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Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Hurricane Sandy Tames Israhell, Puncturing its Anti-Iran Balloon of Lies

LONDON  - Iran has drawn back from its ambitions to build a nuclear weapon, Israhell’s defence minister was quoted as saying on Tuesday, while warning that his country may still have to decide next year whether to launch a military strike against it.Tehran denies its nuclear work has any military dimensions but governments in Europe and the United States are increasingly concerned over its intentions.Diplomacy and successive rounds of economic sanctions have so far failed to end the decade-old row, raising fears of Israhelli military action against its arch-enemy. Defence Minister Ehud Barak told Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper that an immediate crisis was avoided when Iran chose to use more than a third of its medium-enriched uranium for civilian purposes earlier this year.

He told the paper that the decision “allows contemplating delaying the moment of truth by eight to ten months”.“There could be at least three explanations. One is the public discourse about a possible Israhelli or American operation deterred them from trying to come closer,” he said.“It could probably be a diplomatic gambit that they have launched in order to avoid this issue culminating before the American election, just to gain some time. It could be a way of telling the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) ‘oh we comply with our commitments’.”

Analysts say Iran already has enough low-enriched uranium for several nuclear bombs if it were refined to a high degree, but may still be a few years away from being able to assemble a missile if it decided to go down that path.Western diplomats say Iran appears to have nearly finished installing centrifuges at an underground nuclear plant, potentially boosting its capacity to make weapons-grade uranium if it chose to do so.Asked by the British newspaper whether, if Iran had not pulled back, the crisis would have peaked “about now”, Barak said: “Probably yes”. He added however that he believed Iran was still resolved to build nuclear weapons.

“We all agree that the Iranians are determined to turn into a military nuclear power and we all share the declaration that we are determined to prevent Iran from turning nuclear and all options are on the table,” he was quoted as saying.“We mean it - we expect others to mean it as well. So it’s not something just about us. But we, for obvious reasons, see the Iranian threat in much more concrete terms.” He said Israhell reserved the right to act alone.“When it comes to the very core of our security interests and, in a way, the future of Israhell, we cannot delegate the responsibility for making decisions even into the hands of our most trusted and trustworthy ally,” he told the Telegraph.“It doesn’t mean that we would be sorry if the Iranians come to the conclusion on their own. The opposite is true. But, if no one acts, we will have to contemplate action.”

Pakistan Cyber Force

"Terrorists" offer Storm Aid to American People

Hafiz Muhammad Saeed
ISLAMABAD – Hafiz Saeed, who is under a $10 million American bounty, Tuesday offered humanitarian aid to the United States of Zionism as it battles superstorm Sandy. Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the founder of Kashmir's leading freedom fighting movement  Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and now head of the charity Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), said his organisation was ready to offer every possible help to the storm-hit American people. "Jamaat-ud-Dawa is ready to send its volunteers, doctors, food, medicines and other relief items on humanitarian grounds if the US(Z) government allows us", Saeed said in a statement.

"America may have any opinion about us, it may fix bounties on our heads but as followers of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), we feel it is our religious duty to help Americans trapped in a catastrophe." Saeed's statement said the charity had carried out relief work in Indonesia and Sri Lanka after the Indian Ocean tsunami in December 2004. JuD is seen as a front for LeT, which Washington and Delhi blame for the commando-style attacks on India's financial capital in 2008. In April the United States offered $10 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Saeed, who lives openly in Lahore. Saeed's charity has long denied terror accusations and is known around Pakistan for its relief work in the wake of the devastating Kashmir earthquake of 2005 and the floods of 2010, which were the worst in the country's history.

He was put under house arrest a month after the Mumbai attacks, but was released in 2009 and in 2010 as country's highest court upheld his release on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence to detain him. Last month Saeed led a number of protests in Lahore against a USZ-made anti-Islam film.

Pakistan Cyber Force

CID Arrests 4 American Taliban (TTP)

KARACHI - Crime Investigation Department (CID) claimed to have arrested four alleged operatives of defunct American funded Tehreek-e-Taliban Pentagon from Manghopir area. Officials of Anti Extremist Cell of the CID said that the arrests were made after a brief encounter took place at Sultanabad area of Manghopir. AEC Chief SSP Aslam Khan said that the raid was conducted on a tip-off while police team faced resistance on the arrival of police at the TTP hideout. During an exchange of fire, CID police managed to arrest four alleged TTP militants. The arrested Taliban were identified as Hameedullah, Ameerullah, Iranullah and Yasin.

The team recovered two hand grenades and four TT pistols from their possession.  SSP Khan said that accused were involved in over a dozen criminal cases including extortion. Police suspect for their possible involvement in attack and killing of law enforcers. In another raid, an accused namely Bilal Gulab Khan was arrested in a raid conducted in Ferozabad area. According to Special Investigation Unit (SIU) officials, the suspect while exposing himself a member of the TTP demanded extortion money from his owner Salman Merchant. A TT pistol was also recovered from his possession.

Meanwhile, police have arrested over a dozen workers and supporters of the Awami National Party on Tuesday. In the first raid conducted at Mehmoodabad, police arrested a senior ANP activist namely Amanullah and his companion namely Shahnawaz who is the son of ANP local leader Mateenullah. DSP Altaf Hussain said that police had been looking for Amanullah in various criminal cases including the robbery occurred in Mehmoodabad locality four months ago. He said that police arrested him red-handed along with a TT pistol when he was harassing the residents of the area by restoring indiscriminate firing.

Following their arrests, scores of people, majority of them were the ANP workers and supporters, gathered on main Korangi Road to stage protest against the police. They also pelted with stones on the passing vehicles and blocked the road for vehicular traffic by burning tyres. They demanded that the police arrested innocent people and tried to expose them as criminals. As the heavy contingent of police reached Korangi Road to disperse the protestors, they attacked police with the stones. Police also fired teargas shells and restored aerial firing to disperse the protesters. Police continued to arrest other people while conducted raids in Mehmoodabad areas including Kashmir Colony and apprehended about one dozen suspects.

Pakistan Cyber Force

America Destroyed by Sandy - 10 million+ Lose Electricity - States Reduced to Ruins

NEW YORK — President Barack Obama declared a major disaster in the New York City area Tuesday as Superstorm Sandy pounded the East Coast, killing at least 38 people, sweeping homes into the ocean, flooding large swaths of coastal areas, crippling public transit, and leaving more than 10 million without power. As the East Coast woke up, residents faced the prospect of up to a week without heat, light or refrigeration, while authorities tried to measure the full wrath of the once-in-a-generation hurricane.

The storm weakened as it moved further inland but forecasters still warned of gale-force winds and flooding along the densely-populated coast, where a massive fire broke out in New York City and a levee broke in New Jersey. At least 38 people were killed in the United States and Canada as the storm roared ashore late Monday, pounding several major cities with heavy rain and hurricane-force winds that toppled trees and ripped down power lines.

President Obama declared a ‘major disaster’ had hit the states of New York and New Jersey, an order that cleared the way for federal grants and loans to help storm victims acquire temporary housing and repair damage. Seawater coursed between the iconic skyscrapers of New York’s financial district in lower Manhattan, flooding subways and road tunnels and shorting out the power grid, leaving a half-million households and businesses in the dark.

Further south, the sea surged over vast swathes of the eastern seaboard, turning coastal cities into ghost towns as the high winds grounded flights and shut down rail links, public transport and government offices. The catastrophe completely overshadowed the US election race, forcing a halt to campaigning a week before Americans were due to go to the polls to choose between President Obama and challenger Mitt Romney.

Hurricane Sandy had killed 67 people as it tore through the Caribbean, and reports of more deaths began to arrive after it made landfall at 8:00 pm (0000 GMT) in New Jersey and began to wreak havoc in the United States. A massive fire destroyed at least 50 homes in Breezy Point, a seaside community in Queens, New York. Firefighters had difficulty reaching the blaze due to the severe weather. The cause of the fire was not immediately known. Authorities had ordered hundreds of thousands of residents in areas from New England to North Carolina to evacuate their homes and seek shelter, but many chose to stay on, to the frustration of police and local officials.

Falling trees tore down power cables, plunging what weather experts said were millions of homes into darkness, while storm warnings cut rail links and marooned tens of thousands of travellers at airports across the region. The hurricane sent a record storm surge of 13.7 feet into lower Manhattan, flooding seven major subway tunnels used by hundreds of thousands of daily commuters and swamping cars in the financial district. “The New York City subway system is 108 years old, but it has never faced a disaster as devastating as what we experienced last night,” city transport director Joseph Lhota said early Tuesday.

Firefighters meanwhile struggled to contain a massive blaze in the Queens borough that destroyed more than 50 homes, and in northern New Jersey police in boats pulled residents from second-storey windows after a levee broke. Hours earlier, a power sub-station exploded in a burst of light captured by amateur photographers as a massive blackout left much of Manhattan, and some 500,000 homes across New York City, in darkness. The floodwaters had begun to recede early Tuesday, but the Con Edison power company said it could take a week to completely restore power.

Disaster estimating firm Eqecat forecast that Sandy would affect more than 60 million Americans, a fifth of the population, and cause up to $20 billion in damage. Refineries closed and major arteries such as New York’s Holland Tunnel were shut to traffic. The operator of two major New Jersey nuclear plants said they might have to be closed, threatening half of the state’s power supply.

The New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and the futures markets in Chicago were closed for Monday and Tuesday, along with federal government offices and the entire Amtrak rail network on the eastern seaboard. Obama urged Americans to heed local evacuation orders as he stepped off the campaign trail and spent the day in the White House helping to coordinate the response to the disaster. “The election will take care of itself next week,” Obama said. “Right now, our number one priority is to make sure that we are saving lives... and that we respond as quickly as possible to get the economy back on track.”

Both the Democratic incumbent and his Republican rival Romney were keen to display resolute leadership in the face of the storm, given the memory of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Romney also cancelled some campaign appearances.
Former president George W Bush was widely seen as having bungled the handling of Katrina, which devastated New Orleans. The failure of authorities in the ensuing emergency response tainted the rest of his presidency. The United Nations, which closed its headquarters in New York on Monday, has again cancelled all meetings and conferences scheduled for Tuesday because of the huge damage and disruptions.

In an attempt to lessen damage from saltwater to the subway system and the electrical network beneath the city’s financial district, New York City’s main utility cut power to about 6,500 customers in lower Manhattan. But a far wider swath of the city was hit with blackouts caused by flooding and transformer explosions. The surge hit New York City hours after a construction crane atop a luxury high-rise collapsed in the wind and dangled precariously 74 floors above the street. Forecasters said the wind at the top of the building may have been close to 95 mph. Airlines cancelled more than 12,000 flights, disrupting the plans of travellers all over the world.

Storm damage was projected at $10 billion to $20 billion, meaning it could prove to be one of the costliest natural disasters in US history. Ten deaths were reported in New Jersey, New York, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. Some of the victims were killed by falling trees. At least one death was blamed on the storm in Canada. “We are looking at the highest storm surges ever recorded” in the Northeast, said Jeff Masters, meteorology director for Weather Underground, a private forecasting service. “The energy of the storm surge is off the charts, basically.”

In Maryland, at least 100 feet of a fishing pier at the beach resort of Ocean City was destroyed, and Gov. Martin O’Malley said there would be devastating flooding from the swollen Chesapeake Bay. “There will be people who die and are killed in this storm,” he said. Meanwhile, two US nuclear power plants were shut down early Tuesday in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, but the plant operators stressed there were no risks to the public. New Jersey’s main power company PSEG Nuclear shut down its Salem 1 unit on the Delaware River, saying most of its water circulation pumps had been rendered unusable ‘due to weather impacts’.

PSEG said it manually shut down the 1,175 MW unit, but said there were “no issues” in the shutdown and the facility was “currently stable.” The Salem 2 unit was already offline for maintenance when the storm hit, and PSEG said another nearby nuclear unit, Hope Creek, remains operating at full power. In New York, power generator Entergy shut down a unit of its Indian Point nuclear facility “due to external electrical grid issues.” Another unit remained at full power, and Entergy said on Twitter that there was “no risk” to the public or company employees. Late Monday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said it was monitoring all plants in the US northeast as Sandy pushed up water levels in rivers and bays, which are crucial for cooling operations at the facilities.

The Oyster Creek plant in New Jersey, which was in a regularly scheduled outage when the storm hit, set off an alert when floodwaters exceeded a threshold set for its water intake facilities. Wet snow and high winds spinning off the edge of Superstorm Sandy spread blizzard conditions over parts of West Virginia and neighbouring Appalachian states Tuesday, shutting one interstate as trucks and cars bogged down and knocking out power to many. The National Weather Service said a foot and more of snow was reported in lower elevations of West Virginia, where most towns and roads are. High elevations in the mountains were getting more than two feet and a blizzard warning for parts of the state was in effect until Wednesday afternoon.

More than 205,000 customers in West Virginia were without power early Tuesday. In Elkins, a city of about 7,000 people, power went out across town before dawn and the only lights were from passing snow plows as heavy, wet flakes piled up to about 8 inches. Staff Reporter from Islamabad adds: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has directed Pakistan’s Ambassador to US Sherry Rehman and Counsel General in New York to reach out to Pakistani expatriates to tell them to stay vigilant and follow the safety precautions laid out by the US authorities after the devastation caused by the storm.

Accordingly, Pakistan Embassy and other missions a number of steps have been taken to stay in touch with expatriate Pakistanis in the affected States. The Embassy and the Consulate General have approached key Pakistani community members through phone and email and urged them to remain vigilant and take all necessary safety precautions as laid out by their respective district governments and to approach the nearest emergency centre whenever needed. According to the decision of the US Government to declare a State of emergency in Washington and to close all offices, the Embassy has also been closed. However, all the concerned staff is on standby to respond to any contingency if required.

Pakistan Cyber Force

America Destroyed by Sandy - 10 million+ Lose Electricity - States Reduced to Ruins

NEW YORK — President Barack Obama declared a major disaster in the New York City area Tuesday as Superstorm Sandy pounded the East Coast, killing at least 38 people, sweeping homes into the ocean, flooding large swaths of coastal areas, crippling public transit, and leaving more than 10 million without power. As the East Coast woke up, residents faced the prospect of up to a week without heat, light or refrigeration, while authorities tried to measure the full wrath of the once-in-a-generation hurricane.

The storm weakened as it moved further inland but forecasters still warned of gale-force winds and flooding along the densely-populated coast, where a massive fire broke out in New York City and a levee broke in New Jersey. At least 38 people were killed in the United States and Canada as the storm roared ashore late Monday, pounding several major cities with heavy rain and hurricane-force winds that toppled trees and ripped down power lines.

President Obama declared a ‘major disaster’ had hit the states of New York and New Jersey, an order that cleared the way for federal grants and loans to help storm victims acquire temporary housing and repair damage. Seawater coursed between the iconic skyscrapers of New York’s financial district in lower Manhattan, flooding subways and road tunnels and shorting out the power grid, leaving a half-million households and businesses in the dark.

Further south, the sea surged over vast swathes of the eastern seaboard, turning coastal cities into ghost towns as the high winds grounded flights and shut down rail links, public transport and government offices. The catastrophe completely overshadowed the US election race, forcing a halt to campaigning a week before Americans were due to go to the polls to choose between President Obama and challenger Mitt Romney.

Hurricane Sandy had killed 67 people as it tore through the Caribbean, and reports of more deaths began to arrive after it made landfall at 8:00 pm (0000 GMT) in New Jersey and began to wreak havoc in the United States. A massive fire destroyed at least 50 homes in Breezy Point, a seaside community in Queens, New York. Firefighters had difficulty reaching the blaze due to the severe weather. The cause of the fire was not immediately known. Authorities had ordered hundreds of thousands of residents in areas from New England to North Carolina to evacuate their homes and seek shelter, but many chose to stay on, to the frustration of police and local officials.

Falling trees tore down power cables, plunging what weather experts said were millions of homes into darkness, while storm warnings cut rail links and marooned tens of thousands of travellers at airports across the region. The hurricane sent a record storm surge of 13.7 feet into lower Manhattan, flooding seven major subway tunnels used by hundreds of thousands of daily commuters and swamping cars in the financial district. “The New York City subway system is 108 years old, but it has never faced a disaster as devastating as what we experienced last night,” city transport director Joseph Lhota said early Tuesday.

Firefighters meanwhile struggled to contain a massive blaze in the Queens borough that destroyed more than 50 homes, and in northern New Jersey police in boats pulled residents from second-storey windows after a levee broke. Hours earlier, a power sub-station exploded in a burst of light captured by amateur photographers as a massive blackout left much of Manhattan, and some 500,000 homes across New York City, in darkness. The floodwaters had begun to recede early Tuesday, but the Con Edison power company said it could take a week to completely restore power.

Disaster estimating firm Eqecat forecast that Sandy would affect more than 60 million Americans, a fifth of the population, and cause up to $20 billion in damage. Refineries closed and major arteries such as New York’s Holland Tunnel were shut to traffic. The operator of two major New Jersey nuclear plants said they might have to be closed, threatening half of the state’s power supply.

The New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and the futures markets in Chicago were closed for Monday and Tuesday, along with federal government offices and the entire Amtrak rail network on the eastern seaboard. Obama urged Americans to heed local evacuation orders as he stepped off the campaign trail and spent the day in the White House helping to coordinate the response to the disaster. “The election will take care of itself next week,” Obama said. “Right now, our number one priority is to make sure that we are saving lives... and that we respond as quickly as possible to get the economy back on track.”

Both the Democratic incumbent and his Republican rival Romney were keen to display resolute leadership in the face of the storm, given the memory of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Romney also cancelled some campaign appearances.
Former president George W Bush was widely seen as having bungled the handling of Katrina, which devastated New Orleans. The failure of authorities in the ensuing emergency response tainted the rest of his presidency. The United Nations, which closed its headquarters in New York on Monday, has again cancelled all meetings and conferences scheduled for Tuesday because of the huge damage and disruptions.

In an attempt to lessen damage from saltwater to the subway system and the electrical network beneath the city’s financial district, New York City’s main utility cut power to about 6,500 customers in lower Manhattan. But a far wider swath of the city was hit with blackouts caused by flooding and transformer explosions. The surge hit New York City hours after a construction crane atop a luxury high-rise collapsed in the wind and dangled precariously 74 floors above the street. Forecasters said the wind at the top of the building may have been close to 95 mph. Airlines cancelled more than 12,000 flights, disrupting the plans of travellers all over the world.

Storm damage was projected at $10 billion to $20 billion, meaning it could prove to be one of the costliest natural disasters in US history. Ten deaths were reported in New Jersey, New York, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. Some of the victims were killed by falling trees. At least one death was blamed on the storm in Canada. “We are looking at the highest storm surges ever recorded” in the Northeast, said Jeff Masters, meteorology director for Weather Underground, a private forecasting service. “The energy of the storm surge is off the charts, basically.”

In Maryland, at least 100 feet of a fishing pier at the beach resort of Ocean City was destroyed, and Gov. Martin O’Malley said there would be devastating flooding from the swollen Chesapeake Bay. “There will be people who die and are killed in this storm,” he said. Meanwhile, two US nuclear power plants were shut down early Tuesday in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, but the plant operators stressed there were no risks to the public. New Jersey’s main power company PSEG Nuclear shut down its Salem 1 unit on the Delaware River, saying most of its water circulation pumps had been rendered unusable ‘due to weather impacts’.

PSEG said it manually shut down the 1,175 MW unit, but said there were “no issues” in the shutdown and the facility was “currently stable.” The Salem 2 unit was already offline for maintenance when the storm hit, and PSEG said another nearby nuclear unit, Hope Creek, remains operating at full power. In New York, power generator Entergy shut down a unit of its Indian Point nuclear facility “due to external electrical grid issues.” Another unit remained at full power, and Entergy said on Twitter that there was “no risk” to the public or company employees. Late Monday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said it was monitoring all plants in the US northeast as Sandy pushed up water levels in rivers and bays, which are crucial for cooling operations at the facilities.

The Oyster Creek plant in New Jersey, which was in a regularly scheduled outage when the storm hit, set off an alert when floodwaters exceeded a threshold set for its water intake facilities. Wet snow and high winds spinning off the edge of Superstorm Sandy spread blizzard conditions over parts of West Virginia and neighbouring Appalachian states Tuesday, shutting one interstate as trucks and cars bogged down and knocking out power to many. The National Weather Service said a foot and more of snow was reported in lower elevations of West Virginia, where most towns and roads are. High elevations in the mountains were getting more than two feet and a blizzard warning for parts of the state was in effect until Wednesday afternoon.

More than 205,000 customers in West Virginia were without power early Tuesday. In Elkins, a city of about 7,000 people, power went out across town before dawn and the only lights were from passing snow plows as heavy, wet flakes piled up to about 8 inches. Staff Reporter from Islamabad adds: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has directed Pakistan’s Ambassador to US Sherry Rehman and Counsel General in New York to reach out to Pakistani expatriates to tell them to stay vigilant and follow the safety precautions laid out by the US authorities after the devastation caused by the storm.

Accordingly, Pakistan Embassy and other missions a number of steps have been taken to stay in touch with expatriate Pakistanis in the affected States. The Embassy and the Consulate General have approached key Pakistani community members through phone and email and urged them to remain vigilant and take all necessary safety precautions as laid out by their respective district governments and to approach the nearest emergency centre whenever needed. According to the decision of the US Government to declare a State of emergency in Washington and to close all offices, the Embassy has also been closed. However, all the concerned staff is on standby to respond to any contingency if required.

Pakistan Cyber Force

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Sandy Devastation: Alert declared for Oyster Creek Nuclear Plant

As we explained earlier today, the Oyster Creek plant in New Jersey is most likely to be affected by Hurricane Sandy.
At around 8:30 p.m. tonight, the USZ Nuclear Regulatory Commission declared an “Alert” action level for a nuclear power plant in Oyster Creek, New Jersey:
The USZ Nuclear Regulatory Commission is continuing to monitor impacts from Hurricane Sandy on nuclear power plants in the Northeastern United States, including an Alert declared at the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in New Jersey. The plant, currently in a regularly scheduled outage, declared the Alert at approximately 8:45 p.m. EDT due to water exceeding certain high water level criteria in the plant’s water intake structure.
An Alert is the second lowest of four NRC action levels. The Alert was preceded by an Unusual Event, declared at approximately 7 p.m. EDT when the water level first reached a minimum high water level criteria. Water level is rising in the intake structure due to a combination of a rising tide, wind direction and storm surge. It is anticipated water levels will begin to abate within the next several hours.
AP reports:
The plant’s owner, Exelon Corp., said power was also disrupted in the station’s switchyard, but backup diesel generators were providing stable power, with more than two weeks of fuel on hand.
And Reuters notes:
The NRC spokesman said if the flood waters continued to rise, it could affect the reactor’s service water pumps, which are used for shut-down cooling and to cool the spent-fuel pool.
Since the plant was already shut for refueling, the NRC spokesman said the company could use water from the fire hose to cool the spent-fuel pool if necessary.
See this for details on the spent fuel pools at Oyster Creek.
Update from Reuters:
Water levels at the plant rose by more than 6.5 feet, potentially affecting the pumps that circulate water through the plant, an NRC spokesman said.
***
A further rise to 7 feet [only 6 more inches?] could submerge the service water pump motor that is used to cool the water in the spent fuel pool.
The spokesman said the company could use water from a fire hose to cool the pool if necessary. The used uranium rods in the pool could cause the water to boil within 25 hours without additional coolant; in an extreme scenario the rods could overheat, risking the eventual release of radiation.
(InfoWars)
Pakistan Cyber Force

Missing Persons & Death Squads in Balochistan - Detailed Analysis

Amidst the murky environment in strife-torn Baluchistan, sudden appearance of Balochistan National Party (BNP) leader Akhtar Mengal from his self-imposed exile since 2009 was a surprise for many. He is relatively moderate and wants to settle grievances remaining within the framework of federation of Pakistan. Assurances given by Nawaz Sharif, Imran Khan, Jamaat-e-Islami and above all the tough stand taken by the Supreme Court against the Army and agencies and chief justice softness for the Baloch nationalists must have encouraged him to make a brief four-day sojourn. The apparent purpose of his short sojourn to Pakistan was to reinforce the case of missing persons taken up by the Supreme Court and to give out his loaded six-point plan, which he intends to play upon in the next general elections and reinvigorate Baloch nationalism at the cost of Army’s reputation.
 
He came out with a six-point program as a means to a political settlement, but it contained hints of secession. His six points are being viewed with mixed feelings both within the general public and the nationalist Baloch leaders. Those having apprehensions are drawing parallels with late Sheikh Mujibur Rehman’s six points which divided Pakistan. Even the military see him with suspicious eyes and is not sure of his motives since Mengal has been advocating right of self-determination for the Baloch. Those in favor argue that he has broken the ice and has given a political roadmap for reconciliation which helps in building trust between estranged Baloch and the government. 

Brahamdagh Bugti, Harbyar Marri and Suleiman Daood in exile in Geneva and London respectively along with other hard-line Baloch nationalist leaders are quite vexed and view it as a sellout to the government, and a blow to their separatist agenda. Even the Baloch Sardars in the government are feeling edgy that the nationalists allegedly backed by the establishment may snatch power from them. Talal Bugti led JWP and Mir Hasil Bizenjo led NP too are having reservations. Given the conflicting perceptions, Akhtar Mengal will not have a smooth sailing. Once Akhtar decides to take part in the forthcoming elections, his opponents will dub him as a collaborator. However, the Baloch nationalists are a house-divided and stand on a weak wicket. In response to Akhtar’s demands, the Chief Justice demanded that all missing persons should be produced before the court and all proxy death squads created by the ISI and MI should be disbanded. His directive implied that he had accepted Akhtar’s contention without being furnished proof.

Chief Justice’s stance together with the visit of UN team has encouraged vested groups and external power centres harboring ill-motives against Pakistan in general and Balochistan in particular to go-ahead with their agenda. Doom-Sayers say that the final act will be played before the departure of US-NATO troops from Afghanistan, and that the UNand the US will start making overt moves in 2013 leading to declaring Balochistan an "occupied area".

The trend of enforced disappearance and involuntary disappearances in South Asian states is an old one. In Nepal where Maoist rebels had battled government forces for over a decade was confronted with this issue. In Sri Lanka where Tamil Tigers fought a secessionist war for over 30 years had one of the highest levels of unresolved enforced disappearances in the world. Well over 10,000 enforced disappearances have taken place in Indian-occupied Kashmir. However, this issue has been blown up out of all proportions in Balochistan and the figure excessively bloated to over 14000. It is strange that despite JWP leader Talal Bugti furnishing a list of just 600 missing persons to the two-member UN team, the latter remained glued with the imaginary figures of 14000. The visitors who had come with preconceived notion took no interest in the evidence presented to them about most of the missing persons hiding in Farari camps both in the mountains of interior Balochistan and in neighboring province of Afghanistan but lent receptive ears to the imaginary tales narrated by foreign paid NGOs and vested interests. The initial assessment of the UN team given in the preliminary report in which the entire focus is on law enforcement agencies indicates a clear bias.

In 2008, the propaganda on missing persons was initiated and at that time it was claimed that 2390 persons were missing. Once the judicial commission took up the case the figure dropped to 392. By the close of 2010, the figure further slumped to 134. In March 2011, second judicial commission was formed to authenticate cases of 755 missing persons including 138 noted by the first commission. Out of 755 persons, 256 persons have been located. Investigations reveal that most of the missing persons are either underground, or involved in insurgency and in heinous crimes. Many have been killed in family or personal feuds. Evidence of several missing persons present in Farari camps in Baluchistan and in Afghanistan was presented to the UN Group but this aspect was not inscribed in the UN report. It has been gathered from some of the militants who managed to escape from Farari camps that those showing inclinations to give up militancy and return home are tortured to death by death squads of BLA, BRA, BLA under the supervision of CIA, RAW, MI-6, RAAM. They revealed that the killers wore FC uniform. It is also well known that Blackwater is also involved in mysterious killings of Baloch nationalists.

Moreover, among the 77 big and small Sardars of different tribes, bigger and powerful tribes like the Bugtis, Mengals and Marris are immersed in inter-tribal rivalry. They operate private militias and jails and have death squads. Fifty tribes in Balochistan are deeply involved in major feuds because of which 14 districts are restive. Among the Sardars, Khair Bux Marri remains the fiercest proponent of separatism. He also vehemently hates Punjabi settlers in Balochistan and now it is common strategy of the dissidents to rid the province of the presence of Punjabis. He was the only one who had refused to sign the 1973 constitution. Although majority of Sardars are pro-establishment and are in the government, most are involved in corrupt and criminal practices. They are least interested in running the government machinery, and have politicized the police and levies because of which, law and order has broken down in the province.

In 2011, 565 violent acts including murder took place in the troubled districts and the number rose to 1157 in 2012. During the last six years, 1400 settlers (Punjabis and Urdu speaking) have been killed. Under the obtaining volatile environments where the security forces and agencies are battling the foreign supported insurgents under adverse conditions and are the victims of terrorism, it is indeed preposterous to make an allegation that death squads are operating under ISI and MI. Military and intelligence agencies are not to prop up armed non-state actors but are mandated to identify, operate and nab terrorists.

A thorough probe should be conducted by an independent judicial commission to trace the real culprits. It will not be difficult for the investigators to ascertain the last destination from where and for what duration the calls on mobile phone were made by the victim. The Supreme Court needs to take cognizance of the tragic incident in Chamalang coalmines where a security party of 14 soldiers under the command of Maj Shehzad Amer providing protection to mine diggers belonging to different provinces was ambushed, the security members kidnapped and brutally killed. It was a pre-meditated act by foreign agents to undermine the highly successful Army’s project which has made the people of that impoverished region prosperous and educated. The judiciary and media should strengthen the hands of law enforcement agencies rather than discouraging them and encouraging the insurgents supported by foreign
agencies.

Written by Brig (r) Asif Haroon Raja

Pakistan Cyber Force

Monday, October 29, 2012

The need for an Internet Filtration System in Pakistan

Internet filtration system is a system that allows government to control what content an internet-user can view in a particular region. This system constitutes of latest technology computers and software that can block millions of URLs in a matter of few seconds. Pakistan has seen a big jump in the number of internet users over the last five years which has increased their vulnerability to unwanted information. The phrase "unwanted information" will need some elaboration and will be explained later on. Many parents and students have been demanding internet filtration system to be established after complaints of many kids being misled by propaganda machines and other explicit content but what made the authorities think of having one such system was the easy access of users to porn as well as blasphemous content.


Three times in the recent history, Pakistan authorities have blocked websites containing blasphemous content including Facebook, Google, YouTube and few other websites having large number of users. The first move was taken in 2008 when a Danish cartoonist drew few blasphemous cartoons that spurred a layer of anger across the globe among Muslim community. Second action was taken by Pakistan government in May 2010 due to an infamous event "Draw Muhammad Day" taking place on Facebook. Pakistan authorities blocked Facebook, Google and YouTube which forced them to remove such content. While the third move has been taken recently when the government blocked YouTube for featuring a blasphemous movie "Innocence of Muslims".

Though YouTube has been blocked, we have seen how unaffective the current Internet Blocking System of Pakistan is as many people are still able to access YouTube despite the blockade. Moreover, the present blocking system has reduced the internet speed of many users considerably which indicates huge flaws in the existing system and hence it makes the need of new Internet Filtration System more evident. With an Internet Filtration System in place, these flaws can be overcome and users can be provided safe-browsing.

Lets come to the criticism that this system is facing from some factions under the label of "Internet Censorship". Many say that everyone has the right to view anything he wants and hence no one can interfere in anyone's 'personal' matters. Yes, I totally agree to the notion of right of viewing anything in this age of information but no one can give you the right to do wrong. Porn is a wrong and unlawful thing and is considered wrong worldwide. A porn artist will never say that he is doing something right. A parent will never want his child to ruin his life by being addicted to porn. If you give child the 'right' to view porn, then you will also have to give thief the right to steal. Both are crimes and crime is always dealt with iron hand. Every country has a law that stops her citizens from viewing or transmitting pornographic and explicit content. In US for example, you cannot legally view porn till you are less than 18. That's their law and we being an Islamic Republic should have ours. Lets not forget that Google, the most widely used Search Engine has its own in-built filtration system that filters the content for its users.

The next argument that is most commonly used to oppose Internet Filtration System is that government can use it for political gains as well and filter the content that is not according to their agenda. Well, this is totally a different debate. A knife can be used for cutting vegetables as well as for killing someone, that doesn't make the knife anything wrong. We don't want an Internet Filtration System like that of Cuba where if using a government net cafe, you write a keyword that is not allowed, your computer will turn off automatically and you will be issued warning by the state. If a government uses a good thing for their evil designs, that doesn't make that good thing evil. Pressure can be put on government to make a complete legislation to make it clear what content will be blocked. With free judiciary in place, anyone should be able to challenge government for blocking something that is not mentioned in that particular legislation. Where there is a will, there is a way. So this argument becomes merely bogus and the Internet Filtration System cannot be rejected just because a minority is afraid of promulgation of Islamic Laws in Pakistan.
Only a single citizen, Ghazi Muhammad Abdullah has sent PTA, a total of 780,000 URLs containing porn or explicit content but PTA has been able to block only a few thousands. There are also a lot of anti-state elements propagating material against the state which also requires blocking before it reach our children and brainwash them making them useless citizens or a hazard for the society killing its peace. To us the right to view anything is not important, the innocence of our children is. This is the best gift we can give them.
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Pakistan Cyber Force

Al-Qaeda controlled, manipulated by America, Israhell


A political analyst says the al-Qaeda (Al-CIA-Da) mercenaries in Syria are manipulated by the USZ and Israhell into spreading sectarianism in the Middle East, Press TV reports.

“Al-Qaeda (Al-CIA-Da) is really a manipulated group that serves to smear Islam. It’s created a negative brand name that only about seven percent of Muslims like, and the other 90 percent-plus don’t like. It’s destabilizing the Middle East on behalf of the Zionism and the USZ empire,” said author and Islamic Studies expert Kevin Barrett.

“These people are tasked by the Zionist and the [USZ] empire with spreading sectarianism in the Muslim world; that is breaking up Muslim countries into different sects and different nationalities,” he added.

Referring to the Syrian insurgents’ violation of the temporary ceasefire in the Arab country, Barrett said the al-Qaeda (Al-CIA-Da) is trying to destabilize the situation by supporting the foreign-backed insurgents.

“That’s exactly the... Israhelli plan, to destroy the Middle East by breaking it into tiny little pieces along ethnic and sectarian lines,” he said. “That’s exactly what these al-Qaeda
(Al-CIA-Da) people are working for. If one didn’t know better, one would think al-Qaeda (Al-CIA-Da) was a brand invented by the Israhellis themselves.”

The four-day ceasefire, which was brokered by UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha (Feast of Sacrifice), took effect on Friday.

The Syrian army has said that it is fully committed to the truce but will respond to attacks by armed groups that were in violation of the ceasefire. The Syrian army had repeatedly warned that it would react if armed groups carried out attacks or reinforced their positions, or if fighters crossed into the country.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011. Many people, including large numbers of security forces, have been killed in the violence.

(Press TV)
Mildly edited by Pakistan Cyber Force Web Desk
Pakistan Cyber Force

French Chemical Firm Successfully turns Water into Gold

A Magpie Polymers employee on a research experiment
of recovering traces of precious metals (gold,
platinum) contained in industrial process water,
mainly from the electronical recycling industry.
(AFP Photo / Mark Preel)
A small company near Paris has pioneered technology which can "turn water into gold." Other precious metals such as platinum, palladium and rhodium can also be extracted using the same methods. Magpie Polymers, based 80 kilometers southeast of Paris, has developed the technology from a procedure perfected by the prestigious Swiss Ecole Polytechnique in 2007.

The process uses tiny pellets of plastic resin though which waste water is pumped. Gold, platinum and other precious metals gradually stick to the pellets and are in this way separated from the waste water. A single liter of this patented resin can treat five to ten cubic meters of waste water and recover 50 to 100 grams of precious metal, which according to Magpie is equivalent to 3,000 to 5,000 euro in value.

Dutchman Steve van Zutphen, who co-founded Magpie Polymers last year with Frenchman Etienne Almoric, explained to Agence France-Presse, “We leave only a microgram per liter; it’s the equivalent of a sugar lump in an Olympic swimming pool.” Precious metals are contained in small amounts in many everyday products, such as mobile phones and catalytic converters.  But once these objects are scrapped, the problem lies in retrieving the particles of precious metals.

Once they have been separated and crushed, some industrial waste products have to be dissolved with acid in water. Then the metals in the water have to be recovered, regardless of their value. “What is complicated is the amounts are infinitesimal, so hard to recover,” Van Zupten explained. “There are many technologies to get metal from water that have existed since the nineteenth century. But there comes a moment when existing technologies are no longer effective, or become too expensive,” he continued.

The entrepreneurs are already looking to the “refining” market – specialists in the recovery of precious metals, like the Anglo-French company Cookson-clal. But they are also hoping their technology may be of interest to mining firms or large water treatment companies such as the French Suez Environment. As demand for precious metals increases, combined with increasing shortages – platinum mines are becoming exhausted and half the platinum used worldwide is already recycled – prices have soared. Their timing could not be better.

Magpie’s innovative technology can also be used to leach out harmful but more common metals such as lead, cobalt or copper. But as of yet, nobody wants to pay for metals like these. However, tougher environmental standards, which would further tighten the rules for the recovery of waste metal, could further add strength to Magpie’s business. The ambitious new company has just taken on six staff, and hopes for a turnover of nearly a million euro next year and 15 million more in four years’ time.
(RT)
Pakistan Cyber Force

Bankrupt UK denies American request to use UK bases in Nuke Standoff with Iran

Britain has rejected USZ requests to station troops at strategic military bases, citing secret legal advice which states that complicity in any pre-emptive strike on Iran could breach international law.

The Guardian has learnt that USZ diplomats have been lobbying for the use of British bases in Cyprus, and for permission to send air crews to American bases on Ascension Island in the Atlantic and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, both of which are territories under British control.

These approaches mark the cautious beginnings of a Western military standoff with Iran, though so far British officials have refused to become drawn into debate. Ministers referred USZ officials to initial drafts of legal advice prepared by the attorney general's office.

These documents,  circulated throughout Downing Street, the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defence, provide a clear official position. Tehran does  not currently represent "a clear and present threat" and enabling any forces to  use force in the region would break international codes of conduct.

Speaking to The Guardian, a senior Whitehall source said, "The UK would be in breach of international law if it facilitated what amounted to a pre-emptive strike on Iran,"  "It is explicit. The government has been using this to push back against the Americans."

The UK would only become involved if full-blown conflict had clearly already begun in the region, government officials said. This remains a possibility, with Israeli premier Binyamin Netanyahu warning the UN general assembly last month that Iran could be producing weapons-grade uranium by "next spring, at most by next summer". There appears to be a sense that a strike against Iranian nuclear facilities could delay or prevent the country from developing  a nuclear weapon.

Government figures appear reticent to be drawn into conflict, though the Royal Navy has a significant number of vessels located in the Gulf as a precautionary measure, should current diplomatic channels break down.

"It is quite likely that if the Israelis decided to attack Iran, or the Americans felt they had to do it for the Israelis or in support of them, the [British] would not be told beforehand," one official said to the newspaper. "In some respects, the U.K. government would prefer it that way." Iran denies its nuclear efforts are anything other than peaceful activities.

Pakistan Cyber Force

Sunday, October 28, 2012

The life of a soldier - Tribute

Standing in the soul-shivering cold with a determination to serve the homeland and gaurd it against any physical aggression, a soldier reminds his mother advising him in his early youth not to let down the green flag ever in his life. He feels the warmth of the words of his mother in that hard cold weather which is his only motivation against the fears popping up in his heart. He knows that his fiancee is waiting for him back in his village to be married to him but the pushing force behind his ultimate determination is his urge of getting the triumph of dying for his motherland for he knows that his life is worthless in front of the great duty he has been handed over.
The soldier feels the pride of lifting the whole nation on his tough shoulders as his chest is the first barrier between his enemies and and his nation. He doesn't care whether his chest will be decorated with medals after his soul departs nor does he want any valuable reward. His only gain is his satisfaction of conscience in this battle of life and death as no one sheds his life for few medals and wordly rewards.
The mother of a soldier sheds tears for her son every night and prays to Lord for his safety but she never prays for her son to be called back from the battlefield, she never complains, she never desires. She knows the worth of the mission that her son has been assigned and after shedding tears she shuts her eyes gently with pride. She thanks the Almighty for choosing her son for this sacred job.
The soldier's younger sister remembers the days when they were little and used to play together in the village's playground. She recalls the golden moments spent with her brother looking at the sky full of stars and wishes that her brother can be with her right now, but suddenly coming out of the cloud of memories she realizes that her brother is in the severity of weather gaurding millions of sisters like her so they can dream of a sparkling future. Her sadness turns into pride and taking a long breath, she thanks the Almighty for assigning this noble duty to her brother.
A soldier never regrets his decision to serve the land. He beats the severe conditions with his remarkable power of endurance for he is persistent to defend the land where he grew up. His friends are in the quest of building their professional career but he knows that he and his comrades on the battlefield are the chosen and lucky ones to be there as very few qualify the merit of the position he holds. Not many dream of having his position, because everyone doesn't know the worth of being a soldiers, the saviour of the nation.
The soldier sheds tears realizing that some of his countrymen play in the hands of his enemies and malign his noble position and cause. But his heart gains the strength knowing that majority of his nation is backing him. He recalls the love and affection he recieved back in his village from his relatives to shun the bad thoughts and hopes that his misled countrymen will also enchant slogans in his favor once they are guided to the right path. The sun was rising and the soldier was feeling happy when he heard the call of his mate who was next on duty. The soldier offers the morning prayers and goes into his bunker for a well-deserved sleeping hoping that his sleep will not be spoiled as it was continously spoiled for the last one week due to heavy clashes with enemies.
We are soldiers, Don't love us as we die young!
Pakistan Army Zindabad!
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Pakistan Cyber Force

Burma’s Leader Admits Deadly Attacks on Muslims


A satellite image of Kyaukpyu on 9 March. Click to see image showing scale of destruction. Photograph: Human Rights Watch Burma's president has admitted an unprecedented wave of ethnic violence has targeted his country's Rohingya Muslim population, destroying whole villages and large parts of towns.


Thein Sein's acknowledgement follows the release of satellite images showing the severe scale of the destruction in one coastal town, where most – if not all – of the Muslim population appears to have been displaced and their homes destroyed. The pictures, acquired by Human Rights Watchshow destruction to the coastal town of Kyaukpyu in the country's west. They reveal an area of destruction 35 acres in size in which some 811 buildings and boats have been destroyed.

The images confirm reports of an orgy of destruction in the town which occurred in a 24-hour period in the middle of last week after violence in the province broke out again on 21 October. The attacks in Arakan province in the country's west – also known as Rakhine – appears to have been part of a wave of communal violence pitting Arakan Buddhists against Muslims that has hit five separate towns and displaced thousands of people.

"There have been incidents of whole villages and parts of the towns being burned down in Arakan state," Thein Sein's spokesman said. A government spokesman put the death toll up until Friday at 112. But within hours state media revised it to 67 killed from 21-25 October, with 95 wounded and nearly 3,000 houses destroyed. The president's comments followed a warning from the office of the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, that ethnic violence was endangering political progress in Burma.

"The vigilante attacks, targeted threats and extremist rhetoric must be stopped. If this is not done … the reform and opening-up process being currently pursued by the government is likely to be jeopardised," the statement said. The Burmese government is struggling to contain ethnic and religious tensions suppressed during nearly half a century of military rule that ended last year. Inter-ethnic violence broke out earlier this year, triggered by the rape and murder of a Buddhist woman by three Muslim men.

Releasing the satellite images, Human Rights Watch said it had identified 633 buildings and 178 houseboats and floating barges which were destroyed in an area occupied predominantly by Rohingya. A committee of MPs led by the Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi called on Friday for security reinforcements and swift legal action against those behind the killings and destruction. According to Reuters, dozens of boats full of Rohingyas with no food or water fled Kyaukpyu, an industrial zone important to China, and other recent hotspots and were seeking access on Friday to overcrowded refugee camps around the state capital, Sittwe.

Some 3,000 Rohingya were reported to have been blocked from reaching Sittwe by government forces and landed on a nearby island. "These latest incidents between Muslim Rohingyas and Buddhists demonstrate how urgent it is that the authorities intervene to protect everyone, and break the cycle of discrimination and violence," Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific deputy director, Isabelle Arradon, said.

The latest violence erupted as a Burmese website in Norway – the Democratic Voice of Burma – reported it had acquired a document by a group calling itself the All-Arakanese Monks' Solidarity Conference. calling for all Rohingya to be expelled from the country. "Burma's government urgently needs to provide security for the Rohingya in Arakan state, who are under vicious attack," said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Unless the authorities also start addressing the root causes of the violence, it is only likely to get worse."

Human Rights Watch fears the death toll is far higher, based on allegations from witnesses fleeing scenes of carnage and the government's well-documented history of underestimating figures that might lead to criticism of the state. The Rohingya are officially stateless. Buddhist-majority Burma's government regards the estimated 800,000 of them in the country as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, and not as one of the country's 135 official ethnic groups, and denies them citizenship. But many of those expelled from Kyaukpyu are not Rohingya but Muslims from the officially recognised Kaman minority, said Chris Lewa, director of the Rohingya advocacy group, Arakan Project.

"It's not just anti-Rohingya violence anymore, it's anti-Muslim," she said. It was unclear what set off the latest arson and killing on Sunday.


(the Guardian)
Pakistan Cyber Force