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India-Pakistan
PM calls for adopting collective self-defence for Muslim states
2007-05-18
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has called for adopting means for collective self- defence of the Muslim countries to ward off external aggression.
That'd be us, of course.
Addressing the concluding session of 34th Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers (ICFM) here Thursday, Aziz said: “We shall enhance the capacity of Islamic countries to defend them against external domination and foreign aggression by acquiring the means for effective and collective self-defence.”
That'd be nukes, of course.
He said the Islamic world was passing through a critical period and certain forces were trying to push the West and Islamic world towards a real conflict. He cautioned that all such dangerous trends must be reversed for a better world.
Meaning the West had better stop whatever it is it's doing and become more deferential to the Islamic world...
However, he equated challenges of the present world with the vast opportunities offered by the globalised and technical revolution and said that Muslims should seize the opportunity for good.
There's a lot of money to despoil the infidels of...
Aziz said that Muslim countries should reform. “We cannot play the role that we desire in the world affairs for a better future without internal reform and socio-economic development,” he said. He emphasised that a greater unity of the Ummah was vital to facing challenges of the 21st century.
A caliphate, that's the way to go, by gum! Forget about that individual liberty stuff. That "sick man of Europe" routine the Turks went through, that was just a fluke.
He praised the ICFM for adopting agenda for reforms in the charter of Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC). He said the OIC Secretariat should be strengthened to serve as a force multiplier for realisation of broader objectives of the OIC. He said the political problems involving occupation of Muslim lands such as Palestine, Iraq, etc. should be solved. “We shall seek an end to the escalating tensions in the Gulf and construct a durable structure for peace, security and cooperation in the region,” he said.
"That doesn't involve deposing any madmen, of course, nor the disarming of any bands of fascisti. But we think we can get some more concessions from the Jews. Eventually they'll be weakened enough that we can kick them out and make all the Holy Land just like Gaza."
The PM condemned terrorism in all its forms and stressed for conveying the true message of Islam. He opposed the rising trend of Islamophobia and called for protection of Muslim minorities and communities in the non-Muslim countries.
"We want to make damned sure Muslim minorities in the civilized world aren't treated like non-Muslim minorities are in the Islamic world."
Aziz said it was essential to establish creative linkages to deepen intra OIC trade, investment and commercial cooperation. He emphasised that Muslims were rich in human capital but lagging in human resource development.
That means they're teeming with unskilled labor in a world that increasingly demands skills beyond that of reciting the Koran.
“These contrasts prevent us from playing a larger role in the comity of nations but this state of affairs can be changed,” he said.
"We're not sure how, of course, but we're sure it can be. We're studying the Koran for hints."
Aziz emphasised cooperation in education and science and technology and called for intensifying scientific research in the Muslim countries. “Pakistan, in its capacity as the chair of the COMSTECH, is prepared to spearhead this initiative. The COMSTECH should be transformed into a specialised organ of the OIC so it can play its due role,” he said.
"After all, the Paks are the ones with the nukes."
Aziz said the Muslim states should support national aspirations of both the energy exporters and importers within the OIC and they should develop a strategy for energy security of member states. Aziz said that the UN should be reformed and democratised and the OIC as a group should take active part in the reform process of the world body. He also called for timely implementation of the declaration and resolutions of the 34th ICFM.
Posted by:Fred

#18  SecDef Gates just said the same thing as per Japan [GMD-TMD], and left open-ended the possibility of other Nations joing in. OTOH, KOMMERSANT/WORLDNEWS > unless I've missed something, RUSSIA is actually criticizing the Euros for NOT formally implementing the EU = EU-style, pan-Nation, Govt-Trade structures.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2007-05-18 22:22  

#17  They can call it "The Alliance of Targets"...
Posted by: tu3031   2007-05-18 17:04  

#16  Educated people will demand democracy which is a direct threat to the control currently exerted by the muslim despots and clerics.

Educated?
Like Osama bin Laden? - Public Administration
Like Ayman Al Zawahiri? - Pediatric Surgeon
Like Mohammed Atta ? - Architect
Like Saeed Omar Sheik? - Economics
Like Anisa Andrabi ? - Biology

Andrabi's Duktran-e-Millat doesn't care much for democracy.. her girls want burqa and sharia law... all are educated, some with Masters degrees
Posted by: John Frum   2007-05-18 16:03  

#15  Is it just me, or is that an oxymoron?

Nah, bigjim, Aziz is just a regular moron. But you're right, the true message of Islam is terrorism. Without it they'd be powerless against the West.

As long as they're prepared to accept collective punishment for whatever rabid nutbag lobs a nuke, have at it.

Word, mojo.
Posted by: Zenster   2007-05-18 14:08  

#14  As long as they're prepared to accept collective punishment for whatever rabid nutbag lobs a nuke, have at it.
Posted by: mojo   2007-05-18 12:27  

#13  Aziz emphasised cooperation in education and science and technology and called for intensifying scientific research in the Muslim countries.

I think science and technology are big, big problems for these people. They need education for it and the more educated their people become the more they will question the sham of Islam and all the fairy tales about Mohammed. Educated people will demand democracy which is a direct threat to the control currently exerted by the muslim despots and clerics. Just think how many Christians still have problems with Darwin's theory of evolution and then try to tell muslims that they are descended from apes. Education, science and technology are incompatible with Islam.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305   2007-05-18 12:26  

#12  We shall enhance the capacity of Islamic countries to defend them against external domination and foreign aggression by acquiring the means for effective and collective self-defence.”

So would this be nukes? Are they going to harness their tremendous technological capabilities? Increase their development of aircraft, ships, and tanks? I guess the answer is no. This must mean bankrolling terrorism.
Posted by: JohnQC   2007-05-18 10:12  

#11  I'm all for this. It allows group targeting.
Posted by: DarthVader   2007-05-18 09:40  

#10  To be less then India is to negate the very basis of partition and the creation of the Pakistani state, the promise of muslim rule over the Indian subcontinent.

If you step back from the day to day and look at the big picture, India and China have become the new lands of opportunity. The bright young college kids with big dreams head off to Asia and India. Islam is a 7th Century religion that is coming face to face with the technology of the 21st century and it can't deal with it. Its core nature which focuses on domination, humiliation, revenge, subjugation of women etc. was able to exist when they were "over there" and we were "over here", but the free flow of information in the technological age allows their young to have access to the modern world and they want a piece of it.

Their only hope to remain in the 7th Century is to conquer the world and throw us all back there. They won't succeed of course, but they will kill millions to avoid admitting the fact that their culture is inferior to any other.
Posted by: Angaiger Tojo1904   2007-05-18 09:28  

#9  Saudi Wahabbists defending the Shi'a, who they consider heretics worse than infidels . . . Iranians defending their mortal ethnic enemies the Arabs, and vice-versa . . . oh, yeah, that'll work!
Posted by: Mike   2007-05-18 09:24  

#8  The PM condemned terrorism in all its forms and stressed for conveying the true message of Islam.

Is it just me, or is that an oxymoron?
Posted by: bigjim-ky   2007-05-18 07:39  

#7   support national aspirations of both the energy exporters and importers within the OIC

Aziz wants the Saudis and Kuwaitis to continue to supply Pakistan with free oil.
Posted by: John Frum   2007-05-18 07:00  

#6  Those inline comments were devastatingly insightful.

Just one thing to add:

Aziz said the Muslim states should support national aspirations of both the energy exporters and importers within the OIC and they should develop a strategy for energy security of member states.

Let's throw in some political cover for Iran's nuclear program while we're at it!
Posted by: Knuckles Thromoling6063   2007-05-18 06:52  

#5  There are a number of things at work here.

Pakistan has always sought an "external balancer" to supply the weapons and money it needed to maintain the fiction of being a "rival" to India.
This is very important to the Pak psyche. To be less then India is to negate the very basis of partition and the creation of the Pakistani state, the promise of muslim rule over the Indian subcontinent.

At different times Pak has sought help from the US, China, the UN, the OIC and the Saudis against India. They have repeatedly asked for external mediators in the India-Pak dispute.
They have suggested an Arab oil embargo to compel India to surrender Kashmir. They have called for UN sanctions. They have called on the OIC to expel Indian workers.
After the 1998 nuclear tests, Benazir Bhutto called for NATO to bomb India.

Now that the coalition in Afghanistan is faced with Pak duplicity and support of terrorism at first hand there is the need to balance not only India but now the US.

Another part of the Pak psyche is the fiction that Pakistan is a "Citadel of Islam" - Islam is in danger from the Kufr and they will defend it. This is important in mobilizing the Pak masses to support the state. They seek to recreate their imagined martial prowess in order to compensate for the loss of muslim political and economic power in the Indian subcontinent.

Members of the Pak elite like to claim they are "ashraf" - descendants of the prophet Mohammed and thus superior in status to other muslim. They fabricate Central Asian ancestry as well. This is a compensatory tactic because Arabs, especially since the oil booms, tend to be quite comptemptuous of non-arab muslims from the subcontinent, those who clean their homes, toilets, perform manual labor.
As anyone who has worked in the mid-east will tell you, many Arabs don't even think them real muslims.

Paks like to imagine themselves as the sword arm of Islam. This gives them a place in the muslim order not at the very bottom.

Occasionally the Saudis will humor them in this regard. Last week the imam of the grand mosque in Mecca, addressing a group of Pakistanis, called them the "citadel of Islam", defenders possessing a weapon the West was afraid of.
Posted by: John Frum   2007-05-18 06:17  

#4  Zhang Fei

I would put Saudi and Iran as the main terrorist state sponsors.Pakistan/Hamas and Hezbollah are just their operating arms!!!!!
Posted by: Ebbolump Glomotle9608   2007-05-18 06:13  

#3  No surprise that the leading state sponsor of terrorism - Pakistan - wants other countries to shield it from the consequences of its actions. My feeling is that other Muslim countries will just say no. Who the heck wants to get bombed by India or the US for Pakistan's sins?
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2007-05-18 01:59  

#2  Masterful inline, Fred. Just the very thought of a Muslim NATO-style alliance is enough to induce hysterical laughter. Exactly who would hold the "two keys"? As always, my best and favorite oxymoron: Arab Unity.
Posted by: Zenster   2007-05-18 01:39  

#1  I believe you ought to go one step further if you could get along for two minutes. Form an Islamic Union. Just copy the EU. That saves us a lot of time. We can preprogram all your major cities and launch counter strikes against all you sand fleas at once if just one of you steps out of line.
Posted by: Woozle Elmeter2970   2007-05-18 01:17  

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