Overseas Pakistani Friends

ITALIAN DEFENCE ATTACHÉ

MEHMOOD-UL-HASSAN KHAN

1. Would you please share with us your childhood and schooling?

I was born in a little city, Benevento, 100 km far Naples and situated in the south of Italy. There I spent my childhood’s summers in the grandparents’ farm, while I attended the school in Caserta, not far from the hometown.

Benevento is a historical town of the Sannites. It was renamed Beneventum by the Romans, when it became an important base for Roman expansion in southern Italy. Then it was the capital of an important Lombard duchy controlling most of southern Italy. Monuments from classical times include Trajan’s Arch, the ruin of a Roman theatre, and the Ponte Lebbroso, a bridge old more 2000 years. The frequently rebuilt cathedral (founded 7th century), with the magnificent bronze doors; the 12th century cloister of the Church of Santa Sofia (8th century); and the castle (1321) are notable medieval buildings.

While Caserta is famous for the Bourbon Royal Palace, designed by the Italian architect Luigi Vanvitelli and constructed in the 18th century. It was one of the last triumphs of the Italian Baroque. Anyway my high school was humanistic preparatory, then I continue my study at University of Bologna, the oldest University of Europe. It was founded in 11th century where I completed my graduation in Economics and Commerce.

2. Would you please tell us about your professional career?

I started my military career to the Italian Military Academy. I completed the specialist training at the Application School. I was Platoon Leader and Company Commander at a Mechanized Infantry Battalion, I commanded also the Platoon and the Company in the Military Academy and the Company in the School of Infantry. I completed Based and Advanced Army Staff College, prior to attending Joint General Staff College. I commanded the Battalion and the Regiment and I filled Staff assignment at the Italian Joint Operations Headquarters. I was the Military Assistant of the Deputy Commander of the “Salamandra” Division in Bosnia-Herzegovina (SFOR), where I was awarded the Spanish White Cross for Meritorious Service. I was also awarded the Italian, NATO and France medals for operation in former Yugoslavia.

I have been serving as Italian Defense Attaché in Pakistan since 1st October 2006. I have diversified and integrated educational qualifications and professional expertise. I have master a Master in Strategic Science from the University of Turin. Furthermore, I am a qualified Patrolling Specially-Trained officer as well as the parachuting military license. Continue reading »

To use the dominance of a few thousand militants in a narrow valley as somehow suggestive of a larger movement towards Talibanisation of the whole of Pakistan is preposterous. I am not saying this out of crass patriotism or starry-eyed optimism but rather after a deliberate analysis of historical precedent

On March 23, 2009, the day Pakistanis were commemorating sixty-nine years of the resolution that gave birth to the idea of an Islamic state on the subcontinent, a jihadist suicide bomber struck in the heart of Islamabad near Sitara Market. At that moment, I was sitting in a hotel in Muscat, flipping through the news channels from Sky News to BBC to CNN to Al Jazeera, and was alarmed to find immediate live coverage of the incident and commentary that suggested that the country was about to fall to the Taliban.

All the channels also featured long documentary pieces on the rule of Maulana Fazlullah and his minions in Swat, with a note of foreboding that the valley was only a hundred miles from Islamabad. Video images were then shown of how drug dealers were being flogged in public. Polished English reporters winced at the sight of the criminals in pain. Continue reading »

The writer is a former envoy to the US and the UK, and a former editor of The News

This year the nation has marked Pakistan Day at a defining moment in the country’s history. The course that its leaders chart in the coming months will determine whether Pakistan will move away from or towards the vision of the Founding Fathers – to create a modern Muslim and democratic state that fulfils its obligations to its citizens and delivers on the social contract with the people. Continue reading »

A rocket launcher used by a gunman in an attack is seen in Lahore.-AP

By Zulqernain Tahir

LAHORE: The rocket-launchers and explosives used in the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team are in the use of Indian forces, Dawn has learnt.

According to a forensic report, four rocket-launchers and nine explosives seized from the scene are factory-made and used by Indian forces.

Forty grenades, 10 sub-machine guns (SMGs), five pistols, 577 live rounds of SMGs and 160 bullets of pistols were also found there. The terrorists had fired 312 bullets, two rockets and detonated two bombs.

‘No suicide jacket was found at the scene, suggesting that they were not on a suicide mission. The SMGs used in the attack are of Russian, German and Chinese made,’ an investigator told Dawn on Monday. Continue reading »