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* US officials believe tied with Pakistan have been seriously damaged and an alliance can survive only in a limited form

WASHINGTON: US officials believe the country’s relationship with Pakistan has been seriously damaged and a counterterrorism alliance can survive only in a limited form, The New York Times reported late Sunday.

Citing unnamed US and Pakistani officials, the newspaper said that officials acknowledge this deterioration will complicate the ability to launch attacks against extremists in Pakistan and move supplies into Afghanistan.

 Read More »US prepares for a curtailed relationship with Pakistan

PROFESSOR ALI SUKHANVER

In the second week of December 2011, theUScongress agreed on a defense bill that includes a provision to freeze some $700 million in assistance untilPakistancomes up with a strategy to deal with improvised explosive devices.  According to CBSNEWS, the fertilizer smuggled intoAfghanistanis being used in creating explosives and through this defense bill Congress is specifically trying to urgePakistanto take more action against this smuggling. Commenting on the billChairman,U.S.House Armed Services Committee Rep. Buck McKeon said, “The U.S. wants assurances thatPakistanis countering improvised explosive devices in their country that are targeting our coalition forces inAfghanistan”. It is yet to be decided whether this suggested bill is a sincere effort to counter terrorism in the region or simply a reaction to the rapidly uneasy relationship between theUnited StatesandPakistan. The U.S. military sources blame that around 80 percent of Afghan bombs are created with the fertilizer that becomes a powerful explosive when mixed with fuel oil and the primary ingredient in all of the homemade bombs is fertilizer produced by a single company in Pakistan; the Pak-Arab Fertilizers Ltd. Multan. According to theUSarmy sources only in the period of one year the Pak-Arab Fertilizers Ltd legally produced calcium ammonium nitrate fertilizer enough for making of at least 140,000 bombs. Is Pak-Arab Fertilizers Ltd. Multan manufacturing fertilizers for the terrorists or the farmers; no doubt a very important question.Pakistan, being an agricultural country requires a lot of fertilizers for its crops. It is amongst the countries having acutest shortage of water. This scarcity of water is growing serious day by day asIndiais building dams on the rivers flowing towardsPakistanin violation of the Indus Water Treaty. The water scarcity whichPakistanhad been facing in 1950 was 5000 m3 and it will reach below 1000 m3 by 2035. Furthermore the lack of energy resources, the foreign supported terrorist activities and the economic instability, no doubt, a result of theUSwar on terror; all these factors have joined hands together to givePakistanreally a tough time.

 Read More »IMPROVISED EXPLOSIVE DEVICES

PROFESSOR ALI SUKHANVER

A leading Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has said that .Pakistan’s nukes are at risk of being seized by extremists. He was talking to CNN in the second week of this December inWashington. He said, “My guess isPakistanhas well over 100 nuclear weapons. And that the Pakistani military is so penetrated by extremist elements you have no idea if one morning they’re going to lose three or four of them.” He referred to the Abotabad episode in support of his apprehension regarding the presence of extremist element inPakistanmilitary. He said, “Pakistani officials claim they did not know Osama bin Laden had been hiding there for years before elite US forces found and killed him in May.” Gingrich’s anxiety over the safety of Pakistani nukes is nothing new; it is the continuity of the same bed-time story which all American children have been listening to for the last many years. It is not in fact the anxiety over the insecurity of Pakistani nukes; it is the desire of getting hold on them. To be very honest and straightforward, the nuclear program is the most precious asset for the people ofPakistan. It is just like a dream based on hope and life. We, the Pakistanis know very well how to take care of our dreams. TheUSauthorities are very well aware of the reality that in the presence of the nuclear assets, it is almost next to impossible to cause any damage to the federation ofPakistan. Apparently they have no excuse for getting control of these assets but one; the danger of going these assets into the hands of terrorists. So the whole of theUSteam is busy in preparing a stage where it could perform a play, ‘Pakistan’s nukes at stake’.  Somewhere in 2009, a statement of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen was reported by the New York Times. He had told the members of the congress in a confidential briefing that despite being racked by an insurgency,Pakistanis rapidly adding to its nuclear arsenal. Now it is the beginning of 2012; even after three years the story of blames and allegations is the same. In 2009 it was Mike Mullen and now it is Newt Gingrich. Our American friends are simply wasting their times in worrying about the insecurity of our nukes. Their worry, anxiety and concern regarding nuclear arsenals ofPakistanwould do nothing but add to their own problems. The situation could have been much better if they had shown just twenty percent of this anxiety and concern in the matter of the Indian nuclear program; that is the actual direction they must divert their attention to.Read More »All worries about Pakistan

PROFESSOR ALI SUKHANVER

Shifting the portrait of President Obama from his room to the adjoining store-room, my elder son said to me, “The Americans are the misguided missiles. We will have to lead them to the right path. We will have to put them in the right place”. I still remember the day when President Obama was elected President of theUSAand my son was celebrating his success in such a joyous manner as I had never ever noticed before. I had asked him, “Why are you so happy on the success of this black man?” I could very easily feel the trust and confidence oozing out of his words. “Baba – This black man would one day illuminate every nook and corner of the world.” And now the same young man was eager to throw away the portrait of his ‘beloved leader’ somewhere in the junk of store-room. This is not only the story of my elder son; it is the story of every young man inPakistan. Obama, who had become the most favourite leader of the Pakistani youth during his election campaign, no more resides in the hearts he had conquered. Though today, the Pakistani nation is unfortunately divided and sub-divided into countless fragments and fractions; sometimes on the basis of religious creeds and dogmas and sometimes on the basis of political leanings and inclinations but there is just one thing which has miraculously magnetized them together ; a never ending, ever-increasing hatred for the US. The recent malicious, merciless and cruelly indiscriminate aerial battering by NATO at Salala border outpost in Mohmand Agency has added a lot to this loathing. Although the NATO forces and theUStroops deputed there inAfghanistanare two separate identities yet the people ofPakistanconsider them one and the same thing. This aerial attack on Pakistani military check-post by the NATO forces is being regarded as a criminal act of aggression of theUSAagainstPakistan.Read More »SEARCHING FOR OBAMA