Occupy Oakland takes violent turn

A youth is hit by a rubber bullet during a mass protest. A group of people lift him up from the “frontline” as a tear gas canister drops in the midst of this group. I am not describing a scene from some Arab Spring demonstration, but from the U.S.'s very own Golden State where the Occupy Oakland protests turned violent last week. The police's violent reaction to the peaceful demonstrators was condemnable.

The young man that I mentioned was 24-year-old veteran and ex-Marine Scott Olsen, who had served two tours of duty in Iraq. He was not the only victim. As hundreds of baton-wielding, riot gear-clad police officers forcibly tried to evict Occupy Oakland campers from the Frank H. Ogawa Plaza in the wee hours of the morning, people were roughed up, arrested and shooed away using non-lethal weapons. Although the police said this action was in self-defense, there is no real justification of using this much force against demonstrators who were merely camping peacefully.

Encouraging police brutality as a weapon of suppression is a failed tactic. The Oakland administration should have learned this lesson from Tahrir Square. As they say, better late than never. Mayor Jean Quan learned her lessons soon enough, and not only invited the protesters for talks but also gave them the go-ahead to re-occupy the Frank H. Ogawa Plaza. But the damage has already been done.

The issue of police brutality, especially in this case, should not go unpunished under the garb of restoring law and order, and those responsible for ordering and carrying out this gruesome act must be brought to justice.

The "99 percent" are already wary of the growing economic disparity in society, prolonged overseas wars, drastic cuts in employee pension, health and other benefits, unemployment and growing poverty. It is also a belief among the protesters that the current system no longer works well for them. This police reaction will not ease their doubts.

Shedding light on the rising economic disparities, a Congressional Budget Office report revealed that the income of the top 1 percent of earners grew by more than 275 percent during the last three decades. It also reported that for others in the top 20 percent of the population, average real after-tax household income grew by 65 percent. By contrast, for the poorest 20 percent of the population, average real after-tax household income rose by a mere 18 percent. For the 60 percent of people in the middle of the income scale, the growth in such household income was about 40 percent.

Also, the protesters believe that a sizable chunk of the political establishment is merely a puppet with its strings in the hands of the corporate honchos who finance the presidential-election campaigns. It is a well-known fact that United States' economy has been spiraling downward ever since the mid 2000s and finally ended in the Wall Street crash of 2007. The aftershocks continued in the form of financial institutions going bankrupt through 2009.

Taxpayers' money was used to bail out these ungrateful financial institutions, which now refuse to hand out loans to those very same taxpayers. While the faithful employee was shown the door to prevent corporations from going bankrupt, the CEO still took home a multi-million dollar pay check. The recovery has been especially slow in California, which has the second highest unemployment rate in the U.S., trailing Nevada.

Coupled with this, the United States' continued wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and military operations elsewhere have bled its economy blue. The scenes of coffins wrapped in Stars and Stripes flying in by the hundreds have not been encouraging either. These people are perhaps losing faith in the ballot as an effective tool to bring an inclusive change that would usher in the equitable redistribution of wealth.

It is in this background that I see the Occupy Oakland and other such protests as a last-ditch effort to bring a change – this time not by using the ballot but by using the Freedom of Speech, Petition and Assembly guaranteed to them under the First Amendment of the United States' Constitution.

Bravo to these courageous men, women and children who are toiling hard on the streets on cold nights trying to make a difference and, most importantly, reclaim what is rightfully theirs – as is enshrined in the National Anthem.

And then the star-spangled banner in triumph shall truly wave while the land of the free remains the home of the brave.

Published in WSU's The Daily Evergreen newspaper on November,1,2011

http://dailyevergreen.wsu.edu/read/opinion-occupy-oakland-turns-violent

Jobs Act is a politically smart move

"I am sending this Congress a plan that you should pass right away," President Barack Obama said while presenting the American Jobs Act in a Sept. 8 address to Congress. The ambitious $447 billion jobs plan he proposed aims to “put more people back to work and put more money in the pockets of working Americans.” Let us do a section-by-section analysis of how it aims to accomplish this and what are the chances of its success.

This act, if passed, will provide for a temporary payroll tax cut for employers, employees and the self-employed with incomes up to $5 million. This cut also applies to public institutions of higher education.

Further, to provide additional relief to businesses, the amount of surety bond would be increased to $5 million, thereby providing a greater hedge against failures, especially for the new start-up businesses. This clause is sure to receive a big thumbs up from small and medium-sized business owners who provide employment to a sizable section of the working class.

The next clause of the act, titled Putting America Back To Work, provides for 40 percent tax credits to employers who hire veterans. It will provide a much needed direct benefit to the veterans and war heroes returning from Afghanistan and Iraq, specifically keeping in mind the massive pullout of troops being planned.

Another very important clause is the Teacher and First Responder Stabilization clause, under which a total sum of $35 billion has been laid out to pay for the salaries of teachers and first responders who have been laid off. This clause will not just benefit the target group, but the society as a whole, which will now be able to utilize their precious services.

Along the same line, there are a couple of other clauses, namely the School Modernization clause and Infrastructure Investment clause. While the former demarcates a fund of $25 billion and $5 billion for renovation and modernization, respectively, of schools at all levels and community colleges, the latter clause lays out $2 billion to upgrade airport infrastructure, $27 billion to repair dilapidated highways and $4 billion to to build high-speed rail corridors.

This is a welcome move at a time when east Asian powers like China, Japan and Singapore are taking ever bigger strides to equip themselves with the 21^st century infrastructure. This clause reinforces Obama's principle of "Buy American." All the construction materials and equipment bought using funds provided under this act must be 100-percent American made. It is bound to provide an impetus to the manufacturing industry. However, it also opens up a loophole by stating that if the quality and/or cost of similar imported goods is economically favorable, an exception to the above-stated clause could be made.

A unique feature of the proposed act is that it intends to provide a direct benefit to the unemployed workforce. This $4 billion aid will come in the form of job counseling, skills review and wage insurance. It also proposes short-term compensating programs under which the employers can reduce the working hours of a certain percentage of the workforce in lieu of laying off the rest of the work force. The employees so affected by the hours cut will be compensated by funds amounting to $5 billion. It also proposes to invest a significant amount in industrial apprenticeships and sector specific training for the low-income group families.

To sum up, this act has all the salient features to put America's economy on the path to complete recovery in the long-run, with a special focus on equitable redistribution of wealth. But, despite all the generous provisions provided under this act, it is quite surprising to note that it is valid for only one year. It is common wisdom that an economy suffering from recession for almost half a decade now cannot be rebuilt in one year, no matter how strong the steroid is. We all know that 2012 is the election year, and this act is the perfect gesture to woo the 99 percent. It is a typical case of good politics but not so good economics.

Such a large amount of public spending in such a short span of time is quite likely to add to the increasing burden of the fiscal deficit that the U.S. already faces. The act says that this welfare prerogative will be paid for by raising $4.8 billion during the next decade through licensing and selling permits of the D-Block (700MHz) spectrum to non-Federal commercial agencies, repealing the enhanced oil recovery credits and cutting down on the Federal expenditure by $1.5 trillion. However, it still leaves room for ambiguity and might actually end up not functioning well. But with all its shortcomings, the bill is a step in the right direction and should be given a go ahead – with some rectifications here and there.

Published in Washington State University's newspaper, The Daily Evergreen on October/26/2011 .

http://dailyevergreen.wsu.edu/read/opinion-american-jobs-act

The New FTAs are a double edged sword for the U.S.

The U.S. Congress recently passed free trade agreements (FTAs) with South Korea, Columbia and Panama, which were pending since the Bush era. The stated goal of these FTAs has been to increase exports to these countries and therefore create more jobs in the U.S. It sounds like a cogent argument, but these FTAs have been lauded and loathed alike – and not without good reason.

Free trade lobbyists, led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, argue that failure to implement these would cause the loss of a whopping 383,400 jobs. On the other hand, the trade unions, especially those representing workers in the automotive industry, and some sections of academia have been very critical of the these FTAs. You do not need to rack your brains to guess who is right; neither do you have to be a pro at economics to understand what is good or bad for the U.S. job market. Let us look at some facts and figures, country by country.

Let's talk of South Korea first. Despite being a small nation – half the size of Minnesota – it is the world's fifteenth largest economy in terms of GDP. The main focus of the FTA with Korea, popularly called KORUS FTA, is to make inroads for U.S.-made automobiles, agricultural products and value-added meat products in the Korean market. In regards to the automotive sector, Korea has a very competitive home-grown auto industry. Its Big Three – Hyundai, Kia and Ssangyong – are pitted against the U.S. Big Three – General Motors, Ford and Chrysler.

Being a mechanical engineer and an automotive enthusiast, I believe that U.S. cars do not stand a chance in the Korean market. Fuel inefficiency, larger size and high cost of production owing to high domestic labor costs will only add to the unpopularity of U.S.-made cars in the Korean market. Although the Korean government has softened its stance on U.S.-made cars not meeting the emission and safety standards, it is not likely to be of much help to the U.S. automakers.

To me, this KORUS FTA seems like a desperate attempt to catch up with the E.U., which also signed a similar FTA with Korea that became fully functional in July. If the Korea Herald – a leading English newspaper of the country – is to be believed, German automakers witnessed a 27.4 percent increase in sales in Korea since the ratification of the KOR-EU FTA. The bottom line here is that to flourish in the Korean car market, U.S. automakers need to be competitive, which in turn requires them to set up factories there and hire local labor, and hence clearly implies shipping out U.S. jobs to Korean shores. As for the argument of profits earned overseas trickling down to the U.S. workers back home, it is simply never going to happen.

On the other hand, the U.S. has a much larger agricultural and poultry output than Korea and enjoys the edge on Korean agriculturalists. Also, industries manufacturing medical instruments, aerospace equipment and organic chemicals might flourish in the Korean market.

Moreover, during the last decade, the balance of U.S.–South Korea trade has been tilted in the favor of South Korea. The U.S. has incurred an average trade deficit of about $8 billion each year, which means imports have exceeded exports by that amount. In this scenario, a free trade agreement between two unequal partners tends only to accelerate the downward free fall of the U.S. economy.

Shifting the focus to Columbia, it is one of the fastest growing economies in Latin America. It primarily exports oil, coffee, textiles and footwear to the U.S. In turn, it imports machinery and equipment, grains, chemicals, transportation equipment, mineral products, consumer products, paper products, oil and gas industry equipment and electricity.

The FTA with Columbia might result in cheaper oil and consumer goods, which is good news, but may not fully serve its intended purpose of creating a good number of American jobs by increasing exports. A total of 45.5 percent of the Columbian population still lives below the poverty line and may not be the best place in the world to sell goods and services. But, interestingly, the balance of trade with Columbia has been unfavorable to the U.S., with the trade deficit rising from $137 million in 1985 to about $3.6 billion in 2010, owing to the burgeoning oil imports. This FTA is not likely to bring down the deficit anytime soon.

Next, speaking of Panama, which geographically occupies an important trade transit location on the world map, extending a hand of friendship in the form of an FTA is not a bad idea. But it might not be the best time to do so, given the frail state of the U.S. economy. The positive aspect of this FTA is that it will deal with a small, though rapidly growing, economy, which means that U.S. markets will not be flooded with "Made in Panama" goods.

Also, since Panama is not quite self-sufficient as far as food is concerned, U.S. exporters may have a good time there, but it is still unclear if it will lead to any significant job creation back in the U.S. Since much of Panama's economy revolves around its secretive financial and banking services, skeptics argue that the fat cats (i.e. the rich) may use it as a tax haven after the ratification of this FTA. Other than that, the balance of trade with Panama has always been in the favor of the U.S., so there still is not any compelling argument for the ratification of this FTA.

I would say that free trade benefits only the party that has the capability to innovate and get an edge on the other. In other words, it is a double-edged sword. It can be immensely useful, but given the current scenario, these FTAs might actually backfire by shipping jobs to foreign shores.

Published in Washington State University's Newspaper, The Daily Evergreen on October/19/2011.

ON CIVIL SOCIETY MOVEMENTS & THEIR OUTCOMES

The past few months have seen a surge in a new form of activism in India called civil society movements. Led by men of an impeccable & honest reputation the main agenda of this movement has been to rid the nation of corruption in public life.

Sitting back and thinking, I found that this kind of movement which has become an eye candy of the middle class is not new in nature. I am not a pro at History but let me just discuss some of these movements to understand & predict the outcomes in the Indian context. I'll start with the most prominent one of modern times - The American Revolution. It was a civil movement to start with when the colonists first rejected the authority of the Parliament of Great Britain to govern them from overseas without representation, and then expelled all royal officials. The movement took a violent turn when the GB failed to accept this and sent out a combat force, which was eventually defeated. This movement is analogous to the French Revolution and also to the recent uprisings in the Middle East. The current Indian movements are not so radical - they aim to make some changes in the existing set-up without challenging its existence and are essentially non-violent in nature.

Let us inspect some movements that are more analogous to the ones in question. Suffragette Movement in England that was led mostly by women from middle class backgrounds, frustrated by their social and economic situation and seeking an outlet through which to initiate change. Another very successful mass movement was that of the Indian National Congress's agitation against the British Raj - Led by several great leaders - Tilak, Bipan Chandra, Gokhale, Bose,Gandhi, Nehru amongst others. In both the cases, victory was achieved not just because of these movements but also because of the parallel micro-violent movements and the favourable circumstances. Similar non-violent movements also took place - for the rights of African natives & Afro American population in S.Africa & the US led by Nelson Mandela & Martin Luther King respectively - and succeeded.

The current civil society leaders - Anna Hazare & Baba Ramdev have pledged to use Gandhian principles to coax the Govt of India to agree to their almost similar demand of eliminating widespread graft. The candle-light bearing middle class ( which is irked by inflation, harassment at the hands of Govt officials & wants to see India as a superpower but sometimes doesn't bother to exercise its right & obligation to vote ) came out whole heartedly to support Anna Hazare. The media too made a big issue of it - the same media that has ignored Sharmila Devi's fast against AFSPA & numerous fasts unto death of pro-poor activist Medha Patkar. The Corporate World too pitched in to donate and offer verbal support - the same businesses who's names have figured in numerous scams. Next in the line is Baba Ramdev's fast unto death.

Will these agitations succeed? If yes, then to what extent? Of course, they CAN succeed - if there is sincerity, commitment and wisdom in their moves and the Drama element is taken out. The anger against the government is at its peak owing to unearthing of several infamous Mega-Scams, inability to reign in inflation, poor governance, dynastic politics, cowing to foreign powers, no improvement in basic education and healthcare facilities, ongoing trouble with Maoists with no solution in sight & what not ! If these leaders can harness the anger in a peaceful and constructive manner, its good for them as well as for us and the nation as a whole but if not, these leaders will become the subject of our humor SMSes and Tweets !

On why Bhullar's death sentence must be commuted

I despise terrorism in any form and for any cause. It was a rainy Friday morning and I was travelling with my father who had to attend a meeting at GNDU, Amritsar and then we had to pay a visit to our relatives in Gurdaspur. We stopped at Bus Stand, Khanna to pick up newspapers. There was this story of some lecturer Davinder Pal Singh Bhullar, who was once a dreaded terrorist and was on a death row for several years now. Reading some more about his background astonished me. Also, as expected, days later there was a lot of hullabaloo by leaders of all levels and all parties in Punjab to commute his death sentence.

Why would a well-off, educated, just married young man suddenly go underground , only to appear as the one who would set off a bomb to kill a political leader and then flea to Germany? He was born to educated parents employed with Govt of Punjab, he himself was a an engineering graduate and a serving lecturer - a rare distinction in those days! Here we are talking of the post 1984 years. 1984 was a bad year - one of the holiest shrines was attacked, statewide curfew was imposed, followed by a horrendous genocide and finally resulting in the slaying of a Prime Minister. In Punjab the situation was grim. People were seething with anger at the humiliation meted out to their community in the state as well as in New Delhi. People were disappearing in the name of anti-terrorist missions. By late '92-93 most militant outfits (Kharku Jathebandis as they are known in Punjab) had lost their leaders to Police/CRPF bullets. Those who were fighting on ground had been infiltrated and had also lost their resourcefullness and to some extent people's support. As the movement increaasingly got out of hands of it's idealogues unarmed civillians got killed and extortions too were rampant. And by 1995 Operation Woodrose succeeding in putting down the rebellion at a huge cost of civillian life, primarily due to heavy handedness of the security foces.

One couldn't survive as a neutral - each party suspected that you belonged to the other. So if one looks at the psyche of an educated young man one would find that he needed justice! But how? No court would obviously listen to him. He decides to teach the leadership a lesson (and that too in new Delhi-as it turned out). So what was the option available with him? Join the organised armed thugs, even though he doesn't stoop as low as they did. Reconstructing the happenings, something like this would've happened - He goes underground ( possibly joins KLF ) and while he's planning a revenge brutal policemen come hounding. In the meantime the plan in underway. His Father is detained - illegally - is tortured , loses his mental balance and is eventually killed at the behest of the senior police officers. During this time he accomplishes his aim of setting off a car bomb to kill a prominent leader. His paternal uncle is next - tortured and killed. all this while his mother and wife are being harassed.

Bhullar was eventually detained in Germany, was extradited to India - tried, found guilty and handed over the death sentence. He has been in jail for the past ten years - knowing most of the time that his time to go to the gallows isn't far away! Now that is sheer torture. Besides now that the Indira Gandhi led Central Govt sponsored religious strife in the state has come to an end it is time to make amends. The party currently in power at New Delhi was the one that created all the trouble in the first place and when it all spurned out of control it started storming shrines and killing & terrorizing the people. Later as an act of rage the then Prime Minister was assassinated. And the genocide that took place following it was allowed to take place knowing fully well that it was an act of revenge against the killing of ruling party's leader.

As a policy, the Govt has started rehabilitating the Kashmiri terrorists - who are mere mercenaries killing people for money - falling in Kasab's category. As for Afzal Guru he planned attacks on the Parliament as a symbol of Kashmiri revolt against New Delhi and in connivance with his bosses across the border. The case with Bhullar is a bit different. He was a gentleman who couldn't take injustice. He didn't know how to express his anger and fell prey to an organization's recruiters. Since gross injustice has been meted out by the Govt in those times, it is the Govt.'s responsibility to restore the faith of people in the Justice system, as Bhullar's mother Upkar Kaur puts it : 

"My husband was brutally killed by the Punjab police. My brother-in-law was detained and then killed. I have been harassed and tortured. My son, Davinder Pal Singh Bhullar is on the death-row. How do you want me to live my life? Should I cry my way to death or should I wait for the Indian system endlessly to become more humane and just?"

Don't let Bhullar be the reason that the youth of Punjab and the people in general feel that there is a conspiracy by the Govt against minorities. Moreover looking at his background he should be given a chance - sent to Rehab as of now and if the Govt deems it fit use him as a ideologue against separatist forces that raise their head time and again! Let the injustice be undone and let there be a new beginning. But if none of this is possible, his death sentence can at least be commuted. We all know the Govt.'s Pharisaical stand on terrorism, don't we! Its high time the Govt make a distinction of the circumstances under which an "aam admi" turned into a terrorist.

Sources:

Leaders from all political factions have come out to support Bhullar - http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110530/punjab.htm#5

Villagers plead President of India to commute Bhullar's death sentence - http://www.sikhsangat.org/2011/05/rethink-mercy-petition-plead-villagers/

Bhullar's wife's plea - http://www.sikhsangat.org/2011/05/no-evidence-against-bhullar-let-him-walk-free/

State Government sponsored drug addiction in Punjab

This morning, I was amazed to read in The Tribune that some village panchayats have "banned" liquor vends being opened in their respective villages. ( http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110524/punjab.htm#1 )

Surprised as I was, because we Punjabis by nature are so fond of booze! It wouldn't be wrong to say that no celebration of ours is complete without the sixth river ( read alcohol ) flowing freely :)

So why this sudden and widespread outrage at liquor vends being set up?

Let us first look at some ground realities. According to recent UNESCO statistics, Amritsar-The Holy City- alone consumes alcohol worth Rs.1 crore everyday. 80% of Punjab's youth does drugs of which 38% are alcoholics. 67% of Punjab's rural households have atleast one drug addict. ( Source - http://www.dise.in/Downloads/Use%20of%20Dise%20Data/Dr%20Birendra%20Kaur..pdf ).

Also, we know that Punjab's economy is predominantly an agrarian one and 70% of its workforce is engaged in agriculture. Agriculture is an occupation that requires hard work only through the seasons of sowing and reaping. The workforce probably does not engage itself during the remaining larger part of the year and hence might have an inclination towards drugs. The Punjab economy is growing at a slow pace of 4% / annum (approx) and hence there are a lot of unemployed youth - 10.5% in rural areas & 15.2% in urban areas - which is one of the in the country! ( Source - http://punjabnews.org/chandigarh-news-jobless-rate-in-punjab-10-5%C2%B00-survey.html/ )

So going by these statistics this whole problem seems to be of a socio-economic nature. So where does the State Government fit in? How dare I say that this mess is Government sponsored? As far as I remember it was during the previous Capt. Amrinder Singh led Congress regime that liberalisation of liquor vend licences was done. Suddenly "Theka Sharab Desi Ate Angrezi" sprang up everywhere - Housing localities,Markets,near Schools, Hospitals, places of worships, highways etc. Over a period of time these liquor vends kept on multiplying. These liquor vends diversified themselves into Air Conditioned Taverns and became a haven for drug addicts by serving not just booze but also all kinds of narcotics. Sensing that this business has a potential to generate a lot of money - black and white - the politicos stepped in. Some cases also reached the Punjab & Haryana High Court alleging top politicos favouring their honchos while giving out licenses of liquor vends. With time the regime changed to P.S.Badal led Shiromani Akali Dal - BJP combine. I may here point out that both parties have certain religious affiliations and the religions in whose name they ask for votes forbid its followers to consume alcoholic products.

Although I do not have the statistics with me but by merely looking around myself I can vouch that the number of liquor vends is ever increasing.

It is also worth noting that Punjab is a cash strapped state. Its spendings far exceed its revenues which have created a humongous fiscal deficit - an issue which was at the center of a political storm kicked up by the then Finance min Manpreet Singh Badal. In such a scenario liquor vend licences are a Golden Egg Laying Hen for the state government. Punjab Govt is looking forward to earn a whopping Rs 3190 Cr from the alcohol trade this fiscal year. On the other hand Punjab Health Minister Prof Lakshmi Kanta Chawla has promised to open de addiction centers in all the district civil hospitals. However good the Govt.'s intentions be, this sure sounds like a cruel joke.

For those who argue that it is vital to promote this trade because of the revenue it generates , I would like to ask them - which is more important - revenue or the human capital being ruined by alcoholic products ?

As for non-alcoholic drugs, a bumper opium crop in Afghanistan, a porous border with Pakistan contribute to the ever increasing menace. Not surprisingly Punjab Police often seizes the largest quantity of drugs than any state's police force. Although the Government claims it is cracking down on drugs, there are serious allegations by the insiders that the top political boss's favored touts are running a drug mafia in the state.

In all this it is the unsuspecting youth that takes a pint for getting high and ends up as an addict.

Also it is for the youth and the general public ( Men in this case ) to understand that by doing drugs they don't just ruin a person, the man being the bread-winner they ruin a family. The situation is alarming. All I can say now is what elders usually say in a bad situation - Rabb Rakha !

Post "Karachi Terror Attack" political scenarios

As I sit down to write my first ever blog entry on the terror attacks in Karachi ( Sindh Province, Pakistan ), siege is on at the Naval Base as a dozen of people including some terrorists have been killed. Although Pak Taliban claims that this attack is its revenge against Osama's killing, it doesn't seem to be so from the sheer complexity & the preparedness needed for such an assault. Besides Taliban could've easily attacked more vulnerable bases in Abottabad, Rawalpindi etc.

Whatever be the aim/modus operandi of the Terror outfit, I would like to muse over the implications/consequences of the attack. Happenings in Pakistan affect only 4 nations - It's big daddy, The US of A, its meek eastern neighbor India, its crippled/war ravaged western neighbor Afghanistan and last but not the least - Pakistan itself.

Whether this is a staged attack or not is still unclear but if it is one it is bound to backfire! The question that US should and will now ask itself is - whether Pakistan's nuclear arsenal ( a gift of friendship from US ) is still safe in the hands of Pakistani establishment or not. And it is so clear that a nation that cannot guard its military posts from homegrown terror outfits is quite incapable of defending its nuclear arsenal and civilian installations alike. It also puts a question mark on the intelligence gathering agency - ISI's credentials. Any terror attack on the soil must be thwarted instead of being fought off , is my belief. However I would like to note here that it has long been known that the snake ( Taliban ) which the ISI nurtured is all set to bite ISI's bossom! Its also a good time for the Pak leadership to take the military to task. Its cash strapped economy has been doling out funds to the armed forces in the name of national security. Where the hell is national security? Up in fumes? - is what the democratically elected Govt at Islamabad should ask its Generals.

This raid does not hold much consequence for Afghanistan. Although its shows that Pak Taliban is focusing its energies on Pakistan should bring a respite for Hamid Karzai led government at Kabul.

India on the other hand still needs to be cautious. On a different note this raid has snatched altogether from New Delhi the agenda it was pursuing post OBL raid - that Pakistan only gives shelter to terrorists. Pak will now leave no stone unturned to tell the world or rather reaffirm its earlier position - Pakistan is itself a victim of extremist terrorism ! ( & thereby must be conferred billions of $ as defense aid )

My condolences the the people of Pakistan and especially those who have lost their kin in this attack .