Tag: Taliban

Let It Be.

“Faith is a place of mystery, where we find the courage to believe in what we cannot see and the strength to let go of our fear of uncertainty.” Brene Brown in The Gifts Of Imperfection.

All the religions of the world have a closing word or phrase or invocation after a prayer or a hymn or a discourse.  Amen, Ameen, Aymeen in the Abrahamic religions and Thathaasthu and Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu, or Shanti, Shanti, Shanti in the case of Buddhists and Hindus respectively.

Those endings are what I had in mind when I suggested this topic for this week’s Loose Bloggers Consortium where five of us currently write a post with the same topic every Friday.

The four other bloggers who write regularly are, in alphabetical order;  Ashok,  gaelikaa,  Maxi,  and Shackman.  Do drop in on their blogs and see what their take is on this week’s topic. Since some of them may post late, do give some allowance for that too! Ashok too is having prohlems with his blog being down and may or not participate this week.

I use Thathaasthu often.  Thathaasthu directly means “Let it be.”  This is to agree with someone, usually after a blessing or a statement of import. Just this morning I sent a mail to some friends, some of who are among the readers here, reading as follows.

The Taliban in Karachi

There has already been a lot of turf wars between the Mohajirs and the Pashtuns in Karachi and this news item gives me more cause for alarm due to the sheer numbers involved. 

And a much earlier piece.

Sind is already a volatile place and the Mohajirs who do not speak Sindhi are not exactly popular.  Westward, the Balochis do not like either the Mohajirs or the Pashtuns.  And all of them dislike the army which is predominantly Punjabi.

Things are getting from bad to worse in Pakistan with the government / army constantly under attack from the Taliban and local nitwits like the LeT and its offshoots besides the very large presence of Al Quida there.  The drug cartels are all jockeying for position and that too will be a problem on this side of the border with Punjab already a major drug problem state. The Mohajirs have roots on this side of the border.  I have been predicting that we will have a massive refugee problem sooner or later and the climate in India will simply be devastating to the refugees and their relatives on this side of the border. American withdrawal will speed up the process.   What a world we live in!

I got a cryptic response from a friend within five minutes of sending that mail. “Thathaasthu”.

In this case, he agrees that the nightmarish scenario presented by me is inevitable and so says, don’t fret, let it be.  It will all work out!  He has faith and wants me to keep faith too!

What do you think about that cryptic message?  Do you agree?  Will you let it be?

The Latest On Pakistan.

As my readers know, I am totally against any kind of talks with the Pakistani establishment. That it speaks with a forked tongue is known to just about every Indian, bar a minuscule minority who wish to establish direct contacts with it to try and bring about peace in the subcontinent.

I do not understand how the West can commit such a Himalayan blunder by arming Pakistan which supplies the same arms to the forces that are fighting the US, British and Nato forces in Afghanistan.

Don’t read me. Read independent news from tsources. Take the one from the BBC on Pakistan’s double dealing and the one from the Guardian on an interview with an insurgent commander from Afghanistan.

Throughout its existence, Pakistan has been doing this. Quite when the West will realize that they are backing the wrong horse, is the mystery that no Indian is able to solve.

Pakistan And The Taliban

Here are two news articles which show something that has been obvious to Indians for long and only now being brought to the knowledge of the general public of the West whose tax money has been spent on Pakistan for many decades.

The conclusion that I come to after reading both is that the establishment in Pakistan, or at least a very influential part of it, is fully aware of and supports the Taliban for its own strategic reasons. This has of course meant that India has been at the receiving end of terrorism but more importantly for my readers from the West, their soldiers in AfPak theater are losing their lives due to the shenanigans of a force supported and encouraged by elements within the Pakistani establishment.

The first one is from an eminent Pakistani columnist Irfan Hussein.

The next one is by Dexter Filkins of the New York Times.

Pakistan, India And The Taliban – II

Having started off the post with the earlier cartoon, I just want to draw the attention of my readers to the following posts. I shall not add any comment on the articles.

Our election process is over, and contrary to many opinions, it is now possible to have a stable and progressive government for the next five years. The greatest result has been the substantial reduction in the number of seats that the communists have won. They cannot now act as spoilers. With a stable government, we can now look forward to handling the Pakistan and Taliban problem with more optimism.

1. CIA and ISI together created the Taliban

2. Pakistan, Taliban and Global Security – Part I

3. Pakistan, Taliban and Global Security – Part II

4. Petraeus’s Tougher Fight