A tank driver lost Pakistan the warDaily Khabrain quoted from the memoir of PMLN leader Javed Hashmi Han main Baghi Hun to say that Pakistan lost the 1965 war because a Pakistani tank driver pushed the clutch and allowed his tank to break the bridge at Khem Karan. That gave India the opportunity to breach the canal and flood the plain where the Pakistani tanks got bogged down.
South Waziristan was bribed by Al Qaeda
According to daily Pakistan the Wazir and Mehsud tribes of South Waziristan were fighting against Pakistan army after being paid by Al Qaeda. When the rebels decided to make a peace deal with the Pakistan army they brought up the problem of the money taken from Al Qaeda which now had to be paid back. Five warriors who laid down arms wanted Rs 17 crore but the government finally gave them Rs 15 crore to repay Al Qaeda. One out of the five who could not get anything was still on the warpath. Baitullah Mehsud was also said to have received money from the government.
Khair Baksh Marri and BLA
According to Nawa-e-Waqt DIG Quetta held a press conference saying that the police had arrested one Hassan Marri and caught him with 120 kg of explosive powder. He also had a bank account with Rs 3.5 crore in it. His bag contained letters written to and for Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA). The man was one of the bodyguards of Nawab Khair Baksh Marri and had many photographs snapped with the Nawab. The DIG said that the BLA was no bigger than a couple of dozen men who were being organised internally and helped by a power outside which could not yet be named. Hassan Marri was caught inside Marri territory living in a castle-like house.
Pakistan fascinated by its own faeces?
Humourist Ataul Haq Qasimi narrated in Jang a hikayat from Maulana Rum about a horse that was well-bred, fast and good to look at, but had the blemish of stopping and smelling its own shit. While galloping in the most attractive style it would stop, relieve itself and then become fascinated by the results. The owner hired another man to ride behind him and whip the horse whenever it stopped to admire his own shit. This worked for some time but once the extra rider went away, the horse looked back and finding no one there resumed the practice of shitting and smelling the results. The columnist came to the conclusion that Rumi's parable was about Pakistan which behaved well only temporarily but once the back-rider with a whip was removed it went back to defecating and being fascinated by its own shit.
What Balochistan gets
Columnist Irshad Haqqani quoted an ex-commissioner Sibi in Jang saying that Balochistan received Rs 5 billion as royalty for gas which went straight into the Provincial Consolidated Fund and did not go to any tribe or sardar. On the other hand, the gas company PPL was paying for the use of the land where it had its machine and pipes spread around in hundreds of kilometres. Dera Bugti had the following areas covered by the PPL assets: Uchch, Pirkoh and Loi. The Bugti tribes who received this rental annually were: Raeja, Pirozani, Chandarani, Notani, etc. (Nawab Akbar Bugti belongs to the Raeja sub-tribe.) When the money reached the ordinary tribal it was not very much.
Filmstar Mira in 'trubbel'
Reported by Jang, Pakistan's foremost film star actress Mira was receiving death threats from various quarters for acting in a 'shameless' manner in an Indian film. She was acting in Mahesh Bhatt's film titled Nazar and had to dance around with a Hindu actor named Patel. While dancing she was also shown becoming quite intimate with the Hindu actor. The threats to her were based on Islamic objections. Mira requested Bhatt to cut out the intimate scenes but he refused. Mira does routine intimate scenes with Muslim actors. According to Khabrain, dancer Nargis failed to appear in a court in Gujranwala to hear charges of fahashi (obscenity) and was issued warrants for arrest by the magistrate. Nawa-e-Waqt wrote that Mira doing compromising scenes with Patel had married twice while her mother was about to announce her fifth marriage. Mira had divorced twice but pretended to be a virgin.
Bharat and America versus Gwadar
Writing in Jang, Javed Qureshi stated that Gwadar was being built in Pakistan by the Chinese. For their own reasons, India and America did not want the port to be built. Both feared that China's influence in Balochistan would increase as a result. America had also started another campaign in tandem with this: it had accused AQ Khan of more illegal contacts among the Arab states.
Say no to Iranian pipeline!
Daily Nawa-e-Waqt editorialised that the people of Pakistan were greatly incensed at the project of Iranian gas pipeline transiting through Pakistan to India. The paper said it was folly on the part of the petroleum minister Jadoon to welcome the Indian request to discuss the pipeline for increasing its diameter from 20 inches to 40 inches. The editorial said that Pakistan should not betray its Kashmir policy for the sale of $500 million that it expected to get from the transit pipeline. Pakistan should think of Kashmir which the Indians were unwilling to discuss and the dams they were building to make Pakistan go dry. The pipeline would allow India to become prosperous while Pakistan would get only $500 million.