Is it safe to travel to Pakistan?

Pakistan is a failed state and cannot guarantee your security.  The failure of the state is obvious in the daily news of target-killings, terrorist attacks, and kidnappings for ransom: most of these cases remain unsolved. 

AVOID travel to Pakistan if you can.

BUT if you have to…

Pakistan is slightly 'safer' for travelers of Pakistani descent and others who don’t stand out as people of European descent.

If you are of Pakistani descent you are ‘safe’ in urban centers—restrict your movement and keep only close relatives and friends informed about your travel plans.  Pakistani-descent people are relatively ‘safe’ traveling on train on the main N-S line (Karachi to Peshawar).

In Sind, traveling by bus or car on the east side of the Indus is slightly ‘safer’ than traveling on the west side of that river.

In Punjab (and specially north of Multan), traveling by bus during daytime should be safe.  It is also ‘safe’ to travel by bus to Peshawar.

It is not safe to travel in Balochistan if you are not a Baloch or Pashtun.  Even if you are Pushtun you should avoid traveling south of Quetta--it is all Allah-Nazar country where ethnic cleansing seems to be the adopted policy of the Baloch nationalists (more murders like that of Mehmood Afridi coming up soon--Punjabis and Muhajirs have been fair game for a much longer time).

Travelers of European descent

If you really, really, really have to travel to Pakistan, the ‘safest’ place to travel to is Islamabad.  Fly in Islamabad, move around in Islamabad, and fly out of Islamabad.

If you are traveling to Karachi, leave the airport and reach back to it only during daytime, with good traffic on Shahra e Faisal.  Ditto for Lahore.  It is also relatively ‘safe’ to cross Wagah border into Pakistan and then take taxi to Lahore.  Traveling on Daewoo buses in northern Punjab, during daytime should also be 'safe.' Do NOT travel in KP or Balochistan—unless you wish to financially support the Taliban or the Baloch nationalists for their respective wars, through ransom money to be paid by your relatives/government.

[This writer feels qualified to give travel advice not only because he keeps his ear to the ground, but also because has been traveling to Pakistan every year. In January 2013, he took Khyber-Mail from Karachi to Mirpur Mathelo; traveled by car from MM to Sadiqabad; took Daewoo bus from Sadiqabad to Multan; after a short stay in Multan, took another bus from Multan to Lahore.  A couple of years back he flew from Karachi to Gwadar, stayed there and watched with interest Chinese engineers escorted to the airport in armored vehicle.  He has also traveled on bus from Old Sabzee Mandi in Karachi to Quetta; has taken train from Quetta to Taftan (crossing into Iran); has taken a 4X4 from Taftan to Quetta.  Has also flown from Karachi to Dalbadin and then taken 4X4 taxi to Taftan.  He has traveled overland from Karachi to Khunjerab (crossing into China); has crossed Wagah into India by train and on foot, multiple times; there have many other trips throughout Pakistan.  He once found himself stranded at the Dadu train station unable to go to Moenjo Daro because of a ‘police muqabla’, with IG Sindh surrounded by unhappy armed people.  In short, he has firsthand knowledge of Pakistan’s gradual descent into chaos.]

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Tourists, Stay Out of Pakistan

Adventurist Globetrotters, 

Please fight the temptation to visit Pakistan. There are at least two civil wars going on there.  If you visit, there is a very good chance that you will be either killed or kidnapped for ransom.

http://dawn.com/2013/03/14/czech-women-tourists-kidnapped-in-balochistan-officials/

Czech women tourists kidnapped in Balochistan: officials

QUETTA: Unidentified gunmen on Wednesday kidnapped two women tourists from the Czech Republic in Pakistan’s insurgency-hit southwestern province of Balochistan, officials said.

Local government officials said the women entered the province from Iran as tourists and were abducted from an area some 550 kilometres (350 miles) west of Quetta, the main town of Balochistan which borders both Iran and Afghanistan.

“Both the women were from Czech Republic and entered in Pakistan as tourists,” Akbar Hussain Durrani, the provincial home secretary told AFP.

“Gunmen stopped their bus in the Nok Kundi area of Chaghi district and abducted both of them.” Durrani said women were being escorted by a tribal policeman when they were abducted. The guard was also taken captive but was later freed.

Nobody from the Czech embassy was available to comment late Wednesday but Qambar Dashti, a senior government official in Quetta confirmed the incident.

Kidnappings plague parts of Balochistan and northwest Pakistan, where criminals looking for ransom snatch foreigners and locals, sometimes passing their hostages on to Taliban and al Qaeda-linked groups.

Balochistan has been hit by an insurgency in recent years with Baloch nationalists demanding political autonomy and a greater share of profits from the province’s wealth of natural oil, gas and mineral resources.

Attacked with US drones, torn apart from internal sectarian strife, Pakistan looks for a savior in a retired sportsman

Attacked with US drones, torn apart from internal sectarian strife, Pakistan looks for a savior in a retired sportsman

Though Imran Khan is still the cult leader Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has grown around, there are now other recognizable faces in that young political party’s leadership. Fauzia Kasuri is one of those four or five prominent persons that came to mind when you think of the PTI top brass. On Sunday, March 10, Kasuri spoke to a 60-plus gathering of PTI supporters passionately—and with troublesome religious overtones—about the need for a change in Pakistan, claiming her boss, Imran Khan, can turn things around in that troubled country.  The fund-raiser, organized by the Bay Area chapter of PTI was held at the Mehran Restaurant in Newark.

While many young starry-eyed Pakistanis are swayed by Imran Khan’s charm, historians are taking notes of PTI’ promises—the two most important being that after coming in power in Pakistan, PTI will:

Make Pakistan disassociate itself from the US War on Terror and have US stop all drone attacks.

Wipe off all institutional corruption within 90 days.

Besides the main guest, Dr. Dianne Budd (a Code Pink volunteer who participated in PTI’s 2012 march in protest of US drone attacks), Shahab Siddiqui (of Mehran Restaurant), Aftab Yaqub, Javed Tufail, and M. Irfan also spoke at the program.

Listen to Fauzia Kasuri’s speech here:

https://ia601602.us.archive.org/21/items/Kasuri/Kasuri.mp2

Eating Grass: An Insider’s Account of the Pakistani Nuclear Program

Eating Grass: An Insider’s Account of the Pakistani Nuclear Program

A few English speakers will definitely be surprised to know that the first part of the title of Feroz Hassan Khan’s book “Eating Grass: The Making of the Pakistani bomb” has no relation to the phrase ‘smoking grass.’  ‘Eating grass’ is a literal translation of an Urdu saying; an idiomatic translation of that phrase will be ‘Going hungry.’  The ‘Eating grass’ phrase used in this context comes from a 1965 statement made by the then Pakistani Foreign Minister, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.  Bhutto, responding to news of India’s plans to make an atomic bomb said if India made a bomb, the Pakistanis would go through any hardship to attain matching nuclear capability.

What makes Brigadier (Retired) Feroz Hassan Khan qualified to write a book on Pakistan’s nuclear program, taking the reader through its various historical phases?  First, Feroz Khan is a scholar and a defense analyst, currently teaching at Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California, and second, more importantly, serving in the Strategic Plans Division, Joint Services Headquarters of the army, Feroz Khan was involved with Pakistan Army’s supervision of the nuclear program till his retirement in 2003.  ‘Eating Grass: The Making of the Pakistani bomb’ is very much an insider’s account of the Pakistani nuclear program.

Feroz Hassan Khan’s book, published by the Stanford University Press, is being promoted in Pakistan and the US through book review meetings.  On Sunday, February 10, over 150 people attended a discussion on ‘Eating Grass’ held at Fremont Marriott. The program was arranged by Sabahat Rafiq, a Democratic Party delegate for the 2012 Democratic Convention, and Naveed Sherwani, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur.

The program began with an introduction of the book and the writer by Sabahat Rafiq.  Rafiq said, “Interwoven in this story [Brigadier Feroz Khan’s account of the making of the bomb] are some fundamental strategic policies of the First World narrative for non-proliferation wherein the former seeks to badger the later into non-proliferation and yet fails to provide guarantee for their security and territorial integrity. To add insult to injury there is an ever pervasive suggestion of First World’s hegemony over common sense, innovation, and sensible responsibility…and sometimes outright contempt.

“The former also continues to swap alliances and partnerships based on their own shifting strategic interests, to maintain global hegemony without due regard to the security interest of a former ally.” 

Rafiq narrated to the audience Pakistan’s various phases of alliance [with the US] Feroz Khan had identified in his book.  These phases were: most allied of the allies in the 60s, the most sanctioned ally in the 90s, and the most bullied ally in the 2000s.

Sabahat Rafiq briefly described the five stages —delineated in the book—Pakistani nuclear program passed through.  The five phases being: i) Reluctant Phase, from 60s to 1971; ii) Secret Nuclear R&D Program phase, a corollary of the ‘Never Again’ conviction [after Pakistan’s humiliating defeat by the Indian Army in 1971], iii) the 80s and 90s phase, pertaining to the weaponization of the nuclear capability, and demonstration of that strength, iv)  Post-98 era wherein Pakistan’s nascent nuclear program was to be tuned into an operation deterrent , and v) Present Stage (Post 911)—when Pakistan’s nuclear capability is watched with interest, by the world.

In his speech Feroz Hassan Khan said it took him more than a decade to write the book.  He said shortly after joining the Naval Postgraduate School in 2003, the news of AQ Khan’s revealed network stunned Pakistan.  A ship named BBC China was caught in the Mediterranean-- allegedly, the German ship bound for Libya from Dubai was carrying centrifuge parts made in Malaysia, to AQ Khan’s design.

Feroz Khan said a year after that incident he was interviewing Musharraf in Pakistan.  Khan asked Musharraf what was the most difficult of the five crises Musharraf went through during his tenure as the head of the army—the five crises being the Kargil war, the 1998 coup, 911, 2002 standoff with India, and the AQ Khan scandal.  Musharraf told Khan it was the AQ Khan ordeal.  Khan was curious to know why the AQ Khan case was so debilitating for Musharraf.  According to Feroz Khan, Musharraf said, “In all previous crises, as a military man, my gut would tell me what to do.”   But this was one crisis, whose extent he (Musharraf) did not know, whose implication he did not understand…this was like a train hitting him straight.  Feroz Khan told Musharraf of his apprehension that from then on (after the revelation of AQ Khan’s network selling nuclear technology to all willing to pay) Pakistan’s nuclear program would be reviewed through only one lens.  Musharraf asked Khan what could be done about that [so that Pakistan’s nuclear program would not be reviewed so unfavorably by the international community].  Feroz Khan suggested to Musharraf the best way was to get to the world a holistic picture of the program (through a book).   Musharraf agreed with Khan. A year later Khan and Peter Lavoy (presently Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs)—both Khan and Lavoy were going to write the book together—presented a comprehensive outline of how they intended to proceed, and requested access to Pakistani nuclear professionals and to declassified documents.  According to Khan, after a very careful scrutiny Khan and Lavoy were allowed to interview retired scientists, military and civilian officials, and academics.  After Lavoy left the book writing project in 2007 to accept a government job, Khan took it upon himself to complete the work.

Feroz Khan said critics of his book accuse him of playing down the AQ Khan scandal.  He said his book does not go too much into the detail of the scandal as three to four books on that subject already exist.

Feroz Khan considers his book “a human story, a book about a country’s life history.  It is just not about proliferation (alone).”  He described to the audience the “seven factors” he had weaved in the book: 1) the ‘strategic culture’, Pakistan’s historical experience and how it feels about its existence in the world, ii) domestic politics, iii) regional security crises and wars, iv) cold war, the alliance politics, the disillusionment with the alliance, while cleverly benefiting from the alliance politics, v) the international non-proliferation regime and the challenges, a section in the book is called ‘the Toms and Jerrys of the World’, vi) idiosyncrasies of the personalities, and vii) the technical determinism.

Feroz Khan’s speech was followed by a Q&A session moderated by Sabahat Rafiq.

Dr. Syed Rifaat Hussain, a professor of security studies from Pakistan, currently visiting the Stanford University was also invited to give his views on the book and on Pakistan’s nuclear program.

Listen to the audio of the program here:

http://archive.org/details/EatingGrassByBrigadierretiredFerozHassanKhanPromotionProgramIn

This report is also here:

http://pakistanlink.org/Community/2013/Feb13/22/01.HTM

An Urdu version of this report is here:

http://cemendtaur-ki-urdu-dunya.blogspot.com/2013/02/blog-post_13.html

NED Alumni Convention 2013

NED Alumni Convention 2013

There is a lot of confusion about this year’s NED Alumni Convention.  Where is it going to be?  When?  It is almost the end of February and we don’t know much about the date or the venue of NED Alumni Convention 2013.  The other day I was talking to a friend based in the UAE; he wanted to attend this year’s convention and apply for the US visa--it is currently taking 4-6 months for the US to process visa applications of Pakistan citizens.  I asked him to apply for the US visa after registering for the convention, so that he would have something to show to the consulate.  But he cannot register for the convention because no web site has been created for this year’s NEDian Convention.

This Karachi target killing case is easy to crack

This Karachi target killing case is easy to crack

Two religious scholars from Jamia Uloom-e-Islamia of Banuri Town and a student were ambushed and killed in a brazen target killing operation in the very crowded Nursery area of Karachi on Thursday, January 31.  Abdul Majeed Deenpuri, Mufti Saleh Muhamad , and student Muhammad Hassan Ali Shah (driver) were traveling in a Suzuki high-roof when they were targeted in broad daylight.

Here is the camera footage of the killing.

We believe this a fairly simple case to solve.  Here is how.

What do we know about the killing?

We know the date, time, and exact place.

Any basic information about the killers?

The surveillance camera footage is not very clear to recognize the faces of the three men, but heights of two men who fired their guns can be estimated in comparison with the height of the Suzuki high-roof-- based on the time of the day and the length of the shadows, estimates of heights can be corroborated.

Information about where the killers came from and where they went

The same camera that shows the killing can possibly give us information about the time when these three men arrived at the scene, and the direction they came from.  Based on that information we can use surveillance cameras on other buildings to trace their path to the scene.  The footage clearly shows where they went.  Footage from cameras mounted on various buildings should be pieced together to establish the escape route of the killers and any other information we can gather.

Eye-witnesses

Yes, there were at least two.  The two people (roadside vendors?) you see running to take cover at 0:21 (after hearing the first shots) must have seen the three men waiting at the crime scene, for the arrival of the high-roof.

Establishing the identity of the killers

The target-killers knew that the high-roof was coming to that intersection.  Clearly there was a regular daily schedule people in the high-roof people kept.  How did the killers find out that schedule?  Most probably by following the high-roof for a couple of days.  We should look at the surveillance camera footage from previous days to establish who had been following the high-roof.

It is also very certain that someone followed the Suzuki high-roof on the day of the killing too.  The high-roof could be stuck in traffic, but the killers needed to be alert at the right time.  There must have been someone who followed the high-roof from the point it started moving and came following it the all the way to Nursery.  Who was it?  We believe it was the motorcyclist in light-colored shirt we see at 0:27 (he stops his motorcycle to check out the scene).

The person who was following the Suzuki high-roof must have been communicating with these three people on the mobile phone.  Anyone who uses modern technology to commit a crime leaves behind a lot of evidence.  Narrowing the time of the killing, investigations can be made about the cell phone numbers in connection with the cell-phone towers of the area, during that time.  The investigators can get records from the cell phone companies having service in that area, for calls made in that particular geographical area (cell) on that day and at that time.  There can possibly be hundreds of cell phone calls made through various phone companies during that time, in that particular cell, but unnecessary information can be quickly eliminated narrowing on time  and using the other very big clue: the phone that was in communication with the killer’s phone was changing towers (as it was moving towards Nursery).

With all these evidences left-behind by the killers nabbing them should be easy and quick.

Are you listening Mushtaq Shah (IG Sindh)?

Latest episode of Viewpoint from Overseas

San Jose Protest against Hazara Killings

This Martin Luther King Day over 150 protesters gathered at the San Jose City Hall to remember victims of terrorist attacks in Pakistan in general and of Quetta blasts of January 10 in particular. The twin blasts on Alamdar Road in Quetta targeted Hazara Shias and claimed more than 100 lives.

Speakers at the vigil protested against routine Shia killings in Pakistan and spoke highly of the Hazaras of Quetta who, after the January 10 blasts, sat in open, in sub-zero temperatures, with the coffins of their family members and friends killed in the blasts, to register their peaceful protest.

The candlelight vigil organized by SABA Youth was attended by members of SABA (Shia Association of Bay Area) and other concerned citizens.

How to call a landline number from a cell phone in Pakistan

How to call a landline number from a cell phone in Pakistan

Dial 

0-city code-telephone number

Cowasjee

Cowasjee movie text

[On how Cowasjee feels living in Pakistan.]

Let me tell you about two Parsi friends.
They were in the wine trade.
Then came Pakistan. 
And Rustom said, Let’s have whisky.  You bring yours, and I'll bring mine.
We will finish two bottles today.
At the end of the dinner they finished their bottles
Then one said, We are damn fools.
Fourteen hundred years ago we were thrown by these MFs, and now we are caught again.
It is not a story.
We ran away 1400 years ago from these MFs, Chs, MCs, and then we are caught again.
Yes, yes, difference of 1400 years.
Like what?
Who worries about the language?
There was a time when Jews were made to wear yellow badges.
I'll show you a picture of the Parsi community of Iran.  All wearing yellow medals.

It was done to the Parsis, Anybody who is not a Musalman, pay the jazia tax or whatever, and he will be wearing a yellow badge.  So these chaps got together and said, If instead of wearing a round thing, we make it look like a medal, and wear it as an insignia, these Chs will be happy, and we will be able to live.

That's what they did.

They are all wearing yellow medals.

(In Urdu) Ask us to put red, and we will put red.

The thing to do is to survive.

What am I?  Trying to change them?  I am trying to survive this lot.

We had the largest empire. Cyrus had the largest empire.

He was a generous man.

But then he had something here.

Persepolis

He had something here.

I don’t want an empire.

People come and tell me, Parsi race is getting extinct. Yes, So?

Parsis are getting extinct.

They will disappear from the face of the earth. Yeah. So?

What’s your problem?

You know these guys who write PhD thesis.  They say, You are finishing.

Yes, So?

In Pakistan there are 2000 (Parsis).

This guy came from Multan. Visiting me.  He runs the Cancer Society there.  Because of his name and he is a Parsi, people (trust him and) give money.

I gave him money.  I said, how many (Paris) are left now (in Multan)?  He said, Just one.

I can worship in my shower.  I can worship sitting on the pot.

I don’t believe in temples.  I mean, all these gurus and priests.

Who said you cannot pray sitting on the pot?

How does your sitting on the pot make you impure?

You are still you.

I say ’thank you’ every night.  That’s all.

When I go up I say goodbye to all these buggers (pointing to the statues of his ancestors).  Thank you.

[On Pakistan’s direction.]

Do I look worried?

[Telling me why living in the US, Pakistan-Americans should not worry about Pakistan.]

My son is in America.  He is an architect.  He said, “I would like to start my life here" when he finished his architecture at Cornell and then he went to Harvard. He is a Harvard graduate.  Did his masters.  Master of (unintelligible) design.  Then for five years he was with I.M. Pei.  He said, “Why would I come to Karachi?”  He says, “I would like to (unintelligible).”  I said, “Go, do.”  He was sharp enough, I mean good enough for I.M. Pei to say, “Join us.” Joining I.M. Pei, you know who I.M. Pei is?  American architect, of Chinese descent.   He sent my son to China.  He stayed there forever. (unintelligible)  (unintelligible) 

Business was gone.  This MC called Bhutto, he nationalized shipping.

Business is carrying on. (unintelligible) 

It is still running (unintelligible), partners.  My brothers are there, my daughter is there.  When it will die it will die. 

It ran for five generations.  It cannot go on forever.

[On telling him that some are upset on his support of Musharraf.]

Why?

If you are a better person than the bloody lot I see, I…

System?  You think we have democracy?  I mean these guys are running a democracy?

Is this a democracy?

NO, these chaps, MQM fellows.

PPP, thieves?

Nawaz Sharif, thief?

Chaudhry (Shujaat Hussain), thief?

Mullah, MC.

So, who should one choose?

I said he (Musharraf) is the best of the worst lot, I say that way.

One can say (unintelligible) 

Am I a supporter of Musharraf?  Yes.

Yes, yes. (unintelligible) 

All I want is good governance.

In Urdu,

Be it the garbage collector, the cobbler, or MC thief, or whoever.  All I want is peace.

(unintelligible)  democracy all these years.  Up till Jinnah

[On asking him if there is any hope.]

(You keep asking me if) There is hope, there is hope.  I say ‘No.’  And why do you waste the film?

You will get nowhere.  You follow?  So keep the subject off.

Why are you wasting your time, my time, and the bloody film.

(You keep repeating) Why did you say this, why did you say this?

I just look at what’s available.  And choose the best I think.

What has been the American policy?

It is to follow what George Washington said.  That you can’t have permanent friends or permanent enemies. (unintelligible) 

They have not shifted from their original policy.

Who was Washington?  General.   Who was Eisenhower?  A general.   Who was MacArthur?  A general.

Some were not, some were.

The fact that they were generals does not disqualify them.

(unintelligible)  come up (unintelligible)  MacArthur.

If there had been another bloody general the (unintelligible) 

No.

[On what is his opinion of Imran Khan.]

Who?  Imran Khan?

Good f****er.

Good Cricketer.

He has lots of ideas.

That’s his (Hoodbhoy’s) opinion.

No.

He (Musharraf) is the best of the worst lot.   I have written that he is the best of the worst lot.

It is like saying if there are many CHs then he is the best CH.

Best of the five that I see.

You like Altaf Hussain?

You like Benazir?

You like Asif?

You like Mulla?

Mullas (unintelligible)  we are afraid (of them)

Scary, man!

[On Zil e Huma’s murder.]

Why (unintelligible)  poor woman (unintelligible) 

Beautiful woman, at the prime of her life.

The bugger did not feel like appreciating (unintelligible) 

Why is he alive today?

He should be locked up in seven days, but he won’t be locked up.

[Introducing the visitors who came at that point.]

Zahoor, the artist was married to his sister. 

A man came and shot Zahoor, and his daughter.

This is the mother, his mother, you’ll be mixed up.

You know that bugger is still free.

No, no, no.  He is sentenced to death.

He is on death row.

How many years ago was it?

Seven…Eight, nine years ago.

This bugger will stay on for another seven eight years.  He’ll survive Musharraf.

If you ask me today, Who will die earlier, he or Musharraf?   I’ll say chances are Musharraf will go before him.

This is law and order for you.

[Walking in the garden]

Read the last three lines.

A gentleman.  So. 

You know what this is?

I.T.N.O.T.G.A.O.T.C

See that on top?

You know what it means?

In.The.Name.of.The.Great.Architect.of.The.Universe.

Read it.

Your brother Sir Charles Napier (unintelligible)  conqueror of the (unintelligible) 

Erected the (unintelligible)  right (unintelligible)  brother A. J. Rustomjee.  (unintelligible) 

That was my great grandfather.

(unintelligible)  history of Pakistan.

(unintelligible)  sell the house (unintelligible) 

(unintelligible)  Bhutto had him sodomized—and they held the father and made him watch it.

That was Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the great MC.

I have lived comfortably all my life—Do you understand?

Open the door. [In Urdu.]

They have a road which measures that much—that by here—and that by there.

So I said you can’t measure, you can’t (unintelligible) road here.

(unintelligible) I don’t want (unintelligible)

This side.  Yes, look at this side.  Clean.

[Pointing to the French Consulate.]

He does it at the expense of---Government of France.

We would like to see Musharraf alive because in case something happens to Musharraf this MC becomes the president.

You follow?

(unintelligible) Chairman of the Senate.  He was governor then.

I said, I know that.

So, he said Governor has said never mind we will (unintelligible) footpath.

Take the car out. [In Gujarati.]

Come on, I’ll take you somewhere, show you something.

They don’t understand if a bugger wants (unintelligible) shoots (unintelligible)  he might get that (unintelligible) out (unintelligible) save my life.

They in Pakistan rushing

Called Bagh-e-Rustom (Rustom’s Garden)--named after my father.

(unintelligible) This bloody ***** minister as was I ever.  Now will you stop it?

He is trying to (unintelligible).

My drill was that I was going to come last—this Monday, sorry, coming Monday.

He extended the (unintelligible). 

(unintelligible)  fences will be open.

It is finished, Right?   Look at that fence.

An embedded journalist is an in-bed journalist

An embedded journalist is an in-bed journalist

In the initial period of the second Iraq war when the phrase ‘embedded journalism’ gained currency, one journalist in California wondered—quite loud-- how an embedded journalist can remain neutral.  If you spend your day and night with a group of people, how can you possibly be critical of that group?  That writer called an embedded journalist an in-bed journalist.  Nine years later, Paula Broadwell, an embedded journalist with General Petraeus in Afghanistan, has proved the point.  All In, Petraeus’s biography written by Broadwell, should now be seen as an eulogy written not by a neutral observer but by a lover.  After the exposed Petreaus-Broadwell affair you will be justified in guessing the context in which Boradwell used the expression ‘All In.’

Photo, courtesy of the ‘Business Insider.’

Imran Khan in San Jose, California

On October 28, around 500 people gathered to listen to Imran Khan, head of the Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf, in San Jose.
The most important part of Khan’s speech was when he described his views on the Taliban in response to a question about his party’s tepid condemnation of the Taliban atrocities. It helped people understand how Imran Khan views the situation even when many would disagree with Khan’s analysis.

It is always hard to tell how many attendees of these fundraisers genuinely agree with Imran Khan’s political views instead of only being interested in having a photo with the pretty boy.






Imran Khan believes there are six types of Taliban.  The ones who want to enforce their 'Shariyat' are a minority among the bigger umbrella of the 'Taliban.'

Imran Khan does not seem to like criticism. He is probably only used to people who get speechless in his presence. The Mick Jagger look alike Pakistani politician dyes his hair regularly and does daily workout to maintain his fashion-model appearance. And in Pakistan—in the Pakistani diaspora as well--you go a long way by just being pretty. In a fundraiser speech on October 28 in San Jose, California Khan lumped sectarian violence in Pakistan with the Taliban reaction to the drone attacks and got away with the ridiculous analysis.