Bismillah Al-Rahman Al-Raheem

Chinwag

The deal between the Pakistani government and the Swat Valley armed militia

After the Pakistani government had consented to grant the Swat District in the Malakand Province the appropriate competencies to implement Islamic Shari’ah and after they had assumed the practical arrangements to execute this agreement, some observers ascribed this to the guidelines of American and British officials who had made a distinction between the moderates and the extremists of the Taliban Movement, in the hope of holding talks and a dialogue with the moderates, and isolating and fighting the extremists. What is remarkable is the squabble-free response of the Pakistani government to those guidelines, which could not be envisaged as useful to the apparent aim of what is referred to as the Afghan crisis. The US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates said upon the signing of the deal:

Bismillahi Al-Rahman Al-Raheem

Answers to Questions

1- After striking Afghanistan, America will most likely support the solution that entails the establishment of a government that includes the Bashtun, Uzbek and Tajik, where the Taliban will be the effective rulers in the land, after adopting a political icon to rule the country nominally. King Zaher Shah may be the icon around which the Afghan people will unite; this will serve as a prelude towards integrating Afghanistan into the international community and recognising it regionally and internationally.

Bismillah-ir-Rahman-ir-Raheem

 Political Analysis

The Pakistani armed forces took control of the key governmental institutions and the public institutions on Tuesday 12 October 1999, and dismissed the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. This was only two hours after Nawaz Sharif had announced the dismissal of Chief of Staff, General Parvaiz Musharraf while he was on an official mission in Sri Lanka.  Incidentally, it was only a week before the coup d’état took place that Nawaz Sharif himself had extended General Musharraf’s term as Chief of Staff until 6 October 2001.

Bismillah Al-Rahman Al-Raheem

The Issue of East Timor 

The Portuguese arrived in the island of Timor in the beginning of the sixteenth century and they settled in the eastern part of the island. They were followed by the Germans who occupied the western part of Timor. During the Second World War, Australia sent her troops into East Timor and established in there a buffer zone; afterwards, it was occupied by the Japanese. In 1945, the Indonesian Republic was founded within the borders bequeathed from the German colonial powers and at the time Indonesia did not consider East Timor to be part of her territories.