Pakistan Ledger: Unbiased World news & views

Indian missile systems: A tale of tears and failure

Indian missile system started back in the 50s on a five folder programme namely:

1) Agni 2)Pirthivi 3)Akash 4)Trishul and 5) Nag consisting of surface to surface surface to air and anti-tank systems.

Prithvi: To date the only reliable delivery system inducted is the Pirthvi missile with a range of 300 kilometres. The subsequent versions of this missile are still undergoing tests. The pride of India the Agni missile tested last time landed 200 kilometres off target.

Akash: After several years of testing has been shelved for reasons best known to the Indians.

Trishul: Trishul is being replaced by Israeli and Russian systems.

Nag: The Nag proved to be as deadily as the Holy Cow.

The Pakistani missile systems consist of the following:

Hatf 1,Abdali,Ghaznavi,Shaheen 1,Ghauri,Anza mk 1 and 2,The Green Arrow and The Babur cruise missile

When Pakistan tested the first of the Hatf series the Indian military chiefs regarded it as a mere fire cracker. Over the years the firecracker has earned the reputation of being called the Safron Slayer and Bombay Blasters. Pakistan has not only successfully tested about a dozen different delivery systems but most astoundingly within a space of 20 years have operationally inducted half a dozen delivery systems the Hatf 1,Abdali,Ghaznavi,Shaheen 1,Ghauri,Anza mk 1 and 2,The Green Arrow and The Babur cruise missile.

They are all operational with the Pakistan strategic forces. Where as Ghauri 2 and Shaheen 2 are in advanced testing stages the biggest shock for the world the Taimur Delivery system is waiting in the pipelines.

The Green arrow is an anti tank missile amongst other countries it was sold to saudi arabia who wrecked havock on Iraqi tanks during the first gulf war.It was first inducted by the Pakistan army in 1988-89 also called baktar shikan newer and more deadly versions have since been introduced.
Taimur is a highly classified project lets say we are talking about launching satellites as far as the enemy isconcerned believe me the babur cruise missile is sufficient enough to take care the so called

Yeah Baktar Shikan we all know. Any how there is some work to be completed soon
1- Increase range of Babur
2-Developed a naval version of Babur.
3-SLV, indeed we need that desperately. SLV indeed Pakistan's top most military and strategic need at this point of time not only that but whole Satellite system. I know we can have access to Chinese GPS if required;

Pakistani Cheese for Western whine:

Pakistan was not consulted when an anti-Pakistan cabal of non-Pashtun minorities, and coterie of corrupt incompetent warlords was imposed on Kabul. Pakistan was not listened to when she gave free advice to make the government more inclusive. Pakistan was not consulted when Mr. Karzai embraced India and opened up 4 Consulates and 13 information centers in Afghanistan.

In ghost town where Afghan war begins, UK fights losing battle

This article appeared in the Guardian on Monday May 05 2008 on p1 of the Top stories section. It was last updated at 00:17 on May 05 2008.

A convoy of US Marines pushes through the deserted Afghan town of Garmser as part of an operation by the new Nato-commanded reserve forces to distrupt Taliban infilitration and drug smuggling in the area. Photograph: Declan Walsh

There is only silence in Garmser, a ghost town on the edge of the desert in southern Afghanistan. The bazaar is a lonely line of abandoned shops and debris-strewn streets. There is just one trader - a baker - whose sole customers are British soldiers and Afghan police.

Further out, giant bomb craters dot the broken gardens and shredded fruit orchards of empty houses. Now they are inhabited by the British.

Squatting on a rickety rooftop, Corporal Lachlan MacNeil pointed to a cluster of long, low buildings. "That's the madrasa [Islamic school]. It's a training camp for the Taliban," he said, his face glistening from the morning heat. "Mostly foreigners inside, we hear - central Asians and Arabs, but especially Pakistanis."

For many Taliban fighters, this deserted, dog-eared town is where the war starts. Garmser is the gateway to Afghanistan for insurgents who stream across the border from Pakistan, 120 miles to the south. The British base here is their first encounter with the "infidels".

"They blood themselves against UK forces here, then graduate into the upper valleys," said Major Neil Den-McKay, officer commanding of a Scottish infantry company stationed at Garmser's agricultural college.

The fighters that pass before the British doorstep are as diverse as the Taliban has become. There are hard-bitten ideologues from the original Taliban movement of the 1990s, hired local fighters known as "$10 Taliban", Baluch drug smugglers and al-Qaida- linked Arabs.

But most, Afghan and British officials say, are Pakistani - ideologically driven young men who consider the war as a religious obligation of struggle, or jihad.

"Our understanding is that the madrasas of northern Pakistan are a major breeding ground that provide the bulk of brainwashed Taliban fighters," said Lieutenant Colonel Nick Borton, commanding officer of Battlegroup South.

Up to 60% of the fighters in Garmser are Pakistani, the Afghan intelligence chief in Garmser, Mir Hamza, said. They come from militant hotspots such as Waziristan and Swat, but also from Punjab, a rich agricultural province with a history of producing radical Islamists.

"Sometimes the Pakistanis have trouble communicating with local [Pashto-speaking] fighters, because they only speak Urdu or Punjabi," he said.

The insurgents cross from Baluchistan, a sprawling province in western Pakistan whose capital, Quetta, is considered to be the Taliban headquarters by Nato commanders. They muster in remote refugee camps west of Quetta - Girdi Jungle is most frequently mentioned - before slipping across the border in four-wheel drive convoys that split up to avoid detection, said Den-McKay. Sometimes sympathetic border guards help them on their way, he said.

Inside Afghanistan the fighters thunder across the Dasht-i-Margo - a harsh expanse of ancient smuggling trails which means "desert of death" - before reaching the river Helmand. Here, the sand turns to lush fields of poppy and wheat, and they reach Garmser, home to the most southerly British base in Helmand.

A wall-sized map in the British base shows the balance of forces. The British control the town centre; the Taliban a sprawl of mud-walled farmhouses that spills south and east. With its irrigation canals, world war one-style trenches and thick vegetation, the area makes for fine guerrilla ground. "This is one of the few places in Afghanistan where there is a visible frontline," said Captain Ross Boyd, sitting in an outpost surrounded by barbed wire.

Last week US marines joined the battle, sending more than 1,000 troops to punch through the Taliban lines around Garmser. Their mission is to disrupt the two-way traffic of fighters scooting north and opium shipments headed south. The Americans met with sporadic, but dogged resistance. Black-clad fighters ambushed them with small arms and rocket propelled grenades, drawing deadly ripostes from helicopter gunships and fighter jets.

The combat continued yesterday as American heavy guns pounded Taliban positions near Garmser.

At the British base, the UK's ambassador to Afghanistan, Sherard Cowper-Coles, had a taste of the action. As he was being briefed on the fighting, Taliban machine gun fire erupted close to the camp. The exchange ended when British attack helicopters and mortars opened fire on the suspected Taliban positions.

British officers say they have ample evidence that many of the enemy are Pakistani. While remaining coy about their sources of intelligence, they speak of hearing Punjab accents and of finding Pakistani papers and telephone contacts on dead fighters.

Four months ago, Den-McKay said, British Gurkhas shot dead a Taliban militant near a small outpost known as Hamburger Hill. Searching the fighter's body, they discovered a Pakistani identity card and handwritten notes in Punjabi.

The issue of cross-border infiltration has vexed relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Afghan officials say that Islamabad at best turns a blind eye to the flow, at worst encourages it.

Last Wednesday, Afghanistan's intelligence chief, Amrullah Saleh, alleged that an assassination attempt against President Hamid Karzai the previous weekend had been hatched in Pakistan's tribal areas. He said the attackers had been "receiving orders from the other side of the border until the last moments".

The debate has a very different tone in Pakistan. A spate of Islamist bombs has rocked major cities in the past year. But Pakistanis blame the American and Nato aggression in Afghanistan for inflaming Islamist passions, and see the Taliban as an expression of Pashtun nationalism. Pakistanis are also suspicious of the proliferation of Indian consulates in southern Afghanistan.

In Garmser, the Scottish infantrymen hope to push the Taliban back and fill the town with people again. The continuing marine operation may help that objective.

But the main British effort is concentrated in northern Helmand, and local governance is weak in Garmser, where most of the town elders and administrators have fled to the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah.

And as the poppy harvest draws to a close, commanders expect a fresh spurt of fighting in the coming weeks. Combined with the stream of Taliban from Pakistan, British officers recognise they are only holding the line.

"I'm under no illusions. We are not stopping the movement north," said Den-McKay. "We're just giving them something to talk about."

"US would not countenance the FATA region to be used for mounting attacks on Pakistan itself, Afghanistan and the West" Negroponte

It was easy for the PPP to sit in the opposition and blame everything on the previous government. Now that the PPP is in power, its alliance with the PMLN is in tatters, and the tentative peace deal with the Tehrik a Taliban Pakistan is was shattered by a suicide bomb in Peshawar. The Americans have opened their familiar Indian playbook and have started chanting "Do More" once again.

Baitullah Mehsud is obviously a foreign agent and saboteur. The Afghan Taliban have disassociated themselves from Baitullah Mehsud and his organization.

The rise of Baitullah Mehsud has nothing to do with the history of Afghanistan or President Musharraf. Mehsud is simply an agent whose goal is to listen to his masters in New Delhi and Kabul

Mehsud has no intention of allowing peace in Pakistan. These are agents of RAW whose only aim in life it to bring chaos into Pakistan and to destabilize Pakistan. These are the same people who killed Benazir Bhutto and tried to assassinate Pervez Musharraf. Those who blamed the previous government are now tasked to eliminate the root cause of terror. Putting Kashmir on the back burner and letting future generation deal with it is not the answer. As soon as Kashmir is given up, they start claiming parts of Pakistan as it exists today. Appeasement is not the answer to RAW. Aggressive defense is.

There has to be a massive campaign to detoxify these people. Some of the disgruntled rebels without a cause were withdrawn from Kashmir, are now active in Pakistan.

Pakistan faced Khad retaliatory bombs during the occupation of Afghanistan by the USSR. After that there were no bombs in Pakistan. After the Taliban were removed from Kabul and Mr. Karzai took over, the bombing resumed. Some of the attacks may not have been actually suicide bombs, but the government said that they were.

To eliminate Baitullah Mehsud, the Afghan government and its sponsors in New Delhi have to to be reigned in. Mr. Karzai is the puppet. He has allowed RAW to proliferate Afghanistan. At one point a low level RAW agent scolded Mr. Karzai within earshot of other people. Unless and until Mr. Karzai and Indian agents are not removed from Afghanistan there will be no peace in Pakistan.

US asks Pakistan to live up to 'war on terror' commitment

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States has said it wanted Pakistan to live up to its commitment of urgently bringing security under control in its remote tribal areas allegedly used as safe haven by Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants.

The call came amid worries in Washington that the new coalition government led by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, which is negotiating with a Taliban commander, may strike a deal with militants and undermine a long "war on terror" partnership.

Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said Islamabad recognized that bringing the mountainous and unpoliced Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) under control was an urgent priority for Pakistan's own sake.

"But let me be clear: we will not be satisfied until all the violent extremism emanating from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas is brought under control," he said Monday at a forum of the Washington-based National Endowment for Democracy.

"It is unacceptable for extremists to use those areas to plan, train for, or execute attacks against Afghanistan, Pakistan, or the wider world," he said. "Their ongoing ability to do so is a barrier to lasting security, both regionally and internationally."

Negroponte said Pakistan's government "must bring the frontier area under its control as quickly as possible," pointing out that Washington was prepared to provide "appropriate assistance" in order to achieve that objective.

Gilani's government, formed after the backers of key war on terror ally President Pervez Musharraf were defeated in elections in February, has pledged to completely overhaul Islamabad's counter terrorism pursuit.

It has been trying to reach a peace deal with a Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud accused of masterminding the slaying of former premier Benazir Bhutto in December.

Warlord Mehsud declared a unilateral truce with security forces in the lawless tribal regions last month after officials said the government had drafted a peace agreement with Islamic militants.

But the militant halted talks last week because the government refused to withdraw its troops from his area.

Negroponte warned that Americans "don't want to see the tribal area being used as a platform for plotting and executing international terrorist activity against the West.

"So any kind of agreement or understanding which might be negotiated, we would have to look at in the light of those imperatives for United States policies," he said.

The administration of US President George W. Bush has warned that Al-Qaeda was rebuilding itself in Pakistan's FATA and North West Frontier Province, both on the border with Afghanistan.

The FATA is also seen by Washington as a staging area for Al-Qaeda attacks in support of the Taliban in Afghanistan, where US and NATO troops have suffered heavy casualties battling a long drawn insurgency.

Negroponte said the United States expected Pakistan's civilian and military leadership to be "strong partners against violent extremists in Pakistan's frontier areas."

To help extend the Pakistani government's authority into those regions, he said, the United States was implementing a multi-year program to expand, equip, and train local security forces in the tribal areas.

A successful strategy in the tribal areas, he said, must include not only the possibility of military operations but also a serious and sustained economic development program and improvements in education and governance

In the 50s, when the Afghans invaded Pakistan, an embargo was placed on goods to Afghanistan. This brought Kabul to its senses. Everyday the Northern Alliance warlords speak against Pakistan. Mr. Karzai the Indian puppet blames Pakistan for every leaf that falls in Kabul.

The recent coup and attack on Kabul by the Pashtuns in Mr. Karzai's army and police was quickly blamed on Pakistan. Two days later the Kabul "government" woke up to the reality of the wide discontent in Kabul against Mr. Karazai. As if this was a secret.

Mr. Karzai or his able lieutenant who recently visited occupied Kashmir to learn about anti-insurgency never apologized for his false accusations against Pakistan.

The food aid to Kabul perpetuates the failed regime of Mr. Karzai and allows him to continue his tirades against Pakistan. The food aid helps him keep the four Indian consulates and 13 "information centers" run by Indian intelligence services.

Pakistan has over the past few decades taken care of millions of Afghans. All she has gotten from Afghanistan is blame and problems.

Some starvation and food shortages in Kabul will go a long way in sending a clear message to Mr. Karzai on what could happen to his land lock country if he continues his dangerous flirtation with New Delhi.

Pakistan can setup foor centers on the Afghan side of the border and provide food as she has done for decades. Sending food directly props up the wrong government in Kabul

Does anyone in Islamabad have a backbone to send a clear message to Mr. Karzai?

Pakistan sends wheat to Afghans to avert crisis

Tue May 6, 2008 8:25pm IST By Kamran Haider By Kamran Haider

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan approved on Tuesday the export of 50,000 tonnes of wheat to Afghanistan to avert a food crisis there and said exports to its landlocked neighbour would continue on a government-to-government basis.

The Pakistani government also approved the immediate import of 250,000 tonnes of wheat, part of a targeted 1.5 million tonnes of imports this year, and said a surplus of rice would be exported but only after domestic needs were met.

Pakistan launched a crackdown on the smuggling of wheat flour to Afghanistan late last year as prices of the staple surged.

The government's highest economic decision-making body, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC), approved the export to Afghanistan at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani.

"The ECC approved the export of 50,000 tonnes of wheat to Afghanistan to avert food crisis in additional to their annual requirement," the prime minister's office said in a statement.

Gilani also directed that the export of wheat to Afghanistan should only be done on a government-to-government level while measures to check smuggling would be strengthened, it said.

Pakistan expects wheat output of 21.8 million tonnes this year, below a target of 24 million tonnes, and 1 million tonnes less than domestic requirements.

Last month, the government approved the import of 1.5 million tonnes of wheat and Gilani approved the immediate import of 250,000 tonnes of that to control prices and address shortages.

RICE EXPORTS

Pakistan expected rice output of up to 5.5 million tonnes this financial year, ending on June 30, and domestic consumption would be a little over 2.2 million tonnes, the office said.

The surplus would be exported after domestic needs were met and domestic prices were stabilised, it said.

"While observing that the rice production is surplus in Pakistan, the ECC decided that the export of rice must be undertaken after meeting the domestic consumption and ensuring the stability of prices," the prime minister's office said.

Last month, the government raised the prospect of imposing curbs on rice exports if prices rose in the domestic market.

Rice, a high-value cash crop, accounts for about 8 percent of Pakistani exports and 1.2 percent of gross domestic product.

High food prices lifted Pakistan's consumer price inflation to 14.12 percent year-on-year in March, the highest in 13 years.

The U.N. World Food Programme has said nearly half of Pakistan's 160 million people are at risk of going short of food because of a surge in prices.

Pakistan produced 5.4 million tonnes of rice last year and exported 3.12 million, equal to about a 10th of world rice trade, and it exported 1.6 million tonnes of rice in the first eight months of this fiscal year, according to official data.

Rice prices in Pakistan have doubled in the past few months.

Some main rice-growing countries, such as Vietnam and India, have clamped down on shipments to cool domestic prices, but that has in turn fanned worries about shortages and has helped push global prices higher.

(Additional reporting by Zeeshan Haider)

The butcher of Guatimala who was in charge when the nuns were raped to discredit the Guatemalan insurgents has again opened his mouth. As usual "the do more mantra" is the swan song of Mr. Negroponte dubbed "low level US official--what is his 'haisiet' by Awaz Mir. Mr. Negropnte and Mr. Boucher were again called a low level officials by journalists questioning them in front of Mr. Nawaz Sharif during a press conference right after Mr. Sharif had refused to go and see them. The "low level officials" then made a courtesy call to see Mr. Sharif to receive stretched handshakes.

The Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs should summon the officials and ask them for explanation for this rudeness and lack of understanding of the nuances of the war on terror.

Negroponte Calls on Pakistan to Take Control of Tribal Regions By VOA News 06 May 2008

A senior U.S. official is calling on Pakistan's government to extend its authority over the country's violent tribal regions as soon as possible.

John Negroponte

Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte says Washington will not be satisfied until all terrorism emanating from Pakistan's federally administered tribal areas is under control.  He says it is not acceptable for extremists to use those areas to carry out attacks against Afghanistan, Pakistan and the wider world.

Negroponte was speaking Monday in Washington at a forum of the National Endowment of Democracy.

He said the United States is helping Pakistan's government establish control in frontier areas by sending U.S. military personnel to equip and train Pakistani security forces.

Negroponte said both Washington and Islamabad understand that a successful anti-terrorism strategy also must include economic development work and improvements in education.

Pakistan's coalition government pledged to overhaul the country's counter-terrorism policies after winning elections in February.

The government has been negotiating in recent weeks with Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud to try to reach a peace deal with militants in the tribal regions.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP.