Neeti Tandon

Climate Policy and sustainable action. Industrial Decarbonisation at Shell. Views are personal

[Asra Nomani @AsraNomani]

“Bahawalpur.”

I still have chills in my heart from when I first heard that town’s name in late January 2002. For the 23 years since, I have reported on how Pakistani intelligence and military leaders have used that city — Bahawalpur — in the southern province of Punjab as a base for its homegrown domestic terrorists.

When I heard India bombed training camps in Pakistan this week in Operation Sindoor, in response to a Pakistani terrorist rampage in India’s Kashmir state, I had one city’s name on my lips: Bahawalpur.

Did India bomb Bahawalpur?

It did. I knew then India was striking actual hubs for Pakistan’s homegrown domestic terrorism.

Why do I know?

My friend, WSJ reporter Danny Pearl, went to Bahawalpur in December 2001 with a notebook and a pen. Gen. Pervez Musharraf had just promised he was shutting down Pakistan’s militant groups after a strike by Pakistan’s terrorists against the Parliament in India, and Danny reported on the militant offices in Bahawalpur.

He literally knocked on their doors. Dear Dr. @yudapearl, this story is a window into Danny’s reporting enterprise. And because people will wonder: Danny was no cowboy. This was a calculated low-risk reporting trip because no journalist had been targeted for kidnapping in Pakistan. Around that time, Danny sent me an email: “I’m anxious to go to Afghanistan, but I’m not anxious to die.”

What did Danny learn?

The militant training camps were open for business in Bahawalpur.

On Jan. 23, 2002, Danny left a home I had rented in Karachi, Pakistan, for an interview.

I learned Danny’s fixer, Asif Farooqi, had arranged an interview for Danny through a man named “Arif.” Danny didn’t know it but Arif was the PR man for a militant group, Harkutul Mujahadeen. What was Arif’s hometown? Bahawalpur.

The police launched a manhunt to find Arif in Bahawalpur. We learned Arif’s family faked a funeral for Arif. Police found him trying to board a bus in Muzaffarabad, across the country by Pakistan’s border with Kashmir.

It is another town India said it bombed terrorist training facilities.

Arif had handed Danny off to Omar Sheikh,a British-Pakistani dropout from the London School of Economics, radicalized in the 1990s in London mosques. He went to Pakistan to train in these militant training camps. Then he kidnapped tourists in India. He was caught and jailed but on Dec. 31, 1999, he was traded for hostages in the hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814.

Omar Sheikh was freed with Pakistani terrorist leader Masood Azhar, whose family was allegedly killed this week by India’s air strike in Bahawalpur.

Did Pakistan jail Omar Sheikh and Masood Azhar when they returned to Pakistan with a third terrorist, freed from India’s jails?

No. Pakistan’s military and intelligence gave them safe passage. They used them as weapons against India. But in fact these domestic terrorists have waged war against innocents in Pakistan, like civil society activists, Benazir Bhutto, Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, schoolchildren and countless others.

Their extremism has ruined Pakistan, and Pakistanis can’t blame America for creating the mujahideen to fight the Soviets in the 1980s.

Pakistan has had a duty to dismantle those terrorist bases — for even the safety of its own people. What India is doing is a strategic attack on terrorist bases Pakistani military and intelligence should have eliminated but never did in their obsession to take over Kashmir.

You will see parallels in the propaganda messages against India and Israel. Like Hamas, Pakistani terrorists crossed a border to kill. Now, Pakistani propagandists call themselves victims of their “fascist” “colonizer” neighbor.

It’s the Reverse Uno strategy of moral inversion, just like @stoolpresidente got from the Temple student who won’t take responsibility for promoting the “HATE THE JEWS” sign. Don’t fall for it. Nations, communities and people must own up to their extremism, from Bahawalpur to beyond.

[Neeti Tandon @neetitandon]

My heart bleeds at such mindless disruptive behaviour. Protests have their place, but finding solutions to problems is more important than any sloganeering. While, we work to find and invest in credible solutions, I really struggle to see value-add solutions frm these grps

[Tom Wilson @thomas_m_wilson]

Wild scenes at the Shell AGM. We’re 70 mins in and chair Mackenzie still hasn’t been able to get through introductory remarks. At one point two protestors appeared to try to storm the stage, prompting the Shell security team to briefly form a human shield around the Shell board

[Neeti Tandon @neetitandon]

@mansukhmandviya How is Singapore "High risk" this is so ignorant on part of Indian government!

[Javed Akhtar @Javedakhtarjadu]

Those who raped a 5 month pregnant woman after killing 7 of her family including her 3 year old daughter were set free from the jail offered sweets and were garlanded . Don’t hide behind whatabouts . Think !! Some thing is seriously going wrong with our society .

[Neeti Tandon @neetitandon]

"हम रहे या ना रहे याद आएंगे यह पल.." shocking news of KK's passing. Golden words he sang just prior couldnt be more true.. RIP KK https://t.co/Wfq8jtEJ9e

[ANI @ANI]

#WATCH | Singer KK died hours after a concert in Kolkata on May 31st. The auditorium shares visuals of the event held some hours ago. KK was known for songs like 'Pal' and 'Yaaron'. He was brought dead to the CMRI, the hospital told.

Video source: Najrul Manch FB page

[Neeti Tandon @neetitandon]

Wow! Just a year back $20 seemed unlikely and unviable

[RepuTex Energy @RepuTexEnergy]

Forward prices for ACCUs are trading at $60/t for delivery in 2024, up 20% over the past month.

https://t.co/coEm644hV8

[RepuTex Energy @RepuTexEnergy]

Forward prices for ACCUs are trading at $60/t for delivery in 2024, up 20% over the past month.

https://t.co/coEm644hV8

[Neeti Tandon @neetitandon]

Thought provoking, but not very surprising… unfortunately

[Jocelyn Timperley @jloistf]

This graph says a lot.

(From @UNFCCC about speaking times at the Bonn climate talks in May/June 2021)

https://t.co/SL7K9r2lkM

[Jocelyn Timperley @jloistf]

This graph says a lot.

(From @UNFCCC about speaking times at the Bonn climate talks in May/June 2021)

https://t.co/SL7K9r2lkM

[Yan Qin @YanQinyq]

China's domestic offset market (CCER) received a boost as the environment ministry recently clarified further procedure of using CCER for compliance in national ETS.

Check our analysis in #Eikon for details about CCER price, supply and demand outlook #OCTT

[Neeti Tandon @neetitandon]

@CNN are you serious!!!

[Sandipan Deb @sandipanthedeb]

In my 31 years in journalism, this is the sickest story I've ever seen.

[Neeti Tandon @neetitandon]

@IKEAIndia @shivani_mi Please don’t expand when you can’t serve properly even where you are!

[Neeti Tandon @neetitandon]

@IKEAIndia @IKEA Your launches with fanfare in India mean so little when basic delivery services are so terrible. Its been a month since my order and the ordeal of delays, reschedule and chasing continues. Your delivery partners are the worst! Can you pls help resolve

[Reuters @Reuters]

Breakingviews - UK trucker shortage tows inflation in its wake https://t.co/0XJtpJ1iwI

[Neeti Tandon @neetitandon]

Wow!

[Yan Qin @YanQinyq]

€59.95
new record high #EUETS price
🚀 🚀 🚀

[COP26 @COP26]

The power sector accounts for a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions.

To meet the #ParisAgreement goals, we need to move away from coal and towards clean power about five times faster than at present.

#COP26 | #ClimateAction

[Yan Qin @YanQinyq]

🇨🇳 China State Administration for Market Regulation has established Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutral work leading group:

'Support the carbon goals via Measurements, Standards, Accreditation, Price regulation and competitiveness etc.'

https://t.co/SJhdgzmlpL

[Neeti Tandon @neetitandon]

@bahardutt It’s a very unhealthy ingredient and environmentally a nightmare. Production should be reduced as should consumption. We don’t really need so much palm oil in our diets!

[Neeti Tandon @neetitandon]

My heart bleeds for Afghanistan. No one should have to go through this :(

[Charles Lister @Charles_Lister]

This plane took off from #Kabul this morning reportedly carrying more than x5 the number of people it’s designed to — some of those left behind tied themselves to the rear & fell off after takeoff.

I have no words. #Afghanistan