Afghanistan does it yet again

Afghanistan's persistent hostility towards Pakistan is well-established. Only last year, Hamid Karzai had more than once threatened to attack Pakistan on one pretext or other. Now, Afghanistan has done it again. Kabul has asked the West to review their Pakistan policy after leaked Pentagon documents pointed to "Pakistan's double dealing in the Afghan War".

Afghan war related hundreds of secret documents have been revealed on some website couple of days back and Kabul has not wasted the opportunity to point accusing finger towards Pakistan yet again. It is a matter of record that Kabul has been constantly accusing Pakistan's intelligence agencies of supporting Taliban insurgency. Islamabad has been denying these baseless and unfounded accusations but somehow Kabul insists on maintaining a hostile attitude towards Pakistan which itself is a victim of terrorism for some years and paying heavy price for being a front line member of US-led international coalition's war on terror.

Kabul's uncalled-for accusation has fallen on the ground all flat. Top most US military official none other than Admiral Mike Mullen has denied, according to reports in the media, that information in the leaked documents in any way questioned US strategy or relations with Pakistan.

It is a matter of coincidence that US's Afghan War secret documents have been leaked out on some website within a matter of days of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to Islamabad and bluntly refusing to enter into a New Delhi-Washington like civil nuclear technology deal with Islamabad as well. The bunt refusal was prompted by India's pressure on the USA.

In fact, US has lost the war in Afghanistan and is now finding a way out. Could not the Afghan War strategy documents be leaked out on the website by Afghanistan or USA purposefully? After all, the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington and demolishing of the World Trade Centre were also enacted to pave Washington's way to invade and conquer Iraq and Afghanistan and cast dirty evil eyes on Iran.

As for Kabul is concerned, it is only speaking as spokesman of the USA and should be dismissed summarily as nothing deserving some serious consideration, at all. If USA is not a friend of Pakistan despite all the tall claims, then how its installed puppet regime in Kabul be friendly towards its neighbouring Muslim country?

Zahid Kalim,

On email.

Railway double track

The Government of Pakistan is requested to take effective measures for undertaking the construction of railway double track from Peshawar to Karachi so that goods train can run around the clock from Karachi to Peshawar without any stoppage on various junctions.

This measure will shift the goods transit load from trucks and trailers from GT Road to the railway track. As result of this the railway will start earning profit instead of running in loss, and the Government of Pakistan will save billions of dollars per year presently being spent on the import of trucks, spare parts and oil besides on repair of GT Road getting damaged due to heavy traffic load costing millions of rupees annually.

Similarly the passengers travelling from Karachi to Peshawar will be able to travel in fast-moving trains without wasting time on various junctions, as a result of which travelling time will be considerably reduced and people will prefer travelling on railway passenger trains, being safe and comfortable, as compared to travelling on the GT Road where travelling is risky.

This is unfortunate that during last sixty years the Pakistan Railway has not contributed towards the development of the country and is running in loss, despite the fact the trains are running full and it is hard to find tickets for travelling, as such it is imperative that some effective system should be evolved so that passengers are not allowed to travel without ticket and the revenue earned by the railway is received by the public exchequer.

This is irony of fate Indian Railway is making profit whereas Pakistan Railway is running in loss. It is therefore imperative Pakistan Railway instead of reducing the number of passenger trains the railway track should be doubled as early as possible for shifting goods load from GT Road to railway track. This measure will reduce more than 40% problems of Pakistan by providing safe, comfortable, fast and economical railway to the poor masses of Pakistan.

Engr Mian Akhtar Shafi,

Peshawar.

Balochistan – What next?

The significant figure, Habib Jalib, was assassinated weeks ago in Balochistan and the blame is being put on the security agencies as he was vocal against the disappearances. He was a noncontroversial person who wanted to fight for the rights of the people and their just place in the politico-economic environment of the country. The role of army is largely positive because it is making all-out efforts to improve education level of the youth in Balochistan, but the murder of Habib Jalib has given a big blow to it.

The Baloch are only 3.57% of Pakistan’s total population; in that case there is political and economic discrimination with this province. The Baloch people’s grievances are not new. The Baloch nationalist movements demand from the centre greater cultural, economic and political rights, autonomy and independent state of Balochistan.

The wave of anti-Punjabi operations started by Baloch armed groups has taken the lives of many Punjabi teachers and professors of Baluchistan University, but they did not touch the religious figures.

Traditionally arms keeping is a sign of prestige and strength, and the culture of feudalism and sardari system are working in the tribal society. The people want development, progress, peace and prosperity in the province but a few elements are working against it.

What we need the most is to eliminate once and for all the menace of feudalism and sardari system for the progress of the province.

Attiqa Ahmed,

Rawalpindi.

Media ethics!

28 of July 2010 was a dark day for Pakistan. Not just because it was mostly cloudy, but for hundreds of lives lost in the plane crash, and tens of others in rains and floods. We thank our electronic media, especially the private (commercial) channels for keeping the nation updated round the clock. And we must also thank these TV channels for trying keeping the moods of the nation entertained through the ads. A piece of sorrow news gets frequently interrupted with music and female models. And we also must thank the staff and camera men of these channels for broadcasting close-ups of bereaved faces that are in tears and wailing. How uncomfortable those poor people would feel when our media professionals are doing what they think is an ethical job?

These are our media’s repulsive practices that we have accepted as ethical. But are they ethical?

Marghuz Khan,

Peshawar

New Abu Ghraib

This refers to leaks of more than 90,000 classified US military reports on the war in Afghanistan. WikiLeaks have branded these reports as “The Afghan war diary 2004-2010.”

The scale of leakage might have shocked the world community; however, the cruelty of war, scale of widespread destruction and corruption, and American soldiers’ disregard of local population as human beings may not be that shocking for most of us. There is nothing much to reveal when it comes to occupation of a country by another, especially when the occupier is a superpower, whether it’s Americans in Afghanistan and Iraq or Soviet Union in Afghanistan of 1980s. That’s why the US National Security Adviser Gen. James Jones has called the leakage of reports “irresponsible,” — that means the reports are believed to be correct but not supposed to be available to the general public.

The documents reveal hundreds of incidents in which coalition forces killed or injured civilians while most of the incidents went unreported. Reports include shooting of buses and vehicles that fail to slow down instantly, shooting of motorcyclists and pedestrians who fail to comply with the foreign soldiers instructions.

Reports may become the “Abu Ghraib” of Afghanistan but only for those who ever learned anything from Abu Ghraib. I am afraid there is no one interested to learn anything from history.

Reports also refer to alleged links between Pakistan’s ISI and Taliban. Such allegations are rampant but could be linked to the enmity of Afghan intelligence services for the ISI. In parallel someone may need to dig the reports to find out more on the US and NATO’s links with Taliban — ignoring poppy cultivation, paying money to warlords to secure highways for convoys’ movement, colluding with the Taliban at the local level to avoid any bloodshed during the deputation period. We are hearing condemning voices from the US and its allies including Pakistan. I believe these documents will help the American public to make up their minds about the Afghan war. And that should be the true purpose behind the leaks. Therefore, such leaks should be praised not condemned.

MUHAMMED JAMIL ATHER,

Karachi.