Army Sorry For Collateral Damage In Swat
DAWN reports the military apologized for the civilian casualties in Swat and adjoining areas, saying that the security forces were exercising all possible care to avoid collateral damage during the ongoing counter insurgency operation Rah-e-Rast.
It is difficult to understand if civilian casualties and collateral damage is inevitable then why 2.5 million people are displaced from their homes?
Image Source: DAWN
Other posts by Kashif Aziz
- Taliban of Punjab Police - March 3rd, 2010
- Chile Earthquake, Hawaii Tsunami and Social Media - February 28th, 2010
- President Zardari apologized for childbirth in rickshaw - February 26th, 2010
- Reason of Traffic Jams in Karachi - February 19th, 2010
- Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, Top Most Taliban Leader Caught in Karachi - February 16th, 2010
- PTCL Launches Largest Data Center of Pakistan - February 15th, 2010
- Reflections On Twin Blasts in Karachi - February 6th, 2010
- Aafia Siddiqui convicted, may be sentenced for 60 years - February 4th, 2010
- Dawn News going down the Drain? - January 30th, 2010
- Has Karachi Gone To Dogs? - January 27th, 2010
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May 29th, 2009 05:50 GMT
To All: Correction. The movie is entitled THE DAY AFTER. 1983, Actor Jason Robards plays a doctor in the days following a world-wide nuclear war. I believe this flick is a must-see for everyone living today.
May 29th, 2009 03:14 GMT
To Mohammad Yusha:
Hi, Mohammad: Insha Allah. I stand corrected, and thank you. I must have gotten Allah Enshe from an Iranian, a fellow student or professor, long ago.
On profanity, I have a theory. I was once in the Navy, where I learned how to swear well enough to peel paint. I think sailors swear so much because there are so many men jammed together in a small space that they do it to stiffarm each other against unnatural approaches. (Beware a sailor (or soldier) who does not swear!) Girls don’t like swearing because, for the same reason, they feel that you are stiff-arming them, which they take as an insult if they care even a little bit.
There is an unofficial naval version of the Star-Spangled Banner, our national anthem, which includes the insertion of an obscene adjective before each noun and verb and which, sung smoothly, is hilarious.
Oh, yeah, on the other matter you were discussing elsewhere, why don’t you draw a six-inch circle on the wall about a meter off the floor, and see if you can hit it from a meter away, or better yet, two meters away. Then you’ll know you’re a MONLY MON!! Ha-haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!
To All: I have really enjoyed sharing ideas with you on this blog, and learning a little bit about my fellow human beings in Pakistan, and look forward to more when we have all caught our breath, so to speak.
May 28th, 2009 15:18 GMT
Hi, Kashif: International deal-making is hardball business, and to get something you have to give something, so I agree, America probably isn’t doing whatever it’s doing solely for Pakistan’s sake, BUT I don’t think the dealings are as difficult as they might be, because I believe there’s a lot of mutual respect at work.
I lived through all but the first few years of the cold war, and can’t honestly say I ever felt humiliated by anything the Russians ever did. True, they were formidable opponents who really had us going a few times, but I think the only technology they ever produced that was really better than ours was the Kalashnikov rifle, which, simply built as it is, withstands abuse in the dirt far better than the Colt, which shoots flatter to 400 meters but doesn’t hit as hard at long range. In the hi-tech stuff I believe ours was usually ahead of theirs by a safe margin.
I don’t know enough about the pipeline stuff to say anything intelligent about it.
The only way to avoid atrocities in war is for everyone to just go home. Don’t hold your breath.
Pakistan’s nukes are Pakistan’s nukes, and our nukes are ours. If either country were the only one who had them, it might be possible to give them up, but that’s not the case and not likely even if it were. Assuming the damn things have to exist at all, it’s better that a plurality of nations have them to counterbalance each other against one’s slightly mistaken risk assessment. As it is, the first country to launch one in anger could easily be the recipient of many from everyone else, real quick-like. I do hope you’ll give the world’s nuclear leaders credit for having some sense, otherwise you’ll never sleep. They don’t want to someday crawl out of their holes to see nothing but ruins over the whole planet, either. Check out the movie THE MORNING AFTER if you haven’t already seen it.
May 28th, 2009 12:35 GMT
Hmm…lots have been said. Firstly, i fully agree with brother Kashif…well he has replied most things so that has saved me some typing…
hmm…and General thank you for all due respect
…but im wondering in what context did you take my statements??
I believe that the US should stop butting into other’s problem…whenever they ‘openly’ step in the bad situation turns worse. please mind your own country.
and mr spratt dont worry about my safety…if you start worrying about my safety how will you be able to carry your drone attacks, hmm? please be rational and not emtional…carry on your great deeds.
the taliban behead us, as you say (btw i never heard of a case in which they throw people into bags…in surely was hilarious imaginging it, though), and the US carry drone attacks on us…dearie, we are sandwiched!
you are telling me to choose a killer between the two…would i like a Wetserner killer or an Easterner?
Gosh, both the choices are so tempting, forgive me for not being able to come to any conclusion…
general, people die in wars, sure thing..but have you heard of things done before initiating the war? does evacuation ring a bell?
as for people of parachinar beign mroe brave an dready to fight them and swat residents scared…….if teh government was efficient no one would be scared of outside forces..get it?
and as far as i know these forces have been a result of government’s own fault and own wicked purposes…you have every right to disagree…no pressure…
and kindly read my statements carefully before overusing ur brain power, with ALL DUE RESPECT
May 28th, 2009 11:07 GMT
@James: I do not mean the alliance to be unnatural because of religion. It is so because of the fact that US has no real intention of helping Pakistan for the sake of it. USA entered the region to counter USSR’s attempts of reaching Arabian Sea and to reply to the humiliation it was receiving in the cold war. Accept it. USSR was way ahead of American in terms of technology.
Now, USSR is gone but America wants to stay in the region. So it supported the creation of Taliban, thinking they would protect its interests in the oil pipelines (UNOCAL). Unfortunately, Taliban refused to go with this, hence 9/11 and their regime was toppled.
I hope you have some justification for US atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as drone attacks on Pakistan that are killing more civilians than alleged militants.
You want us to let go for our nuclear capability? Why America has it? Why not freeze your nukes first? You understand the language of might alone and can’t do a thing to nations like North Kore, Cuba and Venezuela.
May 28th, 2009 10:05 GMT
Momina —
with all due respect (and i mean it, literally, with ALL DUE RESPECT) please start being rational and thinking before you type
First and foremost, we can’t just do the typical thing that we are known for —- blaming others and diffusing the responsibility elsewhere. Yes I agree, American foreign policy has been short-sighted. The USA is partly responsible for the present situation in Afghanistan (and by default, Pakistan).
But we also need to get our acts together and unite against the extremists. What Islam allows the bombing of Mosques, the discrimination of sects, the destruction of girls schools and other vicious behaviour like forcing men to grow beards and forcing women to wear those UGLY burqas (which i despise).
You are a woman….do you want taleban in this country? Because I sure as hell dont. And as long as I’m breathing and I have enough rounds in the magazine of my MP-5 submachine gun with hollow-point 9 mm NATO standard rounds — I just dont give a flying damn what happens as long as I stop these taleban poison.
Ironically, the same civlians which taleban used to harass and behead — now taleban are begging for them to return. The taleban are now FORCING barbers to SHAVE their beards so that they can blend in with the public. Cowards. Pure cowards.
And yes — the Army is genuinely sorry for any collateral damage. This is a WAR Momina. Not a war which Pakistan asked to get into. But this is the REALITY. In war, people die!!
There is a reason why the Army imposed curfews, so that residents would not be at risk of cross-fire. I myself come from the tribal areas (Kurram Agency, village is Parachinar).
From the beginning, taleban were always forced to run away like sheep when they tried entering our valleys. I mean, you should have seen them running away. Whereas in Swat, the people were too scared to resist. We should focus on the public, and invest more in them. They are the ones who must ensure that taleban are crushed.
We are seeing the good results of Army Operations. And whether you like it or not, they shall keep going on until every last taleban is on the ground breathing their last breaths.
God bless Pakistan.
Death to all the ill-wishers and enemies of Republic of Pakistan
How did the Taliban come into being?
If soldier considers killing a single member of enemy forces weighs more than the life of hundreds of innocent civilians…then such a soldier is worse enemy to the country
May 28th, 2009 09:43 GMT
To Kashif: Do you mean that the Taliban creators/supporters resent that the USA and Pakistan are friends–is that the “unnatural alliance?” Of Muslim and non-Muslim seeing eye-to-eye? If that’s what you mean, yes, I can see that.
It follows that most of the Taliban come from the countries where an edgier version of Islam is practiced. Look at how they behave towards women, which seems to be a key point.
I’ve a feeling that the Pakistani authorities were willing to give the Taliban a chance to show merit, possibly truly hoping that they would, for the sake of the rest of the Islamic world and Islam itself. But when they demonstrated that they would not hold up their end of the bargain, even with their brothers in Islam, and could not be trusted not to threaten the sovereignty of the nation, Pakistan had to act. Some sluggishness of reaction in light of these mixed feelings is understandable.
There’s another side to this, and that is that possession of nuclear weapons is a very sobering experience, similar perhaps to an individual’s obtaining a gun for the first time when they contemplate actually having to use it, and what happens after that. All the dynamics change when the nuke-want-to-be-owner country suddenly becomes a real owner, and what seemed important before suddenly looks much different; whereas you formerly worshiped God from far below, now He trusts you with some of His power, and you can bet it’s a heavy responsibility for leaders, who can only be very intelligent people, to bear. Scare you right back into praying again, with heartfelt sincerity, because you now understand much more clearly where God is coming from, and you must make darn sure that the kids or criminals (good ol’ you-know-who) don’t get their hands on that gun.
The US, Russia and China and some other countries just went through forty years of Cold War, exploring bomb ownership very, very thoroughly, and I do believe they’ve all decided that there’s gotta be a better way. There were some very close calls, and the world was saved several times by a few heroic men who stuck their necks out at critical moments. South Africa had the bomb and gave it up; I guess someone thought it was just too much to handle.
When I was a kid in the fifties, at the height of the cold war, we used to have atom bomb drills at our school. The bell would ring hard and long all of a sudden and we would all have to hide under our tables with our faces on the floor and our arms over our heads, curled up with our legs under us. All this meant was that, in the event of a real nuclear attack, our little eight-year-old butts would be blown off about a nano-second sooner than the rest of us. It was great training.
So, y’see, Pakistan’s all grown up now. Welcome to the real world. Would you like to be friends? I’d like that.