Indian Army Unfit to Take Field Against Pakistan: Retd Indian Army Officer‏

 

Ajai Shukla 

Four years ago, after the 26/11 Mumbai attack, the three service chiefs dashed off letters to the defence ministry listing out the equipment deficiencies that hamstrung their forces. Their barely disguised accusation to the politicians and bureaucrats: you have failed to equip us, so think carefully about what you ask us to do! 

Pakistani generals know well that the Indian Army is unfit to take the field against them. In making this bald statement, I give away no secrets. Every effective military intelligence organisation – and Pakistan we know has one – possesses devastating compilations of our army’s crippling shortage of tank ammunition; the night-blindness of our tanks; the absence of modern artillery; our obsolete air defence network; and shortfalls in practically every parameter by which an army’s equipment readiness is gauged. All this is kept secret only from the Indian people who faithfully support their army, sending sons and daughters to die for the country, often in unnecessary ways. 

Of course our army is fit for war, these patriotic citizens will say, pointing to the decades of counter-insurgency in J&K and the northeast that have claimed more soldiers’ lives than all the wars fought by independent India. But rolling back secessionism is different from fighting a full-scale war. All that is needed for counter-insurgency is excellent light infantry, and India’s infantry battalions are equal to that task. Kargil, too, was an infantry job, even if one that took all our reserves of 155-millimetre artillery shells to drive home. But full-scale war requires much more; and our mechanised forces, field artillery, air defence networks, combat engineers and logistics are woefully unequal to the task. This was true during the 1999 Kargil conflict; when India mobilized in Operation Parakram after the 2001 attacks on Parliament; it was true four years ago during 26/11; and it remains true today. 

The Dust Surrounding Mumbai Case

PKKH Exclusive | by Aneela Shahzad

Does it amaze the world that every time it is 26/11, the Pakistanis start chanting the Samjhotta Express babble? Well we have good reason to do so, observe:

· Samjhotta Express Bombing (2007)  was a terrorist attack on Indian soil

· It happened just one year before the Mumbai Attacks

· The 68 killed and 50 killed were Pakistani civilians

·  Nov 2008 Indian official report suspicion on Col Parohit

· Col is member of Abhinav Bharat, a Hindu Nationalist party

· Abhinav Bharat is also known for its charity works 

· Dec 2010, India National Investigative Agency (NIA) claims solid evidence for Swami Aseemanand
of the Saffron Terror outfit behind bombing

· Nov 2011, Indian High Court issues stay to NIA saying it is biased and associated to the
United Progressive Alliance government

· 2012 some commentators start voicing the names of Lashkar e Toiba and Jaish e Muhammad

· 2009 US accuses and holds Arif Qasmani  (LeT) as a suspect of the bombings

· 2012 NIA arrests Kamal Chouhan of RSS as prime suspect

· To date no one has been accused in court, instead India found it suffice to just compensate the bereaved

The 26/11 dilemma, 2008, took the lives of over 150 innocent civilians and injured over 300. As one can gather from the facts provided above, the Indian police, investigation and judiciary are not the most dependable and flawless, as one goes through the details one finds insufficient reporting, confused interrogation, indecisive judiciary and a will of the higher authorities not to pursue the eventual truth.

The same is to be observed in the Mumbai case, where we see from the beginning a weak interrogation of the prime suspect, who is being interrogated by staff that cannot speak urdu but only Marathi. Then we see a series of self-conflicting confessional statements from Kassab being released by the police, who confess that they could not record anything from Kassab on video as he would warn them that he would not speak if the cameras were on (how crude for a state criminal’s interrogation). In the video confession he babbles out that his father was a ‘dahi wala’ in Lahore and that ‘he turned to violence in part because his impoverished family was promised almost $4000 US dollars if his attack succeeded.’ Both statements contradicting the official stance that he was a run away from home, having no contact with his family when he met the alleged LeT guys and that his parents had barely ever left the rural Faridkot area in their lives.

Salala; The Turning Point of War On Terror

PKKH Editorial 

Those who have left their households, 

To dwell at the edges of barren mountains; 

Offering their lives to the One Who lives beyond, 

Offering their lives to the wilderness. 

Your standing and sitting is service, 

Your dining and sleep is service; 

Your memory is celebrated in the skies. 

Those who stood on guard at the farthest ends of our frontiers, guarding the sovereignty of a nation that has pledged to the true calling of the Creator, did not know that the fate-bound day of 26/11 had come upon them. They were unaware that the connivance of the enemy had reached the moral low that was to urge them to display irresponsible act of ”unprovoked and indiscriminate firing” back to back upon two check posts of Salala, Baizai, Mohmand Agency, FATA. They were unaware that they were to witness an event an event with their lives that was to bring colossal damnation upon their inflictors and eternal glory to themselves. 

24 gave away their lives and 13 others were injured. The nation stood up as one; the public, the civil society, the media, the army and the leadership, all united as one body in outrage. Widespread protests hit the streets around the country, calling the attack upon the 24, an attack on the country; the Army called this attack ‘intentional, pre-planned and premeditated’ and a ’stark violation’ of the sovereignty of the country. The leadership stood behind the Army like a stern pillar. The 24 had bargained their lives for a return as big as the unity of the nation. Without a doubt, their martyrdom was a bargain that changed the course of history. At that time PKKH published a write-up by Ambareen Aijaz, who’s cousin Capt Usman had embrassed sahhadda in this event, quote: [having a leave of one month he returned home for rest. Everyone was relieved that he is out of the battle field but he himself was sad that he is in privileges of his home while his unit is fighting in rugged mountains sacrificing for the homeland. As his leave was ending, I asked him “leaving after two days?” he enthusiastically responded, “yeah finally”, he was thankful to almighty to be back on feet to defend ‘Pak Sar Zameen’]. May Allah increase his ranks and of his companions at Salala, may Allah add to the bravery of our brave-hearts. 

Why Ajmal Kassab Was Hanged?

PKKH Exclusive | By Aneela Shahzad

26/11, 2008, Mumbai, India was struck by a deadly multiple strike, shattering the integrity of this giant country and putting a grave question on the security system of ‘Shinning India’, a country aiming at putting its claim as a regional power. 

Our heartfelt sympathies for the people of Mumbai, who since March 1993, have lost at least 527 lives and have had more than 1700 injured in about 7 detestable terror attacks, many of them being multiple attacks, including the ‘Bombay Bombings 1993’ and the ‘Railway Bombings 2006’. The inability of the Indian government to investigate, conclude and counter-act, and a failure in providing adequate security measures for this metropolitan hub of the country, eventuated in the 26/11 dilemma, bringing an end to 164 more Mumbai lives and injuries to 308. 

A country whose economy is being projected as taking leaps in the near future by the western forecasters, a country that asserts to be the biggest most stable democracy of the world, so stable and mighty that its neighbors should accept it as their regional leader in the near future, how can it not ensure the safety of its own people. The responsibility of the lives and well-being of the Mumbai people falls back to the Indian government, unless it is habitual at being tardy in its police, intelligence, judiciary and internal security machinery and reclining only on one instrument; the blame-game. 

Whats Next Mr. Obama?

PKKH Exclusive | By Sakina Kavi 

On the 6th of November 2012, Barak Obama regained his chair of presidency for the second time in the history of the United States of America. However, with the looks of it, the second time victory of the African American President is not as welcomed as it was expected to be. 

The count of states petitioning to secede from the United States of America had reached 34 just 2 days after the election of Obama, but now citizens from all 50 states have asked to secede from the nation of United States. Louisiana became the first state to petition on the official White house government website, followed by the rest of the 48 states. Texas was the first state to have exceeded the 25,000-signature count, followed by Louisiana for the petition to be officially reviewed by the President himself. However, no statements have been passed as yet. With all the states being unhappy about the election of Barak Obama, it really raises a question if the people were actually thinking before they caste their vote. The question of democracy now comes under scrutiny. Like casting their votes would be the democratic way to impose the opinions of the people; would asking for their states to secede from the United States right after the election of Obama not add up to their right to true democracy as well? 

These happenings right after the election of President Barak Obama give voice to the disapproval of the states over the re-election of the president. At the same time, it also raises the question whether the United States of America are actually united under one governance. 

Quaid e Azam’s Pakistan OR Taliban’s Pakistan?

Editorial PKKH 

It is often said that the ‘answer is in the question’ and rightly so as the question not only sets the perimeter of the possibilities of the answer, but it also acts as a control capable of driving the conscious thought towards matters of urgency and importance so that all other matters can be set aside as dispensable for that time. 

So the question has the power to focus our attention, at least momentarily, upon a set of scenarios, which may not be all the possible scenarios in the matter of the case. For example if we put our question in the form: ‘Tick the right choice; would you like (a) tea or (b) coffee?’, the answer-er is being confined into a very limited choice, whereby s/he has to give up the possibility of a meal or ice-cream and a number of other possibilities.

The same type of spin-doctrine is applied in the question, ‘Quaid e Azam ka Pakistan, Ya Taliban Ka Pakistan?’ luring the public towards the probable choice, of course that of the Quaid. Surely the Quaid was our beloved leader; he personified determination, strength of character and a visionary out-look and lead us out of the chaos of miss-identity and wrong choices. He applied his physical and intellectual energies for a highly noble cause, above the average human ability. He raised himself above his ‘self’ and became the spirit and symbol of the Millat of the Indian Muslims, but all this does not make him the definition of Pakistan.

The Quaid wanted a Pakistan of Islam and of the Quran, not a Pakistan of the Quaid; the Quaid was a common man, thus fallible; Islam, Quran and the Prophet of Allah are infallible. So the Question being presented here is basically leading to two semi-wrong choices, in choosing the Quaid, the Secular thinkers aim to direct public opinion towards a man, for whom they have worked hard to prove as a secular/liberal person for many years now. Even though the Quaid was not the man they try to portray, but a little diversion from the root leads to big diversions in future, thus for the liberals all is gains in this scenario. 

Did Qatar’s Emir Betray Hamas with Gifts and Tracking Devices?

Eric Morales | Digital Journal 

Suspicion and intrigue surround the current round of conflict in the Gaza Strip, after a senior Hamas commander is assassinated by Israel, as the Israeli Army amasses on the border.

As Israel calls up several thousand reservists for a possible ground invasion into the Gaza Strip, and as air strikes continue with little respite according to the Washington Post, new theories are being pondered as to how the Jewish state was able to strike at a senior Hamas military commander. Like many militants in the Gaza strip Ahmad Al Jabari was rarely seen and he did not like to be photographed, when he personally escorted abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit to freedom as part of a prisoner exchange, it was a rare look at the senior commander in the Hamas organization. However now according to sources speaking to the Fars News Agency, speculation is that the Qatari emir may have tipped Israeli intelligence off to the locations of several Hamas officials. Three weeks ago, King Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani became the first foreign dignitary to visit the besieged Gaza Strip in five years following the Hamas government take over, and the embargo that has followed. However according to Fars News Agency, the Emir did not come empty handed. The Hamas members he met with received ball point pens and watches, however it may have been best if the Hamas officials had looked the gift horse in the mouth. According to Fars News Agency the pens and watches were implanted with tracking devices which beamed the locations of the commanders to Israeli satellites. On November 14th the alleged ruse paid off, the Israeli Air Force was able to assassinate Hamas military commander Ahmad Al Jabari and his bodyguard. This assassination was followed by the killing of Ahmad Abu Jalal, a field commander of the Ezzedeen Al Qassam Brigades, on Friday. Qatar admitted last month to sending hundreds of troops to Libya to aid western backed rebels in overthrowing Muammar Ghaddafi. The Qatari government has also provided training and logistics to rebels fighting the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, many Hamas leaders are in exile in Damascus. 

Gaza; The Bleeding Heart of Humanity

PKKH Exclusive By Aneela Shahzad 

The UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights says:

“Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world; Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person (article 3); No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruelty, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (article 5); Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state. Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country (article 13) 

The UN convention on Genocide defines Genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethical  racial or religious group, by: Killing members of the group; Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, so on”. 

Yet, Gaza, situated in the heart of human civilization, has faced conditions of Genocide, enforced occupation and the most harsh and dehumanizing circumstances as it is shut off from the rest of humanity by Israeli forces and inflicted upon with food-shortage, economic standstill and demolished infrastructure. Humanity sits today in the global Coliseum, approving and celebrating Israel as it maims and levels down Gazans; the dehumanizing of the Gazans is the dehumanization of the whole humanity. 

اوبامہ کے آنسو اور ہمارا بے تاب میڈیا

تحریرآمبرین اعجاز

آج کل میری کوشش ہوتی ہے کہ اخباری چینلز نہ ہی دیکھے جائیں۔ کبوتر کی طرح آنکھیں بند کر کے جینا کبھی کبھی اچھا لگتا ہے۔ لیکن پچھلے دو دنوں سے میں نے دوبارہ اخباری چینلز دیکھنے شروع کر دئے کہ شاید کوئی تبدیلی آ گئی ہو۔ ان دو دنوں میں، میں نے ایک خبر نہ صرف دو بار ٹی وی پر سنی، بلکہ آج صبح کے اخبار میں بھی پڑھ لی ہے۔ خبر یہ ہے کہ کس طرح صدر اوبامہ اپنی انتخابی مہم چلانے والے کارکنوں اور نوجوانوں سے گفتگو کرتے ہوئے آبدیدہ ہو گئے۔ ٹی وی چینلز نے تو باقاعدہ فوٹیج بھی چلایا لیکن اخبار والوں نے نہ جانے کیسے تصویر کے بغیر صرف خبر نشر کرنے کی گستاخی کر لی۔ یہ صدر اوبامہ وہی ہیں جن کے اشارے پر ڈرون اڑتے ہیں اور دہشت گردوں کو پناہ دینے کے الزام میں معصوم بچوں کو نشانہ بناتے ہیں۔ یہ وہی اوبامہ ہیں جن کی بدولت افغانستان کے باسی آج تک میٹھی نیند سے محروم ہیں۔ یہ اوبامہ وہی ہیں جن کے اشارے پر لیبیا کی اینٹ سے اینٹ بجا دی گئی۔ یہ وہی اوبامہ ہیں جنہوں نے کبھی فلسطین کے مظلوموں کو خون کے آنسو رلائے، تو کبھی عراق، لیبیا اور افغانستان کے ننھے شہزادوں اور شہزادیوں کو۔ مگر ہمارا بے بس اور لاچار میڈیا، پیسے اور شہرت کی ہوس میں اس قدر اندھا ہو چکا  کہ اس کو اوبامہ کے آنسو تو نظر آ گئے، مگر۔۔۔

تب سے میں اس سوچ میں مبتلا ہوں اور یاد کرنے کی کوشش کر رہی ہوں کہ کتنی بار میں نے ٹی وی پر یا اخبار میں کوئی ایسی خبر دیکھی ہے کہ “ڈرون سے ہلاک ہونے والے بچے کی ماں اپنے بیٹے کی لاش دیکھ کے ہوش وحواس کھو بیٹھی۔” یا ایسی ماؤں کی کوئی فوٹیج کبھی آپ نے دیکھی ہے؟ یا پھر ایسے والدوں کی جن کے کاندھے اپنے لخت جگر کھونے کے بعد جھک گئے ہیں؟ ساری دنیا میں مسلمان ظلم وستم کا شکار ہیں، ہتھیار اور طریقہء کار مختلف ہوں تو ہوں، لیکن تکلیف ہر جگہ ایک جیسی ہے۔ کہیں ڈرونز سے بچے مر رہے ہیں تو کہیں بھارتی درندے میری بہنوں کے دوپٹے چھین رہے ہیں، کہیں گوانتنامو میں معصوم مسلمان تشدد سے پاگل ہو رہے ہیں تو کہیں مسلسل حالت جنگ میں رہنے سے فلسطینی، افغانی اور عراقی لوگ ذہنی مریض بن رہے ہیں۔ ایسے لوگوں کی اذیتیں اور آہیں کیوں خبریں نہیں بنتیں؟ برما میں ہونے والے ظلم وستم کو جھوٹا ثابت کرنے کے لئے تو زمین آسمان ایک کر دئے تھے ہمارے میڈیا نے، لیکن پوری دنیا کے ٹھیکیدار بننے والے اور خود کو پارسا سمجھنے والے امریکہ یا خود کو دنیا کی سب سے بڑی جمہوریت کہلوانے والے بھارت کے کارناموں کی پول کھولنے میں کیوں ہمارا میڈیا پیچھے ہے؟ بہ حیثیت ایک عام پاکستانی شہری کے مجھے اس بات سے غرض نہیں کہ صدر  خوشی اوبامہ رو پڑے، مجھے اپنے مسلم اور پاکستانی بہن بھائیوں کی فکر ہے۔ اور اس فکر کے باوجود مجھے یقین ہے کہ صدر اوبامہ کو یہ چار سال صرف اس لئے ملے ہیں کہ ان کےخوشی کے آنسو غم کے آنسوؤں میں بدل سکیں۔ بہ حیثیت ایک عام شہری کے میں یہ پیغام صدر اوبامہ تک پہنچا دینا چاہتی ہوں کہ وہ نوشتہء دیوار پڑھ لیں۔ افغانستان میں شکست نہ  خوشی  صرف ان کا مقدر ہے بلکہ شاید ان کا تمغہ بھی جو صدر اوبامہ ساری زندگی اپنے سینے پر جمائے بیٹھے رہیں گے۔ اور جب شکست مقدر ہو چکی ہو تو آنسو بہانے ہر کوئی پونچھنے والا بھی میسر نہیں ہوتا، خواہ وہ امریکہ کا بے مہر میڈیا ہو، یا ہمارے وطن عزیز پاکستان کا “آزاد” میڈیا

Pakistan Eyes Comeback in Global Arms Market

Pakistan’s seventh defence exhibition showcasing its military goods starts from Wednesday at the Karachi Expo Centre, with officials stating that the event is more about Islamabad’s determination to reassert its presence in the global arms and ammunition market, rather than sealing immediate deals.

To be held under a tight security cordon, the International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS) 2012 has drawn delegates from around the world, including 130 foreign firms, Commodore Siddiq Akbar, spokesperson for the Defence Export Promotion Organisation, said on the eve of the event. 

“We are satisfied with the response so far, despite the fact that this is taking place after a gap of four years,” he said. “This event gives our own companies the opportunity to exhibit their products – something that is not easy when we go to similar exhibitions elsewhere.” 

The organisers shied away from saying anything about the size of trade deals expected to be signed during the five-day event, but insisted that this is because of the peculiar nature of the business.  “Our job is to facilitate talks between exhibitors and delegates,” Commodore Akbar said. “So it is very hard to speculate on the figures of the business the buyers and firms do.” 

Pakistan has put its prized Al-Khalid tank up for sale as well, just like it has been doing for quite some time now. The country has still not been able to export it though. Director Coordination Brigadier Mazhar Mumtaz says it is not easy to sell tanks and aircraft. “The bigger the equipment is, the bigger the competition. But we are sure to get a breakthrough soon.” 

Countries in Africa, Middle East and Central Asia are a potential market for Pakistani military goods, he said. “We are already exporting arms to many of the countries in these regions. It is important to realise that state-level communication and diplomatic linkages matter a lot in this trade.”