Taal Matol
Same old us
By Shoaib Hashmi
We've been having a quiet revolution. For more than a year it had been hanging fire. The chief justice of the Supreme Court had been removed although he and the rest of the lawyers' community refused to accept it and the lawyers have been holding a weekly boycott of the courts for almost two years. When Pervez Musharraf called it a day the PPP and Nawaz Sharif's Muslim League decided to form a coalition government. One of the conditions was the restoration of the Chief Justice.

profile
Baloch voice
A supporter of Baloch rights and provincial autonomy, Nawab Mohammad Aslam Khan Raisani now has a chance to do something for his people and province
By Rahimullah Yusufzai
The boycott of the February 2008 general elections by the Baloch and Pashtun nationalist parties in Balochistan was good news for the PPP and one of its provincial leaders Nawab Mohammad Aslam Khan Raisani. The party won more assembly seats than ever in the province and was thus able to form a coalition government with Raisani as the chief minister.

Political limbo
The possibilities of a political coalition still being explored in Punjab
By Waqar Gillani
Hectic political efforts are underway for PPP-PML-N patch-up in Punjab, with PPP's one-man squad, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, leading the show.

RIPPLE EFFECT
News you can use
By Omar R. Quraishi
I don't normally agree with people who don't like to be on mailings lists. I mean what's the worst that can happen; your mailbox will get flooded but if you have gmail or even hotmail now, that is always a remote possibility. And there is always the chance that you might get something interesting to read which is always useful; especially if you happen to be, say, a writer or a journalist.

In the war against terror, spearheaded by the Pakistani security forces and their western allies, the focus is Pak-Afghan border so far. But recent reports suggest that they are doing so, ignoring southern Punjab where the jihadi groups are fast expanding their influence.

"Owing to the support from long-established sunni extremist networks, these groups are based primarily in Punjab and have served as the army's jihadi proxies in Afghanistan and India since the 1980s," confirms International Crisis Group's (ICG) South Asia Project Director Samina Ahmed while talking to TNS.

Pakistani Taliban, which control a large part of Fata and some areas of NWFP, comprise a number of militant groups united under the Deobandi Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) responsible for attacks on state targets, such as military and police, and westerns targets including multinationals and foreigners, as well as shias, according to her.

Southern Punjab-based radical Deobandi groups, like Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM), the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) and its offshoot Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) are believed to be supplying weapons, recruits, finances and providing other resources to Pakistani Taliban groups. They have been responsible for planning many attacks attributed to Fata-based militants. JeM, SSP and LeJ are al-Qaeda's principal allies in the region.

Ahmed maintains that the most alarming trend in the area is the increasing cooperation between Deobandi jihadi organisations like JeM, LeJ and other Wahabi jehadi organisations like Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). "They have been helping each other to expand their area of influence in southern Punjab".

An ex-jehadi from Bahawalpur district tells TNS, on condition of anonymity, that jihadi groups like LeT and JeM are active in his area in recruiting new mujahids as well as generating funds. "Madrassas play the most important role in influencing the most important tool of the jihadists -- young boys. They are taught to fight in Afghanistan or Kashmir, and are told that to struggle against the anti-Islam forces is the religious obligation of every Muslim."

According to him, there are more than 400 madrassas in Ahmedpur Sharqia tehsil alone. Some of these are famous for recruiting hundreds of mujahids during the last decade or so. Roughly, 300 men in his village are trained fighters who have fought in Afghanistan or Kashmir. "They are a phone call away from their 'masters'," he says.

He estimates that thousands of 'semi-retired' mujahids are present in South Punjab. "They force people to follow their version of Islam or face the consequences. Owners of many video and CD shops in the Seraiki belt have received threats from militant organisations to close down their shops and stop selling immoral items," he informs.

Southern Punjab has always been the choicest recruiting base for militant organisations since 1980s. It has hosted some of Pakistan's most radical jihadi groups, namely Jaish-i-Mohammad, Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, Sipah-i-Sahaba, Lashkar-i-Tayyaba, Harkat-ul-Ansar, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and others. These groups have been accused of instigating sectarianism -- and suicide attacks.

In March 2002, two 'fidayeen' (the term introduced by the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi for suicide bombers in Pakistan) bombed the International Protestant Church in Islamabad -- believed to be the first suicide attack by a jihadi outfit in Pakistan.

On Feb 23, 2007, three suicide bombers, Adeel, Mohammad Akhtar and Maqsood, died when their explosives went off accidentally in Chichawatni, Sahiwal district. Police suspect they planned to carry out a suicide bombing during the qul of slain police inspector Rana Mohammad Saeed, which senior police officials were scheduled to attend. Adeel and Akhtar attended a local madrassa, the Madrassa Aziz-ul-Aloom. Maqsood belonged to the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi.

Six men killed in the US missile strike on Dec 11, 2008 in Azam Warsak in South Waziristan were from Punjab.

Rashid Rauf, killed in November 2008 by a US missile strike in Fata, was a British al-Qaeda operative. He was arrested from a madrassa in Bahawalpur. An associate and close relative of JeM chief Mulana Masood Azhar in Bahawalpur, he escaped from police custody in Islamabad in December 2007. Rauf's presence in Fata illustrates the links between sectarian, regional and global jihadis.

JeM is also believed to be involved in murder of American Journalist Daniel Pearl, who visited South Punjab frequently to investigate the link between jihadi organisations and intelligence agency. A prime suspect involved in Daniel Pearl's killing was Qari Hashim Furqan, a resident of Ahmed Pur Sharqia, a tehsil headquarter of Bahawalpur district.

Ghazi brothers of Islamabad's Lal Masjid also hailed from a village of Rajanpur District in southern Punjab. It is also proven that some of the UK-born 7/7 suicide bombers attended a madrassa in the Punjab shortly before carrying out their attacks. LeJ is also believed to be responsible for the attack on Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore early this month.

According to South Asia Terrorism Portal's assessment of Pakistan "…the lone terrorist arrested during the Mumbai attacks of November 26, 2008, Mohammad Ajmal Amir Iman alias Kasab, hails from Faridkot village in the Okara district of the Punjab province. Eight of the nine who were killed during the attack were also from Punjab. Both the LeT and the JeM draw a majority of their cadres from south Punjab, including Multan and Bahawalpur, which is also the JeM headquarters."

During a visit to Punjab in Sept 2008, NWFP Governor Owais Ghani said that militants in the tribal areas of the NWFP are networking with jihadi groups in southern Punjab. He said most of the fresh recruits for suicide attacks, militant leaders and commanders were coming from the province. "The militants' field commander in Swat too is from Punjab. It is wrong to believe that militancy will remain confined to the NWFP," he said.

Dr Musavir Hussain Bukhari, associated professor in political science department of Islamia University Bahawalpur told TNS that militancy was promoted in South Punjab along with other areas of Pakistan by General Zia with the help of US money in early 1980s to recruit mujahids to fight against USSR in Afghanistan. "Zia gave special attention to the Deobandi mullahs of South Punjab. They were not only given money but some of them were also allotted land in Islamabad, like Lal Masjid, to operate freely and promote the jihadi culture in the country.

"Syed Attaullah Shah Bukhari, a renowned Deobandi scholar from Darul Uloom Deoband was the first person before partition who worked to spread Deobandi Islam. Ahrar Tehreek was also strong in this region. After him people like Mufti Mahmood, Maulana Maudodi and Shah Alam Noorani spent time in these areas spreading their version of Islam.

"Different governments in Pakistan have deliberately or unconsciously ignored the area. With the absence of basic human facilities like education, drinking water, education and employment here, the ground was and still is ripe for jihadis."

There is something to be said for this business of slipper-throwing: there could scarcely have been more fitting a swan song for George Bush, a confirmed intellectual starvation area who played a major role in bringing this world to yet another sorry pass. Since journalist Zaidi got a great deal of play in the press around the world, this business is catching on. Now we have someone at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi tossing a slipper at Arundhati Roy.

We know the crimes that old Bush got the boot for, but Arundhati has done nothing more sinful than writing a novel that's a darn good read and looking pretty all the time. Her crime, we are told, was that she suggested Kashmir be given to Pakistan and the whole bloody issue got over with. If she were Punjabi she would have ended her statement with a 'kil kil hi mukao.'

Arundhati as she obviously is, has fooled the patriotic kid from JNU, young and callow. He has been singularly unable to see behind her façade. But she cannot fool foxy old me. Arundhati is clearly on the payroll of whatever or whoever it is that makes things happen in India. So here's the scenario.

India hands over Kashmir to us in this huge, ceremony attended by the high and the mighty of Pakistan and Paris Hilton. If you don't know who these high and mighty are, look at the social pages of our otherwise unreadable rags. The event gets premium coverage; India becomes the darling of the world for her magnanimity and Pakistan think they've got the moon (when all they got is lousy old Kashmir). But this is one story that will not end on 'and they lived happily ever after.' At least not yet. The real kil kil begins now.

Good old Arundhati and her paymasters have us nailed. Only they and nobody else ever recognised that Pakistan is the Land of Mediocrity and Incompetence where bumbling politicians (both civil and military) and an inept bureaucracy are all thumbs when it comes to management. I am surprised why a statesman as astute as Mr Nehru, his equally smart daughter Indira or the wily Mr Vajpayee never thought of this brilliant idea.

With Kashmir in our bungling hands this is what happens: since Pakistan is for Muslims (read Sunni) only where exhibition of joy and merriment is banned, we will first of all set about exterminating those heathen Sikhs and Hindus. Just look how those godless people have something or the other going on the livelong year. First they have the Basant, Holi and Bisakhi festivals. Then it is Dusehra or Divali. Those Worshippers of False Gods dance that utterly blasphemous bhangra and soil other folks clothing with colour. To name only two of their un-Islamic activities.

To pile iniquity upon iniquity, they quaff vast amounts of bhung on Holi. Who knows how much booze is also slipped in secretly? At Dusehra they have that giant effigy of Ravan which they tote around for a while before setting it alight with explosives. (Aside: that is why we hate the Shias because they do the same with their tazia). And then they make farther merry with Diwali by lighting pagan lamps. Why, they have an endless round of merriment and expressions of joy the year round.

So, they will have to be exterminated after Kashmir becomes Pakistan. But the great Manto once said that you cannot kill religion because religion abides in the soul and the soul never perishes. Consequently, no matter how many Sikhs and Hindus we burn in their homes and dispatch by suicide bombing, their religions will never cease to exist. If Manto were wrong there would have been no Shias, Christians, Hindus, Parsis or Sikhs in Pakistan today.

The only thing that will happen is that the non-Sunni Kashmiris will rise up against the state of Pakistan. Does that ring a bell? The last time we had such a thing going was in the late 1960s, not for religious but other reasons. That gave one hell of a problem to the map-makers of the world because they had to reprint their atlases with a new name: Bangladesh. But the Bengalis who we proud Pukhtuns and Punjabis always looked down upon for being short-statured, dark-skinned beggars were too slow. They took a quarter century to secede.

The Hindus and Sikhs of Kashmir, good Rajputs and Jats, will get their faster. Perhaps in four or five years. Much as I do not want a replay of the Jagjit Arora-Tiger Niazi spiel, I fear that might also happen.

That then is the scheme that Arundhati and her devious paymasters are concocting.

We've been having a quiet revolution. For more than a year it had been hanging fire. The chief justice of the Supreme Court had been removed although he and the rest of the lawyers' community refused to accept it and the lawyers have been holding a weekly boycott of the courts for almost two years. When Pervez Musharraf called it a day the PPP and Nawaz Sharif's Muslim League decided to form a coalition government. One of the conditions was the restoration of the Chief Justice.

Somehow that didn't come through as a result of which the Nawaz League walked out of the coalition. Nawaz, although sympathetic, was not really for it. Eventually the lawyers pushed him into openly supporting it, and promising to join their Long March planned on Islamabad and subsequent sit-in at the Parliament.

The government tried their best to persuade him to hold the Long March anywhere but on Constitution Avenue, or to dissuade him from the sit-in. The authorities clamped down on the prospective marchers arresting hundreds and putting dozens more under house arrest. But the whole thing was focussed on the underlings and none of the chiefs was nailed.

The day of the Long March from Lahore came round with Nawaz gathering his hordes and suddenly the whole thing was turned on its head. The Prime Minister came on public television, at five in the morning, announced orders for the Chief Justice to be restored, and his government's intention to ask the Supreme Court to set aside its decision to disqualify the Sharif brothers. Gatherings for the march suddenly turned into celebrations of victory and the march was called off.

It has been smooth sailing ever since with the Chief Justice actually restored at midnight the day the sitting chief retired. The retiring chief was duly sent off with dinners by the president and the PM. Last week the Sharif brothers at their house in Lahore invited the PM to lunch and he is said to be taking a goodwill message. The general feeling is that PPP and PML-N are going to cosy up to each other and form a coalition government again.

The point is if this is all that was necessary, why did we wait for two years? And whoever has persuaded whoever to do the necessary, what was he doing for the two years while allegations flew back and forth? After all the matter hung fire because somebody didn't trust somebody's intentions. So what happens now? All the people are the same.

The boycott of the February 2008 general elections by the Baloch and Pashtun nationalist parties in Balochistan was good news for the PPP and one of its provincial leaders Nawab Mohammad Aslam Khan Raisani. The party won more assembly seats than ever in the province and was thus able to form a coalition government with Raisani as the chief minister.

Though his family has been associated with the PPP for long, the 54-year old Raisani formally joined the party in 1994. His late father, Nawab Ghous Bakhsh Raisani, was a leader of the PPP during the time of its founder, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and had served as Governor of Balochistan and federal minister in the 1970s.

Following the assassination of the elder Raisani as a result of a tribal feud, Aslam Raisani became the chief of Sarawan, the traditional headquarters of the Raisani tribe. He inherited the Raisani tribal feuds, including one with the Rind tribe which is ongoing and has kept former federal minister and PML-Q leader Sardar Yar Mohammad Rind out of the PPP-led coalition government in Balochistan. Rind, it may be mentioned, is the only MPA in the 65-member provincial assembly who is in the opposition as everyone else is part of the large and unwieldy ruling coalition comprising parties having secular, religious, nationalistic and centrist orientation.

Aslam Raisani obtained his masters degree in political science from the Balochistan University. He also served as deputy superintendent of police in Balochistan before entering politics.

The Raisani, according to some accounts, is a Brahui tribe but is now referred to as a Brahui Baloch tribe. In fact, certain anthropological texts mention the Raisanis as Pashtuns belonging to the Tor Tareen tribe. On their part, the Raisanis are now very much part of the Baloch tribal set-up and Aslam Raisani is a member of the supreme council of the Baloch Qaumi Jirga that was set up by the Baloch tribal elders to carry out struggle for the rights of the tribe.

Starting from 1988, the younger Raisani has been elected MPA a number of times. He has a constituency tailor-made to his needs as the Raisanis and their allies live in significant numbers in Mastung-Kalat that makes up the area Balochistan Assembly's PB-38 seat.

Aslam Raisani's younger brother, Lashkari Khan Raisani, was elected MPA in the past. He is presently the Balochistan president of the PPP. They have four other brothers, including one Aminullah Raisani from another mother.

As Balochistan is still a largely tribal society dominated by the Nawabs and Sardars, the chiefs of various tribes have taken turns to rule the province. Both Sardar Attaullah Mengal and his son Sardar Akhtar Jan Mengal served as chief ministers to set up a record of sorts. The late Jam Ghulam Qadir Khan, a tribal chief from Lasbela, and his son Jam Mohammad Yousaf also made a record as both remained chief minister of the province. Sardar Mohammad Khan Barozai, Nawab Mohammad Akbar Khan Bugti and the Jamali cousins, who are forever in power due to their pro-establishment politics, too have served as either governor or chief minister of Balochistan. Even now two Nawabs are ruling the province. Nawab Raisani is the chief minister and Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Magsi is the governor.

On Apr 9, 2008, Aslam Raisani was elected the 13th chief minister of Balochistan. His election was unopposed as every political party with representation in the Balochistan Assembly had already been won over with offers of positions in the cabinet. So broad was the support for him that no nomination papers were filed for his election as leader of the House by MPAs from his own party, PPP, and those belonging to the National Party, Balochistan National Party (Awami), Maulana Fazlur Rahman's JUI-F, Asfandyar Wali Khan's ANP and the PML-Q. In fact, a likeminded group was formed by the PML-Q lawmakers, who were 18 in number and had the largest number of seats in the Balochistan Assembly, to join the PPP-led coalition government and destroy any chance for the PML-Q to lead the provincial government.

In his first speech after his election as chief minister, Aslam Raisani described maintenance of law and order as the first priority of his government and said he and his colleagues would work wisely for restoration of peace in the violence-hit province. As President Asif Ali Zardari, the PPP head originally belonging to a Baloch tribe, was supportive of the peace initiative in Balochistan, chief minister Raisani was able to make some moves toward this direction and a number of political prisoners were freed. The armed Baloch separatist groups such as the Baloch Liberation Army and the Baloch Liberation Front responded positively by declaring ceasefire. However, these groups later began expressing dissatisfaction over the lack of progress in peacefully resolving the Balochistan conflict and announced an end to the ceasefire. The subsequent kidnapping of UNHCR's Quetta-based official, John Solecki, by a previously unknown group claiming to fight for Baloch rights and the increase in the incidence of acts of terrorism showed that hopes for peaceful resolution of the problem had receded.

Raisani, who in recent years became afflicted with health problems and now faces difficulty in speaking coherently and clearly, has been a supporter of Baloch rights and provincial autonomy. Now in power, he has a chance to do something for his people and province. The whole Balochistan Assembly is behind him as there is practically no opposition in the legislature and the PPP-led federal government is supportive of his efforts. Raisani has also been campaigning for foreign investment in Balochistan and offering incentives to investors.

However, this goal would be difficult to achieve if peace and security wasn't restored in the vast province, which is the largest in Pakistan in terms of area. A new headache for Raisani were the recent reports in the US media based on leaks by American officials about Washington's plans to launch drone attacks to hit suspected Afghan Taliban hideouts in Quetta and rest of Balochistan. He reacted with strong condemnation of the move and the Balochistan Assembly came up a unanimous resolution against it.

But the US until now hasn't cared about such protests by the Pakistan government or the public outcry and continued its policy of using the CIA-operated drones to fire missiles at any target suspected to be linked to al-Qaeda or Taliban. The Raisani-led Balochistan government would have to cope with the fallout of any such US attack. The provincial government, already facing problems due to the constant jockeying among the coalition partners for more powers and ministerial portfolios, would come under greater strain in case the US went ahead with its arrogant policy of undermining Pakistan's sovereignty and attacking places in Pakistani territory with impunity.

Hectic political efforts are underway for PPP-PML-N patch-up in Punjab, with PPP's one-man squad, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, leading the show.

The political scene has undergone many alterations after the tumbling of PPP-PML-N coalition in Punjab. For one, PML-Q, earlier seen as a decisive factor, has been sidelined as a result. More than 80 percent of PML-Q parliamentarians support the idea of joining hands with PML-N thus making it difficult for the party leaders to win numbers required to form government with PPP.

Prime Minister, while addressing the PPP MPAs from Punjab in State Guest House Lahore on March 25, 2009, hinted at the possible reconciliation with PML-N. He lauded the role of PPP in saving the country from further disaster by restoring judges and proposing reconciliatory gesture towards PML-N. A majority of PPP MPA's, however, oppose any future efforts for reconciliation. PPP Punjab's president Rana Aftab Ahmed told TNS that the party member have conveyed their feeling to the prime minister hoping he will discuss the matter with the president. To the question of the possibility of a coalition government Aftab said: "The chances are there but the final decision rests with the party's co-chairperson."

Major obstacles in the way of the province's stability include the reversal of Feb 24 verdict of Supreme Court that disqualified Sharifs from contesting elections, abolishment of the 17th Amendment and ensuring peaceful environment in Punjab by sidelining Taseer -- a controversial governor. Political circles have also pinned hopes on President Zardari's address to joint parliamentary session for how serious PPP is in its reconciliation efforts.

On the other hand, Nawaz Sharif has declared a ceasefire: "We demand nothing from PPP except whatever is in the nation's interest and implementation of the Charter of Democracy," said the elder Sharif said while addressing the PML-N General Council meeting at Raiwind on March 23, 2009.

While talking to TNS, Sardar Zulfiqar Ali Khosa, provincial president PML-N and parliamentary leader of PML-N in the Punjab Assembly urged that the only way out of the present situation is the implementation of CoD, in letter and spirit. "My leadership has repeatedly made clear that they have no personal interests," he said, adding, "PML-N is ready to work with PPP if CoD is respected and issues are resolved amicably."

But PML-Q's President Ch Shujaat Hussain is apprehensive about the PPP-PML-N coalition. Hussain, who is making efforts for rapprochement with PML-N, proposed a tripartite coalition in the Punjab taking all three key parties on board -- a suggestion blatantly rejected by PML-N.

Mushahid Hussain Sayed, former senator and secretary general PML-Q, told TNS that PML-Q has always been in favour of PPP-PML-N alliance. "We think that that both parties should work together instead of waiting for calls from GHQ, London and Washington." He also urged the need to respect judiciary's independence in order to normalise the situation further. He said PML-Q would maintain its independent identity.

Mushahid suggested three steps for smooth political sailing: "All parties should respect each others' mandate and discourage forward bloc politics; they should resolve issues directly instead of waiting for GHQ and the need to respect the decisions."

Moeed Yousaf, a political analyst, told TNS that Punjab has, once again, emerged as a big pocket of PML-N. "PML-N has also shown its street power during the Long March. It seems very clear that if PML-N is not given its rights in Punjab the system will rupture."

He said, "Modus operandi of PPP was to capture Punjab which it tried to do through Salman Taseer. On the other side you have PML-Q that cannot risk joining hand with PPP. Right now PML-Q is neither with PPP nor PML-N."

The best option, Yousaf suggested, is for PPP to allow PML-N to form its government instead of taking extra-constitutional measures and unwise decisions to block PML-N's way. He also termed Taseer a wrong choice for PPP in Punjab. "The only positive option to settle the dust seems that Zardari must sit behind and activate Prime Minister Gilani to make a deal with Sharifs, including the power-sharing formula in Punjab," he said, adding, "If the government of Shahbaz Sharif is restored, PPP can get better share through PM."

He said electoral disqualification of Nawaz was another major issue. He hinted at the possibility that courts might restore Shahbaz Sharif but bar Nawaz from contesting elections in future.

By Omar R. Quraishi

I don't normally agree with people who don't like to be on mailings lists. I mean what's the worst that can happen; your mailbox will get flooded but if you have gmail or even hotmail now, that is always a remote possibility. And there is always the chance that you might get something interesting to read which is always useful; especially if you happen to be, say, a writer or a journalist.

As for me, I have been added to so many mailing lists that I have lost track. Some, like this one on South Asia, is a little irregular though invaluable. It informs one of many interesting articles that appear in the Indian, Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi press. Of late, there is also another one called 'Whiz News Service' (don't let the name fool you) to which I have been added to.

Whoever is behind it seems to have an excellent news sense because he, or she, often picks up stories I never read or see in the mainstream media, either in Pakistan or in the British, American or Indian ones.

Let's take a closer look at this 'Whiz News Service'. For instance, in an email I got on March 24 one of the many stories was about a list of Britain's 13 most powerful Muslim women' -- I wondered why 13 -- published by the UK's Equality and Rights Commission in association with Times and Emel magazine. It said that Britain's workforce included over 100,000 Muslim women (out of an estimated adult female Muslim population of 768,000). It was also noted that these women "share the ambitions and challenges of all working women." Sounds pretty patronising, to say the least. Why have a ranking of Muslim women at all? Would there be a ranking of the 13 most successful Christian women in the UK?

The head of the commission responsible for compiling the list -- based on nominations – was quoted as saying that there weren't many groups "more stereotyped, yet less understood" than working Muslim women in Britain. The irony being, of course, that surely such a list not only reinforces the stereotype by treating them as some kind of exotic 'other' but separate from the rest of the British society.

Then there was another story by CNN which said that ten Muslim organisation in the US have accused FBI of planting moles in mosques in California. The FBI of course denied the allegations. The Muslim organisation insisted that FBI had sent undercover agents posing as worshippers into mosques. They also said that Muslims had been "pressurised" to become informants for the bureau and that misinformation about the community in general was also being spread. The groups also threatened to cut ties to the bureau because of these actions, the report said. The ties were created on the basis of the FBI's attempts to reach out and begin a dialogue with America's Muslim population.

The news quoted the organisation saying that Ahmadullah Niazi, an Afghani and a member of the Islamic Centre in Irvine, California, had been threatened by an FBI agent, during a raid at his friend's house, that his life would be made a "living hell" if he did not cooperate with the bureau.

This was followed by a detailed story about what is being billed as the world's cheapest car. At 100,000 Indian rupees, the Tata Nano is just over three metres long and is a viable alternative to having a motorbike. And how is it so cheap? It has no air-conditioning, has a manual steering with no air bags, no power windows and has smallish engine, 624 cc, which gives it a top speed of 70 kilometres per hour. Plastics have been used in the body and instead of welding parts such as bumpers, the manufacturers have used adhesives.

Next was a piece titled 'Empire of bases' by Hugh Gusterson, a professor of anthropology and sociology at George Mason University. He cites Pentagon's own figures to write that America has around 865 military bases worldwide but if new ones in Iraq and Afghanistan were included, then the figure goes to over a thousand. And to give another measure of the US's hegemony in such matters, he says that these make up 95 per cent of all the military bases any one country has in another country. He argues, quoting a historian that the American approach towards colonisation was different from that of the Europeans, who would conquer a country and then administer it. The American approach, he argues, is "leaner" because it relies only on the presence of these bases in the host country. Most of these bases are still in Europe -- Germany is said to have over 220 -- and the US spend over a hundred billion dollars to run them (excluding the ones in Iraq and Afghanistan which are paid-for under a separate head).

Finally, a piece about how Israeli soldiers complain about the rising influence of the ultra-right orthodoxy within the Israeli army. The report, surprisingly carried in the New York Times, quoted from published eyewitness accounts of Israeli soldiers who took part in the recent invasion of Gaza to suggest that religious fanatics were using the military campaign to tell the soldiers that they were on a holy mission and that it was their religious duty to expel the non-Jews. One soldier was quoted saying: "The rabbinate brought in a lot of booklets and articles and their message was very clear: We are the Jewish people, we came to this land by a miracle, God brought us back to this land and now we need to fight to expel the non-Jews who are interfering with our conquest of this holy land." The report also quoted an incident concerning the Israeli Army's rabbi – a brigadier – who used a religious edict to essentially tell soldiers that they should not show any mercy to the enemy.

The writer is Editorial Pages Editor of The News. Email: omarq@cyber.net.pk