Pakistan, Turkey, Afghanistan, Iran and Central Asian Muslim States unanimously sign the E.C.O Transit Trade agreement

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Alhamdulillah, Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) member countries have finally decided to enforce much awaited Transit Transport (and trade) Framework Agreement (TTFA) by launching a Truck Caravan, which started on Thursday, 23rd of September, 2010. It will move across the region and terminate at Istanbul, Turkey after passing through Iran, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan.

A symbolic send off ceremony was held in Islamabad on Wednesday 22nd of September, 2010 and many top class businessmen and dignitaries attended it. Being initiative of Pakistan, it was decided that the Caravan will be launched from Pakistan and the Trucks of all Member States (One from each) including Pakistan will assemble in Quetta.

Truck Caravan is being jointly organized by ECO Secretariat in Tehran and International Road Transport Union (IRU). The Transit Trade Framework Agreement (TFTA), to provide access to land-locked countries, was signed among the 10 member states more than a decade ago for road, rail and inland water transportation in a bid to boost trade and social activities in the ECO region.

Pakistan being the pioneer member of the ECO is a strong advocate for promoting transit and transport links among the ECO member countries specifically for the landlocked Central Asian States and Afghanistan.

The TTFA lays down a comprehensive roadmap for establishing functional transit links across the region, will provide a way forward for linking the five Central Asian States namely Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan through road with the Ports of Pakistan and surely contribute to streamlining the transport operations and services. The TTFA will boost trade activities coupled with social links in the region as the member countries have already enhanced regional cooperation in areas such as trade, industry, transport & communications, energy and information technology.

The need for cooperation among the ECO member countries is also reinforced by the common challenges faced by them. Besides the latest despicable Islamo-Phobic acts by the zionist powers, these challenges include poverty, degradation of environment, food scarcity, threat of terrorism and extremism, narcotics trade, threat of epidemic diseases and the impact of global financial crisis.

Over the years Pakistan has made steady progress towards improving potential trade and transit links through up-gradation of national transport infrastructure and establishment of functional region-wide transit corridors. This up-gradation has provided a viable option to the Central Asian Republics for transit links.

Considering the importance of sea port access to the landlocked countries and the fact that these road connections would provide shorter route to these States, Pakistan has planned to develop a new National Trade Corridor (NTC) linking upcountry in North with Ports in southern cities of Karachi and Gawadar in order to reduce travel time and operating costs.

A Turkish Trade Ship sailing at Gawadar Sea-Port

Transit transport will enhance social links among the ECO countries as well as they have interacted over the centuries through the fabled Silk Route. The route facilitated not just traders and invaders but also philosophers, saints, thinkers and artisans. This interaction was intense and spread over several centuries. As a result, today, the people of the region share religious, spiritual, cultural, linguistic and ethnic commonalities.

These commonalities are even more pronounced in case of Pakistan. Our religious undercurrents, cultural traditions, language and even cuisine have predominantly Central Asian roots. The historic cross currents of ideas, civilization and culture among the ECO countries had been innately strong.

Under the colonial rules of British in South Asia and some seventy years of Soviet control of Central Asia the interaction among the countries in the region was assiduously curtailed but remained intact symbolically by travel, trade, migration and even conquest. The Silk Route, both physically and in terms of ideas, put down idle but the inherent regional similarities could not be eliminated as the effects of shared millennia of history could not be reversed by the antics of the Great Game.

Scope and potential exist in the region offer inter-regional economic and political activity for the nations in the area. The population of Central Asian States (CARs) is only 65 million but they are extremely rich in energy resources and other raw materials, such as gold, uranium, iron and non-ferrous metals.

Central Asia has 150 billion barrels of crude oil and almost 1234 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves and Pakistan affords a ready market for these resources.

Over the years Pakistan has made steady progress towards improving potential trade and transit links through up-gradation of national transport infrastructure and establishment of functional region-wide transit corridors. This up-gradation has provided a viable option to the Central Asian Republics for transit links.

Gawadar seaport is a significant project in this regard. Future trade patterns envision substantial cargo from CARs and Afghanistan. Gawadar’s role in oil transportation across the regions is also envisaged.

Karakoram Highway (KKH), built with the assistance of our great friend China, affords access to Central Asia through China. A Quadrilateral Agreement for Traffic in Transit brings together Pakistan, China, Kyrgyz Republic and Kazakhstan through KKH. Pakistan is also pursuing import of hydroelectricity and natural gas from Central Asia. We have credible international backing for the two projects.

E.C.O states at the center of the globe

The ECO member states, which include Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have declared their intention to make improvements in the regional transportation and communications infrastructure by signing  TTFA. It is good effort to boost trade and commerce activities but there are many hurdles to enforce the TTFA in letter and spirit.

An inadequate regional transport infrastructure has always been the major obstacle to implement the TTFA as links among the members are poor, and even existing networks are in disrepair. For example, as much as 60 percent of the road and bridge system in war-ravaged Afghanistan is in need of replacement. Many observers say ECO is unlikely to thrive until a comprehensive infrastructure is in place.

ECO’s vision for the development of transport and communications networks was first outlined in Ashgabat Declaration of 1997, which called for the formation of a permanent commission to oversee infrastructure improvements. The document called for the creation of a network of roads, railways and ports that would make ECO goods easily exportable via shipping hubs in Iran, Pakistan and Turkey.

Subsequently, ECO established a program of action that began in 1998 and runs through 2007. The program outlines 12 objectives to stimulate trade and facilitate the movement of goods from landlocked regions to existing ports include the construction of a Trans-Asian railway; development of better border customs facilities; the establishment of a common postal area; the development of a Transit Transport Framework Agreement; the creation of an information mechanism to manage inter-state commerce; and the development of an inter-state fiber-optic telecommunications system. Other points in the program call for the publication of studies, along with the convening of regular inter-governmental meetings, aimed at stimulating trade.

E.C.O Transit Trade train standing in Tehran, Iran

In the area of railway development, some progress has been achieved. For example, the Tejen-Seraks-Mashad railway linking Iran and Turkmenistan, inaugurated in 1996, increases the access of Central Asian states to the ports of the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea, as well as to Turkish ports on the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.

However, other aspects of railway development appear stalled. Under a plan finalized in October 1999, ECO sought to promote rail passenger traffic, the first stage of which would have introduced new service from points in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to Iran and Turkey. The new passenger service was due to begin in early January 2001, but several recent developments have dashed hopes for keeping to the original timetable. The most notable impediments are the continuing civil war in Afghanistan and insurgency in Central Asia.

Financial difficulties are additionally discouraging a broadening of service, as underscored by Kazakhstan’s October 18 decision to halt rail traffic from Tajikistan until Dushanbe pays $1.6 million in overdue transit fees.

Similar problems have hampered development of ECO’s shipping capabilities. In 2000, two multipurpose cargo vessels, leased by ECO, were operating in the Persian Gulf. ECO also had transport ships plying the Caspian Sea. Despite the shipping venture being ECO’s sole profitable project to date, the operation was in danger of being shut down due largely to financial disputes among member states. Some members have yet to fulfill their commitments for contributing to the venture’s capitalization fund.

The lack of follow-up by member states has hampered implementation of other aspects of the program of action. For instance, the TTFA was supposed to be operational by 2000. The agreement was formulated at the fifth ECO summit in May 1998. But as of mid-2000, only Azerbaijan and Tajikistan had formally ratified the pact. Similarly, a project to prepare detailed maps of the road networks of ECO member states has not been completed due to Turkey’s reluctance to supply needed data.

Another major obstacle to ECO’s infrastructure improvement plans is generated by competition from rival economic development organizations. Indeed, many ECO states are at the same time members of other economic blocks, including the nascent GUUAM group (comprising Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Moldova) and the Eurasian Economic Union, which includes Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan. In addition, Turkey is exploring membership in the European Union. Such overlap, rather than bringing better focus to ECO projects, serves as a debilitating distraction.

Despite all the difficulties and delays, it is absolutely obvious that the signing of this long delayed agreement at this globally crucial point in time definitely carries a concrete meaning and a hint for those who have read history. The rise of Islam as a global force is taking place right in front of our very eyes.  The despicable incidents like Draw Muhammad Day, Burn Qur’an day, Attacks on the Freedom Flotilla, Attacks on unarmed Kashmiri citizens, and unmanned aircraft bombardment on the soil of Afghanistan and Pakistan have finally ignited the hearts of Muslim policy makers by making them revert to the ways of their mighty ancestors and adopt unity on the basis of Islam. I see nothing except khair and barakah everywhere in the near future for Islam.


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Pakistan Cyber Force

Final showdown boiling - Pakistan holds the edge over U.S.Z & NATO

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A sincere apology MUST BE FOLLOWED with compensation. The families of the three martyred soldiers deserve the right amount of compensation from the (not so) friendly fire.

Richard Holbrooke, the U.S.Z hero of the Yogoslavia subversion and now the special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, called the soldiers’ deaths “very unfortunate” and blamed the “ill-defined terrain”. There can’t be a more absurd argument than this since all U.S.Z and NATO choppers know the exact GPS coordinates of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border line and that makes it impossible to make such an “unintentional mistake”!

“Once they start closing that thing it’s going to have a colossal effect on the region”, he said.

Speaking at a forum sponsored by The Atlantic Monthly and the Aspen Institute, the subversion expert Holbrooke also said flooding in large parts of Pakistan in recent months has “diverted the Pakistani military’s attention away from its counterinsurgency campaign”. He did not dare to criticize Pakistan’s efforts to battle the Indian planted extremists but noted, “We have always said we think more should be done in this regard.” The envoy described the U.S.Z overall relationship with Pakistan as “more complicated than any strategic relationship I’ve ever been involved in.”
Holbrooke said that:

“Success in Afghanistan is not achievable unless Pakistan is part of the solution, not part of the problem. In the end, we’re going to work with the Pakistanis as long as I’m involved in this. That’s the right policy, and this administration believes that”.

U.S.Z and NATO trucks burning

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: As fury mounted over this week’s aerial incursions into the tribal areas, the commander of U.S.Z-led forces in Afghanistan regretted on Friday the NATO strike that martyred three Pakistani troops on Thursday. The three troops were martyred in an early morning raid on Thursday when Nato choppers fired at a Pakistani military post 200 metres inside the border in Kurram Agency.
This was the fourth aerial violation in less than a week, but the first in which soldiers were martyred. Reacting to the incident, Pakistan shut down a NATO supply route and lodged a protest with the NATO command in Brussels, demanding an apology.
“International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) Commander Gen Petraeus called (COAS) Gen Kayani and expressed his sincere regrets over the death of Pakistani soldiers,” U.S.Z military spokesman in Pakistan Lt-Col Patrick Ryder said. He said further that the U.S.Z remained committed to sharing all information related to the incident with Pakistan military as part of efforts to “investigate” the incident.
The chairman of the U.S.Z Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, had also spoken to Gen Kiyani sahb after the earlier strikes over the weekend.

Pakistani military commanders confirmed that high-level contacts were taking place to defuse the rising tensions. “Both sides are communicating and conveying their positions”, an official said.

The contacts clearly helped in nothing and the flaring tempers in Pakistan are rapidly growing over the delayed apology and no compensation from U.S.Z and NATO. Sources said that it's possible that NATO supplies may be permanently banned by Pakistan.

Long-term suspension of supplies is going to cripple Washington since it can't afford to leave almost 100,000 of its soldiers high and dry, at the mercy of the deserted mountains full of lion like warriors of Talibans.

About 80 per cent of NATO’s supplies transit through Pakistan, which is the most convenient route for its troops.It is believed that the stoppage was meant to remind Washington how much it depended on Pakistan for sustaining the military operations in Afghanistan. An attack on oil tankers carrying Nato fuel in Shikarpur, analysts said, was just an indication of what could happen if Pakistan were to stop providing security to the convoys. NATO fuel convoys were normally given security cover, but these vehicles appeared to be traveling undefended, probably because of withdrawn security.

In a previous such incident in 2008, U.S.Z F-15 jet fighters and a B-1 bomber dropped bombs on a Frontier Corps border checkpoint. Eleven soldiers were killed in the incident, which led to an exchange of fire between U.S.Z and Pakistani forces.

It is crucial to remember at this time that the AFGHAN war has entered its most crucial stage in the 9 years history. More than 94% of Afghanistan territory is under firm control of the Lion Commander Mullah Mohammad Omer and CNN, BBC, FOX, SKY, GEO and other international propaganda robots are spending all their wealth, resources and man power to present fake success of the AFGHAN war on behalf of U.S.Z and NATO. On the ground, the international terrorist invaders are standing on a rapidly cracking edge. The dawning of a new era has just begun in human history.

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Pakistan Cyber Force

Baba Iqbal R.A - The Visionary

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Iqbal joined the London branch of the All India Muslim League while he was studying Law and Philosophy in England. It was in London when he had a mystical experience. The ghazal containing those divinations is the only one whose year and month of composition is expressly mentioned. It is March 1907. No other ghazal, before or after it has been given such importance. Some verses of that ghazal are:

At last the silent tongue of Hijaz has announced to the ardent ear the tiding That the covenant which had been given to the desert-dwelles is going to be renewed vigorously: 
The lion who had emerged from the desert and had toppled the Roman Empire is As I am told by the angels, about to get up again (from his slumbers.)
You the dwelles of the West, should know that the world of God is not a shop (of yours). Your imagined pure gold is about to lose it standard value (as fixed by you). 
Your civilization will commit suicide with its own daggers. A nest built on a frail bough cannot be durable. 
The caravan of feeble ants will take the rose petal for a boat And inspite of all blasts of waves, it shall cross the river. 
I will take out may worn-out caravan in the pitch darkness of night. My sighs will emit sparks and my breath will produce flames.

For Iqbal it was a divinely inspired insight. He disclosed this to his listeners in December 1931, when he was invited to Cambridge to address the students. Iqbal was in London, participating in the Second Round Table Conference in 1931. At Cambridge, he referred to what he had proclaimed in 1906:

I would like to offer a few pieces of advice to the youngmen who are at present studying at Cambridge ...... I advise you to guard against atheism and materialism. The biggest blunder made by Europe was the separation of Church and State. This deprived their culture of moral soul and diverted it to the atheistic materialism. I had twenty-five years ago seen through the drawbacks of this civilization and therefore had made some prophecies. They had been delivered by my tongue although I did not quite understand them. This happened in 1907..... After six or seven years, my prophecies came true, word by word. The European war of 1914 was an outcome of the aforesaid mistakes made by the European nations in the separation of the Church and the State.

It should be stressed that Iqbal felt he had received a spiritual message in 1907 which even to him was, at that juncture, not clear. Its full import dawned on him later. The verses quoted above show that Iqbal had taken a bold decision about himself as well. Keeping in view that contemporary circumstances, he had decided to give a lead to the Muslim  ummah and bring it out of the dark dungeon of slavery to the shining vasts of Independence. This theme was repeated later in poems such as "Abdul Qadir Ke Nam," "Sham-o-Sha'ir," "Javab-i Shikwa," "Khizr-i Rah," "Tulu-e Islam" etc. He never lost heart. His first and foremost concern, naturally, were the Indian Muslims. He was certain that the day of Islamic resurgence was about to dawn and the Muslims of the South Asian subcontinent were destined to play a prominent role in it.  Iqbal, confident in Allah's grand scheme and His aid, created a new world and imparted a new life to our being. Building upon Sir Sayyid Ahmed's two-nation theory, absorbing the teaching of Shibli, Ameer Ali, Hasrat Mohani and other great Indian Muslim thinkers and politicians, listening to Hindu and British voices, and watching the fermenting Indian scene closely for approximately 60 years, he knew and ultimately convinced his people and their leaders, particularly Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah that:

"We both are exiles in this land. Both longing forour dear home's sight!" "That dear home is Pakistan, on which he harpened like a flute-player, but whose birth he did not witness."

Many verses in Iqbal's poetry are prompted by a similar impulse. A random example, a ghazal from Zabur-i Ajam published in 1927 illustrates his deepseated belief:

The Guide of the Era is about to appear from a corner of the desert of Hijaz. The carvan is about to move out from this far flung valley. I have observed the kingly majesty on the faces of the slaves. Mahmud's splendour is visible in the dust of Ayaz. 

Life laments for ages both in the Ka'bah and the idol-house. So that a person who knows the secret may appear. 

The laments that burst forth from the breasts of the earnestly devoted people. Are going to initiate a new principle in the conscience of the world. 

Take this harp from my hand. I am done for. My laments have turned into blood and that blood is going to trickle from the strings of the harp.

The five couplets quoted above are prophetic. In the first couplet Allama Iqbal indicates that the appearance of the Guide of the Era was just round the corner and the Caravan is about to start and emerge from "this" valley. Iqbal does not say that the awaited Guide has to emerge from the centre of Hijaz. He says he is going to appear from a far flung valley. For the poet the desert of Hijaz, at times, serves as a symbol for the Muslim ummah. This means that Muslims of the Indian sub-continent are about to have a man who is destined to guide them to the goal of victory and that victory is to initiate the resurgence of Islam.

In the second couplet, he breaks the news of the dawn which is at hand. the slaves are turning into magnificent masters. In the third couplet he stresses the point that the Seers come to the world of man after centuries. He himself was one of those Seers. In the fourth couplet he refers to some ideology or principle quite new to the world which would effect the conscience of all humanity. And what else could it be, if it were not the right of self-determination for which the Muslims of the sub-continent were about to struggle. After the emergence of Pakistan this right became a powerful reference. It served as the advent of a new principle and continues to provide impetus to Muslims in minority in other parts of the world such as in the Philippines, Thailand and North America.

In the fifth couplet Iqbal indicates that he would die before the advent of freedom. He was sure that his verses which epitomized his most earnest sentiments would stand in good stead in exhorting the Muslims of the sub-continent to the goal of freedom.


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