Islamic or Bhutto Dynastic Republic of Pakistan? We got what we wished for.

Our fore fathers created a country and aptly named it the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Immediately after the independence, we had the pre-partition maulanas who emphatically rejected and/or opposed the concept and creation of Pakistan, quickly staked their claims to its highest offices. Things got much worse for the islamic republic. Now we have a country which is anything but Islamic. We have robber barons in the executive branch, two-bit robbers in the legislature, mostly petty thieves in the civil services and a judiciary which is busy in allegedly awarding of additional marks to the daughter of Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar in her FSc exam, making it possible for her to get admitted to a medical college [at this point, I look up and wonder why the sky has not fallen on us].

Our leaders always have had capable daughters, sons and son-in-laws in the family with the ability to rule one after another, for ever after. Like Syria, Pakistan is also fortunate that the republic turned into a dynastic republic by constitutional resolutions accepted by the parliament. The will of the people has been done -- to undone the country. If not turned into Bhutto Dynastic Republic of Pakistan, the people would have taken to the streets in huge numbers to demand that the Bhutto family continue to rule the country and us, the citizen/slaves. Aren't we lucky?

I am sure we are. In My Pakistan, the old man Bhutto said, "I have been in the jail for over six months. The decision on Be-Nazir is Party's decision. I have had nothing to do with it. The Party has taken it on the ground that Be-Nazir is Be-Nazir. She is Be-Nazir for Pakistan." So she was. We have a ten ruppee coin soon to be launched so that those who of us who haven't had enough of her in life and in death, should be grateful to her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, for giving us this opportunity to carry her on us -- in mint condition.

The country is not doing well but that has nothing to do with the capable rule of Asif Zardari. He just happens to be in the saddle at the wrong time. He has Bilawal all saddled up too -- just in case. Bilawal's cameo apprearances are to remind the people that there is not just one capable son-in-law but the grand son of Zulfi Bhutto is just as capable.

While we are minting dynastic coins etc, why don't we simply call it, 'Bhutto Dynasty's Republic of Pakistan'. Like the Ching and Ming dynasties, one day we may refer to Pakistan under Bhutto and Sharif dynasties.

Or else, lets work up the courage and be like the French, or in other words, we need the noble principles of French Revolution and very violent excesses of it. The very least the Revolution meant change. By God, we need change in Pakistan too. Rise and change or be parished in the annals of history as a mere blip that came up on the map of the world in 1947 as Pakistan, that in 1971 broke into two spheres; and, the left over Pakistan has started to burn brightly around its edges. The entire thing is likely to collapse to the centre, much like the black hole. That is the bleak picture.

My question is, name the Dynasty that will rule the hole it would put the nation in?

USA: Falling from grace and asking Pakistan to do the impossible

I am quoting from a story in Pakistan's newspaper of record, Dawn,"According to diplomatic sources, Pakistan’s National Security Adviser Mahmud Ali Durrani, who was in Washington last week, was told in so many words that if Islamabad wanted Washington to prevent an Indian military strike, it would have to catch those responsible for the Mumbai carnage and ensure that they were brought to justice."
Unquote

You can clearly read within the lines that India is not taking dictation from America any more. The State Dept fears that India is dead serious on attacking Pakistan. And, it merely informed the US, as a courtesy to a superpower, of its forthcoming attack on Pakistan. No approval required, nor seeked. The US didn't want to look irrelevant or powerless [over India], hence it asked Pakistan for the impossible.

Take a look at America's own record; the United States since 9/11 has invaded at least two countries, in the name of war against terror, and put hundreds of thousands of sons and daughters of its own and that of its allies in harms way and still cannot prevent an ordinary suicide bomber carry out an attack a only few meters outside the International Zone [formerly, Green Zone in Baghdad].

The International Zone is known to be the 'Ultimate Gated Community' with numerous armed checkpoints, coils of razor wire, chain link fences, and surrounded by "T-Walls" (reinforced and blast-proof concrete slabs). Did they catch everyone responsible for 9/11 and brought them to justice? With all the might of its own and that of its allies, American got a few dispensible terrorists while the likes of Osama are still at large.

Pakistan's President cannot take a leak without first clearing with the CIA and State Department. For all intent and purposes, Asif Ali Zardari's Pakistan is an extension of the United States. If Pakistan fails to round up all the usual suspects and bring them to justice -- to appease India, American ought to take a look at their own record so far on 'the war against terror'. America has actually fanned the terror worldwide. The war has been a sordid business of body bags coming home of young men and women who became victim of someone's misguided adventure.

If America has blessed the Indians to attack Pakistan, there is only one plausible explanation for it; this is a new chapter in a new book called, 'the war on terror going nowhere'. India must have volunteered to join hand with the US and, and sold them on the sole purpose of the strike was to get a corridor to the trouble spots, to search for the common enemy, 'the terrorists'. After the dust settles, India gets to keep the spoils of the war; at least two client states of Balochistan and Pakhtonistan carved out of Pakistan.

The US tried its own hand in Afghanistan and failed; and, while more troops have been ordered for Kabul, in Iraq Mr Bush had to be content with a size 10 shoe to show for his achievements. It looks like the President-elect, Obama has probably endorsed this new game in diplomacy. In, India; out, Pakistan.

Living dangerously in a Madoff century. For God's sake, do something!

The noblest of noble Bernard Madoff — brilliant investor (or so almost everyone including, Madoff himself, thought), do-gooder and cannot-do-no-wrong guy ran a $50 billion Ponzi scheme and got away with it for so long. This was not an exception. We are living in the century of Bernard Madoffs and his many investor friends who are the pillars of the same community they are hustling. The Security and Exchange Commission will now face an avalanche of law suits for the oversight that caused so many individuals and institutions to lose so much money. It looks like Bernard Madoff will spend some time in a minimum security prison [the other name for a clubhouse-like facility] which will be more like a slap on his wrist. For the moment he is home and confined to it, with his agreement.

Plenty of Madoffs are amidst us. Every sharp looking guy with success written all over him, is a Bernard Madoff. Pakistan is no exception. What is our SEC equivalent doing? For God's sake, do something before the Madoffs of Pakistan fly off with the riches of individual investors. It is time to look for liquidity, bank balances, details of assets, directors' account, liabilities of all sorts, etc. We also need more laws to deal with the eventualities of such schemes. Will someone do something about it? Or, will be it another eye wash like the Kalia case -- too little too late.

Bezaari with Zardari [government]

Not good timing for Asif Ali Zardari. The US have gone on the offensive. The International Republican Institute (IRI) which is funded by the US government has come out with a rather interesting survey showing Pakistanis are not pleased with the performance of Zardari goverment. Is it the Pakistanis or the US sending in a message? This is something similar to what the US did with his father-in-law? The outcome of the so-called polls conducted in Oct 2008 are a stern message to Zardari and, an invite, that it is 'an open season' for anyone and everyone who has an axe to grind with Asif Ali Zardari.

The end game has begun for Zardari Inc. The US is all set to write him off as bad debt. Bush feels let down as Osama is still a 'no show'. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, has had enough of him. Barak Obama wants to have nothing to do with him. So, move over, make room for Nawaz Sharif...but not before someone in the uniform can iron out a few things first.

Indian attack is coming...sooner than you think!

India is taking time to build international consensus that Pakistan is the source of all attacks. It has invested heavily in its PR machine to get most of the world behind disarming Pakistan's nuclear capability in the back drop of Pakistani territory being allegedly used by the likes of LeT for attacks in Mumbai and elsewhere. Millions of dollars have been put into PR initiatives by India indirectly -- not to mention the millions of Amar Singh, the Samajwadi Party leader. He donated a huge chunk of his assets anywhere between Rs 4.6 crore and Rs 23 crore to the Clinton Foundation.

"I have nothing to say. I won't deny anything." He, however, was quoted in The Times of India, that the "payment could have been made by someone else on his behalf". So who would be that generous?

Clinton Foundation has had other Indian nationals, institutions, trade bodies and Indians abroad who generously donated to it. For what purpose? Decidedly, they saw a future in Hillary Clinton and they bet heavy on it. She could either have got the her party's ticket and be the next US President or, in the worst case scenario, she would still be a powerful voice in the senate. Now that she got the top job of the Secretary of State, it seeems like Indian investment paid off handsomely.

There is a whole strategy at work. India is planning a military offensive and much thinking is going into it. It has all but won the PR war and the hearts and minds of people who have already decided on Islam being aggresive, Muslims being terrorists and 'all roads leading to Pakistan' for acts of terror committed anywhere in the world.

The last time India attacked, the excuse was and I am quoting Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto from his speech at the Security Council of December 15, 1971, "This has been the worst form of aggression, of naked aggression. Even Poland was not invaded by Germany in this fashion. Even in that case there were some pretences, some excuses that were made. Here the [Indian] excuse was, 'We have refugees [from East Pakistan], so we must invade another country'."

Pakistan was prepared to take back the refugees but, according to this famous Bhutto speech, 'My Country Becons Me', to the UN Security Council, "India pre-empted it all because the refugee problem was used as a pretext to dismember my country. The regfuee problem was used as a pretext, an ugly, crude pretext, a shameful pretext to invade my country, to invade East Pakistan."

Is India back to the same old trick? Time will tell.

Beg, borrow and BiBi is Pakistan's new motto under Zardari goverment

It used to be 'unity, faith and discipline' of Mohammad Ali Jinnah. It isn't anymore. Even the potrait of Father of the Nation has been pushed to one side. Another Ali, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who made it all possible for the present Ali, Asif Ali Zardari, is a ghost of the past. It is the rising of Asif Ali Zardari's new PPP, with BiBi as the mascot and 'beg and borrow' as the key words of foreign policy. My next blog will deal with the type of government we have in Islamabad and is it going anywhere but down. Watch out!

What is wrong with India's Hindu Right? Read the Newsweek Report on BJP's powerplay to seize power

Please read the full story at www.newsweek.com/id/170301/output/print

All the President's men [and a woman]...could not put Humpty Dumpty together again

I don't know where to start. It is perhaps a matter of two totally different governments with two distinct styles. Indian government started the offensive the very day of the Mumbai Attack and is well into a war with Pakistan. No official declaration was thought necessary and none made. The war rages on and Pakistan is on the ropes. India is most likely to win this war without a shot being fired.

Speaking of shots fired, Zardari and his government is totally oblivious to the war already raging on so many fronts. Instead, they are waiting for the first shots to be fired. Since India hasn't yet and most likely won't use the traditional fire arms, President Zardari and his kitchen cabinet is delusional -- thinking that they are winning.

HH or Hussain Haqqani in Washington is taking credit that he is talking sense to people in the White House and others in the State Dept. He is damn good in creating a storm in a tea cup so he is at it -- day and night. He plays all sides to perfection. How else you think he got to be where he is now!

Rehman Malik, the guy who promised to deliver Osama Bin Laden to Bush for an encore, is out of depth. Mumbai Attacks are a timely reminder that he created such terrorists when he was heading the security agencies. He is selling himself now as 'set-a-thief-to-catch-a-thief'.

Sherry Rehman is calling editors and favours in local media, working everyone over to keep things calm.

Finally, the man who delivered Asif Ali Zardari to the US is well aware of everything but he is in the wrong place at wrong time. I am speaking of Salman Farooqi, the king maker. He is back from the US and very much back in the thick of the things. Only this time he is playing his final hand; he saw his man being made the President, probably he will see his man being hanged by the same sword. He always has a exit strategy; next, Nawaz Sharif?

Conclusion: In the end, all the President's men and woman couldn't fix poor Humpty Dumpty. And, what is the Prime Minister upto? To answer that I have to tell you something about monkeys. Yes, monkeys. In Vedic Metaphysics, Bharati Krsna, writes in the chapter on Bhakti Yoga and Devine Mother, that before the need arises, the needed thing is created by the nature. He gives the example of a new born monkey. When the mother jumps from one tree to another -- at a considerable distance, the infant cannot jump right after being born. So nature makes a provision -- the new born grips the mother in such a way that there is no possibility of the grip being loosened. When the mother jumps, the baby is carried, no matter how high or how far the distance. No effort is need on the part of the new born. Need I say anything more?

The last question will be what is Asif Ali Zardari doing? Well, all roads lead to him so he got to be doing something. Everyone wants to know, including yours truly. So, I asked someone quite close to him but sitting thousands of miles away. He had another monkey story for me. Too many monkies for my liking but this is how the story goes...

There was a jungle and the king of the jungle, lion, was eating up all the animals. Poor animals were scared for their lives so they went to the wise guy who happens to be the monkey. The monkey heard them quietly. Shook his head a few times. The animals begged him to talk some sense into the lion. He nodded. He then jumped from one tree to another and jumped and jumped and jumped. He huffed and he puffed -- and all the animals watched him do so. Finally, he got tired and stopped. A little bird gathered some courage and asked the monkey what he intended to do about it? The monkey rolled up his eyes in anger and said, "Didn't you see I tried, and did the best I could!"

President Zardari is working phones to everyone but his masters. This is the best he can do.

India's communal riots -- the other kind of terrorism

In 2004, a US Department of State report concludes, and I quote; 'The leading party in the coalition [National Democratic Alliance (NDA)] was the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a Hindu nationalist party with links to Hindu extremist groups that have been implicated in violent acts against Christians and Muslims. Human rights groups and others also suggested that the Government’s inadequate response to acts of violence against religious minorities was due at least in part to links between extremist groups and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) during much of the period covered by this report.' Unquote.

More proof is in opening line of the 2007 Amensty International report on India and I quote, 'Perpetrators of past human rights violations continued to enjoy impunity.' Unquote.

Below is a few links to the work of Hindu extremist parties. These are not compilations of old stories but all from the recent past. The militant extremist Hindu parties go on, at will, under the patronage of their leaders in Dehli, to rape, kill and destroy -- anyone. Stories of Muslims being massacred through the modus operandi of riots is old news. Hence, I am just quoting very recent examples of Hindu extremists against Christians in India. Read on.

- Hindu extremists burn one nun alive, rape another
- Police gag order silences Sisters of Mother Teresa
- Orissa Christians treated worse than animals, says Father Bernard
- Orissa: no peace for Christians even in refugee camps
- Day of prayer and fasting for Christians in Orissa, together with Hindus and Muslims

Senior BJP leader L K Advani termed the rape of a nun in Orissa as a ‘shameful crime against humanity’ and denounced violence against Christians in the state and other places for which, Hindu extremist, Sangh Parivar outfits have been accused. Incidently, new evidence emerged on the 2002 Gujrat riots in the form of details of mobile phone calls made between those leading the attacks and politicians belonging to the then ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a Hindu nationalist party.

Even Indian Army officers have been caught in the past for fabricating evidence to implicate Pakistan. In the 2007 AI report on India, it is mentioned that in April 2007, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) indicted five army officers for the extrajudicial killing of five villagers at Pathribal in March 2000. The officers were charged with fabricating evidence to support their claim that the men were foreign fighters killed in an “encounter” with security forces. The officers had earlier claimed that the men had killed 35 Sikhs at Chittisinghpora four days before the “encounter”. The plot to implicate Pakistan didn't end there. It simply thickened.

Anyway, amid mounting pressure [by 'in God we trust' and from elsewhere in the world of Euros] on the government to act against Bajrang Dal for anti-Christian violence in Orissa and some other states, Advani only talked about the need for restoring peace and a sense of security in the state through cooperation between the communities.

[No mention of any steps against Bajrang Dal to ban or prosecute it, so it did what was expected of it -Ed.]

After a meeting with a delegation of Christian leaders, he also favoured immediate initiation of a ‘sustained and sincere’ dialogue between Hindus and Christians.

[Note: No such thing for Muslims of India. Simply, tacit approval to set the extremist parties after minority Muslims]

This blog was intended to be an exhaustive account of secular India's extreme right wing Hindu umbrella group, ‘Sangh Parivar’ (SP) and the terror it engages in and gets away with -- communal riots. It tires me to see that the world cannot see what is so apparent -- the terror unleashed by Hindu right wing extremists.

America didn't see the financial crises coming or it chose not to. Instead, it saw 'weapons of mass destruction' when none was there. I can go on but this list will be endless. The West only sees a secular India, with world's biggest functioning democracy. There is more to 'Hindustan' than meets the eye. Hindustan minus the religious Hindu extremists is India. Otherwise, it is worse than Pakistan since there is no accountability or action of any kind of the Hindu extremist parties. India is a state sponsor of terrorism or else, it has to show that its hands are clean.

The riot-based terror is more methodical. The face is that of a unruly mob but schematic is very clinical and deliberate. The whole thing is built around an extremist Hindu party, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and members include parties like the RSS, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and Bajrang Dal (BD, also known as the Monkey Brigade). Together they kill, loot and plunder -- at will. This is the kind of terrorism that is under the radar. In riots, emotions run high. Faceless mobs are blamed. Never the parties and its leaders who unleash it. It is time for the UN and the champions of human rights in the world to sit up and take notice.

And, India must rid itself of Hindustan, the state within, that sponsors terror on its own people. India must act. Now.

Extremist Hindu Right is targetting Indian Muslims and the dispute often spills over in Pakistan

The word Hindustan is from the Persian word 'Hindu', which itself is derived from Sanskrit word 'Sindhu' for the Indus River. Plus, the popular suffix -stān, which is also Persian, meaning land. The two gave birth to the word 'Hindustan'. Literally, the word means land of the Hindus or the land of Indus River to be the Hindustan. Not the entire India.

Islam also has no problem with Hinduism. The attack in Mumbai is the problem of Hindus with the Muslims of India and that dates back before partition -- in fact a very long time before that. It is something that Mohammad Ali Jinnah who later founded Pakistan, said in his address to All India Muslim League, in 1940:

"It is extremely difficult to appreciate why our Hindu friends fail to understand the real nature of Islam and Hinduism. Those are not religions in the strict sense of the word but are, in fact, different and distinct social orders… The Hindus and Muslims belong to two different religious philosophies, social customs, literatures. They belong to two different civilizations which are based mainly on conflicting ideas and conceptions. Their aspects of life and our life are different."

Long before Ali Jinnah, it was Dr. Mohammad Iqbal, or as he is popularly called, Alama Iqbal, said in his presidential address of All India Muslim League at Allahabad in 1930:

"I, therefore, want the formation of a consolidated Muslim state in the best interests of India and Islam. For India, it means security and peace resulting from an internal balance of power; for Islam, an opportunity to rid itself of the stamp that Arabian Imperialism was forced to give it, to mobilize its laws, its education, its culture, and to bring them into closer contact with its own original spirit and with the spirit of modern times."

It is interesting to note how Ali Jinnah mentions just 'Hindus and Muslims' [not of sub-continent] and Dr. Iqbal mentions 'India and Islam' [not Hinduism and Islam]. Both of them feared not just for the people they represented but for every one living in India. Their worst nightmare is proving true. Hindus and Muslims in India are at loggerheads and it is spilling over, in Pakistan.

If India is truly secular, it has to ban the 'shiv Sena' just as Pakistan has banned LeT and others. No, in fact it has to dismantle Shiv Sena and other Hindu militant parties or organizations. Though it is a politcal party but it claims itself to be the 'Army of Shiva [Bhosle], the sixteenth century Marathi raja. Shiv Sena is a far-right political party that supports a broader Hindu nationalist agenda as it aligned istself with the Bharatiya Janata Party.

An estimated 200,000 people were murdered and 13 million forced to migrate from their homes in 1946-48 when India was partitioned by the British into Hindu and Muslim majority states.

Violence stopped for a while. Shiv Sena was founded on June 19, 1966 by Balasaheb Thackeray, son of Prabodhankar Thackeray (prominent leader in the Sanyukta Maharashtra Movement that led to the integration of Maharashtra in 1960).

It started again. In his book, Votes and Violence, Steven I. Wilkinson, writes that Hindu-Muslim riots after 1977 emergency [data has only been kept since], states such as Gujrat and Maharashtra have had, even allowing for population, considerably higher monthly average level of riots over the past three decades. Why? Shiv Sena, of course.

More people [mostly Muslims] have died in Hindu-Muslim riots in India compared to total number of deaths caused due to the three wars the two countries have fought since the partition in 1947.

Now I will come to the final chapter of this sordid saga; the Indus River and Kashmir. Although it starts in Tibet, it passes through India's Ladakh district of Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan's Northern Areas (Gilgit-Baltistan), flowing through the North to merge, in the south, into the Arabian Sea near Pakistan's port city Karachi. The total length of the river is 3,180 kilometres (1,976miles). It is umimaginable to feed this nation without the breadbasket of the Punjab, that accounts for most of the agriculture.

Kashmiris know very well that anyone who controls the water of Indus, can get away with murder. The water fron Indus is worth its weight in gold. The state of Kashmir in the hands of BJP or Shiv Sena is a weapon, against the Muslim heartland of Pakistan. For Pakistan, it is simply a matter of survival.

Therefore, the strategy of Shiv Sena and all extremists Hindu organizations is two pronged; sever all ties between Pakistan and Kashmiri freedom fighters -- put international pressure in the name of war on terror to seal the border between the two Kashmirs, including any political, diplomatic and moral support coming from Pakistan. Then hunt down every freedom fighter and finish him or her off. Finally, promote Hindu settlements to rapidly change the demographic balance in this region, which has a Muslim majority or the only Muslim majority state in India.

Kashmir remains an unresolved issue between the two countries. Hindu fundamentalists made progress when, in 2004, India brought international pressure from Washington and London, to bear on Pakistan to embark on a peace process. This allowed some 700,000 uniformed Indian troops to put down the armed separatist uprising in Kashmir and bring the total to 69,000 of people killed in the state since 1989.

India's official position remains that Kashmir is an integral part of India. It is not. In October 1947, Pakistani tribals from Dir entered Kashmir with the hope to liberate it from Dogra rule. The state forces were not able to withstand the invasion and the Maharaja signed The Instrument of Accession.

The accession was accepted by Lord Mountbatten, Governor General of India, the following day (October 27, 1947). Lord Mountbatten in his letter of acceptance wrote that "Consistently with their policy that in the case of any State where the accession has been the subject of dispute,the question of accession should be decided in accordance with the wishes of the people of the State,it is my Government's wish that,as soon as law and order have been restored in Kashmir and her soil cleared of the invader,the question of the State's accession should be settled by a reference to the people." Case closed.

Asif Ali Zardari, the President of Pakistan or the governor of the state of Pakistan? Take your pick.

He is keen to play ball. He will do as told. He will sing. He will dance. He will play 'go-fetch'. He wanted to be the President of Pakistan pretty bad. Certainly, he couldn't be elected like Obama -- through popular vote. Having said that, Mr. Zardari must have been very happy to be chosen by the US for the top job in Pakistan. Of course he was first cultivated by Langley and briefed over and over again about what is expected of him when he replaces Musharaf. Once CIA was convinced that they got their bogeyman, his handlers, presented him to the State Department's Assistant Secretary Richard A. Boucher who heads the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, which deals with U.S. foreign policy and U.S. relations with both India and Pakistan. Of course, he had to get his boss, the secretary of state, to OK it. His selection was finally signed off by by President George Bush himself, though reluctantly since he considered Musharaf his friend in the fight against terror.

Asif Ali Zardari's dreams came true. Benazir was conveniently killed in a poltical rally. Another stroke of luck; she left very clear instructions on leadership and governance in her party. The rest is history. He became the 12th and current President of Pakistan. Or, you can say that, the governor of the fifty first (51st) state of Pakistan. The last two states to join the Union were Alaska (49th) and Hawaii (50th). Both joined in 1959. Pakistan under Zardari hopefully applied for joining the Union in 2008. Approval is pending however.

US knows very well that Pakistan government is not involved in Mumbai attacks. Asif Zardari cannot even pee without first checking with the country officer at the Embassy in Islamabad. However, it is time for US to grant India another big concession; handing over of the fugitives that India has long demand. ISI has told Asif Zardari categorically, that you do that and our entire counter-intellegence apparatus in India will disappear in no time.

Next, India doesn't want to have all those nukes aimed at it and a country still very much run behind the scene by by a bunch of loose religous zealites. It wants and so does Isreal to take out Pakistan's nuclear defence -- of course, in the name of world peace.

Again, Asif Zardari has no choice anymore. His honeymoon days are over. He has promised long and delivered short. He has been everyone's fiasco, including that of his own party. He lives in a world of his own; all secured and set for a life of luxury. He may sing and dance as much as he likes in the media, for domestic consumption, but at the end of the day, he will do exactly as he has been told. Yes, he has to stand up and deliver. This is not the end but just the beginning of the end. Pakistan's geographic boundries are taking a beating. But he couldn't care less. He is well rooted in Dubai, London, New York and Caymen Islands of course.

There's news for you. The handlers are working on his successor. That is how the game is played out; when Musharaf was the President, Zardari was the President-in-waiting. Who next? If I am not wrong, it will be a long night of the generals all over again. May be not. Interestingly, Richard A. Boucher, who Asif Zardari reports to at the State Dept, called on MQM chief Altaf Hussain at the party’s international secretariat in London on Friday, November 5. Watch this space.

What you believe in will determine whether you will kill or be killed...

Planet Earth has survived many wars between nations. We have had the World Wars I and II. We have long feared the possibility of the Third World War. While we dread and contemplate the next possible war and where it will take place and between which nations, we have quietly slipped into something new; a war of beliefs that empowers an individual or group of individuals.

It is not the same as war between different faiths. We have had plenty of those too. This is a totally different type of war. It is the future of all wars. This is the war of an individual or a group of individuals within a certain belief system or, when it suits its members, these individuals may belong to two or more belief systems. I would like to term this new kind of war as 'Personal War', very much like the PCs or personal computers.

This phenomenon is very similar to how the silicon chip has advanced and empowered every individual to carry in his pocket a device that packs the power of several super computers of the last century and more.

In exactly the same fashion, individuals or group use all the fire power readily available, soft and hard, to give vent to the perceived frustrations and misery that they are facing. For the moment, we see many groups in action, from Somalia to Sri Lanka but we have seen some individuals too. Surely, you remember the horrors at Columbine High School in Colorado (15 dead), Red Lake High School in Minnesota (10 dead) and the latest at the Amish school in tiny Nickel Mines, Pa., USA.

I consider the pirates of Somalia one good example. They empowered themselves in the absence of an effective government in the country. Taleban are another example of an empowered group of individuals left to fend for themselves by the Americans after the Soviet Union collapsed. Kashmiri freedom fighters went from simple peace loving folks to gun-toting warriors -- yet another example of the British stupidity when deciding the future of people of the subcontinent. The opposition in Thailand is one more good example. I don't want to go into Africa since this narrative will become too long. Yes, I can see many in existance all around the world and many more to come sooner than you think.

The governments of the world may be busy going after terrorists and the likes of Al Qaida but in the end, it will be a case of too little too late. If the governments of the developed world wouldn't hesitate to bail out the likes of Wall Street for trillions of dollars, may be they can spare a thought for the individual after all. In my opinion, it will be quantum leap in the right direction. A genuine new world order is the need of the hour that addresses the individual and bails him or her out and not cold corporates like Citicorp, AIG, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. After accepting the cold cash and gotten bailed out, what is the first thing Citigroup does, sack 53,000 employees worldwide. More individuals, more frustrations. More ticking time bombs.

Not until the governments of the world go back to 'of the people, for the people, by the people' we will see more conflicts around the world. We have seen more of it and we will see an increase of many folds if the corporate governance is not put second to individual welfare. I am not advocating a welfare state exactly but it has to be individual first. Otherwise, mind is the most powerful weapon -- now and forever.

It was an AK-47, grenade and RDX attack in Mumbai last week but tomorrow it will be a nuclear option that some empowered individual or group will exercise to settle scores. Are we ready for that? My answer to that question is as good as yours.