Nov 11, 2004
Shaukat Aziz, Pakistani Prime Minister:

Pakistan Premier Shaukat Aziz today welcomed the statement by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to reduce troops in Jammu and Kashmir, a move Islamabad hoped would have a “salutary effect” in Kashmir and help further the peace process between the two countries.[Pak PM welcomes India’s move to reduce troops in Kashmir]

Nov 19, 2004
Musharraf, President and CEO of Pakistan:

Musharraf gave a lukewarm welcome to the pullout of troops from Kashmir, suggesting it was a superficial step. “These are good optics, but they are not striking at the strategic issue of moving forward on a resolution. [Musharraf unhappy with signals from India]

So before coming to India, Shaukat Aziz should get the script from Musharraf so that he does not get embarassed while he is in India.

“We are not hankering for Kashmiri territory. It is not simply a question of territorial gains” but matter of ensuring justice for Kashmiris, Kasuri said. Kasuri’s statement is in line with a series of encouraging remarks by Pakistani and Indian officials on the sensitive issue, all of which express hope but steadfastly skate around details that could prove sensitive. [1947, 1965 and 1999?. This is yet another propaganda statement which will get wide publicity like Musharraf’s new proposal for solving the Kashmir problem.
Such full toss balls should be hit for a sixer immediately by the Indian Govt.

Somehow my idea of a Buddhist prison was a place where prisoners would be taught Vipassana and would come out as a reformed people. But in fact a Tibetan prison is not even close and also they had instruments of torture.

Tibet’s largest ancient prison, Langzisha in Lhasa, vandalised during the “Cultural Revolution” era is under repair and is expected to be opened to the public in May, 2005, a report said Monday. The project, which cost $ 60,241, aims to restore the original look of the ancient prison and help people learn about Tibet’s history, local officials said.
Losang Jigme, who is in charge of the project, said the reconstruction team will repair all walls, the roof of the three-story building, all nine cells of the prison, a court room and the prison control room. Situated in Bargor Street of Lhasa, capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region, Langzisha is a typical example of Tibetan architecture covering an area of 720 square metres. Built by the fifth Dalai Lama in the middle of the 17th century, it was originally meant to be the government headquarters of Lhasa, but was later turned into a prison. [Ancient Tibet prison to open]

Now the same news was reported by both Xinhuanet and PTI, the PTI news being a word by word copy of the Xinhuanet article. But in the PTI article, the following line disappeared

Even in the first half of the 20th century, Tibet remained a society of theocractic feudal serfdom, one even darker and more backward than medieval Europe.

The Discovery Times Channel had a program on Al Qaeda and one of the points mentioned was that Bangladesh is becoming the new haven. One of the incidents mentioned in the documentary was that of a ship, MV Mecca pulling into the Chittagong Port in Dec 2001.

That night the Bangladeshi military intelligence had apparently cleared off the place all of the schedule has been changed. No ship was really berthing in. Until dock-workers spotted a mysterious ship: the MV Mecca?pulling into port. Indian intelligence later learned about the secret mission of the MV Mecca, and the people who came ashore.
The few dock workers who were that in that area, who then told us that these were people, big tall people, many of them wearing the traditional Afghan shalwar but some of them were in battle fatigues as well which made them look like any other army. After two hours the group had gone ashore.
They had weapons, they had large number of assault rifles, standard AK series assault rifles, they had ammunition boxes and some of them had bigger weapons they were lugging in. At this point the trail goes cold, but there are accounts of fighters disappearing into the Bangladesh countryside. [Script of Al Qaeda 2.0]

Bangladesh is a problem for India since it is hosting many anti-Indian groups there. But it is just not the Indians who are worried.

The Germans are so anxious they bluntly told Bangladesh

During the late 17th century China and India were economic giants in manufacturing. This article by Philip S Golub has many interesting facts

Before 1800, trade flows between Chinese, Indians, Japanese, Siamese, Javanese and Arabs were much greater than those within Europe. The level of scientific and technical knowledge was high – more so in many fields than that of Europe. Joseph Needham, an authority on Chinese science and technology, emphasised that in terms of technology China was in a dominant position both before and after the European Renaissance (7). Its lead was apparent in fields such as iron and steel, mechanical clocks, engineering (suspension bridges), firearms and deep drilling equipment.

It is not surprising that Asia had a preponderant place in world manufacturing at the time. According to estimates by economic historian Paul Bairoch (8), in 1750 China

ABC news has an article on Pakistan’s test of its nuclear capable Ghauri V missile from an undisclosed location. The undisclosed location news was carried by all major newspapers in India too, like Times of India. The ABC news was from AP while PTI reported the Times of India news.
Only if these newspapers had used Google, they could have found this information

ISN SECURITY WATCH (12/10/04) – Pakistani dictator General Pervez Musharraf marked the fifth anniversary of the military coup that put him in power by test-firing an upgraded version of the Ghauri (previously known as the Hatf V) medium-range ballistic missile. The missile, in its fourth test-firing from Malot in Jhelum District, about 121 kilometers south of the capital Islamabad, is capable of carrying both nuclear and conventional 700-kilogram warheads to a maximum range of 1

For the first time Indian troops travelled to a Chinese outpost in the border of Arunachal Pradesh and celebrated China’s national day. Immediately statements were issued like “I can say the winds of change are blowing across the Himalayas and we want to be friends.”, and “China and India will be friends forever.”
It is too early to pop champagne as the communists across the border were never lovers of India and will never be. You don’t have to go too far in history to find evidence of this hostility and it is well known among the countries around the world. When India conducted the nuclear tests in May 1998, the Americans were cordinating a worldwide condemnation of that. In June, there was the meeting of the P-5 Nations (nations who have nuclear weapons), and Madeline Albright was sent to Geneva for it. The statement issued by the P-5 nations was crafted by Bob Einhorn, a state department employee, after talking for hours with the Chinese because of their preference for India-bashing.
Few days later the United Nations Security Council passed the resolution 1172 which condemned the tests and the US Delegation let the Chinese insert some of their harsh wordings and impossible demands. Even Madeline Albright, who was no friend of India tried to get the Chinese to back off, but it was too late. Here is a sample:

“5. Urges India and Pakistan to resume the dialogue between them on all outstanding issues, particularly on all matters pertaining to peace and security, in order to remove the tensions between them, and encourages them to find mutually acceptable solutions that address the root causes of those tensions, including Kashmir;
“7. Calls upon India and Pakistan immediately to stop their nuclear weapon development programmes, to refrain from weaponisation or from the deployment of nuclear weapons, to cease development of ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons and any further production of fissile material for nuclear weapons, to confirm their policies not to export equipment, materials or technology that could contribute to weapons of mass destruction or missiles capable of delivering them and to undertake appropriate commitments in that regard;[UNSC Resolution 1172]

Claude Arpi has an article asking if China is encircling India.

We could continue the list with the supply of arms to Bangladesh; or the Beijing orchestrated saga of Dr A Q Khan in Pakistan, the enhanced Han presence in Central Asia, particularly in Kyrgyzstan where President Akaev has leased 125,000 hectares of the most valuable Kyrgyz land to China ‘with glaciers full of fresh water and with a uniquely designed border outpost.’ Though Kyrgyzstan has not direct borders with India, the encirclement is getting tighter by the day.[Is China encircling India?]

China is building the Gwadar portin Pakistan, Bangladesh is offering its Chittagong port to China and Myanmar is developing facilities on Great Coco Island with Chinese help.
This is one friend we be careful about.
[Reference: Engaging India]

Apparently the US had plans to invade the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan to capture the al-Qaeda network.

“The United States will threaten Iran with war if it aids the al-Qaeda. The United States will have to invade northwest Pakistan. There are plans for this already. In addition, if Pakistan collapses due to an invasion, the United States and India will have to jointly occupy Pakistan. The end game is Pakistan,” the Daily Times quotes Friedman as saying.[US had plans to invade Pakistan via JihadWatch]

Even though there have been incursions by American troops and ex-Special Forces are on the prowl, this full scale invasion of Pakistan can have disastrous consequences. But this is not to say that such scenarious have not been thought about. Democratic Senate Candidate Barak Obama has gone on record suggesting that Pakistan’s nuclear capabilities be taken out if Musharraf is overthrown.

In the case of Pakistan, the Senate hopeful added,

Pakistani Army Chief/CEO/President/General de Gaulle wannabe (Jan 2002):

Pakistan’s president says he thinks Osama bin Laden is most likely dead because the suspected terrorist has been unable to get treatment for his kidney disease. “I think now, frankly, he is dead for the reason he is a … kidney patient,” Gen. Pervez Musharraf said on Friday in an interview with CNN.

Pakistani Army Chief/CEO/President/General de Gaulle wannabe (Sept 2004):

In an interview with CNN on Friday, Musharraf said he is “reasonably sure” that bin Laden is still alive. He said the reason bin Laden is still at large is a combination of the terrain where he disappeared — in remote eastern Afghanistan or western Pakistan — and that “he has supporters” in the area where he is hiding.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan:

Pakistan on Monday renewed its call for setting a “timeframe” to settle the dragging Kashmir dispute, describing cross-border terrorism as a non-issue. “We (Pakistan and India) should quicken the pace. Some reasonable timeframe has to be there to resolve the Kashmir issue,” foreign ministry spokesman Masood Khan told reporters here. Khan said the ongoing dialogue with India should not be “open ended” and there must be a certain timetable and deadline to resolve the Kashmir issue that has bedevilled relations between the two neighbours.[Set timeframe for resolving Kashmir: Pakistan]

Pakistani Army Chief/CEO/President/General de Gaulle wannabe:

Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf has said he has not asked India to give a specific timeframe for solution to the long-pending Kashmir tangle.[No Timeframe Set For Kashmir Solution: Musharraf]

If you refer to the other pop quiz, Masood Khan is turning out to be a Baghdad Bob.