India's 2008 space probe launch and what Pakistan's response should be

As we all know in 2008, India launched a space probe to the moon giving much pride and joy to the Indian people. Perhaps for the duration of the launch and journey it helped distract them from the realities of their country.

There are some Pakistanis who also suffer from false pride in things such as having an advanced air force or something else that does not entirely benefit the country despite the pride it gives.
Heck I myself suffered from pride in having a strong military and other things that distracted me from the realities of my country.

The space launch and other things like that are what blinds many Indians especially those in the elite class from the miserable conditions of their country and incites them with this false pride and ignorance to the fact that their country is the opposite of what they want to believe it is.

There were a few reactions from the Pakistani side to follow in pursuit. No doubt in my mind that many from the Muhajir community were thrilled to hear of their ethnic brethren across the border showing the Pakistanis (mainly Punjabis) competition.

As mentioned, some reactions from Pakistanis were hopes that Pakistan may follow in a similar space launch in the near future. This is where my concerns arise and my purpose of this post to disagree. The Indians are in no position to spare an average amount of 79 million dollars in purchasing rockets from the Russian Federation when they are the world's leader in poverty, HIV and hunger.

All the money it invests in unnecessary things to impress the world would be much more useful when invested into population control. Already by mid century the country is expected to reach two billion people at the growth rate it is at.

Instead of trying to match India pride for pride, Pakistan needs to be more wise and not waste it's precious budget into such foolishness. Let's face it. Doing what India did in 2008 or at other times won't change the fact that we are an impoverished third world country ourselves. Nor will it fool other people around the world from the reality of what we are.

Already we waste plenty of our budget on our military. It is not that I oppose maintaining our defense given that we are in a dangerous region of hostile neighbors and also live in a dangerous time era.
It's the overspending of money on things like military housing and VIP transportation that does not really contribute to defense.

Pakistan should not take such kinds of steps in wasting money on projects for the sake of preserving a positive image. No image can be more positive than being a safe, stable and most importantly sustainable country.
Just because the Indians are behaving foolishly and trying to distract the world from their worst conditions by taking pot shots at Somali pirates or sending rockets to the moon does not mean Pakistan has to waste it's money and resources doing the same.

Pakistan actually could create a better impression of itself by diverting money into population reduction and enhancing natural ecosystems instead of importing foreign technology and parading it as if we built it ourselves. That would actually make us look cheap at least to those who know our country's conditions.

Both the government and people of Pakistan need to snap out of their ignorance and refuse to drop to the level of the Brahman elites of India who pride themselves in trying to impress and deceive the rest of the world from what they really are.

This means Pakistan should have no such childish aims or ambitions on investing in projects that really do us no good. Simply exploring the moon will not benefit our country or take care of our problems whereas investing in population reduction and environmental and educational reforms will.

Below is a video that partially discusses India's space probe launch and anti-piracy activities in the Indian ocean:

America should satisfy Pakistan's trade needs if it is so concerned about keeping it's enemies under sanctions.

Recently the American government has raised concerns about Pakistan's upcoming gas pipeline deal with Iran to meet it's energy needs.
Iran has for a long time been facing sanctions from America and the West ever since the 1979 revolution and the sanctions have been increased with the support of the EU due to Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program.

The Americans are naive and arrogant to believe that countries outside of the G8 will go about their sanction agenda. When the USA sanctioned Pakistan over it's testing of nuclear weapons in 1998, it somehow expected the same from China.

China was not part of the joint bid to put sanctions on Pakistan and hurt it's own economy just to satisfy America and neither will Pakistan right now sacrifice it's energy needs for the same reason.
Pakistan is not part of the G8 nor is it under any oath to be a part of any joint sanction program against any country sanctioned by the EU/US/G8 etc.

It is not that I wish to be supportive of Iran's government or many of it's people who have a deep rooted hatred towards Pakistanis.
I am just concerned about the interests of Pakistan and at America's arrogance to think Pakistan should sacrifice it's energy needs just to please them.

Also it is again necessary to mention that Pakistan would not need to import energy resources had it's population stayed at a sustainable number. It is a terrible tragedy that even with all the resources we have to sustain our country, we exploited them by not keeping our overpopulation crisis in check and only continue to let it grow.

If America really wants to stay committed to sanctioning Iran by all countries, it should provide any country that is trading with a sanctioned enemy an alternate solution.
In the case of Pakistan America should seek an alternate and sustainable energy supply for Pakistan. How it should be done is America's sole problem.

It can either broker a deal with Saudi Arabia or another Gulf Arab state to supply the extra energy to Pakistan at lower costs with America paying to make up for the discount prices. Whichever the best solution would be is America's worry as I mentioned, not Pakistan's.

This is something for the American government to plan for and discuss a solution to present Pakistan with before dictating it's terms of trade to other countries.

My thoughts on the killing of Asfar Shah by Pakistani rangers in June

Most people already saw what happened on video where rangers were reported to have killed an unarmed civilian in Karachi in cold blood. I saw the actual video clip on YouTube, not the version edited by news agencies and I'm not going to embed it in the post in compliance with blogger's terms of service.

I also had a discussion about it while chatting on the phone with one of my friends. It appears the public opinion is on the side of the victim and his family and totally against the rangers- with good reasoning but not entirely.

As mentioned I saw the entire video and also worthy of mentioning is that it's probably the first time I've seen a human being gunned down. Judging from the video, I concluded that both the victim and the shooting ranger were at fault.

Everyone seemed to be focused that the ranger fired at the victim when he was unarmed and seemed to pose no threat. I partially agree, especially that even after unnecessarily shooting him once he fired a second time.

But nobody focused on the fact that the victim refused to comply with the rangers orders and surrender. When they repeatedly raised their guns at him and told him to stay away from them, he continuously rushed towards them.
Nobody takes into consideration that he was accused of being a thief. Weather true or not, arresting a suspect usually requires at least one armed personnel in case the suspect poses a threat.

So already under the impression that he was a thief, the rangers kept their guard but instead of using his common sense and at least keeping his distance, the victim kept trying to snatch one of the rangers' guns. He was warned multiple times and even physically pushed back to keep him at a safe distance which he refused and continued to try and snatch the gun.

Whichever country such kind of an incident takes place in, a suspect who tries to resist arrest and trying to physically disarm a law enforcement personnel will be treated with additional suspicion by resisting.
In some countries resisting arrest is considered a crime and a suspect can be additionally charged for that. And if the law enforcing officer fires after more than one warning, he/she may not be held accountable for shooting the suspect.

That was the fault of Mr Asfar Shah. He should have at least kept a distance as he was ordered to if not keep his hands raised and be searched, questioned and then released when no evidence can be found to launch a case against him.

That was his fault. The fault of the ranger was using excessive force. For his own good he should have fired a warning shot before actually shooting the victim.
And even if he was justified under the law of shooting in possible self-defense because the victim would not keep his distance even after being warned, he still fired a second shot unnecessarily.

He is clearly guilty of using excessive force and added to that it was the rangers' responsibility for getting him medical aid as ensuring public safety is their job.
The courts decision to punish the rangers is quite justified after it is clear excessive force was used and the victim was left to die.

But the public as usual only saw the entire incident with the rangers as the aggressors while completely disregarding the fact that the victim was partially to blame for the shooting. As usual the public placed the entire blame on the rangers. This is actually part of the public greater game of always blaming everything on the government.

Conclusively I am in favor of punishing the rangers for such a misconduct but I wished to point out the facts that partially led to the victim's tragic death.