World Politics - Articles - Zimbio

Cold War 2: “Green Army in the Kashmir Valley, Red Army in Ladakh, & the Saffron Army in Jammu.”

Sun, 18 Aug 2008 00:24:47 GMT

posted by moinansari

| NEW YORK | RUPEE NEWS | August 17th, 2008 | Moin Ansari | It is Shangrila, a paradise on earth and one of the most beautiful places on the planet. It has always been called the most dangerous place on earth. It has the highest battlefield in the world and it is a nuclear flashpoint between there nuclear armed neighbors.

The situation in Kashmri and Jammu is worsening for India but also the world. One Red Army is headed for Georgia, is another one headed for Ladakh? One Safron Army is embrolied in Sri Lanka, is another one headed towards Jammu? One Green army is busy in Afghanistan, is another one headed towards the Vale of Kashmir? The CIA Connection…continues…in China. Chinese Tibet is supposed to flare up after the Olympics. Red Army in Ladakh, Green Army in the Kashmir Valley, & the Saffron Army in Jammu. Kashmir, Manavadar and Junagarh are Pakistan: “Tehrik e Ilhaq e Pakistan” is alive. India had assumed that after six decadesthe issues of Kashmir was a forgotten issue. Many have written reams about Kashmir. The bottom line is that the current crisis there has boiled over because of the unfulfilled promises made to the people of Kashmir by the United Nations and by Indian political leaders. Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru’s commitment to the people of Kashmir

The Great Game 2008: The failed “On to the Oxus” (Afghan occupation) policy. The area of Kashmir is where the best and the worst have made their name.

Why did Buddhism disappear from South Asia? A summary of Buddhist Hindu warsKashmir was once called Abhisara, the home to peace loving Buddhists–who were ethnically cleansed out of Kashmir by aggressive Brahamnism. Osama Bin Laden has repeatedly stated his hope that the US will get sucked inot a ruinous debilitating conflict in Pakistan. The competing forces in Buddhist Ladakh (though according to the last Indian census Ladakh had a Muslim majority–without Chinese Aksai Chin), Muslim Kashmir and Hindu Valley (2.5 districts have a Hindu Majority) are supported by three powers. The crisis in Afghanistan creates new fault lines. Is NATO committing suicide in Afghanistan?

Throw in Russia, America and Iran, and one has an explosive mix. All are “neighbors” of Kashmir. Resisting Indian hegemony by all neighbors:-Afghan cauldron. Al Qaida and the West are all present.Red Mosque Hostages: When Freedom Fighters turn “Terrorist”. The assassination of Benazir Bhutto has brought new pressures to the area. Many believe that Benazir Bhutto was murdered to destabilize Pakistan! …the CIA assassination. The Indo-American Nuclear deal has destabilized the Subcontinent with new tensions. Its not just that the big military powers who have established political and military posts in South Asia. Even Japan wants to join SAARC. Japan: No “Domo Harigato!” No Thank You. Pakistan will not sign the NPT.

The issues in Kashmir have profound influences on the rest of India and beyond. The Kashmiri protests along with the Northeast insurrection combined with the Naxalite insurgency covers more than half of the Indian Union. Prolonged protests in Kashmir notonly blow up the dream of Incredible India they are actually blowing up India. If Jammu is Hindu, then why can’t Kashmir be Muslim. If the state has already faces a de facto division, why not divide it permanently. If the Kashmiris want to trade with Pakistan how long will the soldiers keep killing the innocent civilians? Even Indian press talks of freedom for Kashmir: Times of India article

Sino-Pakistan nexus define’s China’s influence on South Asia. Indian occupation of Jammu and Kashmir has separated the Kashmiris from their brethren in Azad Kashmir and Pakistan. However the Cease Fire Line (renamed Line of Control) has not been able to keep the competing influences out of South Asia. Northern Areas are part of Pakistan and were never part of Kashmir. Historical records have to be dug up to discover the background of the crisis. Kashmir: Does the article of Accession exist? India annexed Kashmir on a forged document just like Russia has attacked and taken over Georgian territory. Azad Kashmir is the slice of territory where Kashmiris can breathe freedom. More than 500,000 Kashmiris wanted to cross the Line of Control (LOC) and and reach their brothers and sisters in Muzaffarabad. India seems to think that it has swallowed up the fruits of its aggression in 1948. Northern Areas are part of Pakistan and were never part of Kashmir. In this cauldron, Pakistan remains demonized. Myth of the Pakistani madarsas

Manufacturing consent-Planned partition of Jammu & Kashmir. Other Jammu vs Kashmir agitations that followed were:

In 1966, a students agitation was launched agianst Kashmiri leadership to protest the shutdown of Ayurvedic and agricultural colleges in Jammu. Over five students were killed in the agitation. In 1979, protests broke out in Poonchover the recruitment process for government teachers. In 1986, a-month-long Durbar Move protest was led by advocates in Jammu, when the state government proposed to permanently shift 19 government offices to Kashmir.
The Gajander Gadkarcommission, set up to inquire into regional discrimination in the state admits there is a deep regional divide. It even suggested separate regional development boards as a solution to this discontent between Jammu and Kahsmir.
"It also said that if all points are met with, Jammu will still feel discontent since their is a political disparity," says president Jammu Mukti Morcha, professor Virender Gupta.
When it comes to Jammuvs Kashmir, both regions have geographical, political and an emotional disconnect. Perhaps the only thing that connects the two is the economic link.

However, in the ongoing agitation the two still stand totlaly on opposite sied of the spectrum. Indian Occupied Kashmiris want Dogra state for Jammu Hindus.

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO MUSHARRAF Beyond the headlines. Kashmir “beats in the heart of every Pakistani", these were Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s words in an Independence Day eve function on Wednesday shortly after India firmly asked Islamabad to stay out of the Jammu and Kashmir issue.

“My address will be incomplete if I don’t speak about what is happening in Srinagar or Indian held Kashmir. I know and all of you know as well that in the past few days 22 innocent civilians have died including Sheikh Abdul Aziz. I condemn this act of human rights violation. There is no doubt that every Pakistani is withtheir brothers and sisters in Kashmir on this occasion. I have no doubt that Kashmir beats in the heart of every Pakistani and that Kashmir runs through Pakistan’s veins. Therefore, every Pakistani is with the people of Kashmir.” President Musharraf

The Indian government had earlier objected to Pakistan’s comments saying Islamabad’s call for international involvement in India’s internal affairs is illegal.

For the first time in six decades the Kashmirishave come to the realization that their commercial destiny lies in trade with Islamabad and beyond. It is 170 kms vs more than 1200 kms. The routes through Pakistan are natural routes for Kashmiris. From an economic point of view the routes through Jammu to India are unnatural and unsustainable. Billions of Dollars can flow through the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad Highway to Islamabad to Karachi and even to Beijing and Kabul. This realization that they don’t get the right price for their goods in Delhi is the final nail in the coffin of the 370, Kashmirs special status in the Indian Union. Both Hindus and Muslims of Kashmir are united in their opposition to 370. Jammu wants full integration with India. Kashmir wants divorce and freedom from the Indian Union.

When it comes to Jammuvs Kashmir, both regions have geographical, political and an emotional disconnect. Perhaps the only thing that connects the two is the economic link.

Its the economy stupid: The distance from Srinagar to Muzzafarabad and Islamabad is a lot shorter than the distance to New Dlehi

Withthat economic link broken blockaded and in tatters, Kashmir has essentially separated itself from the artificial trade routes that run through Gurdaspur. The Kashmiris want to revert to the natural trade routes that run through the old Indus Valley Civilization and its latest resurrection–Pakistan. Kashmiris have traded with the rest of the Indus people for thousands of years.

For the first time in six decades the Kashmiris have defined their pain in economic terms. This will stick. The Kashmiris exports, mostly food items don’t get the right price in Delhi becuase by the time the goods get there, they are old stale and cannotcompete with local grown produce. By selling their goods a couple of hours away in Muzaffarabad and Islambad, the Kashmiris could double and triple their income.

Indian Occupied kashmiris burning the Indina flag ans showing support for Pakistan. They shouldted slogans to join Pakistan

This logic is now prominent in all Kashmiri logic for separation. This has happened and will happen. The economic integration of Kashmir with Pakistan will enable to develop the middle class in Kashmir that wants freedom. The exact definition of freedom if defined in economic turns is integration and assimilation wiht Pakistan, both economically and but also politically.

Kashmir road map with links to Pakistan and Azad Kashmir

The Hindus of Jammu want to separate themselves from the Muslims of Kashmir. The republic of India is in serious trouble. The Kashmiris have decided that they have had enough and want a divorce. The Hinduvata machinations in Jammu and the nationwide communal bigotry towards Muslims has convinced the Kashmiri Muslims that their economic destiny lies in trading with Muzaffarabad and thier political compass points towards Islamabad. The Indian press has finally come around and there are rumblings all across the land of the BJP that the two and ahlf Hindu majority districts Jammu should be carved out of Kashmir and handed over the Dogra remnants who are in the arms of the Advani-Modi camp.

The economic blockade imposed on the Kashmir Valley by Hindu fanatic forces has intensified the crisis. The Kashmir leadership is now exploring trade options via Muzaffarabad, something that should have been done long ago. Anyway, deer ayad durust ayad (better late than never). In the wake of the road blockade, it becomes imperative for Kashmir to explore alternative road links instead of being dependent on the current insufficient linkages. Through the JhelumValley road, Kashmir can restore its ties with China, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia. And there is one more benefit. It is the only route that is free of snow in winter owing to its low elevation. Therefore, it will ensure an uninterrupted flow of traffic year-round.

This route has historical significance, too.

"The Jhelum Valley route was, until the partition, the easiest route from the Punjab to Kashmir. It was also convenient for those who wished to proceed towards Attockand Peshawar from Kashmir. It also must have been used for Kashmir’s trade with Persia and western Turkistan. Hiuen Tsiang and Ou-K’ong entered Kashmir from the west by this route, and it is by this route that many learned scholars and Sufis from Persia and Turkistancame to the valley." (Kashmir under the Sultans by Mohibbul Hasan)

There are also reports in the media that in Uri protestorshave threatened to cut power exports to counter the economic blockade (GK, August 9). If political parties in New Delhi, irrespective of their political ideology, do not immediately intervene and make efforts to pacify the agitators in Jammu, the State of Jammu and Kashmir could very well be divided along religious lines. Here, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is seeking to play a major role. In the run-up to Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, the party is trying to get political mileage out of the land row, but its members must make sure that the situation does notget out of control. If that happens, as one of my friends said, "We would see the Red Army in Ladakh, the Green Army in the Valley, and the Saffron Army in Jammu." Are we ready for that?Syed Ali Safvi Teheran Times

Kashmir and Jammu are going to figure prominently in the Indian elections. Jammu and Kahmir are oil and water and the Kashmiris know this.

Indian Occupied Kashmir: Sea-change in world press reports -Teheran Times decries RSS BJP idealogy of hate

Indian press talks freedom for Kashmir: Times of India article

Manufacturing consent-Planned partition of Jammu & Kashmir

Eat Rats:Indian officials ask starving Indians to eat rodents (BBC)

Black Day-Aug 15th: Kashmiris hoist Pakistani flags in Srinagar. Burn Indian flags

Indian Occupied Kashmiris want Dogra state for Jammu Hindus

Delhi TV fails in Indian Occupied Kashmir: Pakistani TV popular

Curtain Call: Exit one Dictator:- Enter another

Sino-Pakistan nexus define’s China’s influence on South Asia

Indian illegal interception of Internationl Internet traffic

Indian Top Secret Kargil Tapes: The impact of releasing them

5561st re-birthday! Congratualations to Indus Pakistanis

Resisting Indian hegemony by all neighbors:-Afghan cauldron

Shattering the paradigm: Defining a Pakistani media strategy-overcoming the staleness of Geo & ARY

Paper Tigers: Indian tenuous “hold” on Kashmir is slipping fast

Peace is a two way street
Nehru’s commitment to the people of Kashmir

Kashmir and Junagarh is Pakistani territory

The idea of becoming subservient to India is abhorrent and that of cooperation with India, with the object of promoting tension with China, equally repugnant.” Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto

Kashmir: Does the article of Accession exist?

KASHMIR

: Kashmiris protesting Indian occupation in 2008

The idea of becoming subservient to India is abhorrent and that of cooperation with India, with the object of promoting tension with China, equally repugnant.” Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto

Kashmiri woman fighting against Indian occupation

Kashmiris protesting Indian occupation in 2008

The idea of becoming subservient to India is abhorrent and that of cooperation with India, with the object of promoting tension with China, equally repugnant.” Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto

Kashmir seh rishtaa kiyaa: La Ilaha Ill-Lal lah. Batt key raheh gaa Hindustaan. Kashmir Banaigaa Pakistan

India Occupied Kashmir explodes in unprecdented violence

Indian Kashmirs desperate for trade with free Pakistani Kashmir

Clear lines drawn: Kashmiri Muslims vs Jammu Hindus

Kashmiri women asking for freedom from Indian ocucpation

RAW facts on South Asia- India fails to occupy countries

India intelligence: “‘the aim of RAW is to keep internal disturbances flaring up and the ISI preoccupied so that Pakistan can lend no worthwhile resistance to Indian designs in the region.”

Nehru’s commitments on Kashmir to the world

India relents: Occupied Kashmiris can travel to Free Azad Kashmir (Pakistan)

Advani Launching Hindu campaign against Occupied Kashmiris

Pakistan welcomes the liberty trucks from Indian Occupied Kashmir to Azad Kashmir. Mr. Manmohan bring down the wall: Let freedom reign.

Jammu vs. Kashmir = Hindu vs. Muslim in “secular” India

India is also waging a water war in the Kashmir region.

Azad Kashmir is the slice of territory where Kashmiris can breathe freedom. More than 500,000 Kashmiris wanted to cross the Line of Control (LOC) and and reach their brothers and sisters in Muszaffarabad.

Occupied Jammu and Kashmir has separated the Kashmiris from their brtherren in Azad Kashmir and Pakistan.

Northern Areas are part of Pakistan and were never part of Kashmir .

The idea of becoming subservient to India is abhorrent and that of cooperation withIndia, withthe object of promoting tension with China, equally repugnant.” Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto

Kargil facts

Balkanization of India: Kashmirigovernment collapses-Martial Law and curfew- "heading towards a communal meltdown" (BBC)

Indian Kashmirs desperate for trade with free Pakistani Kashmir

Clear lines drawn: Kashmiri Muslims vs Jammu Hindus

Northern Areas are part of Pakistan and were never part of Kashmir

Kashmir and Junagarh is Pakistani territory

Kashmir: Does the article of accession exist?

US resolutions, and Nehru speeches on disputed nature of Kashmir

Kashmir, Manavadar and Junagarh are Pakistan: “Tehrik e Ilhaq e Pakistan” is alive

Israel Urges Russian Restraint On Arms To Arabs

Wed, 21 Aug 2008 07:09:34 GMT

posted by fstopsky

There are still Israel and American Jewish leaders who believe the presidency of George Bush has helped Israel in its conflicts with Arab nations. However, last night, Prime Minister Olmert of Israel was on the phone to President Medvedev urging Russia not to increase sale of arms to Arab nations. Up to this point, the Russians have respected Israel pleas, but in the aftermath of the disastrous Bush encourage invasion of South Ossetia, the deck is now stacked in favor of more arms to Arab nations and groups. Syrian President Bashar Assad will be arriving in Moscow today to make certain Russian leaders know that Israel arms were supplied to the Georgian government. Assad wants more military and technical assistance from Russia which currently is furious at Israel for supplying military vehicles and explosives to Georgian military forces. “I think that in Russia and in the world everyone is now aware of Israel’s role and its military consultants in the Georgian crisis.”

The Omert argument to Medvedev is that any arms supplied to Georgia were done by private Israel companies and not by the government. Sorry, Prime Minister Olmert, that is not an argument that will sell anything in Moscow these days.

Israel has tied itself to the flag of George Bush and now it must pay the penalty for working with a warmonger who enjoys creating chaos where none existed.

Ten policemen killed in Afghanistan bombing: officials

Sat, 17 Aug 2008 12:07:00 GMT

posted by sarfun

Ten policemen killed in Afghanistan bombing: officials
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) - A roadside bomb hit a police jeep in southern Afghanistan and killed 10 officers, as a soldier and 19 hardline Taliban rebels died in other violence, officials said Sunday.The police chief of Kandahar province, Mutiullah Khan, blamed the bombing on the "enemies of Afghanistan" -- a phrase most Afghan officials use to refer to Taliban militants.

"A roadside bomb struck a police vehicle. There were 10 policemen in the car who were all killed," Khan told AFP, adding that it happened overnight in the troubled Shah Wali Kot district of Kandahar.

Khan said the policemen were on a routine patrol at the time of the explosion. Roadside bombs are widely used by the Taliban and other militants in their attacks on Afghan and foreign troops.

More than 650 Afghan security forces have been killed in the past five months, according to interior ministry figures. Most have been police as they are a softer target compared to the Afghan army and international forces.

Kandahar, the biggest city in the country's south from where the Taliban sprung in the 1990s, has seen much of the violence in Afghanistan since the hardliners launched their insurgency.

In other fighting, a dozen rebels, most of them Al-Qaeda-linked foreign fighters, were killed in an operation by Afghan and foreign troops in central Ghazni province late Saturday, an official said.

"Twelve enemies, nine of them foreigners, including Uzbeks, Chechens and Arabs, were killed in an operation by Afghan security forces and coalition forces in Muqur district," said Ismail Jahangir, a provincial spokesman.

The defence ministry confirmed the incident but put the death toll at five militants, including three Pakistanis.

The ministry also said that an Afghan soldier was killed and six others were wounded in two separate bomb explosions on Saturday, one of them near the capital Kabul.

Meanwhile seven Taliban-linked militants were killed in another operation in southern Zabul province, an official there said.

In southern Helmand province, also a hotbed for rebel violence, authorities said they had captured a three-member militant "gang" responsible for killing influential tribal chiefs.

"It was a dangerous gang which was trained in Pakistan and was responsible for the killing of about 30 tribal chiefs in the past three or four years," provincial governor Gulab Mangal told AFP.

US-led forces toppled the Taliban in late 2001 after the September 11 attacks on the United States, but they have regrouped to challenge the US-backed government of President Hamid Karzai.

The rebels have some sanctuaries across the border in Pakistan, leading to increased pressure on Islamabad from US and Afghan officials to clamp down on the militants.

Indian Top Secret Kargil Tapes: The impact of releasing them

Thu, 15 Aug 2008 23:47:37 GMT

posted by moinansari

| NEW YORK | RUPEE NEWS | August 14th, 2008 | Iftikhar Gilani | Isha Khan | Kargil was Sichin in reverse. World opinion allowed Siachin to stand but Pakistan having won the victory on the battle field was forced to abandon Kargil. India’s interception of international and Pakistani traffic is not a matter of conjecture, India itself provided proof of its capability to monitor phone conversations between Pakistani officials during the Kargil conflict. “The Kargil tape was the greatest PSYWAR (psychological warfare) coup ever scored by RAW.”

Indian illegal interception of Internationl Internet traffic

Passing on Kargil tapes amounts to violation of the Official Secrets Act Maj Gen V.K. Singh

“We Shouldn’t Have Given The Secret Kargil Tapes To Pakistan” :Vajpayee’s handing over the Musharraf tape to Nawaz Sharif was an intelligence disaster

Revisiting Kargil a decade later: Fact and Fiction

Major General V.K. Singh was inducted into RAW from the army’s Signal Corps to look after technical intelligence. During his 2000-2004 stint, he was witness to several key developments in the agency which he has documented in his forthcoming book—India’s External Intelligence—Secrets of RAW. Singh says lack of any accountability and misuse of the agency by its political masters has severely impacted the functioning of RAW. Excerpts from an interview to Outlook:
You joined RAW in 2000 when a lot of changes were taking place in the aftermath of the Kargil war. What did we learn from the war?

Most of the recommendations of the Kargil Review Committee (KRC) and the task force on intelligence were never implemented.

“Why was the Kargil report about intelligence failure blacked out from Parliament?” Institutions such as the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) were supposed to take over all technical intelligence. Instead, there are areas where NTRO and RAW are busy duplicating each other’s capability without giving up on turf. Turf translates into power and no one is ready to give up on power. As for the KRC report, the papers pertaining to intelligence were kept out when it was sent to Parliament. This is shocking because there is no parliamentary monitoring of intelligence agencies in a functioning democracy like ours. So neither parliamentarians nor the public are aware of the failures nor can they participate in addressing the genuine concerns of agencies like RAW and IB.

What are your views on the political masters’ handling of RAW?

In most cases, I have found that the intelligence chiefs are not accountable to anyone even where financial issues are concerned.

They have unlimited powers and the political leadership has not questioned them at all. But there are instances when intelligence has been mishandled. Take the interception of the telephonic discussion during the Kargil war between General Musharraf and his chief of staff.

“RAW is funded by the taxpayer. The public has a right to know if it is worth their money.”
It should have never been revealed to the world. But the NDA government decided to hand over the tapes to then Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif. It created huge problems for us in the intelligence business. Did the brownie points scored (the tapes proved that Pakistan’s army was actively involved in the Kargil incursions) justify what we lost as our source of intelligence must be debated.
You are the first insider to write about the working of RAW. Why?

A year after joining RAW, I realised there were a lot of things that was wrong in its functioning. A lot of public money was being wasted without any accounting or accountability. I have highlighted a case where a particular German company was favoured to purchase antennae for Rs 12 lakh when we could have bought the same thing for just Rs 15,000. Such is the mess that we are in.

What do you think must be done to clean up the agency?

I strongly feel that like in the UK and the US there must be a parliamentary oversight committee to look into the functioning of intelligence agencies. This will bring about a much-needed accountability as well as give an opportunity for officers in RAW to effectively air their views without fear or favour. I see a lot of reporting on RAW that is factually wrong. Perhaps parliamentarians who are on the committee can issue statements clarifying or correcting such perceptions.

How will a public debate on intelligence help?

While operational matters must be strictly kept secret, the systemic issues must be openly debated. The method of functioning must be constantly questioned and reviewed and there is no harm in doing this. After all, the agencies are funded by taxpayers’ money and the public has a right to know whether they are getting their money’s worth.
http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodna…e=RAW&sid=2

Treason Or Diplomacy? :Passing on Kargil tapes amounts to violation of the Official Secrets Act Maj Gen V.K. Singh (retd)

When I wrote India’s External Intelligence: Secrets of Research and Analysis Wing, I intended to bring out the anomalies in RAW’s functioning, its lack of accountability, transparency and effective leadership. But the book has generated a specific controversy about the Kargil tapes released by the NDA government in 1999 and sent to then Pakistan premier Nawaz Sharif. I wish to clarify certain points about the tapes, the double standards in publicising classified information for short-term gains, and the Official Secrets Act (OSA).

Take the case of Brig Ujjal Dasgupta, director, computers, RAW. He returned from the US on June 14, 2006. After searching his office and interrogating him for over a month, IB officials arrested him on July 19. Significantly, RAW accorded sanction for his prosecution nine months after his arrest. He’s alleged to have passed on sensitive information to Rosanna Minchew, a US embassy staffer working for the CIA. Dasgupta and Minchew were members of the Indo-US Cyber Security Forum, set up to deal with cyber-terrorism and information security. He is presently in Tihar; his trial is yet to begin.

Charges against Dasgupta have been framed under OSA. As per the act, if an Indian has any sort of communication with a foreign national, he’s presumed to have passed on information useful to an enemy. To prove communication, it is enough if the name or address of a foreigner is found in his possession. So, if a foreigner’s phone number is found in the diary or SIM card of an Indian, he can be branded a spy. Since Minchew and Dasgupta were members of the same committee, they quite likely exchanged numbers and communicated.

After the Kargil intrusion in 1999, Pakistan denied Indian accusations of aggression, saying that the intruders were not Pak soldiers but militants. This lie was exposed when RAW intercepted a conversation between Gen Pervez Musharraf, then in Beijing, and his Chief of Staff, Lt Gen Mohammed Aziz, in Islamabad. The government decided to make the intercept public—it was broadcast on radio and TV, its transcripts were distributed to the media and foreign embassies in Delhi, a tape was sent to Nawaz Sharif. The intercept proved that Pakistan was the aggressor, and increased international pressure on it to withdraw. By this time the Indian army had recaptured most of the posts, incurring heavy casualties. The battle ended with considerable loss of face for Pakistan.

The NDA government hailed the broadcast of the intercept as a diplomatic victory. Commenting on my book, a former RAW officer has written that, “The Kargil tape was the greatest PSYWAR (psychological warfare) coup ever scored by RAW.” The presence of regular soldiers and differences between Sharif and the service chiefs was a useful piece of intelligence. How does it become PSYWAR? Anyhow, RAW’s job is to collect intelligence, not PSYWAR. The same officer goes on to say that the government’s decision to publicise the intercept had beneficial effects, such as convincing the US and China of Pak complicity and damaging its credibility. Are India and Pakistan schoolchildren and the US and China headmasters that we have to complain against each other to them?

Many people in the intelligence community and defence forces disagree with the wisdom of making the intercept public. With the resources at its disposal, the US would have discovered the Pak intrusion much earlier than we did. Nor do we know what part the intercepts played in the Pak army’s decision to withdraw; it really had no other option, being severely mauled in the battle. However, the decision to publicise the intercept definitely damaged our intelligence capability.As soon as Pakistan came to know that the particular satellite link between Beijing and Islamabad was being intercepted by RAW, it closed it. A valuable source of SIGINT (signal intelligence) dried up. The same RAW officer says, “This could have dried up at least temporarily the flow of intelligence from such instances of lax communications security. This is a danger, which would have been factored into the decision to release the tape.” Just what does temporarily mean? One year, ten or more? Who knows how much more intelligence, and for how long, the link would have yielded had it continued?

The legal aspect of the decision also needs to be considered. Doesn’t making the intercept public violate the OSA? Pakistan was definitely an enemy country, giving it information acquired by RAW would fall within the OSA ambit. After all, Dasgupta also stands accused of passing on information held by RAW. In his case, the alleged beneficiary isn’t an enemy country. There is no evidence of him having passed on information. Surprisingly, none in the legal fraternity has commented on this conundrum; nor has the issue been raised in Parliament. Meanwhile, Dasgupta continues to be incarcerated, without bail, charged with an offence there is no evidence for. Are we turning him into our own Captain Dreyfus?

(The writer served in the technical wing of RAW.)

http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodna…h+(F)&sid=1

Posted by Isha Khan, bdmailer@gmail.com

Post-Musharraf, Pak govt will be able to rein in ISI: Karzai

Tue, 20 Aug 2008 14:44:32 GMT

posted by bengani

With Pervez Musharraf stepping down as Pakistani President, Afghan leader Hamid Karzai has expressed hopes that the democratically elected government in that country would be able to rein in the ISI which allegedly played a key role in the Indian Embassy bombing in Kabul.

More than 50 people, including a Brigadier-rank Indian defence attache and a senior IFS officer, were killed in the suicide car bomb attack on the Indian mission in Kabul last month, which saw Afghanistan and the United States hinting at the involvement of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence.

“Gilani is a good man. He has the right intentions. I hope he gets the tools of control. That is for the Pakistani government to decide, and that is for us and the international community to help him with. Afghanistan will go out of its way,” President Karzai said in an interview to a news magazine.

Stressing that Afghanistan’s relations with India cannot be wrecked by bombs or suicides or by violence, Karzai said: “Our relationship with India in the same manner is not counterproductive to Pakistan. It is between Afghanistan and India. India is one of the great economic powers.

“(India provided) a good educational environment for Afghans — I was one of them and there are a thousand more like me in India now. Afghanistan wants this relationship, and we hope that Pakistan evolves into a good relationship with India as well. We have clarity about our objectives, our way forward, and about what we want to lead into the future. This cannot be undermined by bombs,” he said.

Calling upon the Pakistani Army to intervene in a bid to put an end to ISI’s “supporting militancy” in war-ravaged Afghanistan, Karzai said that “without friendly relations with Pakistan” his country “cannot achieve peace or prosperity”.

“I hope he (Pakistani Army Chief Gen Ashfaq P Kiyani) recognises that what they are doing (in terms of supporting militancy in Afghanistan) is causing immense damage to Pakistan itself. Someone has to recognise this need for change, and for a modern relationship with Afghanistan, a civilised relationship. I hope it will occur.

“Afghanistan’s progress and stability will only add to Pakistan’s progress and stability. Afghanistan will bring prosperity to add to Pakistan. Afghanistan will bring no quarrels to Pakistan,” Karzai said.

World Politics - Articles - Zimbio

Cold War 2: “Green Army in the Kashmir Valley, Red Army in Ladakh, & the Saffron Army in Jammu.”

US resolutions, and Nehru speeches on disputed nature of Kashmir

Kashmir dispute internationalized: OIC condemns occupation UN monitoring situation

Israel Urges Russian Restraint On Arms To Arabs

Ten policemen killed in Afghanistan bombing: officials

Indian Top Secret Kargil Tapes: The impact of releasing them

Post-Musharraf, Pak govt will be able to rein in ISI: Karzai