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India-Pakistan
Musharraf leaves for China today
2006-06-12
Posted by:Fred

#7  Apparently some shias were quite interested in the reports that Osama had entered Pakistani Kashmir. They have not forgotten or forgiven the pogrom. They will Perv or Osama if they get the chance.

Posted by: john   2006-06-12 22:11  

#6  How much better off the world would have been had the Shia gotten Osama bin Laden as well. On the other hand, we might then still not be aware we are at war...
Posted by: trailing wife   2006-06-12 21:58  

#5  There was a massacre of hundreds of Shias of Gilgit in the Northern Areas (NA) of Pakistan (before 1947 called the Northern Areas of Jammu & Kashmir) in 1988 following a demand raised by them for the creation of an autonomous Shia state to be called the Karakoram State, consisting of the Shia majority areas of the NA, Punjab and the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP). Gen. Zia-ul-Haq, then in power, had the massacre carried out through Osama bin Laden, then living in Peshawar, and his Sunni tribal hordes.

In May,1988, the Shias, who are in a majority in Gilgit, rose in revolt against the Sunni-dominated
administration. Zia put an SSG group commanded by Gen. Musharraf in charge of suppressing the revolt.
Gen. Musharraf transported a large number of Wahabi Pakhtoon tribesmen from the NWFP and Afghanistan, commanded by bin Laden, to Gilgit to teach the Shias a lesson. These tribesmen under bin Laden massacred hundreds of Shias.

To avenge this, a Shia airman was believed to have caused an explosion on board the aircraft in which Zia was travelling from Bahawalpur to Islamabad in August 1988. This was followed in 1991 by the assassination of Lt.Gen.Fazle Haq, then in retirement, at Peshawar by a Shia gunman.
Posted by: john   2006-06-12 16:34  

#4  Actually, it was a mid-air explosion:
http://www.storyofpakistan.com/articletext.asp?artid=A112
You know how those C-130s are prone to that. Happens every day.
Posted by: Darrell   2006-06-12 16:01  

#3  it was a premature landing, John :-)
Posted by: Frank G   2006-06-12 15:38  

#2  He has appointed General Durrani as new US ambassador. That will keep him safe for a little while.

It was General Durrani who called up the dictator General Zia Ul Haq several times, insisting that he attend the M1 Abrams demo trials. He convinced Zia to go. Of course, Zia did not return, his plane experiencing controlled flight into terrain.
Posted by: john   2006-06-12 14:50  

#1  Anyone want to place bets on when his plane will crash?

MMA would just love to get their greasy hands on the country's nuke arsenal.
Posted by: bigjim-ky   2006-06-12 09:19  

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