Pakistan News-links 1 January 2008

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Pakistan News-links 1 January 2008

Last updated: Wednesday, January 2, 2008 11:21

FOCUS | Bhutto Report: Musharraf Planned to Fix Elections
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010108Z.shtml
McClatchy Newspapers’ Saeed Shah reports that on the “day she was assassinated, last Thursday, Benazir Bhutto had planned to reveal new evidence alleging the involvement of Pakistan’s intelligence agencies in rigging the country’s upcoming elections, an aide said Monday.”

Bush Sticks With Musharraf as Pakistan ‘Democracy’ Push Stumbles 31 Dec 2007
George W. Bush’s support for Musharraf hasn’t changed, an administration official said, adding that the U.S. sees itself as playing a supporting role as Pakistan decides how to move forward on the path of ‘democracy.’
www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aQX0ZDny5LUY

Bhutto planned to expose government scheme to rig vote: Party aide 01 Jan 2008
On the day she was killed, opposition leader Benazir Bhutto planned to give two U.S. lawmakers a dossier accusing the [Bush-funded] ruling regime and Pakistan’s intelligence service of rigging upcoming elections, an aide said Tuesday. Sen. Latif Khosa, a lawmaker from Bhutto’s Pakistan Peoples Party, said she planned to meet Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Rep. Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island on Thursday evening, a few hours after the rally where she was killed. She was preparing to give the U.S. lawmakers a 160-page report of complaints on “pre-poll rigging” the government of President Pervez Musharraf and the military-run Inter-services Intelligence Service was engaged in, Khosa said.
www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-01-01-bhutto-scheme_N.htm

Lawyer: Police prevented Bhutto autopsy 31 Dec 2007
Rawalpindi’s police chief stopped doctors at the hospital where Benazir Bhutto died from conducting an autopsy, according to a lawyer on the hospital’s board. It was a violation of Pakistani criminal law and prevented a medical conclusion about what killed the former prime minister, said Athar Minallah, who serves on the board that manages Rawalpindi General Hospital.
edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/01/01/pakistan.autopsy/

Doctors Who Tried To Resuscitate Benazir Bhutto Were Pressured To Keep Quiet: Here’s Their Report
Winter Patriot
Emily Wax and Griff Witte of the Washington Post report news from Pakistan that theoretically should be shocking but somehow isn’t even surprising: Doctors Cite Pressure to Keep Silent On Bhutto Pakistani authorities have pressured the medical personnel who tried to save Benazir Bhutto’s life to remain silent about what happened in her final hour and have removed records of her treatment from the facility, according to doctors. In interviews, doctors who were at Bhutto’s side at Rawalpindi General Hospital said they were under extreme pressure not to share details about the nature of the injuries that the opposition leader suffered in an attack here Dec. 27….
www.uruknet.de/?p=39732

Pakistan: The Beginning of the Storm
By S.M. Hussain
We believe that the fundamental battle taking place in Pakistan is between the secular and western-based educated pro-American elites, against the Islam-championing hard core religious types.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18983.htm

Pakistan says kills 5 militants near Afghan border:
Pakistani security forces killed five al Qaeda-linked militants and captured 20 in an operation near the Afghan border today after insurgents abducted four troops in the area, the military said.
snipurl.com/1waz9

Pakistan’s parliamentary elections postponed till Feb. 11 :
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will postpone the general elections, scheduled to be held on Jan. 8, till at least Feb. 11, local TV channel DAWN NEWS reported on Tuesday.
news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-01/01/content_7347997.htm

Pakistan: The elections must go ahead:
Pakistan’s history is full of cover-ups and Bhutto’s murder is no exception. Without credible elections the country will continue its slide into chaos
snipurl.com/1wazd

Report: Day after Bhutto assassination, US Predator targeted Islamist ideologue:
“This nest of takfiris and their intrigues was on the radar of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the day after Bhutto’s killing Sheikh Essa was targeted by CIA Predator drones in his home in North Waziristan. “
snipurl.com/1wazk

The Benazir Bhutto dossier: ‘Secret service was diverting US aid for fighting militants to rig the elections’:
On the day she was assassinated, Benazir Bhutto was due to meet two senior American politicians to show them a confidential report alleging that Pakistan’s intelligence service was using US money to rig parliamentary elections, officials in her party said yesterday.
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3116090.ece

U.S. policy shown vulnerable to Qaeda strikes:
An al Qaeda role in the murder of Benazir Bhutto would show that the militant group can dramatically thwart U.S. foreign policy more than six years after President George W. Bush set out to defeat it.
snipurl.com/1wazs

Lockheed to supply 18 F-16s to Pakistan:
Lockheed Martin Corp LMT.N> was awarded a $498.2 million contract to supply F-16 aircraft to Pakistan, the Pentagon said on Monday, as Pakistani officials mulled whether to go ahead with a January 8 election after the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.
www.reuters.com/article/gc04/idUSN3159264420071231

CIA-ISI Created “Qaeda Network” Blamed for Pakistan Troubles
Kurt Nimmo, Prison Planet
It is a familiar if not worn-out refrain: “The Qaeda network accused by Pakistan’s government of killing the opposition leader Benazir Bhutto is increasingly made up not of foreign fighters but of homegrown Pakistani militants bent on destabilizing the country, analysts and security officials here say.” If we are to believe the New York Times — you know, the propaganda sheet in large part responsible for selling the “war” in Iraq, that is to say the plan to mass murder of more than a million Iraqis — the contrived terrorist scare crow al-Qaeda has “clearly expanded their ranks and turned to a direct confrontation with the Pakistani security forces while also aiming at political figures like Ms. Bhutto,” never mind there is absolutely no evidence of this and never mind as well al-Qaeda was in fact created by Pakistan’s ISI, with a large infusion of CIA cash and directives….
www.uruknet.de/?p=39719

Pakistan, India swap nuclear lists without much fanfare.
by Staff Writers
Islamabad (AFP) Jan 1, 2008
Pakistan and India on Tuesday exchanged lists of their nuclear sites under an agreement between the South Asian rivals to swap such information annually on New Year’s Day, the foreign ministry said.
www.spacewar.com/reports/Pakistan
_India_swap_nuclear_lists_999.html

Analysis: Avoiding martial law in Pakistan
Washington (UPI) Dec 31, 2007 – Soon after former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, the Bush administration launched a concerted effort to ensure that Pakistan does not revert to yet another martial law. “We urge them to honor Benazir Bhutto’s memory by continuing with the democratic process for which she so bravely gave her life,” said President Bush hours after Bhutto’s death Thursday …
www.spacewar.com/reports/Analysis_
Avoiding_martial_law_in_Pakistan_999.html

Analysis: Military slew Bhutto — sources
Washington (UPI) Dec 31, 2007 – Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on orders of lower- and middle-level officers of the Pakistani army and air force, according to various intelligence sources, including members of India’s counterintelligence service. According to a source who asked to remain unnamed, members of the Pakistani armed forces involved in Thursday’s killing of the former prime minister and leader of the opposition …
www.spacewar.com/reports/Analysis_
Avoiding_martial_law_in_Pakistan_999.html

Atlantic Eye: Pakistan’s drop to the abyss
Malmo, Sweden (UPI) Dec 31, 2007 – “Musharraf will bring us to the brink,” Pakistan’s Ambassador Asif Ezdi said to me privately in Berlin in December 2002. I looked doubtfully at Ezdi. It was a year after Sept. 11; Musharraf was an ally of the United States. I did not recognize how prescient Ezdi’s words would be. Five years ago I hosted a good-bye dinner in Berlin’s venerable Brandenburger Hof for the dean of the Diplo …
www.spacewar.com/reports/Atlantic_Eye
_Pakistans_drop_to_the_abyss_999.html

US stuck with Musharraf: White House runners
by Staff Writers
Washington (AFP) Dec 30, 2007
Top presidential candidates said Sunday the United States was stuck for now with Pakistan’s unpopular President Pervez Musharraf at a time of boiling unrest in the nuclear-armed US ally.
www.spacewar.com/reports/US_stuck_with
_Musharraf_White_House_runners_999.html

Pakistan can survive latest chaos and bloodshed: analysts
Islamabad (AFP) Dec 30, 2007 – Born from chaos and bloodshed, and still steeped in turmoil 60 years on, Pakistan has repeatedly defied predictions that the centre of the world’s only nuclear-armed Islamic nation cannot hold. While Benazir Bhutto’s assassination has renewed fears Pakistan will become another failed state with a destiny determined by bombs instead of ballots, analysts say it has been down this road before – …
www.spacewar.com/reports/Pakistan_can_survive
_latest_chaos_and_bloodshed_analysts_999.html

Most in Pakistan refuse to see the danger of Islamist expansion
Baltimore Sun – United States
But, whoever killed her, we do know who stands to gain most: Islamic
militants who threaten neighboring Afghanistan and want to carve out bases
inside a …
www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/
oped/bal-op.rubin01jan01,0,7718518.story

Pakistan unrest lifts oil prices 31 Dec 2007
Oil prices rose solidly on Monday, pushed higher by concerns about instability in Pakistan and tensions on the Turkish border with oil-rich Iraq, dealers said. The mass unrest in Pakistan following the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto last week was leading traders to price in a risk premium, they said.
afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5g1EG2vLw3z5Y0BeKoiTCE7oBUU1g

Bhutto’s Tragic Death: A Defining Moment for Pakistani Military
by Dr. Ehsan Azari
Pakistani opposition leader, Ms Benazir Bhutto?s tragic death in a gun-and-bomb terrorist attack on Thursday opens the beginning of a new cycle of political instability in her troubled country. The unfolding situation may frustrate the resolve of the West to press for democracy in this country.
feeds.feedburner.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/209116104/index.php

Pakistan: US, Musharraf and the Future of Democracy
by Ramzy Baroud
The 42-day drama in Pakistan is far from over; the declaration of emergency and the lifting of emergency are part of a charade, behind which lidx a complex power play between Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, various camps within the military elite, and the US government. The Pakistani people are the least relevant to these calculations, although every player never fails to justify unwarranted actions in their name.
feeds.feedburner.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/209104893/index.php

Standoff Over Poll Delay in Pakistan
The Associated Press –
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — Parliamentary elections in Pakistan appeared set to be postponed by several weeks despite opposition demands they go ahead as …
ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jIE0IUn4
WIiaMBpjG8SI_6H5RXzgD8TSV7400

Pakistan retracts ‘lever killed Bhutto’ theory
Sify – Chennai,Tamil Nadu,India
Islamabad: The Pakistan government has retracted its contention that former prime minister Benazir Bhutto died after striking her head against the sunroof …
sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14582844

Pakistan election date uncertain
The Press Association –
Pakistan’s elections are likely to be delayed by several weeks, despite demands by Benazir Bhutto’s party and other politicians they go ahead as planned. …
ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5iPiKkVpuy9MLMCOc8Tj4RHwZkb5A

Pakistan set to name new date for elections
AFP –
ISLAMABAD (AFP) — Pakistan’s election commission was expected Tuesday to set a new date for polls, probably in February, after assessing the security …
afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jhFbx_9_Erk0EjgUAnegMSsn0CRw

Rethinking our Pakistan policy
San Francisco Chronicle – CA, USA
After Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, it’s tempting to conclude that Pakistan is not fit for democracy and that it should be returned to army rule. …
www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=
/c/a/2007/12/31/ED4VU6DQQ.DTL

Pakistan say Australia tour still on
AFP –
KARACHI (AFP) — Pakistan’s cricket chief has said that Australia’s planned tour starting in March is still on despite the turmoil unleashed by the …
afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5j3Q_xHiUU0lZkUpav46ZAeI0fvLg

‘Pakistan election to be held in February’
Independent Online – Cape Town,South Africa
Islmabad – Pakistan will hold parliamentary elections originally set for January 8 in February, a senior election commission official said on Tuesday. …
www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click
_id=3&art_id=nw20080101063154462C457300

Pakistan election decision on Tuesday
International Herald Tribune – France
The opposition leader’s assassination on Thursday has triggered bloodshe across Pakistan and rage against President Pervez Musharraf, casting doubts on …
www.iht.com/articles/reuters/2008/01
/01/asia/OUKWD-UK-PAKISTAN-CRISIS.php

Pakistan ‘could be another Somalia’
Independent – London,England,UK
He described Pakistan’s role in the so-called war on terror, which he described as “shadow boxing”. “That shadow-boxing is going to turn into a giant and …
news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article3298383.ece

Pakistan index falls after Bhutto assassination
Telegraph.co.uk – United Kingdom
By Richard Blackden Pakistan’s main stock index fell more on its first full day’s trading since Benazir Bhutto’s death than it had done for more than a year …
www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?
xml=/money/2008/01/01/cnpak101.xml

Pakistan says Australia tour still on
Pakistan’s cricket chief says Australia’s planned tour starting in March is still on despite the turmoil unleashed by the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.
www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/01/01/2129650.htm

Human rights ignored in the ‘war on terror’ – Amnesty …
By Insouciant(Insouciant)
In the “war on terror”, Pakistan has violated a wide array of human rights, including the right to life, to the security of the person, to freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention, to freedom from torture, other ill-treatment and …
unitedstudentsfederation.blogspot.com/2008/01/
human-rights-ignored-in-war-on-terror.html

Operation Pakistan…Wakistan
By moth1
I thought I would share my thoughts on the current state of Pakistan and how the recent assassination will affect things. Most people have little idea on the history of Pakistan and really the current state of things over there. …
thehapps.wordpress.com/2007/12/31/operation-pakistanwakistan/

‘Pakistan election to be held in February’
Independent Online – Cape Town,South Africa
Islmabad – Pakistan will hold parliamentary elections originally set for January 8 in February, a senior election commission official said on Tuesday. …
www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_i
d=3&art_id=nw20080101063154462C457300

Pakistan election decision on Tuesday
International Herald Tribune – France
The opposition leader’s assassination on Thursday has triggered bloodshed across Pakistan and rage against President Pervez Musharraf, casting doubts on …
www.iht.com/articles/reuters/2008/01/0
1/asia/OUKWD-UK-PAKISTAN-CRISIS.php

Pakistan ‘could be another Somalia’
Independent – London,England,UK
He described Pakistan’s role in the so-called war on terror, which he described as “shadow boxing”. “That shadow-boxing is going to turn into a giant and …
news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article3298383.ece

Fates of Afghanistan and Pakistan Inextricably Tied
By Herschel Smith
I have said before that “counterinsurgency in Pakistan begins in Afghanistan and along the Pakistan / Afghanistan border. Unless and until we devote the troops and effect the force projection to let the people in these AOs know that we …
www.captainsjournal.com/2008/01/01/fates-of-
afghanistan-and-pakistan-inextricably-tied/

A sober look at Pakistan
By Turkana
So, Pakistan’s government says it was the force of the blast, not bullets or shrapnel, that killed Benazir Bhutto, and Al Qeada was responsible. But now we’re shocked- shocked!- to hear that her doctors felt pressured to report what the …
www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/011619.php

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