Balochistan Gold Reserves – Exclusive Report

The Biggest Conspiracy Against Pakistan

by Naveed Taj Ghouri

Reko Diq has world’s largest copper reserves. It is also one of the biggest Gold reserves in the world. Its estimated value is around US$100 billion and it’s just a surface estimate. The international conspiracy roots behind US invasion in Balochistan through drone attacks and Jewish Mining Company Barrick Gold!

In wake of the current turmoil in Pakistan, thousands of journalists, attorneys, opposition leaders, human rights activists and NGO members, have thus far not been able to put a hand on the Antofagasta / Barrick Reko Diq joint venture advanced exploration project, a conspiracy to gain 75% of all the reserves, gold, copper and whatever they find….

Question arises why US is so much after Balochistan and why is she now talking about drone attacks on Quetta and other areas of Balochistan. The answer is: its all business and game for reserves of Balochistan. Read the exclusive Urdu Report which has been already published in BTC IBITIANS.com (Urdu)

America is After Reko Diq Balochistan Gold Reserves – Exclusive Report

Reko Diq is a small town in Chagai District, Balochistan, Pakistan, in a desert area 70 kilometres north west of Naukundi, near to the Iran-Afghan border.

Reko Diq, also the name of an ancient volcano, literally means sandy peak, but this is something of a misnomer. It could be called Tangav Diq, or gold peak, says Syed Fazl-e-Haider, a development expert on such projects.

‘Below the sands lie some 12.3 million tons of copper and 20.9 million ounces of gold. The copper-gold deposits at Reko Diq are believed to be even bigger than those of Sarcheshmeh in Iran and Escondida in Chile’.

What is Reko Diq Project?

The Reko Diq project is a large copper-gold porphyry resource on the Tethyan belt, located in the dry desert conditions of southwest Pakistan within the remote and sparsely populated province of Balochistan . The Tethyan belt is a prospective region for large gold-copper porphyries.

Reko Diq is a giant copper and gold project in Chaghi. The main license (EL5) is held jointly by the Government of Balochistan (25%), Antofagasta Minerals (37.5%) and Barrick Gold (37.5%)

Actually Barrick has a 50% interest in Tethyan Copper Company (the other 50% is owned by Antofagasta plc), which has a 75% interest in the Reko Diq project and associated mineral interests (for a resulting 37.5% interest in Reko Diq).

As of December 31, 2008, Barrick’s share of measured and indicated and inferred gold resources is 8.5 and 8.4 million ounces respectively. Barrick’s share of measured and indicated and inferred copper resources is 11.5 and 8.5 billion pounds respectively.

A further 14 mineralized porphyry bodies are known to exist, with the potential to place the Reko Diq Project among the largest undeveloped copper resources on the globe.

The TCC has estimated annual production 200 to 500 million copper tones from the project. The Company started the Reko-Diq copper project in 2003 with an investment of US $130 million. The project is faced with acute shortage of water for having no surface flow. The expected mining operations in Reko Diq will depend on sub-surface water with the exploration of underground water potential in the region being a pre-requisite for any mining project.

The Real Face of Barrick Gold:

In a reader poll conducted by the Censored News blog; Readers, primarily Indigenous Peoples, voted Monsanto as the second Worst Company in the World. Peabody Energy Corp., recently granted a life of mine permit to expand coal mining on Navajo and Hopi lands, was voted the third Worst Company in the World.

Barrick Gold Corp., which began the destruction of the Western Shoshone’s Mount Tenabo region during Thanksgiving, was voted the fourth Worst Company in the World. Blackwater Worldwide, responsible for murders and brutality worldwide, was voted the fifth Worst Company in the World

Barrick Gold, responsible for the deaths of Indigenous Peoples around the world, began its onslaught on the sacred lands of the Western Shoshone at Mount Tenabo during the Thanksgiving holidays. Before leaving office, President Bush Sr. made it possible for Barrick to lease lands for gold mining in Nevada . Once out of office, Bush Sr. went to work for Barrick as a senior consultant.

Protestors gathered outside of Barrick Gold’s annual general meeting last year to show their solidarity with the affected indigenous community representatives who were inside the meeting voicing their complaints to the company shareholders.

In Australia, DR Congo, Ghana , Tanzania and New Guinea , Indigenous Peoples are fighting Barrick’s destruction in solidarity with the Western Shoshone. They are fighting the coring out of mountains for minute particles of gold and the poisoning of water with cyanide leaching.

Carrie Dann and other Western Shoshone grandmothers said the United States is trespassing on Western Shoshone treaty land, destroying mountains, trees, food and medicine, while leaving dirty polluted water ponds for birds and animals.

“Why doesn’t the mining company go and dig the Vatican or the Mormon Tabernacle instead of Western Shoshone lands, I’m sure they will find gold there,” said Mary McCloud, Western Shoshone grandmother, mourning the bulldozing of the pines near the ceremonial grounds on Mount Tenabo in November.

Near the Porgera mine in New Guinea, Jethro Tulin of the Akali Tange Association, told Barrick Gold, “Your security guards have been shooting and killing our people and raping, even gang-raping our women with impunity for years now.”

Sydney residents also raised concerns about cyanide.

In 2007, concerned citizens gathered at Chullora in western Sydney to protest against the multinational mining company Barrick Gold.The protest was part of an International Day of Action against the company.

Barrick Gold has mines across the globe, including North and South America, Africa and Australia.

Rise of Barrick Gold in Pakistan

The Jewish Company working there states that the pre-feasibility study is expected to be finalized in the third quarter of 2009. Work on the feasibility study has commenced and is expected to be completed in early 2010.

Barrick bought a stake in the Reko Dig copper-gold project in Pakistan for $100 million in February from Antofagasta PLC, a Chilean mining group.

In 2007, When CEO Greg Wilkins went to Islamabad in connection with that project, Munk said, he was received by both Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and President Pervez Musharraf.

Although the company’s assessment of opportunities in that country is still in the early days, Wilkins said Barrick would be “very interested” in more projects there, despite challenges posed by the presence of al-Qaida in some of its regions.

According to Mineweb.com…. What is believed to be one of the world’s largest reserves of gold and copper were discovered last year in the Chaghi area in Pakistan’s southwest Balochistan Province. The Balochistan government has a 25% share while Barrick Gold has obtained 50% of the Reko Diq project. Reko Diq is believed to contain 12.3 million tons of copper and 20.9 million ounces of gold in inferred and indicated resources. Some surveys have suggested that Reko Diq may contain as much as 11 billion pounds of copper and nine million ounces of gold.

BHP Billiton, which was involved in the project at an earlier date, also believed Reko Diq may have the potential to yield copper resources that may eventually make it a multi-billion project. Antofagasta is now a 50-50 partner with Barrick. If the project is successful, it may have the potential to generate a mining industry in Pakistan.

An estimated US$46 million project budget includes a scoping study and initial pre-feasibility costs. The scoping study has been completed for the Western Porphyries with an updated resource anticipated at year end, Barrick Executive Vice President, Exploration and Project Development, Alex Davidson told analysts last week.

While Riko was initially envisioned as a 72,000 tpd operation, Davidson said the joint ventures partners are now examining “significantly greater outputs.”

In an e-mail to Mineweb, Barrick Senior Vice President Vince Borg said, “Our project staff in Islamabad are safe, which is the paramount concern wherever we operate, and we are in regular contact with them.” He noted that Reko Diq is in a very remote location, Balochistan , “and work on the site is continuing.”

The Conspiracy

BHP Billiton, the world’s largest mining company, started this project with the Australian firm Tethyan, entering into a joint venture with the Balochistan government and estimating an annual production of 200 to 500 million pounds of copper. A large number of porphyry rocks are also known to exist.

The interests of the Australian company in Reko Diq and its neighbourhood were taken over by the Toronto-based Barrick Gold Corporation and the Chilean Antofagasta Minerals. These companies were handed a very lucrative deal. The terms agreed upon show that there is more to the issue than meets the eye. Royalties were reduced from the initial four to two per cent. Terms for the provision of cost-free land for an airport and a 400 km Reko Diq-Gwadar road were accepted. An unjust clause is that a 25 per cent share will be paid to the Balochistan government, but only after it invests 25 per cent in the project.

Antofagasta’s net assets at the end of 2007 grew to almost $5bn. In December 2005 it said: “Tethyan’s principal assets are a 75 per cent interest in the highly prospective Chagai Hills region of North West Pakistan known as Reko Diq, including the Tanjeel Mineral Resource. This mining district hosts significant copper-gold porphyry deposits as part of an extended copper-gold belt. Total indicated and inferred mineral resource estimates at these properties are 1,213 million tonnes with a copper grade of 0.58% and a gold grade of 0.28 grams per tonne. Estimates include probable reserves at the Tanjeel of 128.8 million tonnes with a copper grade of 0.7%.”

According to Rob Maguire of the Dominion paper, Barrick is the foremost gold mining corporation in the world, with sales exceeding $2.6bn in 2005 and the largest reserves in the industry, at nearly 90 million ounces. Proponents of this project state that the mines will create thousands of high paying jobs and give a massive boost to the local economy. However the main fear many have is that revenues generated by this project will be squandered by corrupt officials. Therefore it is imperative that a mechanism be evolved to ensure that revenues generated actually lead to better infrastructure, education and health.

These corporations have outsourced services to Pakistani contractors such as ROCKMORE PVT LIMITED, Security 2000, Zia ul Haq & Company, and foreign companies like Capital Drilling & Zain Drilling Company. In April 2008, Zain Drilling Company terminated the services of forty drilling assistants and recruited novices and non-locals. The AZAT Foundation has tried to protect their rights, and on June 14, 2008 a well-attended demonstration was held outside the Quetta Press Club.

There are many advocates of such mega projects who claim that the Baloch have benefited from their trickle-down effect. However, mining uses sodium cyanide, arsenic and other chemicals which produce toxic by-products. According to Marcel Claude, vice-president of the international environmental group Oceana, gold mining dumps 79 tonnes of waste for every 28 grams of gold and produces 96 per cent of the world’s arsenic emissions.

Community representatives of affected indigenous communities in Papua New Guinea, Chile and Australia traveled great distances to come to Toronto last year to speak out against the world’s largest gold mining corporation, Barrick Gold, regarding their gold mining operations where they live.

Note: The report is based on the information gleaned from Internet and oher sources, so are the pictures. This post sent by Jibran M. Hashmey

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Pakistan, a Suicidal Nation in the Crosshairs

First a comment from a blogger friend (eideard.wordpress.com).

The North Carolina security contractor Blackwater Worldwide has changed its name to Xe, a company memo says. Company President Gary Jackson said in a memo that the company has been reorganizing for several months to “create unique brand identities for its products and services,”

As part of its rebranding, the company is jettisoning the name Blackwater and its red-and-black bear-claw logo.

Blackwater was involved in several controversies over its security work in Iraq on behalf of the U.S. government. There were high-profile investigations into alleged gun smuggling and the shooting of civilians in Baghdad.

Robert Passikoff, president of the New York marketing research firm Brand Keys Inc., said “There’s an old

saying about brands: ‘When you can’t change the product, you change the packaging.’”

A mercenary thug by any other name…

Sleazy bastards. The right-wing politicians in bed with them could care less about the name. They’ll still roll over and spout greenbacks whenever they’re asked.

Destroying ourselves with a little help from the US

Shireen M Mazari

The chaos that is spreading within the country is frightening and a result of bad or lack of governance on one hand and the US intrusions and questionable activities in Pakistan on the other.In the first instance, there is no civilian governance infrastructure to take over and govern the “cleared” areas inMalakand – but then there is no governance even in more central parts of the country. That is why we have had the despicable attack on the poor and marginalised Christians in Gojra – once again under the shameful and protective guise of the Blasphemy Law. Never has a Law been so abused to wreak violence on our minorities’ whom the Founder of the Nation, Quaid-i-Azam, declared as equal citizens in the state of Pakistan. Clearly, there is so much hatred, intolerance and violence endemic within us that we do not need any Taliban to kill and harm our less fortunate fellow citizens. And where were the government and the law and order institutions when all this barbarism was being carried out?

As Pakistanis we must hang our heads once again in shame; but the main concern for us should not be simply our image internationally but what we are becoming within our own society. That is what should be of primary concern for the leadership. That is why in many previous columns I have been pointing to the dangers of bringing our marginalised population within the mainstream and delivering justice to the people so that they all have a stake in the system and the state – be they the marginalised Madrassah students or the marginalised minorities’. Otherwise extremism and violence will fester – Taliban or no Taliban – and as a desperate measure sending in the military will only aggravate not resolve the problem. And one has yet to talk of Balochistan where targeted killings continue while politicians continue to talk rather than act despite a seeming political consensus on what needs to be done. Why a beginning towards reconciliation cannot be made by declaring a general amnesty for all political prisoners and exiles only our bizarre ruling elites’ mindsets can understand but we are on a precipice here.

However, the other cause for chaos can be resolved more readily – that of the growing intrusiveness and questionable role of the US within Pakistan. For some time now one has been raising questions about the strange US presence in areas around Tarbela and in Peshawar. Then there was the news of the assassination squads controlled by the US Department of Defence rather than the CIA, of which the new US commander in Afghanistan, General McChrystal was a central actor. This information helped to link up differing pieces of a growing puzzle about the increasing US personnel in Pakistan. A cause for concern, given these developments, is the US plan to spend $1 billion to expand its presence in Islamabad – especially, since central to this plan is the importation of almost 400 Marines with hundreds of APCs. There is absolutely no logic to this, but who will tell our rulers who seem hell-bent on kowtowing before Washington? Incidentally already the US contingent in Pakistan is way over the sanctioned strength of 350 but does anyone in the corridors of power in Pakistan care?

Nor is the US Marines presence restricted to Islamabad. As some of us had been writing much earlier, they had been spotted in and around Tarbela also – where our military’s Special Operation Task Force is located. It now transpires that there are already 300 plus US military personnel in this area – the so-called “trainers”. Of course, given the poor counter insurgency record of the US, heaven knows what training they will impart to our much better trained army! Also, if they were only “trainers” why would the US buy a large plot of land around Tarbela and send twenty large containers there according to an investigative Asia Times Online report (3August 2009).

As if all these US military and undercover officials crawling all over the sensitive parts of the country were not enough, it appears that the US is also using private covert setups to further a dubious and threatening agenda within Pakistan. The centre of these suspicious covert operations is Peshawar, and the central organisation is Creative Associates International Inc. (CAII – as opposed to CIA), which refers to itself as an NGO on its website but on further investigation it transpires that the organisation is registered as a private incorporated company in Washington D.C – not an NGO! A 27 July 2009 report by Sarwar and Yousafzai for Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) reveals that CAII has been terrifying the residents of University Town Peshawar because of its US security guards – ostensibly from that notorious US security contractor Blackwater (now renamed Xe Worldwide) whose employees already face charges of murder, arms smuggling and child prostitution in Iraq.

What is very suspicious is that CAII’s website shows no identification of its owners although its staff is identified. Also, although it is supposed to be a private corporation, all its work around the world is totally funded by USAid and the US government and the projects are all in sensitive areas only – Sri Lanka, Gaza, Angola, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. CAII is working supposedly on a strange-sounding project in FATA – FATA Development Programme Government to Community. In reality, its staff goes around escorted by the killer Blackwater guards, meeting militants and other suspect people being sought by the Pakistani authorities in FATA and the Peshawar environs. Of the 30 job openings listed on its website presently, at least half are for Pakistan.

During the latter half of July, a US citizen, Craig Davis, was arrested from the CAII house in Peshawar, his visa cancelled and deported. Interestingly, when a journalist sought to verify this information from the US embassy, its spokesperson first declared that Davis had nothing to do with the US embassy but then stated that the embassy knew nothing about this man. So if they knew nothing of the man’s existence, how was it known that he did not work for the US embassy?

The point is, clearly there is a threatening US agenda including seeking out our nuclear sites and assassinating people thereby adding to our chaos and violence. But the question is: who has allowed us to be confronted with such a dubious and large US covert and overt presence in Pakistan? Some believe that during the previous regime, certain segments of certain institutions had orders from the top to allow this dangerous US infiltration into Pakistan but no one else was informed. However, now who is responsible for the continuing presence of these people in sensitive areas where they are also terrorising the local populations?

(Left) “A Dollar trap for Pakistani Job seekers”

When we as a society are facing our own problems of violence and terrorism, we can hardly afford to have such a volatile US presence here which will only aggravate our problems of violence and law and order. It is also sad to learn that Blackwater has been able to recruit dozens of retired commandos from the Pakistan army and elite police force through its local subcontractors according to the DPA report. Are Pakistanis so willing to knowingly act against their nation for dollars?

With increasing information about the dangerous US presence in Pakistan, it is not difficult to connect the dots also – with our nuclear assets, the institution of the military and the remaining strands of stability being the targets. Unless someone can stop the rot, it is only a matter of time before the US forces cross over physically on the ground from across Afghanistan. They may not get the triggers they plan on seizing but they can trigger a push towards total anarchy. Our rulers are certainly in self-destruct mode aided and abetted by the US.

The writer is a defence analyst. Email: callstr@hotmail.com

Source: therearenosunglasses Posted: August 16, 2009

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the ‘Wonders of Pakistan’. The contents of this article too are the sole responsibility of the author(s). WoP will not be responsible or liable for any inaccurate or incorrect statements contained in this post.

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American NGO Covers For Blackwater In Pakistan?

Blackwater in New Orleans

Reports suggest Pakistan has expelled a US Blackwater mercenary, but Pakistanis ask, ’Who rules our streets, the Pakistani government or the Americans?’ And who let them in?

In May, a US diplomat was caught arranging a meeting between a suspected Indian spy and senior Pakistani officials in the privacy of her house.  In June when Pakistani officials confronted Washington with evidence that terrorists in Pakistan were using sophisticated American weapons, US media quickly leaked stories about American weapons missing from the US-trained Afghan army.  And now reports confirm that the dirty secret arm of the US government – the mercenaries of Blackwater – have infiltrated sensitive regions of Pakistan.  Blackwater works as an extension of the US military and CIA, taking care of dirty jobs that the US government cannot associate itself with in faraway strategic places.  The question: Who let them in? And who deported one of them, if at all?

by AHMED QURAISHI

Last month a group of concerned Pakistani citizens in Peshawar wrote to the federal interior ministry to complain about the suspicious activities of a group of shadowy Americans in a rented house in their neighborhood, the upscale University Town area of Peshawar.

An NGO calling itself Creative Associates International, Inc. leased the house.  CAII, as it is known by its acronym, is a Washington DC-based private firm.  According to its Web site, the company describes itself as “a privately-owned non-governmental organization that addresses urgent challenges facing societies today …Creative views change as an opportunity to improve, transform and renew …”

The description makes no sense.  It is more or less a perfect cover for the American NGO’s real work: espionage.

The incorporated NGO is more of a humanitarian front that alternates sometimes for undercover US intelligence operations in critical regions, including Angola, Sri Lanka, Iraq, Gaza, and Pakistan. Of the 36 new job openings, the company’s Web site shows that half of them are in Pakistan today.  Pakistan is also at the heart of the now combined desperate effort by the White House-military-CIA to avert a looming American defeat in Afghanistan by shifting the war to its next-door neighbor.

In Peshawar, CAII, opened an office to work on projects in the nearby tribal agencies of Pakistan. All of these projects, interestingly, are linked to the US government.  CAII’s other projects outside Pakistan, are also linked to the US government.  In short, this NGO is not an NGO.  It is closely linked to the US government.

In Peshawar, CAII told Pakistani authorities it needed to hire security guards for protection. The security guards, it turns out, were none other than Blackwater’s military-trained hired guns.  They were used the CAII cover to conduct a range of covert activities in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province. Continue reading…

In the video above, the anchor of a TV channel details the origin and functioning of Blackwater, to its viewers in Urdu. The organization, a contractor of the US military, came into limelight when their inhuman treatment to Iraqi prisoners especially those in Abu Ghuraib Jail were exposed by a committed journalist.

The infamous Blackwater private security firm operates as an extension of the US military and CIA, taking care of dirty jobs that the US government cannot associate itself with in faraway strategic places. Blackwater is anything but a security firm.  It is a mercenary army of several thousand hired soldiers.

Pakistani security officials apparently became alarmed by reports that Blackwater was operating from the office of CAII on Chinar Road, University Town in Peshawar. The man in charge of the office, allegedly an American by the name of Craig Davis according to a report in Jang, Pakistan’s largest Urdu language daily, was arrested and accused of establishing contacts with ‘the enemies of Pakistan’ in areas adjoining Afghanistan.  His visa has been cancelled, the office sealed, and Mr. Davis reportedly expelled back to the United States.

It is not clear when Mr. Davis was deported and whether there are other members of the staff expelled along with him. When I contacted the US Embassy over the weekend, spokesman Richard Snelsire’s first reaction was, “No embassy official has been deported.”  This defensive answer is similar to the guilt-induced reactions of US embassy staffers in Baghdad and Kabul at the presence of mercenaries working for US military and CIA.

I said to Mr. Snelsire that I did not ask about an embassy official being expelled. He said he heard these reports and ‘checked around’ with the embassy officials but no one knew about this. “It’s baseless.”

So I asked him, “Is Blackwater operating in Pakistan, in Peshawar?”

“Not to my knowledge.”  Fair enough.  The US embassies in Baghdad and Kabul never acknowledged Blackwater’s operations in Iraq and Afghanistan either. This is part of low-level frictions between the diplomats at the US Department of State and those in Pentagon and CIA.  The people at State have reportedly made it clear they will not acknowledge or accept responsibility for the activities of special operations agents operating in friendly countries without the knowledge of those countries and in violation of their sovereignty.  Reports have suggested that sometimes even the US ambassador is unaware of what his government’s mercenaries do in a target country.

Official Pakistani sources are yet to confirm if one or more US citizens were expelled recently.  The government is also reluctant in making public whatever evidence there might be about Blackwater operations inside Pakistan.  But it is clear that something unusual was happening in the Peshawar office of an American NGO.  There is also strong suspicion that Blackwater was operating from the said office.

There are other things happening in Pakistan that are linked to the Americans and that increase the chances of Blackwater’s presence here.

These include:

1.       One of the largest US embassies – or military and intelligence command outposts – in the world is being built in Islamabad as I write this at a cost of approximately one billion US dollars. This is the biggest sign of an expansion in US meddling in Pakistan and a desire to use this country as a base for regional operations.  Interestingly, US covert meddling inside Pakistan and nearby countries is already taking place, including in Russia’s backyard, in Iran, and in China’s Xinjiang.

2.      A large number of retired Pakistani military officers, academics and even journalists have been quietly recruited at generous compensations by several US government agencies.  These influential Pakistanis are supposed to provide information, analysis, contacts and help in pleading the case for US interests in the Pakistani media, in subtle ways.  Pakistanis would be surprised that some prominent names well known to television audiences are in this list. Continue reading…

[Right: The American NGO that works for US government has almost half of its international vacancies in Pakistan. Three weeks back, its director in Peshawar was found contacting anti-Pakistan elements in the Pak-Afghan border area].

3.      CIA and possibly Blackwater have established a network of informers in the tribal belt and Balochistan; there have also been reports of non-Pakistanis sighted close to sensitive military areas in the country. Considering the intensity and frequency of terrorist acts inside Pakistan in the past four years, there is every possibility that all sorts of saboteurs are having a field day in Pakistan.

4.      Members of separatist and ethnic political parties have been cultivated by various US government agencies and quietly taken for visits to Washington and the CENTCOM offices in Florida.

The possibility of the existence of mercenary activities in Pakistan is strengthened by the following events:

5.      Pakistani officials have in recent months collected piles of evidence that suggests that terrorists wreaking havoc inside Pakistan have been and continue to receive state of the art weapons and a continuous supply of money and trainers from unknown but highly organized sources inside Afghanistan.  A significant number of these weapons is of American and Israeli manufacture.  Indians have also been known to supply third-party weapons to terrorists inside Pakistan.

6.      Some Pakistani intelligence analysts have stumbled on circumstantial evidence that links the CIA to anti-Pakistan terror activities that may not be in the knowledge of all departments of the US government. One thing is for sure, that CIA’s operations in Afghanistan are in the hands of dangerous elements that are prone to rogue-ish behavior.

7.      In May, a US woman diplomat was caught arranging a quiet [read 'secret'] meeting between a low-level Indian diplomat and several senior Pakistani government officials.  An address in Islamabad – 152 Margalla Road – was identified as a venue where the secret meeting took place. The American diplomat in question knew there was no chance the Indian would get to meet the Pakistanis in normal circumstances.  Nor was it possible to do this during a high visibility event.  After the incident, Pakistan Foreign Office issued a terse statement warning all government officials to refrain from such direct contact with foreign diplomats in unofficial settings without prior intimation to their departments.

8.     Pakistani suspicions about American foul play inside Pakistan are not new.  On July 12, 2008 in a secret meeting in Rawalpindi between military and intelligence officials from the two countries these concerns were openly aired. The Americans accused ISI of maintain contacts with the Afghan Taliban. The Pakistani answer was that normal low-level contacts are maintained with all parties in the area. NATO and the Kabul regime were doing the same thing in Afghanistan. In return, the Pakistanis laid out evidence, including photographs, showing known terrorists meeting Indian and pro-US Kabul regime officials. Was the United States supporting these anti-Pakistan activities is the question that was posed to the US military and CIA.

9.      Further back into history, in 1978 the ISI broke a spy ring made up of Pakistani technicians working for the nascent Pakistani nuclear program who were recruited by CIA.  Pakistan chose not to raise the issue publicly but did so privately at the highest level in Washington.

Now there are reports that the Zardari-Gilani government is consulting Pakistan’s Naval headquarters on a proposal to construct a US navy base on the coast of Balochistan.  When things have reached this level of American meddling in Pakistan, Blackwater seems like a small issue.  Some Pakistani analysts are of the view that elements within the Pakistani security establishment need to be very careful about where they intend to draw the red line for CIA operations in and around Pakistan.

The video above, courtesy, The Nation, Jeremy Scahill explains what’s Backwater and how does it operate. Jeremy Scahill (born c. 1974) is an American investigative journalist with expertise on a number of global issues, most notably the recent rise of private military companies.^] He is the author of the international best-seller Blackwater:The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army. The book won the George Polk Book Award. He serves as a correspondent for the U.S. radio and TV program Democracy Now!.

This video shows a Blackwater trainer giving a “motivational” speech to Iraqi police; thinking they are lazy stuff. Here in this video, he prepares them to shoot on their targets without the slightest consideration for their country, their religion or anything else. The video proves per se the modus operandi of such military contractors and therefore their undesirable presence in Pakistan.

Courtesy: AhmedQuraishi.com & PakNationalists, Posted: August 16, 2009

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the ‘Wonders of Pakistan’. The contents of this article too are the sole responsibility of the author(s). WoP will not be responsible or liable for any inaccurate or incorrect statements contained in this post.

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Strategic Planning for Pakistan’s nukes…..

Hundreds of Tribes with Flags to come….courtesy of the Pentagon’s Killers

This post by a fellow blogger was uploaded at the end of last month. But interestingly the views expressed by the editor have come so close to events in Pakistan, one is compelled to seriously evaluate the advice he has furnished to our leaders especially the incumbent president and the leader in waiting Mian Nawaz Sharif, who of late appears to have softened his stand on democracy and the biased US policy towards Pakistan.

This post contibuted by: http://geoplotical.blogspot.com/

Every movement in history has a direction, a quantum, a modus operandi. According to the father of the philosophy of war Carl Von Clausewitz everything in strategy moves slowly, imperceptibly, subtly, somewhat mysteriously and sometimes invisibly. The greatness of a military commander or statesman lies in assessing these strategic movements.

The USA inherited a historical situation in the shape of 9/11. At this point in time it was not making history if we agree that 9/11 was the work of Al Qaeda for which so far the USA has failed to furnish any solid evidence. After 9/11 when the U.S. attacked Afghanistan, her leaders and key military commanders were making history. They had a certain plan in mind. The stated objectives of these plans were the elimination of al-Qaeda. The unstated objective was the de-nuclearisation of Pakistan. This scribe has continuously held this position consistently in articles published in Nation from September 2001, all through 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and till 2009.

A May 2009 article, on Gwadar, by Robert D. Kaplan, Pakistan’s Fatal Shore, in The Atlantic, references on Baloch separatist websites (see here), provides a map of “Greater Balochistan” probably reflective of the thinking of the “Balkanise Pakistan” lobby that is increasingly coming out into the open.

The US strategic plan followed the following distinct phases:

1. An initial maneuver occupying Afghanistan in 2001.

2. Establishing and consolidating US military bases near the Afghan Pakistan border. Most prominent being the Khost, Jalalabad, Sharan and Kunar US bases. Some military bases like Dasht I Margo in Nimroz and three other bases in Kandahar, Badakhshan and Logar were so secret that their construction was not even advertised. Even in case of sensitive areas the contracts were awarded to the US Government owned Shaw Inc and the CIA proxy operated Dyncorps Corporation. Patriotic Afghans trained in USSR were removed from Afghan Intelligence because they would not agree to be a party to USA’s dirty game in between 2001 and 2007.Similarly many patriotic Afghan officers trained in USSR were removed from the Afghan military establishment.

3. Cultivating closeness to various tribes in ethnic groups on the Pakistan Afghan border by awarding them lucrative construction and logistic sub contracts.

4. Forcing the Pakistani military to act against the FATA tribes thus destabilising Pakistan’s north western area close to the strategic heartland of Peshawar-Islamabad-Lahore where Pakistan’s political and military nucleus is located.

5. Creating a situation where mysterious insurgencies would erupt in various parts of Pakistan including FATA, Swat and Balochistan.

6. Carrying forward urban terrorism into Punjab through various proxies.

Now it appears that the strategic plan is entering its final stage of launching a strategic coup de grace to Pakistan. These may be assessed as follows :–

• US military buildup in Afghanistan and launching of an offensive against Taliban with an aim of pushing them into Pakistan.

• Simultaneously pressurising the Pakistan Army into launching an operation in Waziristan. Thus Pakistan Army gets severely bogged down and hundreds of thousands of refugees enter Pakistan’s NWFP and Balochistan provinces. Infiltrators and fifth columnists being a heavy promiscuous mixture of this movement.

• Since 2001 the USA has spent a great fortune collecting information on Pakistan’s strategic nuclear assets. It appears that in 2009 it has sufficient data to launch a covert operation. (In this regard, the interview given by Pakistan’s former ISI Chief gave to Ahmed Quraishi, wherein he clearly affirmed how the ex president General Pervaiz Musharraf sold out Pakistan’s interests and under this deal, CIA was given extra ordinary access to Pakistan’s top intelligence matters).

• The covert nuclear operation could have a civilian and a military part. The civilian part may involve an attack on Pakistan’s non-military nuclear reactors like Chashma and KANUPP. The military covert operation could involve an attack on any of Pakistan’s strategic nuclear groups anywhere in Pakistan. Once this type of attack is done the USA with its NATO lackeys like Britain, France and Germany would go to the UN and maneuver an international resolution demanding denuclearization of Pakistan. The international opinion may be so strong that Pakistan’s government may capitulate.

• Once Pakistan is de-nuclearised, the USA would encourage Pakistan’s Balkanisation into a Baloch US satellite , a city state of MQM in Karachi, a Pakhtunistan badly bombed and in tatters and a Punjab stripped of nuclear potential , kicked and bullied by India. A Northern Area republic which will be a US lackey unless China decides to call the US bluff by occupying the Northern Area.

  What is the answer to this:

  - An immediate clean break with USA/NATO and closing all NATO/US supply lines to Afghanistan.

  - Mining and barbed wiring the Afghan Pakistan Border.

  - Allowing the FATA agencies to import goods for Afghanistan duty free and scrapping the old Afghan Transit Trade Accord thus economically boosting the FATA.

  -  A military alliance with China with a Chinese Naval base at Gwadar

  .  A rapprochement with Russia and offering the Russians free port facilities at Gwadar.

  -  Creation of a maritime province in Gwadar and Lasbela districts insulating these areas from the Baloch Sardars on payroll of US intelligence.

- Creation of a Pashtun Province in the Pashtun districts of Balochistan with Quetta as its capital.

- Cancelling all mineral concessions to all European/Australian/American companies in Balochistan and grant all mineral concessions to Chinese companies.

Everything is not inevitable in history. The ablest navigators can defeat the worst sea storms. Pakistan needs strategic and political vision. It may be necessary to have a military government to do all this in case the civilians prove inept.

Posted by HK

Related to tis post you can watch a video by PakNationalists here

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the ‘Wonders of Pakistan’. The contents of this article too, are also the sole responsibility of the author(s).

Energy security, diplomacy and pipeline corridors…all over EURASIA

The probability that the United States President Barack Obama’s Muslim speech on June 4 from Cairo will not contain specifics, has come true. Most wise men underscored that the charismatic statesman would stick to values rather than waste breath on substance.

True, that is a safe route for a great orator like Obama. Values resonate in Obama’s magnificent voice. Grand speeches, after all, can hardly be a good platform for policy-making.

However, substance, fresh substance, and lots of it – that’s what Middle Easterners impatiently sought to hear from the youthful president. With native Levantine wisdom dipped in wit, prominent columnist Rami Khouri wrote, “No offense, but nobody in the Middle East really cares about Obama’s ancestors or youth years, or his views on other religions. What we care about – and what the US president should explain on this trip – is whether the US government believes that habeas corpus and the Fourth Geneva Convention, for example, apply with equal force to Arabs as well as to Israelis…..and to American Forces worldwide….and about the ICC double standards…..”

Equally, for southwest Asians tuning into the Cairo speech, the big question is what the US president could offer by way of renewed momentum to his AfPak strategy, which vacillates between failure and avoidance of failure. What the US needs is a grand idea that can decisively propel the AfPak strategy over the barren, stony, steep ridge onto the lush green valley that lies beyond. Cairo could just be the platform from where to introduce such an idea.

It didn’t happen, but the idea exists. It has been around and may seem a hackneyed idea but it is still a workable one, which, if fleshed out, could potentially become a solid underpinning of the AfPak strategy. The fantastic thing about it is that in a manner of speaking, it is also a “Muslim idea”, as it engages the US with two countries in the topmost rungs of the Islamic world.

It is not only cost-effective but also eminently profitable, as it concerns the priceless commodity of natural gas. Most important, it creates a geostrategic matrix involving some of the key countries that can make all the difference between success and failure of the AfPak strategy – Iran, Pakistan, India and China.

The time has come for the US to take a serious look at the idea that it should be the promoter of a natural gas pipeline project leading from Iran’s gigantic, untapped South Pars fields to Pakistan and further on to India and possibly extending all the way to China’s heavily populated southeastern provinces.

As the US’s direct engagement of  Iran gets going after the presidential election in Iran later this month, Obama will come across the dilemma of prompting Iran to think on the “right track”: how to make Iran a “stakeholder” in the region? Offering hot dogs to Iranian diplomats at garden parties on Independence Day in the sprawling American chancelleries is one way of doing it, but Iranians have sharp bazaar instincts and are unlikely to be impressed. Releasing spare parts for Iran’s aging fleet of Boeing aircraft could be another way, or the opening of an Interest Section in the Iranian capital, but Persians aren’t rabbits nibbling at carrots. Persians settle only for grandiloquent, sweeping conceptions.

No doubt, the moveable feast of US-Iran engagement needs a tantalizing confidence-building measure as an “appetizer”. Iran’s archaic energy sector could just provide the right quarter. Iran’s oil industry desperately needs technology and modernization. And income from oil is Iran’s lifeline. Iran’s managerial cadres and technocrats have a high opinion of American oil technology. Big Oil needs no introduction to Iran, either. The Chinese would say this is a “win-win” situation.

Provided, of course, Big Oil moves fast. The Europeans are ahead of it, and so are the Russians. The race for Iran’s South Pars promises to be a photo-finish. As a perceptive American expert put it, the signing event of the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project in Tehran on May 24 by Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad and his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari “illustrates the obsolescence and, increasingly, the futility of an ‘isolation’ policy that tries to keep Iranian gas locked in the ground”.

Russia’s Gazprom is poised to join the Iran-Pakistan project, no matter the US sanctions. “We are ready to join as soon as we receive an offer,” Russia’s Deputy Energy Minister Anatoly Yanovsky said. That offer may well be made to the Russians on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit meeting scheduled to take place in Yekaterinburg in Russia on June 15, which brings together the leaders of Iran, Pakistan and Russia (and China and India). The Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline meshes with the grand idea that former Russian president Vladimir Putin (now premier) floated four years ago – a SCO “energy club”.

Gazprom executives have done their homework. According to Kommersant newspaper, Gazprom can act as a contractor for the pipeline construction work and as the operator of the pipeline even after its completion. Also, Gazprom is keen to get access to gas volumes from South Pars which it could then sell to India.

Russia is keen that Iranian gas is diverted to the Asian market. Kommersant quoted a Russian official as saying, “This project is advantageous to Moscow since its realization would carry Iranian gas toward South Asian markets so that in the near future it would not compete with Russian gas to Europe.” Moscow is enormously experienced in the gas market. It anticipates that gas demand in the Asian market is bound to go up exponentially once the current recession is over.

In political terms, Moscow visualizes that once the US engages Iran directly in the very near future, the enforceability of US sanctions will dissipate overnight and therefore, it is necessary to strike ahead of potential Western competitors.

To be sure, from the US perspective, there is a lot more to the South Pars area than highly lucrative business. The Iran-Pakistan pipeline project is one of those rare business deals where geostrategy comes into play from day one. Consider the following.

Making Iran a stakeholder in regional stability will immeasurably strengthen the hand of the US’s AfPak special representative Richard Holbrooke when he negotiates a “grand bargain” with Tehran for Afghanistan’s stabilization. In short, the gas pipeline project can be a vital component of Holbrooke’s “regional initiative”. Diplomacy gains in momentum when it deals with tangibles.

Holbrooke should also speak to the Indians to shed their reservations about participating in this project. Delhi is presently holding back for two or three reasons, which seem tenuous at best. One, Indians are wary of having anything to do with a capital-intensive project that involves Pakistan. They say Pakistanis are an unpredictable lot and might cut off the gas supplies, which could put in jeopardy billions of dollars worth of downstream investments in the Indian economy.

They say the ground situation in the Pakistani province of Balochistan through which the pipeline passes is highly volatile and disruptions in supplies can ensue. Finally, Indians are ostensibly unhappy with the price structure offered by Tehran. At the back of it all, there are unspoken considerations. First, Delhi is upset that Tehran retracted on a massive gas deal that Delhi thought it had wrapped up in 2004.

Second, Delhi is petrified as to what Washington would think if it stepped out of line and dealt with Iran so long as the US-Iran standoff continued. Then, there is the increasingly influential pro-Israel lobby within the Indian establishment. On top of it all, there are powerful Indian energy conglomerates that are the driving force behind the government’s energy policies and who fear the price for gas in India’s opaque gas market will be affected once Iranian gas enters the Indian grid.

But Obama can easily wade through this South Asian mumbo-jumbo. Arguably, he is the only man under the sun today who can do so. The Indian strategic community would be hard-pressed to say “nyet” if he proposed. Therefore, Washington should step forward as the guarantor of an Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project. At one stroke, that takes care of the Indian elite’s angst.

Obama should tell Indians that the huge gas pipeline project is the right thing to do for stabilizing the India-Pakistan relationship and for putting it on a predictable footing. The relationship is inherently brittle because it lacks content. Content engenders mutuality of interests, creates leverages and locks partnerships. Washington’s regional policies stand to gain if the India-Pakistan relationship is stabilized and therefore, Obama is an interested party.

Big Oil should also play a part in the project on the lines Gazprom offered. In fact, one of the biggest energy markets in the world opens up in the Indian sub-continent in terms of activities such as developing a South Asian gas grid, retail trade and petrochemical industries.

China will be eager to join the South Asian gas pipeline project. In strategic terms, the US has an opportunity to get Iran, Pakistan, India and China on board on one single project. The strategic implications for US regional policies are far-reaching. The Cold War experience on the European theater is that mega-pipeline projects can act as stabilizers in East-West relations.

If German policies toward Russia are transforming so visibly today, the principal reason is the bond that ties them together via energy deals. The proposed North Stream project will accentuate the trend in German-Russian ties; Russian-Italian relations gain from the South Stream and Russian-Turkish relations from the Blue Stream pipeline.

In the ultimate analysis, the answer to South Asian region’s severe instability lies in economic development. An editorial in Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper said: “Fears have been expressed that the turmoil in Balochistan will threaten the security of the pipeline since a great length of the 1,000 kilometers inside Pakistan passes through that province which borders Iran. Islamabad could convert this factor to its advantage if it can ensure that in the construction of the pipeline indigenous labor is hired and the gains of the economic activity generated by projects of such magnitude are focused on Balochistan for the benefit of its poverty stricken people.”

Obama would know that according to hearsay, the troublesome, one-eyed Taliban leader Mullah Omar got onto a motorbike and rode into the night towards these very same poverty stricken people of Balochistan for shelter when he was driven out of Kandahar in the winter of 2001.

The US’s regional policies must, therefore, refocus. Whereas today India and Pakistan are locked in a deathly dance – with Indians determined to become the pre-eminent military and nuclear power in the region and Pakistanis ensuring that doesn’t happen – Obama can gently initiate them into the Third Way.

No American president in living memory has had Obama’s measure of humanism. Cairo could have been the platform from where Obama spelt out an “AfPak dream”, to use the words of Dr Martin Luther King….

This is the time for Islamabad to exploit Washington’s desperation. Sec Def Robert Gates is pleading Asia to support America’s failed Afghan project, while his colleague the U.S. Treasury Secretary is begging China to continue financing the U.S. government. The Americans are behind a Sunni militant group fighting for secession in Iran’s Baluchistan and another ethnic militia in Pakistan’s Balochistan. The U.S. media leak on American weapons going to Afghan militants is a cover-up meant to hide what the Pakistani Army has discovered in Swat, that terrorists are using sophisticated American [and Indian] weapons to kill Pakistanis. Islamabad needs to end the American highhandedness, beginning with limiting CIA outposts in Pakistan.

—The latest scare story on Pakistan’s nukes is a breath of fresh air. Instead of the unnamed sources, which have been the basis for the anti-Pakistan demonization campaign in the U.S. media, this time we have no less than President Obama’s point man on South Asia, M. Bruce Riedel, coming out with an op-ed that leaves little mystery in the debate over whether Washington is exploiting terrorism to target Islamabad’s nuclear weapons arsenal.

Mr. Riedel is one of the key proponents of the theory that the Pakistani military needs to be transformed into a little more than a glorified local police force watching out for U.S. interests. It is pointless to counter the arguments of such determined imperialists who are shamelessly interfering in Pakistan. What is more important at this stage is to understand how our supposed ally has taken us for a ride and how we need to exploit the new American desperation in the region to get a better deal than the one currently in hand.

There is a growing body of evidence that the U.S. is supporting terrorism in our region to further its strategic objectives. In Iran, a secretive sectarian group is trying to rally the people of Iran’s Sistan-Balochistan province for secession from Tehran. In Pakistan’s Balochistan, an ethnic group has risen from the dead to campaign for secession. The only thing common to both groups is that they emerged after the U.S. landed in Afghanistan and turned that poor country into a source of region-wide destabilization. So much for fighting terror.

The Pakistani military has also admitted over the weekend what Pakistan’s pro-U.S. government has been hiding for months. The weapons that the terrorists – the fake Pakistani Taliban – are using to kill Pakistanis are coming primarily from U.S. and India. The Pakistani military leadership first confronted Adm. Mullen and CIA Deputy Director Stephen Kappes about this in a secret meeting in Rawalpindi last July. As in all insurgencies, the terrorists in our northwestern belt are a mix of local elements bolstered by professional fighters from U.S.-controlled Afghanistan. The Pakistani military has squeezed these terrorists so hard now that there is little doubt where the support for this anti-Pakistan terror campaign is coming from. To avoid embarrassment, Washington quickly ‘leaked’ a story that U.S. weapons meant for the Afghan army have reached insurgents. The timing of the leak conveniently coincides with the Pakistani army catching the American double game pants down.

Some members of the Karzai puppet regime have privately confirmed to Pakistani officials that they are incapable of stopping Indian terrorist activities on Afghan soil.

None of this will stop unless Pakistan firmly puts the leash on CIA outposts inside Pakistan. There is no question that CIA and Pakistani spy agencies were allies during the 1980s. But let us not forget that the CIA station in Pakistan recruited twelve insiders and used them to plan sabotage from within before being busted by chance in 1978.

Now the U.S. strategic interest in the region is largely divergent from that of Pakistan’s. U.S. officials, like Mr. Riedel, have little respect or appreciation for Pakistan’s right to have its own national security perspective and not rely on U.S. think tanks to adopt one. Today, Pakistan is paying for the blank check that our government and intelligence agencies gave the Americans on the ground in Balochistan and the tribal belt.

America is desperate in Afghanistan. U.S. officials have launched a fresh charm offensive to pacify the alienated Pakistanis. A panicked and bankrupt Washington is also trying to scare Asia into doling out money to save America’s failed occupation in Afghanistan. This is the time for Islamabad to demand Washington cease all the propaganda about Pakistan’s nukes, about the fabled ten billion dollars in aid, and stop turning the world against Pakistan. The elected government needs to muster some guts to confront Washington on this instead of leaving all the tough talk to Pakistani military leadership.

There is a golden opportunity out there to put a leash on CIA activities in Pakistan which we had consented to after 9/11. The American goal posts have shifted. Pakistan is no longer bound by the same deal….

Posted by HK: Source

RALLI – Blending One’s Soul & Self into a Piece of Textile

                                      by Nayyar Hashmey

What’s the true sense of beauty? Does it lie in the eyes of the beholder; or is it manifest in the crafted object itself or is it a coming together of kindred spirits – that of the maker and the beholder, the magical moment when a common chord is struck across the barriers of time and space. Just such chemistry ripples through the articulated patchwork of traditional homemade products crafted by the rural feminina of Sindh in Pakistan.

This fascinating product called Ralli or Rilli is a remarkable textile artwork converted into quilts, table runners and cushion covers. Thousands of women are involved mostly in Sindh, partly in some parts of Cholistan in Bahawalpur distt. of Punjab and in some areas of Balochistan.

A normal ralli whether a quilt, a cushion cover or a table runner, is a textile jewel finished with physical and spiritual labor done with hand and mind putting in almost 180 hours of an artisan woman doing this job. Women start making ralli in early ages as part of their dowry. In other cases, the poor artisans offer these products as gifts to elite families of Sindh on occasion of marriages or births and in return get an animal like cow, buffalo or a goat (locally called as khir piyarina i.e. to provide a regular source of milk for the artisan’s family).

Ralli, the beautiful handicraft from Sindh in Pakistan exhibits the wide array of cultural beauty. Its intricate patterns show the creativity, the skill and dexterity of the Sindhi artisans which places the area among the culturally rich lands of the world.

Sindhi rallis are beautiful and colorful. They are cluster of patchwork and or embroidery. Used also as bed linen Sindhi ralli is made with multicolored pieces of cloth stitched together in attractive designs. The color combinations and unique patterns speak for the aesthetic sense of its creator. The designs vary from floral motifs, waves and images of animals or trees. Many handicrafts of great beauty like cushion covers, embroidered shirts; wall hangers and mirror worked handbags are also made in ralli style mainly in Umarkot and Tharparkar area of Sindh.

Patricia Stoddard, an American author, teacher and expert writes in her book “The Ralli Quilts” Ralli textiles are very traditional made by women in the areas of Sindh, Pakistan, Western India and Gujarat. Ralli textiles are just gaining international recognition, even though women have been making these quilts for hundreds, may be thousands of years. The levels of the people, who make these textiles, are woven into each piece. The symbols of flowers and animals used in the decoration and colors are imaginative and exotic. Every ralli quilt tells a story. It tells of the natural creativity and love of color and design of the woman who creates them. Every ralli tells the story of the strength of tradition and motifs of rallis which have been passed from mother to daughter and woman-to-woman may be for thousands of years.

Cecilia Eddy, a British author and too a teacher of quilts has a deep study on ralli quilts. She in her book “Quilted Planet” says “The pattern and colors of ralli quilts embody all the romance and exoticism of the East. Did you know that in the Indus region of Pakistan where many rallis are made to this day for dowries, the word ralli means to mix or connect”. One of the ralli quilts pictured in her book looks like a bar quilt of flying geese, surrounded by a saw tooth border and a wider border of square-in-a-square on point.

Ironically, this fascinating cultural product, gaining recognition abroad, is loosing its importance back home. Textile market trends are changing as do the changes in ultra fashioned home textiles which influence the purchasing priorities of the buyers. A major reason involved in decline of usage of the cultured goods is also the poverty of the inhabitants of Sindh.

A lot of skilled artisans are leaving their profession because of a lack of patronage. This work of art is exclusively handmade and cannot be duplicated. The skill travels from generation to generation but due to dearth of proper avenues for young artisans, new generation has not much interest in learning the trade of their forefathers. Their priorities too have changed.  Which’s why this centuries old art is on decline. For a revival and preservation of the handicrafts support is needed from the concerned quarters of the society. New markets need to be explored within the country as well as internationally.

AHAN steps in…

To solve the problems and to tackle on-ground issues, due credits go to AHAN (Aik Hunar Aik Nagar) project of the Ministry of Industries, Govt. of Pakistan, wo with a three pronged strategy initiated a pilot project for the craftswomen of Sukkur  (Sindh).

During first phase of this pilot, a large number of designs were reviewed by the designers. They observed that different geographic locations have different ralli designs having their own history and tradition, hence different geographic clusters and craftswomen were identified by AHAN. They were then trained as master trainers. About five clusters of 12 master craftswomen were given one month on-job training at designers’ training centres in Karachi.

The training course provided skills in product development with different themes and tones. The object of this pilot project is that by training the ‘masters’they will then work further at their villages to train more women.

Renowned Pakistani designer Deepak Perwani was involved to provide his expertise in product development and training. He has now trained a group of female artisans at his factory in Karachi.

The idea behind such trainings is to add value to this village craft by turning out different ralli products like fashion apparel, handbags, embellishments on shawls  and bedroom accessories that include table lamps shades, cushions and toys. The women participants were also trained on modern designs and guided on different marketing channels. Their products were also displayed at a women expo to get the market feedback.

In embroidery and patchwork ralli, Ms. Shehnaz Ismail, Head of the Textile Deptt., of the Indus Valley School was engaged to design and develop a tailor made course for the artisans engaged in embroidery and patchwork.

The first training of the groups was conducted by the craftswomen who were already familiarized with design, measurements and pattern making, improvement of aesthetic- ability / sense and quality aspects of the product. During trainings they were also introduced with different markets for purchase of good quality raw material and sale of their products.

Once the training programs scheduled by the AHAN are completed, we can see some chances for the womenfolk indulged in this rural craft; that their economic lot will be improved and their products will be sold not only in their traditional markets but also in modern, trendy fashion boutiques of the world as well.

Note: This post is based on information from different Internet sources and so are the pictures.

Ralli Quilts of Pakistan

   The Magnificient Art of  Making Handmade Textiles 

                                         by Hira N. Hashmey

Throughout history, Asia has been known as a place producing the best in textiles. The art of making fabric from cotton was first perfected here, in the ancient southern part of this subcontinent. The Romans even sent traders to this area to get fine fabrics for their togas.   Womenfolk in the Indus Region of the subcontinent, presently the domain of an independent sovereign state of Pakistan have traditionally been the harbingers of this historical tradition. A particular type of such beautiful textiles produced in the area is the “Ralli” quilts.                               

Adorned with bright colors and bold patterns, the quilts are also called rilli, rilly, rallee or rehli derived from the local word ralanna meaning to “mix or connect”. For sake of simplicity and to avoid confusion in terms, used in different places of ralli production, the term “Ralli” has been used in this post; which by no means be taken as a standard term.

In Pakistan, rallis are made in the southern province of Pakistan including Sindh, in Balochistan province and Cholistan desert in Bahawalpur district of Punjab. Just across our borders, in India the art is found in the adjoining states of Gujarat and Rajasthan.

Muslim and Hindu women from a variety of tribes and castes in towns, villages and also of nomadic settings usually make rallis. It’s an old tradition which probably dates back to the fourth millennium BCE, (as evidenced by similar patterns found even today on the ancient pottery in the subcontinent).

Rallis are commonly used as a covering for wooden beds, floor covering, storage bags, rugs and padding for workers or animals. In the villages, ralli is an important part of a girl’s dowry.

Ralli is termed “patchwork” in the west, a nomenclature used because of combining fine craftsmanship with thrifty recycling; more so, because it is the joining of shaped pieces of patterns or colored fabrics to form a rich mosaic. The technique offers a limitless scope to experiment with patterns, color and textures.

Patchwork is either a pieced work or appliqué: 

The Pieced work is usually small regularly shaped scraps of material sewn together to form a strong fabric. Since patches are stitched to each other rather than to a background fabric, therefore, pieced work must be lined to hide raw edges at the back. 

In Appliqué or the applied patchwork motifs are cut from plain or decorative fabrics. The edges are turned under the pieces and are hemmed or slipstitched to a background fabric. Sometimes the edges are left raw and a buttonhole stitch is used to join the fabric to the base in a more elaborate way


The pattern making possibilities offered by patchwork are almost infinite, but the traditional patterns are still the most popular. The simplest patchworks are one-patch design based on a single geometric shape such as a triangle, a square or a hexagon. Beautiful effects can be achieved by using different fabrics to create patterns. For instance, in the tumbling block design, light, dark and middle tones are used to create a three-dimensional illusion.



In the last half of the nineteenth century, crazy patchwork became fashionable. Scraps of unrelated fabrics, silks, ribbons, satins or velvet, were sewn on to a backing. Each piece was outlined with feather stitching in thick silk, often in a golden thread. Crazy patchwork was used for quilts, table coverings, cushions, handkerchiefs and nightdress cases.

Some of the loveliest patchwork comes from the United States, where it is a popular folk craft. The earliest American quilts were made for protection against the harsh winter. As time passed, the colonists developed their own style. Indeed, the names given to many of the patterns – log cabin, barn raising, bear’s paw and cactus basket – reflect their origins.

They evolved in particular, the block method of working, in which case a series of rectangular or square units were made up separately and the stitched together to create a large quilt. The advantage was that the individual blocks were more manageable to work than one large quilt. Sometimes quilts were worked by several different people and became known as friendship quilts. Each individual would work a separate block, often in a different design. The skill came in assembling these independent blocks into an amazing pattern.

On many old quilts one may find a spider’s web embroidered in a corner, as recognition of a creator’s skill. In some areas a spider’s web would be laid on the back of a baby girls’ hand so that she would acquire some of that dexterity. Often, one finds a deliberate error in a patchwork, such as repeating motif worked in the wrong color. This reflected a belief that only God could create perfection and it was therefore inappropriate for a mere mortal to aspire new heights.

The rallis are made from numerous panels, some of which are square and some rectangular. Each panel is individually worked before being joined to its neighbors by means of a network of fine border strips. Some panels are made from colorful patchwork shapes, while others are prettily quilted and appliquéd with a range of motifs.

A patchwork quilt is centuries old craft with intricate patterns and a breathtaking admiration for the talented womenfolk who stitch these quilts. The designs look so intricate and the stitches so tiny and neat; yet in reality anyone who has made a patchwork knows how simple they are for these ladies to make. Patience is indeed the essence of such work because ralli quilts are usually very large and therefore take time to stitch, but most designs, are based on a square pattern made up of about a dozen patches. Once the craftswoman has mastered the design of one square, she can simply repeat it many times over and at the end sew them all together to make the beautiful cover. Some also include interesting border designs which make them extra special.

Once finished, the patchwork is backed with cozy wadding, quilted and lined. The quilting is not essential, but looks decorative and has the practical function of holding the wadding in place.