Posts Tagged Pakistan
The Express Tribune; Mouthpiece of International Terrorists in Pakistan Launched
Distortions, deformations, lies and deceptions are the words which remind us of none other than “New York Times”. According to Daniel Pipes Op-eds are now more central in war than bullets. To him gone are days when General in battle fields would decide the fate of nations. The job is now performed by the News producers, editors, copy editors and writers. In fact “New York Times” along with a few others is fighting this unjust war for the America on that new but important front very effective.
For those who loose their flavor on reading the English Newspapers like The News International where the people like Ansar Abbasi, the only person who questioned the fake flogging video, is heading its investigative unit which gather round about half of the total reporting team in Islamabad office, the debut of “The Express Tribune” is indeed a good news. Good news because The Express Tribune is reportedly partnered with The International Herald Tribune which is the global edition of The New York Times.
Victims of inferiority complexes and confused Pakistanis are overjoyed with this news but I’m sure that these friends of ours have been against the US aggression on Iraq and Afghanistan of which New York Times was a great proponent and even defended it once the claims of WMD proved unfounded.
Who says there were no WMD in Iraq? In the picture above are the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), some being destructed while some just wounded, are found in Iraq by The US in the light of investigative reporting by the American Media especially the New York Times and its partner publications. We are “glade” to become partner with those who are partner of the forces who want to enforce “American Liberal Values” which ask for the indiscriminate killings of the innocent Muslims.
To read “About US” of the online version of The Express Tribune is interesting and endorsed my claim that publications of New York Times are partners in International Terrorism by the US against humanity. Even the highlighted words say more.
The Express Tribune is the first internationally affiliated newspaper in Pakistan. Partnered with The International Herald Tribune – the global edition of The New York Times – the paper caters to the modern face of Pakistan. With its groundbreaking layouts created by an international award winning designer, the paper offers a stimulating visual experience designed to make stories come alive on paper.
With a staff of acclaimed journalists, our mission is to defend the liberal values and egalitarian traditions we believe in, and which deserve to be upheld in writing that is both informative and insightful. The newspaper covers a variety of topics ranging from politics to the economy, foreign policy to investment and sports to culture.
I would like to lift it on my readers to answer this question that who are the “modern face of Pakistan”? The supporters of uncheck assault on patriotic Pakistanis? The people who says that Black Water/Xe Services are the most peaceful people on earth and thus nothing to do with blasts inside Pakistan and that they are hundreds of their marines are here in Pakistan on Picnic?
The mission of a Newspaper or News Channel should be defending some values? What do egalitarian traditions mean? Egalitarian traditions which allow them the right to publish blasphemous cartoons with out thinking awhile that the same may hurt millions of Muslims? Being a journalist we were trained to report what we see but the Express Tribune will report what it want the people to see. And what it want the people to see is very much clear from its “About US” and its partnership with partners in international terrorism.
Although it is good news for “protectors of the liberal values” [Read the words in inverted commas as pleaders of indiscriminate killing of innocent Muslims], it is bad news for a vast majority of Pakistanis that The Express Tribune, a mouthpiece of International Terrorists, US and its global allies has been launched in Pakistan.
No Surprise: Samar ‘Albright’ Minallah Unrepentent
"Yippie!", say Samar Minallah, who describes herself as a "Documentary Filmmaker, Anthropologist, Human Rights Activist, Women Rights Activist, Communication's Specialist, Pukhtun, Pakistani" (Only thing missing is the truth: "A Complete Fraud!, Genocidal Maniac, Human Suffering, Widow/Orphan-maker, Propaganda Specialist, Pukhtun Killer, Cannibalist, Murderer of Pakistanis!")
[Note: With electricity playing havoc, I am having a hard time sitting down and doing this piece at length. This is a bit disorganized as I wanted to put in a lot of old info to jog the memory but I don’t have the time to do a swell job of arranging it nicely. Hope this will do. And apologies for getting a bit messy]
Well the hint of truth slipping out has got our resident weasel out of her hole in the ground and her lies once again grace our papers today (interesting how every newspaper has obliged her):
The Swat flogging: do we need more proof?
It offers nothing new (see her piece from a year ago below titled “Swat Video is genuine, claim activists”) except calling those who question her “conspiracy theorists” and “Taliban Supporters” and “Taliban apologists“ (Oh how original! But their is one original one too: “professional conspirators” Methinks she is accusing guys like me to be on the pay of some one. Wish she’d identify whom so I can go collect my paycheck;-) BTW: She herself is undeniably — and admittedly — a “pro” NGO b!tch and we are very clear who her bosses are). But she does mess up some — see that is the trouble when you lie so much. For example, she writes:
“At a time when the entire country was under threat from militants, I not only brought the attention of the country to this video”
WELL IF THIS IS NOT AN ADMISSION THAT SHE WAS USING THE VIDEO FOR PROPAGANDA PURPOSES THAN I DON’T KNOW WHAT IS!!!!
She goes on to say believe me because — like in her last piece — Taliban say so. She even quotes Rahmatullah Yousafzai to “prove” this flogging was real because “other floggings have happened”. What she doesn’t tell you is that Yousafzai reported the girl DENIED the flogging (the RYousafzai story is linked below). This is faulty logic. Of course we know that and I am not denying that. But that this particular one did not happen when claimed is all I am claiming and Ms Minallah you have yourself all but admitted to it and admitted to the fact you used it for propaganda.
Another interesting and stupid line from her article:
“If this is ‘fake’ then what about the way Shabana was brutally killed in front of many silent spectators?”
I don’t know which Shabana you are talking about but I do know you did not raise a stink about it. You did not post it on YouTube (oh by the way you lied about that too at first claiming someone else had put the flogging video on YouTube and you happened to come across it. It was YOU who posted it and spread the word to bbc and WP etc) nor did you appear on talk shows hawking it.
I will continue to challenge those who misuse religion for power and politics.
And I will continue to expose lying b!tches like you whose think their religion gives them the right to screw your father-in-law and have her brother as a pimp (see below; and speaking of pim brothers, I must pay my respects to your pimp brother: “Oh, Hi! Athar!) and use little lies to propagate atrocities as happened in Swat.
I think you better quit with these “I was right because Taliban say so” defenses — you are only exposing your lies more and more.
‘More’ ‘proof’? Oh, like the faked-up video (see Orya Maqbool Jan’s take)? No thanks! (That you were lying was clear from start (Watch it: Capital Talk Apr 01, 2009) and you proved it again and again). Here are some real facts:
1. The video was shot as early as in Jan (now it is being alleged Samar Minallah and her NGO Ethnomedia paid to have been staged)
2. Samar Minallah sat on it for at least 3 months
3. This also means it happened BEFORE THE SWAT PEACE DEAL but she USED IT TO KNOCK THE PEACE DEAL so the KILLING CAN COMMENCE (I said at the time “She wants dead people!!!!!” )
5. Here is that ridiculous story that was printed (only 2 days later on Apr 4, 2009) to try to sell the story:
The story is getting ridiculous. New scenes added (I titled it this way)
In it a fairytale was told including false claims that:
– The incident happened after the Swat deal. (If that istrue, how come the video was being passed from phone to phone till eventually reaching Ms Minallah “through email”? That is some rapid dissimination)
– We are expected to believe BBC was able to gather all this and identify all the characters and their backgrounds from its investigation in 24 hours or less; and that too when the original story even on BBC was only quoting Ms Minallah
In the print edition of Jang the same day, another version was offered which was even more ridiculous. The person having made the video claims the girl had refused to marry this guy so he joined the Taliban (really?) and had her punished under a false claim thus carrying our his revenge. Go figure (What I specially don’t understand is he could have made this false claim without joining the Taliban so why go through the trouble??) Too bloody fantastic!
6. That this little incident would be deemed so important to get the focus was indeed uncany (when so many worst things were going on) and even those againt the Taliban like Cowasjee notice this anamoly in his piece titled “When Will We Wake Up“:
THE local press is sometimes rather tardy when it comes to latching on to events on the home front. The video of the flogging of a young girl allegedly by the Taliban in the usurped vale of Swat began its circulation around the internet early last week.
On April 2, a report headed ‘Video of girl’s flogging as Taliban hand out justice’ was printed in The Guardian, and a similar report in The Times under the heading ‘Video: radicals beat girl, 17, in Islamic stronghold of Swat, Pakistan’. Britain awakens early. The New York Times followed suit two days later, on April 4, in tune with our press, and printed a report on the flogging, ‘Video of Taliban flogging rattles Pakistan’.
The news in Pakistan was headlined the same day after the subject video had been aired on most of our news channels on Friday, April 3. On one channel, a ‘spokesman’ for the Taliban defended the punishment with the caveat that it should not have been publicised. And one anchor person apparently quoted chapter and verse of the Quran and applauded the flogging.
The government of the NWFP which, with the blessings of the federal government, concluded the ‘peace’ deal in Swat with Sufi Mohammad and the Taliban on Feb 15, via its information minister called the airing of the video an attempt to ‘sabotage’ the peace deal. President, prime minister and assorted federal ministers had no option but to make the usual condemnatory noises and issue the usual inquiry orders.
Pakistan’s chief justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry, has sprung into action, as expected of a man of his stature who has his head and heart in the right place, and taken suo motu action summoning to his court members of the administration of the NWFP. Not that it can serve much purpose as both provincial and federal governments have abdicated their writ in the vale of Swat and handed it over to the Taliban to do with it and its inhabitants what they will.
Such is the schizophrenia that assails us, which is evident in all walks of life and in all different class distinctions. Education in our case is no panacea for a mass state of denial when it comes to events happening under our combined eyes. It is amazing how the benefits of higher education swiftly rub off our elite classes when it comes to matters of tradition which glorify the violation of human rights.
With so many wrongs/atrocities being committed (plenty of videos of heats being cut off around) why focus on this little flogging, indeed? Of course Ansar Abbasi saw the same and got blasted. My dear Earthman, International Professor saw through it and wrote “Taliban flogging video was fake, prepared and financed by a NGO at Islamabad” (What is interesting is the site where it appeared (MakePakistanBetter) is blocked here in Pakistan; Funny, no? I guess Pakistan does not want to MakePakistanBetter! ). Even the NWFP govt and Taliban themselves termed the video release conspiracy as it is being shown a year later.
7. That this was a fully managed campaign can be judged from how quickly every paper of note around the local and western press latched on to it. Were they all watching Capital talk that night? No! They all quoted Ms Minallah so we can have no doubt who was behind this. (I do find amazing is that Geo managed to make that little flogging clip into a 23+ minute report)
8. Just like today, Samar Minallah came out two days after the release of the video to defend her version and failed MISERABBLY. In fact she left no doubt she was a LYING BITCH. See for yourself in the full story and my comments on it at the time:
Swat video is genuine, claim activists
“…Samar Minallah, the human rights activist and documentary film-maker, while talking to The News said that the video was being circulated from mobile phone to mobile phone and from person to person. She said that she received the video via email from a human rights activist of Swat. Talking about the authenticity of the video Minallah said that everyone in Swat knows that the incident took place but unfortunately the NWFP government wants to divert the attention of the masses from the actual issue of harassment of women. She said that the facts and figures would be produced before the Supreme Court [Apr 2010: They never were and CJ seems to have gone to sleep on it] and everyone would come to know about the authenticity of the video.[Apr 2010: We are still waiting. But I am posting the story about the case when it made it to SC at the bottom]
“NWFP minister Mian Iftikhar directly named me while addressing a press conference yesterday while today the NWFP government has been apologising over directly blaming me”, said Samar Minallah adding: “I have got nothing from publicising this horrific video except putting my life in danger and if the government cannot provide me security then at least it should not divert the attention of the masses.”
[Is she asking for a bullet-proof car and police escort?]
She said that the dialect which the girl was speaking was purely of Swat as she herself has worked in Swat and any Pushtoon could recognise it. Samar said that Muslim Khan, the spokesman of Taliban in Swat, accepted that the incident took place and also told the media that the girl had an illicit relationship with her father-in-law. “If the incident did not take place then how come Muslim Khan came to know about the allegations levelled against the girl?”, said the human rights activist adding: “Muslim Khan said the actual punishment to be awarded to the girl was stoning to death but she was flogged.”
[Oh, so is Ms Minallah saying it is OK to have illicit relations with your father-in-law? AND why didn’t she let us on to this very important/relevant info earlier?][Apr 2010:And so now we are supposed to believe the Taliban Spokesperson? And why if she was awarded the “stoning to death” verdict was she just flogged? Wasn’t that “nice” of the Taliban?? ]
She said that a writer contributing to the BBC had confirmed that the incident was recent and from Swat.[Apr 2010: Oh, so Ms Minallah is using the BBC to cover for her and BBC is using her to cover for them. Nice little symbiotic relationship]
She referred to a human rights activist of Swat who when contacted requested anonymity as publishing his name could put his life in danger. [Apr 2010: The same one who sent her the video?] The human rights activist said that the video was so common in Swat that everyone was aware of it.[Apr 1010: This alone proves the video was MUCH OLDER than she claimed. This again proves her releasing it for a purpose] The activist had said that he received the video from Taliban who were not happy with the incident as it was un-Islamic because the girl had not faced any trial. “Many Taliban were not happy with the incident and they themselves had made the video and circulated it” , said the human rights activist adding: “The girl’s younger brother was forced to hold her at gunpoint and the man lashing the girl also abused that boy which could be heard easily; the Taliban said to that boy, “Pimp, take her inside the house?”
[Oh this is getting GOOD! So it was the Talban who were distributing the video even though they were not happy with what happened — “as it was un-Islamic because the girl had not faced any trial” ??? So Talibans DID have the sense to see this? And yet Ms Minallah accused them and hid this important part??? And I am supposed to worry about the Taliban….WHAT A FVCKING FABRICATOR that Ms Minallah is ][Apr 2010: And I find it very odd that if I believe Ms Minallah and the Taliban (Ms Minallah is telling me to believe them so I must), this girl was screwing her father-in-law with her brother acting as a pimp and yet the Taliban thought “what a wonderful family!” (Remember Ms Minallah herself wants us to believe Taliban felt bad she was punished so screwing your father-in-law and pimping for your sis must be all “kosher” according to the shariat and Ms Minallah, at least that is what she wants us to believe)]
The activist from Swat said that the incident took place in a remote area near village Serbanda in upper Swat and many Taliban say that it was an illegal activity as proper procedure of having four witnesses was not adopted. He was of the view that the video was recent and there were many other similar incidents which could not be highlighted by the media.
[“many Taliban say that it was an illegal activity as proper procedure of having four witnesses was not adopted.” ][Apr 2010: Again we are being asked to believe Ms Minallah’s fib that the video was recent is to be believed because Taliban confirm her version. Oh so nice of then.]
I must ask: If we are to believe this sh!t from Ms Minallah, I just don’t understand what is the issue she has with the Taliban? I mean they seem to agree on everything 100%
SWAT: WHERE IT IS TODAY
Some people of Swat speak out…(of course they will be declared ‘Taliban-supporters’ or “professional protesters” by ms Minallah):
State accused of Swat’s destruction
Monday, April 05, 2010
By Delawar Jan
PESHAWAR: Swat Qaumi Jirga on Sunday declared the state of Pakistan responsible for all the destruction, killings and miseries of the people in Swat and sought an apology from President Asif Ali Zardari as the head of the state….
And what about those other people from Swat…you know…the IDPs that all the ‘civil society’ was kind enough to make them into refugees? Well they are still suffering (as they were last year) as I talked about earlier:
IDPs from tribal areas
Not only has the theatre of war against the militants in the northwest expanded in recent times, it has also extracted a heavy price in the process by displacing people from various affected areas on a very large scale. The fact must be kept in mind and both state and civil society should come to the aid of the IDPs. According to one relief agency, it has registered over 1.3 million IDPs from the tribal areas. The exodus from Orakzai Agency alone amounts to over 75,000 tribesmen at even conservative estimates. Parts of the agency have reportedly turned into ghost towns where starving children search for food.The exodus was a predictable consequence of the operation against the militants, but little evidence is available of the state having made efforts to mitigate the IDPs’ suffering. The sole relief camp in the area is in Hangu district, accommodating less than 4,000 people. There is no room for the hundreds of people streaming into the area everyday. Apparently, no relief camp exists in Kohat district, where over 22,000 IDPs have registered themselves with the social welfare department. Unsurprisingly, the battle against militancy has led to mass migration, with people seeking refuge in Kohat and Hangu districts and Khyber Agency….
So what this b!tch wrought has only spread.
P.S. See my comment that really got ALL baboos fuming and pull out their knives (I must have set a record for the names I was called in that thread )
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The story when the case made it to SC:
SC hearing of Swat girl’s flogging case adjourns sine die
ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court hearing of suo motto notice case relating to the flogging of a Swat girl adjourned here sine die.
Interior secretary, NWFP IG, Attorney General (AG) and other high officials appeared before the eight-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by the Chief Justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry hearing the Swat case.
AG, Latif Khosa during the hearing made a plea that the matter relating to the flogging of girl was a sensitive issue and, therefore, the hearing be conducted closed-door. The Supreme Court turning down the request for in-camera trial gave remarks that the flogging was made known through the media and added that the facts need be brought before the public.
The victim Swat girl could not be presented during the SC hearing, while a confidential report was presented from the NWFP chief secretary (CS). The SC bench refusing to accept NWFP CS report relating to the flogging of girl remarked that no confidential report was required and said all facts should be brought in public.
Besides, the girl’s statement before the magistrate was also presented through AG, in which the girl has denied the alleged flogging incident. NWFP IG on this occasion in his statement drew the attention of the court to this fact that the police have no access to several areas in Swat. [Oh, and Ms Minallah does? And BBC seems to be in every nook-and-corner as can be “proved” from the fact they managed to gather so much in 24 hours as mentioned by me above] To this, the bench remarked, “Your statement tantamount to laying arms.”
NWFP IG said that an FIR has been registered against unidentified persons and an investigation team headed by DIG has been constituted.[Why “unnamed”? Just ask bbc or Ms Minallah or Muslim Khan ]
The SC bench expressed its displeasure with interior secretary, Kamal Shah relating to Swat incident, while a member of the bench, Khalilur Rahman Ramday enquired from interior secretary, “Except arresting judges, do you do any other work.”
CJ Iftikhar Chaudhry in his remarks said that investigations be conducted that who conspired to defame Islam and Pakistan.
Hey CJ, WAKE UP!!!
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For completeness, here is another story and my comments:
OOPS!
Swat girl denies flogging by Taliban
By Rahimullah Yusufzai [for the benefit of @Mo Usman so he can’t deny it’s creditability ]
PESHAWAR: Chand Bibi, the young girl who was shown being flogged by the Swat Taliban in a videotape aired on television channels, gave a statement to a Qazi, or judge, on Sunday, denying the incident.
Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the NWFP information minister, told The News that she made the statement to Mohammad Riaz, the judge of the Qazi Court for Matta Tehsil, and the commissioner of Malakand division, Syed Mohammad Javed, both of whom visited her village, Kala Killay, in Kabal Swat district on Sunday.
Quoting the commissioner, Mian Iftikhar said the girl, Chand Bibi, made it clear that she was indeed married to Adalat Khan and everyone in the village knew about it. She refuted the reports that both of them were flogged by the Taliban as punishment for maintaining illicit relations and then forcibly married….”
Suckers!
ATTENTION MS MINALLAH!
Mohmand Agency: Locals decide to migrate on massive scale
KALIA demands public hanging of culprits
And I am sure Ms Minallah agrees. BTW: Under which law is death punishment prescribed for spanking? I am waiting…..
See Also:
Video of girl’s flogging in Swat was ‘fake’
Girl flogging issue echoes in Senate again
Fake Swat Video Finally Declared Fake
“The Price Is Worth It”, Samar ‘Albright’ Minallah
ONE FOR THE ROAD:
Well in case you are wondering why you are hearing all this talk about Southern Punjab and America’s latest warnings, our ladies have been hard at work. I already told you about Ayesha Siddiqa but did you know Samar Minallah has been hard at work there too?
Samar Minallah is all with her future victims in Rahim Yar Khan, Southern Punjab.
Video Evidence: International Terrorist Known as US Troops Shooting Civilians
A senior U.S. military official has confirmed that a 17-minute video posted today on Wikileaks.org – which shows U.S. troops firing repeatedly from a helicopter at a group walking down a Baghdad street – is authentic. The attack, which took place in July of 2007, ultimately killed 12, a group which included a Reuters photographer, Namir Noor-Eldeen, 22, and driver, Saeed Chmagh, 40, according to the Times.
The conversation between the two troops in the helicopter is captured on film, including an exchange in which one pilot says “Look at those dead bastards,” to which the other responds “Nice.” The pilots believe the group to be insurgents (mistaking Noor-Eldeen’s camera for a weapon) and aim and fire, “reveling in their kills,” as the Times puts it.
U.S. military officials have reportedly investigated the incident and concluded the troops were not aware there were Reuters employees amongst the group, and there was no disciplinary action taken.
[The only regret the US official has is the Reuters employees ware mistakenly killed, otherwise there is nothing bad in killing the Muslims whose rulers are sucking the American Dick for quite some time now]
Salute to Tribal Leaders
Posted by ابو سعد in Human Rights, Terrorism on March 8, 2010
Who says we have no leaders? If we have the MIR Jaffars like Hussain Haqqani, Rehman Malik [read it Dakait] Zardari, Gilani , Asfandyar and Nawaz Shareef, we have Tipu Sultans also. Prior to attacking the patriotic tribal by Meerasi General Parvez Musharraf on the direction of the military and political leadership’s masters in Washington the people of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) were considered the protectors of the rest of Pakistan. Now they have “reportedly” picked up guns against the “state”.
It’s not the story we are discussing here, however the Lawmakers from same FATA have showed up some self-respect in Washington, the things which we all have been desperately expecting from our government.
According to Dawn “Miffed at being asked to undergo a full body scanning at an American airport, a group of Fata lawmakers cut short their visit to the United States and flew back home.”
The six-member delegation, which included both senators and members of the National
Senator Abbas Afridi, Kamran Khan, hafiz Muhammad Rasheed, Sajid Hussain Turi, Jawwad Khan and Akhunzada Chattan
They had come to the United States on Feb 28 on a 15-day visit.
On Saturday morning, they were scheduled to fly to New Orleans as part of their tour.
But when they arrived at the airport, two of them were marked for random checking, which included a body-scan.
They refused to accept the demand, saying that they would rather go home than submit to the proposed scanning.
Senator Abbas Khan Afridi, a senior member of the delegation, later told journalists that other lawmakers backed their colleagues and told US officials that they too would go home if their colleagues were not exempted.
US State Department officials, who were travelling with the delegation, took the lawmakers back to their hotel in Washington where Pakistan’s deputy chief of mission and other senior US officials joined them.
Dawn reports that Pakistan’s Deputy Chief of Mission tried to persuade the lawmakers to change their minds, telling them that all passengers in the United States had to go through random checking.
Mr Afridi said that the lawmakers considered the scanning order an insult to the parliamentarians of a sovereign country and decided to call off their visit.
Some would term it point scoring and others would call it publicity stunt but to me it’s a demonstration of self-respect. To this day our governments, also include military leadership, have given out the message that we are the only nation on this earth with no word of sovereignty, dignity and self-respect in our dictionaries. The actions like this at least help us prove that we are state with people who care self-respect and that Pakistan is not a sold-out nation. Guys I am proud of you. And you need red carpet reception at Pakistani airport.
Expel Anne W. Patterson from Pakistan
Although, Being a Political Islamist, I deem it my duty to respect the ambassador of the enemy country even as but both Islam, the basis of the constitution of Pakistan, and International Law give hosting country the right to expel the ambassador if he/she is involved in the extra diplomatic activities or illegal activities considered as against the hosting country. Unfortunately, Pakistan is a “sovereign” country where American Ambassadors have been enjoying the power equal to the head of the state of Pakistan, however the lady ambassador Ms Patterson has been found guilty of running a parallel military force Blackwater which is doing terrorism inside Pakistan. We have a long list of her crime but some of her these are discussed by Ahmed Quraishi in the following article which he thinks has led to the sour relationship between the two countries; however in my sincere opinion our nationalism and patriotism demands a strong nation wide campaign to expel Ms Patterson from this country immediately. If the United States wants good diplomatic relationship with Pakistan, it should appoint an ambassador and not goon like A. W. Patterson.
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A. W. Patterson is chatting with the US Agent Lieutenant General Talat Masood
SLAMABAD, Pakistan—US Ambassador to Pakistan Ms. Anne W. Patterson is becoming quite controversial. She has overseen the worst spell in the relationship between Washington and Islamabad in sixty years and many say she is responsible for at least some of it. Ties weren’t this bad even when the United States unfairly sanctioned Pakistan in 1990 over its nuclear program.
Mr. Thomas Houlahan, a Washington DC-based expert on Pakistani military issues, accused her in 2008 of conducting ‘bunker diplomacy’—that is, conducting United States diplomacy with Pakistan from the barricaded and isolated confines of her office inside a heavily fortified embassy building which in turn is located inside the isolated Diplomatic Enclave in an outer tip of Pakistan’s federal capital.
Her reports back to Washington are misleading, explained Mr. Houlahan, because she doesn’t really know what Pakistanis are thinking.
For information, Washington’s diplomats in Pakistan have been relying on two things: a pro-US government whose principals owe their power to a deal brokered and guaranteed by the US, and a list of proverbial ‘good guys’ that Ms. Patterson’s Embassy recruited from the media, including retired diplomats, military officers and academia, who could take America’s case to the Pakistani public opinion.
This strategy backfired. Big time.
Failing to see that Pakistanis were asking for respect and not confrontation, she shot alarming reports back to Washington warning of an organized campaign in Pakistani media to assail US reputation.
Getting their cue from Ms. Patterson’s reporting, US government’s spin masters countered by launching an organized campaign within the US media and worldwide, accusing Pakistan of ‘anti-Americanism’. The accusation was expanded to include harassment of US diplomats and non-issuance of visas to them. Obviously, Ms. Patterson failed to tell people back in Washington that CIA and other intelligence-related personnel where using diplomatic cover under her guidance to spy on Pakistan.
She also might have overlooked another small detail: the US ambassador in Pakistan is a potential suspect in a case of bribing a senior Interior Ministry official in order to get a cache of banned weapons into Pakistan without the knowledge of the country’s intelligence.
The alarm generated by Ms. Patterson and her team led US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to rush to Pakistan in order to counter the Pakistani media, with carefully-orchestrated interviews and public appearances where Ms. Patterson did her best to keep Mrs. Clinton away from the ‘bad guys’. She ensured that her boss never met those commentators and media people who could provide the harsh, but legitimate, viewpoint.
This misrepresentation on the part of Ms. Patterson led someone no less than US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to land in Pakistan making a highly inappropriate statement, where he accused legitimate critics of US policy toward Pakistan of orchestrating an ‘an organized propaganda campaign’. He probably had no idea that legitimate criticism of policy by Pakistanis claiming they want US not to ignore Pakistani interests did not qualify to be described as ‘an organized propaganda campaign’.
[There are indications that some Pakistanis in Mr. Zardari’s government, and not just Ms. Patterson, helped create this misperception in Washington. Topping the list of Pakistani suspects is Mr. Husain Haqqani, Pakistan’s envoy in Washington, a key aide to Mr. Zardari and recently the wizard behind Mr. Zardari’s media outreach campaign. Mr. Haqqani has been quite active behind the scenes in mounting a counterattack on the critics of Mr. Zardari and the critics of US in Pakistan. Recently, large numbers of Pakistani legislators have publicly accused Mr. Haqqani of misusing his official position to poison American perceptions of Pakistan’s military and intelligence.]
So, in essence, Ms. Patterson squandered two great opportunities – the visits of Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Gates – to address the concerns of the harshest critics in the Pakistani media. Due to Ms. Patterson’s failure, it fell to the Pakistani military to discuss those concerns with counterparts in the US military and use that channel to convey Pakistan’s legitimate concerns about how the US was ignoring Pakistani strategic interests in the region.
What Ms. Patterson should have helped resolve in the civilian arena was actually tackled, and somewhat resolved, in the military arena. But the damage is done. United States’ combative ambassador in Islamabad has left a permanent scar in the media record of the two countries, with silly accusations of anti-Americanism and harassment of diplomats.
Last year she fired a secret letter to a newspaper to silence Dr. Shireen Mazari, a defense expert and Columbia graduate, leading to a public spat that gave the impression the US ambassador was out to force newspapers to fire critics of US.
AND NOW: YVONNE RIDLEY
In 2008, Ms. Patterson accused ‘irresponsible elements’ in the Pakistani media of spreading lies about Dr. Aafia Siddiqui being in US custody in Afghanistan.
Yesterday, the British journalist who uncovered Dr. Siddiqui’s presence inside US-controlled Bagram basewrote a damning piece showing that Ambassador Patterson basically lied to the Pakistani public in her 2008 letter, which she sent to Pakistani newspapers.
This is what Ms. Ridley has to say about Ms. Patterson:
“Everyone had something to say, everyone that is except the usually verbose US Ambassador Anne Patterson who has spent the last two years briefing against Dr Aafia and her supporters.
This is the same woman who claimed I was a fantasist when I gave a press conference with Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Imran Khan back in July 2008 revealing the plight of a female prisoner in Bagram called the Grey Lady.
She said I was talking nonsense and stated categorically that the prisoner I referred to as “650” did not exist.
By the end of the month she changed her story and said there had been a female prisoner but that she was most definitely not Dr Aafia Siddiqui.
By that time Aafia had been gunned down at virtually point blank range in an Afghan prison cell jammed full of more than a dozen US soldiers, FBI agents and Afghan police.
Her Excellency briefed the media that the prisoner had wrested an M4 gun from one soldier and fired off two rounds and had to be subdued. The fact these bullets failed to hit a single person in the cell and simply disappeared did not resonate with the diplomat.
In a letter dripping in untruths on August 16 2008 she decried the “erroneous and irresponsible media reports regarding the arrest of MsAafia Siddiqui”. She went on to say: “Unfortunately, there are some who have an interest in simply distorting the facts in an effort to manipulate and inflame public opinion. The truth is never served by sensationalism…”
When Jamaat Islami invited me on a national tour of Pakistan to address people about the continued abuse of Dr Aafia and the truth about her incarceration in Bagram, the US Ambassador continued to issue rebuttals.
She assured us all that Dr Aafia was being treated humanely had been given consular access as set out in international law … hmm. Well I have a challenge for Ms Patterson today. I challenge her to repeat every single word she said back then and swear it is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
As Dr Aafia Siddiqui’s trial got underway, the US Ambassador and some of her stooges from the intelligence world laid on a lavish party at the US Embassy in Islamabad for some hand-picked journalists where I’ve no doubt in between the dancing, drinks and music they were carefully briefed about the so-called facts of the case.
Interesting that some of the potentially incriminating pictures taken at the private party managed to find the Ambassador was probably hoping to minimize the impact the trial would have on the streets of Pakistan proving that, for the years she has been holed up and barricaded behind concrete bunkers and barbed wire, she has learned nothing about this great country of Pakistan or its people.
One astute Pakistani columnist wrote about her: “The respected lady seems to have forgotten the words of her own country’s 16th president Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865): “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time”.
Well I, and many others across the world like me, can’t handle any more lies. America’s reputation is lying in the lowest gutters in Pakistan at the moment and it can’t sink any lower.
The trust has gone, there is only a burning hatred and resentment towards a superpower which sends unmanned drones into villages to slaughter innocents.
It is fair to say that America’s goodwill and credibility is all but washed up with most honest, decent citizens of Pakistan.
And I think even Her Excellency Anne Patterson recognizes that fact which is why she is now keeping her mouth shut.
If she has any integrity and any self respect left she should stand before the Pakistan people and ask for their forgiveness for the drone murders, the extra judicial killings, the black operations, the kidnapping, torture and rendition of its citizens, the water-boarding, the bribery, the corruption and, not least of all, the injustice handed out to Dr Aafia Siddiqui and her family.
She should then pick up the phone to the US President and tell him to release Aafia and return Pakistan’s most loved, respected and famous daughter and reunite her with the two children who are still missing.”
Far from the way Ms. Patterson portrayal of Pakistanis as a bunch of ‘anti-Americanists’, most Pakistanis believe in the goodness of the American people and that this American here [click to see the video and report] represents America much better than Ms. Patterson has unsuccessfully been trying so far in Pakistan, with all due respect.
Talkhaba 
