CNN AIRS MYSTERIOUS 'DIVIDE PAKISTAN'

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/CNN_airs_mysterious_Divide_Pakistan_advertisements/articleshow/1747646.cms
CNN airs mysterious 'Divide Pakistan' advertisements
11 Mar, 2007

WASHINGTON: While Pakistan has charged India with stoking fires in its troubled provinces and produced articles in a Sindhi journal published from New Delhi as 'evidence,' it can drum up far more serious charges against its patron United States.

A maverick 'academic' based in Europe has been buying airtime on CNN for the past two weeks to advertise his book titled Divide Pakistan to Eliminate Terrorism . The 15-second spot, which is aired every day, charges Pakistan with terrorist activities across the world and says the only way to stop this is to split the country into half dozen separate entities, including Sindhudesh, Jinnahpur, Balochistan and Pakhtunistan.

The author of the book, which is being sold on Amazon.com for $ 15.95, is Syed Jamaluddin, who describes himself in a blog ( www.dividepakistan.blogspot.com ) as a British Citizen- Naturalized in UK and a chartered accountant with a degree in conflict management.

On Amazon, he is described as ''an active writer on issues concerning Pakistan's involvement in various terrorist activities in the South Asian region'' who was ''forced to leave Pakistan after the military coup of General Musharraf in 1999.'' It says he also ''liaised with political and religious parties of Pakistan as well as Government Agencies.''

Washington's think-tank circuit, where Pakistani scholars and commentators are frequent visitors, has no idea who Syed Jamaluddin is. The conjecture is he is a disgruntled spook out to embarrass a country that is already in a deep hole in the US where it is seen the grand central -- if not a sponsor -- of terrorism in most quarters, except by administration officials tasked with bringing it to heel with kid gloves.

Indian officials too said they had no idea of the book or the author. One official visiting from New Delhi, when told about the ad, joked that dividing Pakistan was a terrible idea, saying, ''One is bad enough -- who wants to deal with four or five?''
According to the jacket notes for the book on Amazon, Divide Pakistan to Eliminate Terrorism is ''Syed Jamaluddin's vision to address issues related to combating terrorism emanating from Pakistan which have dramatically transformed the entire region into a systematically controlled network having vicious effects to the global peace.''

This book, it says, gives an in depth analysis about the role of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Tablighi Jamat which are involved in producing future terrorists. The book also claims to provide ''specific information about the actual tactics of ISI and Tablighi Jamat and their strategy to disrupt the international peace in the name of Islamisation of the world through holy war and martyrdom.''

Jamaluddin, who declares General Musharraf as a ''Terrorist-in-Uniform'' has also been circulating an online petition calling for the division of Pakistan.

Pakistani diplomats in the U.S, who toil ceaselessly to counter critical newspaper editorials by writing plaintive letters to editors, seem to be stumped by the ad, which usually airs in the morning. A 30-second prime time spot on CNN can cost as much as $ 20,000.

Considering the ad has now been airing for a fortnight, profiting from the book seems farthest from the mysterious Syed Jamaluddin's mind.

More on Syed Jamaluddin @ http://dividepakistan.blogspot.com


"Lead me from the unreal to the Real;
Lead me from darkness to Light;
Lead me from death to Immortality. "

"Asato ma sad gamaya
Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya
Mrtyor ma amritam gamaya."

-- Brhadaranyaka Upanishad