointing a special envoy for India and Pakistan.

And forget about acting against those who organized the Bombay attacks. Pakistan isn't even willing to hand over Dawood Ibrahim or Masood Azhar [Editor: Not in Pakistani custody anyway]. Moreover, Washington seems largely content with this state of affairs.

I don't want to sound like a pessimist or a warmonger — especially since I have always applauded New Delhi's moderation and restraint — but it is beginning to seem to me that Pakistan has out-maneuvered both India and America."

M. K. Bhadrakumar writes at Asia Times Online:

"By gently holding out the threat to the U.S. that the Afghan operations would grievously suffer unless Washington restrained Delhi from precipitating any tensions on the India-Pakistan border, Islamabad seems to have neatly pole-vaulted over Rice to appeal straight to the Pentagon, where there is abiding camaraderie towards the Pakistani generals.

With Pakistan's recalcitrance and Mullen's veiled threat of reopening the Kashmir file, a sense of frustration is gripping Delhi. Pakistan has ignored India's tough posturing. The faltering Indian security agencies, which have been in a state of appalling decline in recent years, seem to have failed to put together any hard evidence of a Pakistani involvement in the Mumbai attacks.

All indications are that Pakistan is not impressed by the Indian rhetoric. It seems to think Indian politicians are grandstanding in an election year. But, just in case Delhi may spring a surprise, Pakistani army chief General Ashfaq Kayani has warned that the armed forces would give an equal response "within few minutes" if India carried out any surgical military strikes. "The armed forces are fully prepared to meet any eventuality, and the men are ready to sacrifice for their country," he reportedly said.


Just as our website predicted, an all out war seems to have been averted and Indian media and officials are admitting defeat.


China, Saudi Arabia and Iran have come out strongly in the last couple of days which saw an intense diplomatic effort by all parties to make it clear to India that they not only remain unconvinced of Delhi's allegations, but also that any attack could have serious consequences for India and the region as a whole.

Pranab Mukherjee was made to do an embarrassing u-turn on India's previous stance, admitting that terrorism - a global issue and not a bilateral one - should be fought jointly.


The Indian officials have also been made to backtrack from their earlier claims of deploying troops along the border with Pakistan.


Times of India, December 22nd:

Even as India refused to take the military option off the table while asking Pakistan to rein in the terrorists, the Indian Army's and IAF's quick reaction teams (QRTs) were deployed along the borders in the Western Sector.

"Runways, hangars, main roads, ammunition stores and other sensitive places have been provided with additional cover. Sophisticated radars are installed at a few air bases and we are keeping watch on each and every cross-border activity," said an IAF personnel.

Indian forces were on regular firing exercises at locations like Lathi Firing Range in Jaisalmer, Mahsan in Bikaner, Suratgarh and Ganganagar.


India Today, December 27th:

India has informed Pakistan that it has not engaged in any sort of troop build-up along the frontier.

In response to the 'deadline' set by India and the threats from Sonia Gandhi and Pranab Mukherjee, Pakistan had gone on a diplomatic counter-offensive, briefing world powers and countries in the region on the deteriorating relations with India and the steps taken by it to address Indian concerns. Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir met the ambassadors of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — the U.S., Britain, China, France and Russia. He also met ambassadors of Italy, Japan, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Turkey soon after returning from France where he had gone for annual bilateral consultations. However, his most crucial meeting was with Indian High Commissioner Satyabrata Pal at the Foreign Office when he said that India should defuse the tension.

Mr. Pal was accompanied by his deputy Manpreet Vohra. The Indian side was categorically told that any 'surgical strikes' would be considered a declaration of war. India was urged to respond to Pakistan's proposal for joint investigation into the Mumbai attacks.

According to sources, the Indian diplomats looked somber when they came out of the meeting.

As things stand, the possibility of war has been averted for now, which is being seen as a massive diplomatic victory for Pakistan.


This of course does not mean that we should let our guard down. In addition to the diplomatic counter-offensive, it was Pakistan Army's seriousness that put India on the back foot.


Once the realization set in that any further attempts to enter Pakistan Airspace will be punished severely by the PAF,

the Indians had gone to plan B, with Mullen asking for a guarantee that PAF will not respond to Indian surgical strikes.

General Kayani is said to have responded with showing Mullen a photograph of an IAF Mirage-2000 locked by Pakistan Air Forces' F-16 taken on December 13th. 'Next time, we'll bring it down', Mullen was told.

To make sure the message was loud and clear, Pakistan Air Force jets started patrolling the skies in hot mode and a red-alert was issued throughout the country.

Failing to get that guarantee, the chance of an Indian strike was reduced significantly. For them it was never about a full war. A few surgical strikes on pre-agreed locations would have been enough to relieve some of the pressure the Indian Government faces domestically. Pakistan Army on the other hand made it clear that any action from India would be taken as a declaration of war, and the response would be swift and decisive.


India faces humiliation now on the diplomatic front having failed to achieve anything from this standoff.

In its attempts to isolate Pakistan by building what it saw as a definitive case, it is India that stands alone on the diplomatic front and is left with begging the Iranians and Chinese to put pressure on Pakistan.

We can now expect an intense and sustained terrorism campaign in Pakistani cities in an attempt to destabilize the country along ethnic / sectarian lines - New Delhi's time-tested method.

On the diplomatic front India will be lobbying hard to have the ISI (and Pakistan Army) declared as terrorist organizations.


We can also not rule out another false flag attack in the next few weeks.

Pakistanis need to stay united.

It's not over yet.

Dan Qayyum|

Sunday, 28 December 2008.


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