The best way to know the self is feeling oneself at the moments of reckoning. The feeling of being alone, just with your senses, may lead you to think more consciously. More and more of such moments may sensitize ‘you towards you’, towards others. We become regular with introspection and retrospection. We get ‘the’ gradual connect to the higher self we may name Spirituality or God or just a Humane Conscious. We tend to get a rhythm again in life. We need to learn the art of being lonely in crowd while being part of the crowd. A multitude of loneliness in mosaic of relations! One needs to feel it severally, with conscience, before making it a way of life. One needs to live several such lonely moments. One needs to live severallyalone.

Thursday 4 January 2018

PAKISTAN ARMY TO US: NO AMOUNT OF COERCION CAN DICTATE US; WE HAVE SPENT 10 TIMES OF WHAT YOU GAVE US

Pakistan Army has reacted sharply on US President Donald Trump’s latest accusation that Pakistan is a liar and deceitful country and did little in the war on terror in spite of receiving $33 Billion of US aid in last 15 years.

In what is being seen a first official response from Pakistan’s most powerful institution that has ruled the country for most of its independent years, in an interview with Geo News, Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor, Director-General (DG) of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan Army, said no amount of coercion could dictate Pakistan and dismissed the US claims on financial military assistance.

The spokesperson said the amount received by Pakistan from US for its participation in the war against terror under the Coalition Support Fund should be seen as reimbursement and not aid, and in fact the amount paid so far by the US to Pakistan, $15-20 Billion, falls hugely short of the amount spent by Pakistan in the same period, “We received an amount between $15-20 billion in coalition funds for our military expenditure in Afghanistan, while the national exchequer incurred $123 billion in losses.”

When asked about reports emerging that the US is not willing to consider Pakistan a friend and ally anymore, he said Pakistan could have chosen the erstwhile USSR as its ally but instead preferred the US and still considers them as allies, “As far as Pakistan is concerned, we consider them as allies. Our relationship has had its ups and downs but still, we are friends.”

He said Pakistan had taken action against the Haqqani Network but the US should give some time for its effects to become visible, “Effects of these operations cannot be visible immediately. Only time will show how effective these operations were in establishing peace within the region.”

He said any misunderstanding between the countries at this juncture would negatively affect their efforts in Afghanistan to establish peace and blamed India for differences between Pakistan and US.

He even tried to paint Nikky Haley, the US Ambassador to the UN and an Indian-American, as responsible for worsening US-Pakistan ties, “US should find out the elements which are aiming at deteriorating the US-Pakistan cooperation.”

He also took on Trump’s new South Asia policy that seeks an increased Indian role in the region and while boasting Pakistan’s nuclear capability, said a single country could not be assigned the role to guarantee peace in the region, “We are a nuclear power and a responsible nation; we don’t need a security guarantee from anyone and will continue our role in establishing peace in the region.”

©SantoshChaubey