Tories say Foreign Office memo shows officials have been ordered to work up plans for cuts due to falling value of pound guardian.co.uk, Glenys Kinnock: foreign minister. Photograph: Dylan Martinez/Reuters The government is said to be drawing up a secret hit list of embassies to be closed as the effects of the sharp fall in the pound on Britain’s spending plans abroad are felt. David Lidington, the shadow junior foreign minister, said that an internal Foreign Office memorandum claimed that officials had been ordered to work up plans for substantial cuts “which could be implemented soon after the election”. The … Continue reading UK Government accused of drawing up secret hit list of embassies to close

Farooq Sulehria Hi! Honestly, I wasn’t surprised at Der Spiegel’s recent report that between 2004 and 2008 your members killed eight times more Muslims than non-Muslims. During this period, “Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for 313 attacks resulting in the deaths of 3,010 people,” the German newspaper said in the report. These attacks also included terrorist incidents in Madrid (2004) and London (2005). Of the casualties only 371 (12 percent) were Westerners. In fact, such report should not surprise anyone. In Iraq, for instance, the number of Iraqis killed by your suicide bombers far exceeded the number of body bags dispatched to … Continue reading To Al Qaeda – time to be good!

Robert M Gates Nearly 25 years ago, in 1986, I arrived in Islamabad for my first visit to Pakistan to meet with this country’s military leaders and see firsthand the training of the Afghan resistance along the border. At the time, our two countries were working together in unprecedented ways to combat a common foe. As part of this effort, our militaries went to school together; our intelligence services shared insights; and our leaders consulted each other on strategic issues. The long-standing friendship was based on a great sense of mutual commitment, purpose, and benefit. I was still in government … Continue reading ‘Our commitment to Pakistan’

Zafar Hilaly After grabbing the larger part of Kashmir by force Nehru, in mid-November 1949, out of the blue offered to conclude a no-war pact with Pakistan. Taken aback somewhat, Liaquat Ali Khan recovered his composure to tell Nehru that rather than a no-war declaration the best way of removing both the causes and the fear of war was to settle major outstanding disputes between the two countries. Even if disputes could not be settled, Liaquat Ali Khan added; let us agree on a procedure for settling them so that both countries would have entered into firm commitments which in … Continue reading Pacts for the gullible

Ideological indigestion Posted by Nadeem F. Paracha  The La La Land Internal Jihad Movement of Pakistan (also called LLIMP) is a hybrid vegetable/fruit that is becoming popular among middle-class health food fanatics. The medical benefits of LLIMP have been known since ancient times. The Neanderthals are known to have used it to treat everything from general boredom to ideological indigestion. In his book, ‘LLIMP: the Natural Secret for a Vigorous Jaw & a Full Fat Moustache,’ Hakeem Shahid Masood states that LLIMP has been used as a medicine in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Babylon, Gujranwala and Planet Zion for at least … Continue reading La La Land Internal Jihad Movement of Pakistan – aka Mullah Front for the destruction of Pakistan

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown leaves 10 Downing Street, in central London, as he prepares to attend the weekly Minister’s Question time in the House of Commons. -AFP Photo LONDON: Prime Minister Gordon Brown insisted Thursday that Britain’s spending on counter-terrorism measures in Pakistan was increasing despite the fall in the value of the pound. “Counter-terrorism expenditure in Pakistan and generally is increasing this year and will increase next year,” Brown said. He added: “It is important to recognise our counter-terrorism effort is also linking up the efforts of our police forces here and our border control system, which is … Continue reading Britain increasing Pakistan anti-terror spending: Brown

By Rafia Zakaria Scene of a suicide blast in Peshawar. “The year 2009 saw 87 suicide attacks in Pakistan which killed nearly 1,300 people — a nearly 40 per cent increase from the previous year.” – AP (File Photo) Columnists Behind the glitz Behind the glitz THE apparently self-inflicted death of a Pakistani activist left a vacuum in a society starving for creative public expression. But this was not an isolated act. In contemporary Pakistan, the tragedy is also a metaphor for the larger constriction and self-destruction that has become a recurrent motif in our demographic, institutional and moral existence. … Continue reading Tragic path ahead

Dr Manzur Ejaz For Quaid-e-Azam, Pakistan was just a creation of a nation where the majority of citizens would be Muslims like Algeria, Turkey or Egypt. After their independence none of these countries adopted theocratic rule A few days back Prime Minister Gilani reiterated that the army is diligently defending Pakistan’s geographical and ideological boundaries. One would like to believe that Mr Gilani is just puttering the oft-repeated cliché of ‘ideological boundaries.’ However, a closer examination shows that the ruling elites, while trying to eliminate armed religious bands, are trying their best to cling to the ‘ideological boundaries’ defined by … Continue reading Elimination of ‘ideological boundaries’

Stephen Jay Gould If God is benevolent and the creation displays his “power, wisdom and goodness” then why are we surrounded with pain, suffering, and apparently senseless cruelty in the animal world? William Buckland, England’s first official academic geologist, discussed this most pressing problem of natural theology. Buckland considered the depredation of “carnivorous races” as the primary challenge to an idealised world where the lion might dwell with the lamb. He resolved the issue to his satisfaction by arguing that carnivores actually increase “the aggregate of animal enjoyment” and “diminish that of pain”. Death, after all, is swift and relatively … Continue reading Providence found