Holbrooke goes Holy with Karzai, Shourie attacks BJP, The TTP after Baitullah

Thanks due FK for the following links ~t

Hamid Karzai has had a frosty meeting with Barack Obama's Afghan envoy, Richard Holbrooke, over a second round run-off in the presidential election and the deals that the incumbent President struck with warlords, according to Afghan and Western sources. The talks between Mr Holbrooke and Mr Karzai are said to have lasted lass than 30 minutes, while Mr Holbrooke's meeting with the rival presidential candidate, Abdullah Abdullah, reportedly went on for almost three hours. Sparks fly as US puts awkward questions to Karzai By Kim Sengupta in Kabul

The turmoil and discontent in the Bharatiya Janata Party deepened further on Monday as Arun Shourie, senior leader and MP, made an all-out attack on party president Rajnath Singh, calling him “Alice in Blunderland” and describing the party leadership as “Humpty Dumpty.” He did not spare the Leader of the Opposition, L.K. Advani, either. Coming five days after the expulsion of Jaswant Singh, the “shock” delivered on NDTV channel by Mr. Shourie — who complained that no action had been taken by Mr. Rajnath Singh on a letter he had written to him confidentially — is expected to lead to yet another high-profile exit from the party. Some party leaders said Mr. Shourie’s expulsion was imminent but a decision would be taken only after carefully reading the transcript of his interview. Crisis in BJP deepens as Shourie attacks Rajnath Neena Vyas [according to some informed sources Arun Shourie would not be expelled because he criticised the BJP not its patron RSS ~~t]

Maulana Faqir Muhammad's somersault too was strange and an indication of the disarray in TTP ranks. One day he declares himself as the acting ameer, or head, of the TTP in his capacity as deputy leader of the banned militant organisation and appoints Muslim Khan, the Swat Taliban spokesman, as his spokesman. Two days later he announces that Hakimullah is the new TTP leader and Azam Tariq is the spokesman. He also tells the world that 42 TTP shura members and commanders attended the meeting that chose Hakimullah as the new leader. Strangely enough, no statement to this effect has been issued by Hakimullah and Azam Tariq until now. Waliur Rahman and other top TTP commanders from South Waziristan, Kurram, Swat, and other areas don't attend the meeting and it soon becomes clear that this may not be a unanimous decision. The TTP after Baitullah - Rahimullah Yusufzai [this is an excellent summation of the situation in FATA and the fact that it comes from a man accepted in the Pathan areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan as the Voice of BBC Pushto, makes it more insightful and credible than anything any where presently - FK]