Afghanistan opposes missile names

[Alamgir]

I totally agree with the Afghan government. Ghaznavi, Ghori, Durrani are all Afghan leaders and have nothing to do with pakistanis or other subcontinent people.

The irony of all this is though is that while pakistanis name their missiles after people who fought wars against the indians these great Afghan leaders actually invaded and slaughtered the people of what is now pakistan.

Why cant pakistanis just name their missiles after their own heroes like gandhi LOL.... Why are these people always trying to link themselves to us West and Central Asians ?????

About time Afghans reclaimed Afghan history that is being being stolen by the subcontinent people.


Afghanistan opposes missile names
By Mark Dummett
BBC News, Kabul

Afghanistan has asked the Pakistani military to stop naming its nuclear missiles after the heroes of Afghan history.

Information Minister Sayed Makhdum Rahin said he had sent a letter to Islamabad requesting they avoid naming weapons after Afghanistan's rulers and emperors.

"Their names should be bracketed with academic, cultural and peace-promoting institutions, not with tools of destruction and killing," he said.

"World-famous Afghans, like (Mahmud) Ghaznawi, (Ahmad Shah) Abdali and (Shahabuddin) Ghauri, had spread knowledge and civilisation from Afghanistan to the subcontinent of India," he added.

The Ghaznawi, Abdali and Ghauri missiles - capable of carrying nuclear warheads - were developed by Pakistan to counter the threat posed by its arch-rival India's nuclear arsenal.

The missiles are a source of huge national pride in Pakistan, which named them after Muslim conquerors who defeated Hindu rulers and governed parts of what is now Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.

'Interference'

Only last week its nuclear weapons programme tested the short range surface-to-surface ballistic missile, the Haft-II Abdali, named after the founder of the powerful Durrani dynasty, which helped shape modern Afghanistan.

The Ghauri missile, designed to threaten major cities across India, is named after Mohammed Ghauri, who in 1192 defeated a Rajput Hindu king near to where the Pakistan-India border now runs.

The Ghaznavid missile is named after Mahmud Ghaznavi, who was never defeated on the battlefield, and conquered Punjab in 1021. Pakistan has refused to comment.

Rahin said Pakistan was welcome to use the names for peaceful things like monuments and conference rooms.

Many Afghans believe Pakistan interferes too much in its internal affairs.

Relations have been damaged by the presence of Taleban and al-Qaeda-led militants in the Pashtun tribal areas on both sides of the border.

Last week Afghan President Hamid Karzai visited Islamabad to urge Pakistan do more to crack down on the militants.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4740570.stm

[froggy]

I have never thought of the differences between neighbouring countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan considering that both are muslims and good muslims as such.

[Aryan]

Well technically, Ghaznavi, Ghori and so on aren't Afghans either, they are Turks.

[Ray]

But they sure are not from areas which is today Pakistan.

Pakistan's names missiles after Afghan invaders



Pakistan's missile symbolism

By Zaffar Abbas
BBC correspondent in Islamabad


Pakistani officials say the successful test-firing of three of its surface-to-surface missiles in the last few days has confirmed the country's capability to strike deep inside enemy territory in the event of a war.


The Abdali is named after a ferocious Afghan king


Interestingly, these tests have not only demonstrated the effectiveness of Pakistan's missile technology; the names given to these missiles are full of symbolism.

They suggest that Pakistan relates the present conflict in South Asia to the conflicts of the mediaeval period when Muslim warriors from Afghanistan frequently invaded India.

Ghauri, Ghaznavi, Abdali - these are the three ballistic missiles Pakistan test-fired in the last week.

But these are also names of three prominent Muslim warlords, or conquerors, who invaded India from Afghanistan between the 11th and 18th centuries in an attempt to expand their empires.

Historical histrionics

The medium-range Ghauri missile is Pakistan's answer to India's Prithvi missile, and here the symbolism is perhaps most interesting.


The Ghaznavi can only be used close to the border


Muhammad Ghauri was a powerful Afghan warlord who in the 12th century had two fierce battles with the Hindu ruler of northern India, Prithviraj Chouhan.

Ghauri was defeated in the first battle and later on, he returned with a bigger army to achieve a convincing victory.

Although India insists that the name Prithvi given to its missile means "earth" and has nothing to do with any Hindu ruler of the past, Pakistan wants the world to believe otherwise.

Battle fetish

The other two missiles Pakistan tested during the week are also named after 11th and 18th-century Afghan conquerors, Mehmood Ghaznavi and Ahmed Shah Abdali.



Ghaznavi is described in history books as a temple-destroyer who attacked India 17 times.

Pakistan has never given any specific reason for naming these missiles after such historical figures.

But the symbolism is a clear reflection of the official mindset in the country.

It shows that for Islamabad, the present conflict with India is a continuation of the battles of the past between people described in Pakistani history books as just Muslim invaders and several of India's cruel Hindu emperors.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/wor...00/2014843.stm

[Aryan]

Again, no big deal. St George wasn't English, St Andrew wasn't Scottish and so on.

If Afghans have a big problem with it, they can name their spears and rocks after historical figures from Pakistan.

[GrayDonkey]

i think afghanistan should be proud that its heroes are celebrated in foreign countries.

[Gabru47]

Well I suppose that a ghazi warrior can be respected by any muslim because they were acting in accordance with the koran when they were doing all their raping, looting and just general murder of non-muslims. I think thats why pakistan respects them, because they are ghazis.

Most pakistanis are afghani too, I think Alamgir even mentioned this in an earlier thread.

Do you know what "Hindu Kush" means? It is a mountain range that means 'Killer of hindus'. See, the Afghans would massacre the hindus in the region and invade further into the subcontinent without meeting any resistance. Instead the hindus would flee leaving their women and others behind. The Afghans would loot the hindus and kidnap those who did not escape to be used as slaves. The Afghans would keep trying to transport the captured hindus across the mountains into Afghanistan but the indian physique is weak and could not cope with the harsh environment of the mountains that separates Central Asia from the subcontinent. So, most of these enslaved hindus would die in the mountains before ever reaching Afghanistan, hence the nick, "Hindu Kush".

You can only imagine what muhammedans did to non-muslim women. Or if you don't want to imagine I'll tell you that muhammedans raped them. In the muhammedan belief, a non-muhammedan women captured in war is the legal sex slave of the muhammedan ghazi. That was a incentive for young muhammedan men to go to war, and just unleash islamically santified mayhem on idol worshippers(kind of funny because muhammedans venerate a rock in arabia).

If you don't believe me try reading about right hand possessions

See when afghan, persian(mountain arabs), turks and arab ghazis used to invade what is now pakistan, they would slaughter the men and keep the women, for sexual fantasies, and the children, for indoctrination. Most people identify with their fathers culture. So I think its only fair that pakistan be allowed to name their missiles after their heroes.

Also, another important point that I think alot of people are forgetting is that pakistan is a country run by the elite from across the muhammedan world. Syeds, mirzas, khan. All of these are ruling over the natives of pakistan. Even Sir Syed, the man who is credited with the idea of pakistan, mentioned this in one of his speeches.

The time is, however, coming when my brothers, Pathans, Syeds, Hashimi and Kereishi, whose blood smells of the blood of Abraham, will appear in glittering uniform as Colonels and Majors in the army.

Would our aristocracy like that a man of low caste or insignificant origin, though he be a B.A. or M.A., and have the requisite ability, should be in a position of authority above them and have power in making laws that affect their lives and property? Never! Nobody would like it (Cheers).

Therefore, its only fitting that pakistanis have their missiles named after foreigners, and not natives that the noble descendents of abraham are lording over.

I think that this is also a truism in countries like iran. The mountain arabs there mourn the death of Husayn, a muhammedan who had raped the last persian princess, shehrbanu. Its really interesting.

[indianguy4u]

This is what u expect from brainwashed ppl, & pakistanis are leaving upto it.