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Pakistan

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    Dangerous Uncertainty in Pakistan Junaid S. Ahmad January 28, 2012

    With relations between Pakistan’s civilian government and military incredibly tense, speculation is ripe in the local and international media that the threat of a military takeover looms large. The military is allegedly buoyed by the support of the Supreme Court and the country’s business and political elite. It seems that the days of Asif Ali Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)-led coalition government are numbered.

    The tensions reached their tipping point on January 11th when Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani alleged that the Pakistan Army and its intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), were unlawfully interfering in a controversial court case involving the government. This essentially amounted to accusing the heads of the army of defying the constitution and the democratically elected government. The military was quick to retort that there would be “very serious ramifications” and “grievous consequences” if the government continued its confrontational posturing.

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    Bin Laden Assassination Emboldens Empire Junaid Ahmad May 23, 2011

    Even though weeks have passed since the US raid which killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, details surrounding his death remain murky. The most curious question remains how was he able to “hide” in Abbottabad, a militarized garrison town, eluding Pakistani and US intelligence for so long.

    Apparently, the raid entailed US forces entering bin Laden’s compound, half a mile from the Pakistan Military Academy, and shooting him in the head and chest. The fact that the US altered its initial claim that bin Laden was killed in a fierce firefight to admitting that the Al Qaeda leader was unarmed tends to challenge the jingoistic superman narrative used to describe the assassination.

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    The War on Pakistanis Qalandar Bux Memon April 1, 2010

    When empires move in on a country, they do not aim to salvage people from oppressive power structures of the native country, but to further their own interests. Pakistan, like other recently decolonized countries, suffers from a long history of colonial rule and oppressive power struggles. We can trace such structures to the Mughals and see their solidity under the British. The British managed to create in Pakistan a ruling elite linked to empire in desire and interest, as they did in other Third World countries.

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    Imperialisms in South Asia Sahar Shafqat April 1, 2010

    In November 2009, the Pakistani Army began a major assault in South Waziristan, believed to be the stronghold of the largest of the Pakistani Taliban factions. In a stroke of genius, the Army dumped thousands of leaflets one day ahead of its assault as part of a public relations effort. The leaflets bore a letter directly from the head of the Pakistani Army, General Kayani, to the Mehsud tribe which lives in South Waziristan. The letter said: “The [military] operation is not meant to target the valiant and patriotic Mehsud tribes but [is] aimed at ridding them of the elements who have destroyed peace in the region.” In order to clear up any confusion as to whom the letter was from, the Army helpfully included a picture of General Kayani on the leaflets.

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    Covering Pakistan: How Journalists and Experts Reproduce Empire Madiha R. Tahir December 1, 2010

    The wiry black beard could hoodwink one into believing he’s a seasoned mullah from the forbidding Waziristan mountains, but he’s a young student, and incompetent too, for he’s trying to set a flag on fire—and failing. It’s June, and I’m standing on a road embankment outside the Karachi Press Club watching the protest against the Israeli attack on the Gaza flotilla. It’s been organized by the student wing of the Jamaat-e- Islami, one of Pakistan’s Islamist political parties.

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    Destabilizing Pakistan: Bombs, Mumbai, and Dangerous Alliances 23-7-10

    <I>A version of this article appeared in the <A HREF="http://leftturn.org/?q=node/1272">Jan/Feb issue of Left Turn magazine</A></I>

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    What's Behind Bhutto's Assassination? Junaid Ahmad January 01, 2008

    Benazir Bhutto, the "life chairperson" of Pakistan's largest and most popular political party, the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), is now dead. Her assassination took place while she was campaigning for national and provincial assembly elections, scheduled for January 8. After the assassination rioting ensued throughout the country, particularly in Karachi and Bhutto's native province of Sindh, which have been aflame with protests and social unrest. The assassination and suicide bombing occurred in Rawalpindi, the headquarters of the Pakistani military and supposedly one of the nation's most secure areas. In an even further twist of irony, the site of the tragedy is also the place Pakistan's first Prime Minister, Liaquat Ali Khan, was assassinated in 1951.

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    The Pakistan Partnership: Washington’s Close Relationship with Pakistan’s Military Regime Junaid Ahmad December 28, 2007
      On November 3, General-President Pervez Musharraf, a key partner in the Bush administration’s so-called “war on terror,” revealed one more time his absolute contempt for democracy and the rule of law. On this evening, Musharraf—who captured power in a military coup in October 1999—proclaimed a state of emergency, while security forces swiftly moved out across Islamabad to occupy the parliament and Supreme Court buildings, shut down private television stations, and dragged opposition activists into “preventive detention”.
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    Aafia Siddiqui: Another Person Disappeared in the War on Terror Cullen Goldblatt January 01, 2007

    SEEKING INFORMATION states the FBI in large bold letters at the top of the notice, then:

    Date of Birth Used: March 2, 1972

    Details: Although the FBI has no information indicating this individual is connected to specific terrorist activities, the FBI would like to locate and question this individual.

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    Bleeding Kashmir Junaid S. Ahmad October 10, 2002

    The Indian government’s decision to hold elections in the State of Jammu and Kashmir this month is neither new nor remotely promising. Once again, Kashmiris are forced to abandon their long-held aspirations of self-determination and independence from all imperialisms, regional and global, and be content with elections that the Indian government has staged and rigged on myriad previous occasions. Increased American and British interference in the region, under the guise of the “war on terror,” has only added to the list of powers attempting to gain a strategic foothold in Kashmir and from it, to the rest of Asia.

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