Musharraf, the compulsive gambler sold another chunk of its sovereignty and independence only to show he can do it better than what Benazir had promised to the warlords in Washington. Musharraf must have told the US officials, Benazir is mere promises, conditional on her success, I can sign a deal right now. Hence the report was published by the Washington Post the day Benazir was assassinated. It means the deal between Mush and the US official was inked days before that.

Under the pretext of training and supporting indigenous counter-insurgency forces and clandestine counter-terrorism units – read Pakistan’s mercenary forces, fighting and dying for the neocons designs in the region - US special forces are expected to vastly expand their presence in Pakistan early next year. According to Washington Post, this was revealed by the American defence officials involved with the planning.

These Pakistan-centric operations will mark a shift for the US military and for US-Pakistan relations. In the aftermath of Sept 11, the US used Pakistani military bases to stage illegal and illegitimate attacks into Afghanistan, which resulted in the butchery of thousands of innocent civilian and innocent lives. According to the reports, once the US deposed the Taliban government and established its main operating base at Bagram, north of Kabul, US forces left Pakistan almost entirely. This however doesn’t make sense in the light of the present revelations that troops level “will be increased,

Thanks for pointing me to Aitezaz Ahsan’s book, seems like an interesting read. I would like to add to your comment saying that the identity crisis has only been exploited by the ‘establishment’ which has been ruling Pakistan (and grossly mismanaging and humiliating us in the process)…

Granted that a new identity needed to be forged once everyone had committed to the idea of separation from the bigger psychological unit (The indian subcontinent). But the way it was done, only showed the bankruptcy of the generation of leaders we got (and I don’t mean just the political leaders).

The actions of our establishment make perfect sense when one views them as a group who don’t really have a stake in the country.. they somehow got control of this wealth producing unit and treat it as one treats an object. The messy part is that all the chattel have to be convinced that the reason they have to go through this daily ordeal is Nazriya this or Islam ka Qila that.. and the Mullahs have always been there, begging bowl (and now AK47’s) in hand to support the oppressor against the mass of poor people.

The aspirations of our establishment are not national, they are personal. If we survive all this massive incompetence that has been unleashed upon us, the only hope might be the new generation which doesn’t know anything but Pakistan but the danger is that it has been severely mis-educated and a good percentage of them are turning more and more to religious extremism because of glaring inconsistencies in the education system.

Still their is a new and revived undercurrent of democratic civicminded-ness in the youth of Pakistan which is more mature than the populist upheaval of the 70’s and gives me hope. The Lawyers movement was almost phase one, the reaction to benazir’s death is phase two and when 1 & 2 synthesize into some kind of organized struggle against the ruling forces, theres going to be ripples.

I think what Pakistan as a society is going through is a realization process.

I have no hesitation in accepting that the point that you have raised is equally basic. But let me say that this confusion of identity hasbeen created purposefully by the successive military regimes and that is a direct consequence of the efforts to centralize the ruling authority. Muslim political history is replete with a continuous uninterruppted rule by a central authority backed by Mullah’s oppurtunistic and convulated version of Islam. The coining of the deceptive term of Nazariya e Pakistan by Gen Sher ALi in Yahya’s days and its blatant use by dictators have brain washed the common pakistanis. The official history books were systematically cleansed of any reference to our centuries old INDUS IDENTITY which predates arrival of Islam in the sub continent.

Aitezaz Ahsan’s Indus Saga and the making of Pakistan points towards this basic anomoly and highlights the disruption of continuity of our existence as nation and its dangerous effects on our national psyche . He also provides an alternative Indus based geographic conception of nationhood for the people of Pakistan in place of now redundant Two nation theory.

Also thier leader Gen Musharraf who is a mojahir and believes Altaf Hussain is his spiritual leader - had openly refused to hold enquiry on May 12 incident and when Sindh High Court decided to go ahead there were hundred of MQM ghundas who encircled the court.

And now in BB’s case he is again lying which has been thoroughly exposed by Geo and Dawn TV pictures.

Who Are We?

Pakistan has had an identity crisis since day one, even before it’s inception. This is why we are overrun by competing forces that fight to define who we are. Until Pakistan comes to grip with it’s own identity, things won’t change. Unfortunately, nations don’t get too many chances. We have had half a century, and in the beginning of Pakistan’s life the colonial masters were recovering from self destruction, but we didn’t use that time to build a strong base.

India did.

We see the difference today. India is planning to send a space shuttle, meanwhile our young men are busy blowing themselves and their countrymen up on the advice of their idiotic elders (mullah this, maulvi that blah blah blah)

This is the best we can come up with today? These are the brightest ideas Muslims and Pakistanis have had so far? “Blow yourself and others to smithereens” regardless of the problem at hand.

And what brought us here? We don’t know who we are.

I am sure you have saved millions of dollars in exchange fo billions of dollars which Musharraf, Chaudhries, shaukat Aziz and army has looted from this country.

For a start check teh list of Chak Shezad

The ghost of Aristotle would indeed by in great pain that there is another great Aristotle born and that too in a land of pure - Pakistan.