Posts: 1,906
Threads: 44
Joined: Feb 2017
Reputation:
4
GLOBAL VISION 2000 IS ASKING WHY ARE MSM TV STATIONS IN MOST MUSLIM COUNTRIES NOT SHOWING THE HAJJ 2022 LIVE. THESE ARE AMAZING UNITY AND UNIFIYING EVENTS ON THE UNIVERSAL MESSAGE OF ISLAM FROM MAKKAH, MADINAH AND ARAFAT. WHY ARE TV CHANNELS LIKE AL JAZEERA AND ALL THE REST OF THEM CENSORISING LIVE WALL TO WALL HAJJ COVERAGE?
INDEED AL JAZEERA WAS BROADCASTING SIMULTANEOUSLY A LIVE INTERVIEW FROM THE WHITE HOUSE ATTACKING PRO-LIFE BY ADVOCATING ABORTION. THESE TV CHANNELS HAVE THE WRONG EDITORIAL POLICIES AND NEED TO BE CHANGED.
THE HAJJ IS AN ANNUAL GLOBAL OPPORTUNITY FOR GLOBAL ISLAMIC UNITY, SOLIDARITY AND MOBILISATION. THIS IS POSSIBLE AND IMMINENT BUT IT REQUIRES THE ACTION OF THE AUTHORITIES. IN THE HAJJ WE HAVE THE SPIRITUAL HYMN OF LABBAIK- I AM PRESENT .
IT IS TIME HUMANITY HEARS AND SING THE WORDS IN UNISON UPHOLDING THE SOVEREIGNTY OF ALLAH. THIS WILL BE THE SONG OF THE UNITED STATES OF ISLAM ARMY .
LABBAIK
LABBAIK ALLAHUMA LABBAIK
POSTSCRIPT
REMEMBRANCE OF ALLAH (DHIKR AND TAKBIR) IN DHUL HIJJAH
There are many ways in which you can increase in reward during Dhul Hijjah. Dhikr (remembrance of Allah) is one of the easiest ways to obtain reward from Allah. It is highly recommended Sunnah of our Prophet (S.A.W.) to recite following Dhikr during the first 10 days of Dhul Hijjah:
Tasbeeh (SubhanAllah)
Tahmeed (Alhamdulillah)
Tahleel (Laa ilaaha ill-Allah)
Takbeer (Allahu Akbar)
"Abu Hurairah said that the “days well-known” are the first ten days of Dhul- Hijjah while the “prescribed number of days” are the Days of Tashriq (9th to 13th of Dhul-Hijjah) and these are days of eating and drinking. It means that you cannot fast on Eid-ul-Adha and following three days i-e 11th, 12th and 13th of Dhul-Hijjah. During days of Tashriq, Ibn-Omar and Abu-Hurairah used to go to the marketplace reciting Takbir (Allahu Akbar) and people followed their example.
During the days of Tashriq, it is necessary for every Muslim (male or female, whether praying in congregation or alone) to say the following Takbir (Takbirs of Tashriq) immediately after each obligatory (fard) prayer from the Fajr Prayer on the 9th of Dhul Hijjah to the Asr Prayer on the 13th of Dhul Hijjah. Thus, these takbirs last 5 days, and 23 prayers.
RIGHTEOUS DEEDS DURING THE MONTH OF DHUL-HIJJAH
Dhul Hijjah is one of the most glorious months in Islam. Allah says:
“Indeed, the number of months with Allah is twelve [lunar] months in the register of Allah [from] the day He created the heavens and the earth; of these, four are sacred. That is the correct religion, so do not wrong yourselves during them. And fight against the disbelievers collectively as they fight against you collectively. And know that Allah is with the righteous [who fear Him]”. (Surah At-Taubah: 9:36)
As narrated by Hazrat Abu Bakr (R.A.), Prophet Mohammad (S.A.W.) said:
"The division of time has turned to its original form which was current when Allah created the Heavens and the Earths. The year is of twelve months, out of which four months are sacred: Three are in succession Dhul Qadah, Dhul Hijjah and Muharram, and (the fourth is) Rajab of (the tribe of) Mudar which comes between Jumada Al-Akhirah and Shaban." (Sahih Al-Bukhari: 3197)
In the month of Dzul Hijjah there are days selected by Allah as the best days of the year. God said:
"By dawn, and the tenth night" (Surah Al-Fajr: 89:1-2)
Scholars differ in opinion in determining the 10 nights that God meant in the verse. The interpretation of the scholars of the tafsir to the three opinions:
First: the first 10 days of the month of Dzul Hijjah.
Second: last 10 nights of Ramadan.
Third: the first 10 days of the month of Muharram.
Most Ulama (Scholars) agree that what is meant in this Ayat is the first 10 days of the month of Dhul Hijjah.
Narrated Ibn Abbas (R.A.), who said that Prophet Mohammad (S.A.W.) said:
"No good deeds done on other days are superior to those done on these (first ten days of Dhul Hijja)." Then some companions (Sahaba) of the Prophet (S.A.W.) said, "Not even Jihad?" He replied, "Not even Jihad, except that of a man who does it by putting himself and his property in danger (for Allah's sake) and does not return with any of those things." (Sahih Al-Bukhari: 969)
The above Hadith shows how importance is for a Muslim to do good deeds during the first 10 days of Dhul Hijjah.
There have been many other narrations that indicate the worshipping efforts exerted by our predecessors during these days. Said ibn- Jubayr, one of the leading members of the Tabiin (companion of Sahaba), used to advise people not to sleep a lot during these nights and spend them in prayer.
CELEBRATING EID-UL-ADHA AND SACRIFICING ANIMALS
(10TH OF DHUL HIJJAH)
The month of Dhul Hijjah, apart from the month of Hajj, is also called the month of the sacrifice, due to the large number of sacrificial animals slaughtered during the month.Muslims celebrate Eid-ul-Adha on 10th of Dhul Hijjah. Eid-ul-Adha is the celebration of sacrifice and remember the spirit of Prophet Abraham (A.S.) as how he was willing to sacrifice the person he loved the most, because it was Allah's command which he had to obey no matter what..
It was narrated from Abu Huraira (R.A.) that the Messenger of Allah (S.A.W.) said:
“Whoever can afford to offer a sacrifice but does not do so, let him not approach our place of prayer.” (Ibn Majah: 3123)
The Hadith narrates that whoever does not offer a sacrifice in spite of being capable of doing so, does not have the right to participate in the joys of the Muslims. It does not mean that he is not required to perform the Eid prayer, but it is to warn him to avoid abandoning the sacrifice.
Sacrifice (Qurbani) can only be performed after the Eid-ul-Adha prayers from the 10th of Dhul Hijjah to the 12th of Dhul Hijjah.
]It is necessary for the one who intends to offer the sacrifice that he/she does not remove any hair, nail or skin from the sunset on last day of Dhul Qadah until the sacrifice is done on the Eid day. The same is evident from following Hadith:
It was narrated from Ummm Salamah (R.A.) that the Prophet said:
"Whoever sees the new crescent of Dhul Hijjah and wants to offer a sacrifice, let him not remove any of his hair or nails until he has offered the sacrifice." (Sunnan An-Nisai: 4366)]
Posts: 1,906
Threads: 44
Joined: Feb 2017
Reputation:
4
AT A TIME OF GLOBAL CONFLICTS AND REALIGNMENTS INTO BLOCS AND MOVE INTO A MULTIPOLAR WORLD ANY TALK OF A UNITED STATES OF ISLAM ARMY TAKES ON A NEW MEANING. THIS THEME IS A CENTRAL ONE AND IS LINKED TO THE DEFENCE AND SECURITY OF THE MUSLIM WORLD AND LEADERSHIP IN A POST COLONIAL POST INDEPENDENT WORLD. PAKISTAN IS ONE OF THE KEY STATES THAT NEEDS TO BE EXAMINED CRITICALLY AND SOME OF THE RESEARCH IS BEING SHARED TO UNCOVER THE REALITIES. PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS AND WILL TAKE US TO WHERE IT TAKES US.
IF THERE IS GOING TO BE AN UNITED STATES OF ISLAM ARMY IT IS CLEAR THAT THE PAKISTAN ARMY AS ONE OF THE BIGGEST MUSLIM ARMIES IN THE WORLD WOULD PLAY A CRITICAL ROLE FOR MANY REASONS. ACCORDINGLY A DEEP CRITIQUE WILL ROLLOUT IN THE INTEREST OF THE UMMAH AS OPPOSED TO UNDERMINING IT.
GRAVITAS: THE POWER AND INFLUENCE OF THE PAKISTAN ARMY
HOW IMRAN KHAN's REMOVAL AFFECTED CIVIL- MILITARY TIES IN PAKISTAN
As the military bristles at criticism directed at it since Khan’s exit, the ex-PM escalates his rhetoric against the powerful institution.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/4/19...s-pakistan
PAKISTAN’s UNENDING POLITICAL CRISIS
Zafar Bangash
https://crescent.icit-digital.org/articl...cal-crisis
Since its emergence on the world map on August 14, 1947, Pakistan has seldom witnessed calm for any extended period, staggering from one crisis to the next like a corner drunk. Its wounds are largely self-inflicted opening opportunities for predatory powers to interfere in its internal affairs.
The latest crisis that erupted in March is a case in point. Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e Insaf (PTI) had made significant progress in stabilizing the economy when a crisis was engineered ousting him from power. Quite aside from the argument about whether it was US-engineered—opinion on both sides is deeply entrenched—since Imran Khan’s ouster, the economy has been battered. Foreign exchange reserves have dwindled, the rupee has nose-dived vis-à-vis the US dollar and inflation has skyrocketed making life miserable for the already poverty-stricken people. Today, 90 million people languish in poverty. Three months ago, it was 60 million.
Who is responsible for this state of affairs and why was it necessary to undermine Imran Khan’s government and to what purpose? These are questions that need clear answers. Unfortunately, these will not be forthcoming because those who engineered the crisis were acting at the behest of their foreign masters and will hardly confess to wrong-doing.
Perhaps it might be more useful to examine the root causes of Pakistan’s recurring dilemma. For this, we must examine the circumstances in which the struggle for Pakistan was waged. The provinces that currently constitute Pakistan—Punjab, KPK, Sindh and Baluchistan—were largely absent from the struggle for independence. They already had Muslim majorities and had no need for change.
The struggle for independence was waged by people who lived in predominantly Hindu-majority areas of British-ruled India. They bore the brunt of Hindu fascism and struggled to secure their rights once the British raj ended. The former East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) was disposed off in 1971 because the West Pakistani elite were not willing to share power with the Bengalis. For their selfish ambitions to retain power and privilege, they were prepared to destroy Pakistan. And they did. This story needs to be recounted.
The idea of Pakistan as a separate homeland for the Muslims of India was conceived by Dr Muhammad Iqbal in his presidential address of December 21, 1930 to the All-India Muslim League convention in Allahabad. Iqbal did not refer to it as ‘Pakistan’ but he clearly envisioned an independent state for the Muslims.
It also needs recalling that the All-India Muslim League was established in Dhaka in 1906. The people of what came to be called East Pakistan were in the forefront of the struggle for Muslim rights yet regrettably, once Pakistan came into being, they were sidelined and treated largely as second-class citizens.
Pakistan started on the wrong foot right at independence. The opportunity to make a clean break with British raj was missed when Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who led the Pakistan movement for independence, opted to become governor general of the new state. Field Marshal Claude Auchinleck was accepted as the supreme commander of the armed forces of both India and Pakistan. On his first day as governor general, Jinnah rode to office in Karachi in a horse-drawn carriage in the style of the British viceroy.
Compared to those that followed, Jinnah was honest and hard-working even if steeped in British habits and manners. Within a few years of his passing, political intrigue gripped the new state. His successor, Liaquat Ali Khan was assassinated in October 1951 two weeks before he was to visit Moscow and the intriguers and crooks came into the open.
Shortly thereafter, Pakistan joined CENTO and SEATO military pacts, placing it squarely
under the United States umbrella against the Soviet Union. An air force base at Budhaber near Peshawar was given to the US from where U-2 planes would take off to spy on the Soviet Union. It earned the Soviets’ enmity resulting in disastrous consequences for Pakistan.
Three names stand out in this sordid tale of intrigue and making Pakistan subservient to the US: Iskandar Mirza (a military-bureaucrat), Ayub Khan (a military man) and Ghulam Muhammad (a bureaucrat). Of the three, Ghulam Muhammad was the most devious and morally bankrupt. He died of venereal disease (gonorrhea) in 1956 although penicillin had been discovered a year earlier. It did not arrive in time to save him.
In the two-year period between 1954-1956, six governments were dismissed. The main characters behind this drama were Iskandar Mirza and Ayub Khan who had by now become the commander-in-chief of the Pakistan army and defence minister. His British commanding officer had written in his file that Ayub Khan should not be promoted above the rank of lieutenant colonel because he was incompetent. How did this incompetent military officer not only become the commander-in-chief of the Pakistan army but also grabbed power in October 1958 and elevated himself to the rank of field marshal? This is where his skills for political intrigue came into play.
In his book, Friends not Masters (believed to be written for him by Altaf Gauhar), Ayub Khan proudly admitted that Muslim officers in the British Indian army, as true professionals, remained ‘neutral’ as the pogrom of partition got underway. Their ‘professionalism’ and ‘neutrality’ cost the lives of more than a million innocent Muslims at the hands of Hindus and Sikhs. Does the word ‘neutrality’ ring a bell?
In its early days, the Pakistan army was staffed by British officers. The commander-in-chief was General Frank Messervy while Douglas Gracey served as deputy commander-in-chief. When Pakistani tribes from the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) entered Kashmir in October 1947 to help their Kashmiri brethren against the Dogra forces and the invading Indian army, General Messervy was away in London. General Gracey was acting as Pakistan army chief. He refused Jinnah’s order to send Pakistani troops into Kashmir, instead waiting from Auchinleck’s orders.
Auchinleck had already issued Standdown instructions that in the event of military conflict between India and Pakistan, no British officer would participate in the conflict. From the get-go, the army displayed insubordination to civilian authority, including Jinnah who was governor general.
With time, such insubordination has not only been entrenched but the military (army) has intruded into other domains—politics, foreign policy and the economy—and usurped more power and authority. It has become the arbiter of who should rule and who must be sent packing home.
Successive bouts of martial law—Ayub Khan (1958-1969), Yahya Khan (1969-1972), Zia ul-Haq (1977-1988) and Pervez Musharraf (1999–2008) have stymied the development of civilian institutions. When not directly at the helm of affairs, the men in khaki have dictated policy from behind the scenes. The martial law regimes threw up such men as Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto (Ayub and Yahya eras), led to the break-up of Pakistan (Yahya era), Sharif family and MQM monstrosities (Zia era) and PML-Q (Musharraf era).
When Imran Khan tried to chalk out an independent foreign policy by reclaiming some political space, a motley collection of criminals, murderers and money-launderers was cobbled together and placed in power by the army. Its claims to ‘neutrality’ find few takers.
Imran Khan’s ouster has brought the country to the brink of economic ruin and civil war. Will anyone be held accountable for such crimes? There is little hope because accountability is unknown in Pakistani politics, especially when it involves the men in khaki.
DISASTROUS CONSEQUENCES OF MILITARY RULE IN PAKISTAN
https://crescent.icit-digital.org/articles/disastrous-consequences-of-military-rule-in-pakistan
Among Muslim countries, four stand out for their militaries’ involvement in politics. These are not in any particular order: Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt. A quick glance would show that in all four countries, the militaries are large. With the exception of Turkey, the others have not been able to wean their militaries from interfering in politics. Even in Turkey the situation is not so clear-cut. But since the July 2016 attempted coup that was frustrated because the masses came out to confront the tanks in the streets, the military’s wings have been clipped somewhat.
Militaries in at least two Muslim countries—Pakistan and Egypt—have followed a similar trajectory and caused irreparable damage to the social fabric of their respective societies.
In both, the militaries exercise enormous influence and have spread their tentacles into most spheres of activity in society. As organized groups, they exercise disproportionate influence in politics, foreign and defence affairs as well as economic policies. In both locales, they have become multinational corporations and generals have become real estate tycoons and industrial barons.
With such obsession for real estate, their military performance has declined. Egypt has faced successive defeats against Israel and threw in the towel in 1978 eschewing any thought of liberating its own territory occupied by the zionists, much less liberating Palestine. In fact, the Egyptian army acts as a subcontractor for the zionist occupiers in oppressing the Palestinian people.
Despite a carefully-crafted image, the Pakistan army’s performance has also not been very impressive. While it played no role in the creation of Pakistan, it came to assume enormous influence in the new state. Let us begin with the state of Jammu and Kashmir. One-third of the state that was liberated from India’s clutches was the direct result of tribesmen from the North West Frontier Province (now renamed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) rushing to help the Kashmiris in 1947-1948.
Pakistan fought two wars with India (1965 and 1971) without liberating an inch of Kashmir. There was also the Kargil operation of 1998 which ended in disaster because it was not well thought-out.
Let us begin with the 1965 war. Officially described as the September 1965 War, this characterization is not entirely accurate. Pakistani forces had already launched military operations in Kashmir in August. Dubbed ‘Operation Grand Slam’, the plan was to send Pakistani commandos into Kashmir. They would instigate an uprising against India’s occupation forces that the people of Kashmir would support, it was assumed.
Colonel Ghaffar Mehdi, commandant of SSG (Pakistani commandos) opposed this plan describing it as ill-conceived and faulty. He visited the GHQ and tried to impress upon the chief of General Staff, General Sher Bahadur that it would not succeed because no groundwork for such an operation has been done. Instead of listening to Colonel Mehdi’s advice, he was relieved of his responsibilities as commandant SSG and transferred to Sialkot (For details, see Colonel Mehdi’s Book: Politics of Surrender and the Conspiracy of Silence).
How did such a plan come about? Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the evil man of Pakistani politics and ruthlessly ambitious, convinced President ‘Field Marshal’ Ayub Khan that India would not attack along the international border even if Pakistan launched operations in Kashmir. Ayub bought into this diabolical folly and launched ‘Operation Grand Slam’.
Eight to ten commando units headed by majors and captains were launched into Kashmir to carry out sabotage and instigate an uprising. Concurrently, a ground assault was launched in Chhamb-Jurian sector inside Indian occupied Jammu in early August 1965. While the ground operations by the Pakistan army commanded by Major General Akhtar Hussain Malik (GOC 12 Division), made good progress, the commando operations were a complete disaster, as predicted by Colonel Mehdi.
In his book about the Indo-Pak War of 1965, Illusion of Victory, General Mahmud Ahmad (retired as DG-ISI) has described in detail what went wrong with the commando operations. Far from the Kashmiris staging an uprising, in many instances they reported the movement of Pakistani commandos to Indian occupation forces. Almost all of them were captured, some died fighting Indian troops and the whole operation ended in failure.
With his forces making rapid progress in Chhamb-Jurian, General Akhtar Hussain Malik was asked by Ayub Khan whether he could take Akhnur, the most important Indian military post in Kashmir at the time. The only road to Srinagar, capital of Indian-occupied Kashmir, passed through Akhnur. Even while battling three Indian divisions with one of his own and making good progress, General Malik asked for two additional brigades to complete the mission.
Instead of providing him the additional forces, Ayub replaced him with General Yahya Khan. The latter made no progress in Kashmir and the war ended in a stalemate. The Americans imposed a ceasefire that was to the detriment of Pakistan. The US had also imposed an arms embargo on both. It did not affect India at all because their weapons were Russian-supplied. The embargo had a major impact on Pakistan’s fighting ability. Despite the arms embargo, Pakistan still had the ability to inflict major damage on India after blunting its attacks but under US pressure, Ayub Khan accepted the ceasefire.
Bhutto’s role in the war also needs proper assessment. He knew that the war would cause enormous damage to Pakistan’s economy. His deliberately false opinion that India would not attack along the international border also put Pakistan at great risk. That Pakistani soldiers and young officers (lieutenants to majors) fought with great valour is a tribute to their courage. The same cannot be said about the senior officers, barring a few exceptions.
With the economy badly damaged, Ayub suffered a stroke in 1968 incapacitating him. By now, General Yahya had been appointed commander-in-chief of the army. Bhutto saw in Ayub’s illness an opportunity to launch a campaign of agitation against his former benefactor (Bhutto used to call Ayub Khan ‘daddy’!) He demanded Ayub’s resignation. When Ayub asked Yahya to impose martial law, the latter demanded that Ayub hand over power to him as president. This is what Ayub had done to Iskandar Mirza in 1958. History had caught up with Ayub.
General Yahya only compounded Pakistan’s problems. Bhutto’s devilish mind went to work
and easily manipulated Yahya into a series of disastrous decisions. Elections for the new civilian government were held in late 1970. The East Pakistan-based Awami League headed by Shaikh Mujibur Rahman won an absolute majority in the new parliament (153 seats). There was, however, a lacuna. Awami League’s seats were exclusively from East Pakistan. In West Pakistan, the vote was split but Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party came out on top with 82 seats.
This is where his criminal mind went to work. He was absolutely determined to frustrate Mujibur Rahman from becoming the prime minister. When Yahya Khan called the National Assembly session in February 1971 in Dhaka, Bhutto threatened to “break the legs of anyone” who dared to attend from West Pakistan. He also started to work on Pakistani generals telling them that Mujib was a ‘traitor’ and if he came to power, he would break-up Pakistan.
The already-prejudiced minds of Pakistani generals and some bureaucrats easily fell into the trap. Far from convening the assembly session in Dhaka, Yahya unleashed the army against the people of East Pakistan to “teach them a lesson”. True to his evil nature, Bhutto declared: “Thank God, Pakistan has been saved”.
How many people were killed in East Pakistan is anybody’s guess but even one civilian killed was one too many. There was absolutely no need for a military operation. It sealed Pakistan’s fate and provided an opportunity to arch-enemy India to meddle in East Pakistan. A massive propaganda campaign was also launched against Pakistan.
As India amassed forces along the borders with East Pakistan, instead of seeking a political solution with Shaikh Mujib who had been arrested in March 1971 and flown to West Pakistan to face ‘treason charges’, Yahya blundered into launching a war against India. The loss of East Pakistan was a foregone conclusion. Yahya and the coterie of generals around him were not only incompetent, they also indulged in debauchery and orgies while the soldiers and young officers died in defence of their country.
Bhutto was not done with his evil plans. At the United Nations Security Council, Poland presented a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire, the withdrawal of Pakistani forces from East Pakistan and release of Shaikh Mujibur Rahman. As Pakistan’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister, Bhutto contemptuously tore up the resolution and throwing it in the air, walked out of the council chamber. Pakistan’s fate was sealed. A few days later, all Pakistani forces and civilians surrendered to the invading Indian army.
This is exactly what Bhutto wanted. He was close to succeeding in his evil design to become the prime minister of what was left of Pakistan. He could not have done so without getting Shaikh Mujib out of the way and humiliating the army through a widely-televised surrender to arch-enemy India.
When he took over power in January 1972, he went about destroying Pakistan’s industries and agriculture. While claiming to be a western-educated liberal democrat, in reality he had a feudal mindset. He brooked no criticism or opposition, going so far as to order the murder of political opponents. The late British journalist Harold Evans wrote about him: “Beneath his polished exterior lurks a medieval tyrant”.
His tyranny led to his downfall, at the hands of his own appointed army chief, General Zia ul-Haq in July 1977. While General Zia dispatched him to the gallows for the murder of Ahmed Raza Qasuri’s father (the actual target was the son), there are many other crimes, far too numerous to recount, that Bhutto committed. His family continues to plague Pakistani politics to this day.
General Zia (1977-1988), however, imposed his own evil plans on the hapless people of Pakistan. Saved by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan—engineered by the CIA to trap them into their own ‘Vietnam’—General Zia launched his ‘Islamization’ program to hoodwink the people into believing that he was a ‘pious’ Muslim. At the personal level, he may have been but Islam is much more than rituals that most Muslims indulge in. His ‘Islamization’ plan was to steal the clothes of the opposition alliance that had raised the slogan of Nizam-e Mustafa to oust Bhutto from power.
Zia spawned two other evil forces, the Sharif family and MQM. The first was propped up to undermine People’s Party support in Punjab and the second to reduce its appeal in Sindh. While he succeeding in both objectives, Zia bequeathed two monstrosities that have caused havoc with the lives of people ever since.
Following Zia’s death in a fiery plane crash, the people had hoped that military rule would be over for good. Not so fast. After a short interregnum, the military was back with a vengeance in the form of General Pervez Musharraf (1999–2008), declaring himself ‘chief executive’. We need not detain ourselves with the details of the intrigue that led to his coup but his complete surrender to the US to wage war on Afghanistan following the 911 attacks devastated Pakistan. Human and material losses of Pakistan have been enormous.
While today Pakistan is not under direct military rule, it does not mean that the army has stopped interfering in politics. The latest blow it delivered to the body politic and economy of Pakistan was to impose a bunch of criminals, murderers, thieves and money-launderers on the people. What precisely did the army top brass want to achieve by this move which has led to the destruction of Pakistan’s economy? Was it because Imran Khan as prime minister was showing too much independence and refusing to obey the army’s orders?
History will render a very harsh verdict against the army, especially General Qamar Javed Bajwa, if Pakistan survives this latest blow. The only force standing in the way is the masses, awakened by Imran Khan to stand up for their rights.
Posts: 1,906
Threads: 44
Joined: Feb 2017
Reputation:
4
GLOBAL VISION 2000 IS BREAKING GROUND HERE BY SHOWING LIVE THE COMMEMORATION OF EVENTS OF KARBALA OF THE MASSACRE OF THE PROPHET'S GRANDSON HUSSAIN(pbut) BY YAZID. THESE SCENES ARE MISUNDERSTOOD IN TERMS OF EXACTLY WHAT IS GOING HERE.
HOWEVER, THE THEME OF USURPATION OF POWER FROM THE RIGHTFUL INHERITORS OR SPIRITUAL LEADERS BY DAJALLIC FORCES IS A POTENT ONE IN ISLAMIC HISTORY AND INDEED HUMAN HISTORY. THERE IS AN UNIVERSAL MESSAGE HERE AND WILL BE REHEARSED HEREAFTER FROM A NON SECTARIAN HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVE.
Shahadat e Imam Hussain | Karbala | Muharram 2022
Maulana Tariq Jameel Exclusive Bayyan
KARBALA - HUSSAIN's EVERLASTING STAND
HUSAYN RA AND KARBALA
THE STORY OF HUSSAIN | BATTLE OF KARBALA
Posts: 1,906
Threads: 44
Joined: Feb 2017
Reputation:
4
WE SALUTE THE AFGHANISTAN GOVERNMENT AND TALIBAN MOVEMENT IN ITS ANNIVERSARY OF TAKEOVER OF AFGHANISTAN. WE SALUTE THEIR HEROIC BRAVERY IN SUCCESSFULLY RESISTING AND DEFEATING NONMUSLIM AGGRESSION AND BARBARISM. MAY ALLAH GUIDE THEM ON DEALING WITH GLOBAL KUFR , CONSPIRACIES AND WEAKNESSES. MAY ALLAH BLESS ALL THE MARTYRS WITH HIS BLESSINGS. AS THEY HAVE GONE THROUGH HELL AND COME BACK TO THIS WORLD, THIS UNIQUE TRAINING WILL ENABLE AND EMPOWER THEM TO OVERCOME EXISTENTIAL CHALLENGES.
MILITARY PARADE
DEFENCE DAY PARADE - YOUM E DIFA
6 September 2022
CEREMONY OF CHANGING GUARDS AT MAZAR E QUAID KARACHI
PAKISTAN DEFENCE DAY
BIG TRIBUTE TO THE MARTYRS
SECRETS OF 1965 INDO PAK WAR - DEFENCE DAY SPECIAL
PAKISTAN's MILITARY ECONOMY -MILITARY INC
FALL OF DHAKA 1971
Lessons from Fatal Policy Mistakes of Pakistan's Military Apparatus
Posts: 1,906
Threads: 44
Joined: Feb 2017
Reputation:
4
METE HAN AND THE XIONGNU LEGACY
HISTORICAL TURKIC STATES
ATTILA, THE HUNS AND THE BATTLE FOR EUROPE
THE GOKTURKS : HISTORY, CULTURE AND LEGACY OF THE FIRST TURKIC EMPIRE
THE RISE AND FALL OF THE TURKISH OGHUZ YABGHA STATE
HOW DID CHINA LOSE CENTRAL ASIA - BATTLE OF TALAS 751
OTTOMAN, SAFAVID AND MUGHAL EMPIRES
Posts: 1,906
Threads: 44
Joined: Feb 2017
Reputation:
4
HOW ATATURK DEFEATED BRITAIN, FRANCE, GREECE AND ARMENIA
The Turkish War of Independence
DOCUMENTARY ON THE GREAT OFFENSIVE
Büyük Taarruz Belgeseli
BATTLE OF DUMLUPINAR – 1922 – GRECO TURKISH WAR
SOLDIER OF THE SULTAN
Ataturk: Part 1 (1881-1918)
THE NAME OF REBIRTH - BATTLE OF SAKARYA Part-1
TURKISH GRAND ATTACK -August 1922 PART 1
[/url]
Posts: 1,906
Threads: 44
Joined: Feb 2017
Reputation:
4
THE NAME OF THIS THREAD IS BILLED AS THE UNITED STATES OF ISLAM ARMY. SOME WILL LABEL THIS AN OXYMORON AND I WILL RAISE MY ARMS INTO THE AIR AND AGREE. HOWEVER, IN TERMS OF THE UNIVERSAL PARADIGM SHIFT WE HAVE CALLED FOR LET US BE CLEAR ANY NEW POLITICAL OR RELIGIOUS IDEOLOGY NEEDS TO BE BACKED BY AN ARMY. WHERE WOULD WESTERN CAPITALISM BE IF THERE WERE NO ARMIES PROPPING IT UP? IN THE PAST WE HAD MANY EUROPEAN ARMIES LINKED TO THE RISE OF GLOBAL CAPITALISM. CURRENTLY WE HAVE THE AMERICAN EMPIRE UPHELD BY THE USA ARMED FORCES.
IN ANY ISLAMIC VISION OF THE FUTURE WHEREIN THE ISLAMIC KHILAFATE IS ESTABLISHED LET ME MAKE IT ABSOLUTELY CLEAR THERE WILL BE AN ISLAMIC ARMY WHICH NOT ONLY UPHOLDS THE QURAN AND SHARIAH BUT FIGHTS TO DEFEND THOSE VALUES. THE ARMED FORCES WILL BE LOYAL AND SUBSERVIENT TO THE KHALIFATALLAH. THE CHIEF OF ARMED FORCES WILL BE A PUBLIC SERVANT OF THE ISLAMIC KHILAFATE. MILITARY COUPS AND MARTIAL LAW WILL BE RELEGATED TO THE PAST. I SHOULD ADD ALL MUSLIM MILITARY LEADERS SHOULD BE BANNED FROM BEING TRAINED IN ANY NONMUSLIM MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD. MUSLIM MILITARY LEADERS LIKE KHALID BIN WALID, SALAHUDDIN, SULTAN QUTUZ, QUTBUDIN AIBAK , SULTAN FATIH AND HUNDREDS OF OTHERS WERE NEVER SCHOOLED BY NONMUSLIMS AND NEITHER SHOULD MUSLIM MILITARY COMMANDERS BE PROUD OF BEING TRAINED IN WESTPOINT OR SANDHURST. INDEED THEY SHOULD BE DEMOTED AS SCHIZROPHENIC PERSONALITIES WITH DIVIDED LOYALTIES AND SHOULD BE VIEWED AS A CANCER AND DEBILITATING WEAKNESS TO BE REMOVED. STRUTTING AROUND LIKE HEADLESS OSTRICHES ON PARADE SHOULD BE A THING OF THE PAST.
GIVEN THE NEVER ENDING POLITICAL CRISIS IN PAKISTAN WHICH HAS BROUGHT THE COUNTRY TO THE PRECIPICE. THE ISLAMIC WORLD CAN NOT AFFORD PAKISTAN THE ONLY MUSLIM NUCLEAR ARMED STATE IN THE WORLD TO BECOME ANOTHER FAILED STATE LIKE IRAQ, SYRIA, AFGHANISTAN, LIBYA, YEMEN OR SOMALIA. BUT THE TIME HAS COME TO HAVE AN OPEN DEBATE AND STATE THAT THE MUSLIM PEOPLES OF THE WORLD CAN NO LONGER TOLERATE TO BE BE RULED BY MILITARY AND FAMILY ELITES AND SECURITY-INTELLIGENCE APPARATUSES.
IN THIS CONTEXT OPENING SHOTS ARE BEING ARTICULATED ON THE NEED FOR TRUSTWORTHY, LOYAL, ACCOUNTABLE, TAQWA BASED MILITARY LEADERSHIP UNDER THE COMMAND OF MUTAQQI(GOD FEARING) ELECTED CIVILIAN LEADERS. WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT THIS IT IS NOT A BIG DEAL AND THAT'S THE WAY THINGS SHOULD BE. BUT DUE TO VARIOUS FACTORS THE CIVIL-MILITARY RELATIONSHIP IN MUSLIM COUNTRIES IS LOPSIDED. PAKISTAN IS JUST A CASE STUDY AND BY NO MEANS THE ONLY ONE THAT NEEDS TO GET IT'S ACT SORTED OUT.
GIVEN THE RECENT FAILED ASSASSINATION OF IMRAN KHAN AND PERHAPS FAILED ASSASSINATION OF THE ENTIRE TOP PTI LEADERSHIP ON TOP OF THE CONTAINER IN WAZIRABAD IN THE LONG MARCH. THIS ISSUE HAS BECOME CENTRE STAGE IN PAKISTAN AND CAN NO LONGER BE HUSHED UP AND NEITHER CAN PEOPLE BE TOLD TO SHUT UP OR ELSE. WHO DO THESE PEOPLE THINK THEY ARE? SOLDIERS AND ARMY GENERALS SHOULD OBEY THE COMMAND OF A JUST ELECTED RULER NOT ARMY GENERALS. PERHAPS SOMEONE SHOULD REMIND THEM WHO PAYS THEIR SALARIES AND THE PURPOSE THEY HAVE BEEN HIRED FOR. CERTAINLY TO SET UP A STATE WITHIN A STATE IS NOT THE VISION FOR ANY ISLAMIC GOVERNANCE OR KHILAFATE.
ANYONE WHO HAS STUDIED THE CREATION OF PAKISTAN AND THE FORMATION OF THE PAKISTAN ARMY FROM THE LEGACY OF THE BRITISH INDIAN ARMY KNOWS WHAT IS STATED HERE. PAKISTAN'S FATE GIVEN IT'S HOSTILE GIGANTIC NEIGHBOUR INDIA WAS TO BE A GARRISON SECURITY STATE RATHER THAN A GARRISON WELFARE STATE. HOWEVER, IT'S HISTORY OF 75 YEARS REVEALS IT WAS RULED BY GENERALS FOR ABOUT HALF THE TIME AND THEN BY CIVILIAN LEADERS FOR THE OTHER HALF.
THE SUCCESSFUL ASSASSINATIONS OF BOTH CIVIL AND MILITARY LEADERS WHILST NOT CONCLUSIVELY PROVEN. NEVERTHELESS ONE CAN CATEGORICALLY STATE THAT THEY WERE ELIMINATED BY A COMBINATION OF HOSTILE FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC AGENCIES. LONE GUNMEN THEORIES SHOULD BE DROPPED AND ARE NOT WORTH TALKING ABOUT.
IN THE CASE OF PAKISTAN IF IT DOES NOT GET IT'S ACT SORTED OUT IT RISKS THE INDIAN ARMY INVADING AND SEEKING TO IMPOSE IT'S WILL. THEN THESE ELITES WILL NEVER BE FORGIVEN. PERHAPS THEN THE REAL UNITED STATES OF ISLAM ARMY WILL ARISE.
IS THE PAKISTANI ARMY A THREAT TO ISLAM ?
IS PAKISTAN's MILITARY INTERFERING IN POLITICS?
MILITARY ROLE IN PAKISTAN POLITICS
POLITICAL ASSASSINATIONS AND ATTACKS ON PAKISTANI LEADERS
IMRAN KHAN ERA 2018-22
IMRAN KHAN GOVERNMENT "KESEY BANY"
Posts: 1,906
Threads: 44
Joined: Feb 2017
Reputation:
4
IN ANY REVIVAL OF GLOBAL ISLAMIC SOVEREIGNTY IN THE MODERN PERIOD IT IS CLEAR AND HAS BEEN SHOWN TO THE WORLD THAT THE AFGHANS AND AFGHANISTAN MEAN BUSINESS. THEY HAVE BROUGHT DOWN BARBARIC INVASIONS BY 3 WESTERN IMPERIAL POWERS STARTING WITH THE BRITISH RAJ, THE SOVIET UNION AND THE AMERICANS/NATO. WE SHOULD NOT BE SURPRISED IF WE WITNESS AFGHAN MUJAHIDEEN AT THE SPEARHEAD TO LIBERATE OTHER PARTS OF THE ISLAMIC WORLD. THIS NEEDS TO BE REHEARSED AND THE MUSLIM WORLD NEEDS TO LEARN FROM THIS AMAZING EXPERIENCE OF THE JIHADI MUJAHIDEEN.
WE ALSO SALUTE AND COMMEMORATE THE IMMORTAL SHAHEED(MARTYRS) WHO SACRIFICED ALL IN DEFENCE OF THE ISLAMIC FAITH AND THEIR HOMELAND. ALLAHU AKBAR.
HOW TALIBANS's WAR STRATEGY DEFEATED THE US ARMY IN AFGHANISTAN?
BILLION DOLLAR BASE : ARMY BASE IN AFGHANISTAN
HOW THE AFGHANS DEFEATED THE SOVIET UNION
Full Hikma History Documentary
HOW AFGHANISTAN BECAME WAR TORN 1933-1989
AFGHAN INDEPENDENCE
ANGLO-AFGHAN WARS : Part 3 (1919)
AFGHANISTAN : THE GREAT GAME
WHEN THE AFGHANS DEFEATED THE BRITISH EMPIRE
Full Anglo-Afghan Wars Documentary
WHEN THE AFGHANS LOST TO BRITAIN
THE FIRST KING OF AFGHANISTAN
Ahmad Shah Durrani Documentary
THE BRITISH RAJ (Uncut)
Adnan Rashid.
DALYRMPLE'S ANARCHY TO BE MAJOR SERIES ON REVEALING THE LOOT AND PLUNDER OF INDIA
BRITISH EMPIRE KILLED 165 MILLION INDIANS IN 40 YEARS: How colonialism inspired fascism
TRAITOR LANDLORDS AND NAWABS OF BRITISH INDIA
PRINCELY STATES
REDCLIFFE AWARD 1947
ANNOUNCEMENT OF INDIAN INDEPENDENCE
Posts: 1,906
Threads: 44
Joined: Feb 2017
Reputation:
4
THE JIHADS ENGAGED BY MUSLIMS AGAINST RUSSIA WILL BE UNVEILED HEREAFTER
WHEN IMAM SHAMIL DEFEATED RUSSIA
HOW DAGESTAN AND CHECHNYA RESISTED RUSSIA
HOW IRAN LOST THE CAUCASUS
Posts: 1,906
Threads: 44
Joined: Feb 2017
Reputation:
4
ANY ISLAMIC GOVERNANCE MODEL ESPECIALLY THE KHILAFATE THE ROLE OF THE ARMY IS CRITICAL. THERE NEEDS TO BE A CLEAR CHAIN OF POLITICAL AUTHORITY, COMMAND AND CONTROL. THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE ELECTED RULERS(OR UNELECTED) AND THE ARMED FORCES NEEDS TO BE RESOLVED ONCE AND FOR ALL.
THE REFERENCE TO UNELECTED RULERS IS A POINTER IN THE DIRECTION OF THE INTERFERENCE IN THE AFFAIRS OF THE DEVELOPING WORLD BY FORMER AND NEW IMPERIALIST POWERS. SO THERE IS ALSO A HISTORIC UNFINISHED TASK TO END NWO IMPERIALIST INTERFERENCE IN CONTROLLING DEVELOPING COUNTRIES. UNLESS THIS IS DONE THE MUSLIM WORLD CAN NOT DEVELOP AND PROGRESS. THAT IS WHY THE CASE STUDY OF THE MODUS OPERANDUS OF THE
PAKISTANI ARMY IS BOTH INTERESTING AND VITALLY IMPORTANT IN END TIMES.
CHANGE OF COMMAND CEREMONY OF PAKISTAN ARMY AT GHQ IN RAWALPINDI ON 29 NOVEMBER 2022
DEFENCE AND MARTYRS’ DAY 2022
PAKISTANI ARMY AND GHAZWA E HIND
A TIMELINE OF PAKISTAN'S ARMY CHIEFS THROUGH THE AGES
How many army chiefs have been appointed during Pakistan's 75 year-long history?
https://www.dawn.com/news/1722817/a-time...h-the-ages
PAKISTAN: GENERAL BAJWA PASSES THE BATON OF COMMAND TO THE SUCCESSOR GENERAL ASIM MUNIR
NAJAM SETHI’s ASSESSMENT OF PAKISTAN’s NEW ARMY CHIEF
Karan Thapar | The Wire Live
LANGUAGE OF GENERAL ASIM MUNIR AND SHAHBAZ MUNIR AND SHAHBAZ SHARIF FOR FIRST MEETING
IMRAN KHAN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH SAMI IBRAHIM
ASIM MUNIR - EXPECTATION Vs REALITY
CHANGE OF COMMAND: GENERAL BAJWA HANDS OVER "MAGIC STICK" TO NEW ARMY CHIEF AND FEARS "GUMNAMI"?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhoQPEgEWZY
WHAT's SO SPECIAL ABOUT GENERAL ASIM MUNIR?
GENERAL ASIM MUNIR TAKES COMMAND AS 17TH CHIEF OF ARMY STAFF
https://www.dawn.com/news/1723789/gen-asim-munir-takes-command-as-17th-chief-of-army-staff
Outgoing COAS General Qamar Javed Bajwa and newly appointed army chief General Asim Munir laid a wreath at the martyrs monument.
General Asim Munir took over as the new chief of army staff (COAS) at a ceremony held at the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi on Tuesday. Outgoing COAS General Qamar Javed Bajwa passed the baton of command to Gen Munir, making the latter the country’s 17th army chief.
Gen Munir was selected by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to succeed Gen Bajwa last week, ending days of speculation over the appointment. According to Radio Pakistan, Gen Munir will be the 17th army chief to assume the command of the Pakistan Army. Prior to the ceremony, both Gen Bajwa and Gen Munir laid a wreath at the Yadgar-i-Shuhada (Monument to Martyrs) in GHQ and offered fateha.
The ceremony, which began shortly after 10am, kicked off with the GHQ military band
performing national songs and a medley of folk tunes. Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff
Committee General Sahir Shamshad Mirza, senior serving and retired officers, diplomats as well as government functionaries were in attendance.
Former army chief Raheel Sharif, Lieutenant General Nigar Johar, and Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb were also present for the handover ceremony. — DawnNewsTV
Later, in a telephone conversation, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif congratulated the army chief and assured full cooperation of the government in areas related to defence and security.
‘Gen Munir professional, capable officer’
Addressing the ceremony prior to handing over the baton of command to Gen Munir, the outgoing COAS said he was thankful for being given the opportunity to lead the Pakistan Army.
Gen Bajwa congratulated Gen Munir on being appointed his successor and hoped his promotion would be a cause for the progress of the country and the army. He went on to say that his association with Gen Munir goes back 24 years.
“In addition to being a Hafiz-i-Quran, he is a professional, capable and principled officer. I am certain that under his leadership the army will reach new heights of success.” Gen Bajwa hoped the appointment of Gen Munir as the military chief would prove to be positive for both
the country and the army. He said he was handing over the army to an “expert and capable son”. Reflecting on his military journey, Gen Bajwa said the journey which began several decades ago was now coming to an end.
“I am thankful to God that he gave me the opportunity to work for this great army and gave me the opportunity to lead it,” he said, reiterating that it was a “great honour” for him. He said that during his six-year tenure, the army had always responded to his call regardless of whether it concerned terrorism in different parts of the country or natural calamities. “And when I asked them for sweat, they gave me blood.”
Gen Bajwa said that the army’s sacrifices were acknowledged by the country’s friends and foes. “I am proud of my army that despite scarce resources, they defend the country’s boundaries from the ice-capped mountains of Siachen to the deserts of Thar.”
Gen Bajwa also quoted a saying from American military leader Douglas MacArthur, which states: “Old soldiers don’t die, they just fade away.”
“I will also into fade into irrelevance but my spiritual relationship with the army will remain,”
he said, ending his speech with prayers for the success of the new army chief and the Pakistan army.
Who is Gen Asim Munir?
Gen Munir is an outstanding officer, but because of the technicalities involved, it was earlier believed he may remain the proverbial dark horse in the race for the army chief’s position.
At the time of his nomination for the post, Gen Munir’s impending retirement date was Nov 27, which posed a technical hitch in his accession to the top slot. To counter this, he was given a promotion to the rank of four-star general with immediate effect after being named the army chief in a deviation from the norm.
Gen Munir was promoted to the rank of a three-star general in September 2018, but he took charge two months later. He entered the service via the Officers Training School programme in Mangla, and was commissioned into the Frontier Force Regiment. He has been a close aide of Gen Bajwa ever since he commanded troops in the Force Command Northern Areas as a brigadier under the outgoing army chief, who was then Commander X Corps. Lt Gen Munir was later appointed Military Intelligence director general in early 2017, and in October next year was made the Inter-Services Intelligence chief.
However, his stint as the top intelligence officer turned out to be the shortest ever, as he was replaced by Lt Gen Faiz Hamid within eight months, on the insistence of then-PM Imran Khan.
He was posted as Gujranwala Corps commander, a position he held for two years, before being moved to the General Headquarters as the quartermaster general.
GENERAL BAJWA: SIX TUMULTOUS YEARS AND A LEGACY UNLIKE ANY OTHER
https://www.dawn.com/news/1723708/commen...-any-other
General Qamar Javed Bajwa, the 10th chief of army staff in the country’s history, retires today (Tuesday) after two eventful terms as the commander of the Pakistan Army, which is among the world’s largest in terms of active personnel, with a standing force of around half a million.
In Nov 2016, when Gen Bajwa was appointed army chief, Pakistan was battling a wave of terrorism in the north-west, managing a difficult relationship with arch-rival India, and figuring out the changing dynamics of its relationship with long-term ally United States, where the mercurial Donald Trump was about to take over as president.
Stepping into the larger-than-life shoes of his predecessor, Gen Raheel Sharif — whose image was systematically built by the military’s media machine as a ‘doer’ who ‘led from the front’ — was a challenge in itself for Gen Bajwa, who became the seventh army chief to have been picked by then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif since 1990.
Gen Bajwa inherited two looming political and civil-military issues from his predecessor: the Panama Papers allegations against Mr Sharif and his family in the Supreme Court and the civil-military clash over the country’s counter-terrorism strategy that led to a public showdown in the aftermath of an exclusive story by Dawn; an episode that came to be known as ‘Dawn Leaks’.
Gen Bajwa took time to assert his persona in public. In the first few months, he focused on consolidating his command through promotions and transfers of key officers in both command and staff positions. A major reshuffle in December saw key corps commanders and staff officers including the DG-ISI, the DG-ISPR and the CGS from Gen Sharif’s era posted out.
The Maj-Gen to Lt-Gen rank promotions made by Gen Bajwa soon after assuming command brought in the army’s new leadership. Those promoted were given key positions. Meanwhile, at the two-star level, he brought in a new DG-MO (Maj Gen Sahir Shamshad Mirza), DG-MI (Maj Gen Asim Munir), DG-ISPR (Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor) and the crucially important DG-C at ISI (Maj Gen Faiz Hamid). These officers would prove to be key advisers in the years to come.
When Gen Bajwa assumed command, Operation Zarb-i-Azb had entered its final stages. At the time, he had indicated that, on his watch, the focus would be on consolidating gains from anti-terror operations and also ‘anti-corruption’ campaigns in Karachi.
He transitioned the military from heavy-kinetic operations to intelligence-based operations targeting terrorist holdouts and sleeper cells. This campaign was named Operation Raddul Fasaad, with the goal to tackle both terrorism and extremism as well as breaking the crime-politics-corruption nexus. This influenced the course of politics in the country, as the military leadership believed that while its officers and men were laying down their lives combating terrorism, civilian governance was not improving and was being constrained by corruption.
The declining trend in terrorism, which started with Gen Sharif’s Zarb-i-Azb, continued till the end of 2020 and the very first signs of its reversal were witnessed in 2021. The next year (2022) was particularly regressive, with a 60 per cent spike in terrorist attacks over the previous year in eleven months so far. A total of 132 terrorist attacks have been reported in the past three months, including 50 alone in November.
The banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has been at the forefront of this wave. IS-KP, known colloquially as Daesh, and the Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF) were the two other major perpetrators.
One of the most controversial steps taken over the past year, despite warnings from various quarters, was talks with the TTP. The militant group used the time afforded by the talks – brokered by their allies, the Afghan Taliban – and the subsequent ceasefire as a confidence-building measure to re-establish its footprint, eventually walking away from the accord on the pretext of a resumption of counter-terrorism operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Visible signs of the TTP collaborating with Baloch insurgent groups complicated the challenge of protecting Chinese personnel working in Pakistan. A budding nexus between Baloch and Sindhi nationalist insurgents was also reported in this time. Baloch insurgents not only diversified their tactics but also carried out attacks outside Balochistan. Intensification of attacks on Chinese workers put immense pressure on the ‘iron brotherhood’ between Islamabad and Beijing for months.
Enforced disappearances have been a major human rights issue of concern for decades. However, during the past six years the problem aggravated as activists, journalists and students (particularly from Balochistan) were specifically targeted in large numbers. In April 2022, a report quoting the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances claimed that 4,581 people were reported missing between 2017 and 2021.
On the external front, Gen Bajwa assumed command during heightened tensions with India, with exchanges of fire and shelling across the Line of Control and Working Boundary being a near-daily occurrence. But his experience in this theatre helped him successfully manage the situation at LoC.
In February 2019, both countries navigated a tricky crisis after an aerial dogfight, which led Pakistan to capture an Indian pilot – only to release him soon afterwards. Meanwhile, in August 2019, though India unilaterally changed the status of the chunk of Kashmir in its occupation, Pakistan exercised restraint in escalating militarily. In late 2020, a backchannel began at the top level, which led to the renewal of the 2003 ceasefire agreement. It has been upheld without any incident since then.
On Afghanistan, Gen Bajwa oversaw the construction of a border fence. On his watch, the army prioritised fencing to manage irritants in the difficult relationship with the former government in Afghanistan. From 2018 onwards, Gen Bajwa green-lit Pakistan’s facilitation of talks between the Taliban and the US in Doha. An agreement between the Taliban and the US, which eventually led to the drawdown of US forces from Afghanistan, was hammered out in Doha with Pakistan’s help.
In the process, Gen Bajwa leveraged that facilitation role to navigate Pakistan’s troubled relationship with Trump-led Washington. On this front, he saw then PM Imran Khan as a partner in resetting ties with the US. In the end, however, both Mr Khan and Gen Bajwa had a divergent view of engagement with the US.
During his six years, Gen also Bajwa oversaw the modernisation of the army’s Air Defence command, in particular, the acquisition of HQ-9/P air defence systems from China. The army also inducted Chinese made VT-4 tanks, which is said to be the most advanced tank in Pakistan Army’s inventory. The army has also commissioned Chinese origin SH-15 155mm truck mounted howitzer in 2021 to enhance its strike prowess. Besides military hardware from China, the army acquired T129 gunship helicopters from Turkey in 2018.
It was also during Gen Bajwa’s tenure that Russia delivered Russian-made Mi-35M attack helicopters as part of a deal concluded in August 2015 that actually marked the end of cold war-era Moscow’s embargo on military sales to Pakistan. Ties with Russia continued to grow afterwards, but no notable purchases were made from there. As the curtain falls on Gen Bajwa’s tenure, it remains to be seen if his successor, Gen Asim Munir, would carry on with the oft-referenced ‘Bajwa Doctrine’, which guided much of what happened during the past six years, or would he come up with something new.
|