#Pakistani soldiers killed

[rightnewshindi]

बलूच लिबरेशन आर्मी ने मार गिराए 102 पाकिस्तानी सैनिक, शिविरों में घुसकर मचाया मौत का तांडव

Pakistan News: पाकिस्तान में बलूचिस्तान में बलूच लिबरेशन आर्मी का उग्र प्रदर्शन बढ़ता ही जा रही है. अब खबर आई है कि इन बलूच आर्मी ने पाकिस्तान के 102 सैनिकों को रातों रात मौत के घाट उतार दिया. बलूच लिबरेशन आर्मी की आधिकारिक रिपोर्ट के मुताबिक इतनी बड़ी संख्या में पाक सैनिकों की मौतों की जिम्मेदारी भी बलूच लिबरेशन आर्मी (बीएलए) ने ले ली है. बलूच लिबरेशन आर्मी की तरफ से जारी प्रेस रिलीज की…

[banglakhobor]

পাকিস্তানি সেনাদের কচুকাটা করছে তালিবান! বদলা নেওয়ার হুমকি পাক সেনাপ্রধানের

বালুচিস্তান: আমেরিকান সেনা আফগানিস্তান ছাড়ার পর থেকেই অল্প অল্প করে পাকিস্তানি সেনার ওপর আক্রমণ বাড়িয়েছিল আফগানিস্তান। গত দেড় মাসে এই আক্রমণের সংখ্যা অনেক বেশি হয়ে গিয়েছে। জায়গায় জায়গায় আফগান তালিবানের হাতে প্রাণ হারাচ্ছে পাকিস্তানি সেনা। তালিবানের গেরিলা যুদ্ধে উত্তর দিতে পারছে না তারা। এবার পাকিস্তান পাল্টা আঘাত হানার কথা ভাবছে। মুখে কিছু না বললেও বিমান বাহিনী বোম ফেলতে পারে তালিবানের…

[stephensmithuk]

The Sign of Four: The Strange Story of Jonathan Small (Part Two of Two)

CW for graphic discussion of war crimes.

Sepoy was a term, derived from the Persian sepāhī meaning "infantry soldier", that was used to refer to Indian soldiers, generally with muskets, in the Mughal Empire's armed forces and also Maratha Army. Europeans then used the term to refer to Indians in their colonial forces. One of the names of the rebellion was the Sepoy Mutiny.

Today, Sepoy is the equivalent of "Private" in the Indian and Pakistani armies.

Cawnpore, now Kanpur, was the scene of a siege of East India Company forces and associated civilians in 1857. The EIC surrendered in return for safe passage offered by Nana Sahib, leader of the rebellion on the area. Then, for unclear reason, the departing men, women and children were attacked - no definitive evidence that Sahib authorised this has been found. All the men were killed, with the surviving women and children taken to a villa called Bibighar. 22 days later, although some sepoys refused the order, they were nearly all massacred, with their naked bodies thrown down a well. The British arrived the next day to recapture the city and then carried out horrific summary justice against any rebels who could not prove their innocence. Space precludes me from covering it in depth.

Historically, treason, like the rajah has basically done, would result in Parliament passing an act of attainder, basically seizing your entire personal property plust titles without any judicial process. Not sure what the East India Company's rules were on that. The US constitution specifically bans Congress and the states from passing any bills of attainder.

I'd need to enquire about this, but EIC sepoys apparently swore loyalty to the salt they had eaten, hence the term "true to their salt".

A postern is a side entrance in a city or castle wall, usually concealed so it can be used for stealthy entrances and exits; it could also be used during a siege for the defenders to make an attack on their besiegers. The foundations of one from the London Wall can be seen next to the Tower of London.

A firelock is a musket where the powder is ignited by sparks, either from a lit match or friction from a piece of flint.

The wet season in India lasts from around June to September, when 80% of the annual rainfall occurs. This is vital for Indian agriculture and delays in it occuring can cause real problems. In any event, you get near-daily thunderstorms and torrential downpours. This can result in roads getting badly damaged and flooding in places with poor drainage. Bollywood is a particular fan of romantic scenes involving monsoons, because they allow for sexy wet people.

I believe a mound-heap is another term for midden, an outside dump for all sorts of domestic waste, ranging from broken pottery to animal bones to human waste. Archaelogists are particular fans of them as they provide evidence of past human habitation of a sight. Poor people in Victorian London would search through them for any items of value.

The British last executed someone by firing squad in 1941 when Josef Jakobs, a German NCO convicted of spying was shot at the Tower of London. Two American soldiers would be shot at Shepton Mallet in 1944 for murdering fellow soldiers.

Before the introduction of compulsory recording of police interviews in 1992, records of interviews were generally made from notes taken during the interview or even the officers' memory, with associated problems. The interviewee would then be asked to sign the official record, something frequently refused, especially if it looked like they were signing a confession. It was also pretty common for police to engage in "verballing" i.e. falsifying the record to make it appear there had been a confession.

"The first water" means the diamonds were of the highest quality, basically having the appearence of clear water.

Commutations of death sentences were in fact quite common, especially for lower-level offences. If you see "death recorded" in a trial transcript, it means that the judge had to pass the death sentence, but clearly intended for there to be a pardon or commutation. This often occurred for sodomy convictions.

Mount Harriet is a 383-metre high hill today called Mount Manipur.

A military officer who went bankrupt, especially for gambling debts, was going to lose his commission at best. Bankruptcy is still going to be a real concern in any armed forces today, especially for your security clearance.

It is around 375 miles as the metaphorical crow flies (crows are not sea birds) to Myanmar, then Burma and a British colony. The only place you could reasonably reach from Port Blair that was not under some form of British control was Siam (now Thailand), which remained independent throughout the imperial era, except when Japan invaded it in 1941.

Yawl has several definitions, including a sail layout commonly used for racing yachts in this period.

The belief that the Andaman indigenous people were cannibals appears to have come from the account of Marco Polo.

Hundreds of people tried to escape from the Andaman penal colony, including 288 of the initial 1858 arrivals, a third of those who survived the original journey. However, the thick jungle and "the murderous attacks of the savage aborigines", as military doctor and original governor James Pattison Walker put, led to 81 survivors limping back to Port Blair. They asked for mercy and medicine. Walker had them and seven other recaptured prisoners all hanged the same day. Many who got off the island likely drowned.

Two prisoners in 1872 managed to get all the way to London, after convincing a British vessel they were shipwrecked fishermen. However, the manager of the Strangers Home for Asiatics in London where they ended up got suspicious, took photographs of them and sent them around the empire. That led to their recapture.

The calabash fruit, also known as the gourd, can be turned into bowls or other containers. Gourd is also a slang term for "mind".

The pilgrims sailing from Singapore to Jiddah (or more usually Jeddah) would likely have been heading for Mecca to take part in the hajj. This a pilgrimage considered one of the five pillars of Islam and mandatory at least once in a lifetime for any Muslim with the physical and financial ability to do it. Modern travel has made this a lot less hazardous - past pilgrims faced dangers including piracy, with even some of the Caribbean pirates sailing around Africa to attack ships for the treasures that might be going with them. At least until they reach Mecca, when everyone dresses in the same simple clothing.

At the time of this story, Jeddah, Mecca and Medina were in the Vilayet of the Hejaz, a province of the Ottoman Empire.

The 1445/2024 Hajj, ongoing as I post this, has attracted 1.833 million pilgrims. These numbers have caused stampedes and spread of disease; this year has also seen deaths due to heat stroke in 48 degrees Celsius temperatures. The Saudi authorities have taken various measures to improve safety, including registration requirements and improvements to the site layout provide escape routes.

From Jeddah (and other places in the region), pilgrims would historically travel to Mecca in large camel caravans with military escort as protection against bandit attacks. Today, Jeddah is home to the biggest airport in Saudi Arabia with a dedicated and distinctive terminal for the pilgrimage, as the vast majority of pilgrims arrive via air today. From there, modern roads and a new high-speed railway provide easy access to the holy sites.

Performing in "freak shows" was one of the few ways that severely disabled people could earn a living in these period - it was often that, begging or the workhouse; Joseph Merrick could not hold down any other employment because of his appearance. People with microcephaly i.e. a smaller than usual head were passed off as "missing links". However, by 1888, public opinion was turning against such acts.

[feministfang]

The average life of ninety per cent of women in Pakistan. Please read this article and stop giving sympathy votes to these fugly brown/muslim men even if you see them experiencing racism in west. These are your average moc’s who you think are somehow better than white men. I see a lot of trans women crying under one of my blogs where i said i don’t sympathise with men of colour or Muslim men who are discriminated or killed due to racism and and that’s not because i support racism (which i do not), but because i hate these men. I live amongst these brown muslim men in pakistan and have experienced their misogyny so when i see them getting lynched or bullied somewhere for whatever reason, i intentionally ignore it. But trans women somehow find it racist and are non-stop labelling me as a "racist" which i had already expected from these dumbfucks since that’s what they do every time to criminalise women who don’t agree with their ideologies, bringing more hatred toward these women. The same way they did it to JKR.

Brown muslim men and all other south asian men are not even 0.1 per cent better than white men. If you are a woman living in west, you might believe the opposite because of extreme racism and disgusting misogyny of white men you or your friends of colour have experienced. As a Pakistani girl, i used to believe that white or christian men are better than these men in my own country as i had only experienced their misogyny. I thought men in west would be better because of a more liberated society there but soon i realised i was wrong when i became an intersectional feminist and got more in touch with women globally. Now i believe that all these men are trash regardless of their ethnicity, religion or skin colour and these divisions do not lessen the misogyny anywhere. They are all the same. They are all clones of each other.

So please just stop coddling the feelings of these moc’s. They love to use racism-card or islamophobia-card to victimise themselves to make excuses for their misogyny, and some of you would easily fall for their trap especially if you are a woc, but let me tell you this; when they’re done getting sympathy votes from you, they are back to their usual misogynistic behaviour.

Similarly, you pro-watermelon 🍉 gang are crying for Palestinian men, meanwhile those men are busy raping and impregnating Palestinian women even during a genocide. Palestinian women need freedom from both israeli and Palestinian men, and israeli women (except for idf soldiers) deserve to be freed from hamas terrorists and israeli men both. Supporting women from both sides does not make you a zionist, but if you choose one side, it does make you a misogynist.

I would always choose a white woman over a man of colour and a woman of colour over a white man. I don’t give a fuck which one of you stupid ass libtards with zero braincells find the former as "racism" you can literally cope and cry. Fuck all MOC’s and I wish from the bottom of my heart all these males including trans women make the male high suicide rate even higher.

Also, a friend of mine, Manahil, who is also a radical feminist and a terf, shared her experience on honour killings in Pakistan which has been published in this article. I am so happy when feminists take action. I am proud of my queen! Please do read this article and share it everywhere you can.

[humanrightsupdates]

Pakistan: Respect Rights in Response to Balochistan March

Free Those Detained for Peaceful Protest, Restore Internet Access

(New York) – Pakistani authorities should exercise restraint in responding to demonstrations in Balochistan province, release all detained for peaceful protest, and restore internet access, Human Rights Watch said today.

Since July 28, 2024, Pakistani authorities have detained hundreds of people in response to the Baloch National Gathering, a march seeking to raise awareness of human rights concerns in Balochistan. Some protesters reportedly attacked security forces, killing one soldier and injuring others. Baloch activists have alleged that government security forces have used excessive force to prevent protesters from reaching the port city of Gwadar, the end point of the march. Government authorities have imposed an internet shutdown on Gwadar.

“Pakistani authorities should uphold the right to peaceful protest and assembly, and when nonviolent means prove ineffective use only the minimum force needed,” said Patricia Gossman, associate Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “It’s vitally important for the authorities to protect protesters’ rights while preventing the situation in Balochistan from spiraling out of control.”

The Baloch National Gathering has called for accountability for the numerous cases of enforced disappearances in Balochistan over many years. Such “disappearances” have long been a feature of the conflict between the government and armed militants in Balochistan. Pakistan’s security forces have also carried out enforced disappearances to silence peaceful critics of the government.

The nongovernmental organization Human Rights Commission of Pakistan reported that some of the march’s organizers received threats to call off the march or face arrest or enforced disappearance. Since July 28, protesters have blocked roads, demanding the release of detained colleagues.

[hindulivesmatter]

I absolutely agree about hindu jewish solidarity(and proudly India is one of the few countries who welcome jews with open arms - Bene Israeli, for example) and condemn Hamas. However, I feel that you should see about nakba and how Israel, along with Britain and the USA, expelled Palestinians from their own homes.

the government of Israel (along with hamas) and zionists are absolutely wrong. India absolutely has a right to complete Kashmir and China occupied territories, so why Palestinians shouldn't- when they were forcefully expelled from their own lands and homes? There are documented accounts as well. Hope you dig in further.

Love and peace.

I condemn both Hamas and the Israeli government. The Israeli government is handling the situation poorly, and the loss of life on both sides is heartbreaking. The issue is that Hamas actively calls for killing of all jews and an end to Israel. Zionism literally just means believing in a state of Israel. It could be a 2 state with Palestine. It doesn't matter. But just that Israel should exist. @freegazafromhamas Could you explain this a little better, please? You have the most knowledge on this subject, I think.

Edit (copied from @freegazafromhamas's reply): Zionism is the belief in a Jewish state in our homeland, in the land once called Judea before Roman colonizers changed the name 2000 years ago. What form that state takes or what borders that state has or how to treat Palestinians is an issue separate to Zionism on which Zionists hold a great diversity of opinions.

Edit (copied from @lettersfromthelevant's reply): If you read about the Nakba you will very quickly realize that the “expulsion” was not an expulsion. The Arabs *willingly* left after being told by the surrounding Arab nations that the Jews would all be killed in a few days. They were complicit in a genocide attempt against Jews literally three years after the Holocaust. Sucks that they didn’t get to return to their homes, but that is just what happens when you start a war and lose out of your extreme hatred for Jews.

Now, onto your next point. The king of Kashmir voluntarily gave the land to India. Until Pakistan decided they wanted it, and forcefully took over. There are countless terrorist attacks at the border, and in PoK, our soldiers are dying from bombs planted by terrorists, and civilians are caught in gunfire. The even more insane thing is that Pakistan just GAVE part of Kashmir to China, when it wasn't even theirs to begin with. Not to mention, Kashmir had a ton of Hindus, and all of them were murdered/driven out/converted in the 1990s. Pakistani terrorists are not the same as innocent Palestinian civilians.

[bitterrobin]

List of League of Assassins members used throughout the AU.

Named using the titles that Damian knows them by, then their real names. Most of these are Damian's teachers. (All of them are ocs).

The Governess

British/Dutch. Woman. Loyal follower of Ras, eternally young. The overseer of Damian's training and childhood. Planned everything from his hourly schedule to diet to his accent. The one responsible for everything from ages 7-10.

The Diver -- Lucero

Spanish. Man. Born in the League, lineage of specialists. Never liked Damian. Hated teaching him, but was concise. Killed by Ras personally for abusing Damian.

The Boxer -- Serafim

British Romani. Man. The most rebellious of Damian's teachers, protested against the Governess often. Was made permanently deaf through forced hearing loss. Fond of Damian, but keeps himself distant. Continues to serve the League.

The Actress -- Safiya

Kazakh Russian. Woman. In the League for payment. The kindest teacher he had. Treated Damian like a son. Killed by the Governess personally for trying to smuggle Damian out of the League when he was 8.

The Swordsman -- Tsunayoshi

Japanese. Man. In the League for payment. Fond of Damian, but treated him like any other student. Killed on order of the Governess when the training was deemed done.

The Tracker -- Anisa

Iraqi. Woman. Born in the League, treated Damian like an annoyance. Detached herself emotionally. Killed in action during a mission in the middle of training.

The Manhunter -- Jesse

American. Texan. Woman. Considered Damian only a student. Treated him like a grown soldier. Killed on order of the Governess when the training was deemed done.

The Frenchman -- Claude

Nigerian/French. Man. Considers Damian one of his best students. Genuinely enjoyed teaching him. Continues to serve the League.

The Thief -- Thanh

Vietnamese. Woman. In the League for payment, treated Damian like a baby. Never once loyal. Defected from the League when he was 9, and was never seen again.

The Butcher -- Finn

Irish. Man. Taught Damian at the order of Ras, hated exposing Damian to gore at an early age. Treated him like a little brother. Continues to serve the League.

Shadow Number 68 -- Hasim

Pakistani. Teenage Boy. Damian's personal bodyguard from ages 6-9. Born into the League, treated Damian like a little brother. Killed on order of the Governess before the Year of Blood.

Shadow Number 50 -- Layla

Algerian. Woman. Damian's personal handmaiden from ages 6-9. Born into the League, treated Damian like a son. Killed on order of the Governess before the Year of Blood.

Shadow Number 93 -- Evan

American. New Yorker. Man. One of many Shadows accompanying Damian in the Year of Blood. Treated him like a normal kid. One of many killed in action.

Ghoul Number 104 -- Xinyi

Chinese. Boy. A Shadow in training. Orphan. One of Damian's only similarly aged friends. Killed in a training session by Respawn.

[stele3]

[chaiaurchaandni]

'not every idf soldier hates palestinians' why the hell are they serving in an organization that has killed thousands of palestinians

yes im sure all hutus who were part of the tutsi killing militias during the rwandan genocide did not hate hutus. and all pakistani soldiers who were part of the bangadeshi genocide did not hate bengalis and think of them as inferior at all

[mariacallous]

MIRAN SHAH, Pakistan—Mohsin Dawar’s campaign for re-election to Pakistan’s parliament was almost cut short before it began in early January when his convoy was ambushed in a village just a few minutes’ drive from his home in Miran Shah in Pakistan’s North Waziristan district, near the lawless borderlands with Afghanistan. As his car came under attack from militants armed with automatic weapons, sniper rifles, and rocket-propelled grenades, he and his team were lured into a compound by residents who promised them safety.

It was a trap. Once the gates closed behind Dawar, the attack intensified. For almost an hour, he said, they were pinned down. Police and Pakistan Army backup finally arrived but not before two of Dawar’s team had been shot and injured. The vehicle took more than 80 bullets, and the windows show just how accurate the attackers’ aim was: Either one of the shots to the windshield or passenger window would have struck and likely killed him if he hadn’t been protected by bulletproof glass.

The Jan. 3 attack on a popular, outspoken, liberal leader in one of the most vulnerable regions of a country fighting a growing insurgency by extremist militants hardly registered in Pakistan, where most believe the military attempted—and failed—to manipulate the Feb. 8 election in an effort to install Nawaz Sharif as prime minister for a fourth time and where media operate under tight government control.

The election wasn’t quite the foregone conclusion that had been expected, with candidates aligned with the jailed cricket star-turned-populist leader Imran Khan winning more votes than each of the major parties—the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party—forcing them into a coalition to get the majority needed to form a government. PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif nominated his brother, Shehbaz Sharif, to become prime minister and his daughter Maryam Nawaz as chief minister of Punjab province, ensuring the dynastic line continues.

Candidates across the country, not only those loyal to Khan, alleged that the results had been rigged against them and in favor of military-backed candidates. Two days after the election, with his seat still undeclared amid growing concerns nationwide about vote rigging, Dawar and about a dozen of his supporters were injured when security forces opened fire on them as they gathered outside the official counting room.

At least three people died of their injuries; What Dawar had believed was an unassailable lead, according to polling by his secular National Democratic Movement party, had disappeared. In the count that was listed as final by Pakistan’s Election Commission, the seat went to Misbah Uddin of the Taliban-aligned Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam-Fazl party. Dawar is still recovering from a serious leg wound.

Dawar’s hometown is, once again, the battleground of what he calls “Project Taliban”—a war against the Pakistani state.

The Taliban’s transnational ambitions are threatening security beyond the borders of Afghanistan, and nowhere is this more evident than in Pakistan’s northwest, where the militant presence has been growing since the terrorist-led group came back to power in August 2021. Attacks on civilians, soldiers, and police have soared. The region bristles with checkpoints and hilltop outposts and is heavily patrolled on the ground and in the air by the Pakistan Army and armed border police. That’s during daylight hours, Dawar told Foreign Policy. Once night falls, it’s a different story.

“The Army checkposts you will only see during the daytime. Before sunset, they go to their barracks, and the people of Waziristan are at the disposal of the militants. Everyone has to secure himself or herself for their own protection,” he said. “It is militarized, and I believe it is a continuation of a proxy war that was started long ago. ‘Project Taliban’ is still continuing.”

The roots of militancy and terrorism in Waziristan go back to colonial times, when the mostly Pashtun people here were characterized as fearless fighters and pressed into service for the British. The stereotype stuck; the region became a center of recruitment and training for young men to fight the Soviets after Moscow’s 1979 invasion of Afghanistan.

After the United States led an invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 in retaliation for the 9/11 attacks, leaders of the Taliban and al Qaeda moved over the border and for the following 20 years enjoyed the protection of the Pakistani military’s intelligence wing, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency.

The ISI wanted a tame Taliban-led Afghanistan to thwart the ambitions of archrival India to become the dominant regional power. The Taliban had different ideas. The group’s return to power has inspired affiliated and like-minded groups worldwide, as the extremist regime provides safe haven for dozens of militant groups, according to the U.N. Security Council. They now openly use Afghanistan as a base to train fighters seeking to overthrow governments from China and Tajikistan to Iran and Israel. Among them is Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which, Afrasiab Khattak, a former Pakistani lawmaker and now a political analyst, said, is “just Taliban, there is no difference.”

Earlier this month, the Taliban reiterated the group’s stance on the international border between Afghanistan and Pakistan when the acting foreign minister, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, said the government doesn’t recognize the Durand Line that has delineated the two countries since 1893. The line runs through the tribal regions, dividing ethnic Pashtun and Baloch tribespeople. Recent bilateral tensions have often focused on the border, with tit-for-tat closures impacting cross-border trade.

In comments that Pakistan’s foreign ministry later called “fanciful” and “self-serving”—and which underlined the simmering hostility between Pakistan and the Taliban it helped put in power—Stanikzai said: “We have never recognized Durand and will never recognize it; today half of Afghanistan is separated and is on the other side of the Durand Line. Durand is the line which was drawn by the English on the heart of Afghans.”

The Security Council said in 2022 that the TTP had up to 5,500 fighters in Afghanistan. That number has likely risen, Dawar said, as neither country, mired in economic mismanagement and crisis, can offer its youthful population an alternative livelihood. Victory brought strength, Dawar said, and the Taliban “can attract the youth because money and power is what attracts youth the most.”

The simmering conflict threatens to return Pakistan’s northwest to the wasteland of less than decade ago, when the TTP controlled the region: Dissenters were routinely killed. Terrorists turned the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), now part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province after an administrative merger in 2018, into a death zone. Millions of people were displaced as those who could leave fled to peace and safety.

Those who stayed lived in fear and poverty until the Army finally took action in 2016 and ended the TTP’s 10-year reign by simply killing them, often in attacks that also killed civilians, or pushing them over the porous border into Afghanistan, where they joined Taliban forces fighting the U.S.-supported republic until it collapsed in 2021.

The TTP wants an independent state in these border regions. It broke a cease-fire with the government in November 2022 and has demanded that the merger of the FATA with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa be reversed. Attacks on the military and police have escalated alarmingly, presenting what a senior government official, who spoke anonymously, called “not only an existential threat to the state but also to the common man”—a recognition that what Dawar calls “Project Taliban” not only threatens to engulf the northwest but, if not contained, poses a potential threat to a fragile and barely stable state.

Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar disagreed, telling reporters before the Feb. 8 vote that the military had the upper hand in the region, by virtue of numbers alone. “I don’t see that they pose an existential threat to the state of Pakistan,” he said, while nevertheless conceding it was a “big challenge” that could take years to dislodge.

He could be right. After the failure of peace talks, ironically brokered by the Taliban’s acting interior minister, U.N.-listed terrorist Sirajuddin Haqqani, Pakistan stepped up pressure on the TTP. Asfandyar Mir, an expert on South Asian political and security issues, said this appeared to have made a “marginal” difference.

“For instance, we haven’t seen a complex or suicide bombing attack by the TTP or one of its fronts for a couple of months now,” he said. “In that sense, it appears the Taliban is sensitive to pressure,” though “smaller-scale attacks and the erosion of Pakistani state authority in parts of the northwest continue.” Things could change, he said, once a new government is installed and, perhaps, brings some stability to the political landscape.

For the people of Waziristan, struggling to survive unemployment, a lack of development, and government neglect of basic services such as roads, electricity, clean water, and education—coupled with a downturn in vital cross-border trade with Afghanistan—priorities have again switched to peace. “The local people have learned through their own bitter experience of devastating war” what a Taliban resurgence means, said Khattak, the political analyst. The security establishment is playing a dangerous game, indulging the TTP so that “local people become so desperate they want the military to come in and help them,” he said.

Hundreds of thousands of people have marched through the streets and bazaars of North and South Waziristan over the past year, demanding action against terrorism and an end to state violence. Yet it continues. “No one is safe. Everyone is a target,” said a man in his 30s as he rolled off a list of potential victims: politicians, business people, teachers, doctors, journalists, civic activists, women’s rights advocates, anyone deemed “un-Islamic.” Even barbers are not immune from extremists who ban men from shaving: The day before the Jan. 3 attack on Dawar’s convoy, the bodies of six young hairdressers were found in the nearby town of Mir Ali.

Another local resident pointed to a “Taliban checkpoint” on the road between Miran Shah and the bustling town of Bannu. The long-haired, kohl-eyed, gun-toting youths in sequined caps stand outside their roadside hut in the shadow of an Army post on the hill above. Around the clock, the resident said, they randomly stop vehicles to shake down the drivers. “It’s just for money,” he said. “Money and power.”

But it’s killing, too, “on a daily basis,” said a government worker who left Miran Shah with his family at the height of the TTP terror and visited in early February from Peshawar so he and his wife could vote for Dawar. The aim, he said, is “to create an atmosphere of fear so that people leave and what is here is theirs.”

Dawar said the turning of the Taliban tables on Pakistan “was predictable.” The Taliban “are now a threat to Central Asia. They are now a threat to Iran, to Pakistan, and to even China. All of them thought we will control the Taliban after the takeover. The problem is it didn’t happen,” he said.

In 2011, then-U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Pakistan’s leaders that they couldn’t keep “snakes,” as she called the Taliban, in their own backyard and “expect them only to bite your neighbors.”

“There used to be a time when people were sent from here to Afghanistan. Now they are coming around, they are biting,” Dawar said.

[newar]

netflix 3 body problem: episode 3 thoughts (book spoilers)

• jin cheng talking about saving the little girl in the game… i think cixin liu is quite misogynist in his portrayal of cheng xin but i’m glad they kept that detail of her caring about children still

• i’m really loving how they adapted the VR game, and the way the characters are interacting with it. cheng trying to save the little girl over and over and da shi saying that THAT is the only part that feels like a real game, not the equations and the observations etc… the only part that matters is the human element

• cheng’s dimension talk over dinner hwshsjbssb i love her omg and also the foreshadowingggg

• raj’s dad talking about throwing a grenade at pakistani soldiers???? um what are they trying to say here exactly…

• speaking of raj i’m not sure who his book counterpart is. i saw someone say he might be zhang beihai which makes sense considering raj is a naval officer

• also will downing is kind of annoying like his beef w raj just comes across as him being jealous and a bit racist…

• isaac newton x alan turing homosexuality references… well yes!

• and i liked the way the giant human computer looked! i wish they’d spent more time explaining the principles of it because i think people would find it interesting! i feel like they’ve skirted around the science a lot in this series

• seeing the trisolarans take off was chilling, i think the reveal could have been built up slower tho. i feel like this, along with wenjie sending the message, should have been one of the last things we see before we move on to the events of the 2nd book

• i can’t believe they killed off jack like realistically he’s the least relevant member but still. i was barely invested in him in the first place to really care so. there wasn’t really any point

• OVERALL: not bad, the episode was engaging but i think having read the books, the horror element that i was expecting isn’t really there. the tone of the series seems too light-hearted. the feeling of dread isn’t really there except for the really intense scenes like auggie seeing the countdown and the fleet flying to earth. the whole tone of the series needs to feel more doom-like i think

[santaclausdeadindian]

I can in fact ask marginally related questions, hell, even completely different ones if I so please and it would not be out of place here at all, regardless if I have a position already or not, or if I want to pick a fight or not. If you felt I was shooting at you or whatever position I was projecting (which I think I kinda got it right), well, that is more on you than me I think.

I do agree with the USA should not send money to Israel, or pretty much anywhere else, probably 90+% of it could be kept at home and the world would not be any worse off. see also the pakistani gender studies and jet skies. And?

I am still curious if you or people seeing the post and feeling like answering it, think that the palestinians would be able to achieve their goals often expressed if not for the US military aid.

I still do not, but seeing how much bigger that contribution is part of the idf budget, I am kinda wavering on that.

Anyways, I think it is absolutely bonkers to say it is not genocide by the allies because they killed more soldiers in the war, when the bombing campaigns were specifically aimed at the civilian population. I think it should be treated differently, because it was the axis that started it and I do not believe that one should refrain from stooping from the level of the enemy, hence why I give zero fucks about the plight of the people who willingly put the genocidal psychopaths in charge of them, who were explicitly genocidal already. (Also, I might be wrong, but I think the italians killed less civilians then soldiers, in which case their concentration camps would be what, oopsies?)

I am also of the opinion that their apartheid is justified, seeing how every time the israelis eased up on the security measures, they got bombed buses and the like. Muslims everywhere have been proving themselves incapable of not being supremacist authoritarian worshipping assholes throughout history, just like the jews have a long and horrible history going back forever, with numerous ethnoreligious genocides. The main difference is they proved themselves to be able to exist in secular and progressive societies, even building one for themselves.

I want you to understand that I am not on their side at all.

On the FAFO bit of yours, maybe the problem is that it always depends on at what point does one start the count, because the atrocities sure as fuck did not start with the nakba, even if we only look at the 20th century. Or is that not telling on your stance?

they'll fund a genocide and let their poor regions be destroyed. don't fucking forgive them for that.

my hometown is completely gone from what pictures i can find of it, i have not heard from my family (including aunts, uncles, parents, one sibling, and a grandparent), and the infrastructure in the mountain communities is wiped out. i cannot stress how catastrophic this is, or how difficult it will be for these communities to build back. i am angry, and scared, and heartbroken by everything that's happened.

and our government is spending it's money to fund a genocide.

free palestine, and don't be complicit. realize that this is not something happening that doesn't affect you--although it shouldn't take this to care about the deaths of thousands of people anyway.

[newsxbyte]

Pakistan: 18 paramilitary soldiers, 23 rebels killed in heavy clashes in Balochistan

Pakistan’s eighteen paramilitary soldiers and 23 rebels were killed in heavy clashes in northwestern region of Balochistan on Saturday. The troops suffered casualties when they engaged the insurgents who erected barricades on a key highway in Balochistan’s Kalat district, bordering Afghanistan, the Pakistani military said in a statement. The security forces “successfully removed the roadblock”…

[memotrends]

Dozens of soldiers, fighters killing at Baloch Separatist Attack in Pakistan | Conflict

The warriors reportedly shoot at the vehicle bearing border choir paramilitary, who are trying to dismantle Zátaras. According to officials and local media, as sectarian, ethnic and separatist violence in the region, he escalates at least 18 semi -second soldiers and 24 armed attackers in the region, was killed in two related incidents in southwestern Pakistan. The Pakistani army said on…

[cavenewstimes]

18 Pakistani soldiers killed in fighting with separatist rebels in Baluchistan

World This is a locator map for Pakistan with its capital, Islamabad, and the Kashmir region. (AP Photo) (Uncredited, Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.) QUETTA – Pakistani troops fought insurgents who set up roadblocks in the restive northwestern region, leaving 18 paramilitary security forces and 12 rebels dead in some of the heaviest clashes in recent years, officials…

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 1.20 (after 1940)

1941 – A German officer is killed in Bucharest, Romania, sparking a rebellion and pogrom by the Iron Guard, killing 125 Jews and 30 soldiers. 1942 – World War II: At the Wannsee Conference held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee, senior Nazi German officials discuss the implementation of the "Final Solution to the Jewish question". 1945 – World War II: The provisional government of Béla Miklós in Hungary agrees to an armistice with the Allies. 1945 – World War II: Germany begins the evacuation of 1.8 million people from East Prussia, a task which will take nearly two months. 1953 – Dwight D. Eisenhower is inaugurated as the 34th President of the United States of America, becoming the first president to begin his presidency on January 20 since the 20th Amendment changed the dates of presidential terms. 1954 – In the United States, the National Negro Network is established with 40 charter member radio stations. 1961 – John F. Kennedy is inaugurated as the 35th President of the United States of America, becoming the youngest man to be elected into that office, and the first Roman Catholic. 1972 – Pakistan launches its nuclear weapons program, a few weeks after its defeat in the Bangladesh Liberation War, as well as the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. 1973 – Amílcar Cabral, leader of the independence movement in Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, is assassinated in Conakry, Guinea. 1974 – China gains control over all the Paracel Islands after a military engagement between the naval forces of China and South Vietnam. 1981 – Twenty minutes after Ronald Reagan is inaugurated as the 40th President of the United States of America, Iran releases 52 American hostages. 1986 – In the United States, Martin Luther King Jr. Day is celebrated as a federal holiday for the first time. 1986 – Leabua Jonathan, Prime Minister of Lesotho, is ousted from power in a coup d'état led by General Justin Lekhanya. 1990 – Protests in Azerbaijan, part of the Dissolution of the Soviet Union. 1991 – Sudan's government imposes Islamic law nationwide, worsening the civil war between the country's Muslim north and Christian south. 1992 – Air Inter Flight 148, an Airbus A320-111, crashes into a mountain near Strasbourg, France, killing 87 of the 96 people on board. 2001 – President of the Philippines Joseph Estrada is ousted in a nonviolent four-day revolution, and is succeeded by Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. 2009 – Barack Obama is inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States of America, becoming the first African-American President of the United States. 2009 – A protest movement in Iceland culminates as the 2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests start. 2017 – Donald Trump is inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States of America. 2018 – A group of four or five gunmen attack The Inter-Continental Hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan, which sparked a 12-hour battle. The attack kills 40 people and injures many others. 2018 – Syrian civil war: The Government of Turkey announces the initiation of the Afrin offensive and begins shelling Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) positions in Afrin Region. 2021 – Joe Biden is inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States of America. At 78, he becomes the oldest person ever inaugurated. Kamala Harris becomes the first female Vice President of the United States.