We will take corruption headon err Sonia headon !!!

Take corruption headon. Sure, take Sonia G headon to rid the nation of corruption.
From: hilda raja
Sonia’s “we will take corruption head on”sounds brave. It brought to my mind my little granddaughter while playing with her dolls would turn the heads of a few backwards. I hope SG’s head can be turned backwards to face herself from behind and the party lined up behind her .Then this ‘head on business’ will show her as the first casualty for denigrating every constitutional post and foisting herself as an extra constitutional power., undermining the PM’s post and actions, and constituting her own Parliament called the NAC. The Congress is corruption and corruption is Congress - the twain can never be parted.

Not to be left behind P.Chidambaram wants us to close our eyes and attune our antennae to the audio sounds emanating from Rahul Gandhi - he tells us that we can hear Rajiv Gandhi’s voice. Granted it is true - so what is the big deal? Rajiv Gandhi was taking the Congress not to the 21st century but down slide –his death came in handy for the Congress fortunes to be revived and the States which went to the polls after his assassination won on sympathy vote - not on the 21st century vision. To continue PC’s closed eyes listening ‘Millions are not connected to our economic system not because they do not want to but have no opportunity to. Why is the per capita income so low at the bottom 20 percent of India ”. We need to imagine a lot of things. One, to whom is he addressing to close the eyes? The PM seems always to have both his eyes and ears closed hence he needs to be charged for his silence and inaction. To whom is PC asking why the bottom of the 20 percent population of India ’s income is so low- That must be attributed to the economist Prime Minister of ours and the Congress party. It needs to be addressed by the Finance Minister who keeps asking us to live in hope - that the prices of essential commodities will come down. Can PC tell us why onions are being sold today for more than Rs 80 per kilo? Then the séance continues - he has put everyone on the couch and is performing a psycho analysis- start imaging he tells us with eyes closed and ears opened. ‘Imagine we heeded the call of Rahul Gandhi… imagine every child in school vaccinated and inoculated, imagine leaving school with skills… imagine everyone out of the college with a job” Then the analyst is suddenly pushed off his feet by the awakened tranced people and confronted with the question why have you failed to achieve all this? You think you can take us always on an imaginary trip - -Yes why did you not achieve this - why have you kept us in a trance and why the hell are you the Home Minister and why is the Congress in power which failed to achieve all this.- Damn it and be off. PC winds up his séance by predicting that the Opposition turn will not come for the next ten years- because they have still to wind up the hustle and the bustle of corruption activities and gather what remains. PC thinks he is smart – he who lost the last election by the whisker - thanks to an ever understanding EC and the ever honest MKarunanidhi who did what had to be done – so that in the third round of recounts he won by a few hundreds of votes. Shame on PC, he is making sure that his position will be safeguarded and hence this close eyes and open ears like open sesame and shut sesame. Only he will get shut within his own guilty conscience. His open ears had not heeded the wails and cries of those gunned down by the Islamic terrorists- his closed eyes see only ‘saffron ‘ for he is color blind and his great task of fulfilling the vision of Rahul Gandhi is limited to the exchanging of dossiers with Pakistan. Which is having the last laugh. Remember the WilkiLeaks referring to PC as demanding the interview with Headley for saving his face.

The grand finale of the whole theatrics of the drama enacted by the Congress and staged at Burari was good entertainment. For a moment one thought it was the BJP’s when we closed our eyes and opened our ears it sound like the BJP’s voices against corruption. Then when we got out of the trance and opened our eyes it was all Congress faces - faces of the corrupt and the leaders of the corrupt. The puppeteer had a break and the Puppet of the PM spoke. He invoked Caesar’s wife to be above suspicion. It was more a soliloquy. He has nothing to hide and is magnanimous to offer to be enquired by the Public Accounts Committee. The PM must know very well that the PAC has no powers to probe into a wide spectrum of the 2G spectrum except look into the accounts. So why should he offer to be probed by a PAC which is not empowered to probe him or the other aspects in which he is involved? If the PM is innocent as he wants us to believe then he should bravely declare that the JPC can be constituted and he is prepared to appear before it. The fact that the Congress is shying from the JPC itself reveals that it has and the PM has something to hide. What is the use of a fig leave to cover up? Finally the PM’s assertion that he did no wrong must be proved by the probing machinery. He cannot give himself a clean chit. Even a child in India will know that the PM’s silence - his appointed of Adhimuthu Raja as the Minister for Tel Com –the PM’s silence for three years - his refusal to sack the minister are the areas where he failed to perform his constitutional duties and when he failed to uphold the oath he had taken when he took over office.
Mr Manmohan Singh must also be answerable why he appointed PJ Thomas as the Chief Vigilant Commissioner. Does all this prove that like Caesar’s wife he is above suspicion? Come on Mr Prime Minister, and prove those brave words by asserting that you will face any probe by any constitutionally constituted mechanism and which is the best-the Joint Parliamentary Committee which comprises the elected representatives of the people. That is democracy. That the JPC is useless and that it will not lead to anything and that it is unnecessary etc are vague excuses-then why earlier were there JPCs? Let the useless JPC become useful this time, and if it does not, all the more better for the Congress for the PM will be proved to be like Caesar’s wife-above all suspicion.
Mrs Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul must realize that this nation is not one of zombies. We are a people capable with tremendous common sense and are highly intelligent politically and socially. They cannot try and replay the ‘God Father’ story in India . So they cannot take us for a ride all the time. There is a limit to tolerance. When she handpicked a PM she threw to the winds democracy. As it is Manmohan Singh is a Rajya Sabha member and hence strictly speaking he does not have the vote of the people. This is his biggest liability and Mrs Sonia Gandhi who does not understand an iota of democracy handpicked him to be the PM. That was an insult to the people. Even the President was her choice and it was made clear when she stood before No 10 Janpath holding the hand of the President. Body language is a strong non verbal communication - whether in holding hands or when like the mother hen she ushers and leads the PM
She has rubbed salt in our wounds when she formed the National Advisory Council-this to advise her and in turn the PM. It is a clear indication that she wants the PM to act in accordance to the decisions taken at the NAC which she chairs. So what is Parliament meant for when she has constituted a parallel Parliament with her at its head? Is this not denigration of the PM’s post and of Parliamentary democracy? What credibility and moral authority has Mrs Sonia Gandhi - the defaulter to preach, ‘we will not allow the PM’s post to be denigrated?
The latest dent to democracy is Rahul telling the ambassador of the USA That India is more threatened by Hindu extremists than by Islamist terrorists. Rahul is only an MP and one of the General Secretaries of the Congress party-why has he made such a statement and who authorized him to do so? Is this democracy? Is this not denigration of everything democratic in the GOI’s functioning? We have the PM, The Home minister, the minister for Foreign Affairs and also our own ambassadors where does Rahul come in the picture to make such a false allegation against the Hindu extremists when here there are hundreds of terrorists’ attacks by Islam terrorists. Is this democracy?
I plead to Mrs Sonia Gandhi and her son not to take the nation for a ride - it will be at their own costs. People are awakening and will not tolerate this nonsense no matter how high they consider themselves to be. It is the people of India to whom they should be ever so grateful for their immense tolerance of such inexcusable denigration of all that is democratic - but there is a limit to tolerance and the people will reach the zero tolerance of such puppettering of governance in the name of democracy.
Dr Mrs Hilda Raja Vadodara.

Don’t confuse, Rahul Gandhi is no “Bacha”
http://www.haindavakeralam.com/HKPage.aspx?PageID=12868&SKIN=B

From: Chand K Sharma
Congress Cat is out of the Bag
Ever Since Congress Party came under the influence of Gandhi, the party adopted anti Hindu stance. To prop his own ideology, Gandhi always emotionally blackmailed his colleagues, sacrificed Hindu interests and pleased the Muslims. Finally he gave his life for the interest of Pakistan at the cost of Hindus.
His prodigal political heir Nehru also followed his footsteps. He took pride in saying that he was Hindu by accidental mistake (on the part of his parents!), he was bodily Muslim and an Englishman in tastes. It was India 's misfortune that he happened to be the PM. Nehru and Gandhi, betrayed the interests of India in Kashmir and Tibet , the problems we are grappled with. The made Hindu hater Muslims equal partners in truncated India , when they had already taken away one third part of India as Pakistan .
Indira, without solving the Kashmir problem gifted away the territory to Pakistan and nullified the sacrifice of our Jawans.
Rajiv Gandhi got Indian soldiers killed for nothing in Sri Lanka and destroyed the constitutional institutions. His widow is now embarked upon on completing the left over task of destroying India and her culture.
Most of the coterie around Sonia and Rahul are Christians retaining their Hindu names to camouflage their real identity.
It is high time that Hindus should individually pledge to shun Congress party and identify it as totally anti Hindu out fit and unite their democratic efforts to throw Congress regime out of power for ever at the earliest Electoral opportunity.
Chand K Sharma
Sonia Gandhi and the hidden trail
http://expressbuzz.com/edition/print.aspx?artid=233507
By John MacLithon
The Indian media has begun even doubting Manmohan Singh’s integrity — mental, at least — as he must have been knowing for nearly two years that the Indian exchequer was defrauded of `1.76 lakh crores. But so far, Sonia Gandhi has been spared.
Yet, if you are an observer of Indian politics, as I have been, since I landed back in India in the early ’Sixties, you have to come to the conclusion that most of the funds of scams end up in the coffers of political parties, particularly of the Congress.
Today the DMK is taking the brunt of the blame, but actually political parties have been forced to follow suit after the grand old party of India’s independence, began using percentages allotted by foreign companies on mega deals, military and otherwise, to secretly fund its election campaigns and give freebies to poor villagers. Of course, Bofors was the first one of the big scams to be uncovered.
I remember in the mid-Eighties a Swiss radio colleague of mine from Radio Suisse Romande, telling me that Amitabh Bachchan’s brother, Ajitabh, (when the Bachchan family was still close to the Gandhis), was one of the first safe keepers of the kickbacks of the Swedish canon makers. Exposes of Swedish newspaper, Dagens Nhyeter further confirmed it, though Ajitabh went to court against them.
There is no doubt, further says my Swiss friend, that part of the Bofors money is still in Switzerland . Indeed, we are all waiting for the Swiss banks to reveal (under US pressure) the names of all the dictators, thieves, dishonest rulers of so many countries in the world, who have stashed their ill-gotten money in UBS bank or Credit Suisse.
Meanwhile, all roads seem to lead to Sonia Gandhi: she is the first Lady of India , although she is a simple MP like hundreds of others, the ultimate arbiter, and nothing of importance is decided without her caveat. The immense power she wields within the Congress cannot be only due to her charisma, of her having the Gandhi name or having brought cohesion in the Congress.
It is also, and perhaps mainly, because she holds the purse strings of tremendous amounts of money. These party funds are overt: all the foundations, Rajiv, Indira, Nehru, etc, which store thousands of crores; and covert, starting with the Bofors scam. Where are the secret bank accounts where the scam money is stored? Under whose names are they operated? How is the money brought back to India ? Who will answer all these questions?
We know that Quattrochi, the man who could have spilt the beans, was shamelessly let off the hook, not only by the CBI which today is conducting — two years late — the investigation on the 2G scam, but also by the then law minister who is today the governor who pretends to be after corruption in Karnataka! Not only was Quattrochi spared, but was allowed to take the money he had looted from India and which was frozen in British banks, so that he would not talk.
Will Raja talk, if he is arrested, as it is rumoured? Surely he knows a lot of secrets,as some of the 2G, Adarsh CWG money, and other unknown scams, must also have gone into the Congress coffers. That is the question that the Congress leadership should debate instead of going after ‘Hindu terror’, a misnomer if there is one.
If you look at statistics for the last 1,000 years, it is Hindus who have been at the receiving end of terror — millions of them have died, including in Kashmir in the late ’Eighties, when Benazir Bhutto launched her ‘Azad Kashmir’ movement (I was there).
Yet Sonia Gandhi remains a mystery for many of us, even for me who has known her for a long time.
I found her quite likable when she was just Rajiv Gandhi’s (the pilot) spouse, a loving wife, who had adopted the Indian way of life; a good daughter -in-law: Indira Gandhi died on her lap on the way to the hospital, after being shot by her Sikh bodyguards; and more than everything, a good mother, who doted on her children and tried all her life to protect them.
I then knew that she had kept her Italian passport, even after taking the Indian nationality (India does not allow you to hold two passports), but I have met quite a few foreigners in Delhi who also retained their origin passports after having obtained the Indian one.
I myself toyed for some time with the idea of taking the Indian nationality, as I speak Hindi quite fluently, but it is too difficult to travel with an Indian passport. I do not mind also her remaining a Christian: after all, I am still one myself. Indeed, one of my Italian journalist friends told me that he prayed with her, along with Rajiv Gandhi, at a mass in Calicut with the bishop officiating — that is
her private business.
But after her husband was blown to pieces by the LTTE, I observed a drastic change in her: she did not seem to trust anybody anymore, became aloof and suspicious. I also watched with dismay how the Congress leaders, some of them men and women of substance, whom I knew personally, applied pressure on her to enter politics for years.
Furthermore, I thought that in her fortress of Janpath, surrounded twenty-four hours by security, she gradually lost touch with the reality of India . Despite the fact that I met her a few times after Rajiv’s death, I thus took discreetly my distances with her. It is then that I came up with my famous phrase on Sonia, for which she never forgave me: “the moribund and leaderless Congress party has latched on to Sonia Gandhi who is Italian by birth and Roman Catholic by baptism”.
John.maclithon@gmail.com
John, who was a radio journalist covering South Asia for 30 years, is the author of Hindutva, Sex & Adventures (Roly Books, Delhi)

Who can save India from present slavery under Manmohan' Soniajee and Rahul jee and Priyankajee--?
Is India free from Euopean slavery beginning with Dutch, French, portuguese,English and now Italian with collaboration of Muslims,Communists,secularists, opportunists .
SONIA HATAO------------ iNDIA BACHAO.
SONIA NIKALO-------------BHARAT BACHAO.
SONIA BHAGAO-------------BHARAT SAMHALO.
All scams lead to Sonia And Sonia leads all scams.
As the famous saying goes' All the truth undergoes three stages---------- first it is rediculed, then it is violemtly opposed and finally it is accepted as self evident------------------Time has come. The mass protest and agitation is required.
STOP NOT UNTIL THE GOAL IS REACHED and thegoal is to trace, catch and punish the criminals all criminals without exception to free India now.
TUNE DIYA DES KO JEEVAN DES TUMHE KYA DEGA,
APANI AAG JALA RAKHANE KO NAAM TUMHARA LEGA.

Is Obama trying to be Muslim missionary???

Posted: August 16, 2010

By Chuck Norris

Unlike any other time in U.S. history, our First Amendment freedoms of speech and religion are in jeopardy. As if recently passed “hate-crime” laws and a politically correct culture weren’t bad enough, now our president is using internationalpressure and possibly law to establish a prohibition against insulting Islam or Muslims.

Let me remind us how we got here.

Speaking for most founders in his day, John Jay, America’s first chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, appointed by George Washington himself, said, “Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.”

Two hundred years later, President Obama has already denied America’s rich Judeo-Christian heritage before the eyes and ears of other countries, as he publicly declared in Turkey on April 6, 2009, for the whole world to hear: “We do not consider ourselves a Christian nation.”

Then there was Cairo in June 2009, when President Obama vowed to establish “a new beginning between the United Statesand Muslims around the world … I also know civilization’s debt to Islam. … I also know that Islam has always been a part of America’s story. … And since our founding, American Muslims have enriched the United States. … So I have known Islam on three continents before coming to the region where it was first revealed.”

He goes on to say, “That experience guides my conviction that partnership between America and Islam must be based on what Islam is, not what it isn’t. And I consider it part of my responsibility as president of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear.”

That last line is really one of the most unique U.S. presidential religious passions and missions stated to date: “And I consider it part of my responsibility as president of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear.”

Another big question is: What did the president mean when he said, “That experience guides my conviction that partnership between America and Islam must be based on what Islam is, not what it isn’t”? It makes no sense at all to refer to a partnership between a country and religion – America and Islam. Why not say partnership between America and Muslim nations or a partnership between Americans and Muslims or even a partnership between Christianity and Islam? That comment is very strange to me and has a much deeper meaning.

Roughly six months later, in February 2010, Obama appointed Rashad Hussain to serve as his special envoy to theOrganization of the Islamic Conference, or OIC, an inter-governmental body of 56 Muslim countries that also forms an official body represented in the United Nations. (Where is the same treatment from this White House for countries that uphold Judeo-Christian values to unite and have the same treatment that allows them to form an official body represented in the U.N.? Or any religion, for that matter? There’s something rotten in the state of Denmark!)

Obama rejoiced, “I’m proud to announce today that I am appointing my special envoy to the OIC – Rashad Hussain. As an accomplished lawyer and a close and trusted member of my White House staff, Rashad has played a key role in developing the partnerships I called for in Cairo. And as a hafiz of the Quran, he is a respected member of the American Muslim community, and I thank him for carrying forward this important work.”

In 2007, then President George W. Bush explained the initial purpose for a OIC representative: “Our special envoy will listen to and learn from representatives from Muslim states, and will share with them America’s views and values. This is an opportunity for Americans to demonstrate to Muslim communities our interest in respectful dialogue and continued friendship.”

But Obama has considerably upped the OIC ante. Today, the White House purports from its website that special envoy, Muslim and hafiz of the Quran, Rashad Hussain, “will deepen and expand the partnerships that the United States has pursued with Muslims around the world since President Obama’s speech in Cairo last June.”

Again, notice the differences between the Bush and Obama plans with the special OIC envoy: from Bush’s mission to “listen and learn from representatives” to Obama’s mission to “deepen and expand the partnerships.”

The OIC members (including U.S. Special Envoy Rashad Hussain) pledge to its charter mission to rid the world of “the defamation of religion.” But the “defamation of religion” translates to mean “defamation of Islam.” An article on the OIC website explains, “Western foreign policy is considered to be the single most significant factor determining the attitudes of many Muslims toward the West. … Unfortunately, Islam often conjures in the Western minds images of authoritarian government, subjugation of women, cruel punishments of Shariah law and violence in the popular Western mind.”

“Unfortunately”?!

The world also just learned recently from the assistant secretary for public affairs in the State Department, P.J. Crowley, that theWhite House has repeatedly sent out as an American ambassador of peace the Islamic fundamentalist and executive director of the Ground Zero mosque, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, who is being sponsored by the U.S. State Department for repeated trips to the Middle East, where he is teaching on Muslim life in America and promoting religious tolerance.

But doesn’t one who called the U.S. an “accessory” to Sept. 11 just a few weeks after the tragic event and one who still refuses to call Hamas a foreign terrorist organization seem a strange choice for a U.S. ambassador of peace who promotes religious tolerance?

It is absolutely no surprise, therefore, though gravely unfortunate and disappointing for our commander in chief to blurt out last Friday night, while celebrating the holy month of Ramadan at a White House dinner, that he is in favor of building the mosque near Ground Zero!

The president explained the next day, “I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there. I was commenting very specifically on the right people have that dates back to our founding. That’s what our country is about.”

White House spokesman Bill Burton reiterated the next day about Obama’s stance on constructing the mosque: “Just to be clear, the president is not backing off in any way from the comments he made last night. It is not his role as president to pass judgment on every local project. But it is his responsibility to stand up for the constitutional principle of religious freedom and equal treatment for all Americans. What he said last night, and reaffirmed today, is that if a church, a synagogue or a Hindu temple can be built on a site, you simply cannot deny that right to those who want to build a mosque.”

But I could not agree more with Sally Regenhard, whose firefighter son was killed at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11: “As an Obama supporter, I really feel that he’s lost sight of the germane issue, which is not about freedom of religion. It’s about a gross lack of sensitivity to the 9/11 families and to the people who were lost.”

And Debra Burlingame, a spokeswoman for some Sept. 11 families and the sister of one of the pilots killed in the attacks, summed it up perfectly: “Barack Obama has abandoned America at the place where America’s heart was broken nine years ago, and where her true values were on display for all to see.”

Obama is not just rebooting America’s image in the Muslim world. He’s deepening and expanding Islamic belief, practice, culture around the world, like a Muslim missionary.

(Next week in Part 2, I will discuss how the Obama administration has changed course in just this past year regarding passing anti-First Amendment defamation of religion resolutions, as well as demonstrate how Obama has been prejudice in his treatment of Islam versus Christianity).

Posted via email from Jay’s Blogs

This entry was posted on 18. August 2010 at 04:11 and is filed under Obama, United State of America. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

Pak on track to being named terrorist state

7 Dec 2008, 0052 hrs IST, Chidanand Rajghatta, TNN
Print Email Discuss Share Save Comment Single page view Text:
WASHINGTON: The United States is dusting off a long-discarded proposal to declare Pakistan a state sponsor of terrorism. But with the Bush
administration now in its final six weeks in office, a decision in this regard is being left to the incoming Obama government, sources said, contingent on corrective actions taken in the meantime by Islamabad to the satisfaction of India, US and other countries affected by Pakistan's toxic export of death.

US intelligence circles are now re-evaluating Pakistan's contribution to the war on terror, and the ISI's dominant role in the country and its ties with jihadi outfits, at the behest of the Bush administration. The White House itself lost faith in the Pakistan Army's bonafides several months ago which led to Washington's decision to withdraw support to military ruler Pervez Musharraf and back a new civilian government, officials and congressional aides who spoke on background explained. The decision to dump Musharraf was taken at vice-president Dick Cheney recommendation, they added, because of evidence that Pakistan was continuing to help Taliban elements attacking Nato forces.

Now the Bush administration is even more convinced that the Pakistani Army and its intelligence arm ISI, who still calls the shots in Islamabad, are continuing their toxic policies. But firm action against them is constrained by both the transition phase in Washington and the US dependence on Pakistan to maintain supply lines to its troops in land-locked Afghanistan. Officials are now re-examining options in this regard, particularly US leverage against Islamabad if Pakistan considers interdiction strategies.

Pakistan came close to being named a state sponsor of terrorism in 1992 when then Secretary of State James Baker charged then prime minister Nawaz Sharif of supporting terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir. The then US envoy in Islamabad Nicholas Platt conveyed to Sharif that "we (US) are very confident of our information that your intelligence service, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, and elements of the Army are supporting Kashmiri and Sikh militants who carry out acts of terrorism... This support takes the form of providing weapons, training and assistance in infiltration ... We're talking about direct, covert support from the Government of Pakistan."

In his talking points, Platt continued: "Our information is certain. It does not come from the Indian Government. Please consider the serious consequences to our relationship if this support continues... If the situation persists, the Secretary of State may find himself required by law to place Pakistan in the U.S.G. [United States Government] State sponsors of terrorism list... You must take concrete steps to curtail assistance to militants and not allow their training camps to operate in Pakistan or Azad Kashmir."

The situation was defused by Sharif government removing then D-G of ISI Javed Nasir even as Washington was going through a transition phase (from Bush Sr to Clinton).

But it now appears that the ISI has cranked up its policy from mere infiltration and support to outright commando style attacks.

Despite a soft-line adopted by Bush administration in public to the benefit of doubt to Pakistan's civilian government and spur it into action, Washington has little doubt that the terrorist attack on Mumbai was sponsored and planned with state support, US officials are saying privately. One things is certain; this was not a run-of-the mill LeT operation.

"I think this event looks a lot more like a classical Special Forces or commando-style raid than it does like any terrorist attack we've seen before," David Kilcullen, a counter insurgency military analyst who served as an advisor to Gen. Davis Petraeus tells Fareed Zakaria in the upcoming edition of his program GPS, articulating what US officials are saying in private. "No al-Qaida-linked terrorist group and certainly never Lashkar-e-Taiba has mounted a maritime raid of this type or complexity."

The US intelligence community believes that hijacking a fishing vessel, infiltrating via the sea, via inflatable boat, launching diversionary attacks designed to pull the first responders out of the way of the subsequent follow on groups that struck the Oberoi, the Taj Mahal, the Nariman Center and the equipment the terrorists carried and their attire were all in the vein of a covert special-forces raid rather than a traditional terrorist attack.

Islam, Obama & Pakistan

America has never been popular in Pakistan, despite the fact that the country has been aligned with it since the early fifties.
The first prime minister of Pakistan was invited by the Soviet Union, but he used that invitation to solicit one from the United States and ditched the Soviets.
The country became a member of CENTO and SEATO, and provided the Americans with an air base at Badaber near Peshawar to monitor the Soviet Union in the Cold War.

The relations however started to deteriorate when Pakistan signed a border agreement with China in 1963; and when the United States suspended military aid to Pakistan during its war with India in September 1965. This `betrayal’ prompted the military dictator who ruled the country from 1958 to 1969 with active American cooperation, Field Marshal Ayub Khan, to title his autobiography Friends, Not Masters.
The common man on the street unanimously supported the Viet Cong against the Americans in the Vietnam War; despite President Nixon rescuing the western wing of the country, from Indian aggression following the downfall of the eastern wing that subsequently became Bangladesh.
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was toppled by General Zia-ul- Haq in 1977, and subsequently hanged on a dubious murder charge in 1979. Bhutto in his last book, If I am Assassinated blamed the Americans for toppling his government due to his continuing with the nuclear programme, despite the then secretary of state, Henry Kissinger, warning him against such a course of action.
Massive American aid poured into Pakistan during the Eighties in the midst of the Afghan War but the covert CIA support to the Afghan Mujahideen played havoc with Pakistani society. Heroin and kalashnikovs that had never been heard of became a norm. Many blamed the Americans for this mess, and the criticism became more acute due to the failure of the aid to reach the common man. It only made the rich generals all the more richer.
The Taliban took over in Afghanistan and the people saw this as an opportunity to stand against the Americans: Islam had finally triumphed against communism and the Americans. Pakistan was one of the few countries where some rejoiced on the streets when the twin towers collapsed in New York.
Osama Bin Laden was a national hero even before 9/11 and it was common for people to name their children after him.
Almost every second car in the country carried a bumper sticker saying ‘Crush America’ when America was planning to attack Iraq during the Gulf War, and the tribals from the state of Swat under the TNSM formed a lashkar consisting of thousands armed with nineteenth century guns and hockey sticks to fight the American marines in Afghanistan.
However, the quick downfall of the Taliban, followed by that of Saddam Hussein, dampened everybody’s spirits. This opposition explains the intense hatred in the whole country against General Musharraf due to his support for President Bush in the War on Terror.
In the midst of all this hatred for the Americans and everything associated with the United States, it was a pleasant surprise to see almost everybody rejoice in Pakistan over Barack Obama’s historical victory in the recent American elections. Every TV channel could be seen holding discussions and the print media went euphoric. There is little doubt that he was popular with the younger generation, particularly the ones going to colleges and universities, but even the older generation was generally delighted with the victory.
It would however be wrong to attribute this ecstasy for Obama to his being an African American. Pakistan, like other countries, is racist in some respects, and hardly associates itself with the black community.
`Kala’ remains a derogatory term. Our driver upon seeing Obama giving his Victory Speech in Chicago, despite being excited, exclaimed that the guy hardly looks presidential. He did not say it but he meant that he was not white.
The people of Pakistan are excited about Obama because they consider him to be a fellow Muslim that may come as news to Obama himself. All the television channels are constantly making it a point to refer to Obama’s middle name and emphasise his Muslim credentials. The point that Obama used to pray at school while in Indonesia is being harped upon.
This is the height of naivety. President elect-Obama is obviously not a Muslim even if his father was. And even if he was, it would hardly have made a difference as things are much more institutionalised in Washington, DC than in Islamabad. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that Obama has provided the United States with a golden opportunity in decades to placate the anti- American feelings prevalent throughout the Muslim world, including Pakistan. If he can succeed in taking a few positive steps in alleviating the suffering of the Palestinians, even if unable to achieve a total resolution, he would become a hero in this part of the world for a long time.
The Kashmiris in the Indian part of Kashmir danced on the streets upon learning of Obama’s victory. They perhaps are waiting for him to take a keen interest in the resolution of this long-pending issue.
The presence of American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan is a sore point with the majority of Muslims and they would be delighted with their withdrawal. The closure of Guantanamo Bay facility, and the release of some even if not all the prisoners, will go a long way in earning Obama immense good will. The release, of Dr Afia Siddiqui may not brighten Al-Qaeda’s prospects in the world but it definitely would earn Obama a few brownie points in Pakistan.
The constant missile attacks through drones in Pakistan’s tribal areas, despite repeated protests by the Pakistan government, are extremely unpopular and their effectiveness remains dubious. They may be resulting in targeting a few Al -Qaeda and Taliban militants but they are also resulting in collateral damage and many innocent civilians are getting killed in the process.
This is something that would be unacceptable in any state. Pakistan may be too weak to do anything about their constant and repeated attacks but they are making the United States lose whatever support it had in this country. Obama may consider putting a stop to these attacks.
The time has come to find out if Obama is simply a crafty politician who outmaneuvered his opponents; or is a statesman who will act upright by balancing pressure from all directions

author :
Anees Jillani is a prominent Pakistan Supreme Court lawyer.

Barack Obama: The 50 facts you might not know

The Daily Telegraph First Published : 10 Nov 2008 10:26:00 PM ISTLast Updated : 11 Nov 2008 01:41:43 AM IST
• He collects Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian comics
• He was known as "O'Bomber" at high school for his skill at basketball
• His name means "one who is blessed" in Swahili
• His favourite meal is wife Michelle's shrimp linguini
• He won a Grammy in 2006 for the audio version of his memoir, Dreams From My Father
• He is left-handed – the sixth post-war president to be left-handed
• He has read every Harry Potter book
• He owns a set of red boxing gloves autographed by Muhammad Ali
• He worked in a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop as a teenager and now can't stand ice cream
• His favourite snacks are chocolate-peanut protein bars
• He ate dog meat, snake meat, and roasted grasshopper while living in Indonesia
• He can speak Spanish
• While on the campaign trail he refused to watch CNN and had sports channels on instead
• His favourite drink is black forest berry iced tea
• He promised Michelle he would quit smoking before running for president – he didn't
• He kept a pet ape called Tata while in Indonesia
• He can bench press an impressive 200lbs
• He was known as Barry until university when he asked to be addressed by his full name
• His favourite book is Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
• He visited Wokingham, Berks, in 1996 for the stag party of his half-sister's fiancé, but left when a stripper arrived
• His desk in his Senate office once belonged to Robert Kennedy
• He and Michelle made $4.2 million (£2.7 million) last year, with much coming from sales of his books
• His favourite films are Casablanca and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
• He carries a tiny Madonna and child statue and a bracelet belonging to a soldier in Iraq for good luck
• He applied to appear in a black pin-up calendar while at Harvard but was rejected by the all-female committee.
• His favourite music includes Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Bach and The Fugees
• He took Michelle to see the Spike Lee film Do The Right Thing on their first date
• He enjoys playing Scrabble and poker
• He doesn't drink coffee and rarely drinks alcohol
• He would have liked to have been an architect if he were not a politician
• As a teenager he took drugs including marijuana and cocaine
• His daughters' ambitions are to go to Yale before becoming an actress (Malia, 10) and to sing and dance (Sasha, 7)
• He hates the youth trend for trousers which sag beneath the backside
• He repaid his student loan only four years ago after signing his book deal
• His house in Chicago has four fire places
• Daughter Malia's godmother is Jesse Jackson's daughter Santita
• He says his worst habit is constantly checking his BlackBerry
• He uses an Apple Mac laptop
• He drives a Ford Escape Hybrid, having ditched his gas-guzzling Chrysler 300
• He wears $1,500 (£952) Hart Schaffner Marx suits
• He owns four identical pairs of black size 11 shoes
• He has his hair cut once a week by his Chicago barber, Zariff, who charges $21 (£13)
• His favourite fictional television programmes are Mash and The Wire
• He was given the code name "Renegade" by his Secret Service handlers
• He was nicknamed "Bear" by his late grandmother
• He plans to install a basketball court in the White House grounds
• His favourite artist is Pablo Picasso
• His speciality as a cook is chilli
• He has said many of his friends in Indonesia were "street urchins"
• He keeps on his desk a carving of a wooden hand holding an egg, a Kenyan symbol of the fragility of life
• His late father was a senior economist for the Kenyan government