The U.S,Iran and Iraq!

This is indeed a quixotic situation of sorts for the Untied states, to be talking Iraq to Iran. Iran is slowly but surely increasing its influence in Iraq and there does not seem to be much that the United states can do about it. The United states realise that in order to have a stable Iraq, Iran's inputs does not only become necessary but all too essential. With the violence in Iraq having come down a notch, the government of Iraq as well as the security forces are looking for ways to press ahead their advantage and see if they can bring about a stable Iraq sooner than later. But with both the United states and Iran suffering from a trust deficit, it is only a matter of days before this latest round of talks fail as well. But that does not mean the end of the road, the journey for the Untied states-iran convoy has just began and it is a very rocky road, but there is so many miles to cover, can they overcome their hostilities and carry on?

United states,iran,iraq,peace,

Bhutto gets arrested and all hell breaks loose!

At last the opposition in Pakistan have a face to go with their movement. As Bhutto was preparing to leave for a rally in Rawalpindi, the barricade around her house became even more tougher. But the PPP party workers managed to get through the barricade and started shouting slogans and no prizes there as to what they were protesting about. The basic freedom is gone in Pakistan and the martial law is in place. It is no wonder that the very common man on the streets of Pakistan wants to protest against Musharraf and his goons.
The detention order placing Bhutto under house arrest was then served on her. The last time I saw the live broadcast of Bhutto on the BBC,she was giving a speech and listing out every one's objections. Then the police surrounded her and I have no idea as to what has happened to her. All i hear from the television channels is that one moment she was standing there giving a speech and then the microphone was snatched away from her and then she disappeared. The official version is that she is under house arrest, but it is any body's guess as to where she has been taken by the Pakistani security forces. Either way, the opposition against Musharraf has now got the face of Benazir Bhutto and let us hope that Musharraf listens to reason and this emergency ends real soon!

Musharraf pips the Supreme court and declares Emergency!

Musharraf has gone the way that previous army generals have gone before him, that is the way of the Emergency and the imposition of the Martial law. It is sad to see democracy being given such short shrift in Pakistan and although this news is shocking in its very nature, it certainly comes as no surprise to any of us in the sense that we all expected this rouge general to do this quite a while back.
All the fundamental rights of all Pakistani citizens are hereby suspended, what is more the very constitution of Pakistan is hereby suspended by a new Provisional Constitutional Order, one which cannot be legally challenged in a court of law.

What started off Musharraf on this road to the emergency was the removal of the Supreme court chief justice Iftekhar Chaudhry and this started off Musharraf on a collision course with the judiciary. Soon the rest of Pakistan joined in to protest the rule of the general Musharraf. Under enormous pressure, Musharraf had reinstated Iftekhar Chaudhry as the chief justice of Pakistan but it seems that the plans to remove him were already in motion. The Supreme court of Pakistan was to announce its verdict on the 14th of November regarding the validity of the recently held presidential elections which Musharraf won by a huge margin. Had Musharraf waited until the 14th of November, his reelection may well have been declared invalid. So as to prevent that from happening and to remain in power, Musharraf pipped the judiciary in declaring this emergency.

The reasons put forth by Musharraf in declaring this emergency are manifold but one of the chief reasons was the recent surge in militancy and the attack on Ms. Bhutto's life. Of course, there are many who think that the attack was self contrived by the general and that it was all too convenient for him to get rid off his chief political rival. All said and done, Bhutto had emerged as the strongest political contender and had the bomb attack worked and Bhutto had died, then Musharraf would have got ridden off his main rival. Since he could not do much to Nawaz sheriff due to the Saudi royal family connection, he decided to deal with Bhutto and we all know how that attack went. Bhutto must have gotten an inkling of things to happen in Pakistan which is why she flew to Dubai under the pretext of seeing her children but the latest reports suggest that Benazir Bhutto is on her way back and is due to arrive in Karachi even as I write this post.

All fundamental rights are all suspended and there are to be no meetings of any kind and the army has moved into all corners of Pakistan with orders to fire at will. This is not the kind of behaviour that one expected from one of America's closet allies in the war on terror. Recently Condi rice had said that the current administration is totally against any imposition of any emergency or any martial law but it seems that is what is taking place in Pakistan as we speak.More to the fact, right now there is a high level meeting going on in the American embassy in Islamabad between the American officials to chalk out their position on the current emergency. Meanwhile, the army entered the Supreme court of Pakistan and told Iftekhar Chaudhry, that his services as the chief justice of the Supreme court of Pakistan is no longer required. This has all the hallmarks of being just a preview before the actual 'martial law' is imposed on Pakistan. At the moment, in Pakistan, all phone calls and mobile signals are halted as well as the airing of independent television channels. It is sad to see this happen to a neighbouring country and one that India values a great deal. What is puzzling me a little bit is both India and Pakistan have a common heritage and a similar constitution that upholds democratic values. Yet, in Pakistan, time and time again, the democratic values have been suspended and the army has taken the reins of power from an elected government. This has happened so many times that it seems that this imposition of the emergency since the time of General Zia ul haq has become an all to familiar story in Pakistan. It seems that even the coffee wallah no longer looks surprised as the army imposes emergency on his home nation and it has all the appearances of 'Business as usual'!

Tags:emergency,pakistan,Musharraf,United states,India,democracy,Benazir bhutto,Nawaz sherrif,

Turkey planning to invade Iraq??

With things not exactly all there yet for Iraq, all it needs now is to worry about Turkey invading it on the pretext of dealing with the Kurdish insurgents who are supposed to have a base of sorts in Iraq. The Turkish parliament has voted overwhelmingly in favor of sending additional troops to Iraq, this time not to impose peace and security in the region, but rather with the sole purpose of dealing with the insurgents. The Kurdish insurgents have formed a group called the Kurdistan Workers' Party. This group is camped in the Kurdish areas of Iraq and this group has often carried out attacks against the Turkish military in the past. Now they may well have pushed Iraq into another conflict with another one of its neighbours. Turkey should note that although there is not much love between the Kurds and the rest of the Iraqi's, still the Iraqi men and women will not feel that kindly to Turkey sending its troops in a very invasive method with the only purpose of dealing with other fellow Iraqi citizens. If no caution is exercised now, the whole region could well explode onto the scene with another war that no one wanted in the first place to begin with!

turkey,iraq,kurdish rebels,invasion,united states,

Myanmar-end game begins??

Myanmar a nation that has always stood for peace and democracy-well,that was what it stood for 20 years ago and it has been suffering under the dictatorship of the ruling Junta and now it has all come to a boil.with An Sang Su Chi under a virtual huose arrest the ruling Junta has pretty much had their way until now,keeoing the riches of the land to themselves.is it any wonder that Myanmar is considered to be one of the most corrupt nations in the whole wide world.the people had put up with the ruling Junta and their corrupt practices for so long and they have decided that enough is enough.they want their democratically elected leader An Sang Su Chi to be in power and the Junta to go away.but that is easier said than done.
Now that the Junta has started cracking down on Buddhist monks and protesters alike,killng nearly 9 people in the process,well,the world is watching with horror as this goes on ad it is only a matter of time before intervention takes place.the key question that is doing the rounds in diplomatic circles is will it be India or China that will do the intervention?as it is both the Asian giants have a very close relationship with Myanmar and now the whole world from the Asean group to the United states and now the United nations all are increasing their pressure on both India and China to act and to take whatever action is necessary to take so as to ensure peace and put an end to this violence.
The problem for both India and China is that they both enjoy a close relationship with the Junta and neither wants to change the status quo.what is more,they both see Myanmar as an important allay as well as an essential buffer zone between the two giants.both India and China are enjoying a warming of relations they have not seen in
quite a while.and as such neither wants to upset the regional balance.what is more,both know that any intervention by one will not be seen friendly by the other.it is high time that both of these asian giants got off their high horse and did something to prevent the army slaughtering the monks.if they are not comfortable with the idea of one acting alone then they both can sit down ad talk and do the intervention together!lets see what happens!

myanmar,united states,india,china,junta

Musharraf gets a breather-Pakistan!

Pakistan is known for its dynamic politics but none of the kind that the past few weeks has shown the entire world.with the presidential elections due to be held on October the 6th,there had been a number of petitions filed in the Pakistan Supreme court,alleging that the current Army chief A.K.A the president of Pakistan was ineligible to run for the presidents office as he is guilty of holding two office posts,that is one of the president of Pakistan and the other,the Army chief.as such nearly everyone including president Musharraf expected the Supreme court to rule against him,but to the surprise of all,they did not do so.
In a 6-3 majority decision,the Supreme court has decided to throw out the petitions against the president Musharraf,thereby allowing him to run for the office of the president of Pakistan once again in the army uniform.Musharraf may have won this round but all the lawyers as well as various sections of the civil society are all gearing up for a battle of sorts.to say that the next few days it will be turmoil in Pakistan will be a gross understatement.what is more,many of the legislators have already announced plans of resigning en mass so as to deprive the electoral college of the much needed votes that is required to elect the president.of course if that is to happen,then Musharraf may have only two options,either to resign and go into exile or to declare emergency.
The way things are looking,i have to say that democracy is fast breaking out of the bonds that Musharraf has put around her and that it is only a matter of time before democracy and the constitution is restored to the people of Pakistan.as for Musharraf,he is fast becoming the most hated man in Pakistan right after his predecessor,general Zia-Ul-Haq!

musharraf,united states,india,dual office,president,

Violence in Iraq down???

The vice commander in Iraq seems to be dreaming for he has recently said that the violence in Iraq has come down and that it is all the result of the security operations.but what about the amount of people dying every day and the fact that most of Iraq still do not have the very basic amenities.as such i think that if the terror attacks are not taking place that much then the security troops should be on a higher alert.the militants may just be regrouping and this may be like a lull before a full fledged storm.i hope that the security troops would have taken cognisance of the latest bin laden video.maybe that may give us a hint as to what the militants are planning next for Iraq.we can all only wish that the whole mess was over and dealt with.lets hope that happens sooner than later!

Troop withdrawl from Iraq!

Finally George bush has announced that there will be a 'gradual' troop withdrawal from Iraq.finally we can all think that the curtains are coming down at last on a war that should have never taken place.but if we think that,then we are making a mistake.i agree that this war should have never happened especially not in the way that it did,all based on a pack of lies.even now the so called 'weapons of mass destruction' are yet to materialise in any form whatsoever.
Be that as it may,if the troops withdraw now,they will end up pushing Iraq into a civil war of sorts.since the United States started this war based on a pack of lies,they have the responsibility to see that Iraq has a stable government and that peace and security reigns once again in that region.they have to make sure that the insurgents in Iraq are dealt with before any withdrawal can take place.at the very least this will usher in some peace and security into the region.ever since the United states declared war on Iraq,the citizens of that country have not enjoyed any iota of peace and stability.it is the responsibility of the U.S army to make sure that law and order prevails in that country and that the people have at the very least some basic amenities.

iraq,united states,bush,troops,peace,

Why is Saudi Arabia helping out Musharraf??

To see Saudi Arabia helping out Musharraf by offering to take the exiled ex prime minister Nawaz shariff again only makes on think.what does Saudi Arabia have to gain out of all this?not much by any standards.they why,is the question on everyone's lips.i think that the United States wanted Musharraf to be there at the helm of things in Pakistan so that they could have better control over the matters there.whereas with Nawaz shariff and Bhutto,american control would cease.after all the United States is in the midst of its 'war on terror' and they obviously feel that Musharraf would be of better use to them than either of the ex prime ministers.with things shaping the way it has,it is not entirely unbelievable to surmise that Saudi Arabia is offering to take back Nawaz shariff only under american pressure.this way,the americans probably feel that they have taken Shariff out of the equation.but they should know that Pakistani's have always hated any dictator and this one is turning out to be just like one.sooner or later the people of Pakistan will speak in a single voice and that time is coming near.

The Musharraf - Nawaz shariff tango!

Democracy certainly has taken a backseat in Pakistan with the every omnipresent Musharraf throwing out a Pakistani citizen out of Pakistan.today as Nawaz shariff tried to enter pakistan he was forcibly detained at the airport and then was deported back to Saudi Arabia.we should take note that after comitting a military coup against the then prime minister of Paksitan,Nawaz shariff,Musharraf foisted all sorts of false charges against him and then had him deported to Saudi Arabia.the same thing has happened now
When someone accuses you,the constitution of Pakistan gaurentees you the basic right of facing your accuser and the right to clear up any charges that you may have in a court of law.Musharraf did not want Nawaz shariff to be able to do that especially with the elections so near.i am sure that the supreme court of pakistan would have taken suo motto notice of all the happenings.what is more i am sure that the supreme court will take the government to task as to why they have stripped a pakistani citizen of hi8s very basic rights and have made a mockery of the legal system as well as the constitutin of the country!

U.S bombs civilians again!

This is not anything new.the united states has bombed inocent civilians all over again.when will this end?what i fail to understand that with all the high end technology they still get it wrong and kill innocent people all over again.this time it was in afghanistan!
fraknly i have to say that such shoddy behaviour on the part of the soldiers is unforgivable.granted that they are fighting a dirty war out there but nothing,nothing can excuse the killing of innocent civilians!