The Sagacity and Tolerance of The Great Britain

Many nations from Europe and Asia (Including Arabs) tried to colonise India. They all failed, except the British. The French, The Dutch, the Danish, the Portugese all Failed. The British weapons were not just the sword and gun, they also won the hearts and minds of the people.

The British never amputated Indians (cut off the arms or legs or noses or ears) as opposed to the local rulers including Tipu Sultan. Tipu used to cut off the noses of his own people for commiting xyz crimes. All local rulers used physical punishments which were close to butchery.

For the first time in the history of India, British introduced tolerance and relatively humane punishments like hanging to death which does not involve bloodshed. For other serious crimes, they started Kala Pani (Andaman Islands) which was an overseas prison for Indians. They spent a huge fortune on these prisons but did not execute the prisoners. Only in 1857 and a few such serious uprisings, they blew up people from guns but even those officers did not go to senior ranks (except one or two cases).

As compared to other nations, the British never insulted the Religions or the places of worship. When Sikhs occupied the cities like Peshawar and Lahore etc, they dishonoured the Mosques. Like Sikhs, other European nations did not show tolerance for different religions of India.

The Dutch (Geert Wilders and his party in particular) seem to be repeating the same mistakes that they committed in India a few centuries ago by allowing the caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH). They are making it much harder for the moderates among the Muslims to continue their struggle against extremism.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/973579/anti-islam-geert-wilders-party-for-freedom-drawing-mohammed-competition-netherlands

The Northamptonshire Regiment on the march in Waziristan in 1936. The British fought dozens of battles in Pakistan's tribal areas like Waziristan and other places. These battles were tough and both sides admired the CHIVALRY that existed in those times.

The British even offered medical aides to the injured Pathan fighters at the end of the battles because they admired them.

The maximum punishment that British would give to the tribals was to raze and destroy thier villages, take away their cattle and other property. This was cruel but not barbaric. They did not execute women and children. They did not attack innocent civilians.

The British even ensured that the tribals would know that "Army is Coming". This way the villages would be deserted by the tribals and the Army would not have to fight elderly, women or sick or children. They allowed people the time to go away and hide in the mountains. The Army would then proceed to either burn or destroy the houses.

This was the reason that the British ruled India for more than 200 years but other European nations could not rule even for a few years.

Economics : Pakistan's Trading Speciality

Different countries of the world have their trading specialities, which are their major exports and earnings of foreign exchange in addition to overall better financial situation.

Switzerland specialises in Banking sector and gives much better facilities to account holders (like secrecy) than other countries. It is major earning item for Switzerland in addition to tourism. Tourism also brings foreign exchange. If a tourist comes to Pakistan and spends Rs. 50,000 on his stay, food, transport and other activities, he contributes to Pakistan's economy.

Panama is a small country of central America. It gives very concessional rates to oil tankers and cruise ships for registration and thats why the majority of cruise ships and tankers are registered in Panama. Thats Panama's earning speciality.

India made Information Technology (IT) as its speciality in 1990s and reaped huge economic benefits from this investment in human resources. Technical human resources which can be sent abroad for jobs contribute financially to their countries. Technical specialists are therefore an economic assset. India has also been promoting tourism in the recent years in addition to liberal economic policies at home like the end of Licence Raj, where only selected people were granted Licences for sugar and other mills. Medical treatment facilities is another speciality that India has developped in the recent past. Patients from the whole South Asian Region go to India for medical treatment.

There are many other countries that have favbourable tax schemes for industries called tax havens. They attract investment in shape of "off-shore companies".

Engineering research and development is a trading speciality of some advanced countries like France and Germany. University and Industry teams get contracts for research from customers all over the world.

In the automobile sector, Japan specialises in cars upto 300 horsepower with 4 or 6-cylinder engines. Germany specialises in high-end , more powerful vehicles with 6,8 and 10 cylinder engines. Ferrari and Lamborghini of Italy specialise in super cars with 12-cylinder engines.

Sports bikes are trading speciality of Japan and Italy. Computers and its accessories are trading speciality of USA. Similiary digital cameras are mostly made in Japan.

Launching satellites into space is the trading speciality of few countries including India and China. Making satellites is however the speciality of USA and Europe. Similar is the case of aerospace sector and military hardware and this list can go on.

Pakistan's new government needs to decide on the trading specialities of Pakistan, invest in them and promote them in the international market to get out of the vicious cylce of "Failure and Bail-Out from IMF/World Bank".

Pakistan's Politics : Tips on Winning Elections for PTI

Money Laundering, Imran Khan and Nawaz Sharif / PML

Imran Khan needs to become careful in what he says about money laundering and illegal money transfers. He is doing PML/Nawaz Sharif's publicity himself. He is doing the Election campaign for Nawaz Sharif or PML and digging a pit for himself by vehemently opposing money laundering. 

Remember that many organizations, religious groups and Jihadi groups etc use illegal money transfers and money laundering techniques to gather financial resources. These entities would prefer Nawaz Sharif. They would oppose with all their force, the rise of Imran Khan, who is against corruption and money laundering. This is ONE of the most important reasons that PTI has been losing Elections in Pakistan.

It needs to be analysed in full detail as to what strategy should be adopted but one thing is clear that the non-stop opposition to Money Laundering should be stopped immediately and some clever strategy adopted so that all those Jihadi groups are not totally against you before Elections.

 
No Falls, No Accidents

May 2013...Imran Khan fell from stage in a rally just before Elections. Geo News showed, in an exclusive coverage, a badly shaken Imran Khan with head injuries (use google to see the images). This automatically cancelled his psychological fitness. Every emotional shock needs a new psychological exam to find out if any 'post-shock' conditions or trauma exist.

If it was an accident, then it was most unfortunate. If it had been arranged to get sympathies of the people, then it was the biggest blunder that Imran Khan made. If this advisor is still around Imran Khan, he should be immediately fired.

For this year Elections, NO ACCIDENTS, NO FALLS, NO HEAD INJURIES.

This is like what happens to Air Force pilots who eject from their falling aircrafts. They have to face serious psychological follow-up before they can fly again.

Rockets As Sacred Weapons

Tragic news from the Middle East. Dozens Palestinian protesters killed and thousands injured in clashes. This happened at the occasion of opening of US Embassy in Jerusalem. The issue of Jerusalem is itself a political issue but the scale of causalities shows that it is not just related to the opening of US embassy and it proves the anger of Israeli authorities that has resulted from the incessant rocket attacks by the armed groups of Palestinians. In the previous years, thousand of rockets were fired into Israel from Palestinian areas. Israel had to develop 'Iron Dome' anti-missile system to cope with this threat. This use of rockets has to be analysed in its historical and religious background.

We can start with the use of rockets by the Arabs. From 633 AD to 750 AD, the Arabs overcame almost all local powers including Persia, Byzantium (partially) and conquered North Africa, Iberia and Central Asia. In these wars, they used fire arrows to disrupt enemy formations and concentrations. These fire arrows also took the form of rockets. Rocket seems to have gained a reputation of “sacred weapon of victory” among Arab armies.

PTI: Winning Elections in Pakistan

Coming into power in Pakistan is a delicate exercise requiring victory in a two-front battle. Both the domestic voters of Pakistan and the national and international stake-holders in Pakistan have to be convinced. The stake-holders may not all be on friendly terms with each other but they all have to be satisfied. This means that winning more votes does not automatically mean coming into power. So here are some elements of the two-pronged strategy for securing votes and coming into power. 

Decide a Stronghold 

PPP has Sindh as its stronghold, PML has Punjab as its stronghold and Balochistan is stronghold of Baloch nationalist parties. PTI can make KPK as its stronghold (which would mean more investment and more effort in KPK) so as to get roots in one place. Winning a few provincial seats in all provinces does not mean anything. You have to be strong at least in one province. By deciding a stronghold, the party would remain rooted and ever-present in national politics. It would then concentrate ONLY on winning national assembly seats in the rest of Pakistan.

Imran Khan, PTI and Jinnah

Just happened to read this book (in French language) of the author Francois Kersaudy called Lord Mountbatten and published in 2006. It is mentioned in this book that in 1947 Lord Mountbatten (The last British Viceroy to India) had to meet all Indian leaders about leaving the India to local parties and he arranged meetings with Gandhi, Nehru and Jinnah among others. The (intelligence) profile of Mr Muhammad Ali Jinnah is said to be like this (Page 242 on 2015 edition of the book):

"Jinnah represents Muslims but he drinks Whisky and Champagne, he eats pork, he smokes all day along, his knowledge of Quran is very limited and he rarely goes to the mosque".

It was completely new for me, although not shocking. I thought that nowadays in Pakistan, in certain govt departments, you have to be much better than Jinnah in religious obligations to get a junior post and yet he is the founder of Pakistan and father of the nation. This also clarifies whether Jinnah wanted an Islamic state or a secular one. The other question is that why Pakistan's state has been hiding these details about Jinnah? I respected Jinnah from my boyhood and still respect him, these details did not change my respect for him (Although many people may do otherwise and perhaps this is the reason for hiding such details). 

Now for PTI and Imran Khan posing as second Jinnah of Pakistan, is it good for Imran Khan to compare himself to Jinnah? I shall say that times have changed in Pakistan, people are more religious now and Imran khan has to stop comparing himself to Jinnah, same is true for the followers of PTI, stop comparison with Jinnah if you want to win votes in elections. It is sure that PTI lacks people who are experts in history.
PTI : Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf

Pakistan and Shia-Sunni Alliances of the Muslim World

Here the word “Alliance” would not be used in its true diplomatic meaning; instead the “agreement” and “alliance” shall be used interchangeably.

Soon after her creation in 1947, Pakistan faced conflicts on its borders with Afghanistan (over Durand Line), India, and in Kashmir. Afghanistan was not ready to admit the Durand Line as the boundary between the two countries. To face these challenges, Pakistan needed strong alliances. In early 1950s, Pakistan started a long-term relationship with USA and Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan made a historic visit to USA. This forced Afghanistan to seek aid from the Soviet Union. Due to Kashmir issue, India did not have cordial relations with Pakistan and therefore, India too found itself inclined towards the Soviet Union. Thus both India and Afghanistan found a common ground for cooperation.

In 1961-62 Daud Khan was prime minister of Afghanistan when the Pashtunistan movement (or rather crisis) reached its pinnacle. Tensions rose so high that Pakistan closed the Afghan Transit route. Pakistan Air Force launched air strikes into the FATA (Federally Administrated Tribal Areas) and also arranged for a mega show of firepower in Jamrud in 1962. Royal Afghan Air Force was quite well-equipped in the 1961-62 but surprisingly they did not come to the help of FATA tribes (or not in substantial numbers). The crisis situation ended through the mediation of Shah of Iran between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Rohingyas, Myanmar and Pakistan

Before the arrival of Islam in the Indian sub-continent, the main religions in the region were Hinduism and Buddhism. In those times, Buddhism was burgeoning and gathering mass acceptance as shown by the rampant statues and monasteries in Bamian (Afghanistan), Swat and Taxila (Pakistan). Hindu leaders must have been seriously concerned about the rise of Buddhism. The first major clean-up operation against Buddhism in the India in recorded history is the attack by the Hun barbarians. They damaged and destroyed Buddhist monasteries but damage to the Hindu temples is not mentioned to be excessive which alludes to the possibility of Huns acting as mercenaries. The very fact that Buddhists had taken refuge in far away and hardly-accessible valleys like Bamian and Swat shows that they were facing a threat of survival.

After the arrival of Islam in the Indian sub-continent, no major confrontation occured between Muslims and Buddhists. They could have been potential allies too. The Buddhists remained safe in their far-flung sanctuaries of Tibet, Sikkim, Myanmar, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. Things started to change during the British East India Company's colonization of India. Myanmar, Tibet and Sikkim were all invaded. In 1772, Bhutanese and British troops clashed in Bengal with a treaty signed in 1774. Sikkim was perhaps the only Indian state with Buddhism as state religion. In the Sikkim expedition of 1888, Tibet lost its suzerainty over Sikkim. Later on Sikkim was annexed into India. Myanmar's Buddhist kings had many border issues with British India and in a series of wars starting in 1824, they lost almost all of their country to the British East India Company. Buddhist kingdoms were faced with a survival threat.

Sacred Corners of the Indian Triangle

If we imagine the Indian peninsula as a giant traingle, then its three corners would be Kashmir to the North-West, Arunachal Pradesh to the North-East and the Southern Cap as the third corner. Historically the Hindus of India have imparted great importance to these three corners as if these were “the sacred corners of India”. Indians have tried throughout the ages to keep these three sacred corners as independent territories. The Muslim conquerors of India (both Delhi kings and Mughals) mainly concentrated on the Northern plains. Mughals did annex Kashmir but the other two corners remained out of reach for them. Emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir (ruled from 1658 to 1707) led military expeditions in the South and in the North-East and brought (temporarily) huge tracts under his control but at that time the Mahrattas had established a barrier in the Central-India against any expansion to the Southern most tip. Let us examine this “sacred corners theory” in a little detail.

Winning Wars Through Miracles

I was in 7^th grade in 1991 when the first Gulf war started. Allied air forces were targeting Iraqi military with all their precision guided munitions in conjunction with latest target acquisition systems. I was traveling to Peshawar in public transport and heard people discussing the war. They were saying confidently that due to the shrine of Hazrat Abdul Qadir Jilani RA in Baghdad (Iraq), the US and Allied bombs are not exploding. They believed in the miracles. Later on, we came to learn that Iraqi military has been expelled from Kuwait and now Allies are going into Iraq itself and that Iraqis have suffered serious losses. People of low development have shown such behaviour in almost all parts of the world, regardless of their religion. Belief in miracles, witchcraft and superstition induce naive and credulous men to become cannon fodder. A General does not depend upon miracles for success of his campaign. He calculates and plans for everything that he needs to have before going to the battle. One reason that the mutinies and numerous armed movements of the Indian Muslims against the British power in India (1757-1947) did not succeed is that calculating and experienced British Generals were fighting against locals led by priests (or baba), pirs and fakirs (a hermit) who relied upon miracles and divine intervention for success. Lets take a tour of the military history for some case studies.

Kamikaze Winds of Japan

The China-Japan enmity is perhaps as old as the civilization of China itself. Towards the end of the 13^th century, when the Mongol prince Kublai Khan had become the King of China, he prepared an expedition against Japan. A great naval fleet was sent towards Japan but due to strong storm winds, the whole Chinese fleet was dispersed and Japan could not be conquered. Interesting, this happened once again, hurricanes preventing the Chinese fleet from landing on Japan. Japanese called these as “heaven-sent or Kamikaze” brought by the God of Wind. Later on during the Second World War, the name Kamikaze was given to the pilots flying suicide missions against US Naval fleet, giving them a divine aspect. It was of course a desperate measure and could not turn the tide of the war.