India can defeat China and Pakistan at the same time

Pakistan foreign Office spokesman very categorically and convincingly responded to the threats being hurled by India. Reacting to the statement of the Indian Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor that his country can fight wars with Pakistan and China simultaneously and that India would finish Pakistan within 96 hours of a war, the spokesman declared at the weekly news briefing that our eastern neighbour must not undermine Pakistan’s capability to defend itself against aggression.

The statement of the Indian Army Chief has shocked not only people in Pakistan and in the region but also to some circles in India that were keen to see improvement in relations between the two countries. In fact, this was not a casual or off-the-cuff remark by General Kapoor but part of the new military doctrine and, therefore, it should be taken very seriously by the authorities concerned in Pakistan and also in China. In the first place, India is alarmingly increasing its military muscle as it has not only started local production of lethal weapons of all sorts through foreign collaboration but has also embarked upon a defence shopping spree. Encouraged by the keenness of the United States and other countries of the West to enter into closer nuclear cooperation with India, the policy makers in New Delhi have also started giving loud thinking to their plans to go for more nuclear tests as part of the programme to give new dimensions to their nuclear and missile programmes. All this confirms widely held belief that the United States is preparing India to take up responsibilities as mini superpower in this part of the world to browbeat not only Pakistan but also keep China under check. It is with this objective that Americans are trying their best to help India consolidate its political, economic and strategic influence in Afghanistan. Secondly, the threat from the Indian Army Chief comes at a time when Pakistan was passing through the most critical juncture of its history and the statement is obviously aimed at multiplying woes of the country. The spokesman has, therefore, done well by inviting attention of the world community towards hegemonic and jingoistic mindset of India that could threaten regional and global peace. Though in the given situation it is unlikely that the influential capitals of the world would pay any serious heed to the caution by Islamabad yet we must mount an aggressive diplomatic campaign to unmask India’s real face. At the same time, our strategists and analysts should go deeper into the statement of General Kapoor and take necessary steps to safeguard vital security interests of the country.

China India and Pakistan: a powerful triangle

President Obama’s visit to India is highly important from many angles of Afghanistan, Pakistan and China. It shall not only strengthen the bilateral relations between US and India but shall also prove helpful to give stability to Afghanistan with the cooperation of India , and to enable Pakistan to plan a joint operation with India and US to fight terrorism successfully. China's Prime Minister Wen's visit in December shall also carry great significance.


Whether it is India or China, both should regard the sentiments of each other and if one does and the other avoids, naturally the bewilderment continues.
If China determines today from their heart to work shoulder by shoulder with India, and forget the antagonism of misunderstanding against India whatever it might be, and does not help Pakistan out of the way in building their Nuclear arsenals to target India through Kashmir as being assumed by political thinkers, I am sure that the November visit of US President Obama followed by the visit of China’s Prime Minister to India in December, are going to make a big positive difference to boost extra strength to this region.
If China resolves and treats India as its younger brother in this region, and live as genuine partners to each other, no one in the world can shake them in any manner. These two countries can prove giants for the world. Further more, both should treat Pakistan as their younger brother and Mr. Wen has necessary influence over Pakistan to advise it to respect India rather than treating it as a threat to their country.
If Mr. Wen persuades Pakistan to shed all differences with India, all the three powers can work together. The main visit of Mr. Wen should therefore include the agenda item to make Pakistan understand to work in the spirit of a good neighbor with India rather than treating it as a traditional enemy for no apparent reasons, which is damaging for both the countries. It is a good opportunity for India to make Mr. Wen agree to explore more and more opportunities of bilateral trade and also involve Pakistan to do the same whole heartedly, and it is the secret of stability of this triangle.
In my views, Mr. Wen’s visit shall be equal important as that of President Obama, India should persuade him to let both the countries work like good neighbors and involve bilateral trade and good understanding rather than doubting the integrity of each other.
It is a golden chance for India as well as China since on one hand Mr. Wen is considered one of the greatest statesmen of the world, and Mr. Manmohan Singh, on the other, known as the best peace loving Prime Minister who is also expert in economics and his counsel can not only benefit both the countries bilaterally but also to Pakistan, where sought for.
I would only suggest to Mr. Wen that Pakistan, who is under his total influence should make it understand to form the triangle of strength by joining India & China rather than making it otherwise to give chance to terrorist groups to cause more damage to India. Pakistan should not forget that terrorist groups are not loyal to anyone, most of the group alliance has no fear of God and no loyalty, and they can equally cause destruction even in Pakistan and they are doing.
As such the visit of US president on the other side is not only important for strengthening the bilateral ties between US and India but also for the peace in South Asia. Next upcoming month in December, Mr. Wen’s visit shall strengthen the ties from many other angles.
In the end, I would seek positive changes in the policy of China and also in India and Pakistan, to make a powerful triangle and if they do so, the history of power balance shall change and peace shall have a better chance to progress in this region including Afghanistan.

The dualism Obama represents

It has been repeatedly asserted by the Manmohan Singh government that India has developed a very special strategic partnership with the US and that it has been further strengthened by the prime minister's personal relationship with American presidents like George Bush and Barack Obama . Americans have also reciprocated by emphasising that they are 'natural allies' of democratic India. These statements, made either by the American or Indian foreign and strategic policymakers, are sugar-coated sentiments conveying nothing of substance.

Every country is guided by its own national interests and there is no place for permanent friends or enemies while dealing with concrete issues of bilateral or multilateral international relationships. It should not be forgotten that America is interested in promoting its business interests, especially given that India has emerged as a big market for American commodities.

A report by the Centre for a New American Security called 'National allies: A blueprint for the future of US-India relations' suggested that the "US modify its export control measures... permitting increased exports of defence-related technology and goods to India". This is the main objective of the promotion of the bilateral relationship by characterising it a very special strategic partnership between the US and India.

The same sentiment was authoritatively expressed by US under secretary for political affairs William Burns on October 21, 2010 that the US and India were talking on 'adapting and reforming' US export laws so that 'India can be treated as a partner and not as a target'.

Clearly, 'the business of America is to do business' and it seems immature on Indian part to celebrate the emerging relationship as very 'special' only for India. American presidents have always been promoters of the business interests of their own countrymen. American multinational corporations collect funds for presidential elections in return for promotion of their business interests at a global level. While trade and business is only one part of the story, the other side is security and the defence interests of India. Which, in effect, the Americans are completely insensitive to.

A few facts deserve to be mentioned to substantiate the argument that America is arming Pakistan on the specious plea of fighting the Taliban. Pakistan has already secured around $7.5 billion under the Kerry-Lugar aid Bill for five years. And on October 22, the US also announced $2.29 billion as military aid to Pakistan. It is ironical for Indians that the 'natural ally' is unmindful of their security concerns. It is utopian to believe that the Americans will help India in the fight against terrorism originating from Pakistan, whose reach now extends to Mumbai and Pune.

Further, Pakistan has no interest in fighting the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan because in post-Nato Kabul, Pakistan will have a friendly regime. Indians should forget about any role in post-Nato Afghanistan because neither Pakistan nor the Taliban would allow an Indian presence there. The only contribution of the Americans in South Asia after their withdrawal from Afghanistan will be to leave a well-armed and well-equipped Pakistan.

If these are the realities of geostrategic issues, there should be some weighty reason that India and America are hyperbolic about their relations. The Centre for a New American Security has argued that "a growing closeness between India and the US was important because although neither sought the containment of China, the likelihood of a peaceful Chinese rise increases if it ascends in a region where the great democratic powers are strong."

This remark and also statements from the American state department clearly posit China as a factor in the Asian power system. Indian policymakers have always brushed under the carpet the China factor in an evolving Asia while the Americans have made it public that India and China are important and inter-related areas of operation, cooperation and conflict. Indians would be foolhardy if they allow any role for the Americans as their interlocutor with China. India and China have enough resources of their own to resolve their mutual concerns.

Clearly, America is pursuing its own economic and strategic goals in South Asia and business with India is a priority because of it's an emerging market. The US security interests can be taken care of by Pakistan even if it adversely affects India. In brief, much should not be read into Obama's visit.

Obama: India visit.
What Obama can accomplish in India

President Obama travels to India next week for the longest visit to a foreign country of his presidency. His goal is to strengthen India-U.S. cooperation, but standing between the recent heady past and a future full of promise is a highly problematic present.

Last year, the United States and India concluded a landmark nuclear agreement, setting a bar for cooperation that is proving difficult to match. George W. Bush and the neoconservatives, who initiated discussions on this agreement in 2005, felt a visceral affinity for India as a vibrant democracy and as a strategic counterweight to China. But this administration has other priorities and a different worldview. Moreover, it has no Indophiles (no Condoleezza Rice or Robert Blackwill) to emphasize India's importance.

The future of cooperation is bright, nevertheless, because both countries have strong and fundamental commitments to democracy and open societies. This is manifest in growing people-to-people links between the two countries. The Indian economy, which will soon overtake Japan's to become the world's third-largest in purchasing power, only adds to the allure of cooperation. And dealing with a rising China will remain a shared concern.

But current realities are another matter. Shared long-term goals in battling terrorism and bringing stability to Afghanistan and Pakistan quickly give way to sharp differences on tactics and short-term actions.

On trade, India is increasingly alarmed by bipartisan congressional willingness to erect barriers to Indian skilled labor and outsourcing without even a whiff of protest from the Obama administration. It senses what Montek Ahluwalia, a leading Indian policymaker, calls an "intellectual climate change" in U.S. attitudes toward globalization.

For its part, India is deterring U.S. investors with a series of policy actions, impeding the closer ties that could come through U.S. companies' participation in Indian economic dynamism. India has passed legislation creating what seems to be open-ended liability for potential suppliers of nuclear equipment (General Electric, for example). An old case stemming from the deadly 1984 accident at a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal (now owned by Dow) that was considered settled in 1989 may be reopened. American investors are reevaluating whether India, despite its rapid economic growth, is friendly to investors and property rights.

Some cooperation is possible in the short run: India, which is also affected by China's undervalued currency, could join with the United States to seek a multilateral solution. India could also find ways to ensure that U.S. firms get a large share of its nuclear and defense equipment purchases. In return, the United States could push for India's inclusion in broader Asia-Pacific economic arrangements, beginning with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

But the dilemma for the two governments is how to keep the embers of the relationship glowing so that its future promise can be realized, even if political constraints will not permit aggressive actions now. One possibility would be to announce objectives that are ambitious enough to differentiate this relationship from others even if they cannot be met soon. These goals could guide the preparatory work for subsequent discussions.

Two objectives in particular might be worthy of public embrace: a permanent seat for India on the U.N. Security Council and a U.S.-India economic partnership agreement, possibly culminating in a "free-trade agreement of the democracies."

The case for Security Council membership is getting stronger. India's economy has more purchasing power than that of Britain, France or Russia. It is a nuclear power, as certified by Security Council members, and unlike China and Russia, it is a robust democracy. It has stronger credentials for the Security Council than some current members. In establishing the Group of 20, the United States took the lead in modernizing antiquated structures of global economic governance. It is time to do the same for the counterpart security institutions.

The case for closer trade relations is also growing. From the U.S. perspective, a series of free-trade agreements being negotiated between India and other major economies (Japan, Korea, the European Union, even Canada) will lead to discrimination against U.S. businesses in the Indian market and greater access for suppliers from Europe and Asia. The faster India grows - and annual growth of 8 to 9 percent is within reach in the next decade - the more business opportunities will be beyond the grasp of American firms. A free-trade agreement would address this problem.

For India, the benefits would be assured access to U.S. markets. Above all, Indian firms in the information-technology sector - the key to India's growth - would want to prevent an outbreak of protectionism that could threaten India's economic prospects.

Bold actions to bring the United States and India closer together are perhaps impossible right now. But ambitious objectives, publicly professed and enthusiastically embraced, could be an acceptable substitute. They would be a major "deliverable" from the president's upcoming trip.

C. Fred Bergsten and Arvind Subramanian are director and senior fellow, respectively, at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

Change of editor at English paper

One of the country’s oldest newspapers, Dawn, saw a change of editors on Oct 4, with its printline (on the back page) formally changing to reflect the transfer to Zaffar Abbas. This is the fifth editor the newspaper has seen in the past decade, and hence this can be seen as a time of transformation for it given that prior to that period the paper had the same editor for almost 30 years.

Mr Abbas takes over from Abbas Nasir, who himself was appointed as editor in May 2006. Mr Nasir, a former head of the BBC Urdu Service, had taken over from Tahir Mirza, the last of what many thought were the old-style traditional editors of the paper.

Mr Nasir was approached for his comments for this report but declined to respond. He brought in change to the newspaper, particularly as far as salaries were concerned. However, he was also asked to take charge of Dawn News, at that time a fully English news channel, which was struggling. Mr Nasir was seen by many staffers as accessible but at least two rounds of dismissals at the television channel somewhat tainted his staff-friendly reputation.

Under Mr Nasir’s stewardship, changes were brought to the newspaper’s website, www.dawn.com, for which a separate staff and editor were hired. However, there were allegations of favouritism given that the editor, Musaddiq Sanwal, did not have editorial experience prior to this in Pakistan’s English print media, and also happened to be a good friend of Mr Nasir’s.

A staffer who has been working at the paper since 1987 said – he didn’t want to be quoted by name, for obvious reasons – this of Mr Nasir’s tenure: “The man perhaps had too much to do – he started off well by significantly raising staff salaries, but then got bogged down in the Dawn News fiasco, and then over time it seems that the inertia of the organisation overtook the editor and prevented him from doing all the things that we all thought he would do.”

Another staff member, who joined the organisation after Mr Nasir, said: “To his (Abbas’s) credit, he was accessible and encouraging, especially of the lower staff, and he did manage to get some of the deadwood out of the organisation by not renewing contracts of staffers who had reached retirement age.

Zaffar Abbas, the new editor, has previously worked at the monthly news magazine Herald and the BBC. In August 2006, he joined Dawn as resident editor of its Islamabad edition. He was also approached for comments for this report but did not respond. Mr Abbas made his mark as a reporter, first for Herald and later as a BBC correspondent in Karachi and then Islamabad.

Aamer Ahmed Khan, former editor of Herald, and currently the head of the BBC Urdu Service in London, has worked many years with Zaffar Abbas. Of his association with him he said: “Zaffar Abbas has been a key player in Dawn’s editorial strength for as long as I have known him. It is exciting to see a journalist of his experience take charge of one of Pakistan’s best known newspapers in today’s highly competitive environment.”

Another former colleague of Mr Abbas – he was editor of Herald and both him and Mr Abbas worked there at least for around 10 years – is the current editor of The News, Karachi, Talat Aslam. Mr Aslam said: “I have always found Zaffar a solid, reliable and dependable individual and it was very good to have him at the magazine. His feet are firmly on the ground and he would always give us very useful and realistic feedback and assessment. During my time at Herald, I saw Zaffar evolve and grow – though as a person, of course, he never changed. I think he will make a very good editor at Dawn – and it will be good to have a good friend as editor of a rival newspaper.”

Muhammad Ziauddin, Executive Editor of The Express Tribune, said: “I have been watching Zaffar’s career since the early 1980s – since he began at the Star. During his days with Herald in Islamabad we met frequently. He is a top professional and a man of integrity.”

· So another change at the daily Yawn. I thought Abbas Nasir would bring the newspaper up-to-date but he didn’t. As for the arrogance of the new editorial staff, I second Ayesha Siddiqa’s views.

Let us hope Zaffar Abbas – a talented and experienced journalist – is finally allowed to make the necessary changes by the increasingly ‘sethia’-minded owners.

· Zafar does bring a lot of expertise on the table. It would be beneficial for not only for the Dawn but for the industry as well.

Saad Durrani 3 weeks ago

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· Quality of programming at Dawn News is terrible now. It’s like a wannabe Geo-tv now.

Ammar 3 weeks ago

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· Zafar Abbas – isn’t he the brother of Maj. Gen Athar Abbas? Wonder what that means for the paper. Also, wonder if Zafar Abbas’s professionalism will mean that the agents of the intelligence agencies will not get printed on Dawn newspaper’s front page

Sufi Shams 3 weeks ago

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· Abbas Nasir has the honor of contributing to Dawn’s decay. He and his team were responsible for raising a young, cocky and extremely arrogant editorial team which has no sense of respect and lack knowledge. This is what happens when owners begin to temper with the editorial. Dawn moved from Altaf Hussain to Ahmed Ali Khan, and back to the days of Altaf Hussain!

Ayesha Siddiqa 3 weeks ago

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· I hope the new Editor puts some life into the paper. Over the years I find it to have become dull and on the verge of downright boring.

Meekal Ahmed 3 weeks ago

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· Omar R Quraishi sb, for me the best days of Dawn were when you were editor of a section of the paper to which I regularly contributed for sometime. I feel you really encouraged and included articles from a wide range of people, belonging to all parts of the country and with diverse backgrounds, completely on the basis of merit and without any favouritism. I don’t feel the same kind of openness, diversity, merit and ‘depth’ in terms of the quality of the material printed on that section of the paper anymore since you departed. I don’t see much ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking or creativity on that page of my interest for a long time now. I wish Dawn regain that glory again in terms of the quality of stuff in its various sections especially its Sunday edition and its section such as EDUCATION, MAGAZINE and Books and Authors. Dawn (when you were there) has played a vital role in the development of my career and in broadening my mental horizens. I owe a lot to this prestigious newspaper and I wish it becomes more open and responsive to the common readers (and contributers) in terms of representing their views on its pages.

Muhammad Ilyas Khan 3 weeks ago

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· I wish Abbas Nasir good luck and hope that Zafar Abbas comes up to the expectations of Dawn readers, who still have not forgotten icons like A.A.

Mother India?
Ancient insect find raises questions about India's origins

The discovery of a trove of insects preserved for millions of years in amber raises new questions about how long India was isolated before it joined the Asian continent, researchers said in a study published Monday.
The insects, bees, termites, spiders, and flies, had been entombed in the vast Cambay deposit in western India for some 50 million years.
Scientists had long assumed that India was for a time an isolated island-continent, and consequently expected that the insects found in the amber would differ significantly from those elsewhere in Asia.
But researchers wrote in their study appearing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that the insects were not unique as would be expected had India been sequestered for as long as they originally believed.
“We know India was isolated, but when and for precisely how long is unclear,” says David Grimaldi, curator in the Division of Invertebrate Zoology at the American Museum of Natural History.
“The biological evidence in the amber deposit shows that there was some biotic connection,” he wrote, suggesting that an extended separation would have given rise to a unique flora and fauna.
India separated from present-day Africa and after about 50 million years collided with Asia, creating the Himalayas.
Rather than finding evolutionary ties to Africa and Madagascar, land masses geologists say India was most recently linked to, the researchers found relatives in Northern Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Americas.
“The amber shows, similar to an old photo, what life looked like in India just before the collision with the Asian continent,” says Jes Rust, professor of Invertebrate Paleontology at the Universitaet Bonn in Germany.
“The insects trapped in the fossil resin cast a new light on the history of the sub-continent,” said Michael Engel, a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and curator of entomology at the University of Kansas.
“What we found indicates that India was not completely isolated, even though the Cambay deposit dates from a time that precedes the slamming of India into Asia,” he said. “There might have been some linkages.

Comments:

Himalaya fossils are older than 60 Mn years so since last 60 Mn years Indian continent was joined with Asian plate. So India was not floating in the Indian ocean. why one beleive this unbeleavable theory.
If the Indian continental plate was in sea 50 Mn years ago than HIMALAYA fossil could not be older than 50Mn years OLD
If India was in middle of sea 55Mn years ago How the HIMALAYA could be more than 60 Mn years OLD?
Himalaya was not created in just a blink it has took 60 Mn years since the Indian continental plate and and Asian plate collided .
Indian plate was not moving 20Cm /year but only a 5 Cm/year ONLY
which took 4 times the TIME taken to move the distance from AFRICA to ASIA.

Toatal period of seperation of Indian continental plate exeeds the all assumption of poor Maths minds.
Kutch Science
yesterday

Like..This looks like a bogus theory that Indian plate was floating in the sea, just like the aryan migration theory. Just waiting for someone to disaprove this one as well.

"Kashmir has never been an integral part of India".
Roy may face sedition charges

Indian police believe there is a case for charging the Booker Prize-winning author Arundhati Roy with sedition over comments she made about the disputed province of Kashmir, Indian newspapers say.

Reports yesterday said police in Delhi have sought legal opinion about a speech by Roy last week when she said Kashmir has ''never been an integral part of India''. It is not clear if authorities will act on the advice. Roy issued a statement yesterday denying she had done anything wrong.

''This morning's papers say that I may be arrested on charges of sedition for what I have said at recent public meetings … Anybody who cares to read the transcripts of my speeches will see that they were fundamentally a call for justice,'' she said.

Advertisement: Story continues below ''Some have accused me of giving 'hate speeches', of wanting India to break up. On the contrary, what I say comes from love and pride.

''It comes from not wanting people to be killed, raped, imprisoned or have their fingernails pulled out in order to force them to say they are Indians.''

14-million years old fossil found in Pakistan

The fossils remains of Deinotherium (“Terrible beast”) have been discovered during an excavation at village Lava district of Chakwal.

The fossils are reportedly 14 million years old and belong to the primitive animal species which had lower denture with undistributed set of teeth attached to the gums.

This terrible beast is known to have survived between the Miocene epoch (from 25 million to 13 million years ago; appearance of grazing mammals) to the Pleistocene epoch (from two million to 11 thousand years ago; extensive glaciation of the northern hemisphere; the time of human evolution). Its ancestors or descendants can not yet be ascertained due to unavailability of fossil records with which a chain of identification could be testified. But Deinotherium is said to be a prehistoric relative of modern elephants.

Usually the Deinotherium Indicum is associated with Asia. The excavation at the site was conducted under the supervisory guidance of Professor Dr Muhammad Akhtar Chairman Department of Zoology and Registrar University of the Punjab, Lahore. The significance of fossils from the evolutionary point of view is crucial, as it may provide clues about changes in climate and proximate causes of extinction of various species.

Also the petrified bony bits and pieces of dentition of ruminants (Rhinoceros, Giraffids, Suids and Bovids) were discovered from Dhok Bun Ameer Khatoon, Chakwal. Their age is calculated to be more than 8 million years old. This is one of the best discoveries of fossils ever made in Pakistan. Prof Dr Muhammad Akhtar is of the view that the world of paleontology will benefit a lot from this recently uncovered ‘treasure’.

University of the Punjab is the only institution in Pakistan that offers education of Vertebrate Paleontology.

Pakistan & pre-revolution France

I would like to share my thoughts about the clash between science and religion and the path to progress — a concept Islam gave all the answers to, ensuring that we were the most enlightened religion, creating the ultimate partnership with science.

Yet the similarities between 18th century feudal France and 21st century feudal Pakistan, where women are treated as second-class citizens, were startling. Perhaps more startling since, because of Islam’s teachings, we should have overcome this barrier and won the human rights race. The extent of women discrimination hit me when I entered the real world out of my family’s sheltered cocoon. And even then I was able to deal with it. Something most women in Pakistan are not often given any facilitation for. The fact that women were discouraged from education in 18th century France reminds me of the state of our current villages.

Another interesting comparison was that religious minorities were discriminated against. The reforms in England at the time were significantly higher despite them having no access to a religion like Islam. Again, it is a pity that whilst Islam eliminated divisions of class and religion much before the French, Pakistan today has notprogressed at the same speed.

Last but not least, the culture of central control from the court of Versailles can be compared to our issues of federation and provincial autonomy. Back then they used methodologies for control which included giving of favours and a culture of corruption: make the notables so rich that they are beholden to the courts and under their control. There was also censorship and associated human rights abuses meted out to political prisoners. Whether it is the Bastille or Adiala jail, the methods used by our military and civilian dictators compared those of pre-revolution France are very similar.

Has Pakistan’s society transformed, considering all the jumpstarts Islam gave it? Have we transformed into the enlightened Muslims that Islam instructs us to be? And if not, then is revolution not around the corner in some new format? What struck me most is the consistency of human nature over the centuries. Whenever accepted rotten norms are challenged, there will be an attempt to attack and destroy. Old politics is at war with new politics. And just like there was Enlightenment and then revolution in France, there will be success in Pakistan too.

Russia is set to return to the war in Afghanistan 21 years after its forces were driven out of the country.
Moscow has agreed to help train the Afghan army and anti-narcotics troops - at the request of the same Western countries who helped remove Russia from the country in the late 1980s.
But Mikhail Gorbachev today warned Nato that victory in Afghanistan is 'impossible'.
The former leader of the Soviet Union, who pulled Russian troops out of Afghanistan in 1989, said President Barack Obama is right to start withdrawing U.S. forces from the country next year.

But he warned failure to do so would result in the Americans suffering another defeat on the same scale as Vietnam.
'Victory is impossible in Afghanistan,' Mr Gorbachev said. 'Obama is right to pull the troops out. No matter how difficult it will be.'

Russia has also agreed in principle to supply Nato with helicopters for use in Afghanistan and has already sold five Mi-17 helicopters to coalition member Poland, reported The Independent. The first two are to be delivered by the end of the year.
Nato officials today said the U.S. and Russia were working on a package that could see Moscow providing more than 20 helicopters to Afghan forces, thereby hastening the coalition's exit from Afghanistan.

Nato is also thought to be exploring whether Russia would allow the alliance to ship more goods, including weapons, across its territory to Nato forces in Afghanistan.
In return for its aid in Afghanistan, Russia is seeking more co-operation from Nato over the placement of a U.S. missile-defence shield in Poland and the Czech Republic. It also wants Nato to accept its occupation of Georgia.

Tony Blair's sister-in-law Lauren Booth converts to Islam

British Journalist Lauren Booth Is Now a Muslim
She is not as known internationally as her brother-in-law Tony Blair, but Lauren Booth has definitely made the headlines today all over the world, after a more or less shocking public announcement that she converted to Islam. The news spread from UK to New York, Tehran, Jerusalem, India, and beyond.

Lauren Booth, a long time militant for the Muslim cause, decided to convert after a holy experience she had six weeks ago, after a visit to the Fatima al-Masumeh Shrine in Qom, Iran.

According to reports from the UK media, she felt a “shot of spiritual morphine, just absolute bliss and joy” and decided to convert immediately on her return to Britain. Now you will most likely see the journalist who now works for Press TV, the English-language news channel of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in lose clothes, wearing a hijab. She declared her new-found faith live at the GPU event, saying: “My name is Lauren Booth, and I am a Muslim.”

Sure, the media is prone to react differently to such news. Some say that she is just craving for attention, while others see this as a logical consequence of her sympathies. Among others, she is a vocal opponent of the war in Iraq, and as a journalist she presents In Focus on the UK’s Islam Channel, and Between The Headlines on the Iranian-owned Press TV.

The media reports that since she converted she stopped drinking any kind of alcohol, she no longer eats pork, reads the Koran five times a day and visits a mosque when she can. Although she cannot tell for sure where this spiritual journey will take her, she hopes to change people’s prejudice about Muslims:

“Your world view is that Muslims are mad, bad and dangerous; a contagion to be contained. “ – she wrote in a letter to Tony Blair, asking him to acknowledge International Quds Day, an annual event on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan when Muslims express solidarity with the Palestinian people and protest Israel’s occupation of Beit-ul-Moqaddas (Jerusalem).


Why ARE so many modern British career women converting to Islam?

Tony Blair’s sister-in-law announced her conversion to Islam last weekend. Journalist Lauren Booth embraced the faith after what she describes as a ‘holy experience’ in Iran.
She is just one of a growing number of modern British career women to do so. Here, writer EVE AHMED, who was raised as a Muslim before rejecting the faith, explores the reasons why.

Much of my childhood was spent trying to escape ­Islam.
Born in London to an English mother and a ­Pakistani Muslim father, I was brought up to follow my father’s faith without question.
But, privately, I hated it. The minute I left home for university at the age of 18, I abandoned it altogether.
As far as I was concerned, being a Muslim meant hearing the word ‘No’ over and over again.
Girls from my background were barred from so many of the things my English friends took for granted. Indeed, it seemed to me that almost anything fun was haram, or forbidden, to girls like me.
There were so many random, petty rules. No whistling. No chewing of gum. No riding bikes. No watching Top Of The Pops. No wearing make-up or clothes which revealed the shape of the body.
No eating in the street or putting my hands in my pockets. No cutting my hair or painting my nails. No asking questions or answering back. No keeping dogs as pets, (they were unclean).
And, of course, no sitting next to men, shaking their hands or even making eye contact with them.
These ground rules were imposed by my father and I, therefore, assumed they must be an integral part of being a good Muslim.
Small wonder, then, that as soon as I was old enough to exert my independence, I rejected the whole package and turned my back on Islam. After all, what modern, liberated British woman would choose to live such a life?
Well, quite a lot, it turns out, including Islam’s latest surprise convert, Tony Blair’s sister-in-law Lauren Booth. And after my own break with my past, I’ve followed with fascination the growing trend of Western women choosing to convert to Islam.
Broadcaster and journalist Booth, 43, says she now wears a hijab head covering whenever she leaves home, prays five times a day and visits her local mosque ‘when I can’.
She decided to become a Muslim six weeks ago after visiting the shrine of Fatima al-Masumeh in the city of Qom, and says: ‘It was a Tuesday evening, and I sat down and felt this shot of spiritual morphine, just absolute bliss and joy.’
Before her awakening in Iran, she had been ‘sympathetic’ to Islam and has spent considerable time working in Palestine. ‘I was always impressed with the strength and comfort it gave,’ she says.
How, I wondered, could women be drawn to a religion which I felt had kept me in such a lowly, submissive place? How could their experiences of Islam be so very different to mine?
According to Kevin Brice from ­Swansea University, who has specialised in studying white conversion to Islam, these women are part of an intriguing trend.

He explains: ‘They seek spirituality, a higher meaning, and tend to be deep thinkers. The other type of women who turn to Islam are what I call “converts of convenience”. They’ll assume the trappings of the religion to please their Muslim husband and his family, but won’t necessarily attend mosque, pray or fast.’
I spoke to a diverse selection of white Western converts in a bid to re-examine the faith I had rejected.
Women like Kristiane Backer, 43, a London-based former MTV presenter who had led the kind of liberal Western-style life that I yearned for as a teenager, yet who turned her back on it and embraced Islam instead. Her reason? The ‘anything goes’ permissive society that I coveted had proved to be a superficial void.
The turning point for Kristiane came when she met and briefly dated the former Pakistani cricketer and Muslim Imran Khan in 1992 during the height of her career. He took her to Pakistan where she says she was immediately touched by spirituality and the warmth of the people.
Kristiane says: ‘Though our relationship didn’t last, I began to study the Muslim faith and eventually converted. Because of the nature of my job, I’d been out interviewing rock stars, travelling all over the world and following every trend, yet I’d felt empty inside. Now, at last, I had contentment because Islam had given me a purpose in life.’
‘In the West, we are stressed for super­ficial reasons, like what clothes to wear. In Islam, everyone looks to a higher goal. Everything is done to please God. It was a completely different value system.
'In the West, we are stressed for super­ficial reasons, like what clothes to wear. In Islam, everyone looks to a higher goal. Everything is done to please God'
'Despite my lifestyle, I felt empty inside and realised how liberating it was to be a Muslim. To follow only one god makes life purer. You are not chasing every fad.
‘I grew up in Germany in a not very religious Protestant family. I drank and I partied, but I realised that we need to behave well now so we have a good after-life. We are responsible for our own actions.’
For a significant amount of women, their first contact with Islam comes from ­dating a Muslim boyfriend. Lynne Ali, 31, from Dagenham in Essex, freely admits to having been ‘a typical white hard-partying teenager’.
She says: ‘I wouldgo out and get drunk with friends, wear tight and revealing clothing and date boys.
‘I also worked part-time as a DJ, so I was really into the club scene. I used to pray a bit as a Christian, but I used God as a sort of doctor, to fix things in my life. If anyone asked, I would’ve said that, generally, I was happy living life in the fast lane.’
But when she met her boyfriend, Zahid, at university, something dramatic happened.
She says: ‘His sister started talking to me about Islam, and it was as if ­everything in my life fitted into place. I think, underneath it all, I must have been searching for something, and I wasn’t feeling fulfilled by my hard-drinking party lifestyle.’
Lynne converted aged 19. ‘From that day, I started wearing the hijab,’ she explains, ‘and I now never show my hair in public. At home, I’ll dress in normal Western clothes in front of my husband, but never out of the house.’
With a recent YouGov survey ­concluding that more than half the ­British public believe Islam to be a negative influence that encourages extremism, the repression of women and inequality, one might ask why any of them would choose such a direction for themselves.
Yet statistics suggest Islamic conversion is not a mere flash in the pan but a significant development. Islam is, after all, the world’s fastest growing religion, and white adopters are an important part of that story.
‘Evidence suggests that the ratio of Western women converts to male could be as high as 2:1,’ says Kevin Brice.
Moreover, he says, often these female ­converts are eager to display the ­visible signs of their faith — in particular the hijab — whereas many Muslim girls brought up in the faith choose not to.
‘Perhaps as a result of these actions, which tend to draw attention, white Muslims often report greater amounts of discrimination against them than do born Muslims,’ adds Brice, which is what happened to Kristiane Backer.
She says: ‘In Germany, there is Islamophobia. I lost my job when I converted. There was a Press campaign against me with insinuations about all Muslims supporting ­terrorists — I was vilified. Now, I am a ­presenter on NBC Europe.
‘I call myself a European Muslim, which is different to the ‘born’ Muslim. I was ­married to one, a Moroccan, but it didn’t work because he placed restrictions on me because of how he’d been brought up. As a European Muslim, I question ­everything — I don’t accept blindly.
‘But what I love is the hospitality and the warmth of the Muslim community. London is the best place in Europe for Muslims, there is wonderful Islamic ­culture here and I am very happy.’
For some converts, Islam represents a celebration of old-fashioned family values.
‘Some are drawn to the sense of belonging and of community — values which have eroded in the West,’ says Haifaa Jawad, a senior lecturer at the University of Birmingham, who has studied the white conversion phenomenon.
‘Many people, from all walks of life, mourn the loss in today’s society of traditional respect for the elderly and for women, for example. These are values which are enshrined in the Koran, which Muslims have to live by,’ adds Brice.
It is values like these which drew Camilla Leyland, 32, a yoga teacher who lives in Cornwall, to Islam. A single mother to daughter, Inaya, two, she converted in her mid-20s for ‘intellectual and feminist reasons’.
She explains: ‘I know people will be surprised to hear the words ­“feminism” and “Islam” in the same breath, but in fact, the teachings of the Koran give equality to women, and at the time the religion was born, the teachings went against the grain of a misogynistic society.
‘The big mistake people make is by confusing culture with religion. Yes, there are Muslim cultures which do not allow women individual freedom, yet when I was growing up, I felt more oppressed by Western society.’
She talks of the pressure on women to act like men by drinking and ­having casual sex. ‘There was no real meaning to it all. In Islam, if you begin a relationship, that is a ­commitment of intent.’
Growing up in Southampton — her father was the director of Southampton Institute of Education and her mother a home economics teacher — Camilla’s interest in Islam began at school.
She went to university and later took a Masters degree in Middle East Studies. But it was while living and working in Syria that she had a spiritual epiphany. Reflecting on what she’d read in the Koran, she realised she wanted to convert.
Her decision was met with bemusement by friends and family.
‘People found it so hard to believe that an educated, middle-class white woman would choose to become Muslim,’ she says.
While Camilla’s faith remains strong, she no longer wears the hijab in public. But several of the women I spoke to said strict Islamic dress was something they found empowering and liberating.
Lynne Ali remembers the night this hit home for her. ‘I went to an old friend’s 21st birthday party in a bar,’ she reveals. ‘I walked in, wearing my hijab and modest clothing, and saw how ­everyone else had so much flesh on display. They were drunk, slurring their words and dancing provocatively.
‘For the first time, I could see my former life with an outsider’s eyes, and I knew I could never go back to that.
‘I am so grateful I found my escape route. This is the real me — Iam happy to pray five times a day and take classes at the mosque. I am no longer a slave to a broken society and its expectations.’
Kristiane Backer, who has written a book on her own spiritual journey, called From MTV To Mecca, believes the new breed of modern, independent Muslims can band together to show the world that Islam is not the faith I grew up in — one that stamps on the rights of women.
She says: ‘I know women born Muslims who became disillusioned an d rebelled against it. When you dig deeper, it’s not the faith they turned against, but the culture.
'Rules like marrying within the same sect or caste and education being less important for girls, as they should get married anyway —– where does it say that in the Koran? It doesn’t.
‘Many young Muslims have abandoned the “fire and brimstone” version they were born into have re-discovered a more spiritual and intellectual approach, that’s free from the cultural dogmas of the older generation. That’s how I intend to spend my life, showing the world the beauty of the true Islam.’
While I don’t agree with their sentiments, I admire and respect the women I interviewed for this piece.
They were all bright and educated, and have thought long and hard before choosing to convert to Islam — and now feel passionately about their adopted religion. Good luck to them. And good luck to Lauren Booth. But it’s that word that sums up the difference between their experience and mine — choice.
Perhaps if I’d felt in control rather than controlled, if I’d felt empowered rather than stifled, I would still be practising the religion I was born into, and would not carry the burden of guilt that I do about rejecting my father’s faith.

Most (And Least) Corrupt Countries

Pakistan moves up on world corruption chart

Afghanistan among most corrupt nations, report finds

Corruption seems endemic. It follows war and chaos like an unwelcome cousin. Transparency International has just released its annual report ranking corruption across the world.

At the bottom of the list, the most corrupt, are countries hit by warfare and strife, unsurprisingly. Somalia is the worst, followed by Burma, then Afghanistan and Iraq. The least corrupt countires are Denmark, New Zealand, and Singapore, unchanged from last year.

In a press release, the organization said, “Notable among decliners are some of the countries most affected by a financial crisis precipitated by transparency and integrity deficits.” Greece fell from 71 to 78 and Italy from 63 to 67. The US also fell, from the 19th spot to the 22nd. From Reuters:

Pakistan, The country may not be performing well in several fields but it has moved up the corruption ladder, from the 42nd rung in 2009 to 34th this year.

The report released here on Tuesday by TI Pakistan’s chief Adil Gilani and in Berlin by its president Huguette Labelle said that on a list of 178 countries Pakistan fared worse than Bangladesh and India.

The perception of the most corrupt government was in 1996 when Pakistan had achieved the second position.
Mr Gilani said that Bangladesh was perceived to be the most corrupt country in 2001, 2002 and 2003, but it took corrective measures and this year it was placed at number 39. Owing to decrease in corruption, Bangladesh’s GDP grew by five per cent, compared to Pakistan’s 2.4 per cent last year.

Mr Gilani said that over the past two years there had been unprecedented cases of corruption involving tens of billions of rupees in public sector organisations which should have been taken up by the National Accountability Bureau.

He claimed that the government lacked the political will to fight corruption because of which the Supreme Court had to take suo motu action against organisations like the National Insurance Corporation, Pakistan Steel and rental power plants.

He said a delay in setting up an independent accountability commission by parliament might aggravate the situation.

He said that the direct impact of increased corruption was witnessed in the shape of up to 120 per cent rise in food prices within a year -- sugar from Rs54 a kg to Rs80, pulses from Rs50 a kg to Rs110, eggs from Rs35 a dozen to Rs60, etc.

Mr Gilani said the perception of corruption had caused a drop in foreign direct investment to $2.21 billion during 2009-10 from $371 billion the previous year. The foreign debt increased from $40 billion in 1999 to $46 billion in 2008 and $53 billion this year.

He said that an across-the-board application of the rule of law, merit-based appointments and easy access to justice were the only solutions to the problem of corruption which was responsible for poverty, inflation, terrorism, illiteracy, lack of electricity and hoarding of essential food commodities.

Afghanistan tied with the military dictatorship in Myanmar as the second-most corrupt country on the planet, according to the yearly audit by the Berlin-based group Transparency International. Somalia won the dubious distinction as most corrupt on the organization's annual Corruption Perceptions Index.

On the least-corrupt scale, Canada inched up to sixth from eighth from a year earlier in the ranking of 178 countries. Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore topped the list as the countries with the most virtuous public sectors.

Western concerns about corruption in Afghanistan have been an issue for years, and they were revived this week when President Hamid Karzai admitted his government receives bags of cash from Iran totalling in the millions of dollars.

Fighting corruption needs to be made a central element of poverty reduction, she said.

Labelle said three-quarters of the world's countries have a serious problem with corruption, including members of the G20, which is trying to guide recovery from the global economic crisis.

Corruption scores declined among a number of higher-income countries "rattled by the financial crisis," she said.

The United States was singled out for its decline to 22nd from 19th place, while Italy and Greece also fell, to 67th and 78th respectively.

Jang Group:Cranky nobility

I don’t know what the situation would be once this column goes into print, but a TV channel’s all out, constant outburst against Zardari certainly seems something that has very little to do with democracy or the notion of free media.

If the PPP is to be believed, this channel is on an absurd anti-Zardari roll because the government is pressurising it to cough up the money it says it owes to banks and the FBR.

For quite some time the channel is fixated on milking to death the ‘follies’ (both imagined and otherwise) of the nation’s favourite punching bag, the president. But the channel’s puffed-chest image of being a crusader against corruption is bound to get a thrashing if what Fauzia Wahab and her comrades in the PPP-led government say is true.

The October 14 issue of Dawn quoted Wahab as claiming that the media group in question was a defaulter of Rs8 billion and an evader of taxes up to Rs1.6 billion. On October 15, Dawn then quoted Sindh Chief Minister Qayam Ali Shah repeating the same allegations. Flabbergasted at the no-holds-barred criticism coming its way from the channel, the PPP leadership finally asked its members to boycott any participation on its shows.

There is nothing unprecedented about this. In 2009, US President Barak Obama, sickened by the way Fox News was gunning for his presidency and personality, announced that he would boycott the channel. Fox News which, over the years, rode to stardom on the back of a more tabloid and sensationalist form of electronic journalism, lashed back by increasing its attacks on Obama, even to the extent of becoming somewhat lurid and far more garish.

However, once the channel’s gung-ho exhibitionism exhausted itself and its right-wing slant became all too obvious in the absence of any worthwhile Democrat politician’s participation, Fox actually began losing the kind of ratings it had enjoyed till then. It still remains a top player, but even the most conservative of anti-Obama viewers began switching to other channels to watch what Obama or any other senior Democrat Party member had to say.

The result was the gradual toning down of Fox’s over-the-top negativity regarding Obama, and the president finally ending his boycott of the channel.

PPP’s boycott cannot be termed an overreaction. In fact, as even the most casual TV viewer can notice, the channel in question has quite clearly gone rather obsessively flippant about ‘exposing and rooting out corruption’ (thus Zardari and his government).

However, there remains a relevant question: If the government is so sure about the financial oddities of the media group, then why hasn’t it taken any direct legal action against it?

According to Fauzia Wahab some of the matter is already in the courts, but the media group has been able to use the process to delay decisive action in this respect. If so, then does this also mean that the evidence against the group is somewhat weak — enough for it to make the case linger on in the courts?

The other day I asked the information minister, Qamar Zaman Kaira, what he thought was the reason behind the news channel’s overtly barbed attitude towards the president. He just shook his head from side to side. Rhetorically replying to his haplessness, I asked why the party doesn’t simply boycott the channel in protest. Mr Kaira did not respond to the query. Clearly till then, he seemed to be sure that the PPP men and women who are regulars on TV talk shows would be able to somewhat balance things out.

Of course, that has not happened, in spite of the fact that the party soon introduced one of its most articulate and focused men on TV in the calm and calculated shape of Faisal Raza Abidi. ‘No matter who you put on this channel, he or she will be outnumbered by government opponents, including the host,’ feels Captain Wasif, a Kaira aide.

A famous intellectual and professor once told me that some non-affiliated ‘liberal’ scholars and intellectuals have also complained that many TV channels invite them but only to surround them with the loudest of their conservative guests. ‘By doing this, it sometimes seems that these guys call people like me so we begin to look like fools. It is as if they are bent on making things like reason and commonsense look like they were alien constructs out to destroy Pakistan,’ he added.

I am not sure at what stage the government’s boycott would be by the time this article appears. But one thing’s for sure. Just as Fox News did after Obama’s boycott, Zardari and co. should brace themselves for an even more intense round of vocal assault — apart from facing what this channel loves doing: i.e. turning the act of someone even raising an eyebrow against it into a full fledged advertising campaign highlighting the ‘attack on the freedom of media’ and the network’s ‘commitment to root out corruption.’

Come to think of it, this then becomes perhaps the only ‘revolutionary’ prerogative that actually translates itself into hefty salaries for some, and healthy advertising revenues for the organisation. Very noble, indeed.

Pakistani scholar wins international

chemistry award

Pakistani Scholar Dr. Hina Siddiqui won the best “Oral Presentation Award” in the 11th Eurasia conference on Chemical Sciences. The international conference was held in Jordon from Oct.6 to Oct.10, 2010.

Dr. Siddiqui’s presentation was declared as one of the top three oral presentations in the conference, where a panel of experts decided upon the top three finalists. Another scholar from Peshawar also got prize in the event, where over 200 scientists delivered their presentations from 69 countries.

Eurasia Chemical Sciences conference was launched by three chemists in 1988 to foster network and knowledge sharing among the researchers of North and South.

The inspiring sentence

Dr. Siddiqui is a PhD in organic chemistry and currently working as research officer at International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS) at Karachi University.

When she was in school, she read an inspiring interview of Prof. Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman from Hussain Ebrahim Jamal (HEJ) Research Institute of Chemistry, University of Karachi, published in a well-known Urdu science magazine named Amali Science.

In that Dr. Atta-ur-Rehman said institutions are not made up from bricks and stones rather they are made up of people who have dreams and vision.

The sentence changed Siddiqui’s vision and she devoted herself to exploring the unknown. In 2005, she joined HEJ and started her Ph. D under supervision of Prof. Dr. Mohammad Iqbal Choudhary, during her Ph.D Studies she worked on the anti-oxidant properties of various chemical constituents, also she got UBF (Umear Basha Foundation) scholarship and went to University of Kansas for one year to excel in Organic synthesis research.

In the Eurasia conference, a shield and certificate was presented to Siddiqui and the organisers also waived the registration fee of upcoming 12 Eurasia Conference on Chemical Sciences which will be held in Greece in 2012.

Siddiqui told Dawn.com that it is not her prize but it is HEJ award because in HEJ every student gets a world class education and training to excel anywhere in the world.

Siddiqui said that HEJ is a great place to shine, because it is an equal opportunity institute where merit is the only criteria rather than gender discrimination. She urged the females to consider research as their career and vows to continue research and development in the future.

Foreign Policy magazine has published its list of failed states. Pakistan has squeezed into the ‘Top 10’ again. Does it deserve to be there? Let’s have a look. The magazine has listed the “unique set of troubles” the world’s most failed states face. Called the 12 degrees of failure (editors love lists with numbers) these are: demographic pressures, refugees, illegitimate governments, brain drain, failure of public services, inequality, group grievances, human rights, economic decline, lack of security, factionalised elites and intervention by external actors.

Pakistan does not figure in the states named as prime examples of these failures (for instance a quarter of all Somalis are refugees and the economies of North Korea and Zimbabwe have collapsed). But it is not inaccurate to say that Pakistan, like most third world developing nations including India, does poorly on these counts. So Pakistan’s problems are not particular to it to an extent. Pakistan doesn’t figure in the watch list of “Four countries in big trouble” either.

The magazine has published data showing what life is like for the populations of the 10 most failed states. Pakistan’s per capita GDP is shown as $2,590 (presumably calculated by purchasing power). This is 10 times more than the most failed state, Somalia.

Pakistan’s child mortality under age five per 1,000 is 89. This means nine children out of 100 don’t live past the age of 5. In Chad this number is 21 children. Pakistan’s fertility rate (births per woman) is four. In Congo, ranked 5th on the list, it is six. Afghan women produce seven.

Mobile phone subscriptions in Central African Republic, at number eight on the list, are four per 100 people. In Pakistan they are 53, half the population, and the number of internet users per 100 are 11. Iraq has only one.

The length of time the average Pakistani leader spends in office is two years. But such longevity isn’t necessarily a good thing as Sudan’s average of 21 years and Zimbabwe’s 30 years show.

As these numbers show, Pakistan is quite different from the other failed states. Then why does it regularly feature on the list?

Why is China, poor and dictatorial, though growing quickly, ranked at a safe 57? Why is India rated even better at 87?

The reason is that these nations are seen by the west as improving over time. The problems of poverty and governance remain, but it is believed that they are being resolved through a secular process.

Pakistan is seen, rightly or wrongly, as a state that is moving into greater trouble because of religious intolerance. Large parts of India’s tribal areas are also not under state control, but these do not produce as much violence and extremism as the tribal areas of Pakistan. And so the same problem, lack of state presence, is seen very negatively in Pakistan’s case.

The single most significant reason for Pakistan’s inclusion on the list is the slow collapse of the state. The government, Foreign Policy magazine and other experts are convinced, is losing control over its population.

Till this perception is changed, Pakistan will continue to make this list. And it’s not just a plaything of the magazine editors. Businesses will be prejudiced against the ‘failed’ states. Investment will be hard to attract, and capital will continue to flee. Pakistan’s government needs to respond.

Fashion’s road less travelled

This September the frenzy of excitement amongst designers was hard to hold down. The latest issue of American Vogue had hit the stands, featuring two-pages on Fashion Pakistan Week 2, and understandably not a single copy was left unturned (read unsold).

Any fashion follower would know the value of Vogue coverage; fashion fortunes have been made by a mere mention in its sacred pages. And while this coverage did not entirely look at Pakistani fashion’s most glamorous angle — inevitably bringing in the Taliban — it did suggest that Pakistan has another, more liberal angle than what the world is used to seeing. Carla Power, the writer who specialises in the study of Muslim societies, suggested as much with sensitivity and admiration in her coverage of FPW2.

International interest at the helm of so many fashion weeks — in Karachi and Lahore — has most certainly given Pakistani fashion a much-needed boost. Designers have been written about in prestigious publications, they have spoken on TV channels and they have been invited to participate in numerous fashion shows across the globe. But what is to happen now that the initial excitement is dying out? The year Pakistan had three major fashion weeks cannot be celebrated and packed away in the same breath.

There needs to be a system to ensure that the industry continues building, brick by brick. Designers have basked in the spotlight, they have after-partied and they have brushed shoulders with international media. But almost one year into Pakistan’s affair with fashion weeks, where exactly does the fashion industry stand and how closer is it to being on a par with its global counterparts? Is there really so much to rejoice? One would have to say, not yet.

The British Fashion Council (BFC) on its website states that “London Fashion Week puts London and British Fashion firmly on the global stage, generating orders in the region of £100m; the event itself contributes £20 million to the London economy in terms of direct spend.” Can the two local councils please provide similar figures for Pakistan?

The BFC takes transparency a step further by publishing an extensive Value of Fashion report on the British fashion industry’s direct contribution to the economy. Pakistan’s fashion industry needs to understand that in this day and age, economic value is the only thing that can make it sustainable.

It also needs to be consistent not sporadic, at the fashion week as well as the fashion designer level. International fashion weeks usually recur every six months but neither council in Pakistan has been able to show this commitment. The PFDC just recently announced a one-month postponement of the PFDC-Sunsilk Fashion Week, stretching the gap to 10 months. And the newly elected Fashion Pakistan council in Karachi is completely mum on their own matter. It appears that two unnecessarily back-to-back events (November 2009 and April 2010) have burnt its designers and resources out.

On a baser level, designers need to show some consistency too. One is witness to the fact that their supply chain is extremely poor. Collections are launched with much hoopla but rarely are they consistent. When a card reads that so and so is launching at an outlet, it actually means that he or she will be putting out a limited collection which will never be restocked once sold out. And whatever is left unsold shall be seen hanging on the racks forever. This holds true for Sana Safinaz (Ensemble), Shehla Chatoor (Labels), Sublime (Labels) and numerous others. Certain outfits have been on the racks for months!

It’s all very impressive to have a launch serving canapés and fresh juices followed by extensive Page 3 coverage, but surely the business of fashion needs to be about much more. And if designers are content retailing privately from personal spaces then why step into the fashion week and ready-to-wear brouhaha at all? Giving credit where credit is due, one has to appreciate the efforts of some designers who have actually made their fashion week collections widely available. There are a few.

Fashion needs to start looking inwards for strength and structure rather than outwards for spotlight and applause. But it’s always the foreign shores that entice designers. They had rather be showing at fundraising events in Dubai, Los Angeles, Washington, Geneva, London, etc., than plan and prepare for a local fashion week. The proof is in the pie.

And now, the PFDC has announced their alliance with the Federation Francaise Pret a Porter Feminin, in which a selection panel headed by Alexandra Senes would take a few Pakistani designers to show at the Pret-a-Porter Paris in January 2011. Let’s hope that the truly deserving go (historically it is usually the established and well connected that land these opportunities) and actually manage to deliver! And most importantly, that these ventures actually help give a solid structure to Pakistani fashion.