2.12.08

Obama, Osama, Dawood - read my lips

Applause. Can you hear it all the way from Washington as President-elect Barack Obama tells us that sovereign nations have the right to protect themselves? This was in response to a query about whether India could follow the same policy he advocated during his election campaign - of bombing terrorist camps in Pakistan if there was evidence and Islamabad refused to act on it.

He managed his politically correct hmmm…he did not want to comment on the specific situation involving India and Pakistan…but he did state that he and his appointees:

“share my pragmatism about the use of power, and my sense of purpose about America’s role as a leader in the world.”


Hello? Haven’t we made it clear that America’s role in the world is to stay out of it?

How does he define pragmatism in the use of power?

The following is part of the infamous speech he had made as Senator, which McCain implied referred to bombing Pakistan:

"I understand that (Pakistan) President Musharraf has his own challenges. But let me make this clear. There are terrorists holed up in those mountains who murdered 3,000 Americans. They are plotting to strike again. It was a terrible mistake to fail to act when we had a chance to take out an al-Qaida leadership meeting in 2005. If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won't act, we will."


Now, this is what India has to be careful about. The American agenda is to keep taking revenge for those 3000 deaths. The fact is they have used it to demolish nation states. What mountains is Mr. Obama talking about? If they knew the mountains they would not have targeted civilians in Afghanistan.

Now that Musharraf is out, he is talking with Zardari. What is happening now? Those mountains are killing people in the plains within Pakistan.

This is the same USA that buffered the Al Qaeda; it is common knowledge. Yet, fools that we are, we choose to forget or ignore.

A Democrat as president of America will change nothing.

Indians should understand this clearly. Let not someone fire the gun from our shoulder. They have managed it with Pakistan. We do not want the Marines within our borders.

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We are not likely to learn in a hurry. Now we want Dawood Ibrahim. We summon the Pakistan High Commissioner Shahid Malik and here is how it goes:

According to the MEA spokesperson, “He (Malik) was informed that the recent terrorist attack on Mumbai was carried out by elements from Pakistan. The government expects that strong action will be taken against those elements, whosoever they may be, responsible for this outrage.’’


So, what do you think is likely to happen? He will call up the guys in Islamabad and tell them to do something about “whosoever they may be”?

Another excerpt:

The Indian government has also reiterated its demand for Pakistan to give up 20 of India’s most wanted terrorists, led by Dawood Ibrahim and Maulana Masood Azhar, leader of the dreaded terrorist gang Jaishe-Mohammad. This demand was first made by the NDA government’s home minister L K Advani after the Parliament attack. Pakistan has never delivered any of them, even denying the presence of the fugitives on its soil in the face of incontrovertible evidence.


Okay. Do you realise that we make a demand for Dawood only when something happens and when the US issues a statement and starts ruffling some feathers? I have said this several times – it was the Pakistani press that exposed his whereabouts and activities in 2001.

What did we do? What did we do when his daughter got married in Dubai to Javed Miandad’s son? Our intelligence agencies reached there, our media reached there – we got a peek into the wedding card, the menu, the venue, some guests, the bridal couple…we got everything, and we paid for the government emissaries getting a free holiday.

We will not capture Dawood Ibrahim because there are too many undercurrents here. I have touched upon some aspects in this column.

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Isn’t it wonderful that Dawood’s hideout (which everyone knows about) in Karachi is named White House?

9 comments:

  1. FV:

    We are competing with Pakistan to be an US stooge. Condi Chawal [rice] comes running here, Menon goes running to DC and finally the big brother decides how it will be done.

    And what's so great about getting Dawood? He has symbolic value and nothing more. It may be an essential condition to assuage Indian public but it is not sufficient by itself. Like 2001, we do not even know what concrete measures we want from Islamabad.

    If Bush can have a white house, why can't Dawood have one. Who is the bigger criminal?

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  2. I can trust you with clearheaded thinking when media is filled up with bombast.Why blame America,we are running for approval.Read your underworld article again and can see why Dawood is not caught

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  3. Kind of amused at MJ Akbar's joining-in in the public square chest beating:

    'Pakistan will have to pay a heavy price':Rediff

    Do you think India will allow this guy from Faridkot, Pakistan to be produced on TV or questioned by a Joint Investigation Team? I doubt it, but only that will stop this inane media war on both sides.

    BTW, Pakistani media is saying it was the 'Hindu Zionists' who did it! What reason does anyone have to disbelieve that? This guy was after all wearing a Saffron Band.

    Most likely, 26/11 will remain a mystery just as 9/11, but still result in wars.

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  4. I agree with Obama, sovereign nations have the right to protect themselves. Meaning, Pakistan has the right to shoot down US/NATO drones when they bomb Waziristan or Bannu or anywhere else in Pakistan.

    Terrorism does not exist in a vacuum. The way people talk about eliminating terroism, as if it were a disease like polio...Obama is such a moron, going on and on about "the world we seek"...terrorists too are seeking their world.

    It's quite funny, the way "India-Pakistan relations" are spiralling out of control. Proves that all the "love-love" was such a sham.

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  5. I think its time to launch an attack on well known terrorist bases in Pakistan (to hell with Obama, Condi et al)...

    There's a time for diplomacy and there's a time for action..

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  6. Doesn't look like the war-hysteria scenario is going to play out after all. Rice's language has changed from Pakistan "must", to Pakistan "needs to", to "it's Pakistan's responsibility", to "satisfied with Pakistan's assurances" today.

    Seems the initial boil will settle down. India can not go it alone without USA and the cost to USA is too high with Pakistan fighting against it in Afghanistan rather than with it.

    But FV, why the same 21 man list from 2002 which includes many Sikhs? Isn't anyone new wanted for 26/11?

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  7. PS, KB, Mask...I think we are pretty much on the same page.

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    Zeemax:

    I believe it will remain a mystery. We cannot ask anyone to and over criminals until we have evidence.

    "But FV, why the same 21 man list from 2002 which includes many Sikhs? Isn't anyone new wanted for 26/11?"

    We are a bit sentimental towards old things.

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    Ronin:

    "I think its time to launch an attack on well known terrorist bases in Pakistan (to hell with Obama, Condi et al)..."

    We won't move a finger until we get the go-ahead form them...and do we know where the well-known bases are in Pakistan?

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  8. FV: do we know where the well-known bases are in Pakistan?

    I think we do ...down to the last square meter..

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  9. FV,

    Now the SIM cards used have been traced to Calcutta and another place in West Bengal. Did the boat then come from Calcutta?

    You really need to ask some very hard questions of Indian media! They'll do anything for a breaking story. Not that Pakistani media is any better.

    But one has to admit the attacks were quite stunning in their brutality. I believe even more vicious than 9/11. One can't really blame Indian media and the Indian public for the response in their shock and grief.

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