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'Divide Pak' ads came from cable company, says CNN By
Chidanand Rajghatta
Times of India
WASHINGTON: CNN has disowned an advertisement that calls for
disintegration of Pakistan into several smaller countries being shown in
the Washington DC area saying ''some local cable operators may have
accepted the advert to run in their own airtime.''
The ad, which typically appears during the morning news hour on the
channel which broadcasts CNN in the Washington metro area, promotes a book
by a Syed Jamaluddin titled,
Divide Pakistan to
Eliminate Terrorism.
A male voice in a British accent says Pakistan and its intelligence agency
are promoting chaos around the world and “seek to take terrorism to new
heights.” He credits Jamaluddin with ''courageously exposing the truth.''
The ad has sent Pakistani circles into a tizzy after the Daily Times
verbatim reproduced the story first reported in The Times of India .
On Monday, a CNN spokesperson called ToI to say the ad was placed by the
cable company which could buy airtime between CNN programs to market any
message. What’s undeniable is that the ads continue to appear on Channel
62, which broadcasts CNN in the Maryland area for subscribers to Comcast.
At a time of heightened attention to Afghanistan and Pakistan and multiple
congressional hearing, the ads reflect poorly on Islamabad’s already
dubious reputation as an ally in the war on terrorism.
But then the unknown and untraceable Syed Jamaluddin is not the only one
raising awkward questions about Pakistan’s role in international
terrorism.
In a stunning rebuke, former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on
Monday obliquely accused the country’s military and intelligence of
promoting a terrorist agenda.
''Why is it that all terrorist plots -- from the September 11 attacks, to
Madrid, to London, to Mumbai -- seem to have roots in Islamabad?'' Bhutto
asked in a Washington Post op-ed, before answering, ''Pakistan's military
and intelligence services have, for decades, used religious parties for
recruits. Political madrassas -- religious schools that preach terrorism
by perverting the faith of Islam -- have spread by the tens of
thousands.''
Bhutto also accused the Musharraf regime of strategically helping the US
only when international criticism of the terrorists' presence becomes
strident. She cited the arrest of Mullah Obaidullah Akhund, a top Taliban
strategist, by Pakistani authorities late last month as a case in point.
''The timing, right on the heels of American and British pleas for renewed
toughness, is too convenient. Akhund was arrested solely to keep Western
governments at bay,'' she wrote.
Her charges may well be right and Pakistan may have suckered Washington
more than that. A Swiss daily reported on Sunday that Akhund, who is
Taliban’s former defence minister, was freed two days after his reported
capture by Pakistani security forces.
The Swiss weekly SonntagsBlick said one of its reporters spoke to Akhund
on February 28 unhindered in an Islamic school in the southwestern city of
Quetta.
''The news is not true,'' AP reported SonntagsBlick as writing. ''The
world press reported: top-Taliban imprisoned. At the same time he was
sitting with a SonntagsBlick reporter having coffee.''
The report broadly conforms to previous episodes where Pakistani
extremists and terrorists are merely quarantined by Islamabad as state
guests when the heat is on and then set free when world attention turns
away. 13.3.07 |
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CNN airs mysterious “Divide Pakistan”
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By Chidanand Rajghatta
Times
of India
WASHINGTON: While Pakistan has charged India with stoking fires in its
troubled provinces and produced articles in a Sindhi journal published
from New Delhi as 'evidence,' it can drum up far more serious charges
against its patron United States.
A maverick 'academic' based in Europe has been buying airtime on CNN for
the past two weeks to advertise his book titled
Divide Pakistan to
Eliminate Terrorism. The 15-second spot, which is aired every day,
charges Pakistan with terrorist activities across the world and says the
only way to stop this is to split the country into half dozen separate
entities, including Sindhudesh, Jinnahpur, Balochistan and Pakhtunistan.
The author of the book, which is being sold on Amazon.com for $ 15.95, is
Syed Jamaluddin, who describes himself in a blog (www.dividepakistan.blogspot.com)
as a British Citizen- Naturalized in UK and a chartered accountant with a
degree in conflict management.
On Amazon, he is described as ''an active writer on issues concerning
Pakistan’s involvement in various terrorist activities in the South Asian
region'' who was ''forced to leave Pakistan after the military coup of
General Musharraf in 1999.'' It says he also ''liaised with political and
religious parties of Pakistan as well as Government Agencies.''
Washington’s think-tank circuit, where Pakistani scholars and commentators
are frequent visitors, has no idea who Syed Jamaluddin is. The conjecture
is he is a disgruntled spook out to embarrass a country that is already in
a deep hole in the US where it is seen the grand central -- if not a
sponsor -- of terrorism in most quarters, except by administration
officials tasked with bringing it to heel with kid gloves.
Indian officials too said they had no idea of the book or the author. One
official visiting from New Delhi, when told about the ad, joked that
dividing Pakistan was a terrible idea, saying, ''One is bad enough -- who
wants to deal with four or five?'' 11.3.07 |
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