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India’s Superpower Euphoria: Sid Harth
May 7th, 2011 Edit Leave a comment Go to comments
9 May, 2011, 02.48PM IST,PTI
Mukesh Ambani forgoes Rs 23.75 crore from salary
Comments (1)
Read more on »retiral benefits|Reliance Industries Ltd.|Mukesh Ambani’s salary|Mukesh Ambani
Mukesh Ambani
NEW DELHI: Billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani has decided to forego Rs 23.75 crore for the last fiscal from his annual compensation as chief of Reliance Industries while keeping his salary capped at Rs 15 crore for third year in a row.
At the same time, the company’s total remuneration for top management personnel, as also commission paid to non-executive directors, declined during fiscal 2010-11.
In its annual report for the fiscal, the company said that “The Chairman and Managing Director’s compensation has been set at Rs 15 crore as against Rs 38.75 crore that he is elgible as per the shareholders’ approval…”
RIL said the decision was taken to reflect “his desire to continue to set a personal example for moderation in managerial compensation levels.” Ambani’s salary has remained at Rs 15 crore since the fiscal 2008-09.
At a time when there was a raging debate on right-sizing of CEO salaries, RIL had announced in October 2009 that Mukesh Ambani would take a pay cut as a result of which his pay package dropped to Rs Rs 15 crore for 2008-09 fiscal from over Rs 44 crore in 2007-08.
Ambani was India’s top-paid executive in 2007-08. Days before Ambani’s decision, then Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid advised the industry to shun “vulgar” salaries. Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia had also spoken against “indecent” compensation.
At that time, the company had also decided to adopt the capped structure method of working out executive compensation in RIL, instead of pegging it as a percentage of net profit. In fiscal 2010-11, Mukesh Ambani’s pay included Rs 4.16 crore as salary, Rs 60 lakh as perquisites and allowances, Rs 1 crore as retiral benefits and Rs 9.24 crore as commissions.
While his salary as also perquisites and allowances was unchanged from last fiscal, the retiral benefits fell from Rs 5.6 crore and commission rose from Rs 4.64 crore in 2009-10.
Among top management personnel, Executive Director PMS Prasad’s total remuneration rose to Rs 2.37 crore in fiscal ended March 31, 2011, from Rs 1.53 crore in the previous year. However, remuneration of each of two other directors, Nikhil Meswani and Hital Meswani, declined to Rs 11.05 crore, from Rs 11.14 crore in previous fiscal.
The total remuneration for top management during the period fell to Rs 40.67 crore, from Rs 40.90 crore, while commission to non-executive directors declined to Rs 1.68 crore from Rs 1.75 crore.
A non-executive director is paid sitting fee of Rs 20,000 for every board or committee meeting, besides the annual commission of Rs 21 lakh a year subject to a cap of 1 per cent of the company’s net profit.
My following comment has been forwarded to Mukesh Ambani for moderation by special courier. Latest update (1). Mukesh Ambani household, all their 600 servants have gone to take shower, oops, a dip in the Bay of Bengal, oops, Arabian sea at Chowpati beach. Later, they may or may not use the Municipal facilities called, “Sulabh Sauchalaya,” for additional bodily functions, including a bath. Stay tuned to more recent updates. Oops, ET decided to moderate themselves and the comment appears, LIVE.
Readers’ opinions (1)
Sid Harth Harth (Washington, DC)
Ain’t that cute, oops super cute, oops supper cut in the executive salaries at Reliance Industries. I call such antics as, simply, shenanigans. Perhaps, I am not clear you understand my American language. It is a slang word. Not yet incorporated in any major dictionaries. Try one more expression, “slamming, oops, slumming.” Yeah! That’s what our darling Gujarati Big Boss is doing. Please don’t tell me, let me guess, Mukesh has ordered to demolish ten floors of his ugly mansion and decided to give pink slips to his 600 personal slaves, oops, employees who are taking care of his family of four, oops, forgot Ba Ambani, five. I am also sure that he ordered all his indoor plumbing to be uninstalled. Turn all bath-rooms, oops, bath-halls into prayer halls for the poor, destitute, abandoned and sick of his company, oops, country. Moreover, since there wouldn’t be any running water in his mansion, he would go to “munshipalti sulabh shouchalaya,” at Chowpati, Bombay, oops, “aamchi mumbai” a stone’s throw away form his, now, restructure mansion on the hill, oops, Malabar Hill, oops, hill of beans.” My dear Mukesh, oops, Mukesbhai, do you think that cuts in the salary makes you a hero? No, no and NO. Your head is in the cloud, oops, cloud nine. You do not have any idea as to how poor of Mumbai are. Just look outside of your window, oops, picture window. What do you find? Not up there, down there at the bottom of the hill. People are sleeping on the sidewalks. Throw some loose change to them. Fini.
…and I am Sid Harth
9 May, 2011, 02.48PM IST,PTI
Mukesh Ambani forgoes Rs 23.75 crore from salary
Comments (1)
Read more on »retiral benefits|Reliance Industries Ltd.|Mukesh Ambani’s salary|Mukesh Ambani
Mukesh Ambani
NEW DELHI: Billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani has decided to forego Rs 23.75 crore for the last fiscal from his annual compensation as chief of Reliance Industries while keeping his salary capped at Rs 15 crore for third year in a row.
At the same time, the company’s total remuneration for top management personnel, as also commission paid to non-executive directors, declined during fiscal 2010-11.
In its annual report for the fiscal, the company said that “The Chairman and Managing Director’s compensation has been set at Rs 15 crore as against Rs 38.75 crore that he is elgible as per the shareholders’ approval…”
RIL said the decision was taken to reflect “his desire to continue to set a personal example for moderation in managerial compensation levels.” Ambani’s salary has remained at Rs 15 crore since the fiscal 2008-09.
At a time when there was a raging debate on right-sizing of CEO salaries, RIL had announced in October 2009 that Mukesh Ambani would take a pay cut as a result of which his pay package dropped to Rs Rs 15 crore for 2008-09 fiscal from over Rs 44 crore in 2007-08.
Ambani was India’s top-paid executive in 2007-08. Days before Ambani’s decision, then Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid advised the industry to shun “vulgar” salaries. Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia had also spoken against “indecent” compensation.
At that time, the company had also decided to adopt the capped structure method of working out executive compensation in RIL, instead of pegging it as a percentage of net profit. In fiscal 2010-11, Mukesh Ambani’s pay included Rs 4.16 crore as salary, Rs 60 lakh as perquisites and allowances, Rs 1 crore as retiral benefits and Rs 9.24 crore as commissions.
While his salary as also perquisites and allowances was unchanged from last fiscal, the retiral benefits fell from Rs 5.6 crore and commission rose from Rs 4.64 crore in 2009-10.
Among top management personnel, Executive Director PMS Prasad’s total remuneration rose to Rs 2.37 crore in fiscal ended March 31, 2011, from Rs 1.53 crore in the previous year. However, remuneration of each of two other directors, Nikhil Meswani and Hital Meswani, declined to Rs 11.05 crore, from Rs 11.14 crore in previous fiscal.
The total remuneration for top management during the period fell to Rs 40.67 crore, from Rs 40.90 crore, while commission to non-executive directors declined to Rs 1.68 crore from Rs 1.75 crore.
A non-executive director is paid sitting fee of Rs 20,000 for every board or committee meeting, besides the annual commission of Rs 21 lakh a year subject to a cap of 1 per cent of the company’s net profit.
My following comment has been forwarded to Mukesh Ambani for moderation by special courier. Latest update (1). Mukesh Ambani household, all their 600 servants have gone to take shower, oops, a dip in the Bay of Bengal, oops, Arabian sea at Chowpati beach. Later, they may or may not use the Municipal facilities called, “Sulabh Sauchalaya,” for additional bodily functions, including a bath. Stay tuned to more recent updates. Oops, ET decided to moderate themselves and the comment appears, LIVE.
Readers’ opinions (1)
Sid Harth Harth (Washington, DC)
Ain’t that cute, oops super cute, oops supper cut in the executive salaries at Reliance Industries. I call such antics as, simply, shenanigans. Perhaps, I am not clear you understand my American language. It is a slang word. Not yet incorporated in any major dictionaries. Try one more expression, “slamming, oops, slumming.” Yeah! That’s what our darling Gujarati Big Boss is doing. Please don’t tell me, let me guess, Mukesh has ordered to demolish ten floors of his ugly mansion and decided to give pink slips to his 600 personal slaves, oops, employees who are taking care of his family of four, oops, forgot Ba Ambani, five. I am also sure that he ordered all his indoor plumbing to be uninstalled. Turn all bath-rooms, oops, bath-halls into prayer halls for the poor, destitute, abandoned and sick of his company, oops, country. Moreover, since there wouldn’t be any running water in his mansion, he would go to “munshipalti sulabh shouchalaya,” at Chowpati, Bombay, oops, “aamchi mumbai” a stone’s throw away form his, now, restructure mansion on the hill, oops, Malabar Hill, oops, hill of beans.” My dear Mukesh, oops, Mukesbhai, do you think that cuts in the salary makes you a hero? No, no and NO. Your head is in the cloud, oops, cloud nine. You do not have any idea as to how poor of Mumbai are. Just look outside of your window, oops, picture window. What do you find? Not up there, down there at the bottom of the hill. People are sleeping on the sidewalks. Throw some loose change to them. Fini.
…and I am Sid Harth
9 May, 2011, 01.45PM IST,PTI
Pakistan should decide on issue of conducting joint operations: US
Comments (1)
Read more on »united states|terrorism|Pakistan|Osama bin Laden|Cameron Munter|Abbottabad
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will have to decide on the issue of conducting a joint operation with the US against Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders like Mullah Omar and Ayman al-Zawahiri if they are found in the country, American Ambassador Cameron Munter said today.
The future of Pakistan-US relations is closely linked to Islamabad’s replies to questions that have been raised by al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden’s presence in Pakistan, Munter indicated in an interview to Geo News channel.
Asked if the US will take unilateral action or work with Pakistan if there is actionable intelligence about the presence of Mullah Omar or al-Zawahiri in the country, Munter replied, “We are committed to fighting this terrorism . Our friends in Pakistan are committed to exactly the same thing.
“The decision from Pakistan has to be can we do this together, can we work together as we should, as we are both committed to? That’s what I’m saying, I think it can happen,” he said.
Munter was speaking a week after US special forces gunned down bin Laden in a pre-dawn raid on a compound located a short distance from the Pakistan Military Academy in the garrison city of Abbottabad , just 80 kms from Islamabad.
The powerful military’s apparent failure to detect bin Laden’s presence in a city that is home to three regiments and thousands of soldiers has raised awkward and embarrassing questions for the civilian and military leadership.
Pakistani officials have said they had no prior information about the “unauthorised unilateral action” by the US that resulted in bin Laden’s death.
While acknowledging the importance of the killing of the al-Qaeda leader, they have said that the Pakistani military will respond if there is any similar operation by the US or any other country, including arch-rival India.
US President Barack Obama, who had acknowledged Islamabad’s intelligence cooperation while announcing bin Laden’s death, has now called on Pakistan to investigate the support network that was backing the al-Qaeda leader.
Afghan and US officials have for long claimed that Mullah Omar and al-Zawahiri are present in Pakistan, a charge denied by Pakistani officials.
Readers’ opinions (1)
Sid Harth (Washington, DC)
Yousuf Raza Gilani’s office: “Ring, Ring.” The prime minister picks up the phone. “Hello?” Voice from the other end: “Hello my good buddy, How are they treating you in Islamabad?” I am Barack Obama,…” Before any further words to be spoken by Barack Obama, Gilani responds in a very stubborn voice..”Yes Boss. We know who you are and what you are up to. Chill out. Be cool my main man. Everything will be alright. Just as soon as we locate the said terrorists, oops, Muslim terrorists, in our country, Pakistan, we shall send you an email, oops, text message on our official mobile phone. You should not worry. By the way, how come such a mighty country as yours, don’t, oops, didn’t find and locate all these Muslim terrorists with your vast secret networks of spies, agents, assets, assassins and designated assassins planted all over the world? How come you suspect that they are here, there and perhaps, nowhere? You are the Boss, Boss. answer me you Bozo. I ain’t got time to search under every boys’ and every little girls’ beds. I have a country to run. Don’t you have the responsibility to do something else? Perhaps, find all answers to your country’s deep diving unemployment? Maybe, your jungle, oops, mountain safari in Afghanistan, desert safari in Libya and a rescue mission in Egypt? Talk is cheap, my Boss Simmer down. Count up to ten, oops, hundred, before you order another dangerous mission in a foreign country, Boss, oops, your imperial majesty.” .Fini.
…and I am Sid Harth
Pakistan should decide on issue of conducting joint operations: US
Comments (1)
Read more on »united states|terrorism|Pakistan|Osama bin Laden|Cameron Munter|Abbottabad
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will have to decide on the issue of conducting a joint operation with the US against Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders like Mullah Omar and Ayman al-Zawahiri if they are found in the country, American Ambassador Cameron Munter said today.
The future of Pakistan-US relations is closely linked to Islamabad’s replies to questions that have been raised by al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden’s presence in Pakistan, Munter indicated in an interview to Geo News channel.
Asked if the US will take unilateral action or work with Pakistan if there is actionable intelligence about the presence of Mullah Omar or al-Zawahiri in the country, Munter replied, “We are committed to fighting this terrorism . Our friends in Pakistan are committed to exactly the same thing.
“The decision from Pakistan has to be can we do this together, can we work together as we should, as we are both committed to? That’s what I’m saying, I think it can happen,” he said.
Munter was speaking a week after US special forces gunned down bin Laden in a pre-dawn raid on a compound located a short distance from the Pakistan Military Academy in the garrison city of Abbottabad , just 80 kms from Islamabad.
The powerful military’s apparent failure to detect bin Laden’s presence in a city that is home to three regiments and thousands of soldiers has raised awkward and embarrassing questions for the civilian and military leadership.
Pakistani officials have said they had no prior information about the “unauthorised unilateral action” by the US that resulted in bin Laden’s death.
While acknowledging the importance of the killing of the al-Qaeda leader, they have said that the Pakistani military will respond if there is any similar operation by the US or any other country, including arch-rival India.
US President Barack Obama, who had acknowledged Islamabad’s intelligence cooperation while announcing bin Laden’s death, has now called on Pakistan to investigate the support network that was backing the al-Qaeda leader.
Afghan and US officials have for long claimed that Mullah Omar and al-Zawahiri are present in Pakistan, a charge denied by Pakistani officials.
Readers’ opinions (1)
Sid Harth (Washington, DC)
Yousuf Raza Gilani’s office: “Ring, Ring.” The prime minister picks up the phone. “Hello?” Voice from the other end: “Hello my good buddy, How are they treating you in Islamabad?” I am Barack Obama,…” Before any further words to be spoken by Barack Obama, Gilani responds in a very stubborn voice..”Yes Boss. We know who you are and what you are up to. Chill out. Be cool my main man. Everything will be alright. Just as soon as we locate the said terrorists, oops, Muslim terrorists, in our country, Pakistan, we shall send you an email, oops, text message on our official mobile phone. You should not worry. By the way, how come such a mighty country as yours, don’t, oops, didn’t find and locate all these Muslim terrorists with your vast secret networks of spies, agents, assets, assassins and designated assassins planted all over the world? How come you suspect that they are here, there and perhaps, nowhere? You are the Boss, Boss. answer me you Bozo. I ain’t got time to search under every boys’ and every little girls’ beds. I have a country to run. Don’t you have the responsibility to do something else? Perhaps, find all answers to your country’s deep diving unemployment? Maybe, your jungle, oops, mountain safari in Afghanistan, desert safari in Libya and a rescue mission in Egypt? Talk is cheap, my Boss Simmer down. Count up to ten, oops, hundred, before you order another dangerous mission in a foreign country, Boss, oops, your imperial majesty.” .Fini.
…and I am Sid Harth
PTI | May 8, 2011, 07.05pm IST
Comments (105)
Tags:Pakistan PM Yousuf Raza Gilani|Pakistan Military Academy|Osama bin Laden dead|al-Qaida leader
US violated Pak sovereignty: Gilani
ISLAMABAD: Amid a diplomatic row between Pakistan and the US over the secret operation that killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, Pakistan PM Yousuf Raza Gilani has said Washington should not have violated his country’s sovereignty to carry out the raid in Abbottabad.
“There was no need to take a shortcut or to bypass Pakistan,” Gilani said during his official visit to France.
In view of the long-standing relations with the US, Pakistan’s sovereignty should not have been violated, he said.
Reacting to Monday’s operation by US special forces inside Pakistani territory, Gilani said the issue of violation of sovereignty was a matter of concern for the country, particularly in view of cooperation with the US in intelligence and defence.
He said relations with the US had seen many ups and downs in the past, including the incident of CIA contractor Raymond Davis, who was arrested after he killed two men in Lahore, and now the killing of bin Laden.
He added that it would take “some time” for bilateral relations to fully normalize.
Bin Laden was killed along with his son, two al-Qaida couriers and a woman during the raid by US forces on a compound located a short distance from the Pakistan Military Academy in Abbottabad, 80 kms from the federal capital Islamabad.
Gilani had earlier sought to deflect criticism of his government’s failure to detect bin Laden by describing it as an “intelligence failure of the whole world”.
During the interaction with reporters who accompanied him to France, Gilani said US President Barack Obama had acknowledged Pakistan’s contribution in the war on terrorism and ongoing intelligence-sharing between the two countries.
Gilani said his visit to France had provided him an opportunity to present Pakistan’s point of view and to inform the French leadership about many things.
“There were many misunderstandings and I hope these have been removed,” he said.
Asked about the difference of opinion in various quarters of the government regarding the US military operation against bin Laden, Gilani said he would make a policy statement during in the Senate or upper house of parliament.
US should not have violated Pak sovereignty: Gilani
Comments (105)
Recommended (84)
pradip (india)
3 mins ago (10:51 PM)
you sold Osama.yes did a great job.forget about your country.you do not have anything like sover,human right.hahahhahhahahha
Sid Harth Harth (USA)
5 mins ago (10:49 PM)
I see Yousuf Raza Gilani, the prime minister of Pakistan, complaining about a domestic violence, oops, a rape. Whatever were the underline currents and cross currents between these two friendly countries, USA and Pakistan, things should not have happened in such flagrantly atavistic manner. Marriages collapse, friendships hit the rocks, understandings, vanish, relationships wither, partnerships crack down. “C’est la vie.” I am not a marriage counseller, nor am I a mediator. I see what I see. I make my own opinions. Rely upon my own values. Trust my own judgment. Depend upon my own wit and wisdom. Especially, the last category. All I see is a betrayal of trust. Not from one side but from both. Pakistan never trusted their mighty US ally. Not for a day, not for an hour, not even for a mini-minute. Pakistan sold their soul to that great Satan of the West, “amrika.” For what? For few shiny bobbles. Arms. When one partner says, “I do.” it is paramount to believe that they mean it. From the bottom of their hearts, if you can find, they lied, cheated, reneged their holy wows. They exploited each other. It was a marriage made in heaven, NOT. Not in love, sickness, ups and downs, until death do us apart, kind of wows. Now that they are washing their dirty laundry in public, I suggest that they use commonsense. Simmer down you fools. Go to opposite corners, shut your traps, craps, whatever and think, oops, meditate. Throwing tantrums, and threats are not solution.
…and I am Sid Harth
abdul latif (india)
8 mins ago (10:46 PM)
Sir, why should USA to enter into Pakistan’s space if Pakistan is trustable?. This is a clear evidence that Pakistan is not a trust worthy. Pakistan deserve this action. Atleast this will give them a lesson ( hope ) to change their attitude towards neighbours and terror organizations. It is unbelievable that Osama was in Pakistan and the Pakistanis do not know his presence in their country.
Osama (World)
10 mins ago (10:38 PM)
Gilani should be put in Gilla! You do everything behind others back. Time up for you to realise that you do not deserved to be part of this earth. Never cover up, as you have been doing this right from your birth. You deserve what the US has done. Learn to behave like a human being and not a filthy rat!
Vishnu (Bangalore)
13 mins ago (10:35 PM)
Don’t we all know how legendary is Pakistani credibility?
Agree (2)Recommend (2)
kishor (bobbili)
22 mins ago (10:26 PM)
your talking about the sover….some thing some thing which are very big words for your personality, you are now acting on the icident which you have to do next day it self, but you pakistani and indian politiciens sucking the blood of people becoz you want money for money your ready to sell your mother also waht you did to america in the osma issue as well india is doing in correption and also dealing your people but don’t think time is allways same there will be a day for every dog ………..
Agree (3)Recommend (2)
vgeejay (Chennai)
26 mins ago (10:22 PM)
Yousuf Raza Gilani is right in saying US has violated the sovereignty of Pakistan by entering without the written permission to enter Pakistan and specific reasons stated therein. These US people do not understand. Being PM of Pakistan, the greatest aboard for terrorists he should have ordered Obama arrested for the killing of innocent Bin Laden. Fearing Gilani wreath Obama has already canceled his visit to Pakistan.
Agree (2)Disagree (4)
kumarsaurav95394 (India) replies to vgeejay
6 mins ago (10:42 PM)
Launde ki mooche to dekho. Laden ki fungus wali dadhi me se hi baal chura ke mooch me fit kiya lagta hai.
Sanjay (Manama) replies to vgeejay
7 mins ago (10:41 PM)
also please ask that moron Gilani, now that US has violated their air space, what does he intend to do? Attack the US??
Agree (1)
Da Brahmin (Chennai) replies to vgeejay
11 mins ago (10:37 PM)
“ordered Obama arrested for killing “”innocent”" bin laden”"???? “written permission” are you ok?
Agree (1)Recommend (1)
SamYo (Rourkela) replies to vgeejay
14 mins ago (10:34 PM)
INNOCENT BIN LADEN ????Are you kidding?
Agree (1)Recommend (1)
Some People Just Don’t Understand Sarcasm (You Don’t Need To Know) replies to SamYo
6 mins ago (10:42 PM)
The gentleman is being sarcastic, you dummy. If you don’t understand a comment, read it twice before posting dumb remarks and save some space here.
kunal (delhi)
29 mins ago (10:19 PM)
Pakistan’s journey started with Qaed-e-Azam… It ends with Qaeda-Azam…
Agree (4)Recommend (4)
raj (vizag)
32 mins ago (10:16 PM)
Pakistan shd thank its Allah that it is a poor country and it doesn’t have any oil like Iraq else by now we wud have seen USA fully invading the country and collecting Pak women and children as war booty.Lucky tat pak has no resources except Suicide bombers.
Agree (5)Disagree (2)Recommend (3)
Da Brahmin (Chennai)
33 mins ago (10:15 PM)
USA made a Chu**ya of you and your ppl Gilani. You thought Americans were scoundrels like you Pakis and will help you with aid for your known motives against India. Now its time you sleep with chinese…Chinese-Pakis bhai bhai
Agree (5)Recommend (5)
Vikram (Bangalore)
41 mins ago (10:07 PM)
If Gilani had any control over Paki Army or ISI, the USA would not have violated the sovereignty of Pak. Whatever Gilani says is completely useless as he is only a proxy leader of Pakistan, the real power is with Army and ISI. They are doing their own thing which is the whole problem. Beggars cannot be choosers Mr. Gilani.
Agree (6)Disagree (1)Recommend (4)
Pankaj (Bombay)
45 mins ago (10:03 PM)
US thinks they can get away with anything .. Well they like right …. US attacked Afghanistan without UN’s approval. US attacked Iraq without UN’s approval. US is sending Drones deep into Pakistan and other countries. US is making it’s own people’s life miserable .. Well that’s America. SAVE YOUR OWN ASS.
Agree (2)Disagree (7)Recommend (3)
shyaam.madkholkar (trinidad)
56 mins ago (09:52 PM)
Nobody is paying attention Puppet!
Agree (9)Disagree (2)Recommend (5)
Sanjiv Patel (USA)
1 hrs ago (09:48 PM)
What would you do, if your neighbor fire shots/terrorize your home/family from inside their house and no matter – how many time you tell them to stop, will not follow law, will not respect your right to live peacefully, does not listen to any, will not admit and keep going on and on. How could you stop? World should thank USA for doing that not questioning.
Agree (8)Disagree (2)Recommend (7)
sugestion (india)
1 hr ago (09:44 PM)
All the world leaders should come forward and condemn Papistan.
Agree (9)Disagree (2)Recommend (5)
Kali Pili (Mumbai)
1 hr ago (09:43 PM)
Kyon be BosDkay Gilani. What about your country violating ‘sovereignty’ of your neighbours India and Afghanistan by sending terrorists? Teri maa ki aankh phute. Tere abba ki taang tute.
Agree (8)Recommend (7)
Nawaz Sharif (Islamabad)
1 hr ago (09:42 PM)
General Kayani should commit suicide for so much disgrace to his country one after another whether it is Osama caught in military cantonment or his boss former army chief Musharraf not allowed to enter Pakistan, even Pakistan cricketeers caught on tape for fixing. Kayani, Asaf Ali and Geelani all three should commit suicide or start leaving in Tora Bora as Osama’s followers.
Agree (8)Disagree (3)Recommend (5)
shyaam.madkholkar (trinidad)
1 hr ago (09:41 PM)
Client has the right to all the holes in a harlott body!
Agree (6)Recommend (4)
Amal (Noida)
1 hr ago (09:36 PM)
Well Pakis are getting back what they sowed, but what the hell is wrong with Congress, be it Mani Shankar Aiyar’s NDTV interview or the mad Digvijay’s comment. Manishankar actually wants to sympathies with Pakistan!!! What about Dawood, Hafeez Sayeed, 26/11, Parliament attack etc, etc…… They must not stoop so low for minority vote bank politics, I’m sure the intended population is intelligent enough.
Agree (8)Recommend (4)
Mulla Omar (Kandhar) replies to Amal
58 mins ago (09:50 PM)
Congress party has lots of descendants of Mohammad Gaznavi and Aurangzeb. Any Indian politician who has soft corner for minority vote bank, his ancestors comes from Tora Bora Af-Pak region.
Agree (5)Recommend (4)
appavoo s Mallikondar (Hobart)
1 hr ago (09:33 PM)
This premier is talking something that a child will be baffled.Why would anyone enter any countries space.If for 5 years the CIA has been watching inside his ‘paradise country’,waiting to act means something is absent here-on their watch they did no do their job and always talk smarlty,be in denial and blame the world as he did.This world wants a happy situation where man of all creet associates,mingles with out fear or favour.America has to do the dirty job as it did when pakistan should have rightly done so .The president and prime minister should remove the Military establishments crooks first,chart a course of peaceful co-existence with peaceful pakistanis answer parliment,forget about divide and rule mentality in the name of religion and make the armed services account for its activity.Today it appears the ruling government are being run by boys scouts,who should follow their motto’be prepared’.Instead pakistan had prepared this deviated thinking person who is able to live a non-cave like hideout [as he had previously claimed earlier that the cave will provide him safety] for further adventurism from its soil,so what is this silly talk of space violation.Your harbouring has made him invade the global citizens space too.Its fair go mate
Agree (5)Recommend (2)
dhaulklaan (Toronto)
1 hr ago (09:30 PM)
The Pakistani leadership and Army, including PM Gilani, are groaning and moaning for nothing. They have betrayed the US, which morally they should not have, in the fight of terror receiving billions of dollars of American tax money for this relationship. Obama’s successful secret operation in killing Osama in Abbottabad was the only alternative and praiseworthy which exposed Pakistan’s deceit as a core ally.
Agree (8)Recommend (6)
ekdesi (US)
1 hr ago (09:26 PM)
Gilani’s interpretation of breaching sovereignty is, forgetting to pay first before doing. Will US pay for that rough round at least now to soothe the pain?
Agree (5)Recommend (4)
question (india)
1 hr ago (09:25 PM)
Gilani. How about saying “Pak should not have aided Osama”???
Agree (8)Disagree (1)Recommend (6)
PKL (Delhi)
1 hr ago (09:24 PM)
Well said Mr Gilani, you are crying for Pakistan sovereignty, breached or invaded for the sake of killing the most dreaded terrorist on this earth. What about breaching of peace and bloodshed on innocent people of other countires carried out by terrorist hiding or operating from Pakistan. What will you name this? These guys are literally sucking people and other countires day in and day out. I wish one day these terrorist, blow you and pakistan out of this world map, so at least they will have no where to hide and flurish.
Agree (7)Recommend (6)
zomby (Japan)
1 hr ago (09:20 PM)
Pakistan army belongs to the US and is paid and fed by the US.There is no question of sovereignity.Pakistan has been involved in 9/11,26/11 and so many killings all around the world.
Agree (8)Disagree (1)Recommend (7)
Shyam (Mumbai)
1 hr ago (09:20 PM)
Gilani sees violation by US but does not see violation by bin laden who was living there without a valid visa.
Agree (9)Disagree (1)Recommend (4)
gtx260oc (Scotland)
1 hr ago (09:17 PM)
We dont care, just concentrate on our country’s news All media just laden laden and laden…….And also who truth to people.
Disagree (1)
Amardeep Singh (New Delhi)
1 hr ago (09:11 PM)
Pakistan must respect other nations Sovereignity only then onthers will respect their. They cheat USA by extracting money in Osamas name. Since they have lost Golden Goose (Osama) so they are fumbling.
Agree (9)Recommend (6)
ID` (Mangalore)
1 hr ago (09:10 PM)
Pakistan has become safe heaven for all types of criminals.I do not understand why India is not dealing with Pakistan in a strict way. Pakistan can never root out terrorists from their soil.First thing, India should not depend on any country for attacking on criminals involved in crimes in India.
Agree (8)Recommend (4)
Gopal (Pune) replies to ID`
1 hr ago (09:31 PM)
TRUE boss … very true…
Agree (5)Recommend (3)
Mao (Chennai)
1 hr ago (09:08 PM)
Gilani knows all about violating other countries sovereignty. After all Pakistan does it on a daily basis vis-a-vis India and Afghanistan…
Agree (4)Recommend (2)
rupesh (Mumbai)
1 hr ago (09:07 PM)
how can pakistan claim of voilation when there is no sovernity there
Agree (7)Disagree (1)Recommend (4)
Rajat Kumar Mohindru (Jalandhar City .Punjab 10)
1 hr ago (09:04 PM)
The PakistanPrime Minister Mr Y.R. Gilani has said that U.S.should not have intervened in which the Pakistan Sovereingty comes in question.. As no doubt U.S. gives ample of financial Aid to Pakistan and U.S. war against Terror mission was to execute Most wanted Mr OsamaBin Laden . As U.S. kept a secret but at a whole the U.S. mission to curb militancy has succeeded a lot .As Pakistan denied of Laden in Pakistan but U.S. successfully traced and killed him .
Agree (5)Disagree (1)Recommend (2)
Christopher Michael (Chandigarh)
1 hr ago (09:04 PM)
Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, and I agree with Mr. Gilani. What if they harbour people who are labelled “terrorists” by other countries? They are only trying to change the world order. For the good of mankind. Ridding the world of people that, according to them are not worthy to walk this planet. Mr. Gilani and his country have God given rights to send angels of death across nations to bring THE ORDER OF LUCIFER. Lucifer has promised God that he would use God’s name to wreck havoc on the human race, but he didnt disclose the country he would be sending his angels to operate from. Thank God that Pakistan is not in India. Mr. Gilan, Lucifer’s brother, your sovernity has indeed been invaded. America has only killed the devil it created and you harboured..
Agree (3)Recommend (1)
Sarma (Boston)
1 hr ago (08:58 PM)
you Pakistani politicians are pathetic and when your Military says jump you jump, just like monkeys jump when the stick is taken. You should take the help of the masses and dump your Generals. Till you have good relation with India your country will head in the direction of doom
Agree (7)Recommend (5)
Aamir Syed (Canada) replies to Sarma
1 hr ago (09:16 PM)
It is interesting that no one in India is thinking that such actions can be taken inside their own territories. India,Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka need to work together so that no country, big or small, should even think of such actions against our countries
Agree (2)Disagree (5)Recommend (1)
obstacle (India) replies to Aamir Syed
56 mins ago (09:52 PM)
I think I understand what you are trying to say. Isn’t it the same thing that the masters, proponents, of Islam are saying? About establishing the Islamic Caliphate on the face of the world. You want the arc of Islam established from Morocco to Indonesia. But, unfortunately, India remains the biggest hurdle for you guys. Tell me I am wrong.
Agree (6)Disagree (1)Recommend (4)
Ting (Ching)
1 hr ago (08:57 PM)
They did not bypass, you moron! They came right into Pakistan and exposed your country’s double standard. They have understood you very well and they kept you guys out of operation.
Agree (11)Recommend (8)
vvk nair (Pallakkad)
1 hr ago (08:54 PM)
We Indians salute the guts of United States to go after the terrorists who harmed US and its citizens. Do keep doing what you did. Millions of Indians are with you on this mentally, though, unfortunately, they do not have a government at the moment, who has the guts to support you openly on your resolve to get rid of this cancer from the mother earth.
Agree (9)Recommend (9)
Harinder (Chennai)
1 hr ago (08:53 PM)
It is high time our so called main stream media tone down its big halo & wishful thinking that Uncle Sam will give Pakistan a boot and all our problems get solved. Nothing of that sort is going to happen and it is only the news channels and journos who are laughing all the way to the bank by raising this fake hype in the indian public.
Agree (7)Recommend (5)
J (India)
1 hr ago (08:51 PM)
Mr.Gilani, Pakistan should not have kept Osama bin Laden! Because of a few people in Pakistan, the whole of Pakistan is made to suffer! As PM it is your duty to help the vast silent majority and not pander to the loud minority!
Agree (9)Recommend (4)
Sahrukh Khan (India)
2 hrs ago (08:47 PM)
Yes Pakistan is right! USA must stop killing of Muslims in the name of terrorism !
Agree (1)Disagree (20)
P.M. Malhotra (Toronto) replies to Sahrukh Khan
1 hr ago (09:21 PM)
Hello, you seem to be a pro Porkistan then why not live there instead of living in India. Wherever your’ll are there, there are problems for others; influencing others to follow your own Sharia laws, supremacy of religion by calling non-muslims kafirs. What your brothers did in Mumbai is unforgettable killing innocent citizens in the name of Jihad.Its only our country leadership is soft and have not retaliated accordingly so thank Allah that we still want to live peacefully and forgive you and resolve the matter amicably. Your Porkistan brothers have taken advantage of our Government’s soft stand. Countries like US and Israel are strong headed and will not tolerate your aggressive attitude. Better you community reforms for good or your’ll will perish in the near future as you will be isolated by all religions and countries of the world if you continue with the same attitude. Very soon your Don PBhai will also be meeting the same fate like Osama.
Agree (6)Recommend (5)
alwyn (Dubai) replies to Sahrukh Khan
1 hr ago (09:05 PM)
you blind man, may alla bless u with wisdom, enlighten your mind, god bless you
Agree (6)Recommend (3)
Aditya Sharma (New Delhi) replies to Sahrukh Khan
1 hr ago (09:04 PM)
Killing people in the name of islam is so much worse then killing of one person.. laden is a mass murderer and he was served right…
Agree (7)Recommend (4)
amit choudhury choudhury (assam)
2 hrs ago (08:46 PM)
and what about other’s country sovereignty that u are destroying by running millitants camp in PAKISTAN…..
Agree (15)Recommend (11)
Walker (Mumbai)
2 hrs ago (08:46 PM)
Then Muslims should not be hiding and worshiping Islamic terrorists in their midst.
Agree (12)Recommend (6)
Mustafa Sherwani (Lucknow)
2 hrs ago (08:43 PM)
Pakistan’s sovereignty was finally violated when US forced it to release Raymond Davis.Now nothing new
Agree (7)Disagree (6)Recommend (5)
John (USA)
2 hrs ago (08:43 PM)
When we feed (AID) you (Pakis), we F**K you any time at our will………lol
Agree (17)Recommend (13)
SensibleHuman (PlanetEarth) replies to John
1 hr ago (08:52 PM)
Why do you feed these terrorists you fool…?
Agree (7)Disagree (1)Recommend (5)
Vijayandra Singh (Finland )
2 hrs ago (08:38 PM)
Gilanis statement is warning that a bumpy drive is about to start !! Pakistan’s calculation is Chinese will help them when confrontation starts. But truth is Chinese interest is to secure Baluchistan China railway line, To achive that they first need to break Pakistan. I will be surprise top 100 in Pakistan elite are not in Chinese payroll.
Agree (8)Recommend (8)
raju (india)
2 hrs ago (08:36 PM)
What about the terrorists who violated your sovereignity? why are you not condemning them for violating ur so called sovereignity? That only shows you willingly allowed them to take shelter. Is it not violation of ur sovereignity?
Agree (3)Recommend (3)
Felix Thomson Thomson (pune)
2 hrs ago (08:35 PM)
Sorry III W War
Agree (5)Recommend (3)
kumarsaurav95394 (India)
2 hrs ago (08:35 PM)
I suggest Obama to ask the spelling of sovereignty with this lecher Gilani. But yes US has done and is doing really big mistake by violating the so called sovereignty of these terrorists—-instead it should have dropped a nuclear bomb on Laden’s head. The terrorists living just 1/2 km away from his mansion i.e in PMA would also have been wiped off.
Agree (10)Recommend (5)
Felix Thomson Thomson (pune)
2 hrs ago (08:31 PM)
Hey US its time to Act. Pak is prepared to play politics, they may prosecute a few generals and hand over a few militants and say these people protected osama. Act before pak’s nuclear arsenal fall to wrong hands, and trigger a 4th W War and never expect a decision fm India. Pak deserves no respect in international community bcoz extremists rule the country.
Agree (8)Recommend (5)
Sriharsha (Bangalore)
2 hrs ago (08:31 PM)
Mr.Gilani, Does terrorism represent your country’s sovereignty ? If you think so, you are not wise.
Agree (6)Recommend (4)
Amar Singh (Delhi)
2 hrs ago (08:23 PM)
PM Gilani Must know that USA is not like Indian Govt. They know what is their interest.They used Pakistan as a pawn. Pakistan’s main capital was Osama to get aid from USA and it has lost the” Soneka Aanda Denewali Murgi”.That is why Pakistan is more worried about financial Help from USA.Gilani U must know that when time comes ISI may throw Civil Govt within a fraction of second. It is time for President and PM of Pakistan to keep quiet.They can shout against India and not against US.
Agree (10)Recommend (6)
Tom (USA) replies to Amar Singh
2 hrs ago (08:36 PM)
You are absolutely right. Poor Gilani is trying to save his face. He as well as all Pakistanis knows that this is nonsense.
Agree (6)Recommend (3)
rocky (kuwait)
2 hrs ago (08:21 PM)
US has never trusted Pakistani Government and that is the reason they have not provided any info about the attach. now shut your mouth with what you have received so far from US tax payers money.
Agree (5)Disagree (1)Recommend (2)
Somesh Mohapatra (India)
2 hrs ago (08:18 PM)
Continued from the headline ….. And Pakistan should have continued protecting Laden and destroying the world ……
Agree (8)Recommend (7)
Dorjee (Tibet)
2 hrs ago (08:11 PM)
Because all these years when the US didnt take “short cuts”, you guys would tip Osaama, besides Bush made it very clear after the declared war on Terror, that any nation that harbors terrorists will deal with the wrath of the United States. “You’re either with us or with the terrorists” and apparently pakistan has chosen the later.
Agree (15)Disagree (1)Recommend (10)
youtoodevd (mumbai) replies to Dorjee
2 hrs ago (08:23 PM)
Pakistan is and always will remain a Terrorist State………
Agree (11)Recommend (8)
Jacob John (Tiruvalla, Keralam.) replies to Dorjee
2 hrs ago (08:19 PM)
Great to read some one from Tibet, which is oppressed under Chinese terrorism. When Chinese ditched you, we are hosting you spiritual political leader with honor.
Agree (7)Disagree (5)Recommend (6)
Somesh Mohapatra (India)
Continued from the headline ….. And Pakistan should have continued protecting Laden and destroying the world ……
Agree (8)Recommend (7)
Dorjee (Tibet)
Because all these years when the US didnt take “short cuts”, you guys would tip Osaama, besides Bush made it very clear after the declared war on Terror, that any nation that harbors terrorists will deal with the wrath of the United States. “You’re either with us or with the terrorists” and apparently pakistan has chosen the later.
Agree (15)Disagree (1)Recommend (10)
youtoodevd (mumbai) replies to Dorjee
Pakistan is and always will remain a Terrorist State………
Agree (11)Recommend (8)
Jacob John (Tiruvalla, Keralam.) replies to Dorjee
Great to read some one from Tibet, which is oppressed under Chinese terrorism. When Chinese ditched you, we are hosting you spiritual political leader with honor.
Agree (7)Disagree (5)Recommend (6)
Jacob John (Tiruvalla, Keralam.)
2 hrs ago (08:10 PM)
Gilani saab, first you make your country a safe place for your ex-presidents. Then you talk big words like ‘soverignity’. Nawaz Shariff saab has escaped to Saudi Arabia. Musharaff saab ran away to England and UAE. Madam Benazir lived Englan safely for 7 years and had very bad experience believing you people. You have to earn your own soverignity. If you use your home to board people who threaten the soverignity of other nations, how can you expect others to honor your soverienity?
Agree (18)Recommend (14)
Indian (India)
2 hrs ago (08:10 PM)
ukhaad kya loge?
Agree (12)Recommend (7)
chatterjee chatterjee (Bangalore)
2 hrs ago (08:07 PM)
It is basically good for India that more and more Pakistan’s image is getting turnished.I would like to see Mulla Umar is caught in Islamabad or Karachi or Lahore by US.what a situation pak is?
Agree (10)Recommend (9)
concerned (Doha) replies to chatterjee chatterjee
2 hrs ago (08:28 PM)
Hope other most wanted terrorists by US are not hiding in India.
Disagree (5)
abhixit (Kolkata) replies to concerned
1 hr ago (09:16 PM)
I am concerned that some are hiding in the GCC states, notably Qatar.
Agree (2)Recommend (2)
Jacob John (Tiruvalla, Keralam.) replies to concerned
1 hr ago (08:54 PM)
Some are in our Jails. Others are hiding in places like Kashmir. Some could be in the US itself or anywhere in the world.
Agree (3)Recommend (3)
Tom (Earth)
2 hrs ago (08:03 PM)
Gilani (and Pak) are commenting about US “violating Pak’s sovereignty”! Why isn’t Gilani asking what was 1. the world’s most wanted man doing in Pak? Was Osama a Pak citizen to have been living and “working” in Pak?? Oh Maybe the Pak Govt had issued a WORK VISA for Osama so he could have his Head Quarters in Abbottabad? hmmm :)
Agree (14)Recommend (10)
ekdesi (US) replies to Tom
2 hrs ago (08:18 PM)
Pak has something called IIV (illegal immigrant visa). They confer it to only the 100 most wanted criminals of the world, with the approval of ISI.
Agree (13)Recommend (12)
S Subramaniam (Chennai)
2 hrs ago (08:03 PM)
Has terrorists from Pakistan also violated India’s sovereignty during their murderous attack on innocent lives in the 26/11 Mumbai terror strike or not?
Agree (6)Recommend (4)
youtoodevd (mumbai) replies to S Subramaniam
2 hrs ago (08:24 PM)
Shoot Down the 26/11 Terrorist………. Kasab Dog……………. Porkistan should be nuked down……….
Agree (3)Recommend (2)
Raj (Dc usa) replies to youtoodevd
1 hr ago (09:06 PM)
They will nuke down themselves very soon
Agree (2)Recommend (1)
Victor Johri (Guwahati)
2 hrs ago (08:02 PM)
Pak soverignty is constantly violated by the terrorists. Pakistan has no control of their own teritory. Then the Drone attacks by US in the hunt of the terrorists. Why against this violation when US is in war against terrorists?
Agree (5)Recommend (4)
ShubhChintak (US)
2 hrs ago (08:01 PM)
Gilani is not crying about lost sovereignity but psoible loss of dollars. Gilani has no idea what is ISI doing in his own back yard. He is a puupet and has no power at all. All he can do is beg for dolars and pounds and pass them on to IS to support and train terrorists or line up their own pockets. They have been betraying the whole world for long enough. Gilani and his governemnt is very good at one thing and that is lying with a straight face. Dawood marries his daughter in such a big way in Pakistan and still Gilani can say he is not in Pakistan?? Ha Ha Gilani. What a joke. So please realise that your (Pakistan’s) true picture is now clear to the whole world. Soon you stop pretending, give up your greed of dollars, think of people of poor Pakistan and join the rest of world agains bad people, better it will be for you and the rest of the world. Good luck.
Agree (8)Recommend (5)
Indian (Duniya)
2 hrs ago (07:58 PM)
soveignty?? . Your country is a terrorist state which harbours terrorists like OBL, Dawood, Hafeez etc.. Mr. Gilani Just be thankful that they dont blast you into the stone age as they have threatened you once
Agree (13)Disagree (2)Recommend (8)
ekdesi (US)
2 hrs ago (07:57 PM)
Alas! Why did US violate the sovereignty (or outrage the modesty) of Pak? They should have just ordered Pak to bend over. When did Pak refuse to spread its legs? Wuffff… so painful now.
Agree (15)Recommend (12)
Fahad (USA)
2 hrs ago (07:54 PM)
Mr. Gilani, once you will loose power you will be in exile like your predecessors. For a change (and against your DNA), how about doing something to stop terrorism and live in exile with pride…………. you will get lot of interviews while you will be in exile.
Agree (8)Disagree (1)Recommend (4)
Rajesh (India)
2 hrs ago (07:53 PM)
Beggars are not choosers
Agree (13)Disagree (2)Recommend (11)
Zopa (India)
2 hrs ago (07:51 PM)
Is there some militant groups who encouraged and forced Mr Gilani to make a statement as “There was no need to take a shortcut or to bypass Pakistan,”? If he were to make such statement he should have made it soon after the operation, to the whole world not only to the French.
Agree (8)Recommend (6)
Arie (Canada)
2 hrs ago (07:50 PM)
Sovereignty ??? You need to protect yourself from the terrorist taking over your country. Gilani should get a lesson in taking care of his house first before he talks about being sovereign… Pakistan is a failed state and it cannot handle its own borders. Osama was their guest and the ISI was supporting all Al Qaida activities by protecting their founder. India has always being telling the world this was the case but nobody seem to be listening. Now there is proof and the ISI Chiefs seems to have vanished from Pakistan. Gilani is just a puppet and Pakistan is state which is run by Al Qaida. So before you talk to the world about Sovereign !!! You need to have a close look at your own house Mr Loser Gilani…
Agree (8)Recommend (7)
Ankur (New Delhi, India)
2 hrs ago (07:50 PM)
so basically the way gilani is crying as if pakistan is a girl and she got raped. lmao!
Agree (15)Disagree (1)Recommend (11)
Rahul N (Mumbai)
2 hrs ago (07:50 PM)
Gilani to Obama: There was no need to take a shortcut or to bypass Pakistan, we could’ve told you (of course, for a small price) we’re always open for business, we sell anything! Zardari: Psst.. Gilani, don’t forget my 10% !
Agree (8)Recommend (7)
Krishna (USA)
2 hrs ago (07:49 PM)
You stupid moron…… Where is sovereign for terrorist country? And you expect Obama to keep you in the loop for all his actions after what you have done all these years?
Agree (8)Disagree (1)Recommend (6)
Mallikarjun (Bangalore)
2 hrs ago (07:49 PM)
Mr Gilani., You would have better not allowed “anybody” to violate. Sumblody came killed whome they want and went… Wat u were doing.. Grow Up!!
Agree (6)Disagree (1)Recommend (5)
Hindustani (Hindustan)
3 hrs ago (07:48 PM)
Ok, so the US violated Pak’s sovereignty. How shameful for Pak. Gilani should resign along with the cabinet, the army chief and ISI chief to take responsibility for this. Very simple.
Agree (13)Recommend (10)
AJ (Australia)
3 hrs ago (07:48 PM)
Pak should not have violated the World’s sovereignty – Earthlings
Agree (11)Disagree (1)Recommend (9)
SAIRAM IYER (TRICHUR)
3 hrs ago (07:46 PM)
Pakistan speaks with so many different mouths it is impossible to know the correct version. When one line of talks end up illogical they start a new version. Far from convincing the world they cannot convince themselves. They should be fools to think that America still believes them. A typical case of a country transforming into a banana republic in the near future if not already.
Agree (6)Disagree (2)Recommend (5)
Babu Cherian (Kollam)
3 hrs ago (07:44 PM)
Many Pakistanis , including military personnel say that they will not discuss about Dawood Ibrahim and terrorsist like JEM cheif, Maulana’s till India discuss and resolve Kashmir dispute. In this world most of the counntries have disputes including border issues with neighbouriing countries. If every counrty choose the path of Pakitan, we have find out another planet to live alive.
Agree (7)Recommend (5)
Jcr Singh (London)
3 hrs ago (07:43 PM)
Mr. Gilani, do you think the world is going to trust you any more and the way you people were hiding and supporting Bin Laden all the way till he was discovered and shot by Americans. Actually you people could have done nothing to stop Americans going behind Bin Laden. So Sir, shut up and dont waste others time going abroad and telling lie after lie.
Agree (22)Disagree (1)Recommend (18)
amartya (KOlkata)
3 hrs ago (07:40 PM)
Poor Pakistanis. How long will Pakistan keep begging to the whole world for charity and keep the India bogey alive? Feel sorry for Pakistanis but then they deserve it. The Pakistani army and ISI is the root of all evil in the whole world. But educated Americans also keep supporting pakistan. Thats the tragedy. Idiots.
Agree (12)Disagree (1)Recommend (11)
Ashok (Bharat)
3 hrs ago (07:39 PM)
Pakistan lost its Virginity to U.S. and China Long Long Ago !
Agree (28)Disagree (2)Recommend (21)
Raj (Bangalore) replies to Ashok
3 hrs ago (07:48 PM)
He he exactly. If u ask a person who hails from Delhi about US operation in Pakistan, he will simply say “US has raped Pakistan”.
Agree (10)Disagree (1)Recommend (5)
Arie (Canada) replies to Raj
2 hrs ago (08:41 PM)
How about Pakistan raping the world with all their support to Osama eh !!! So what if US does that job for the world… :)
Agree (1)Disagree (3)Recommend (1)
India’s Superpower Euphoria: Sid Harth
The Coveted Closed Covert Option
Apart from the difference between clandestine Special Forces operation and deniable option of covert action, we should realise that we wound up the latter, which was created under Jawaharlal Nehru in 1947, ourselves in 1997
B. Raman
Should India continue with the peace process with Pakistan initiated when Pakistani Prime Minister Yousef Raza Gilani visited Mohali in India on March 30,2011, to attend the semi-finals of the World Cup cricket match?
Yes. India should. There is no reason why India should allow its policy towards Pakistan to be affected by the Abbottabad raid on May 2 by the US Navy SEALS that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden. The consequences of that raid are a matter to be sorted out by the US and Pakistan and should not have any bearing on India’s relations with Pakistan. The peace process between India and Pakistan should continue so long as terrorist organisations based in Pakistan and supported by its Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) refrain from indulging in any act of mass casualty terrorism in Indian territory.
Should India emulate the USA’s Abbottabad raid?
The Abbottabad raid was an officially admitted clandestine operation by the US Special Forces belonging to its Navy, which carried out the raid under the leadership of Leon Panetta, the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It was a raid carried out against the head of an international terrorist organisation, which has been responsible for a series of major acts of mass casualty terrorism directed not only against the US, but also against many other countries of the world. The US action in undertaking the raid despite its violation of Pakistan’s national sovereignty, therefore, enjoyed considerable international support. Any operation by the Indian Special Forces in Pakistani territory against leaders of terrorist organisations operating against India would not enjoy similar support in the international community. Moreover, Pakistan would be forced by its public opinion to treat any officially admitted raid by the Indian Special Forces in its territory as an act of war and react accordingly. It could lead to a war between the two countries, which would not be in the interest of either.
Why should India be worried about what the rest of the world thinks?
If we take an action which is not deniable and which is officially admitted, we have to worry.
Does it mean India should never undertake an Abbottabad style raid in Pakistani territory by its Special Forces?
Not during times of peace when the two neighbours are engaged in the peace process. Such raids could, however, be justified in times of war. We should have the capability, but should not use it so long as peace, however unsatisfactory, prevails.
Then, how do you recommend the re-establishment of the covert action capability of our Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW)? You sound illogical.
One must understand some important differences between a clandestine operation by the Special Forces and a covert action by an intelligence agency. An operation by the Special Forces is carried out by specially trained units of your own armed forces in a clandestine manner. It is an act of unconventional warfare by conventional armed forces. It is kept clandestine till the operation is over, but often officially admitted after the operation. It is carried out with the help of your own nationals. A covert action by an intelligence agency in foreign territory has to be totally deniable and should not involve the participation on the ground in foreign territory of your own forces and/or nationals. You do not go into the foreign territory. You seek the assistance or co-operation of others who have legitimate reasons for being in foreign territory. A covert action can be undertaken anytime–in times of peace or war.
Every State having an adversarial relationship with another State should have three options at its disposal.
The first option is talks to reduce the adversarial nature of the relationship.
The second option is covert action by the intelligence agencies as a disincentive to make the adversary amenable to reason.
The third option, which should be one of last resort, is war.
Since India and Pakistan are nuclear powers war should not be lightly contemplated as an option . It should be contemplated only in extreme circumstances when national existence is in peril.
The problem which we face in our relations with Pakistan is that the option of deniable covert action by the intelligence agencies in Pakistani territory which we created for ourselves under Jawaharlal Nehru immediately after India became independent in 1947, was wound up in 1997 when Shri Inder Kumar Gujral was the Prime Minister. Neither Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee nor Dr Manmohan Singh has been inclined to revive it. To revive it or not has to be a political decision.
There is no unanimity of opinion among senior intelligence officers as to whether it would be wise to revive it. I have heard of at least two recent heads of the R&AW, who were not convinced of the need for its revival. They reportedly felt that the R&AW should remain, as it is post-1997, a purely intelligence collection organisation, and should not get involved in covert action. There is a new generation of young intelligence officers which respects us old-timers, but does not agree with our views on the need to revive the covert action capability.
Then, why do you keep talking from time to time of the need to revive the covert action capability?
Because I do feel that in the absence of the intermediate option of a covert action capability, we are reduced to a position where we are either helpless spectators of Pakistan’s use of terrorism against India or become advocates of an adventurous policy as we followed in 2002 which could have led to a war. There are two kinds of covert actions. The first is directed against the State of Pakistan. This has to be ruled out so long as we are satisfied with the peace talks with Pakistan. The second will be directed against the terrorists operating against India from Pakistani territory. This will be justified and necessary, My advice has always been: Re-create the capability, but use it only if the peace talks fail and Pakistan continues to evade our request and international pressure for action against the terrorist leaders operating against Indian citizens from its territory.This is a matter which needs to be examined quietly.
B. Raman is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate of the Chennai Centre For China Studies
Authors: B. Raman
Tags: Indo-US | Security: Special Forces | Intelligence Agencies | RAW
Section: International
Subsection: Opinion
Places: Pakistan
Daily Mail
HAVE YOUR SAY
May 08, 2011 04:55 PM
1
My dear B Raman, oops, Brother Raman. shut your crap, oops, trap. I have been following you for a very long time. Not that I do not admire you or your frank and forthright, oops, silly-shally, oops, silly-shallow, holy-Molly opions. I love’m all. That’s entertainment for me, oops, a lot of people on the internet. You tangle yourself, oops, twist yourself like a silk thread ball being chased by a cat. Amazing, ain’t it? You being an oracle of Omaha, oops, Chennai, talking rubbish? Take a deep breath, every time you feel like having an opinion, oops, expert opinion. Hold the breath for ten minutes, oops, ten seconds and release it slowly, not that fast, oops, you are sneezing. That is my opinion. Have a nice day in Chennai. Please don’t do what I wouldn’t do, sneeze in public.
…and I am Sid Harth
Sid Harth
Washington, DC, United States
Magazine | May 16, 2011
pakistan
The False Prophets
History closes its doors on Osama bin Laden’s millenarian chapter, but pages full of question marks stare at
Pakistan
Mariana Baabar
People question how, under the nose of the Pak army, the US could infringe on its territory. The generals are shame-faced.
And to think Pakistan had been feeding the Americans intelligence about a high-value target in the Abbottabad villa! Was this the way to treat a country that has lost hundreds of citizens in the war on terror? Was this the way to treat an ally which has witnessed countless suicide bombings over the last 10 years? What about the battle-preparedness of the Pakistan army, which allocates to itself lavish funds but was found sleeping when its air space was infringed? Such questions shamed the army into issuing a rather blank statement: “The government of Pakistan and its armed forces consider the support of the people of Pakistan to be its mainstay and actual strength and any action contrary to their aspirations, therefore, run against the very basis on which the edifice of national defence and security is based.”
You could say the first casualty in Pakistan’s Osama nightmare is the reputation of the Pakistani army. As one army officer told Outlook, “At the time of the Raymond Davis affair, we had said that we were good but not God. Today, we admit we are not even good. It is a sorry state of affairs.” Yet, he adds a caveat: “In order to reach bin Laden, the Americans would disregard the army, intelligence, anything. We have to understand this. There was absolutely no intelligence sharing about this operation.” Sounds quite reasonable at one level, but there are others who wonder whether the superior technology of the Americans could enable them to take out Pakistan’s nuclear assets as well. A senior army general scoffs at the idea. “It may not be realistic to draw an analogy between this undefended civilian area and some military/security installations which have elaborate local defence arrangements,” he says.
Obama in prayer at the 9/11 memorial in New York
Whether or not Pakistan supplied intelligence that led to bin Laden, there’s no denying that Islamabad will find it immensely difficult to ward off American pressure on key issues. As former CIA deputy chief John McLaughlin notes, “They now should feel under some great pressure to be very cooperative with us on the remaining issues, like going after the Taliban elsewhere in the country. It is called leverage.” For one, the US will push Pakistan to conduct a military operation in North Waziristan to uproot the network of Jalaluddin Haqqani, who is responsible for attacks against the American forces in Afghanistan. Islamabad, in contrast, views the Haqqani network as its strategic asset.
“From now on, the US will be dismissive about our claims. We have made our position ridiculous.”
Former ambassador Zafar Hilaly told Outlook, “Stormy conditions lie ahead for US-Pak relations. If Pakistan continues to resist undertaking the North Waziristan operation, the next stage will see America backing the forays of the International Security Assistance Force into North Waziristan, on the pretext of hot pursuit. The use of drones and special operations forays will also intensify, leading to skirmishes between the two forces.” Political commentator Ayaz Amir agrees: “From now on, the Americans will be dismissive about our claims, for we have made our position ridiculous. If we try to protest, they will simply look at us.” In disbelief.
Pakistan’s piquant position raises an important question: For how long can Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kayani resist cracking down on the Haqqani network and throwing a lifeline to Punjabi terrorist groups which target India? Gen (retd) Hamid Gul, a former spy master, feels the questions is irrelevant. As he told Outlook, “The Americans are unaware of what Pakistan can do. A desperate Pakistan is dangerous for the US and India and you cannot simply push us about. Where is the US without us inside Afghanistan? Pakistan should review its policy of fighting this war against terror. It should also tell the Americans to their face, ‘Yanks, go home.’”
For Dr Shireen Mazari, CEO of Strategic Technology Resource, Pakistan has to make a cost-benefit analysis. “Pakistan will now have to make it very clear whether to continue to be pushed and kicked about for a few paltry dollars or make a dignified and clean break from a so-called alliance (with America) which was never really an alliance,” she says.
Yet, there seems to be a growing clamour for Pakistan to review its strategies, stop treading in grey areas, and treat a terrorist as a terrorist without getting entangled in the rhetoric of “your terrorist is my freedom fighter”. Expressing this sentiment was a Pakistani who tweeted, “I wonder how an ordinary soldier who is fighting against Taliban feels to see that his generals and intelligence agencies are protecting the enemy (the terrorist).”
Pervez Hoodbhoy, writing in the Express Tribune, feels the killing of bin Laden is a “transformational” moment for Pakistan. He explains: “It is time to dispense with Musharraf-era cat-and-mouse games. We must repudiate the current policy of verbally condemning jehadism—and actually fighting it in some places—but secretly supporting it in other places. Until the establishment firmly resolves that it shall not support armed and violent non-state actors of any persuasion, including the Lashkar-e-Toiba, Pakistan will remain in interminable conflict both with itself and the world.” You have heard such sentiments before, haven’t you?
COMMENTS
The False Prophets [back to article]
May 08, 2011 05:19 PM
19
My dear Mariana Babbar, I love you like my sister, oops, my mother. I do. After all, this is Mothers Day in America, ain’t it? Just kidding. My mother, also, had the same shade, oops, shady, opinions, may her soul rest in peace in heaven. Lot of good it did to me. Zilch, zero, nada. Goody, goody talk of my mother was an anathema for my autocratic father. His stern warning to me was, and I quote: “boy, don’t mind your mother. she ain’t got it.” As a boy, I was lexicon challenged. I, simply, couldn’t make a head or tale of his complex linguistic skills. Therefore, wherefore and several whereases later, I twisted my little button of a nose and asked him, :Oh father, the greatest and the bestest father of all, “Abba,” pray tell me this slang expression from the great Satan, “amrika,” she ain’t got it. To this, my Abba replied, oops “dun tol’ me,” “Boy, cut the shit out, shut yo trap, it ain’t fittin’ to aks yo ol’ man what he dun nevva’ know. Get it?” I knew that father is always right in my home, oops, my dad’s domain, so I dun tol’em, “Oh sure, yo de man.” mariana, oh mariana, are you there? Say something, anything to prove that you are still alive. Just don’t tell no more jokes, oops, yo opinions in public. I have an allergy to such crap. Have a nice day in Delhi, oops, in Islamabad, oops, Abbottabad.
…and I am Sid harth
Sid Harth
Washington, DC, United States
May 08, 2011 01:45 PM
18
What is the reaction of China? More importantly that of Saudi Arabia? As for India is concerned, Osama was a distant threat.The real danger is from Dawood Ibrahim and his well spread gangs,who not only indulge in death and destruction,but more importantly indulge in economic destruction of the country.There may never be another 9/11 in the US,but surely there will be many more 26/11s,in India with the country being ruled by pigmies.
S.S.Nagaraj
Bangalore, India
May 08, 2011 12:49 PM
17
That the Pakistanis sat and watched as the Americans killed Bin Laden can only mean two things. Either Osama Bin Laden had become dipensable to the Pakistanis as he no longer was in control of the Al Qaeda, or that there has been some serious misunderstanding between the Pakistanis and the Al Qaeda. The latter possiblity is particularly interesting. Pakistan may have allowed Bin Laden to get killed just to send a message to the Al Qaeda cadre as to what fate awaits them if they didn’t do Pakistan’s bidding. Just like the Taliban or the militants in Kashmir and Indian Punjab, the Al Qaeda is being used by Pakistan as a pawn in its strategic games.
G.Natrajan
Hyderabad, India
May 08, 2011 10:06 AM
16
Have we accepted the fact that what is being done in the name of faith is responsible for what the Muslims face today.Yet to get that feeling from the Muslims.Some serious introspection is required but its being willfully ignored.Pak and its citizens are rightly being demonised for Terror.Why crib.No aaccountability from the Government,feudalism,sham democracy,Corrupt leadership and Pakis who are plain jealous of India.Osama was just a symptom of the dreadfull disease which has plagued the Islamic world.Poverty,Dictators,No Human rights and unwilling nature of Muslims to accept the changed world.Will they ever change or atleast attempt to.No.
wrongone
chennai, India
Agree LIKE (1) | Disagree DISLIKE (1) |
May 08, 2011 02:36 AM
15
Guys’ no point in writing or debating on something thats being said and heard about million times, please don’t start bickering and chit chatting brazenly about sensitive issues, trying to undermine each other views and in the process hurting general sentiments and also generalizing every event and issue attaching religion and radicalizing statements. Ofcourse everyone is entitled to their opinion, but plz be a bit more rational, rather than repeatedly raising the same bogey of ( if I may say so broadly”religion”) to every aspect of every event,
Thanks
Kashif Hussain
Kolkata, India
Agree LIKE (2)
May 08, 2011 01:50 AM
14
If Pakistani policies seem to be schizophrenic it is because they are. The contradictions in policy are a reflection of the contradictions in Pakistan. The trauma of Abbottabad may shake things up for a while, but the basic contradictions will remain unresolved. If America wants Pakistan on its side, it will have to be on an “as is” basis.
Anwaar
Dallas, United States
Agree LIKE (1) | Disagree DISLIKE (1) |
May 07, 2011 11:00 PM
13
Dear Ram,
When I said unfortunate deaths, i was referring to post no. 6 where you mentioned people getting killed and injured in attacks. Most muslims are happy that Osama has been killed. But, in killing an animal, why should we also become an animal? Let the peace prayers be done and forget about osama. But, we should not ridicule or criticise those who think like me in having the last rites completed.
Thanks you for clarifications on Godse. I think that Godse’s family should also have been allowed to perform funeral rites. He was an assassin, not a terrorist.
Imteyaz Hasan
Chicago, United States
Agree LIKE (1)
May 07, 2011 11:00 PM
12
Gen. Musharraf said in a TV interview that the majority of Pakistanis are moderate and that the rest of the world should help them in moving in that direction rather than pushing them towards greater radicalisation. Also that it is a silent majority. The time may have come for the silent majority to reclaim the national space.
ashok lal
mumbai, India
Agree LIKE (1) | Disagree DISLIKE (2) |
May 07, 2011 10:36 PM
11
even in unfortunate deaths, you find reasons to celebrate. Would you celebrate if Hindus had been killed instead? IMTIAZ
KILLING OF OSMANA IS UNFORTUNATE ???
” And, even a terrorist has right to decent death rites. When Godse died, was his family not allowed to say prayers for him? ”
Neither Godse’sbody or his two accomplices were not hande dover to relative sof the deceased. Even the Ashes were collected by some people clandestinely and deliveered to Gode’s family.The Godse’s ashes are still not immersed in a River as Godse willed that his Ashes should be immersed in Sind River when it flows under flag of India.
I am simply appreciating Indian Shias who took a clear stand .Where is celebration in saying so ? Yes as a Christian I am near to USA where many Christains died on 9/11 and in Pakistan too where Osmana was sheltered !
Mr Imtuiaz Osmana was rather reason of getting killed more Muslims than Hindus or Christains.This should be worrying for you too.May I remind Sir that Terrorists has no Religeon whatever be his or her paretnage.
ram prasn haryanvi
Ambala Cantt, India
Agree LIKE (2)
May 07, 2011 10:15 PM
10
Ram prashn – “Thanks Shias who welcomed Laden’s death .Sunni Clerics are leading Friday Prayers for Laden .
even in unfortunate deaths, you find reasons to celebrate. Would you celebrate if Hindus had been killed instead? And, even a terrorist has right to decent death rites. When Godse died, was his family not allowed to say prayers for him?
Imteyaz Hasan
Chicago, United States
| Disagree DISLIKE (2) |
May 07, 2011 09:58 PM
9
Pakistan is de facto collony of America.Without help of U.S.Pakistan will colapse within month.Form very bigning Pakistan is artifical state cearted on hate of India.People of Pakistan have no faith roylity on their state.Politications and militry people extremly selfish they want only money U.S.poviding that so they donot care how U.S.treat them how can slave protest?
Ramesh Raghuvanshi
pune, India
Agree LIKE (2) | Disagree DISLIKE (1) |
May 07, 2011 07:49 PM
8
Now that ISI chief Pasha is reportedly in Washington, Pakistan must answer the million-dollar question: why did they leak information of Osama bin Laden’s Abbottabad home to US Navy Seal raiders , though Pakistanis are known to be fabulously hospitable?
Osama greviously faulted in complying whonouring the local culture while living in Abbottabad. ISI chief must satisfy USA administration why diddn’t he caugh up 10% commission on one million dollar on construction cost of the building where he was staying and his maintenance and upkeep charges for over five years? The mistake proved costly.
A.K.B iswas
Calcutta, India
May 07, 2011 04:32 PM
7
The way in which some Muslims in this country are going about abusing freedom of expression is setting the wrong precedents.We have been reading that a congregation in the heart of the city for friday prayers ,went about holding a special prayer for Ben Laden.If those who went about it feel they are justified in doing so ,they should not raise cries of human right abuses such as those in Gujarat during the 2002 riots.Ben laden was a mass murderer ,who brought disrepute to Islam if any sane Muslim is listening.If these guys felt he needed a Islamic burial ,why did they not do the same for all those 1000s who have been killed in the uprising in Libya,Yemen and Syria.If at all these innocent protestors deserve a decent burial.All such actions and statements will continue to undermine the already depleting standings the Muslims enjoy in the country.Is anybody listening.No.
wrongone
chennai, India
Agree LIKE (5)
May 07, 2011 03:45 PM
6
In Pakistan :
Drones kill 17 in North Waziristan
8 Shias killed in gun, rocket attack in Quetta
Three killed, 21 injured in Lyari grenade attack
Elsewhere :
“US pilot refuses to fly with Muslim leaders, asks them to get off the plane
Two Muslim religious leaders say they were asked to leave a commercial airliner in Memphis and were told it was because the pilot refused to fly with them aboard.
Masudur Rahman, who is also an adjunct instructor of Arabic at the University of Memphis, said by phone from the terminal at Memphis International Airport that he and another imam had already been allowed to board their Delta Connection flight to Charlotte, North Carolina before they were asked to get off the plane.”
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/us-pilot-refuses-to-fly-with-muslim-leaders-asks-them-to-get-off-the-plane/787187/
In India :
Thanks Shias who welcomed Laden’s death .Sunni Clerics are leading Friday Prayers for Laden .
ram prasn haryanvi
Ambala Cantt, India
Agree LIKE (7)
May 07, 2011 02:48 PM
5
It is just as IMPOSSIBLE for Osama to stay in Pak without the Paki nowledge, just as it is IMPOSSIBLE for the Americans to gather intelligence without their support.
Military ops are known for double crossings and treble crossings.
One fact stands out : The Americans are delighted at the discomfiture they have put the Pakis in.
Male Unblocked
Chennai, India
Agree LIKE (3)
May 07, 2011 01:50 PM
4
“Four helicopters flew from Jalalabad in Afghanistan to Abbottabad in Pakistan, with hills and mountains in the way. Helicopters are not supersonic jets; they do not fly particularly fast. Now, I am no expert but I would guess that these four copters must have taken close to an hour to get to their target, 40 minutes to perform their mission and a further hour to return to Jalalabad. Thus, for around two-and-a-half hours, they were radar-visible over Pakistan or (if we are gullible enough to accept the fantasy that our radar was ‘jammed’ by some science-fictional Yankee device) they were at least visible to the swarms of satellites circling in our skies. More, once the shooting started so close to the Pakistan Military Academy, that alone should have brought platoons of young, highly trained officer cadets dashing to the compound in question.”
Yes, our military authorities knew about Operation Geronimo and were prepared for it.it is my view that this forthcoming operation was thrashed out between Mr Leon Panetta and General Shuja Pasha last month. The cloak of silence regarding the Pakistan military’s foreknowledge and involvement was created as a barrier against possible popular backlash. The army perhaps, given its relationship with the Haqqani network and other al Qaeda franchisees, did not want bin Laden’s blood to be too clearly seen on their hands.
Thus, the powerful right hand of the government, the army, was in the picture. But the weak left hand, the political government, was not. ”
www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp
Maiana Babbar neither Pak Columnists nor World are fools not to see through the role of Pak Army and ISI.
a k ghai
mumbai, India
Agree LIKE (2)
May 07, 2011 01:33 PM
3
Mariana ji neither Pakistanies nor the World trust a single word what Pak says .
a k ghai
mumbai, India
Agree LIKE (4)
May 07, 2011 01:31 PM
2
Pakisatn Received aid from USA 1947- 2000 = Rs 9.1 Billions
PKIATN Received Aid from USA 2000-2010 == Rs 10 Billions +
Obama doubled Grants of Pakistan !
a k ghai
mumbai, India
Agree LIKE (3)
May 07, 2011 01:08 PM
1
My analysis is as follows:
a) It is inconceivable that Osama could live safely without his bodyguards. His body guards would fight to death to save their “GOD”.
b) It is possible that the Pak Army struck a deal with the Al Qaeda to look after his security. After all hordes of body guards swarming around does create suspicion. A military cantonment is the best place. Nothing happens there without the military’s permission.
c) The US has been giving only bad news in the last 3-4 years. They were looking for something good. The presure on Pakistan worked.
d) And then the Pakis betrayed him. For a few billion dollars.
e) The SEAL Ops was no big deal. It was a simple Sentry Ops especially when your quarry is a sitting duck.
f) But then what next. My prediction is something terrible. Remember what Yamamoto said after Pearl Harbour. “All we have one is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve”.
g) The Al Qaeda does not forget easily.
Cream Pie
New Delhi, India
Agree LIKE (1)
Bin Laden data cache gives US leverage
SHAUN GREGORY | May 8, 2011, 02.53am IST
Comments (3)
Tags:Osama bin Laden|CIA|Barack Obama|al-Qaida
US-Pakistani relations were in crisis before the circumstances of the killing of Osama Bin Laden became known. Tired of Pakistani obfuscation on its side of the border, the Obama administration had sharply increased drone strikes in the tribal belt and significantly expanded its ground presence in Pakistan, particularly through the use of CIA operatives and contractors. These changes were beginning to pay off spectacularly – both in terms of the attrition of senior and mid-ranking al-Qaida figures and in terms of the killing of important Afghan Taliban. In fact they were paying off so well they had begun to interfere with Pakistan’s long-term regional strategy. In the wake of the Raymond Davis affair, and buoyed by public antipathy to the US in Pakistan, an angry General Kayani had pushed the United States for a renegotiation of the base and access deal agreed in the wake of 9/11, ordered the closure of the secret CIA drone base at Shamsi in northern Balochistan, and ordered many CIA operatives and contractors out of Pakistan.
Then Osama bin Laden was found and killed in Abbottabad in a large, sophisticated compound, which bears all the hallmarks of a bespoke building built to hide high-value targets over the long term. Convinced that Pakistan remains a net asset in the war on terror, and seeing no value in further destabilizing the Zardari-Gilani government, the US had publicly supported Pakistan though this has convinced few on Capitol Hill who are determined to get answers to many awkward questions. Behind the scenes, however, it is clear that the Obama administration and informed Americans are furious with Pakistan.
As a military cantonment town, much of it built by the army’s own construction companies, the home of the Kakul training academy and of a brigade of the Rawalpindi Corps, and as the location of an important ISI office, little goes on in Abbottabad that the army/ISI doesn’t know about. Moreover, the army/ISI had at least four reasons for wanting to keep bin Laden out of harm’s way:
to avoid their long-terms links with bin Laden being revealed (links that include a plot to kill Benazir Bhutto in the late 1980s and the difficult fact that the ISI introduced bin Laden to the Afghan Taliban in 1996)
bin Laden was the “golden goose” who assured US military aid flowed to the Pakistan army as long as he was on the run
bin Laden had links to powerful Saudi families who in turn have links to powerful figures in Pakistan, and who had reasons to want to keep bin Laden alive and out of Saudi Arabia, and
Pakistan may have made deals with bin Laden – as it has with many other terrorist groups – to curb al-Qaida’s violence within Pakistan.
Beyond the historical links between the ISI and bin Laden and the circumstantial case against the Pakistan army/ISI, it is a racing certainty that the hard-drives, memory sticks and copious documents picked up by US Navy Seals at bin Laden’s compound will be extremely problematic for the Pakistan army/ISI. There must be more than a few officers in the Rawalpindi GHQ sweating that the phone numbers reportedly found written on bin Laden’s clothes don’t include the cell numbers of Lt General Kayani and Pasha.
There can be no expectation, however incriminating all this gathered material may prove, that the United States will use it to publicly humiliate and pressurize the Pakistanis. But there can be no doubt either that every shred that points to the ISI and Pakistan army will be exploited to the full as the US seeks to follow up the death of bin Laden with a decisive push to annihilate al-Qaida in Pakistan as Obama has promised.
It is this unexpected opportunity for leverage, which is arguably the most salient consequence of bin Laden’s death for US-Pakistan security relations. Whether this leverage exacerbates tensions or brings the Pakistan army/ISI reluctantly to heel is the critical question. Before bin Laden’s death, Lt General Asad Durrani, a former DG ISI, was already being quoted as stating that the US and Pakistan were effectively “at war”. A hyperbolic comment no doubt, but one that revealed the deteriorating trajectory of distrust and clashing interests between the US and the Pakistan army/ISI and a point underlined by the US’s decision to leave Pakistan entirely out of the loop for the raid on bin Laden’s compound. Even wiser heads, such as Georgetown’s gifted Christine Fair, are predicting that things between the US and Pakistan could quickly get “very, very nasty”.
The Pakistan army/ISI is cornered, with pressure mounting on it from within Pakistan and from without. Behind the United States, the UK, France, Germany, and the rest of the EU are queuing up with questions and each of these states will have a tough time domestically even trying to defend continued engagement with Pakistan. Once again, Pakistan is at another fork in the road with one path leading further down the cul-de-sac of violence and instability and the other offering the first few difficult steps back to normality. More than ever, the Pakistan army/ISI has to show that the term “ally” of the west has meaning.
India, meanwhile, must despair that its regional antagonist can ever be normalized. To the lies Pakistan has peddled about AQ Khan, about the Afghan Taliban and Mullah Omar’s safe havens in Pakistan, and about army/ISI support for the Lashkar-e-Taiba and for the Haqqani network, must now be added the lie that Osama bin Laden was not in Pakistan.
The writer is director of the Pakistan Security Research Unit and associate dean at the University of Bradford, UK.
Readers’ opinions (3)
Recommended (1)
Bharat (India)
3 hrs ago (11:26 AM)
Pakistan is an illegitimate child of UK fostered by USA. It has an illicit lover – China. West & China have not only supported the jihadi & terrorist actitivities of Pakis againts India right from 1947, but in fact encouraged them. Now wheel has come a full circle with Pakistan becoming the biggest headache for its patrons in the West particularly USA.. This is called laws if Karma in India.
Agree (2)Recommend (2)
abhi (India)
7 hrs ago (06:28 AM)
This country needs grass root leaders now, not of Kashmir or of Pakistani ancestry . There lies the problem in decision making regarding central issues of security and unnecessary expenditure. Bin Laden and his kind can be fenced in an American aid dependent Pakistan. After all Birds of a feather flock together.
Agree (1)Recommend (1)
Sid Harth Harth (Washington, DC)
8 hrs ago (05:34 AM)
Shaun Gregory has a good job, oops, gooder job. Not better, I am afraid. News mixed with analysis, is usually, termed as, personal opinion. Certainly, the author has disclosed his whereabouts, oops, jurisdiction, oops, expertise on this topic. There are many, who claim similar authority and they are, all, coming out of the woodwork. May such independent thinkers be blessed. My dear Shaun, you were right on the button, till you started doing nasty thing. Yes, you did, in the last paragraph. Many chest thumping, jingoistic, Indians are already doing this job better. They are issuing orders to Indian government to emulate US example and wipe out all those pesky terrorists, there networks with surgical strikes. After all said and done, guess what India would be doing? Take a guess, you are the expert. Indians would build, they better get tons of bricks, stones, barbed wires, search lights, Bofors guns and perhaps, shoulder carried missiles. As the God is my witness, The Pakistani terrorists wanna jump the border and make India their own home. It would be a human tsunami. Indira Gandhi used army to cross Pakistan border and defeated Pakistan army, thus creating a dirt poor Muslim Bangladesh. Now India has two enemies, one on the East and one on the west. It took dozens of years for India to pay for that adventure. It didn’t stop with money. Horde of Banglaseh citizens jumped the border and living comfortably in India. My good Buddy, Shaun, talk is cheap.. Fini.
…and I am Sid Harth
Agree (1)Disagree (1)Recommend (1)
Bin Laden data cache gives US leverage
SHAUN GREGORY | May 8, 2011, 02.53am IST
Comments (3)
Tags:Osama bin Laden|CIA|Barack Obama|al-Qaida
US-Pakistani relations were in crisis before the circumstances of the killing of Osama Bin Laden became known. Tired of Pakistani obfuscation on its side of the border, the Obama administration had sharply increased drone strikes in the tribal belt and significantly expanded its ground presence in Pakistan, particularly through the use of CIA operatives and contractors. These changes were beginning to pay off spectacularly – both in terms of the attrition of senior and mid-ranking al-Qaida figures and in terms of the killing of important Afghan Taliban. In fact they were paying off so well they had begun to interfere with Pakistan’s long-term regional strategy. In the wake of the Raymond Davis affair, and buoyed by public antipathy to the US in Pakistan, an angry General Kayani had pushed the United States for a renegotiation of the base and access deal agreed in the wake of 9/11, ordered the closure of the secret CIA drone base at Shamsi in northern Balochistan, and ordered many CIA operatives and contractors out of Pakistan.
Then Osama bin Laden was found and killed in Abbottabad in a large, sophisticated compound, which bears all the hallmarks of a bespoke building built to hide high-value targets over the long term. Convinced that Pakistan remains a net asset in the war on terror, and seeing no value in further destabilizing the Zardari-Gilani government, the US had publicly supported Pakistan though this has convinced few on Capitol Hill who are determined to get answers to many awkward questions. Behind the scenes, however, it is clear that the Obama administration and informed Americans are furious with Pakistan.
As a military cantonment town, much of it built by the army’s own construction companies, the home of the Kakul training academy and of a brigade of the Rawalpindi Corps, and as the location of an important ISI office, little goes on in Abbottabad that the army/ISI doesn’t know about. Moreover, the army/ISI had at least four reasons for wanting to keep bin Laden out of harm’s way:
to avoid their long-terms links with bin Laden being revealed (links that include a plot to kill Benazir Bhutto in the late 1980s and the difficult fact that the ISI introduced bin Laden to the Afghan Taliban in 1996)
bin Laden was the “golden goose” who assured US military aid flowed to the Pakistan army as long as he was on the run
bin Laden had links to powerful Saudi families who in turn have links to powerful figures in Pakistan, and who had reasons to want to keep bin Laden alive and out of Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan may have made deals with bin Laden – as it has with many other terrorist groups – to curb al-Qaida’s violence within Pakistan.
Beyond the historical links between the ISI and bin Laden and the circumstantial case against the Pakistan army/ISI, it is a racing certainty that the hard-drives, memory sticks and copious documents picked up by US Navy Seals at bin Laden’s compound will be extremely problematic for the Pakistan army/ISI. There must be more than a few officers in the Rawalpindi GHQ sweating that the phone numbers reportedly found written on bin Laden’s clothes don’t include the cell numbers of Lt General Kayani and Pasha.
There can be no expectation, however incriminating all this gathered material may prove, that the United States will use it to publicly humiliate and pressurize the Pakistanis. But there can be no doubt either that every shred that points to the ISI and Pakistan army will be exploited to the full as the US seeks to follow up the death of bin Laden with a decisive push to annihilate al-Qaida in Pakistan as Obama has promised.
It is this unexpected opportunity for leverage, which is arguably the most salient consequence of bin Laden’s death for US-Pakistan security relations. Whether this leverage exacerbates tensions or brings the Pakistan army/ISI reluctantly to heel is the critical question. Before bin Laden’s death, Lt General Asad Durrani, a former DG ISI, was already being quoted as stating that the US and Pakistan were effectively “at war”. A hyperbolic comment no doubt, but one that revealed the deteriorating trajectory of distrust and clashing interests between the US and the Pakistan army/ISI and a point underlined by the US’s decision to leave Pakistan entirely out of the loop for the raid on bin Laden’s compound. Even wiser heads, such as Georgetown’s gifted Christine Fair, are predicting that things between the US and Pakistan could quickly get “very, very nasty”.
The Pakistan army/ISI is cornered, with pressure mounting on it from within Pakistan and from without. Behind the United States, the UK, France, Germany, and the rest of the EU are queuing up with questions and each of these states will have a tough time domestically even trying to defend continued engagement with Pakistan. Once again, Pakistan is at another fork in the road with one path leading further down the cul-de-sac of violence and instability and the other offering the first few difficult steps back to normality. More than ever, the Pakistan army/ISI has to show that the term “ally” of the west has meaning.India, meanwhile, must despair that its regional antagonist can ever be normalized. To the lies Pakistan has peddled about AQ Khan, about the Afghan Taliban and Mullah Omar’s safe havens in Pakistan, and about army/ISI support for the Lashkar-e-Taiba and for the Haqqani network, must now be added the lie that Osama bin Laden was not in Pakistan.
The writer is director of the Pakistan Security Research Unit and associate dean at the University of Bradford, UK.
Readers’ opinions (3)
Recommended (1)
Bharat (India)
3 hrs ago (11:26 AM)
Pakistan is an illegitimate child of UK fostered by USA. It has an illicit lover – China. West & China have not only supported the jihadi & terrorist actitivities of Pakis againts India right from 1947, but in fact encouraged them. Now wheel has come a full circle with Pakistan becoming the biggest headache for its patrons in the West particularly USA.. This is called laws if Karma in India.
Agree (2)Recommend (2)
abhi (India)
7 hrs ago (06:28 AM)
This country needs grass root leaders now, not of Kashmir or of Pakistani ancestry . There lies the problem in decision making regarding central issues of security and unnecessary expenditure. Bin Laden and his kind can be fenced in an American aid dependent Pakistan. After all Birds of a feather flock together.
Agree (1)Recommend (1)
Sid Harth Harth (Washington, DC)
8 hrs ago (05:34 AM)
Shaun Gregory has a good job, oops, gooder job. Not better, I am afraid. News mixed with analysis, is usually, termed as, personal opinion. Certainly, the author has disclosed his whereabouts, oops, jurisdiction, oops, expertise on this topic. There are many, who claim similar authority and they are, all, coming out of the woodwork. May such independent thinkers be blessed. My dear Shaun, you were right on the button, till you started doing nasty thing. Yes, you did, in the last paragraph. Many chest thumping, jingoistic, Indians are already doing this job better. They are issuing orders to Indian government to emulate US example and wipe out all those pesky terrorists, there networks with surgical strikes. After all said and done, guess what India would be doing? Take a guess, you are the expert. Indians would build, they better get tons of bricks, stones, barbed wires, search lights, Bofors guns and perhaps, shoulder carried missiles. As the God is my witness, The Pakistani terrorists wanna jump the border and make India their own home. It would be a human tsunami. Indira Gandhi used army to cross Pakistan border and defeated Pakistan army, thus creating a dirt poor Muslim Bangladesh. Now India has two enemies, one on the East and one on the west. It took dozens of years for India to pay for that adventure. It didn’t stop with money. Horde of Banglaseh citizens jumped the border and living comfortably in India. My good Buddy, Shaun, talk is cheap.. Fini.
…and I am Sid Harth
Agree (1)Disagree (1)Recommend (1)
Pakistan breaches trust, names local CIA boss
Chidanand Rajghatta, TNN | May 8, 2011, 01.13am IST
Comments (67)
Tags:Raymond Davis|Osama bin Laden|Mark Carlton|CIA|al-Qaida
WASHINGTON: Amid bitter, recriminatory exchanges between the United States and Pakistan over the Osama bin Laden extermination, planned bilateral visits of President Asif Ali Zardari to Washington DC and a return trip of President Barack Obama to Islamabad are both in jeopardy. Ties between the two sides are expected to slide further following Pakistan’s “outing” of the CIA station chief in Islamabad on Saturday.
In a sign of how bad ties are between the two countries, Pakistani media on Saturday once again publicly named the CIA station chief in Islamabad, a breach of both protocol and trust, that is bound to enrage Washington.
A Pakistani TV channel and a newspaper considered mouthpieces of the country’s military said the ISI chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha had met CIA station chief Mark Carlton to protest US incursion into Abbottabad to kill al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden. CIA station chiefs remain anonymous and unnamed in public although the host government is told.
Earlier, the Obama administration had asked Pakistan to disclose names of its top intelligence operatives to determine whether they had contact with Osama or his agents.
The latest breach indicates that a section of the Pakistani military-intelligence establishment is determined to run the CIA out of the country fearing that the ISI’s links with terror groups and its sheltering of terrorist leaders will be exposed.
Zardari has been waiting to come to US practically every week for several months now, with Hussain Haqqani, his ambassador in Washington, doing the spadework for the visit. The visit was first slated for March and then pushed to May as ties headed south after the Raymond Davis episode.
Obama meanwhile had promised to visit Pakistan when the White House announced his India trip, in part to assuage Islamabad’s wounded pride at being left out. No dates were announced but it was expected sometime later this year. But Pakistans furious reaction to the wide-spread belief that it sheltered Osama has for now wrecked both trips. There is also growing realization in Washington that the military junta fully controls Pakistan and it rather pointless to publicly engage a weak civilian government that cannot deliver on promises.
The disclosure that the CIA established a safehouse in Abbottabad within sighting distance of the Osama’s compound under the ISI’s nose had also rattled the military brass.
And in a further embarrassment for the ISI, it now transpires that Osama lived in village just off the town of Haripur on the Abbottabad Highway for 2-1/2 years before he moved into the new compound. That would make it at least 7-1/2 years that he lived close to urban settlements.
Readers’ opinions (67)
My following comment was posted but, as yet, not published.
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I think that ISI won this beauty contest hands down. If CIA is asking Pakistan to name ISI’s top cops, it shows how dumb CIA, actually is. Did CIA, in similar situation, disclose the identities of their spies, assets, and trained assassins? The world knows, not by the names, by real identities but by the simple conclusion. They do and they have in the past. Julian Assange broke CIA’s back by disclosing, in public, the American secrets. The Julian Assange was not only threatened, chased from country to country but several American ans well as foreign people, agencies and companies were pressured to disown Julian Assange. Amazon for hosting his site, PayPal and Visa for processing his incoming donations. Switzerland for hosting his site, Britain for allowing him to stay in the country. The farce of all this maltreatment of Julian Assange exposes America’s disrespect to Julian Assange’s human rights. He, further was accused of many things, real and/or imaginary. His case of rape is nothing but fake. Irrelevant and cruel. Big Boss Leon Panetta of CIA is capable of nothing short of sending his Navy Seal to assassinate Julian Assange. Mark my word, it is only a matter of timing. All the silly talk to justify US actions, legal or illegal, had one common thread. ‘Julian Assange’s illegal disclosures endangers the human lives.’ Translated as, spies, assassins and local assets. Wow! I must seek an asylum in Pakistani safe house.. I am packing my bags. “alvida.”
…and I am Sid Harth
Pakistan breaches trust, names local CIA boss
Comments (67)
Recommended (43)
zeeshan (mumbai)
43 mins ago (01:43 PM)
well its clear that isi wanted to protect osama so that the threat of al qaida looms over usa and in return pakistan keep on milking millions of dollars from usa citing war on terror reason . as now osama is no more and pakistan some wat exposed , they need a good reason to save thier face from the world and i am sure they will find it.
Agree (2)Recommend (1)
anil issachar (dehra dun)
46 mins ago (01:40 PM)
Pakistan stands exposed,even their so called friends are enraged with them,today Pakistan stands alone and friendless,and they are digging themselves deeper by their foolish comments and actions,I read Pakistani newspapers and they are calling the Abbotabad operation,a joint US,Indian and Israeli attack which was staged only to sully the fair name of Pakistan.
Agree (2)Recommend (1)
Ravi Atreya (Bangalore)
1 hrs ago (01:26 PM)
Isn’t it clear that not only Pakistan but even USA is still smarting from the events of 1971. if the creation B’desh hurt Pakistan, then blocking the 7th fleet still rankles the USA. It would rather submit to a known terrorist state than be friends with an ‘equal’ country like India. But then USA was never known to be pragmatic, it’s reaction have always been egoistic and self serving, It’s policy allows harbouring and supporting only subservient allies who have to be dependent on it. Otherwise it resorts to actions like in Iraq, which not only brings down the oppressor but also brings the oppressed under its enforced support -ask Saudi Arabia. It is a bully, and unless someone strong teaches it a lesson it will never realise its follies. It is quite unfortunate that it is the most powerful nation at the moment. Of more worry to India should be that it will soon be replaced by China an openly declared antagonist of India. India not only needs to openly accept that Pakistan is an enemy engaged it a continuous state of war, it also needs to understand that USA is not a friend and will never be, and last but not least China is also no friend. In a world ruled by the axiom ‘Survival of the Fittest’ India has to redefine its understanding of its working maxim. Satyagragah and Gandhian civil disobedience may have worked with the British, but try talking that language with the likes of LeT, JeM and the likes.
muslimbhagawat (patna)
3 hrs ago (10:56 AM)
America have to take drastic action on Pakistan urgently otherwise it would face the consequances.The manner Pakistan is turned hostile to America once laden was captured and killedin Abottabad Pakistan military and ISI ha sturned hostile to CIA FBI and US army.Now it is high time that the US forces should teach a lesson to pakistan so that it wouldnot able to get over the debacle.
Agree (25)Disagree (9)Recommend (8)
NealK (USA)
5 hrs ago (09:24 AM)
Without a doubt, Pakistan stands exposed as a malevolent common enemy of both the United States and India. Pakistan delenda est.
Agree (28)Disagree (12)Recommend (13)
ran (Bangalore)
5 hrs ago (09:21 AM)
It has been well known to every sensible person following the AF-PAK situation for the last decade that Musharaff and others following him have been keeping Osama and all other Al Queda and other terroists in safe places around Islamabad and protecting them to milk billions of $ from USA for maintaining the bankrupt country, for terrorist attacks against India and and filling their pockets. USA also knew this but they had no other way to get access to Afghanistan and has several times experienced the Pak Govt ditching them by warnining the targets. After all, Osama had been their main source of income all these years. Mr 10 % sand his cotrie hould be regretting their carelessness as they never expected US to attack without taking them into confidence before attacking !
Agree (20)Disagree (8)Recommend (10)
Khan (UK)
5 hrs ago (08:42 AM)
9/11 was the biggest embarrassment and intelligence failure in the history and that happened to the most sophisticated and a super power nation. Either CIA, NSA, US Army are incompetent or they staged that themselves. Mumbai Attacks were the biggest failure of indian intelligence where supposedly a handful of terrorists entered through international waters and went on rampage for two days unchecked. Either RAW and Indian army is incompetent or staged this drama themselves.
Agree (25)Disagree (42)Recommend (11)
NRK (Dubai) replies to Khan
4 hrs ago (10:04 AM)
due to mind like yours pakistan is suffering.If you don’t educate your self than your country will continue to suffer more. Upto you how you wish to remain.
Agree (33)Disagree (10)Recommend (19)
Khan (USA) replies to Khan
4 hrs ago (09:52 AM)
To a brainwashed PakistaniDog bred and taught in the Madrassas, it always look like one. That is why the beggars who dont have forums in their disgraced failed nation come here to lump theirShits.
Agree (30)Disagree (12)Recommend (18)
Imtiaz Rasool (Srinagar)
6 hrs ago (08:13 AM)
OBL was a fictitious entity created by USA and played by an American actor to sully the glorious name of Islam. Everything attributed to him was done by USA to take revenge on Muslims. Indians are fools to believe in these stories. The whole story of OBL capture was stage managed. Pakis are you now happy and quit making foolish comments on this forum so that logical debate can resume.
Agree (21)Disagree (48)Recommend (7)
Aryavrat (Kurukshetra) replies to Imtiaz Rasool
1 hr ago (12:45 PM)
Fiction!! Look who is talking??Most fictious and gullible are those who believe that god sent some one down to the deserts of arabia with chapers of a volent book.
Agree (7)Disagree (2)Recommend (3)
Kullah (Srinagar) replies to Imtiaz Rasool
4 hrs ago (09:38 AM)
A stupid comment by a stupid PakistaniDog taking advantage of a Indian forums to plaster shitCtaps.
Agree (32)Disagree (9)Recommend (19)
rashid (pakis) replies to Imtiaz Rasool
5 hrs ago (08:46 AM)
and he was given shelter in pakistan by the us also ? If He was so called created by the us why did the ISI and pakistan shelter him and protect him ? …u are a paki obviously but why dont u grow up ?
Agree (33)Disagree (10)Recommend (12)
Pankaj (Munger) replies to rashid
4 hrs ago (09:29 AM)
Since Imtiaz Rasool is writing from Srinagar, obviously he is an Indian.
Agree (11)Disagree (13)Recommend (3)
b (US of A) replies to Pankaj
2 hrs ago (11:48 AM)
And quite obviously he was making a sarcastic comment in jest to highlight the insane notions held by many Pakistanis. He was listing the litany of common absurd complaints up front so that the Pakistanis on this forum can save their nonsense comments and the rest of us can debate logically.
Agree (8)Disagree (2)Recommend (4)
Pratap (Doha) replies to Imtiaz Rasool
5 hrs ago (08:41 AM)
well well, there you go again, blaming others. Always the victims mentality.
Agree (21)Disagree (7)Recommend (5)
eli (montreal) replies to Pratap
5 hrs ago (09:00 AM)
my friend imtiaz rasool said the truth,this happened in fact.
Agree (9)Disagree (20)Recommend (4)
roshan_ferns2005 (bangalore) replies to eli
1 hr ago (12:37 PM)
f u :))
Agree (5)Disagree (1)Recommend (2)
Mayawati (U P )
6 hrs ago (07:58 AM)
Digvijay Singh must have advised Pakistan to disclose CIA head’s name like he does such things in India. Like he got Karkare’s call against BJP before Mumbai blast, he got Osama bin Laden’s call too before U.S. Navy Seal operation. It is high time U.S. Navy Seal take care of this lunatic.
Agree (27)Disagree (4)Recommend (15)
enlightenedworldcitizen (India)
6 hrs ago (07:57 AM)
This does not surprise many. It is well known that there are quite a few taliban alqaida sympathisers in ISI and pak military.
Agree (8)Disagree (2)Recommend (4)
Ahmed (Delhi)
9 hrs ago (04:30 AM)
Good Job Times of India you just reproduced a fake story from a Pakistani Newspaper.
Agree (12)Disagree (27)Recommend (1)
inquisitive (america) replies to Ahmed
7 hrs ago (07:11 AM)
How do you know its fake?
Agree (9)Recommend (3)
Indian (Varanasi) replies to Ahmed
8 hrs ago (06:18 AM)
If the story is fake, then you must have known the location where the late Osama lived. Whether it is Pakistan or Afganisthan? Be careful what you comment, for you might be taken for a sympathizer of Al-Queda.
Agree (14)Disagree (6)Recommend (4)
samraeuk (London) replies to Indian
7 hrs ago (06:38 AM)
Fake story, fake pics, fake videos, fake propaganda – wake up world!!!!! its a game of oil and power.
Agree (11)Disagree (19)Recommend (3)
Mullah (Srinagar) replies to samraeuk
6 hrs ago (07:31 AM)
Yeah, for a PorkiJihadi like you, all look fake as u are a fake yourself with a fake name and a fake place. This is what comes of brains bring bred in Madrassas in the holy land of pure terror
Agree (10)Disagree (5)Recommend (7)
samraeuk replies to Mullah
6 hrs ago (07:57 AM)
One thing is common in all Indians – that they are indecent and can never comment without abusive and language – this shows your level and limits and makes obvious that you are from India ;)
Agree (9)Disagree (11)Recommend (4)
Pankaj (Munger) replies to samraeuk
4 hrs ago (09:32 AM)
And you Pakistanis are staying in London and speaking against West and USA. That shows that : “Jis Thali me khate ho – usi me ched karte ho” .
Agree (4)Disagree (2)Recommend (1)
Mullah replies to samraeuk
4 hrs ago (09:49 AM)
One thing is common in all Pakis – that they are shameless, indecent and disgusting, can never comment without abusive and language – this shows your level and limits and makes obvious that you are from disgraced failed state, Terroristan. Shameless creatures using fake names and fake nations, always roaming around on Indian forums plastering shittyCraps that is unique to shameless Pakis.
Agree (3)Disagree (1)Recommend (2)
Mullah replies to samraeuk
4 hrs ago (09:50 AM)
One thing is common in all Pakis – that they are shameless, indecent and disgusting, can never comment without abusive and language – this shows your level and limits and makes obvious that you are from disgraced failed state, Terroristan. Shameless creatures using fake names and fake nations, always roaming around on Indian forums plastering shittyCraps that is unique to shameless Pakis.
Agree (1)Recommend (1)
Mahavir (USA) replies to Ahmed
8 hrs ago (06:04 AM)
Ahmed, Please move to Pakistan or join ‘AAj Tak’ new channel.
Agree (6)Disagree (3)Recommend (2)
Kaam_Admi (Midlands)
10 hrs ago (04:07 AM)
It is high time about Pakistan’s dummy civilian government with mask of democracy be ignored & international efforts should be made to outlaw Pakistani military establishment in the line of Libyan dictator, African warlords or North Korean/Myanmar military juntas. Pakistan Govt. along with military may be dubbed as oppressor of ordinary Pakistan civilians & spreading the atrocities as local terrorism in order to gain international sympathy, while doing the reverse i.e. harbouring terrorists to perpetrate on foreign soils; specifically in neighbouring land out of military vengeance. Such atrocious establishments are abusing religious bigotry as means to feed poor labour class population of Pakistan to their advantage & cause jihad world-wide. These dirty games are visible, as similar stunts of harbouring terrorists & patronising their outfits are not observed with other Muslim ruled states like Arab Sheikdoms nor with north African states although religion remains as soft-corner for all. This game of separating people from state establishments & taking tribal community lords into confidence is quite critical for international community; in which only India holds the like ethnic mind; it may be possible to strike sentimental cord with average Pakistani with the help of media, sports personalities, lawyers & doctors etc, so as to further recreate Pakistani policies towards a viable state minus exploitation, bigotry & feudal influences. Afterall Pakistan belongs to it’s people
Agree (19)Disagree (5)Recommend (4)
Khan (UK) replies to Kaam_Admi
5 hrs ago (08:51 AM)
I think Indian Army and RAW should be declared as terrorist regime for suppressing the voice of poor farmers and low cast dalits. Literally 40% of indian land is out of their hand and has been declared as the biggest security threat by the Indian Prime Minister. Meanwhile Pakistan and China should morally support those oppressed lower cast and poor people by the elite Brahmans and their zionist expansionist controlled army. These killings of innocent civilians by its own army constitutes the violation of all human norms and ethics.
Agree (1)Disagree (7)Recommend (1)
AnandDad (USA) replies to Khan
2 hrs ago (11:28 AM)
Hey you shameless Paki son of a pig! Were you part of the gang of jihadists who held a rally in front of US embassy in London? Can’t understand why Brits who know how despicable you Paki bast*rds and b*tches are still let you stay in their country.
Agree (3)Disagree (1)Recommend (1)
Charlie (Australia)
10 hrs ago (03:42 AM)
The CIA owned the Compound where they found Osama.. This is a set up .. and pakistan knows it THATS WHY THEY WANT THEM OUT.. and media just like this one spread their propaganda, to have you beleive otherwise.. and give Satan’s America a chance to invade yet Another country
Agree (9)Disagree (33)Recommend (4)
Harley (Australia) replies to Charlie
7 mins ago (02:19 PM)
Mullah Charlie, u have shown how the mind of a jihadi pig from disgraced failed land Piggistan works. Shameless pig hiding behind a fake name and posting from a nation not staying in. Typical AL TAUQIA trick
Agree (1)Recommend (1)
AnandDad (USA) replies to Charlie
3 hrs ago (11:25 AM)
You dumb son of a Pig! Enjoy your computer and freedom until Aussie Law enforcement traces your IP and hands you over to US.
Agree (2)Disagree (1)Recommend (2)
Tom (USA) replies to Charlie
7 hrs ago (07:07 AM)
Charlie Mohamad, the first devil Obama is gone, next in line is Pakistan. Sure you will see some drastic steps by the international commnity in the epic cnter of terrorism unless they stop this nonsense!
Agree (6)Disagree (2)Recommend (1)
rajX (Restroom) replies to Charlie
8 hrs ago (06:11 AM)
Charlie Mohamad, take it easy and don’t even try. Your tricks are as stale as yesterday’s milk.
Agree (15)Disagree (5)Recommend (2)
Jati S Hoon (u.s.a) replies to Charlie
9 hrs ago (05:22 AM)
You are watching to many Charlie….Chaplin movies.
Agree (3)Disagree (2)Recommend (1)
Art Vandelay (Madras) replies to Charlie
9 hrs ago (04:41 AM)
Charlie, are you sure your name isn’t Mohammad?
Agree (30)Disagree (5)Recommend (7)
LP (Miami) replies to Art Vandelay
8 hrs ago (06:06 AM)
Charlie Charlie Charlie! What has Mohammad done to you?
Agree (5)Recommend (1)
Pennypecker (Chennai) replies to Art Vandelay
8 hrs ago (05:46 AM)
Good one… ROFTL
Agree (11)Disagree (1)Recommend (1)
UR-Next (Dubai) replies to Charlie
9 hrs ago (04:28 AM)
Maybe Charlie in Australia should first focus on the genocide of the aborigines by the British prisoners in Australia !!. Obviously Charlie aka Dk-head didn’t take his meds last night.
Agree (22)Disagree (4)Recommend (2)
samraeuk (London) replies to UR-Next
8 hrs ago (06:14 AM)
Also don’t forget about genocide of Muslims in Indian Gujrat and Mumbai. It’s always easy to criticize others ;)
Agree (5)Disagree (16)Recommend (2)
Mullah (Srinagar) replies to samraeuk
6 hrs ago (07:33 AM)
PorkiPigSAM….Also Dont forget the slaughter of minorities in your Holy Land of Pure Terror, Terroristan. And its role in exporting terror to all parts of the world. Its always easy to criticize others when ur Terroristan is the root of all evil.
Agree (5)Disagree (1)Recommend (2)
Pankaj (Munger) replies to Mullah
4 hrs ago (09:49 AM)
Bravo, Mullah. Wish all Kashmiris and Muslims were as brave as you to call Spade a Spade.
Agree (1)Recommend (2)
Mullah (Srinagar) replies to samraeuk
7 hrs ago (07:26 AM)
Dont forget the genocide of minorities in your Land of Pure. Terroristan. It is always to criticize others when your Land of Pure is committing crimes daily and has become a menace to the world.
Agree (3)Disagree (1)Recommend (1)
Manish Tiwari (Indore, MP) replies to samraeuk
7 hrs ago (06:29 AM)
Sampig, don’t forget the genocide in every muslim countries in the world.
Agree (7)Disagree (1)Recommend (1)
pankaj garg (Chandigarh, India)
11 hrs ago (03:11 AM)
The financial and military aid to Pakistan must be stopped. It is a now or never situation. If they cannot find Osama (if they are telling truth) then how can anyone rely on them to tackle terrorism. So the best thing is to keep pakistan out of loop or bring some political revolution in the country for the sake of whole world.
Agree (28)Disagree (2)Recommend (6)
Americans are Wankers (USA)
11 hrs ago (02:47 AM)
OBL was created, then vilified, and eventually Murdered by the two faced Americans the Real Axis of Evil and hypocrites..
Agree (10)Disagree (39)Recommend (4)
Mullah (Srinagar) replies to Americans are Wankers
7 hrs ago (07:23 AM)
Another PorkiBastard roaming around on Indian forums plastering shittyCraps.
Agree (7)Disagree (1)Recommend (1)
Mohan M. (Dubai) replies to Americans are Wankers
11 hrs ago (03:16 AM)
Sorry, cannot logically agree with your opinion about USA being the axis of evil. Osama was the personification of evil and violence. USA merely executed him as he deserves. They said they would get him dead or alive for his cowardly actions and they did exactly that. How does that make them hypocrites?
Agree (27)Disagree (7)Recommend (5)
Charlie (Australia) replies to Mohan M.
10 hrs ago (03:45 AM)
what about the 91000 innocent dead .. I hear WAR CRIMES and CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
Agree (6)Disagree (27)Recommend (1)
Mullah (Srinagar) replies to Charlie
6 hrs ago (07:28 AM)
Another PorkiBastard roaming around on Indian forums plastering shittyCraps.
Agree (4)Recommend (1)
rajX (Restroom) replies to Charlie
8 hrs ago (06:12 AM)
Charlie Mohamad, you still around? Hahaha
Agree (11)Disagree (2)Recommend (1)
lpais (BROOKLYN) replies to Charlie
8 hrs ago (06:11 AM)
Unfortunately Charlie you live in Australia way down under. No where else to run away from America, left for you Charlie. Bad boy, bad boy, whatcha gonna do when they come for you?
Agree (6)Recommend (2)
UR-Next (Dubai) replies to Charlie
9 hrs ago (04:30 AM)
Charlie stay off the net (and take your meds), they know where you live now. Crawl back under the rock vacated by OBL – Maybe you can move to abbottabad, there is a house for rent I heard !!
Agree (22)Disagree (2)Recommend (6)
J Patrakar (Bengaluru ) replies to UR-Next
7 hrs ago (06:53 AM)
Ha Ha Ha goog one…maybe the rental ad would read like: Vacant three storey property without internet and telephone connection. Walking distance from the Military Academy and only 20 minutes drive from the Capital city. Gunshot holes in the master bedroom and freshly laid red carpet in all the rooms. Remains of helicopter in backyard good for children to play with. Suitable for joint families and community organisations.
Agree (7)Recommend (1)
Dushyant Banker (Junction City, Kansas)
11 hrs ago (02:28 AM)
Member of Nato countries like UK, Germany France all should train their commnado for future surgical raid in to Pakistan, to capture more Jihadist and end the war on terror in Safe House and Militant Camps in Pakistan, sheltered by ISI and Government of Pakistan, under the wings of Pakistani Armed Forces. No more lies, enough of being Double Agent and stop all Military Aid and Financial Aid.
Agree (17)Disagree (9)Recommend (6)
samraeuk (London) replies to Dushyant Banker
7 hrs ago (06:44 AM)
Sweet dreams!!!!!
Agree (1)Disagree (5)
Prem Chandra (Varanasi) replies to samraeuk
4 hrs ago (09:52 AM)
In fact, USA should nuke whole of Pakistan – that would be a very good riddance.
Agree (1)Recommend (1)
Dushyant Banker (Junction City, Kansas)
12 hrs ago (02:19 AM)
Before the constrction was over Osama bin Laden spend few months in ISI chief home and in the bunglow of General Parvez Musaraf, the ribbon was cut for this building by General Kayani and Asif Ali Zardari with military brass and Member of Cabinates have party and open house for this building. All other terrorist leader were present to name the few, Doud Ibrahim, and members of Pakistan Taliban provided the drinks and food for the Party.
Agree (16)Disagree (8)Recommend (8)
Kaliyug (USA)
12 hrs ago (01:47 AM)
Every ISI member is a threat to American intelligence agencies, he will sell the secrets to the Taliban and other rogues. America should stop trusting the ISI.
Agree (5)Disagree (1)Recommend (1)
Ike (Canada)
12 hrs ago (01:45 AM)
Pakistan is run by a trio of Generals. The army, navy and air force generals control Pakistan. The weak civilian government is just a front. The generals know that The USA can not be seen to be pumping billions of dollars in to a non democratic country run by the generals. People like Zardari and his henchmen are probably paid millions and billions to carry on the charade and the Generals all have accounts abroad with billions. Only the Pakistani public is screwed in this process. This is a chess game where the USA thinks they are winning the war against terrorism and the Generals keep the fires stoked by supporting the terrorist who are the golden goose for getting the USA to pump billions into Pakistan.
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Felix (Canada) replies to Ike
12 hrs ago (02:22 AM)
I appreciate your comments. You have accurately summarised the position of Pakis. Now the generals have no face when they were detected with pants down. They are frustrated and finding ways and means to cover up shame.
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Banker (USA) replies to Ike
12 hrs ago (02:14 AM)
I agree with you, before this building in /Abbotabad, Osama bin Laden was staying with ISI chief/and in the house of Pervez Musaraf ex president in his house, until the counstruction was over.
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Joyti (Manchester)
13 hrs ago (01:26 AM)
After the latest chain of events and more disclosures regarding Osama’s whereabouts for the last 7 years, I would say that it is pointless to allow Zardari to visit US. He was probably going to beg for more money. The congress already has tabled motion to stop any more aid pending Pakistan’s full disclosure of Osama’s movements inside Pakistan over the last several ears .
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Full transcript: MM Joshi to NDTV on Public Accounts Committee report
NDTV Correspondent, Updated: May 07, 2011 20:46 IST
New Delhi: In an exclusive interview to NDTV, Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman Murli Manohar Joshi says he did not leak the committee’s report on 2G scam. The report drafted by Joshi criticises Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, suggesting that not enough was done to stop A Raja of the DMK from abusing his office as Telecom Minister during the auction of 2G spectrum.
Here’s the full transcript of the interview:
Vikram Chandra: The BJP, yesterday, very clearly saying that it is Mr Chidambaram on whom the fire should now go on. How would you like to react to that? They are basing it on your report.
Murli Manohar Joshi: I am speaking as a chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on the report. Not as a member of any political party, at the moment. Our report is very clear and categorically based on the documents and evidences. The evidence was that till November the finance ministry was all the time stressing that the pricing should be determined jointly between the Department of Telecom (DOT) and finance ministry. December they were quiet. In January the licences were issued. On January 9 reports come that these companies are going to be benefited by the licences and these will be not given licences. Now that was the occasion again to be alert that what is happening? Why licenses are given? What cost? What price? What is the mechanism? …and on 10th the licenses are issued. On 15th, a note goes that whatever has happened has happened, let us look for the future. Now, therefore, the question is that at the time when the country needed money, remember the year 2008 was the year of global meltdown…
Vikram Chandra: … So they could have used this occasion to raise money. Sir, Mr Chidambaram is not here, nor is anyone from the Congress party. So, I am really going to put it to you what Mr Chidambaram’s essential defence is and how he is rebutting some of the charges that you have placed against him…Essentially what Mr Chidambaram is saying is that the finance ministry was the one that was vigilant. They kept writing letters saying that this is not the way it should be done, there should be an auction and when on January 15 he actually did send that letter saying that “matter should be closed.” What he was referring to by the matter was not entry fees but actually spectrum usage charges.
Murli Manohar Joshi: This is a different issue. See, what we are saying is this – they needed money, the defence of the finance secretary was that we were busy with the budget in the month of December and so, if they were busy with the budget they should have thought about mopping off of money from different sources. And here was a source which could have given them too much money and the licenses were being issued. Why could they not say that these licenses have been issued on wrong grounds, please stop it. The Prime Minister please intervene. We have a source which can give us lot of money and is being mis-utilised.
Vikram Chandra: I just want to say that what Mr Chidambaram is saying is – that in the note, in the same note you are referring to, there were three specific measures suggested by him for raising revenue including – additional revenues from licenses who held spectrum over and above start-up spectrum, charging prospectively the price discovered by the auction. So, Mr Chidambaram’s case is that he did suggest all these…
Murli Manohar Joshi: Prospectively. What has happened, you see the basic thing, this scam relates to what had happened. What happens prospectively is fine. The question is what has happened? Why not retrospectively? Why could he not say the ministry could not say or point out to the Prime Minister, Sir, this is a total contravention of cabinet decision, please intervene. And now you see, the report is there, it is sent to the ministry. It will go to his ministry also for his comments. Let the comments come before the PAC.
Vikram Chandra: What Mr Chidamabaram is saying is that Paragraph 9 refers to… what you were saying “matter should be closed” was referring to a certain matter. Thus, paragraph 11, 12, 13 that have specific measures put in by him to raising additional revenue, which you did not refer to. And you did not point out when you were preparing your report that when he says “the matter should be closed” he was only referring to one aspect of the matter.
Murli Manohar Joshi: Again you see, we are referring to what had happened. What is going to happen in the future, prospectively, is okay. What has already happened, what has brought a huge loss to the exchequer, and it is the duty of the finance ministry and the finance minister to prevent all such losses. And specially when they were enjoined by the Cabinet decision to determine the prices jointly.
Vikram Chandra: Okay. But Mr Chidambaram also says…is that… what is the real issue, why do we say there is a 2G scam? Because people got licenses at throw away prices. They then sold those to other companies such as Swan and so and so forth at much higher prices and made windfall gain. Now Mr Chidambaram says in this very same note that you refer to, something which you haven’t mentioned in your report, is that they had said they should share part of the premium with that Government.
Murli Manohar Joshi: No. It’s not that only. You see, this scam means that something irregular has happened, something wrong has happened, illegal has happened. The duty is to prevent that illegality. It means okay, you have looted but please share some part of the loot with us. That is something ridiculous.
Vikram Chandra: Okay. But now I am trying to figure out, because BJP is essentially saying, and I know you are here in you capacity as chairperson of PAC, but BJP says that it is Chidambaram whom people need to go after. I am just trying to figure out whether that is a correct way of doing it.
Murli Manohar Joshi: What is am saying is, again I am saying it, that I am confined to only what I have written, the report says…This report has been prepared by the secretariat, weighted by the CAG. It’s not my personal report. Somebody said I have written it. No, that is the basic thing.
Vikram Chandra: We will come to report because that was rejected by 11 people. But before we finish with Mr Chidamaberam, I just wanted to play for you what he said about the PAC report. Let’s just hear what he said at the press conference, some rather strong remarks…
“Even a person of average intelligence will know that the note dealt with spectrum usage charges and not with entry fee.”
Vikram Chandra: Even a person with average intelligence would know. You think that is a hit at you?
Murli Manohar Joshi: You see, it is the impression or his assessment of the things but I say the same thing – anybody who reads the report, goes through the whole narrative and the evidences and the documents will come to a certain conclusion and then Mr Chidambaram has an opportunity to respond to the report back to the PAC in the action taken report. He can argue there, his secretary were there to argue about it. Nobody said that they are saying about this.. what Mr Chidambaram is referring to.
Vikram Chandra: Okay. Can i just ask you Sir- A report which is.. there is a PAC, there are 21 members in it. When 11 members say we refuse to accept this report and we reject this report completely. 11 out of 21 is more than 50 per cent. So doesn’t that mean the report, in the sense of what Congress is saying, has been thrown into the dustbin?
Murli Manohar Joshi: I am not talking from the political party’s point of view. I am talking from the rules and the conventions of the PAC. In PAC there is no such thing as if there is a dissent for the draft report. A draft report is circulated. It is discussed para wise and only for some cases where you find some irregularity, factual incorrectness or improvement in the language – this should be presented like this. When you discuss paras, you say that this is not acceptable. There we discuss. And if the majority says this para is not properly drafted…
Vikram Chandra: But isn’t that what’s happening here – 11 out of 21 members are saying we do not agree with the report. Is it only the chairman who decides what the report is meant to be?
Murli Manohar Joshi: The report was not discussed. What are they disagreeing with?
Vikram Chandra: So why was the report not discussed? In fact, that it one of the issues, that why was it not discussed before you made it public?
Murli Manohar Joshi: Because they said, the members said, we can’t take this report because the name of the Prime Minster and ministers occur in it. Do you mean to say that the PAC is only there to put the thumb impression on whatever the Government says. The observations of the PAC are based on the very factual accounts given by the CAG and by the documents given to us by the PMO, the finance ministry, the law ministry, the DOT.
Vikram Chandra: Okay. But you would be prepared to go in for a paragraph by paragraph reading of the report and these are the aspects in the report which are not correct and these are correct.
Murli Manohar Joshi: No, no. Nobody said it. Some members presented their views and we incorporated in that. Now you are not ready to discuss these things. Why? We are going to reject it. You hold a press conference before that and then say that we reject it.
Vikram Chandra: But didn’t you also leak it to the press before it was discussed?
Murli Manohar Joshi: No, no.. How can I leak it? No.
Vikram Chandra: Who leaked it?
Murli Manohar Joshi: I don’t know who leaked it. They might have themselves leaked it to create a hungama. Why do you say that? My staff didn’t leak it, CAG didn’t leak it. Either some of the members – 11 members are there who are opposed to it as you say. Then, they could have leaked it. Why say that we leaked it? And then you see the question is that to hold a press conference, the same issue could have been raised with the Speaker or with us in the PAC meeting – that this is to be examined and I have written to the Speaker on that very day that this is a serious issue. They say that the report has been outsourced. It means then all the reports which are drafted by the Lok Sabha secretariat will become suspect. All procedures of the Parliament will become suspect and then you see, I have special charge on them. They want to oppose this report because it doesn’t suit them. Then they will oppose any decision of the Parliament because it doesn’t suit them. They will throw any decision of the Supreme Court into dustbin because it doesn’t suit them. They can amend the constitution because it doesn’t suit them and impose emergency as it has been done earlier.
Vikram Chandra: So, when we have a situation like right now – you have been re-elected as the chairperson of PAC, something which majority of members of PAC were actually objecting to, as I said 11 out of 21…How are we going to function on the PAC now? Do we now have to wait for JPC to see what that throws up?
Murli Manohar Joshi: The PAC will function according to the rules. PAC has to examine so many things which the CAG has given.
Vikram Chandra: Even with 11 out 21 members not willing to take part?
Murli Manohar Joshi: Are they not taking part? Let us see. I don’t think that they can even afford to say that are not taking part. That will be the onslaught on democratic functioning and on the very institution which is…Just two days ago Mr Pranab Mukherjee says that PAC and CAG are the watchdogs. They are very powerful instruments to keep checks and balances and today they are saying we are going to boycott it?
Vikram Chandra: Okay. Dr Joshi, are you prepared then, suppose they say, alright we want to go back to this report paragraph by paragraph, aspects of that which are wrong…
Murli Manohar Joshi: Report has been finalised now, and that report has been given to the Government and now the Government…
Vikram Chandra: Now where is the question of discussion? You just said that we should be able to…
Murli Manohar Joshi: That PAC is over now. The report has been submitted to the…
Vikram Chandra: So you as a chairman can present the report without discussing it with anyone else? Even if they disagree with it?
Murli Manohar Joshi: There is no question of discussion on it. This is a question of circulation, and then amendment, and then suggestions. You are not suggesting it. You are saying we are not ready to talk about it. This is against the basic principle of PAC. You must first understand how the PAC works.
Vikram Chandra: Okay. So you are saying that now the possibility of discussions is over…that is the report.
Murli Manohar Joshi: On that report the Government has to take an action now. They have to respond. Then that response…
Vikram Chandra: Even though majority of people have rejected it?
Murli Manohar Joshi: There is no question of rejection. Why are you saying rejection? Where is the rejection? You are a biased person it means. There is no rejection. They held a meeting which was unconstitutional.
Vikram Chandra: So you are saying, when the chairman has decided something, then…
Murli Manohar Joshi: Chairman and the rules…the verbatim report is there. The reporters do take record. I don’t record it. They must know the rules. They must function according to the rules.
Vikram Chandra: Alright, so you are saying, if at that time they had said we are willing to do a paragraph by paragraph discussion, you would have been okay by it?
Murli Manohar Joshi: Yes.
Vikram Chandra: Because they did not do that and rejected the report in toto, therefore, the report now stands.
Murli Manohar Joshi: They did not discuss at all. They were not prepared to discuss at all. And other members were ready to discuss. The were discussing, they had sent some amendments, they had sent some suggestions which were incorporated. The report was vetted by the CAG and submitted to the Speaker.
Vikram Chandra: Alright, Dr Joshi. It is always a pleasure having you with us and just because journalists ask questions about what happened doesn’t mean they are biased. Just to end with that. Thank you Dr Joshi. Great to have you with us.
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Story first published:
May 07, 2011 20:34 IST
Tags: 2G scam, Joshi on PAC report, MM Joshi, PAC report
My following comment was posted but, as yet, not published, perhaps never.
This, the interview, is a case of blid-man, ooops, blid-folded-man, Honorable chairman of a bipartisan, government mandated ‘Public Accounts Committee,’ “PAC,” for short, trying to place, oops, draw a tail to a donkey, oops, donkey’s picture on a blackboard. That picture, to a careful scrutiny of the said blind-folded-man, looks like, sometimes, P Chidambaran, the then Finance Minister, and the then, oops, current Prime Minister, honorable Dr Mulayam Singh, oops, Manmohan Singh. Blind men, oops, blinded by power-lust-men make such totally false statements. I forgive Dr Murli Manohar Joshi for his inaccurate statement. The crux of the matter, here, and hereafter, oops, later, is to get at the bottom, oops, top of this holy mess. “Murlimania” cannot be allowed to be played to the cheering audience in BJP headquarters, oops, headless quarters. I say, we must define the preamble to this public Accounts Committe’s role. Are they, I am referring to all the members of the committee, challenging both Dr Murli, oops, Dr Manmohan Singh and P Chidambaran? The matter is settled. No, oops, a big democratic No. When the said chairman abandoned the meeting and vanished in a thin air, leaving the committee members to fend for themselves, they elected a new chairman and voted the report, oops, the draft report out by majority. In a democracy, any democracy, majority rules. Dr Murli Manohar Joshi has no right to present his draft report to the speaker of the parliament, Meira Kumar, as it was an idiotic proposition. Agreed, the honorable speaker not only accepted the non-report but, on the top of it, appointed the chairman for the second term. However, she put the report in a cold storage, if not in a garbage pail. Until and unless, PAC stops maligning Congress party functionaries, it ought to stay where it belongs.
…and I am Sid Harth
Sensex hits six-week low on sustained selling by FII
Press Trust Of India
Mumbai, May 07, 2011
First Published: 12:49 IST(7/5/2011)
Last Updated: 12:50 IST(7/5/2011)
1 Comments
Sustained selling drive by the foreign institutional investors (FII) and an aggressive interest rate hike by the Reserve Bank (RBI) coupled with worries over corporate profit pulled down the BSE benchmark Sensex by another 617 points during the week. Metal, Realty, Auto, Banking, FMCG, Consumer Dura
ble and PSU sectors were the major losers from the Sensex pack. All indices finished with sharp to moderate losses in the range of 5.11-1.43%.
FII outflow in May 2011, totalled Rs 2,135 crore, till 4 May 2011. Mutual funds sold shares worth net Rs 78.40 crore in May 2011, till 5 May 2011.
The RBI raised its key short term lending rates by higher-than-expected 50 basis points (bps) and also lowered the baseline economic growth forecast for the current year.
The BSE Sensex declined by 617.15 points, or 3.23% to end the week 18,518.81. The S&P CNX Nifty also dropped by 198.05 points, or 3.44% to 5,551.45.
The BSE Mid-Cap index declined by 3.25% and the BSE Small-Cap index moved down by 4.28%.
The market recovered marginally at the fag-end of the week in view of sharp slide in crude oil prices, which eased macroeconomic worries and bargain hunting emerged after the recent market decline.
Sid Harth
28 comments 24 likes received
Sid Harth 0 minutes ago
Latest warning from the Meteorology Department of the Government of India, oops, Wall Street, oops, Dalal Street, Bombay India. “High Alert of tsunami,” oops, “Hindu’stunami,” oops, High Tide, oops, Low Tide, No Tide update. According to some reliable sources, who shall remain anonymous, from the high places, such as Malabar Hill, Khambala Hill, Antop Hill and Pali Hill, this latest Wall Street, oops, Dalal Street down-slide may continue until holy Hindu cows come home, oops, FIIs come home, oops, FIIs go home, wherever their home and hearth may be. Till such time as that, unlikely event in the near future, small time investors, oops, small time shares speculators, oops, the Dalal Street “sattabaz,” gamblers with high states, oops, crooks with some untaxed loose change, oops, black money, may lie low, oops, lie, oops, lay, oops, pray for better weather. Consult your investment adviser, oops, speculating, gesticulating, saffron clad guru smoking prohibited substances, oops, ganja on the banks of holy river, Ganges. It is going to get worse before it gets better. Go and buy gold. Coins, bricks, certificates, jewelery. It is a good omen to buy gold on “Akshay Tritiya.” Have fun, while it lasts. Gold may tumble down before you can say Uncle. Watch where you step, there are sharesharks roaming around Bombay harbor. Cheers.
India’s Superpower Euphoria: Sid Harth
Gāndhīnagar : India | May 07, 2011
By cogitoergosun
Was asked to send Bhatt to Modi meeting: sacked cop
Express News Service Tags : Sanjiv Bhatt, Naresh Brahmbhatt, Gujarat High Court Posted: Sun May 08 2011, 02:08 hrs Ahmedabad:
Brahmbhatt, who was dismissed after hailing DIG Sanjiv Bhatt for his SC affidavit, says he logs prove his claim
A sacked head constable on Saturday claimed he was ordered by the state Police Control Room to rush to IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt’s house on the night of February 27, 2002 and ask to him to attend the meeting at Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s residence in which the CM allegedly asked top officials to let “Hindus vent their anger”.
The constable, Naresh Brahmbhatt, was dismissed from service four days ago for lauding Bhatt for submitting an affidavit in the Supreme Court implicating Modi in the 2002 riots.
On Saturday, Brahmbhatt, who claimed he had never met Sanjiv Bhatt earlier, turned up at the IPS officer’s Ahmedabad residence with a log book to back his claims.
Bhatt, on his part, alleged that Brahmbhatt was sacked so as to discredit him before he spoke out, “without giving him a chance to be heard”.
Brahmbhatt landed at the IPS officer’s house with a worn, brown diary he claims had logs, complete with official seals, showing he was present at the Ghatlodia Police Chowki on the night of February 27, 2002, when Modi allegedly summoned several officers to his residence for a meeting.
Brahmbhatt claimed that the state Police Control Room, unable to reach Bhatt on his mobile phone and the landline at his home, called the chowki and ordered him to go to the officer’s house and tell him that the CM had summoned him.
By the time Brahmbhatt reached Bhatt’s residence around 9.45 pm to 10 pm, Bhatt had already received the message and was on his way to Gandhinagar.
The two policemen missed each other that night, and they were not to meet again for almost a decade when Brahmbhatt turned up at Bhatt’s residence on Saturday morning, or so the duo say.
Brahmbhatt, posted in Kutch district, was dismissed from service four days ago when he put out a statement in local newspapers praising Bhatt on April 23.
On May 5, Superintendent of Police of Kutch, J Rajgor, dismissed Brahmbhatt for “gross violation of service rules”. Rajgor had said Brahmbhatt consistently and openly expressed his views against the state government, and that 13 cases of indiscipline and misbehaviour were pending against him.
At the time of his removal, Brahmbhatt remained a head constable, the same post he held in 2002 when he was posted with Ahmedabad’s Ghatlodia Police Chowki, incidentally the same neighbourhood where he resides now in a two-story bungalow standing amidst a quiet residential neighbourhood dotted with schools.
He was also the president of the Gujarat State Police Head Constables and Constables Union (GSPHCC), an unrecognised police union that claims to have some 10,000 members.
In 1988, the state government derecognised police associations, and former Director General of Police P C Pande, who headed the state’s police force in 2006, officially barred policemen from joining unions and associations.
Pande issued an order on November 10, 2006, stating that joining trade union activities would be an offence under Section 3(1)(b) of Police Forces (Restriction of Right) Act of 1966, and directed that action be taken against policemen who did so.
Brahmbhatt and another colleague had filed a petition in the Gujarat High Court challenging the order and the court had ruled that joining or participating in union activities is a fundamental right, which cannot be abridged.
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Please allow me. Gujarat Chief minister, honorable (sic) Narendra Modi has shown distinctive penchant to vilify his accusers. Sanjeev Bhatt’s security was summarily revoked, not very long ago by Gujarat DG. Subsequently, it was restored. Not by his stubborn attitude but by general public resentment. Nobody is safe in Gujarat, the state that wants the whole wide world to know that is is ruled by a very benevolent parson of impeccable moral authority as a development model. Hindutva was the theme, for the past three elections. Suddenly the very air of that inane slogan and concept found holes, as wide as Babri Mosque. Now demolished without a trace of it’s five hundred year’s existence. The same illustration, if you permit me, could be applied to Narendra Modi’s so called “Development” modus operandi. Gone in a minute. If he has any moral values left, Narandra Modi should resign. I demand that he leave the politics, become a sadhu, sanyasi, Baba, guru or a mendicant
…and I am Sid Harth
Reliance Industries cuts down US lobbying to record low
PTI | May 8, 2011, 10.56am IST
Comments (2)
Tags:Reliance Industries|Mukesh Ambani|Lobbying|American lawmakers
WASHINGTON/NEW DELHI: Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries, which has been expanding its presence in the US, has surprisingly cut down its expenses for lobbying among the American lawmakers to a record low level.
RIL spent a total of USD 1,20,000 (about Rs 54 lakh) on lobbying in the US during the first quarter of 2011 — making it the lowest amount for a quarter ever since RIL began lobbying for its interests in American power corridors in 2009.
Through its lobbyist Barbour Griffith & Rogers LLC (BGR), RIL spent USD 1,20,000 on lobbying for its interest in the US Senate, the US House of Representatives and the US Department of State in the January-March 2011 quarter, as per the latest lobbying disclosure documents filed with the Senate.
RIL lobbied for its case in domestic and foreign trade areas and BGR provided “strategic counsel on issues related to trade,” as per its lobbying disclosure report for the quarter.
Prior to the latest quarter, RIL has been spending USD 190,000 on lobbying with the US lawmakers during the every quarter ever since the first quarter of 2009.
RIL had filed its lobbying registration report with the Senate in February 2009.
So far, RIL has spent a total of USD 1.64 million (about Rs 7.5 crore) ever since it began lobbying in the US in 2009.
RIL has been expanding its US presence through shale gas asset purchases for its core energy business in recent months.
The first instance of RIL lobbying among the US lawmakers — in the first quarter of 2009 when it paid about Rs one crore to its lobbyist BGR — came at a time when it was facing possible sanctions by the Barack Obama administration for its business ties with Iran.
The first disclosure about RIL’s lobbying expenses in April 2009 came in the midst of the US Senate and the House of Representatives debating new bills to authorise Obama to put strong penalties, including a ban on doing business in the US, against the companies supplying petroleum products to Iran.
RIL, along with five European companies, had been named by the US lawmakers for action for doing business with Iran.
Lobbying is legal in the US and all the lobbyists there are required to file a quarterly report with the Senate, detailing their clients, the departments with whom they were lobbying and the fees charged for the same.
The issue of lobbying has created a big controversy in recent months after leakage of taped conversations a corporate lobbyist had with people from politics, business and media.
The controversy led to talks of government considering to frame regulations for lobbying activities. However, the government and private companies have been officially lobbying in the US for many years to put forward their cases with the American government and lawmakers.
My following comment is flying to TOI’s paper shredder, oops, dust bin, oops, internet refuse dump, even as we speak, oops, May Allah be praised, it’s alive.
Readers’ opinions (2)
Recommended (1)
Sid Harth Harth (Washington, DC)
1 min ago (03:50 PM)
My little Bro, oops, ‘bhai,’ Mukesh,, have you lost your mind?, oops, millions? Peanuts, my Bro, ‘cowries,’ if you ask me. Loosen the strings of your purse, oops, ‘batwa.’ You are talking to America, not to Narendra Modi, oops, Neera Radia. You gotta spread your manure, oops, millions on K Street super lawyer, first, before your little kitchen garden can grow. Believe me, been there and done that. I love these young, brave pioneers of India, Inc. They are like America’s answer, oops, India’s answer to American gun toting, rootin’ tootin’ shootin’ highway men of the good old days of American history. Only thing that is different is that ‘mara mukes bhai,’ my brother Mukesh in Gujarati, outsources his job to K street lobbying firms. How silly! Hire VHP goons, give them a ‘carte blanche,’ like Narendra Modi and there shall be rivers of blood on the American State Streets, oops, Senate Street, oops, Congress Street, whatever. Just kidding. You, among all the Indian millionaires, your little contentious brother, Anil do wattcha gotta do to stay alive in the millionaires jungle. Pay your debt to the society by generously donating part of your loot to the charitable organizations, oops, you don’t, according to my good buddy, Warren Buffett of Omaha Nebraska. Take for instance, Bill Gates. He, poor soul, comes to India, goes to the shanty-towns, little hamlets, and distributes vaccine to little babies. What do you do? Distributes peanuts?, oops, ‘Cowries?’ Fini
…and I am Sid Harth
bhupinder (india)
3 hrs ago (12:01 PM)
they are not happy with small peanuts, they need billion like arab, who spend billlion in stock,property and lost everything, american system is big gambling,,goto there a becoming hero, but long run,,become zero,,,,bankrupt,
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SHAUN GREGORY | May 8, 2011, 02.53am IST
Comments (3)
Tags:Osama bin Laden|CIA|Barack Obama|al-Qaida
US-Pakistani relations were in crisis before the circumstances of the killing of Osama Bin Laden became known. Tired of Pakistani obfuscation on its side of the border, the Obama administration had sharply increased drone strikes in the tribal belt and significantly expanded its ground presence in Pakistan, particularly through the use of CIA operatives and contractors. These changes were beginning to pay off spectacularly – both in terms of the attrition of senior and mid-ranking al-Qaida figures and in terms of the killing of important Afghan Taliban. In fact they were paying off so well they had begun to interfere with Pakistan’s long-term regional strategy. In the wake of the Raymond Davis affair, and buoyed by public antipathy to the US in Pakistan, an angry General Kayani had pushed the United States for a renegotiation of the base and access deal agreed in the wake of 9/11, ordered the closure of the secret CIA drone base at Shamsi in northern Balochistan, and ordered many CIA operatives and contractors out of Pakistan.
Then Osama bin Laden was found and killed in Abbottabad in a large, sophisticated compound, which bears all the hallmarks of a bespoke building built to hide high-value targets over the long term. Convinced that Pakistan remains a net asset in the war on terror, and seeing no value in further destabilizing the Zardari-Gilani government, the US had publicly supported Pakistan though this has convinced few on Capitol Hill who are determined to get answers to many awkward questions. Behind the scenes, however, it is clear that the Obama administration and informed Americans are furious with Pakistan.
As a military cantonment town, much of it built by the army’s own construction companies, the home of the Kakul training academy and of a brigade of the Rawalpindi Corps, and as the location of an important ISI office, little goes on in Abbottabad that the army/ISI doesn’t know about. Moreover, the army/ISI had at least four reasons for wanting to keep bin Laden out of harm’s way:
to avoid their long-terms links with bin Laden being revealed (links that include a plot to kill Benazir Bhutto in the late 1980s and the difficult fact that the ISI introduced bin Laden to the Afghan Taliban in 1996)
bin Laden was the “golden goose” who assured US military aid flowed to the Pakistan army as long as he was on the run
bin Laden had links to powerful Saudi families who in turn have links to powerful figures in Pakistan, and who had reasons to want to keep bin Laden alive and out of Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan may have made deals with bin Laden – as it has with many other terrorist groups – to curb al-Qaida’s violence within Pakistan.
Beyond the historical links between the ISI and bin Laden and the circumstantial case against the Pakistan army/ISI, it is a racing certainty that the hard-drives, memory sticks and copious documents picked up by US Navy Seals at bin Laden’s compound will be extremely problematic for the Pakistan army/ISI. There must be more than a few officers in the Rawalpindi GHQ sweating that the phone numbers reportedly found written on bin Laden’s clothes don’t include the cell numbers of Lt General Kayani and Pasha.
There can be no expectation, however incriminating all this gathered material may prove, that the United States will use it to publicly humiliate and pressurize the Pakistanis. But there can be no doubt either that every shred that points to the ISI and Pakistan army will be exploited to the full as the US seeks to follow up the death of bin Laden with a decisive push to annihilate al-Qaida in Pakistan as Obama has promised.
It is this unexpected opportunity for leverage, which is arguably the most salient consequence of bin Laden’s death for US-Pakistan security relations. Whether this leverage exacerbates tensions or brings the Pakistan army/ISI reluctantly to heel is the critical question. Before bin Laden’s death, Lt General Asad Durrani, a former DG ISI, was already being quoted as stating that the US and Pakistan were effectively “at war”. A hyperbolic comment no doubt, but one that revealed the deteriorating trajectory of distrust and clashing interests between the US and the Pakistan army/ISI and a point underlined by the US’s decision to leave Pakistan entirely out of the loop for the raid on bin Laden’s compound. Even wiser heads, such as Georgetown’s gifted Christine Fair, are predicting that things between the US and Pakistan could quickly get “very, very nasty”.
The Pakistan army/ISI is cornered, with pressure mounting on it from within Pakistan and from without. Behind the United States, the UK, France, Germany, and the rest of the EU are queuing up with questions and each of these states will have a tough time domestically even trying to defend continued engagement with Pakistan. Once again, Pakistan is at another fork in the road with one path leading further down the cul-de-sac of violence and instability and the other offering the first few difficult steps back to normality. More than ever, the Pakistan army/ISI has to show that the term “ally” of the west has meaning.India, meanwhile, must despair that its regional antagonist can ever be normalized. To the lies Pakistan has peddled about AQ Khan, about the Afghan Taliban and Mullah Omar’s safe havens in Pakistan, and about army/ISI support for the Lashkar-e-Taiba and for the Haqqani network, must now be added the lie that Osama bin Laden was not in Pakistan.
The writer is director of the Pakistan Security Research Unit and associate dean at the University of Bradford, UK.
Readers’ opinions (3)
Recommended (1)
Bharat (India)
3 hrs ago (11:26 AM)
Pakistan is an illegitimate child of UK fostered by USA. It has an illicit lover – China. West & China have not only supported the jihadi & terrorist actitivities of Pakis againts India right from 1947, but in fact encouraged them. Now wheel has come a full circle with Pakistan becoming the biggest headache for its patrons in the West particularly USA.. This is called laws if Karma in India.
Agree (2)Recommend (2)
abhi (India)
7 hrs ago (06:28 AM)
This country needs grass root leaders now, not of Kashmir or of Pakistani ancestry . There lies the problem in decision making regarding central issues of security and unnecessary expenditure. Bin Laden and his kind can be fenced in an American aid dependent Pakistan. After all Birds of a feather flock together.
Agree (1)Recommend (1)
Sid Harth Harth (Washington, DC)
8 hrs ago (05:34 AM)
Shaun Gregory has a good job, oops, gooder job. Not better, I am afraid. News mixed with analysis, is usually, termed as, personal opinion. Certainly, the author has disclosed his whereabouts, oops, jurisdiction, oops, expertise on this topic. There are many, who claim similar authority and they are, all, coming out of the woodwork. May such independent thinkers be blessed. My dear Shaun, you were right on the button, till you started doing nasty thing. Yes, you did, in the last paragraph. Many chest thumping, jingoistic, Indians are already doing this job better. They are issuing orders to Indian government to emulate US example and wipe out all those pesky terrorists, there networks with surgical strikes. After all said and done, guess what India would be doing? Take a guess, you are the expert. Indians would build, they better get tons of bricks, stones, barbed wires, search lights, Bofors guns and perhaps, shoulder carried missiles. As the God is my witness, The Pakistani terrorists wanna jump the border and make India their own home. It would be a human tsunami. Indira Gandhi used army to cross Pakistan border and defeated Pakistan army, thus creating a dirt poor Muslim Bangladesh. Now India has two enemies, one on the East and one on the west. It took dozens of years for India to pay for that adventure. It didn’t stop with money. Horde of Banglaseh citizens jumped the border and living comfortably in India. My good Buddy, Shaun, talk is cheap.. Fini.
…and I am Sid Harth
Agree (1)Disagree (1)Recommend (1)
Pakistan breaches trust, names local CIA boss
Chidanand Rajghatta, TNN | May 8, 2011, 01.13am IST
Comments (67)
Tags:Raymond Davis|Osama bin Laden|Mark Carlton|CIA|al-Qaida
WASHINGTON: Amid bitter, recriminatory exchanges between the United States and Pakistan over the Osama bin Laden extermination, planned bilateral visits of President Asif Ali Zardari to Washington DC and a return trip of President Barack Obama to Islamabad are both in jeopardy. Ties between the two sides are expected to slide further following Pakistan’s “outing” of the CIA station chief in Islamabad on Saturday.
In a sign of how bad ties are between the two countries, Pakistani media on Saturday once again publicly named the CIA station chief in Islamabad, a breach of both protocol and trust, that is bound to enrage Washington.
A Pakistani TV channel and a newspaper considered mouthpieces of the country’s military said the ISI chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha had met CIA station chief Mark Carlton to protest US incursion into Abbottabad to kill al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden. CIA station chiefs remain anonymous and unnamed in public although the host government is told.
Earlier, the Obama administration had asked Pakistan to disclose names of its top intelligence operatives to determine whether they had contact with Osama or his agents.
The latest breach indicates that a section of the Pakistani military-intelligence establishment is determined to run the CIA out of the country fearing that the ISI’s links with terror groups and its sheltering of terrorist leaders will be exposed.
Zardari has been waiting to come to US practically every week for several months now, with Hussain Haqqani, his ambassador in Washington, doing the spadework for the visit. The visit was first slated for March and then pushed to May as ties headed south after the Raymond Davis episode.
Obama meanwhile had promised to visit Pakistan when the White House announced his India trip, in part to assuage Islamabad’s wounded pride at being left out. No dates were announced but it was expected sometime later this year. But Pakistans furious reaction to the wide-spread belief that it sheltered Osama has for now wrecked both trips. There is also growing realization in Washington that the military junta fully controls Pakistan and it rather pointless to publicly engage a weak civilian government that cannot deliver on promises.
The disclosure that the CIA established a safehouse in Abbottabad within sighting distance of the Osama’s compound under the ISI’s nose had also rattled the military brass.
And in a further embarrassment for the ISI, it now transpires that Osama lived in village just off the town of Haripur on the Abbottabad Highway for 2-1/2 years before he moved into the new compound. That would make it at least 7-1/2 years that he lived close to urban settlements.
Readers’ opinions (67)
My following comment was posted but, as yet, not published.
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I think that ISI won this beauty contest hands down. If CIA is asking Pakistan to name ISI’s top cops, it shows how dumb CIA, actually is. Did CIA, in similar situation, disclose the identities of their spies, assets, and trained assassins? The world knows, not by the names, by real identities but by the simple conclusion. They do and they have in the past. Julian Assange broke CIA’s back by disclosing, in public, the American secrets. The Julian Assange was not only threatened, chased from country to country but several American ans well as foreign people, agencies and companies were pressured to disown Julian Assange. Amazon for hosting his site, PayPal and Visa for processing his incoming donations. Switzerland for hosting his site, Britain for allowing him to stay in the country. The farce of all this maltreatment of Julian Assange exposes America’s disrespect to Julian Assange’s human rights. He, further was accused of many things, real and/or imaginary. His case of rape is nothing but fake. Irrelevant and cruel. Big Boss Leon Panetta of CIA is capable of nothing short of sending his Navy Seal to assassinate Julian Assange. Mark my word, it is only a matter of timing. All the silly talk to justify US actions, legal or illegal, had one common thread. ‘Julian Assange’s illegal disclosures endangers the human lives.’ Translated as, spies, assassins and local assets. Wow! I must seek an asylum in Pakistani safe house.. I am packing my bags. “alvida.”
…and I am Sid Harth
Pakistan breaches trust, names local CIA boss
Comments (67)
Recommended (43)
zeeshan (mumbai)
43 mins ago (01:43 PM)
well its clear that isi wanted to protect osama so that the threat of al qaida looms over usa and in return pakistan keep on milking millions of dollars from usa citing war on terror reason . as now osama is no more and pakistan some wat exposed , they need a good reason to save thier face from the world and i am sure they will find it.
Agree (2)Recommend (1)
anil issachar (dehra dun)
46 mins ago (01:40 PM)
Pakistan stands exposed,even their so called friends are enraged with them,today Pakistan stands alone and friendless,and they are digging themselves deeper by their foolish comments and actions,I read Pakistani newspapers and they are calling the Abbotabad operation,a joint US,Indian and Israeli attack which was staged only to sully the fair name of Pakistan.
Agree (2)Recommend (1)
Ravi Atreya (Bangalore)
1 hrs ago (01:26 PM)
Isn’t it clear that not only Pakistan but even USA is still smarting from the events of 1971. if the creation B’desh hurt Pakistan, then blocking the 7th fleet still rankles the USA. It would rather submit to a known terrorist state than be friends with an ‘equal’ country like India. But then USA was never known to be pragmatic, it’s reaction have always been egoistic and self serving, It’s policy allows harbouring and supporting only subservient allies who have to be dependent on it. Otherwise it resorts to actions like in Iraq, which not only brings down the oppressor but also brings the oppressed under its enforced support -ask Saudi Arabia. It is a bully, and unless someone strong teaches it a lesson it will never realise its follies. It is quite unfortunate that it is the most powerful nation at the moment. Of more worry to India should be that it will soon be replaced by China an openly declared antagonist of India. India not only needs to openly accept that Pakistan is an enemy engaged it a continuous state of war, it also needs to understand that USA is not a friend and will never be, and last but not least China is also no friend. In a world ruled by the axiom ‘Survival of the Fittest’ India has to redefine its understanding of its working maxim. Satyagragah and Gandhian civil disobedience may have worked with the British, but try talking that language with the likes of LeT, JeM and the likes.
muslimbhagawat (patna)
3 hrs ago (10:56 AM)
America have to take drastic action on Pakistan urgently otherwise it would face the consequances.The manner Pakistan is turned hostile to America once laden was captured and killedin Abottabad Pakistan military and ISI ha sturned hostile to CIA FBI and US army.Now it is high time that the US forces should teach a lesson to pakistan so that it wouldnot able to get over the debacle.
Agree (25)Disagree (9)Recommend (8)
NealK (USA)
5 hrs ago (09:24 AM)
Without a doubt, Pakistan stands exposed as a malevolent common enemy of both the United States and India. Pakistan delenda est.
Agree (28)Disagree (12)Recommend (13)
ran (Bangalore)
5 hrs ago (09:21 AM)
It has been well known to every sensible person following the AF-PAK situation for the last decade that Musharaff and others following him have been keeping Osama and all other Al Queda and other terroists in safe places around Islamabad and protecting them to milk billions of $ from USA for maintaining the bankrupt country, for terrorist attacks against India and and filling their pockets. USA also knew this but they had no other way to get access to Afghanistan and has several times experienced the Pak Govt ditching them by warnining the targets. After all, Osama had been their main source of income all these years. Mr 10 % sand his cotrie hould be regretting their carelessness as they never expected US to attack without taking them into confidence before attacking !
Agree (20)Disagree (8)Recommend (10)
Khan (UK)
5 hrs ago (08:42 AM)
9/11 was the biggest embarrassment and intelligence failure in the history and that happened to the most sophisticated and a super power nation. Either CIA, NSA, US Army are incompetent or they staged that themselves. Mumbai Attacks were the biggest failure of indian intelligence where supposedly a handful of terrorists entered through international waters and went on rampage for two days unchecked. Either RAW and Indian army is incompetent or staged this drama themselves.
Agree (25)Disagree (42)Recommend (11)
NRK (Dubai) replies to Khan
4 hrs ago (10:04 AM)
due to mind like yours pakistan is suffering.If you don’t educate your self than your country will continue to suffer more. Upto you how you wish to remain.
Agree (33)Disagree (10)Recommend (19)
Khan (USA) replies to Khan
4 hrs ago (09:52 AM)
To a brainwashed PakistaniDog bred and taught in the Madrassas, it always look like one. That is why the beggars who dont have forums in their disgraced failed nation come here to lump theirShits.
Agree (30)Disagree (12)Recommend (18)
Imtiaz Rasool (Srinagar)
6 hrs ago (08:13 AM)
OBL was a fictitious entity created by USA and played by an American actor to sully the glorious name of Islam. Everything attributed to him was done by USA to take revenge on Muslims. Indians are fools to believe in these stories. The whole story of OBL capture was stage managed. Pakis are you now happy and quit making foolish comments on this forum so that logical debate can resume.
Agree (21)Disagree (48)Recommend (7)
Aryavrat (Kurukshetra) replies to Imtiaz Rasool
1 hr ago (12:45 PM)
Fiction!! Look who is talking??Most fictious and gullible are those who believe that god sent some one down to the deserts of arabia with chapers of a volent book.
Agree (7)Disagree (2)Recommend (3)
Kullah (Srinagar) replies to Imtiaz Rasool
4 hrs ago (09:38 AM)
A stupid comment by a stupid PakistaniDog taking advantage of a Indian forums to plaster shitCtaps.
Agree (32)Disagree (9)Recommend (19)
rashid (pakis) replies to Imtiaz Rasool
5 hrs ago (08:46 AM)
and he was given shelter in pakistan by the us also ? If He was so called created by the us why did the ISI and pakistan shelter him and protect him ? …u are a paki obviously but why dont u grow up ?
Agree (33)Disagree (10)Recommend (12)
Pankaj (Munger) replies to rashid
4 hrs ago (09:29 AM)
Since Imtiaz Rasool is writing from Srinagar, obviously he is an Indian.
Agree (11)Disagree (13)Recommend (3)
b (US of A) replies to Pankaj
2 hrs ago (11:48 AM)
And quite obviously he was making a sarcastic comment in jest to highlight the insane notions held by many Pakistanis. He was listing the litany of common absurd complaints up front so that the Pakistanis on this forum can save their nonsense comments and the rest of us can debate logically.
Agree (8)Disagree (2)Recommend (4)
Pratap (Doha) replies to Imtiaz Rasool
5 hrs ago (08:41 AM)
well well, there you go again, blaming others. Always the victims mentality.
Agree (21)Disagree (7)Recommend (5)
eli (montreal) replies to Pratap
5 hrs ago (09:00 AM)
my friend imtiaz rasool said the truth,this happened in fact.
Agree (9)Disagree (20)Recommend (4)
roshan_ferns2005 (bangalore) replies to eli
1 hr ago (12:37 PM)
f u :))
Agree (5)Disagree (1)Recommend (2)
Mayawati (U P )
6 hrs ago (07:58 AM)
Digvijay Singh must have advised Pakistan to disclose CIA head’s name like he does such things in India. Like he got Karkare’s call against BJP before Mumbai blast, he got Osama bin Laden’s call too before U.S. Navy Seal operation. It is high time U.S. Navy Seal take care of this lunatic.
Agree (27)Disagree (4)Recommend (15)
enlightenedworldcitizen (India)
6 hrs ago (07:57 AM)
This does not surprise many. It is well known that there are quite a few taliban alqaida sympathisers in ISI and pak military.
Agree (8)Disagree (2)Recommend (4)
Ahmed (Delhi)
9 hrs ago (04:30 AM)
Good Job Times of India you just reproduced a fake story from a Pakistani Newspaper.
Agree (12)Disagree (27)Recommend (1)
inquisitive (america) replies to Ahmed
7 hrs ago (07:11 AM)
How do you know its fake?
Agree (9)Recommend (3)
Indian (Varanasi) replies to Ahmed
8 hrs ago (06:18 AM)
If the story is fake, then you must have known the location where the late Osama lived. Whether it is Pakistan or Afganisthan? Be careful what you comment, for you might be taken for a sympathizer of Al-Queda.
Agree (14)Disagree (6)Recommend (4)
samraeuk (London) replies to Indian
7 hrs ago (06:38 AM)
Fake story, fake pics, fake videos, fake propaganda – wake up world!!!!! its a game of oil and power.
Agree (11)Disagree (19)Recommend (3)
Mullah (Srinagar) replies to samraeuk
6 hrs ago (07:31 AM)
Yeah, for a PorkiJihadi like you, all look fake as u are a fake yourself with a fake name and a fake place. This is what comes of brains bring bred in Madrassas in the holy land of pure terror
Agree (10)Disagree (5)Recommend (7)
samraeuk replies to Mullah
6 hrs ago (07:57 AM)
One thing is common in all Indians – that they are indecent and can never comment without abusive and language – this shows your level and limits and makes obvious that you are from India ;)
Agree (9)Disagree (11)Recommend (4)
Pankaj (Munger) replies to samraeuk
4 hrs ago (09:32 AM)
And you Pakistanis are staying in London and speaking against West and USA. That shows that : “Jis Thali me khate ho – usi me ched karte ho” .
Agree (4)Disagree (2)Recommend (1)
Mullah replies to samraeuk
4 hrs ago (09:49 AM)
One thing is common in all Pakis – that they are shameless, indecent and disgusting, can never comment without abusive and language – this shows your level and limits and makes obvious that you are from disgraced failed state, Terroristan. Shameless creatures using fake names and fake nations, always roaming around on Indian forums plastering shittyCraps that is unique to shameless Pakis.
Agree (3)Disagree (1)Recommend (2)
Mullah replies to samraeuk
4 hrs ago (09:50 AM)
One thing is common in all Pakis – that they are shameless, indecent and disgusting, can never comment without abusive and language – this shows your level and limits and makes obvious that you are from disgraced failed state, Terroristan. Shameless creatures using fake names and fake nations, always roaming around on Indian forums plastering shittyCraps that is unique to shameless Pakis.
Agree (1)Recommend (1)
Mahavir (USA) replies to Ahmed
8 hrs ago (06:04 AM)
Ahmed, Please move to Pakistan or join ‘AAj Tak’ new channel.
Agree (6)Disagree (3)Recommend (2)
Kaam_Admi (Midlands)
10 hrs ago (04:07 AM)
It is high time about Pakistan’s dummy civilian government with mask of democracy be ignored & international efforts should be made to outlaw Pakistani military establishment in the line of Libyan dictator, African warlords or North Korean/Myanmar military juntas. Pakistan Govt. along with military may be dubbed as oppressor of ordinary Pakistan civilians & spreading the atrocities as local terrorism in order to gain international sympathy, while doing the reverse i.e. harbouring terrorists to perpetrate on foreign soils; specifically in neighbouring land out of military vengeance. Such atrocious establishments are abusing religious bigotry as means to feed poor labour class population of Pakistan to their advantage & cause jihad world-wide. These dirty games are visible, as similar stunts of harbouring terrorists & patronising their outfits are not observed with other Muslim ruled states like Arab Sheikdoms nor with north African states although religion remains as soft-corner for all. This game of separating people from state establishments & taking tribal community lords into confidence is quite critical for international community; in which only India holds the like ethnic mind; it may be possible to strike sentimental cord with average Pakistani with the help of media, sports personalities, lawyers & doctors etc, so as to further recreate Pakistani policies towards a viable state minus exploitation, bigotry & feudal influences. Afterall Pakistan belongs to it’s people
Agree (19)Disagree (5)Recommend (4)
Khan (UK) replies to Kaam_Admi
5 hrs ago (08:51 AM)
I think Indian Army and RAW should be declared as terrorist regime for suppressing the voice of poor farmers and low cast dalits. Literally 40% of indian land is out of their hand and has been declared as the biggest security threat by the Indian Prime Minister. Meanwhile Pakistan and China should morally support those oppressed lower cast and poor people by the elite Brahmans and their zionist expansionist controlled army. These killings of innocent civilians by its own army constitutes the violation of all human norms and ethics.
Agree (1)Disagree (7)Recommend (1)
AnandDad (USA) replies to Khan
2 hrs ago (11:28 AM)
Hey you shameless Paki son of a pig! Were you part of the gang of jihadists who held a rally in front of US embassy in London? Can’t understand why Brits who know how despicable you Paki bast*rds and b*tches are still let you stay in their country.
Agree (3)Disagree (1)Recommend (1)
Charlie (Australia)
10 hrs ago (03:42 AM)
The CIA owned the Compound where they found Osama.. This is a set up .. and pakistan knows it THATS WHY THEY WANT THEM OUT.. and media just like this one spread their propaganda, to have you beleive otherwise.. and give Satan’s America a chance to invade yet Another country
Agree (9)Disagree (33)Recommend (4)
Harley (Australia) replies to Charlie
7 mins ago (02:19 PM)
Mullah Charlie, u have shown how the mind of a jihadi pig from disgraced failed land Piggistan works. Shameless pig hiding behind a fake name and posting from a nation not staying in. Typical AL TAUQIA trick
Agree (1)Recommend (1)
AnandDad (USA) replies to Charlie
3 hrs ago (11:25 AM)
You dumb son of a Pig! Enjoy your computer and freedom until Aussie Law enforcement traces your IP and hands you over to US.
Agree (2)Disagree (1)Recommend (2)
Tom (USA) replies to Charlie
7 hrs ago (07:07 AM)
Charlie Mohamad, the first devil Obama is gone, next in line is Pakistan. Sure you will see some drastic steps by the international commnity in the epic cnter of terrorism unless they stop this nonsense!
Agree (6)Disagree (2)Recommend (1)
rajX (Restroom) replies to Charlie
8 hrs ago (06:11 AM)
Charlie Mohamad, take it easy and don’t even try. Your tricks are as stale as yesterday’s milk.
Agree (15)Disagree (5)Recommend (2)
Jati S Hoon (u.s.a) replies to Charlie
9 hrs ago (05:22 AM)
You are watching to many Charlie….Chaplin movies.
Agree (3)Disagree (2)Recommend (1)
Art Vandelay (Madras) replies to Charlie
9 hrs ago (04:41 AM)
Charlie, are you sure your name isn’t Mohammad?
Agree (30)Disagree (5)Recommend (7)
LP (Miami) replies to Art Vandelay
8 hrs ago (06:06 AM)
Charlie Charlie Charlie! What has Mohammad done to you?
Agree (5)Recommend (1)
Pennypecker (Chennai) replies to Art Vandelay
8 hrs ago (05:46 AM)
Good one… ROFTL
Agree (11)Disagree (1)Recommend (1)
UR-Next (Dubai) replies to Charlie
9 hrs ago (04:28 AM)
Maybe Charlie in Australia should first focus on the genocide of the aborigines by the British prisoners in Australia !!. Obviously Charlie aka Dk-head didn’t take his meds last night.
Agree (22)Disagree (4)Recommend (2)
samraeuk (London) replies to UR-Next
8 hrs ago (06:14 AM)
Also don’t forget about genocide of Muslims in Indian Gujrat and Mumbai. It’s always easy to criticize others ;)
Agree (5)Disagree (16)Recommend (2)
Mullah (Srinagar) replies to samraeuk
6 hrs ago (07:33 AM)
PorkiPigSAM….Also Dont forget the slaughter of minorities in your Holy Land of Pure Terror, Terroristan. And its role in exporting terror to all parts of the world. Its always easy to criticize others when ur Terroristan is the root of all evil.
Agree (5)Disagree (1)Recommend (2)
Pankaj (Munger) replies to Mullah
4 hrs ago (09:49 AM)
Bravo, Mullah. Wish all Kashmiris and Muslims were as brave as you to call Spade a Spade.
Agree (1)Recommend (2)
Mullah (Srinagar) replies to samraeuk
7 hrs ago (07:26 AM)
Dont forget the genocide of minorities in your Land of Pure. Terroristan. It is always to criticize others when your Land of Pure is committing crimes daily and has become a menace to the world.
Agree (3)Disagree (1)Recommend (1)
Manish Tiwari (Indore, MP) replies to samraeuk
7 hrs ago (06:29 AM)
Sampig, don’t forget the genocide in every muslim countries in the world.
Agree (7)Disagree (1)Recommend (1)
pankaj garg (Chandigarh, India)
11 hrs ago (03:11 AM)
The financial and military aid to Pakistan must be stopped. It is a now or never situation. If they cannot find Osama (if they are telling truth) then how can anyone rely on them to tackle terrorism. So the best thing is to keep pakistan out of loop or bring some political revolution in the country for the sake of whole world.
Agree (28)Disagree (2)Recommend (6)
Americans are Wankers (USA)
11 hrs ago (02:47 AM)
OBL was created, then vilified, and eventually Murdered by the two faced Americans the Real Axis of Evil and hypocrites..
Agree (10)Disagree (39)Recommend (4)
Mullah (Srinagar) replies to Americans are Wankers
7 hrs ago (07:23 AM)
Another PorkiBastard roaming around on Indian forums plastering shittyCraps.
Agree (7)Disagree (1)Recommend (1)
Mohan M. (Dubai) replies to Americans are Wankers
11 hrs ago (03:16 AM)
Sorry, cannot logically agree with your opinion about USA being the axis of evil. Osama was the personification of evil and violence. USA merely executed him as he deserves. They said they would get him dead or alive for his cowardly actions and they did exactly that. How does that make them hypocrites?
Agree (27)Disagree (7)Recommend (5)
Charlie (Australia) replies to Mohan M.
10 hrs ago (03:45 AM)
what about the 91000 innocent dead .. I hear WAR CRIMES and CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
Agree (6)Disagree (27)Recommend (1)
Mullah (Srinagar) replies to Charlie
6 hrs ago (07:28 AM)
Another PorkiBastard roaming around on Indian forums plastering shittyCraps.
Agree (4)Recommend (1)
rajX (Restroom) replies to Charlie
8 hrs ago (06:12 AM)
Charlie Mohamad, you still around? Hahaha
Agree (11)Disagree (2)Recommend (1)
lpais (BROOKLYN) replies to Charlie
8 hrs ago (06:11 AM)
Unfortunately Charlie you live in Australia way down under. No where else to run away from America, left for you Charlie. Bad boy, bad boy, whatcha gonna do when they come for you?
Agree (6)Recommend (2)
UR-Next (Dubai) replies to Charlie
9 hrs ago (04:30 AM)
Charlie stay off the net (and take your meds), they know where you live now. Crawl back under the rock vacated by OBL – Maybe you can move to abbottabad, there is a house for rent I heard !!
Agree (22)Disagree (2)Recommend (6)
J Patrakar (Bengaluru ) replies to UR-Next
7 hrs ago (06:53 AM)
Ha Ha Ha goog one…maybe the rental ad would read like: Vacant three storey property without internet and telephone connection. Walking distance from the Military Academy and only 20 minutes drive from the Capital city. Gunshot holes in the master bedroom and freshly laid red carpet in all the rooms. Remains of helicopter in backyard good for children to play with. Suitable for joint families and community organisations.
Agree (7)Recommend (1)
Dushyant Banker (Junction City, Kansas)
11 hrs ago (02:28 AM)
Member of Nato countries like UK, Germany France all should train their commnado for future surgical raid in to Pakistan, to capture more Jihadist and end the war on terror in Safe House and Militant Camps in Pakistan, sheltered by ISI and Government of Pakistan, under the wings of Pakistani Armed Forces. No more lies, enough of being Double Agent and stop all Military Aid and Financial Aid.
Agree (17)Disagree (9)Recommend (6)
samraeuk (London) replies to Dushyant Banker
7 hrs ago (06:44 AM)
Sweet dreams!!!!!
Agree (1)Disagree (5)
Prem Chandra (Varanasi) replies to samraeuk
4 hrs ago (09:52 AM)
In fact, USA should nuke whole of Pakistan – that would be a very good riddance.
Agree (1)Recommend (1)
Dushyant Banker (Junction City, Kansas)
12 hrs ago (02:19 AM)
Before the constrction was over Osama bin Laden spend few months in ISI chief home and in the bunglow of General Parvez Musaraf, the ribbon was cut for this building by General Kayani and Asif Ali Zardari with military brass and Member of Cabinates have party and open house for this building. All other terrorist leader were present to name the few, Doud Ibrahim, and members of Pakistan Taliban provided the drinks and food for the Party.
Agree (16)Disagree (8)Recommend (8)
Kaliyug (USA)
12 hrs ago (01:47 AM)
Every ISI member is a threat to American intelligence agencies, he will sell the secrets to the Taliban and other rogues. America should stop trusting the ISI.
Agree (5)Disagree (1)Recommend (1)
Ike (Canada)
12 hrs ago (01:45 AM)
Pakistan is run by a trio of Generals. The army, navy and air force generals control Pakistan. The weak civilian government is just a front. The generals know that The USA can not be seen to be pumping billions of dollars in to a non democratic country run by the generals. People like Zardari and his henchmen are probably paid millions and billions to carry on the charade and the Generals all have accounts abroad with billions. Only the Pakistani public is screwed in this process. This is a chess game where the USA thinks they are winning the war against terrorism and the Generals keep the fires stoked by supporting the terrorist who are the golden goose for getting the USA to pump billions into Pakistan.
Agree (26)Disagree (8)Recommend (17)
Felix (Canada) replies to Ike
12 hrs ago (02:22 AM)
I appreciate your comments. You have accurately summarised the position of Pakis. Now the generals have no face when they were detected with pants down. They are frustrated and finding ways and means to cover up shame.
Agree (3)Disagree (1)Recommend (2)
Banker (USA) replies to Ike
12 hrs ago (02:14 AM)
I agree with you, before this building in /Abbotabad, Osama bin Laden was staying with ISI chief/and in the house of Pervez Musaraf ex president in his house, until the counstruction was over.
Agree (19)Disagree (8)Recommend (11)
Joyti (Manchester)
13 hrs ago (01:26 AM)
After the latest chain of events and more disclosures regarding Osama’s whereabouts for the last 7 years, I would say that it is pointless to allow Zardari to visit US. He was probably going to beg for more money. The congress already has tabled motion to stop any more aid pending Pakistan’s full disclosure of Osama’s movements inside Pakistan over the last several ears .
Agree (5)Disagree (1)Recommend (1)
Full transcript: MM Joshi to NDTV on Public Accounts Committee report
NDTV Correspondent, Updated: May 07, 2011 20:46 IST
New Delhi: In an exclusive interview to NDTV, Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman Murli Manohar Joshi says he did not leak the committee’s report on 2G scam. The report drafted by Joshi criticises Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, suggesting that not enough was done to stop A Raja of the DMK from abusing his office as Telecom Minister during the auction of 2G spectrum.
Here’s the full transcript of the interview:
Vikram Chandra: The BJP, yesterday, very clearly saying that it is Mr Chidambaram on whom the fire should now go on. How would you like to react to that? They are basing it on your report.
Murli Manohar Joshi: I am speaking as a chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on the report. Not as a member of any political party, at the moment. Our report is very clear and categorically based on the documents and evidences. The evidence was that till November the finance ministry was all the time stressing that the pricing should be determined jointly between the Department of Telecom (DOT) and finance ministry. December they were quiet. In January the licences were issued. On January 9 reports come that these companies are going to be benefited by the licences and these will be not given licences. Now that was the occasion again to be alert that what is happening? Why licenses are given? What cost? What price? What is the mechanism? …and on 10th the licenses are issued. On 15th, a note goes that whatever has happened has happened, let us look for the future. Now, therefore, the question is that at the time when the country needed money, remember the year 2008 was the year of global meltdown…
Vikram Chandra: … So they could have used this occasion to raise money. Sir, Mr Chidambaram is not here, nor is anyone from the Congress party. So, I am really going to put it to you what Mr Chidambaram’s essential defence is and how he is rebutting some of the charges that you have placed against him…Essentially what Mr Chidambaram is saying is that the finance ministry was the one that was vigilant. They kept writing letters saying that this is not the way it should be done, there should be an auction and when on January 15 he actually did send that letter saying that “matter should be closed.” What he was referring to by the matter was not entry fees but actually spectrum usage charges.
Murli Manohar Joshi: This is a different issue. See, what we are saying is this – they needed money, the defence of the finance secretary was that we were busy with the budget in the month of December and so, if they were busy with the budget they should have thought about mopping off of money from different sources. And here was a source which could have given them too much money and the licenses were being issued. Why could they not say that these licenses have been issued on wrong grounds, please stop it. The Prime Minister please intervene. We have a source which can give us lot of money and is being mis-utilised.
Vikram Chandra: I just want to say that what Mr Chidambaram is saying is – that in the note, in the same note you are referring to, there were three specific measures suggested by him for raising revenue including – additional revenues from licenses who held spectrum over and above start-up spectrum, charging prospectively the price discovered by the auction. So, Mr Chidambaram’s case is that he did suggest all these…
Murli Manohar Joshi: Prospectively. What has happened, you see the basic thing, this scam relates to what had happened. What happens prospectively is fine. The question is what has happened? Why not retrospectively? Why could he not say the ministry could not say or point out to the Prime Minister, Sir, this is a total contravention of cabinet decision, please intervene. And now you see, the report is there, it is sent to the ministry. It will go to his ministry also for his comments. Let the comments come before the PAC.
Vikram Chandra: What Mr Chidamabaram is saying is that Paragraph 9 refers to… what you were saying “matter should be closed” was referring to a certain matter. Thus, paragraph 11, 12, 13 that have specific measures put in by him to raising additional revenue, which you did not refer to. And you did not point out when you were preparing your report that when he says “the matter should be closed” he was only referring to one aspect of the matter.
Murli Manohar Joshi: Again you see, we are referring to what had happened. What is going to happen in the future, prospectively, is okay. What has already happened, what has brought a huge loss to the exchequer, and it is the duty of the finance ministry and the finance minister to prevent all such losses. And specially when they were enjoined by the Cabinet decision to determine the prices jointly.
Vikram Chandra: Okay. But Mr Chidambaram also says…is that… what is the real issue, why do we say there is a 2G scam? Because people got licenses at throw away prices. They then sold those to other companies such as Swan and so and so forth at much higher prices and made windfall gain. Now Mr Chidambaram says in this very same note that you refer to, something which you haven’t mentioned in your report, is that they had said they should share part of the premium with that Government.
Murli Manohar Joshi: No. It’s not that only. You see, this scam means that something irregular has happened, something wrong has happened, illegal has happened. The duty is to prevent that illegality. It means okay, you have looted but please share some part of the loot with us. That is something ridiculous.
Vikram Chandra: Okay. But now I am trying to figure out, because BJP is essentially saying, and I know you are here in you capacity as chairperson of PAC, but BJP says that it is Chidambaram whom people need to go after. I am just trying to figure out whether that is a correct way of doing it.
Murli Manohar Joshi: What is am saying is, again I am saying it, that I am confined to only what I have written, the report says…This report has been prepared by the secretariat, weighted by the CAG. It’s not my personal report. Somebody said I have written it. No, that is the basic thing.
Vikram Chandra: We will come to report because that was rejected by 11 people. But before we finish with Mr Chidamaberam, I just wanted to play for you what he said about the PAC report. Let’s just hear what he said at the press conference, some rather strong remarks…
“Even a person of average intelligence will know that the note dealt with spectrum usage charges and not with entry fee.”
Vikram Chandra: Even a person with average intelligence would know. You think that is a hit at you?
Murli Manohar Joshi: You see, it is the impression or his assessment of the things but I say the same thing – anybody who reads the report, goes through the whole narrative and the evidences and the documents will come to a certain conclusion and then Mr Chidambaram has an opportunity to respond to the report back to the PAC in the action taken report. He can argue there, his secretary were there to argue about it. Nobody said that they are saying about this.. what Mr Chidambaram is referring to.
Vikram Chandra: Okay. Can i just ask you Sir- A report which is.. there is a PAC, there are 21 members in it. When 11 members say we refuse to accept this report and we reject this report completely. 11 out of 21 is more than 50 per cent. So doesn’t that mean the report, in the sense of what Congress is saying, has been thrown into the dustbin?
Murli Manohar Joshi: I am not talking from the political party’s point of view. I am talking from the rules and the conventions of the PAC. In PAC there is no such thing as if there is a dissent for the draft report. A draft report is circulated. It is discussed para wise and only for some cases where you find some irregularity, factual incorrectness or improvement in the language – this should be presented like this. When you discuss paras, you say that this is not acceptable. There we discuss. And if the majority says this para is not properly drafted…
Vikram Chandra: But isn’t that what’s happening here – 11 out of 21 members are saying we do not agree with the report. Is it only the chairman who decides what the report is meant to be?
Murli Manohar Joshi: The report was not discussed. What are they disagreeing with?
Vikram Chandra: So why was the report not discussed? In fact, that it one of the issues, that why was it not discussed before you made it public?
Murli Manohar Joshi: Because they said, the members said, we can’t take this report because the name of the Prime Minster and ministers occur in it. Do you mean to say that the PAC is only there to put the thumb impression on whatever the Government says. The observations of the PAC are based on the very factual accounts given by the CAG and by the documents given to us by the PMO, the finance ministry, the law ministry, the DOT.
Vikram Chandra: Okay. But you would be prepared to go in for a paragraph by paragraph reading of the report and these are the aspects in the report which are not correct and these are correct.
Murli Manohar Joshi: No, no. Nobody said it. Some members presented their views and we incorporated in that. Now you are not ready to discuss these things. Why? We are going to reject it. You hold a press conference before that and then say that we reject it.
Vikram Chandra: But didn’t you also leak it to the press before it was discussed?
Murli Manohar Joshi: No, no.. How can I leak it? No.
Vikram Chandra: Who leaked it?
Murli Manohar Joshi: I don’t know who leaked it. They might have themselves leaked it to create a hungama. Why do you say that? My staff didn’t leak it, CAG didn’t leak it. Either some of the members – 11 members are there who are opposed to it as you say. Then, they could have leaked it. Why say that we leaked it? And then you see the question is that to hold a press conference, the same issue could have been raised with the Speaker or with us in the PAC meeting – that this is to be examined and I have written to the Speaker on that very day that this is a serious issue. They say that the report has been outsourced. It means then all the reports which are drafted by the Lok Sabha secretariat will become suspect. All procedures of the Parliament will become suspect and then you see, I have special charge on them. They want to oppose this report because it doesn’t suit them. Then they will oppose any decision of the Parliament because it doesn’t suit them. They will throw any decision of the Supreme Court into dustbin because it doesn’t suit them. They can amend the constitution because it doesn’t suit them and impose emergency as it has been done earlier.
Vikram Chandra: So, when we have a situation like right now – you have been re-elected as the chairperson of PAC, something which majority of members of PAC were actually objecting to, as I said 11 out of 21…How are we going to function on the PAC now? Do we now have to wait for JPC to see what that throws up?
Murli Manohar Joshi: The PAC will function according to the rules. PAC has to examine so many things which the CAG has given.
Vikram Chandra: Even with 11 out 21 members not willing to take part?
Murli Manohar Joshi: Are they not taking part? Let us see. I don’t think that they can even afford to say that are not taking part. That will be the onslaught on democratic functioning and on the very institution which is…Just two days ago Mr Pranab Mukherjee says that PAC and CAG are the watchdogs. They are very powerful instruments to keep checks and balances and today they are saying we are going to boycott it?
Vikram Chandra: Okay. Dr Joshi, are you prepared then, suppose they say, alright we want to go back to this report paragraph by paragraph, aspects of that which are wrong…
Murli Manohar Joshi: Report has been finalised now, and that report has been given to the Government and now the Government…
Vikram Chandra: Now where is the question of discussion? You just said that we should be able to…
Murli Manohar Joshi: That PAC is over now. The report has been submitted to the…
Vikram Chandra: So you as a chairman can present the report without discussing it with anyone else? Even if they disagree with it?
Murli Manohar Joshi: There is no question of discussion on it. This is a question of circulation, and then amendment, and then suggestions. You are not suggesting it. You are saying we are not ready to talk about it. This is against the basic principle of PAC. You must first understand how the PAC works.
Vikram Chandra: Okay. So you are saying that now the possibility of discussions is over…that is the report.
Murli Manohar Joshi: On that report the Government has to take an action now. They have to respond. Then that response…
Vikram Chandra: Even though majority of people have rejected it?
Murli Manohar Joshi: There is no question of rejection. Why are you saying rejection? Where is the rejection? You are a biased person it means. There is no rejection. They held a meeting which was unconstitutional.
Vikram Chandra: So you are saying, when the chairman has decided something, then…
Murli Manohar Joshi: Chairman and the rules…the verbatim report is there. The reporters do take record. I don’t record it. They must know the rules. They must function according to the rules.
Vikram Chandra: Alright, so you are saying, if at that time they had said we are willing to do a paragraph by paragraph discussion, you would have been okay by it?
Murli Manohar Joshi: Yes.
Vikram Chandra: Because they did not do that and rejected the report in toto, therefore, the report now stands.
Murli Manohar Joshi: They did not discuss at all. They were not prepared to discuss at all. And other members were ready to discuss. The were discussing, they had sent some amendments, they had sent some suggestions which were incorporated. The report was vetted by the CAG and submitted to the Speaker.
Vikram Chandra: Alright, Dr Joshi. It is always a pleasure having you with us and just because journalists ask questions about what happened doesn’t mean they are biased. Just to end with that. Thank you Dr Joshi. Great to have you with us.
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Story first published:
May 07, 2011 20:34 IST
Tags: 2G scam, Joshi on PAC report, MM Joshi, PAC report
My following comment was posted but, as yet, not published, perhaps never.
This, the interview, is a case of blid-man, ooops, blid-folded-man, Honorable chairman of a bipartisan, government mandated ‘Public Accounts Committee,’ “PAC,” for short, trying to place, oops, draw a tail to a donkey, oops, donkey’s picture on a blackboard. That picture, to a careful scrutiny of the said blind-folded-man, looks like, sometimes, P Chidambaran, the then Finance Minister, and the then, oops, current Prime Minister, honorable Dr Mulayam Singh, oops, Manmohan Singh. Blind men, oops, blinded by power-lust-men make such totally false statements. I forgive Dr Murli Manohar Joshi for his inaccurate statement. The crux of the matter, here, and hereafter, oops, later, is to get at the bottom, oops, top of this holy mess. “Murlimania” cannot be allowed to be played to the cheering audience in BJP headquarters, oops, headless quarters. I say, we must define the preamble to this public Accounts Committe’s role. Are they, I am referring to all the members of the committee, challenging both Dr Murli, oops, Dr Manmohan Singh and P Chidambaran? The matter is settled. No, oops, a big democratic No. When the said chairman abandoned the meeting and vanished in a thin air, leaving the committee members to fend for themselves, they elected a new chairman and voted the report, oops, the draft report out by majority. In a democracy, any democracy, majority rules. Dr Murli Manohar Joshi has no right to present his draft report to the speaker of the parliament, Meira Kumar, as it was an idiotic proposition. Agreed, the honorable speaker not only accepted the non-report but, on the top of it, appointed the chairman for the second term. However, she put the report in a cold storage, if not in a garbage pail. Until and unless, PAC stops maligning Congress party functionaries, it ought to stay where it belongs.
…and I am Sid Harth
Sensex hits six-week low on sustained selling by FII
Press Trust Of India
Mumbai, May 07, 2011
First Published: 12:49 IST(7/5/2011)
Last Updated: 12:50 IST(7/5/2011)
1 Comments
Sustained selling drive by the foreign institutional investors (FII) and an aggressive interest rate hike by the Reserve Bank (RBI) coupled with worries over corporate profit pulled down the BSE benchmark Sensex by another 617 points during the week. Metal, Realty, Auto, Banking, FMCG, Consumer Dura
ble and PSU sectors were the major losers from the Sensex pack. All indices finished with sharp to moderate losses in the range of 5.11-1.43%.
FII outflow in May 2011, totalled Rs 2,135 crore, till 4 May 2011. Mutual funds sold shares worth net Rs 78.40 crore in May 2011, till 5 May 2011.
The RBI raised its key short term lending rates by higher-than-expected 50 basis points (bps) and also lowered the baseline economic growth forecast for the current year.
The BSE Sensex declined by 617.15 points, or 3.23% to end the week 18,518.81. The S&P CNX Nifty also dropped by 198.05 points, or 3.44% to 5,551.45.
The BSE Mid-Cap index declined by 3.25% and the BSE Small-Cap index moved down by 4.28%.
The market recovered marginally at the fag-end of the week in view of sharp slide in crude oil prices, which eased macroeconomic worries and bargain hunting emerged after the recent market decline.
Sid Harth
28 comments 24 likes received
Sid Harth 0 minutes ago
Latest warning from the Meteorology Department of the Government of India, oops, Wall Street, oops, Dalal Street, Bombay India. “High Alert of tsunami,” oops, “Hindu’stunami,” oops, High Tide, oops, Low Tide, No Tide update. According to some reliable sources, who shall remain anonymous, from the high places, such as Malabar Hill, Khambala Hill, Antop Hill and Pali Hill, this latest Wall Street, oops, Dalal Street down-slide may continue until holy Hindu cows come home, oops, FIIs come home, oops, FIIs go home, wherever their home and hearth may be. Till such time as that, unlikely event in the near future, small time investors, oops, small time shares speculators, oops, the Dalal Street “sattabaz,” gamblers with high states, oops, crooks with some untaxed loose change, oops, black money, may lie low, oops, lie, oops, lay, oops, pray for better weather. Consult your investment adviser, oops, speculating, gesticulating, saffron clad guru smoking prohibited substances, oops, ganja on the banks of holy river, Ganges. It is going to get worse before it gets better. Go and buy gold. Coins, bricks, certificates, jewelery. It is a good omen to buy gold on “Akshay Tritiya.” Have fun, while it lasts. Gold may tumble down before you can say Uncle. Watch where you step, there are sharesharks roaming around Bombay harbor. Cheers.
India’s Superpower Euphoria: Sid Harth
Gāndhīnagar : India | May 07, 2011
By cogitoergosun
Was asked to send Bhatt to Modi meeting: sacked cop
Express News Service Tags : Sanjiv Bhatt, Naresh Brahmbhatt, Gujarat High Court Posted: Sun May 08 2011, 02:08 hrs Ahmedabad:
Brahmbhatt, who was dismissed after hailing DIG Sanjiv Bhatt for his SC affidavit, says he logs prove his claim
A sacked head constable on Saturday claimed he was ordered by the state Police Control Room to rush to IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt’s house on the night of February 27, 2002 and ask to him to attend the meeting at Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s residence in which the CM allegedly asked top officials to let “Hindus vent their anger”.
The constable, Naresh Brahmbhatt, was dismissed from service four days ago for lauding Bhatt for submitting an affidavit in the Supreme Court implicating Modi in the 2002 riots.
On Saturday, Brahmbhatt, who claimed he had never met Sanjiv Bhatt earlier, turned up at the IPS officer’s Ahmedabad residence with a log book to back his claims.
Bhatt, on his part, alleged that Brahmbhatt was sacked so as to discredit him before he spoke out, “without giving him a chance to be heard”.
Brahmbhatt landed at the IPS officer’s house with a worn, brown diary he claims had logs, complete with official seals, showing he was present at the Ghatlodia Police Chowki on the night of February 27, 2002, when Modi allegedly summoned several officers to his residence for a meeting.
Brahmbhatt claimed that the state Police Control Room, unable to reach Bhatt on his mobile phone and the landline at his home, called the chowki and ordered him to go to the officer’s house and tell him that the CM had summoned him.
By the time Brahmbhatt reached Bhatt’s residence around 9.45 pm to 10 pm, Bhatt had already received the message and was on his way to Gandhinagar.
The two policemen missed each other that night, and they were not to meet again for almost a decade when Brahmbhatt turned up at Bhatt’s residence on Saturday morning, or so the duo say.
Brahmbhatt, posted in Kutch district, was dismissed from service four days ago when he put out a statement in local newspapers praising Bhatt on April 23.
On May 5, Superintendent of Police of Kutch, J Rajgor, dismissed Brahmbhatt for “gross violation of service rules”. Rajgor had said Brahmbhatt consistently and openly expressed his views against the state government, and that 13 cases of indiscipline and misbehaviour were pending against him.
At the time of his removal, Brahmbhatt remained a head constable, the same post he held in 2002 when he was posted with Ahmedabad’s Ghatlodia Police Chowki, incidentally the same neighbourhood where he resides now in a two-story bungalow standing amidst a quiet residential neighbourhood dotted with schools.
He was also the president of the Gujarat State Police Head Constables and Constables Union (GSPHCC), an unrecognised police union that claims to have some 10,000 members.
In 1988, the state government derecognised police associations, and former Director General of Police P C Pande, who headed the state’s police force in 2006, officially barred policemen from joining unions and associations.
Pande issued an order on November 10, 2006, stating that joining trade union activities would be an offence under Section 3(1)(b) of Police Forces (Restriction of Right) Act of 1966, and directed that action be taken against policemen who did so.
Brahmbhatt and another colleague had filed a petition in the Gujarat High Court challenging the order and the court had ruled that joining or participating in union activities is a fundamental right, which cannot be abridged.
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Please allow me. Gujarat Chief minister, honorable (sic) Narendra Modi has shown distinctive penchant to vilify his accusers. Sanjeev Bhatt’s security was summarily revoked, not very long ago by Gujarat DG. Subsequently, it was restored. Not by his stubborn attitude but by general public resentment. Nobody is safe in Gujarat, the state that wants the whole wide world to know that is is ruled by a very benevolent parson of impeccable moral authority as a development model. Hindutva was the theme, for the past three elections. Suddenly the very air of that inane slogan and concept found holes, as wide as Babri Mosque. Now demolished without a trace of it’s five hundred year’s existence. The same illustration, if you permit me, could be applied to Narendra Modi’s so called “Development” modus operandi. Gone in a minute. If he has any moral values left, Narandra Modi should resign. I demand that he leave the politics, become a sadhu, sanyasi, Baba, guru or a mendicant
…and I am Sid Harth
Reliance Industries cuts down US lobbying to record low
PTI | May 8, 2011, 10.56am IST
Comments (2)
Tags:Reliance Industries|Mukesh Ambani|Lobbying|American lawmakers
WASHINGTON/NEW DELHI: Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries, which has been expanding its presence in the US, has surprisingly cut down its expenses for lobbying among the American lawmakers to a record low level.
RIL spent a total of USD 1,20,000 (about Rs 54 lakh) on lobbying in the US during the first quarter of 2011 — making it the lowest amount for a quarter ever since RIL began lobbying for its interests in American power corridors in 2009.
Through its lobbyist Barbour Griffith & Rogers LLC (BGR), RIL spent USD 1,20,000 on lobbying for its interest in the US Senate, the US House of Representatives and the US Department of State in the January-March 2011 quarter, as per the latest lobbying disclosure documents filed with the Senate.
RIL lobbied for its case in domestic and foreign trade areas and BGR provided “strategic counsel on issues related to trade,” as per its lobbying disclosure report for the quarter.
Prior to the latest quarter, RIL has been spending USD 190,000 on lobbying with the US lawmakers during the every quarter ever since the first quarter of 2009.
RIL had filed its lobbying registration report with the Senate in February 2009.
So far, RIL has spent a total of USD 1.64 million (about Rs 7.5 crore) ever since it began lobbying in the US in 2009.
RIL has been expanding its US presence through shale gas asset purchases for its core energy business in recent months.
The first instance of RIL lobbying among the US lawmakers — in the first quarter of 2009 when it paid about Rs one crore to its lobbyist BGR — came at a time when it was facing possible sanctions by the Barack Obama administration for its business ties with Iran.
The first disclosure about RIL’s lobbying expenses in April 2009 came in the midst of the US Senate and the House of Representatives debating new bills to authorise Obama to put strong penalties, including a ban on doing business in the US, against the companies supplying petroleum products to Iran.
RIL, along with five European companies, had been named by the US lawmakers for action for doing business with Iran.
Lobbying is legal in the US and all the lobbyists there are required to file a quarterly report with the Senate, detailing their clients, the departments with whom they were lobbying and the fees charged for the same.
The issue of lobbying has created a big controversy in recent months after leakage of taped conversations a corporate lobbyist had with people from politics, business and media.
The controversy led to talks of government considering to frame regulations for lobbying activities. However, the government and private companies have been officially lobbying in the US for many years to put forward their cases with the American government and lawmakers.
My following comment is flying to TOI’s paper shredder, oops, dust bin, oops, internet refuse dump, even as we speak, oops, May Allah be praised, it’s alive.
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Recommended (1)
Sid Harth Harth (Washington, DC)
1 min ago (03:50 PM)
My little Bro, oops, ‘bhai,’ Mukesh,, have you lost your mind?, oops, millions? Peanuts, my Bro, ‘cowries,’ if you ask me. Loosen the strings of your purse, oops, ‘batwa.’ You are talking to America, not to Narendra Modi, oops, Neera Radia. You gotta spread your manure, oops, millions on K Street super lawyer, first, before your little kitchen garden can grow. Believe me, been there and done that. I love these young, brave pioneers of India, Inc. They are like America’s answer, oops, India’s answer to American gun toting, rootin’ tootin’ shootin’ highway men of the good old days of American history. Only thing that is different is that ‘mara mukes bhai,’ my brother Mukesh in Gujarati, outsources his job to K street lobbying firms. How silly! Hire VHP goons, give them a ‘carte blanche,’ like Narendra Modi and there shall be rivers of blood on the American State Streets, oops, Senate Street, oops, Congress Street, whatever. Just kidding. You, among all the Indian millionaires, your little contentious brother, Anil do wattcha gotta do to stay alive in the millionaires jungle. Pay your debt to the society by generously donating part of your loot to the charitable organizations, oops, you don’t, according to my good buddy, Warren Buffett of Omaha Nebraska. Take for instance, Bill Gates. He, poor soul, comes to India, goes to the shanty-towns, little hamlets, and distributes vaccine to little babies. What do you do? Distributes peanuts?, oops, ‘Cowries?’ Fini
…and I am Sid Harth
bhupinder (india)
3 hrs ago (12:01 PM)
they are not happy with small peanuts, they need billion like arab, who spend billlion in stock,property and lost everything, american system is big gambling,,goto there a becoming hero, but long run,,become zero,,,,bankrupt,
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