Civil War is being Incited in Pakistan - a new murderous phase begins

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US drone strike kills 27 in Pakistan

Xinhua
http://www.uruknet.info/index.php?p=m59297&hd=&size=1&l=e

                       

                        Death toll in NW Pakistan drone strike reaches 27

ISLAMABAD, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- The death toll in suspected United States drone attack at a compound in Pakistan's Bajaur tribal agency has reached 27, local TV channel reported Saturday.

A U.S. drone aircraft Saturday fired missiles at a suspected hideout of the Taliban-linked militants in northwest Pakistan's tribal area, leaving 27 persons dead and several others injured, the private channel ARY News reported.

The compound was located near the house of Taliban deputy chief Moulvi Faqeer Muhammad.

Official sources said several foreigners were among those killed. They said that the drone fired two missiles at a bunker at Damadola area.

Nephew and son-in-law of Maulvi Faqir Muhammad were also killed in the attack, officials said. Maulvi Faqir had left the place 10 minutes before the strike, they said.

They said that the militants were holding a meeting in the bunker when the missiles hit the hideout. According to officials some important militants personalities were in the bunker and the killed persons' identity could be proved later.

Damadola and its adjoining areas are considered as the stronghold of Taliban. The area is located near Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province.

The U.S. has intensified drone attacks on Pakistani tribal regions despite Pakistan's protest in recent months. Pakistani officials said that the drone strikes have killed more than 400 people in about 50 attacks since Aug. 2008.





 

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Saturday, October 24, 2009
22:15 Mecca time, 19:15 GMT 
http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/10/2009102417154067128.html
 
Focus  
 
Anger on campus in Islamabad 
 
 By Alan Fisher in Islamabad
 


All educational institutions across Pakistan were closed [EPA] 



I went to the Islamic university in Islamabad on Tuesday after news of the double bombing there broke.

I did my job, I reported the scene and I spoke to witnesses. It was a bloody and murderous attack.

But as we were preparing to leave, something happened which has had me thinking for the past few days.

A young man, dressed in black, approached, extended his hand and gave the customary greeting "Assalamu alaikum".  I returned his welcome and shook his hand.  But in an instant his mood changed and he started blaming me and "my people" for the bombing.

Those around tried to calm him down, but he was loud and insistent. He thought I was an American. I was dressed in a black jacket, blue shirt and chinos. It was, for want of a better phrase, a very American "preppy" look.

The man, I know his name but I won't give it here, believed that Pakistan's problems, the difficulties it was experiencing, could be laid at the door of outside influences.

He said: "This is all your fault, all your bloody fault." pointing his finger at me angrily.

"You Americans, you are sitting there, you are doing this."

Ugly scene



The situation was about to get ugly and those around him and me tried to calm him down. Someone told him I was Scottish, that guests should not be treated like this, and I was there to tell his story. On a busy campus where a bomb had just exploded, I was a different face and he needed to express his anger.

I'm told American correspondents don't travel to certain stories because they know they will be singled out. It's dangerous. They would be putting their safety at risk.

We felt the man had a point and we wanted him to tell us how he felt.


"First of all the biggest thing is that all the security forces have already failed" , Pakistani student
 

He pointed out Pakistan was a government run by another government, doing the bidding, leaving the people with no voice and no influence.

He was angry with me, and angry with America.

 "Yes I’m angry at the government too. Everyone is angry. I'm not alone."

In those emotion-filled minutes after the blast, he wanted someone to blame.

He needed someone to explain why a university, which specialised in teaching Islam and the Quran, had become a target in an undeclared war between the Pakistani establishment and the Taliban.

"First of all the biggest thing is that all the security forces have already failed," he said.

"The terrorists that came to destroy a peaceful place of learning bribed their way through. This is a failure of policy that they couldn't stop them. They crossed all the checkpoints where good people are stopped and terrorists bribe their way through. That's why people are angry."

And in this brief snapshot, there is a warning. That for some in Pakistan, a Western face is the face of the enemy. That the policies of governments past and present cannot be separated from an individual, the guilt is collective.

There are those who argued with the man, but the arguments of reason faded out and all that was left was the angry voice of someone who felt betrayed, abandoned and ignored.
 
 
 Source: Al Jazeera 
 
 
 
 
 

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Pakistan must review its partnership with the US war on terror
which has already turned into a war of terror for Pakistan

By Javed I. Chaudry
http://www.uruknet.info/index.php?p=m59309&hd=&size=1&l=e

                                       


An internally displaced Pakistani family flee the military offensive against Taliban militants in South Waziristan.



Countercurrents.org, October 24, 2009

Pakistan Can Help Obama To Earn His Nobel Peace Prize


It is highly unlikely that Obama can deliver peace for which he won the Nobel prize merely on the basis of his oratories and the political rhetoric. But, Pakistan can help him achieve exactly that by distancing itself from the so called war on terror. By now it is clear that the world at large has no illusions about the American war on terror which is basically a metaphor for the American geo-political interests in the region to pave the way for its pipeline to tap into the future energy resources of the Central Asia.

It is an open secret that Pakistan was coerced into taking part in the American invasion of Afghanistan following the events of September 11, 2001. Gen. Musharraf had little choice but to comply or risk getting Pakistan bombed back to the stone age. That was then, when very little was known about American geo-political plans and the term 'war on terror’ had just been coined, the scope and boundaries of which are still not fully understood by many.

The last 8 years of war on terror has caused plenty of death and destruction in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA). The war has now been pushed into the interior of Pakistan proper. For the US and other NATO countries, this war is a business investment. For them, it is similar to speculative expenses of drilling oil wells, some bear fruit, and others don’t. But for Pakistan, the participation in the American war is a suicidal mission, the luxury which it cannot afford. Whatever the outcome of the Afghanistan invasion, the Americans and other NATO countries will eventually pick up the pieces and head home. But Pakistan’s socio-economic losses will be astronomical from which it will not be able recover for decades. During the next 5 years, Pakistan’s losses in term of its economy, social and industrial development will be many times more than 7.5 billion dollars it can expect to receive as the US aid after accepting the controversial Kerry-Lugar Bill.

It is not only the home grown insurgency from FATA region that is responsible for pushing the war into Pakistan. Based upon the information obtained from the captured insurgents and judging from their equipment it is obvious that they are getting a major support from NATO controlled Afghanistan as well as other powers possibly supporting a proxy war against Pakistan. Some of the insurgency can also be attributed to the radical elements advancing the ideology created with the help of American and Saudi money used with logistics provided by Pakistan during the 1980s to fight against the Soviets. From the stand point of the ideology of fighting against the invaders, the insurgents of the AfPak region are only doing what they were trained to do; they are fighting against the invaders and their allies. Pakistan being an ally now has to bear the brunt along with the US, the invader.

Can the American invasion of Afghanistan deliver any benefits to Pakistan? Considering all the issues involved, the answer will have to be a resounding, No. Under the circumstance, the only logical path to take for Pakistan is to distance itself from the American war on terror. The war is not about fighting terror, it is all about creating it. Pakistan, at a minimum, must withdraw itself from being an active participant in this American geo-political endeavor. After getting off the war on terror bandwagon, sending troops to FATA could become redundant.

The benefits of attacking Wazirestan, if any, will only be short lived. For the long run it will create ethnic divide within the country that may be hurtful for years to come. Pakistan can ill afford this exercise notwithstanding that there is already ethnic strife in Blochistan at the behest of several outside powers. The Balochistan problem is another important chapter of the political and economic aspirations of some foreign powers for the region. Pakistan does not have resources to fight on so many fronts while many of the enemies are engaged in covert operations to cause slow but a steady destabilization.

There are strong indications that the NATO forces will eventually face same humiliation as did the Soviets. Pakistan’s participation in the war is only prolonging the misery for all involved, the Afghans, the NATO forces and the safety and security of Pakistan itself. If, by some remote chance, the Americans ever manage to gain full control of Afghanistan (as they have full control over Iraq), then it would be quite logical to assume that the US will certainly like to have permanent control over Pakistan’s south west region, Blochistan, to have a permanent and independent corridor for easy access to Afghanistan. This factor should be taken into advisement by Pakistan as a natural and logical corollary of any such eventuality.

It is high time for the authorities of Pakistan to review its policy of partnership with the US war on terror which has already turned into a war of terror for Pakistan. Pakistan’s correct decision at this juncture will become a major mile stone for its own political and economic independence. Pakistan can stop the war almost overnight, providing Obama with an opportunity to earn his Nobel peace prize. Without the use of Pakistan’s territory, the American war will come to a screeching halt. The right decision will also provide an enhancement and strength to Pakistan’s fledgling democracy which has so far, only demonstrated its inaptness and incompetence. The time has come for Pakistan to show political and diplomatic maturity, independence, initiative and courage by doing the right thing by saying 'No’ to the American war on terror and save itself from undue war of terror. It is time for Pakistan to stand up and be counted as a self respecting nation.



 

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Balochistan Education minister shot down
 Updated at: 1748 PST,  Sunday, October 25, 2009
http://www.geo.tv/10-25-2009/51681.htm

QUETTA: Balochistan Education Minister Shafiq Ahmed has been shot down in Quetta in an incident of drive-by shooting in front of his house, Geo News reported Sunday.

According to police sources, the incident occurred near his residence. He along with his father-in-law was getting down from his car to enter his house, when he was shot down. The masked miscreants were riding motorbike and they attacked while driving by.

The father in law of the minister Hidaytullah Jafar is also critically injured in the incident; he has been shifted to the hospital.

Soon afterwards, a large number of people gather at his residence. The deceased belonged to Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).

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President, PM condemn killing of Balochistan Minister
 Updated at: 2000 PST,  Sunday, October 25, 2009
http://www.geo.tv/10-25-2009/51691.htm

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani have strongly condemned the assassination of Balochistan Minister for Education, Shafiq Ahmed.

The Provincial Minister for Education, Shafiq Ahmad was shot dead in an attack in Quetta on Sunday.

The President and Prime Minister in their separate messages expressed their shock and grief over the killing of Shafiq Ahmad, who belonged to Pakistan Peoples Party.

The President and the Prime Minister have also ordered immediate enquiry into the incident and arrest of the culprits.

 

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Nineteen days of bloodshed in Pakistan
Friday, 23 Oct, 2009


Pakistani security officials are reflected on the bullet-riddled windshield
of a private car near the site where a military jeep was attacked by gunmen in
Islamabad, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009. – AP

ISLAMABAD: A wave of suicide bombings, coordinated grenade, bomb and gun assaults, and drive-by shootings blamed on militants has left more than 190 people dead in Pakistan so far this month.

Here is a timeline of attacks in the past 19 days:

October 23: A suicide attack kills six people near a Pakistan air force base in Kamra, about 60 kilometres west of Islamabad.

October 22: Gunmen kill a Pakistani brigadier on leave from a UN peacekeeping mission and his driver in Islamabad.

October 20: Twin suicide blasts tear through Islamabad's International Islamic University, killing five people as well as the bombers.

October 16: A suicide car bomb rips through a police investigation bureau killing 11 people and wounding 13 others in the northwest city of Peshawar.

October 15: Gunmen armed with suicide vests and grenades attack three police buildings in the eastern city of Lahore and bomb a northwest station, killing 39 people. A car bomb at a government residence in Peshawar kills a child.

October 12: A suicide bomber rips through a market as a paramilitary convoy passes in Shangla, a district neighbouring the northwest Swat valley and the target of a recent anti-Taliban offensive. About 45 people, mainly civilians, are killed. Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claims responsibility.

October 10/11: Ten militants besiege army headquarters in the garrison town Rawalpindi, with 23 people killed and 39 hostages freed. The dead included 11 troops, three hostages and nine attackers. TTP claims responsibility.

October 9: A suicide car bomber kills 52 civilians and wounds more than 100 in a crowded market in northwest city Peshawar. It is the sixth attack in four months in the city, near the tribal belt on the Afghan border where tens of thousands have fled a feared offensive against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

October 5: Five UN World Food Programme workers are killed when a suicide bomber walks into their office in Islamabad and blows himself up, dressed in military uniform. The TTP claims responsibility for the attack.

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UPDATED ON:
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
14:54 Mecca time, 11:54 GMT
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/10/200910279252871262.html
   
News CENTRAL/S. ASIA  
 
Pakistan's Taliban offensive rages 
 

Up to 30,000 Pakistani troops have been battling Taliban fighters in South Waziristan for the last nine days.

The army said it is making progress, claiming a major victory on Saturday with the capture of Kotkai, the hometown of Hakimullah Mehsud, the Taliban leader. 

But many of the 6,000 people who live in Kotkai have been left picking through the rubble that was once their home, long after the Taliban fighters have fled.

Al Jazeera's Imran Khan has this exclusive report from the Pakistani capital of Islamabad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQaCAkyFveI&feature=player_embedded
 
 
 Source: Al Jazeera 
 
 

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Powerful car bomb kills at least 70 in Peshawar market

STORY HIGHLIGHTS:

-NEW: Explosion hits bustling marketplace in Peshawar killing at least 70 people

-Blast injures 150 people, according to hospital staff

-Incident comes as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visits Islamabad

Visit Page for VIDEO

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- A powerful car bomb ripped through a bustling marketplace in Peshawar, killing at least 70 people on Wednesday, a government official said.

The blast at the Meena Bazaar injured 150 others, according to Sahibzada Anis Khan, Peshawar's district coordination officer. The market is a labyrinth of shops popular with women in the Peepal Mandi section of the city.

The attack is the deadliest ever carried out in Peshawar and is among the country's deadliest.

A suicide car bombing on October 9 in Khyber Bazaar, a commercial hub in Peshawar, killed at least 49 people and injured 135 others.

Peshawar is the capital of the North West Frontier Province, where the Pakistan army has been engaged in an intense military offensive to rout militants who have launched attacks in the country and in neighboring Afghanistan.

Despite the offensive, militants have continued to strike with relative impunity in Pakistan, raising concerns about the ability of the government forces to maintain control.

U.S. President Barack Obama signed legislation this month providing an additional $7.5 billion in assistance to Pakistan over the next five years. The White House is working on a comprehensive review of U.S. strategy in Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan.

Peshawar is 103 miles (167 km) from the capital, Islamabad, where U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was visiting Wednesday. It sits on the main supply route into Afghanistan and is the gateway to Pakistan's ungoverned tribal regions.

Journalists Nazar al Islam and Nasir Habib and CNN's Samson Desta and Reza Sayah contributed to this report.
 

 
 
 
Links referenced within this article

Pakistan
http://topics.edition.cnn.com/topics/Pakistan
Hillary Clinton
http://topics.edition.cnn.com/topics/Hillary_Clinton
Taliban Movement of Pakistan
http://topics.edition.cnn.com/topics/Taliban_Movement_of_Pakistan
Pakistan
http://topics.edition.cnn.com/topics/pakistan
Obama
http://topics.edition.cnn.com/topics/barack_obama
Afghanistan
http://topics.edition.cnn.com/topics/afghanistan

 

 
Find this article at:
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/10/28/pakistan.blast/index.html 

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Wednesday, October 28, 2009
12:08 Mecca time, 09:08 GMT 
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/10/200910282279733806.html
 
News CENTRAL/S. ASIA  
 
Clinton in Pakistan for talks  

 
Clinton is expected to discuss rising anti-US sentiment in Pakistan [File: EPA] 


Hillary Clinton is in Pakistan on her first visit since becoming US secretary of state.

She will meet senior officials on Wednesday as part of a three-day visit accompanied by Richard Holbrooke, the US special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Clinton's trip comes as the Pakistani military is involved in a nearly two-week long battle against members of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in the semi-autonomous tribal region of South Waziristan.

A number of issues will be discussed, including US drone strikes inside Pakistani territory, and an aid package that would give the country $7.5bn of US aid each year.

Last week, John Kerry, a US Democratic senator, held talks in the capital, Islamabad, in an attempt to counter protests over the aid package some officials said would “violate the country’s sovereignty".

Although the government defended the package, the military establishment expressed concerns about conditions that hinge some aid on efforts to battle suspected Taliban fighters.

The bill prevents the funding from being used for nuclear proliferation, to support fighters or to attack neighbouring countries, and calls for a cancellation of aid if efforts to crack down on pro-Taliban groups fail.

Anti-US sentiment

According to diplomatic sources, Clinton’s trip to Pakistan, billed by the Obama administration as one of her most important trips after assuming office, will concentrate on determining the causes of growing anti-Americanism in the country.

The government’s approval ratings are low, and analysts believe this is attributed to its relationship with the US.


In depth :

Pakistan offensive 'kills dozens' :
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/10/20091027131742627148.html
 
More than 125,000 people have been registered as displaced by the Pakistan military's offensive in South Waziristan since October 13, UN officials have said.

Independent verification is all but impossible because the military has blocked access for journalists and humanitarian workers.

Since the assault began, the military claims to have killed at least 231 fighters, and lost 29 soldiers.

It has given no figures for civilian casualties, but those fleeing say many people caught in the middle were killed.

'Summary executions'

US military handling of the conflict in the region has also come under scrutiny, prompting the United Nations to call on it to demonstrate it is not randomly killing people during its pilotless drone attacks inside Pakistan.


The UN says more than 125,000 people have been displaced by the fighting [Reuters]

The US does not officially confirm or deny that they happen.

Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions, told a news conference in New York on Tuesday that drone strikes against suspected fighters in Afghanistan and Pakistan could be breaking international laws against summary executions.

"The problem with the United States is that it is making an increased use of drones/Predators [which are] particularly prominently used now in relation to Pakistan and Afghanistan," Alston said.

International law 'violated'

"My concern is that drones/Predators are being operated in a framework which may well violate international humanitarian law and international human rights law."

US strikes with remote-controlled aircraft against suspected al-Qaeda and Taliban targets in Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan have often resulted in civilian deaths and drawn criticism from local populations.

"The onus is really on the United States government to reveal more about the ways in which it makes sure that arbitrary extrajudicial executions aren't in fact being carried out through the use of these weapons," Alston added.

He also urged the US to be more transparent about how and when it uses drone aircraft.

"We need the United States to be more up front and say, 'OK, we're willing to discuss some aspects of this programme,' otherwise you have the really problematic bottom line that the CIA is running a programme that is killing significant numbers of people and there is absolutely no accountability in terms of the relevant international
laws," Alston said.

Since August 2008, around 70 strikes by unmanned aircraft have killed at least 600 people in northwestern Pakistan.
 
 Source: Al Jazeera and agencies 
 
 
 
 
 

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Pakistani army offensive devastates tribal communities

By James Cogan

http://www.uruknet.info/index.php?p=m59457&hd=&size=1&l=e

WSWS, October 28, 2009

The ongoing Pakistani military offensive into the tribal agency of South Waziristan is having a devastating impact on the entire civilian population. Villages and towns are literally being bombed into rubble and tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee for their lives.

The long-expected offensive began on October 18 and was preceded by months of air and ground bombardments and an economic blockade. The assault is ostensibly aimed at destroying Tehrik-i-Taliban, a Pakistani Islamist organisation based among local Pashtun tribes that supports the insurgency over the border in Afghanistan against the US-led occupation. As many as 10,000 to 15,000 Islamist and tribal fighters are believed to be in South Waziristan, including several thousand Uzbek militants who had been fighting alongside the Afghan Taliban before the 2001 US invasion.

A map showing the main towns in the agency and the general thrust of Pakistani military movements is available on the BBC web site. (Click here to view the map) The region is part of the Hindu Kush mountain range and the terrain is particularly rugged.

At least 30,000 regular army troops, drawn from two divisions, are converging on the towns of Ladha and Makeen from three directions. As they advance with tanks and armoured vehicles along the main roads, they are fighting heavy battles with militants in a succession of towns, villages and mountain passes. The weather conditions are beginning to worsen as winter sets in. Temperatures will fall to -20° Celsius (-4° Fahrenheit) within a matter of weeks.

The main success claimed by the military thus far is the capture over the weekend of Kotkai, a village in the south-east of the agency that is the birthplace of Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud. Heavy fighting raged around the village for close to a week.

Kotkai has effectively been razed to the ground. Exclusive, albeit brief, video footage of the village was acquired and broadcast by Al Jazeera, showing bombed-out houses and a massive crater where a school once stood. Correspondent Imran Khan commented: "All the villagers can do is stand in the rubble of what was once home." Footage from a hospital in the town of Wana shows young children from the area being treated for serious wounds. (Click here to view the broadcast)

The military justified the destruction of the village by claiming that the "majority of houses had been converted into strong bunkers". It provided no evidence.

Troops have reportedly pushed at least three kilometres forward from Kotkai and taken a strategic high point where the Taliban allegedly had a series of fortified positions. The next objective in the south-east is an assault on the town of Sararogha. In the south-west, fighting is taking place along the road to the towns of Shakai and Kaniguram, which the military intends to seize before attacking the Taliban strongholds in Ladha and Makeen.

The Pakistani air force is using American-upgraded F-16s and helicopter gunships to conduct a continuous campaign of indiscriminate aerial assaults, particularly on the two main towns.

Desperate civilians are pouring out of Taliban-held areas for the safety of food distribution points in government-controlled centres such as Wana, Dera Ismail Khan and Tank. A UN refugee agency spokeswoman, Arianne Rummery, told Al Jazeera that over 125,000 people had registered as being displaced since October 13. "They join the other 80,500 people who were previously registered," she said. "So this means the total registered caseload in terms of families is 28,242, which is around 206,000 people." The total population of South Waziristan is estimated at around 500,000.

A 22-year-old student who escaped from Ladha told the Guardian: "It’s a very bad situation. At home, every second house has been destroyed yet the government doesn’t want to help us. If they can drop bombs, then they can drop food." Another man from a village near Makeen said his home had been completely destroyed by bombing. His extended family of 40 had crammed into a pick-up and drove throughout the night without lights to avoid being attacked by the military.

A farmer who fled from his village told the Associated Press: "Years ago, the army suddenly started an operation and we all had to leave our area in the clothes we were wearing. When we returned our homes were either bombed, bulldozed or torched. Our animals were missing. Now imagine, if they come with more might, what they will do with our area."

The military claims that it has killed at least 250 Taliban and lost 31 troops. It also claims that large numbers of militants are deserting their positions, shaving their beards and seeking to pass themselves off as displaced persons. None of these assertions can be verified as all media has been banned from the war zone by the Pakistani government and the Taliban. There is no credible estimate of civilian casualties.

The South Waziristan offensive is a mercenary operation on Washington’s orders. The Pakistani government has agreed to slaughter its own citizens in order to gain US financial grants and ongoing military aid. The hope in the White House and the Pentagon is that crushing the Islamist movement in Pakistan will undermine the ability of the Afghan Taliban to sustain its eight-year insurgency against the US-led occupation.

The close US oversight of the operation has been underscored by a succession of visits by top Obama administration officials and high-ranking US military commanders to Islamabad. The latest is by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Obama’s special envoy to Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, who arrive today for three days of talks with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and armed forces chief General Parvez Kayani.

Holbrooke stated last Friday that one of the visit’s purposes was to ensure that the Pakistani leadership were serious about "destroying" the Taliban, rather than simply "dispersing" the militants. An unnamed US military official complained to the New York Times that Pakistan did not seem willing to "finish the task" by permanently occupying South Waziristan.

The fear in US strategic circles is that thousands of Taliban fighters will go to ground or and simply retake control of the agency once the Pakistani military pulls out. Many could escape by crossing into Afghanistan via North Waziristan, which is not being subjected to military attack. The northern agency is believed to be the stronghold of the Afghan insurgent Haqqani network—a movement led by former commanders of the CIA-financed and equipped mujahhadin who fought the Soviet occupation in the 1980s.

Significant sections of the Pakistani ruling elite, particularly within the military, are growing increasingly hostile to the constant US pressure for total war against the Islamists. In order to meet Washington’s demands, virtually the entire military resources of the Pakistani state would have to be dedicated to combating the militants at the expense of other goals, including curbing Indian influence in the region.

Sameer Lalwani, an analyst for the New America Foundation, wrote in September that Pakistan would need to deploy as many as 370,000 to 430,000 troops to permanently suppress Taliban activity in the tribal agencies and areas of North West Frontier Province (NWFP). He estimated it would take two to five years to assemble the necessary force and would require the redeployment of 150,000 combat troops currently stationed on the Indian border, as well as massive and ongoing US logistical and financial assistance.

Lalwani’s report noted that "as the US role expands and becomes more visible, Pakistan likely would face a stiff public backlash, a steep decline in the morale of its regular and irregular forces, and a more cohesive insurgency". He also observed that any attempt to lessen the social inequality and oppression that help fuel the Islamist rebellion would require reforms that "undermine the power of the country’s existing elites and land-owning classes, which dominate the political scene".

Ashfaq Khan, a leading academic in Islamabad, told the New York Times: "There is a general perception in the educated class that Pakistan is paying a very heavy price for fighting alongside the United States." Dependent on American financial, political and military aid, the government has little choice but to bow to US demands to intensify the war.

Having created disasters in Iraq and Afghanistan, Washington is responsible for the deepening quagmire now unfolding in Pakistan.





 

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Thursday, October 29, 2009
12:30 Mecca time, 09:30 GMT 
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/10/2009102924715563295.html
 
News CENTRAL/S. ASIA  
 
Pakistan mourns bomb victims  
 

Many of the dead were women and children killed as they shopped for groceries in the busy market [EPA]


 
The first funerals have been held for some of the 105 victims of a massive car bomb attack that tore through a crowded market in the Pakistani city of Peshawar.

The attack on Wednesday brought down buildings, caused a large fire and left doctors appealing for blood donations to treat the more than 200 wounded.

Rescuers said many people were trapped under collapsed shops and buildings in the Mina Bazaar area of Peshawar's old town, a warren of narrow alleys.

Pakistani government officials have said the attack was in revenge for the army's offensive against Taliban fighters in South Waziristan, but that said the military campaign would go on.

Taliban denial

Both the Taliban and al-Qaeda have rejected claims regarding their involvement in the attack.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), in a statement sent to the media, condemned the deadly blast and denied involvement in the explosion that rocked Peshawar's Meena Bazaar area on Wednesday.

Al-Qaeda, in its statement, said it does not kill innocent people.

The statement said that the terror strike was the handiwork of those people who wants to "defame jihad and refugees".

It warned that it would continue its struggle against the US and its allies across the world.

'Losing war'


"The Taliban are losing the war, losing history", Wajid Shamsul Hasan, Pakistan's high commissioner to the UK
 

"The Taliban are losing the war, losing history. And while doing that they will kill as many as they would like to," Pakistan's high commissioner to the UK, Wajid Shamsul Hasan, told Al Jazeera.

"But I can tell you, as our foreign minister said, we'll not buckle down. We fight them and we'll destroy them."

Many of the victims were women and children, packed into the busy market to buy daily groceries.


FROM THE BLOGS
The Americans are coming
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/asia/2009/10/28/americans-are-coming
By Imran Khan in The Asia Blog 
 
The attack came as Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, touched down in Islamabad for talks with government officials.

Speaking in the Pakistani capital she expressed her support for the military's offensive against the Taliban and pledging continued US assistance.

"These extremists are committed to destroying that which is dear to us, as much as they are committed to destroying that which is dear to you, and to all people," Clinton said.

"So this is our struggle as well, and we commend the Pakistani military for their courageous fight, and we commit to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Pakistani people in your fight for peace and security."

The Peshawar blast was the deadliest attack in Pakistan in two years.


Women in the Pakistani city of Hyderabad protest aginst the latest violence [EPA]

"There was a deafening sound and I was like a blind man for a few minutes," witness Mohammad Usman, who was wounded in the shoulder, told the Associated Press.

"I heard women and children crying and started to help others. There was the smell of human flesh in the air."

Omar Waraich, a journalist with The Independent newspaper, told Al Jazeera: "The blast will create a great deal of despair, certain panic.

"This is not the first time such a marketplace has been hit. What you're seeing is a gradual escalation.
 
"The question many people will be asking is, 'what is the government doing to protect these people and thwart these attacks before they're even mounted?"

'Outrage'

Imran Khan, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Islamabad, said officials had told him that a car drove into a narrow and packed market place before exploding.


October attacks in Pakistan
 Oct 28: Blast rocks a women's market in Peshawar, killing at least 80.
 Oct 23: A suicide bomber kills seven people close to an  air force complex in northwestern Pakistan.
 Oct 22: Gunmen shoot and kill a senior army officer and a soldier in Islamabad.
 Oct 20: Two suicide bombers attack the International Islamic University in Islamabad, killing six people.
 Oct 16: Three suicide attackers hit a police station in Peshawar, killing 13.
 Oct 15: Teams of gunmen attack three security facilities in the eastern city of Lahore, leaving at least 28 people dead, while car bombs kill 11 people in northwestern Kohat district and a 6-year-old boy in Peshawar.
 Oct 12: A suicide car bomb explodes near a market in the northwestern Shangla district, killing 41.
 Oct 10: A raid on the army headquarters in Rawalpindi leads to a 22-hour standoff that leaves nine rebels and 14 others dead.
 Oct 9: A suicide car bomb in Peshawar kills 53 people.

"The bomb disposal squad are at the location and are looking for clues as to what type of explosive was used," he said.

Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, condemned the "appalling bomb attack".

"I want to express my outrage at the loss of so many innocent lives," he told a news conference in New York.

The blast comes as Pakistan's military is fighting members of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in the country's semi-autonomous tribal region of South Waziristan.

The military launched its offensive nearly two weeks ago, pitting about 30,000 Pakistani troops against an estimated 10 to 12,000 Taliban fighters in South Waziristan.

Tariq Azeem Khan, a Pakistani senator and a former minister of state for information, told Al Jazeera that the attack showed the Taliban were becoming "reckless" in their choice of targets.

"When they cannot get to the main targets because they are well guarded, they are doing these explosions all over the place - in the main shopping centres without any pre-determined targets.

"There's very little the government can do to try to protect every single shopping mall. It's a difficult task, but they are doing their best. Pakistan is paying a very high price at the moment.

Waziristan offensive

Since the South Waziristan assault began, the military says it has killed at least 231 fighters, and lost 29 soldiers.

However, independent figures are impossible to come by as journalists and aid agencies are barred from the conflict zone.

More than 125,000 people have been registered as displaced by Pakistan's offensive in South Waziristan since October 13, United Nations officials have said.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has said that humanitarian access to people in need remains the key challenge for agencies, given the volatile security environment in the displacement areas.

The military has given no figures for civilian casualties, but those fleeing say many people caught in the crossfire have been killed.
 
 Source: Al Jazeera and agencies 
 
 
 
 
 

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South Asia
Oct 30, 2009 
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KJ30Df04.html 
 
Strong messages in Pakistan

By Andrew F Tully

WASHINGTON - United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Pakistan to meet with government officials, civic leaders, businesspeople, and even leaders of the political opposition.

For security reasons, the State Department isn't giving details of Clinton's visit - not even a timetable, let alone the topics she's expected to discuss with Pakistan's civilian and military leaders.

The security concerns proved correct, as Clinton's arrival in the country coincided with a car bomb that tore through a market in the northwest Pakistani city of Peshawar early on October 28. At least 105 people were killed and more than 200 wounded.

Clinton was three hours' drive away in the capital, Islamabad, when the blast took place. In remarks carried live on Pakistani news channels, she said, "I want you to know that this fight is not Pakistan's alone. This is our struggle as well."

Clinton's first trip to the country as secretary of state comes as the Pakistan army is mounting a major offensive against al-Qaeda and Taliban militants from the mountainous northwestern region - a move that has been welcomed in Washington.

At the same time, however, anti-American sentiment is running high in Pakistan, and has been worsened by a new US$7.5 billion aid package, the Kerry-Lugar bill, that includes conditions that many Pakistanis believe intrude on their nation's sovereignty.

The country is torn between a dislike of the United States and a need for US assistance, according to Stephen Cohen, who studies South Asia at the Brookings Institution, a private policy research center in Washington.

"A lot of [Pakistanis] deeply resent the relationship with the United States, and resent what they regard as undue conditionality of the Kerry-Lugar [US aid bill]," Cohen said. "But many of the same people understand that Pakistan is in a desperate position and absolutely needs that Kerry-Lugar and military support we're providing."

He continued, "Nobody likes to be the recipient of aid from somebody else, but they don't have much of a choice. So I think that we may be making some dent in the pervasive anti-Americanism in Pakistan, but it's still going to take a long time before that begins to dissipate."

Uncoordinated policy?
Cohen says the problems Clinton will face are complicated by the fact that the special US envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, has yet to make significant progress on the ground in either country.

Some blame Holbrooke's strong personality, Cohen says, but he dismisses that conclusion because Holbrooke is merely trying to put forward a policy made by others. He says the real question is whether the US has too many centers of policy involved with Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Those include "Holbrooke himself. The secretary of state and the Department of State - I don't think they're the same thing. National Security Council staff, whatever it's doing," Cohen said. "The senate and the house have different views. The Department of Defense. You have many clusters of policy-making, [but] I'm not sure if there's much policy coordination in the system. And I don't know, actually, who performs that function on behalf of the president."

But Cohen stresses that it's still early in US President Barack Obama's administration, and he still has time to learn how to become what Cohen calls a "foreign policy president" who will make his own decisions, rather than hire intelligent people to make the decisions on his behalf.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has been doing better than anyone expected, according to Simon Serfaty, who studies global security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, another Washington think-tank.

Serfaty acknowledges that Zardari is, in his words, "president by accident". He ran for the presidency only after his wife, Benazir Bhutto, who twice served as prime minister, was assassinated in December 2007. He also concedes that Zardari is greatly dependent on US support. But Zardari also has taken action to drive Muslim militants from the country's tribal regions.

"The Pakistani president, in my view, is doing better than had been anticipated," Serfaty said. "He's still in control, he has succeeded in launching his army on a path of regaining the real estate that had been lost to the Taliban, which [former president Pervez] Musharraf, his predecessor, did not seem to be able to keep going."

Tall order for Clinton
So can Clinton work with Zardari to win the hearts and minds of the Pakistani people? Serfaty says no. He concedes she is much admired around the world, and can capitalize on this to a great extent. But he insists that hearts and minds cannot be won during this brief visit.

Instead, Clinton's primary job during her visit to Pakistan seems to be to reassure both its civilian and military leadership of the wisdom of joining the United States in fighting the extremists as part of the war in Afghanistan.

To Serfaty, that could be a very difficult job.

"The people we are asking to fight with us in Afghanistan, to fight with the US, to assume a bit of the burden of the war, are people who are also watching a major debate unfolding here in Washington as to whether this war is winnable," he said. General Stanley McChrystal, the general appointed to run the Afghan war, "just said that if we do not do more than we're doing now, we'll lose the war, and if we're doing more than we're doing now, maybe we will not lose it. Maybe," he added.

If Clinton succeeds in reassuring Pakistan's leaders, Serfaty says, they may in turn be able to win the support of their people for a strong fight against the militants.

Copyright (c) 2009, RFE/RL Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington DC 20036

(To view the original article, please click here.) 
 http://www.rferl.org/content/feature/1863300.html
 

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Peshawar blast death toll reaches 105

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 06:52:17 GMT
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=109858&sectionid=351020401

                               
 
The death toll from a car bomb in Pakistan's Peshawar has reached 105, a day after the blast struck a market in the country's most populous northwestern city.

On Wednesday afternoon, an explosive laden car ripped through the crowded market in Peshawar, a gateway to the country's lawless tribal areas.

"A total of 105 people have been killed. Seventy-one of them were identified. Thirteen are children and 27 were women," Doctor Zafar Iqbal told AFP at Peshawar's Lady Reading Hospital.

An intelligence official in Peshawar also confirmed the same death toll, AFP said.

At least 200 others were injured in the attack. Overnight, more bodies were recovered and some of the wounded died.

The heavy blast came just hours after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Pakistan's capital of Islamabad for talks over the so-called 'war on terror.'

Speaking to reporters after a Wednesday meeting with her Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Clinton pledged full US support of Pakistan's war against militants, saying this was in the interest of both countries.

A wave of militant attacks in Pakistani cities has killed nearly 300 people, so far, in October.

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Waziristan: A message and a last stand

By Imran Khan in  Asia on October 29th, 2009
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/asia/2009/10/29/waziristan-message-and-last-stand


Photo by AFP

The Pakistani army is portraying a confident image but the Taliban are, it would seem, preparing for a last stand in South Waziristan, one that may well take place in the hills of Makeen.

Standing high in the hills of South Waziristan, where I begin to write this blog from, I finally have a chance to see for myself what Pakistan's army is up against in its fight with the Pakistani Taliban.

The army has banned journalists from travelling to conflict zones in the country, instead offering press briefings and its own videos.

Today is no exception. This is a media event, and dressed in flak jackets and helmets we - both foreign and domestic press - are taken on a tour of key areas the army says are secure.

At each stop we are briefed by the local commander, take a few pictures, are shown key finds such as weapons, ammunition and identity documents, before being whisked away again.



For the army the trip is a great success, they get their message out - that the war is going their way. But beyond the armies message is another aspect.

For me at least, I experience South Waziristan for the first time. I had always heard it was a tough place, but as I climb a steep hill with a Pakistani army artillery position at the top of it, I get a sense of why Waziris have a reputation as being battle-hardened and fit fighters.

The best way to fight anyone here is to take control of ridges, peaks, hills and mountains. If you running up and down mountains all day, then you’re going to get fit; especially if you are carrying a rocket launcher.

By controlling high ground you are able to attack ground forces with height on your side. It also gives you the ability to deal with helicopter gunships more effectively.

The Pakistani Taliban have been here for years. They're firmly entrenched. Each position they hold is well hidden and highly armoured. The Pakistani army faces stiff resistance in capturing ground.

But a pattern has emerged - with each position captured, the Taliban fight hard but they also allow other Taliban fighters to move back to more secure areas.

And that's where the real fight is going to be. As I bounce around on dusty roads in a pick-up truck with a machine gun on top, I ask one of the soldiers if the fighting had been hard so far. His reply is telling.

"We have met stiff resistance, but most of the fighters we have either killed or they have run away. If they have run away, then taking the hills of Makeen will be tough because that's where they will be."

So the army portrays a confident image but the Taliban are, it would seem, preparing for a last stand. A last stand that may well take place in the hills of Makeen.

There is no doubt that knowing this terrain well is going to be in their advantage, but helicopter gunships and 3 divisions of the Pakistani army are also nothing to trifle with.

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Pakistan Bomb Toll Mounts to 118: Officials
 
 
30/10/2009 08:30:21 AM GMT   
 
 http://www.aljazeera.com/news/articles/34/Pakistan_Bomb_Toll_Mounts_to_118_Officials.html

 
The death toll from one of Pakistan's worst bomb attacks rose to 118 on Friday as more bodies were plucked from the debris of a devastated market in Peshawar, officials said. Local administration chief Sahibzada Anis put the death toll at 118. It includes 31 women and 24 children, Anis said, adding that seven more bodies had been recovered from the debris since late Thursday.
   
City police chief Liaquat Ali confirmed the toll, saying the body of a child was retrieved from the rubble in the Meena market on Friday and six other bodies late Thursday. Doctor Zafar Iqbal, registrar of the city's main Lady Reading Hospital, told AFP that six people who were critically wounded in Wednesday's attack had died.
   
"There are still 121 people receiving treatment in the hospital and 25 of them are in serious condition," he added. Doctor Iqbal Afridi said 10 bodies had not yet been identified. They were mutilated or charred beyond recognition after the blast triggered a huge fire and gutted shops in the market, known for its congested lanes, he said. The fire destroyed about half a dozen buildings and rescue teams are still working to remove the debris, three days after the carnage, witnesses said.
   
Rescuers have faced it hard to deploy heavy machinery because of the narrow streets around the market in the conservative Muslim city. Only two excavators and three tractors were engaged in clearing the area, dumping onto a waiting truck bricks, concrete slabs and twisted iron bars from the devastated buildings, rescuers said. The city's bomb disposal chief, Shafqat Malik, said a Suzuki van was rigged with more than 150 kilograms (330 pounds) of explosives.
¬
Source: AJP
 

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Friday, October 30, 2009
03:40 Mecca time, 00:40 GMT
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/10/2009103001915525868.html
   
News CENTRAL/S. ASIA 
 
On Pakistan's frontline               VIDEO
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3l85dCkXbw&feature=player_embedded

For two weeks, the Pakistani military has been waging a battle against Taliban fighters and their strongholds near the Afghan border.

Part of the offensive is taking place in Sherwangi in South Waziristan.

Al Jazeera's Imran Khan spent the day embedded with the Pakistani military and sent this report.
 
 
 Source: Al Jazeera 
 
 

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Clinton Faces Pakistani Anger at Drone Attacks

Audience member tells Clinton the strikes amount to "executions without trial" for those killed

AP
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/10/30/clinton-faces-pakistani-anger-drone-attacks/
Friday, October 30, 2009



ISLAMABAD -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton came face-to-face Friday with Pakistani anger over U.S. aerial drone attacks in tribal areas along the Afghan border, a strategy that U.S. officials say has succeeded in killing key terrorist leaders.

In a series of public appearances on the final day of a three-day visit marked by blunt talk, Clinton refused to discuss the subject, which involves highly classified CIA operations. She would say only that "there is a war going on," and the Obama administration is committed to helping Pakistan defeat the insurgents and terrorists who threaten the stability of a nuclear-armed nation.

Clinton said she could not comment on "any particular tactic or technology" used in the war against extremist groups in the area.

The use of Predator drone aircraft, armed with guided missiles, is credited by U.S. officials with eliminating a growing number of senior terrorist group leaders this year who had used the tribal lands of Pakistan as a haven beyond the reach of U.S. ground forces in Afghanistan.

During an interview broadcast live in Pakistan with several prominent female TV anchors, before a predominantly female audience of several hundred, one member of the audience said the Predator attacks amount to "executions without trial" for those killed.

Another asked Clinton how she would define terrorism.

"Is it the killing of people in drone attacks?" she asked. That woman then asked if Clinton considers drone attacks and bombings like the one that killed more than 100 civilians in the city of Peshawar earlier this week to both be acts of terrorism.

"No, I do not," Clinton replied.

Earlier, in a give-and-take with about a dozen residents of the tribal region, one man alluded obliquely to the drone attacks, saying he had heard that in the United States, aircraft are not allowed to take off after 11 p.m., to avoid irritating the population.

"That is the sort of peace we want for our people," he said through an interpreter.

The same man told Clinton that the Obama administration should rely more on wisdom and less on firepower to achieve its aims in Pakistan.

"Your presence in the region is not good for peace," he said, referring to the U.S. military, "because it gives rise to frustration and irritation among the people of this region." At another point he told Clinton, "Please forgive me, but I would like to say we've been fighting your war."

A similar point was made by Sana Bucha of Geo TV during the live broadcast interview.

"It is not our war," she told Clinton. "It is your war." She drew a burst of applause when she added, "You had one 9/11. We are having daily 9/11s in Pakistan."

Capturing a feeling that Clinton heard expressed numerous times during her visit, one woman in the audience said, "The whole world thinks we are terrorists." The woman said she was from the South Waziristan area where the Pakistani army is engaged in pitched battles with Taliban and affiliated extremist elements -- and where U.S. drones have struck with deadly effect many times.

The Pakistani army said Friday its forces had killed two dozen militants in 24 hours and were closing in on a prominent insurgent stronghold as its offensive in the remote region continued.

Clinton's main message on Friday was that the U.S. wants to be a partner with Pakistan, not just on the military front but also on trade, education, energy and other sectors. She stressed, however, that Pakistan needs to do its part in demonstrating a real commitment to democracy.

Clinton also was asked about her remark on Thursday that she found it hard to believe that Pakistani officials don't know where leaders of terrorist groups are hiding in Pakistan.

On Friday she took a bit of the edge off that comment, saying, "I don't know if anyone knows, but we in the United States would very much like to see the end of the Al Qaeda leadership, and our best information is that they are somewhere in Pakistan."

Later Clinton was to fly to Abu Dhabi in the Persian Gulf for a meeting Saturday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

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Taliban Chief Blames Blackwater for Peshawar Blast


OutlookIndia
http://www.uruknet.info/index.php?p=m59528&hd=&size=1&l=e

                           

October 29, 2009

Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud has claimed that the controversial American security firm Blackwater was behind the deadly bomb attack on a market in Peshawar that killed over 100 people.

Hakimullah questioned why the Taliban should target the public when it was capable of carrying out attacks in Islamabad and targeting the army's General Headquarters.

In an interview with BBC Urdu, he claimed Blackwater and "Pakistani agencies" were involved in attacks in public places to discredit the militants.

A powerful car bomb exploded at a crowded market in Peshawar yesterday, killing more than 100 and injuring 200 more. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan had earlier said it was behind an attack on the army's headquarters earlier this month.

About 15 people were killed during that attack. A group of militants took nearly 50 people hostage before they were gunned down or blew themselves up.

Reports in the Pakistani media have claimed that Blackwater has established a presence in the country by tying up with local security firms but these allegations have been rejected by the US administration.

When Hakimullah was asked about the perception among people that militants are involved in attacks on public places, he said: "Our war is against the government and the security forces and not against the people. We are not involved in blasts."

Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq, who was present along with Hakimullah, warned that the militants could target media organisations that are "defaming" the Taliban.

North West Frontier Province Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain and chief military spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas have blamed militants for the blast in Peshawar.

They said militants are targeting the people because they are facing defeat in South Waziristan tribal region, where the army has launched a major ground offensive.

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Saturday, October 31, 2009
12:33 Mecca time, 09:33 GMT 
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/10/2009103173228537551.html
 
News CENTRAL/S. ASIA 
 
Bomb kills soldiers in Pakistan 
 

Zardari says Pakistan will not turn back until it has eliminated the Taliban fighters [File EPA]


 
At least seven Pakistani soldiers have been killed in a roadside bomb blast in a tribal region of northwest Pakistan, officials say.

The vehicle was travelling in Pakistan's Khyber region on Saturday when it was struck about 15km west of the city of Peshawar.

"Seven paramilitary soldiers were killed and 11 were wounded in the remote-control bomb attack," Shafirullah Khan, the chief administrative official of Khyber tribal district, told the AFP news agency.

Khyber is on the main supply route through Pakistan to Afghanistan, where international military forces are fighting the Taliban.

The bomb blast came as Pakistan's military continued its offensive against Taliban fighters in South Waziristan, in the country's northwest.

Ongoing offensive

Pakistani fighter jets bombed three suspected Taliban positions in the Orkazai tribal region on Saturday, the Associated Press news agency reported.

At least eight fighters were killed and several others wounded, the news agency cited intelligence officials as saying.

The military launched the offensive two weeks ago, pitting about 30,000 Pakistani troops against an estimated 10 to 12,000 members of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan's president, has said security forces will not stop until they have defeated the fighters.

"There [is] no turning back ... until the complete elimination of the militants," a statement from his office said on Friday.

His pledge follows comments from Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, who suggested on Thursday that Pakistani officials could do more to find and fight al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

She said al-Qaeda had enjoyed a "safe haven" in Pakistan since 2002 and said that some Pakistani officials might know where the group's leaders are hiding.

"I find it hard to believe that nobody in your government knows where they are and couldn't get them if they really wanted to," Clinton said to a group of newspaper editors in the city of Lahore during a three-day visit to the country.
 
 Source: Agencies 
 
 
 
 
 

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Clinton in Pakistan encounters widespread distrust of U.S.


By Alex Rodriguez
http://www.uruknet.info/index.php?p=m59596&hd=&size=1&l=e

                             

Students in Lahore, Pakistan, protest against the visit of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. (K.M. Chaudary / Associated Press / October 29, 2009)



The discontent is not just from radicals, even college students and respected journalists question Washington's intentions in Pakistan. Some liken U.S. drone missile strikes to terrorism.

October 31, 2009

Reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan - Every time Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton tried to win over Pakistanis during her three-day charm offensive last week, they fired back a polite but firm message:

We don't really trust your country.

No matter how hard Clinton tried to reassure audiences in Lahore and Islamabad with talk of providing economic aid where it's needed most, Pakistanis seized on her visit as the perfect moment to lash out at a U.S. government they perceive as arrogant, domineering and insensitive to their plight.

At a televised town hall meeting in Islamabad, the capital, on Friday, a woman in a mostly female audience characterized U.S. drone missile strikes on suspected terrorist targets in northwestern Pakistan as de facto acts of terrorism. A day earlier in Lahore, a college student asked Clinton why every student who visits the U.S. is viewed there as a terrorist.

The opinions Clinton heard weren't the strident voices of radical clerics or politicians with anti-U.S. agendas. Some of the most biting criticisms came from well-mannered university students and respected, seasoned journalists, a reflection of the breadth of dissatisfaction Pakistanis have with U.S. policy toward their country.

In those voices what rang clear was a sense that Pakistan was paying a heavy price for America's "war on terror."

"You had one 9/11, and we are having daily 9/11s in Pakistan," Asma Shirazi, a journalist with Geo TV, told Clinton during the Islamabad town hall meeting.

Clinton's visit came at a time when Pakistanis' suspicions about U.S. intentions in their country are at an all-time high.

A five-year, $7.5-billion aid package to Pakistan recently signed into law by President Obama has stoked much of the animosity. Measures in the legislation aimed at ensuring the money isn't misspent have been perceived by Pakistanis as levers that Washington can use to exert control over their country.

Pakistanis also continue to be incensed by U.S. reliance on drone missile strikes to take out top Al Qaeda and Taliban commanders in Pakistan's lawless tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan.

The CIA-operated drone strikes have killed at least 13 senior Al Qaeda and Taliban militants in the tribal areas in the last 18 months. But Pakistani government and military leaders say the strikes have also killed hundreds of civilians and amount to violations of Pakistan's sovereignty.

At the Islamabad town hall meeting, a student from a university in Peshawar, a city shaken by a car bomb blast Wednesday that killed 118 people, summed up the anger over the drone attacks.

"What is actually terrorism in U.S. eyes?" the woman asked. "Is it the killing of innocent people in, let's say, drone attacks? Or is it the killing of innocent people in different parts of Pakistan, like the bomb blast in Peshawar two days ago? Which one is terrorism, do you think?"

Pressed by the forum's moderator whether she thought U.S. drone missile strikes were tantamount to terrorism, Clinton answered, "No, I do not."

On the one occasion when Clinton struck her own assertive tone, the message appeared to get through. Her suggestion to Pakistani journalists in Lahore that elements within the Pakistani government were probably aware of the whereabouts of Al Qaeda leaders but were not acting on the information struck a chord on the opinion pages of major Pakistani newspapers.

"If we are honest, we cannot deny that much of what she said was true," remarked the English-language daily the News in an editorial that appeared Saturday.

Clinton repeatedly acknowledged the mutual lack of trust that has held back the relationship, and she emphasized the Obama administration's commitment to addressing crucial issues for Pakistanis that reach beyond terrorism, such as shoring up Pakistan's beleaguered electricity grid and improving schools and healthcare.

Pakistanis, however, clearly remained unconvinced that Washington was as interested in improving the quality of life in Pakistan as it was in tracking down terrorists. And on several occasions during her trip, Clinton was confronted by Pakistanis who blamed the previous U.S. administration's policies in Afghanistan for the militancy now wreaking havoc across Pakistan.

"Look, Madam Secretary, we are fighting a war that is imposed on us," journalist Shirazi told Clinton. "It's not our war. That was your war, and we are fighting that war."

Assessments of Clinton's trip in Saturday's Pakistani newspapers were gloomy.

"One cannot help feeling that [Clinton's trip] was an abortive exercise," remarked an editorial in the Nation, another English-language newspaper, "and she went away fully conscious of that failure."

alex.rodriguez@latimes.com

 

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Clinton's arm twisting diplomacy in pakistan  


01/11/2009 11:00:00 PM GMT
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/articles/39/Clinton-s-arm-twisting-diplomacy-in-pakistan.html
 
 The military involvement in the war on terrorism has started to take a heavy toll on the Pakistani population and threatens to destabilize the country.

                         
(AFP) US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks with Pakistani elders in Islamabad.

By Dr. Louay Safi

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton went on the offensive during her three-day visit to Pakistan that was concluded yesterday. Her comments were blunt and combative, and the Pakistani press labeled her approach as “aggressive diplomacy.”

The intended purpose of Clinton’s visit was to drum up support for the ongoing war against al Qaeda and to pressure the Pakistani government to do more in fighting insurgents. Apparently she checked whatever diplomatic skills she might have at the door and her remarks to her hosts were anything but diplomatic.

She at one point hinted that Pakistani officials are reluctant to pursue al Qaeda. "I find it hard to believe that nobody in your government knows where they are and couldn't get them if they really wanted to," Clinton told her Pakistani interlocutors during an interview with journalists in Lahore.

Clinton’s comments were on the wrong track as they were made at time when the Pakistan’s army was busy fighting tribal insurgents in Waziristan on the heels of its two-month offensive in the Swat valley in Northeast Pakistan. Pakistan has also single-handedly captured the largest number of al Qaeda operatives since 2002. The military involvement in the war on terrorism has started to take a heavy toll on the Pakistani population and threatens to destabilize the country if insurgents continue to bring the fight to Pakistan’s major cities.

Her “offensive diplomacy” was, however, right on target when she encouraged a group of businessmen to hold their government accountable for improving public services. The exchange came in response to protest over language included in the Kerry-Lugar Bill that provided up to $7.2 billion in foreign aid to Pakistan. The Bill requires the Pakistani government to reduce military meddling in civil society and support public services.

"At the risk of sounding undiplomatic, Pakistan has to have internal investment in your public services and your business opportunities," Clinton told her audience. She went on to express worries about the lack of long term planning to deal with mounting developmental challenges. "You do have 180 million people. Your population is projected to be about 300 million. And I don't know what you're gonna do with that kind of challenge, unless you start planning right now," she said.

Pakistan’s spending on public services is alarmingly low. It allocated, for instance, a meager Rs. 4 billion ($48 million) for higher education. Rs. 23 billion ($280 million) out of 2009-10 budget that totaled Rs. 2.482 trillion ($29 billion). Its budget allocation for primary and basic education was even much lower with only Rs. 22.5 billion ($270 million). Spending less than 1% of total budget on education is alarmingly low for a country with over 50% illiteracy rate.

The question that Clinton and the Obama administration would have to confront head on is whether the United States over relying on military solutions would be counterproductive and could destabilize Pakistan in the long run. Ordinary Pakistanis' increased discomfort with the use of military force in tribal areas is evident by the public and unsubtle reaction to Clinton’s remarks.

Sana Bucha of Geo TV told Clinton during the live broadcast interview, "it is not our war. It is your war." Bucha went on to say "you had one 9/11. We are having daily 9/11s in Pakistan," and to draw a burst of applause from the studio audience.

-- Dr. Louay Safi is the executive director ISNA Leadership Development Center, an Indiana based organization dedicated to enhancing leadership capacity. He writes and lectures on issues relating to Islam and the West, democracy, human rights, leadership, and world peace. His commentaries are available at louaysafi.com.



-- Middle East Online

 

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Police: Dozens dead in Pakistan explosion

STORY HIGHLIGHTS:

-NEW: Death toll rises to 35, with 65 wounded, authorities say
-Suicide bomber detonates explosives outside a bank in Rawalpindi
-Bomber rode up to the front of the National Bank in a motorcycle or a bicycle
-Area of city hit home to several travel agencies and mid-range hotels



Rawalpindi, Pakistan (CNN) -- A suicide bomber killed at least 35 people Monday by detonating explosives outside a bank where people had lined up to pick up their monthly checks, police said.

The blast, in the Cannt area of the city, also wounded more than 65 others, said Imdad Ullah Bosal, a district coordination officer. Two women were among the dead, he said.

In recent weeks, Pakistan has been rocked relentlessly by a wave of attacks as Islamic militants retaliate against a military offensive to rout insurgents operating along its border with Afghanistan.

The worsening situation prompted the United Nations to announce Monday that it was pulling all non-emergency foreign staffers from the country's northwest.

The scene of Monday's explosion here is about 18 miles (30 kilometers) from the capital city of Islamabad. It is a closely guarded city that is home to the country's military headquarters.

The Cannt area is short for cantonment, so called because of its proximity to the military offices. It is home to several travel agencies and mid-range hotels.

The bomber rode up to the front of the National Bank in a motorcycle or a bicycle, said Rawalpindi Police Chief Rao Muhammad Iqbal.

The impact of the bomb was so intense that residents a block away said they thought the blast took place where they were.

The explosion blew out windows in the three-story building and blackened its walls. Rescue workers in surgical masks picked through the rubble looking for survivors.

Iqbal Nisouwana, a driver, who rushed to the scene to help tend to the wounded said he saw five men in uniform among the wounded.

"Two soldiers were injured. I helped put them in the ambulance," Nisouwana said. "And I saw three more wounded."

"One old man called to me for help," he added. "I tried to pick him up but he was too heavy."

In recent weeks, Pakistan has been relentlessly rocked by a wave of attacks as Islamic militants retaliate against a military offensive to rout insurgents operating along the Pakistan-Afghan border.

On October 10, militants held dozens of hostages for some 22 hours inside the army headquarters in Rawalpindi. Eleven military personnel, three civilians, and nine militants were killed in the siege.

On October 20, back-to-back explosions took place at Islamabad's International Islamic University. At least six people died in the attack. Twenty-nine others were wounded.

And on October 28, a massive car bomb tore through the heart of a bustling marketplace in Peshawar, killing at least 100 people and injuring at least 200 others.

The attack on the capital of the North West Frontier Province was the deadliest terrorist attack on Pakistan since the October 2007 attack on a homecoming rally for former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. More than 135 people were killed in the suicide bombing in Karachi. Bhutto escaped harm, but she was assassinated two months later.

Her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, is now the president of the country.

The U.N. decision to withdraw staffers applies to all except those needed for emergency, humanitarian and security operations in the North West Frontier Province and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), said spokeswoman Ishrat Rizvi.

The agency has been providing aid to the 2 million Pakistanis who have been displaced in the fighting between government forces and Islamic militants.

This year, the United Nations has lost several staffers to terror attacks, including five who were killed in a suicide bombing at the World Food Programme offices in Islamabad last month.

Two more U.N. workers died when attackers shot their way onto the grounds of the Pearl-Continental Hotel in Peshawar in June and set off a car bomb.

And gunmen killed a U.N. worker during a kidnapping attempt in Peshawar in July.

CNN's Ivan Watson in Rawalpindi, Samson Desta in Islamabad and journalist Nasir Habib contributed to this report.
 

 
 
 
Links referenced within this article

Pakistan
http://topics.edition.cnn.com/topics/Pakistan

 

 
Find this article at:
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/11/02/pakistan.explosion/index.html 

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South Asia
Nov 3, 2009 
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KK03Df01.html 
 
Why Pakistanis see US as the bigger threat

By Muhammad Idrees Ahmad

PESHAWAR - To the west of Peshawar on the Jamrud Road that leads to the historic Khyber Pass sits the Karkhano Market, a series of shopping plazas whose usual offering of contraband is now supplemented by standard issue United States military equipment, including combat fatigues, night vision goggles, body armor and army knives.

Beyond the market is a checkpoint that separates the city from the semi-autonomous tribal region of Khyber. In the past, if one lingered near the barrier long enough, one was usually approached by someone from the far side selling hashish, alcohol, guns, or even rocket-propelled grenade launchers. These days such a salesman could also be selling US semi-automatics, sniper rifles and hand guns. Those who buy do so less for the quality of the weapons - the AK-47 remains the weapon of choice here - than to acquire mementos of a dying empire.

The realization may be dawning slowly on some US allies, but here everyone is convinced that Western forces have lost the war. However, at a time when in Afghanistan the efficacy of force as a counterinsurgency tool is being increasingly questioned, there is a newfound affinity for it in Pakistan.

A survey conducted by the US-funded International Republican Institute (IRI) in July 2009, which excluded the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and parts of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) - the regions directly affected by war - found 69% of respondents supported the military operation in Swat (NWFP) in May.

A different survey undertaken by the US polling firm Gallup around the same time, which covered all of Pakistan, found only 41% supporting the operation. The Gallup poll also found a higher number - 43% - favoring political resolution through dialogue.

The two polls also offer a useful perspective on how Pakistanis perceive the terrorist threat. If the country is unanimous on the need to confront militancy, it is equally undivided in its aversion for the US. Yet both threats are not seen as equal: the Gallup survey found 59% of Pakistanis considered the US as the bigger threat, compared to 11% for the Taliban; and, according to the IRI poll, fewer saw the Taliban (13%) as the bigger challenge compared to spiraling inflation which is wrecking the economy (40%).

In 2001, when the United States launched its "war on terror", many among Pakistan's political elite and intelligentsia supported it, miscalculating the public mood, which was overwhelmingly hostile. This led to the protest vote which brought to power the religious alliance Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) in two of the frontier provinces. The MMA had been alone in openly opposing US intervention.

However, as Afghanistan fell, things went quiet and passions subsided. Pervez Musharraf, the military dictator, was able to present his decision to participate in the "war on terror" as a difficult but unavoidable choice. Internationally, his isolation ended, and as a reward the various sanctions imposed on Pakistan after the nuclear tests of 1998 were lifted.

The economy grew, and so did Musharraf's popularity. When, under intense US pressure in 2004, he sent the Pakistani military into the restive FATA region, people barely noticed. He managed to retain his support despite reports of atrocities, which, according to Human Rights Watch, included indiscriminate use of force, home demolitions, extrajudicial killings, torture and disappearances. Indeed, if he was blamed at all, it was for not going far enough.

Things changed when, on Musharraf's orders, soldiers stormed a mosque in Islamabad held by Taliban sympathizers in August 2007, which resulted in the deaths of many seminarians. The Taliban retaliated by taking the war to the heartland and terrorist attacks hit several major cities.

Musharraf was blamed, and with an emerging challenge from civil society in the form of a lawyers' movement and an insurgent media, his popularity went into terminal decline. Meanwhile, in the Malakand region, Swat and Dir emerged as new flashpoints. The threat from Taliban militants could no longer be ignored, but opinions differed as to how best to confront it. The majority supported a negotiated settlement.

The turning point came in May, when, after a peace deal between the government and militants had broken down, the military embarked on a major offensive in Malakand. Though the truce had temporarily brought calm to the region, both sides had failed to live up to their commitments.

Yet, in the aftermath the Taliban alone were blamed, and in the media a consensus developed against any further negotiations with the militants. The operation was hailed as a success despite the loss of countless lives and the displacement of up to three million people.

However, in the frontier itself, analysts remained less sanguine. Rahimullah Yusufzai, deemed the most knowledgeable commentator on frontier politics, considered it an "avoidable" war. Another leading analyst, Rustam Shah Mohmand, wondered if it was not a war against the Pashtun, the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan and the NWFP, since no similar actions were considered in other lawless regions.

Roedad Khan, a former federal secretary, described it as an "unnecessary war" which was "easy to prevent ... difficult to justify and harder to win". In the political mainstream, all major parties felt obliged to support the war for fear of being labelled unpatriotic. The opposition came mainly from religious parties, and from cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (Movement for Justice).

Opinions were reinforced in favor of a military solution when militants launched a wave of terrorist attacks in anticipation of the Pakistani army's new operation in FATA.

While the effects of the atrocities were there for all to see, the consequences of months of aerial bombing and artillery shelling that preceded the operation were less known.

A third of the total population of South Waziristan - site of the government's newly launched anti-Taliban offensive - has been displaced, and it has received little relief. When an Associated Press crew met the refugees, they expressed their anger at the government by chanting "Long live the Taliban".

Instead of winning hearts and minds, the Pakistani government is delivering them to the enemy.

Despite the best efforts of sections of the elite to take ownership of the war, the view persists that Pakistan is fighting an American war. That the military operation in South Waziristan follows an inducement of an annual US$1.5 billion from the US government, and is supported by US drone surveillance, does little to disabuse skeptics of their notions.

Following the bombing of the International Islamic University in Islamabad last week, an al-Jazeera correspondent - a Scot - was accosted by an angry student who, mistaking him for an American, held him responsible for the attack.

Pakistanis are acutely aware that before 2002 there was no terrorist threat, and they remain equally convinced that the threat will vanish once US forces withdraw from the region. But before that happens, some fear, Pakistan will have compromised its long-term stability.

Muhammad Idrees Ahmad is the co-founder of Pulsemedia.org.

(Inter Press Service) 
 
 

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Pakistan's capital now resembles besieged city

Once an oasis of calm in dangerous country, Pakistani capital now under militant siege

                               

                               

                               

by CHRIS BRUMMITT
AP News
http://wire.antiwar.com/2009/11/01/pakistans-capital-now-resembles-besieged-city/

Nov 01, 2009 11:06 EST

An onslaught of militant violence has transformed Pakistan's capital from a sleepy oasis to something of a city under siege, with its tree-lined streets barricaded, schools shuttered and jittery residents wondering when the next attack will come.

The fear shows how Taliban and al-Qaida-led insurgents based along the Afghan border have brought the war into Pakistan's political and diplomatic heart, something they hope will force the government to halt a new army offensive into their stronghold.

The unease has been heightened by the range of targets attacked despite a nationwide security clampdown. Suicide bombers hit the International Islamic University and a U.N. office in Islamabad; militants took officers hostage for 22 hours at army headquarters in the neighboring city of Rawalpindi; commando-style raids paralyzed the eastern city of Lahore; and bombs have ripped through markets in the northwest.

More than 300 people have been killed, most of them Pakistani civilians. And no one expects the attacks to end soon.

"The feeling is that things have degenerated terribly," said Javeed Akhtar, a corporate lawyer. "The university bombing (on Oct. 20) sent a chill through everyone. There is now a realization that targets are unrestricted. It is no holds barred."

Islamabad once was sheltered from the militant, separatist and gang violence that was a feature of life in other cities in Pakistan. Visitors were typically amazed at how quiet, well-ordered and wealthy it was compared with other South Asian cities.

That began changing in mid-2007, when the army besieged and then stormed the city's Red Mosque after militants inside refused to surrender. Gunshots and explosions rang out for days across the most exclusive suburbs, and around 100 people were killed.

The siege is now widely considered to be the starting point of the insurgency. Vowing vengeance, militants based in the lawless, tribally controlled region along the Afghan border began a vicious campaign against targets associated with the government, security forces and Western interests.

While Islamabad was occasionally hit, its 900,000 people and several thousand foreign residents still considered themselves largely untouched by the war. But just over a year ago, a truck bombing devastated the J.W. Marriott Hotel and showed the city was well and truly in the militant cross hairs.

"Every morning as we leave our houses we pray, and we ask our family members to pray that we get back safe and sound," said Mohammad Rahim, who runs an electronics business in the city center. "That is what every Pakistani does."

With many people choosing to stay at home, owners of restaurants and shops popular with foreigners and wealthy Pakistanis say their earnings have dropped by 50 percent in the two weeks since the start of the latest government offensive.

Many schools remain closed following the university attack, while principals try to secure them against possible future attacks. Workers are busy building thick concrete barriers to stop suicide car bombers.

Many parents have chosen to keep children at home even when their schools reopened.

"As soon as there is an explosion, things come to a standstill for a day or two, but life must go on," said Najmi Rizvi, the head of a preschool where attendance was down 50 percent. "We have to live in this situation," she said, as toddlers in Halloween costumes ran around the yard.

The city's foreigners are especially at risk, given popular anger at the U.S.-led war in neighboring Afghanistan and the government's close ties with Washington. Fears have risen further amid hostile media reporting of the major expansion of the U.S. embassy, and reports — denied by American officials — that members of the tarnished security company once called Blackwater are present in the city.

Islamabad's main diplomatic enclave, which is fenced off from the rest of the city, has become a neighborhood of fortresses, with compounds sealed off behind concentric rings of barbed wire, blast walls and heavy metal gates. Armed men — whether from government security forces or the small armies of private guards at each compound — are everywhere.

In the face of the attacks, the resolve of the country's politicians, army generals and people to take the fight to the militants in their border sanctuary of South Waziristan appears to be holding. But unqualified support for the offensive is complicated by the unpopularity of the government and a belief that the violence would stop if America pulled out of Afghanistan.

In more than a dozen interviews Thursday and Friday, conspiracy theories alleging the involvement of neighboring India or the United States in the attacks were frequently aired.

"We want to see a normal life, so for God's sake, listen to what the (militants) are saying. They are against American forces in Afghanistan," said Imran Ali, a 32-year-old carpet dealer. "What America is doing is illegal, and that is the root cause of all evils."

Source: AP News

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Obama Letting Pakistan Pick Some Drone Targets

Long-Standing Policy Brought to Public Attention Again

by Jason Ditz, November 02, 2009

In an interview released yesterday, journalist Jane Mayer brought renewed attention to the Obama Administration’s decision to allow the Pakistani military to choose some of the targets of American drone attacks inside the nation.

Mayer attributed the decision to the killing of Baitullah Mehsud in August and cited Rehman Malik, Pakistan’s Interior Minister, bragging about the accuracy of the American drones, which officially his government has denied having any role in.

The admission is somewhat damning and the Pakistani media is understandably excited about it, but while the details are new the story is not. In fact it has been known since at least early May that the Obama Administration was sharing surveillance data from drones with Pakistan’s military and encouraging them to help pick targets.

But America’s drone war in Pakistan has killed a large number of civilians, well over 100 since Obama took office, and that is sparking increasing outrage among Pakistanis, as demonstrated during Hillary Clinton’s visit last week. Presumably some of that outrage should be directed at their own government, which is calling at least some of the shots.

http://news.antiwar.com/2009/11/02/obama-letting-pakistan-pick-some-drone-targets/

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Pakistan Taliban: 'We are prepared for a long war'

Pakistani Taliban denies losses, says 'We are prepared for a long war'

by ISHTIAQ MAHSUD
AP News
http://wire.antiwar.com/2009/11/03/pakistan-taliban-we-are-prepared-for-a-long-war-3/
Nov 03, 2009 08:56 EST

A Taliban spokesman denied Tuesday that Pakistan has won a series of battlefield victories in its offensive in tribal South Waziristan, saying the militants are drawing government soldiers into a trap.

"We are prepared for a long war," Azam Tariq told an Associated Press reporter by telephone. "The areas we are withdrawing from, and the ones the army is claiming to have won, are being vacated by us as part of a strategy. The strategy is to let the army get in a trap, and then fight a long war."

Tariq also denied army claims that hundreds of militants have been killed, saying only 11 have died so far.

In mid-October, the Pakistani government launched an offensive in the South Waziristan tribal region, viewed as the main stronghold in the country of both the Taliban and al-Qaida. The military says it has pressed deep into Taliban territory and captured some Taliban strongholds. The offensive has drawn retaliatory militant attacks across Pakistan.

A few hours after Tariq's claim, the army announced that 21 militants had been killed in the past 24 hours in South Waziristan and that government forces were continuing to press into Taliban territory. It said in a statement that one government soldier had died in the past day.

Much of the fighting was in Sararogha, a Taliban base where militant leaders have long operated openly, occasionally even using it for news conferences. The army said it killed 16 fighters there as it tried to clear the town of militants.

What is actually happening, though, is impossible to confirm.

Pakistan has effectively sealed off the tribal areas, semiautonomous regions where the central government in Islamabad has long had only minimal authority. Journalists have only been allowed near combat areas on carefully choreographed military trips.

Source: AP News

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South Asia
Nov 6, 2009 
http://atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KK06Df01.html
 
UNDER THE AFPAK VOLCANO, Part 1

Welcome to Pashtunistan

By Pepe Escobar

There must be some way out of here
Said the joker to the thief
There's too much confusion
I can't get no relief - Bob Dylan, All Along the Watchtower

PARIS - Something's happening in AfPak, but you don't know what it is, do you Mr Beltway think-tanker?

As Washington mashes up the "Taliban" - be they Afghan neo-Taliban or Pakistani Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) - in Empire of Chaos logic to justify perennial United States/North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops stationed in AfPak, an increasing number of Pashtuns living on both sides of the border have seized the opportunity and started to look to the Taliban as a convenient facilitator for the emergence of Pashtunistan.

But the Pentagon, make no mistake, knows exactly how to play its New Great Game in Eurasia. Balkanization of AfPak - the break-up of both Afghanistan and Pakistan - will engineer, among other states, an independent Pashtunistan and an independent Balochistan. Empire of Chaos logic is still British imperial divide-and-rule, remixed; and, at least in theory, yields territories much easier to control.

Don't mess with Pashtun nationalism
Tribal Pashtuns (from eastern Afghanistan to western Pakistan) have never given up on being united again. Everyone familiar with AfPak knows the region is still paying the price for the fateful and - what else - divide-and-rule British imperial decision in 1897 to split tribal Pashtuns through the artificial Durand Line. The line remains the artificial border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Anyone who ever crossed it at, for instance, Torkham, at the foot of the Khyber pass, knows it is meaningless; people swarming on both sides are all cousins who never stopped dreaming of a pre-colonial, Afghan Durrani empire that straddled a great deal of contemporary Pakistan.

Few have noticed that Pashtuns were recently insisting on a very basic demand - that North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) in Pakistan have its name changed to Pakhtunkhwa ("Land of the Pashtuns"). The demand was shot down this past September by the dominant Punjabis in Pakistan. Pashtun nationalists protested en masse in fabled Peshawar, the NWFP capital. Pashtun national liberation is at fever pitch. Pashtun Guevaras are already issuing a call to arms.

But as much as Washington, now with a little help from its friend/client government of President Asif Ali Zardari in Islamabad, has been conducting essentially a war on Pashtuns since 2001, this is no monolithic movement. It all goes back to the early 21st-century maxim that virtually every Taliban is a Pashtun, but not every Pashtun is a Taliban. There are significant strands of secular Pashtuns that shun the TTP and its brand of Islamic fundamentalist dystopian dogma, even while the Pashtun masses may see in the TTP the ideal vehicle for the advent of Pashtunistan.

If we follow the money, we see that the TTP in Pakistan is now being financed mostly by wealthy, pious Gulf businessmen and not anymore by Islamabad. The financiers are more interested in jihad than in Pashtun nationalism, and that undermines the legitimacy of the Taliban as vehicles for Pashtun nationalism. At the same time, if the TTP and its Pashtun allies manage to establish full control over a strategic corridor straddling eastern Afghanistan and western Pakistan, with or without jihadi support, and for example with a partial control of Peshawar thrown in, the public relations coup couldn't be bigger: that means an Islamic emirate for all practical purposes constituted as Pashtunistan.

Other factors apart from the TTP facilitate the drive towards Pashtunistan. The West's economic and aid packages to AfPak are pitiful and never trickle down to the average Pashtun. The "revelation" in the US of what was never a secret in Afghanistan, that Ahmed Wali Karzai, brother of the "winner" of the soiled Afghan presidential election, has been on the Central Intelligence Agency's payroll for years, erased any possibility of Pashtuns believing in anything emanating from Kabul.

United States corporate media dabbles on the Afghan presidential election kabuki (with rice) while ignoring that what passes for US and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) intelligence is bribing top warlords for on-the-ground "security" (a swell business for them) coupled with bribing the Taliban for a license not be killed by their explosive devices. And bribing itself just won't do; the Taliban, via their former foreign minister, Mullah Muttawakkil, have just refused an American offer of eight permanent NATO bases for six provincial Taliban governorships. They want their Kabuli rice - and eat it too.

Islamabad's military and security establishment, a state within a state, remains an annex of Washington's; Pashtuns see the current offensive in Waziristan as Zardari selling out to Washington - same as "Busharraf", president Pervez Musharraf, before. A Pakistani failed government, this one or any other one, has zero chance to control what are de facto Afghan lands on the Pakistan side of the Durand Line. In 2009 alone, more than two million Pashtuns have been forced to become refugees; there's ample talk of a "Pashtun genocide".

So it would be so much easier, and infinitely less bloody, for Washington to adopt the Pentagon line all the way: let's pull another Yugoslavia; let's Balkanize; let's restore the Afghan Durrani empire.

The second coming
A rough beast, its hour come at last, Pashtunistan is already being born.

To start with, those "cousins" on both sides of the border are all tribal Pashtuns, mostly rural. They follow the same conservative religious rituals, enshrined by the ultra-reactionary South Asian Deobandi school of Sunni Islam and propagated by a vast network of made-in-Pakistan madrassas (seminaries). Their business is thriving, as can be attested by a visit to Spinbaldak, in southern Afghanistan, on the way between Kandahar and Quetta; the big fish thrive on smuggling and the narco-trade, and everyone else thrives on transportation or the timber business. The cash flow, in and out, is massive, especially out of remittances from Pashtun workers toiling around the Gulf and beyond.

Politically, the Pashtuns are represented by parties such as the Jamaat-e-Ulema-e-Islami (JUI). Diplomatically, they are very well connected to the Persian Gulf and to most of the Organization of the Islamic Conference countries. From a military point of view, they are represented by myriad Taliban groups, not only the TTP. And strategically, they perform a delicious irony: a rural, ultra-religious, nationalist movement fighting tooth-and-nail a corrupt, urban-based government as if they were a post-colonial fantasy of the noble tribal savage - a la Rousseau - fighting the colonialist West.

This may not be what leftist, relatively secular Pashtun intellectuals had in mind; they maintain that the Punjabi-infested security agencies control both the Taliban and the Pakistani army, and they would rather get rid of both. A nationalist group such as the Pashtun Awareness Movement believes Pashtuns themselves should get rid of the Taliban, not the Pakistani army under the boot of the Pentagon. As for the predominantly Pashtun Awami National Party, which is in power in NWFP and has to compose somewhat with Islamabad, its dream of a more balanced Pashtunistan is still a long way away.

There may be only one thing missing for Pashtunistan to come of age: a passport. It's not hard to see who will profit from it.

Next: Breaking up is (not) hard to do

Pepe Escobar is the author of Globalistan: How the Globalized World is Dissolving into Liquid War (Nimble Books, 2007) and Red Zone Blues: a snapshot of Baghdad during the surge. His new book, just out, is Obama does Globalistan (Nimble Books, 2009).

He may be reached at pepeasia@yahoo.com. 
 
 

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South Asia
Nov 7, 2009 
http://atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KK07Df01.html 
 
UNDER THE AFPAK VOLCANO, Part 2

Breaking up is (not) hard to do


By Pepe Escobar

PART 1: Welcome to Pashtunistan (see next thread)

PARIS - "The horror ... the horror." General Stanley McChrystal, the Pentagon supremo in Afghanistan, is being massively sold in the US as a Zen warrior - a 21st-century stalwart incarnation of the "best and the brightest". But he may be a warrior intellectual more like Colonel Kurz than Captain Willard in Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now. He led an elite death squad in Iraq and, for all of his Confucius-meets-counter-insurgency social engineering schemes, still appears not to understand what Pashtuns are really all about.

McChrystal remains bemused about why, in Afghanistan, most young Pashtuns decide to become Taliban. Because Kabul is immensely corrupt; because the Americans have bombed their


   

houses or killed their families and friends; because they can improve their social status. They simply won't sell out for (devalued) American dollars. Their infinite drive is geared towards throwing the occupiers out - and re-establishing the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, governed by sharia law. In this sense, McChrystal's soldiers are the new Soviets, no different from the Red Army that waged war in Afghanistan during the 1980s.

McChrystal - with all his "secure the population" talk - cannot possibly level with the American public about the Taliban. Afghans know that if you don't mess with the Taliban, the Taliban don't mess with you. If you're an opium poppy grower, the Taliban just collect a little bit of tax on it.

Conquering Pashtun hearts and minds Westmoreland, sorry, McChrystal-style is a no-win proposition. There's nothing McChrystal's non-Pashto speaking soldiers can say or do to counteract a simple Taliban-to-villager one-liner "we're in a jihad to throw out the foreigners".

As for the Taliban/al-Qaeda nexus, the Taliban nowadays simply don't need al-Qaeda, and vice-versa. Al-Qaeda is closely linked with Pakistani outfits, not Afghan, such as Lashkar-e-Taiba. If McChrystal wants to find al-Qaeda jihadis, he should set up shop in Karachi, not in the Hindu Kush.

Over the summer of 2009 alone, 20,000 US and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) troops, practicing the iron dogma of "clear, hold and build", were able to secure only a third of desert Helmand province. The Taliban control at least 11 provinces in Afghanistan. It's easy to do the math on what it would take to "secure" the other 10 provinces, not to mention the whole country until, well, 2050, as the British high command has been speculating. No wonder Washington is drowning in numbers - rife with speculation that McChrystal wants 500,000 boots on the ground before 2015. If Confucian McChrystal doesn't get them, goodbye counter-insurgency; it's back to a devastating hell from above drone missile war.

If you break it, you control it
The Pentagon as well as NATO will never be cheerleaders for a strong, stable and really independent Pakistan. Washington pressure over Islamabad will never be less than relentless. And then there's the return of the repressed: the chilling Pentagon fear that Islamabad might one day become a full Chinese client state.

Think-tankers in their comfy leather chairs do entertain the dream of the Pakistani state unraveling for good - victim of a clash within the military of Punjabis against Pashtuns. So what's in it for the US in terms of balkanization of AfPak? Quite some juicy prospects - chief of all neutralizing the also relentless Chinese drive for direct land access, from Xinjiang and across Pakistan, to the Arabian Sea (via the port of Gwadar, in Balochistan province).

Washington's rationale for occupying Afghanistan - never spelled out behind the cover story of "fighting Islamic extremism" - is pure Pentagon full spectrum dominance: to better spy on both China and Russia with forward outposts of the empire of bases; to engage in Pipelineistan, via the Trans-Afghan (TAPI) pipeline, if it ever gets built; and to have a controlling hand in the Afghan narco-trade via assorted warlords. Cheap heroin is literally flooding Russia, Iran and Eastern Europe. Not by accident, Moscow regards opium/heroin as the key issue to be tackled in Afghanistan, not Islamic fundamentalism.

As for those think-tankers, they do remain incorrigible. Last week at a Rand-sponsored Afghanistan bash in the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, former president Jimmy Carter's national security adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski, the man who gave the Soviets their Vietnam in Afghanistan, announced that he had advised the George W Bush administration to invade Afghanistan in 2001; but he also told then Pentagon supremo, Donald Rumsfeld, that the Pentagon should not stay on "as an alien force". That's exactly what the Pentagon is right now.

And yet, Zbigniew believes the US should not leave Afghanistan; it should "use all our leverage" to force NATO to fulfill the mission - whatever that is. Not surprisingly, Zbigniew couldn't help revealing what the heart of the "mission" really is: Pipelineistan, that is, to build TAPI by any means necessary.

China, India and Russia may agree that a regional - and not an American - solution to Afghanistan may be the only way to go, but still can't agree on how to formalize a proposal which would be offered in the cadre of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Li Qinggong, the number two at the China Council for National Security Policy Studies, has been a key voice of this proposal. Washington, not surprisingly, wants to remain unilateral.

It all harks back to a 1997 Brookings Institution publication by Geoffrey Kemp and Robert Harkavy, Strategic Geography and the Changing Middle East, in which they identify an "energy strategic ellipse" with a key node in the Caspian and another in the Persian Gulf, concentrating over 70% of global oil reserves and over 40% of natural gas reserves. The study stressed that the resources in these zones of "low demographic pressure" would be "threatened" by the pressure of billions living in the poor regions of South Asia. Thus the control of the Muslim Central Asian "stans" as well as Afghanistan would be essential as a wall against both China and India.

So all along the watchtower, the princes of war keep their view. That spells balkanization all along. It's full spectrum dominance against the Asian energy security grid. The Pentagon well knows that AfPak is the key land bridge between Iran to the west and China and India to the east; and that Iran has all the energy that both China and India need. The last thing full spectrum dominance wants is to have the AfPak theater subjected to more influence from Russia, China and Iran.

There could not be a more graphic illustration of empire of chaos logic in action than the AfPak theater. While the McChrystal show amuses the galleries, what's really at stake for Washington is how to orchestrate a progressive encirclement of Russia, China and Iran. And the name of the game is not really AfPak - even with all the breaking up and balkanization it may entail. It's all about the New Great Game for the control of Eurasia.

Pepe Escobar is the author of Globalistan: How the Globalized World is Dissolving into Liquid War (Nimble Books, 2007) and Red Zone Blues: a snapshot of Baghdad during the surge. His new book, just out, is Obama does Globalistan (Nimble Books, 2009).

He may be reached at pepeasia@yahoo.com.

 
 
 

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Friday, November 06, 2009
17:40 Mecca time, 14:40 GMT
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/11/200911613341681409.html
   
News CENTRAL/S. ASIA 
 
Pakistan mulls law to gag media  
Watch :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goZNwVpR7Xc&feature=player_embedded


In Pakistan, the media has been able to operate with relative freedom only in recent times.

But now the government wants to reign in news organisations.

Authorities want a new law that would ban certain pictures and videos criticising the government and security forces.

Al Jazeera's Sohail Rahman reports from the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.
 
 
 Source: Al Jazeera 
 
 
 
 
 

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Mayor among 10 Killed in Pakistan Suicide Bomb
 
 
08/11/2009 08:31:03 AM GMT   
 
http://aljazeera.com/news/articles/34/Mayor_among_10_Killed_in_Pakistan_Suicide_Bomb.html

 
At least 10 people including a local mayor were killed and 20 others wounded Sunday when a suicide bomber blew up a car in Pakistan's northwest Peshawar city, officials and police said.
 
"The suicide bomber came in a car and exploded it when the mayor was standing with some visitors outside his guesthouse near the local livestock market," district administration chief Sahibzada Anis told AFP. "The toll is 10 dead and 20 injured."
 
The bomber targeted Abdul Malik, mayor of Adizai suburb on Peshawar's outskirts, who had raised a militia against Taliban rebels.
 
Pakistan is waging an offensive against insurgents in their northwest mountain hideouts, incurring the wrath of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group, which has retaliated with a wave of deadly attacks.
 
¬
Source: AJP
 

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Seymour Hersh’s latest article only portrays his
well-known anti-Pakistan bias: Pakistani FO spokesman

Associated Press of Pakistan

http://www.uruknet.info/index.php?p=m59873&hd=&size=1&l=e

ISLAMABAD, Nov 8, 2009 (APP): Commenting on Mr. Seymour Hersh’s latest article "Defending the Arsenal-In an unstable Pakistan, can nuclear warheads be kept safe?" posted on the website of "The New Yorker" magazine, http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/11/16/091116fa_fact_hersh
the Foreign Office Spokesman termed the assertions made in the article as utterly misleading and totally baseless. "The author of the article yet again portrays his well-known anti-Pakistan bias by making several false and highly irresponsible claims by quoting anonymous and unverifiable sources".

"The article is thus nothing more than a concoction to tarnish the image of Pakistan and create misgivings among its people," the Spokesman said in statement here on Sunday.

The Spokesman underlined that Pakistan’s strategic assets are completely safe and secure. The multi-layered custodial controls, which have been developed indigenously, are as foolproof and effective as in any other nuclear weapons state, he added.

"Pakistan therefore does not require any foreign assistance in this regard. Nor will Pakistan, as a sovereign state, ever allow any country to have direct or indirect access to its nuclear and strategic facilities".

"Any suggestion to this effect is simply preposterous. Our second-to-none professional armed forces are fully capable to take care of our nuclear arsenal", he added.

The Spokesman further said, "to set the record straight, no talks have ever taken place on the issue of the security of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal with US officials".

He said it needs to be emphasized that contrary to what Mr. Hersh claims, the US has repeatedly expressed its full confidence in our custodial controls. Most recently, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton herself denied any US concerns in this regard, he added.

The Spokesman said that Mr. Hersh is known to write sensational stories premised in far-fetched and imaginary scenarios. "His latest article is no exception and is, therefore, strongly rejected", he added.




 





 

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Pakistan rejects nuke takeover


SAPA

http://www.uruknet.info/index.php?p=m59872&hd=&size=1&l=e

November 8, 2009

Islamabad - Pakistan on Sunday angrily rejected a media report that raised fears of a militant takeover of the Taliban-hit nation's nuclear weapons and suggested that the US had a hand in protecting the arsenal.

In the latest issue of The New Yorker magazine, investigative journalist Seymour Hersh wrote that US officials had negotiated pacts with Pakistan to provide security for the nuclear arsenal in extreme circumstances ( http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/11/16/091116fa_fact_
hersh ).

It also raised the possibility that the threat to the security of the nuclear programme might come not from Taliban rebels battling the government, but from a "mutiny" by fundamentalist elements within the powerful military.

In response, Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement saying that the nation's nuclear materials "are completely safe and secure.

"Pakistan therefore does not require any foreign assistance in this regard," the statement said.

"Nor will Pakistan, as a sovereign state, ever allow any country to have direct or indirect access to its nuclear and strategic facilities. Any suggestion to this effect is simply preposterous."

Fiercely protective

Pakistan's government is fiercely protective and proud of its nuclear weapons programme, seen as a much-needed deterrent and defence against its arch-foe India, which also has nuclear capabilities.

But soaring attacks by Taliban insurgents - who struck at the heart of the military establishment in a raid and hostage drama at army headquarters last month - have raised jitters over the weapons' safety.

Hersh wrote in the The New Yorker that officials in Washington and Islamabad told him that agreements would allow specially trained American units to provide added security for the Pakistani arsenal in case of a crisis.

It also quoted unnamed Pakistan officials as expressing fear that the governments of either Pakistan's ally the United States or their arch-rival India might try to take control of the weapons - a claim denied by the US.

In response, Larry Schwartz, a spokesperson at the US embassy in Islamabad, told AFP that "the United States has no intention to seize Pakistani nuclear weapons or material.

"Pakistan is a key ally in our common effort to fight violent extremists and foster regional security."

The United States is regarded with deep suspicion in Pakistan, with missile strikes by unmanned US drone aircraft against Taliban and al-Qaeda targets in the northwest tribal belt seen as an infringement of Pakistan's sovereignty.

- SAPA




 

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From Monsters and Critics.com

South Asia News


Seven security personnel among 17 killed in Pakistan violence (correction)

By DPA
Nov 9, 2009, 12:09 GMT
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/southasia/news/article_1512211.php/Seven-security-personnel-among-17-killed-in-Pakistan-violence-correction


Islamabad - Seventeen people, including six soldier and a policeman, were killed Monday when Taliban militants targeted security personnel with a suicide bombing, rocket attack and a roadside blast in restive north-western region, the officials said.

A suicide bomber blew himself up near a police post in Pakistan's north-western city of Peshawar, killing at least three people.

A policeman, who had stopped a motorized rickshaw in which the attacker was travelling, was among the dead, Peshawar police chief Liaquat Ali Khan said.

Five people were wounded in the blast, which took place on a street leading to the main Ring Road in the capital of North-West Frontier Province.

The attack came a day after a suicide bomber killed an anti-Taliban mayor and militia leader and 12 other people at a cattle market on the city's outskirts.

Peshawar has been hit by a string of attacks in recent weeks. More than 110 people were killed when a car bomb hit a crowded market last month.

The strikes were being seen as the Taliban's response to Pakistan's offensive against militants in the South Waziristan tribal district near the Afghan border.

The security forces were consolidating their position after expelling militants from their many strongholds, facing Taliban still offering resistance in some areas.

Four soldiers died and one was injured when the Islamist insurgents targeted a security post with rockets in Makeen. In retaliatory fire, eight militants died, said an army statement on Monday.

With the latest killing casualties, the over-all death toll on the Taliban side in South Waziristan has reached 486, as against the 46 soldiers died in the combat.

The casualty figures cannot be verified independently because the conflict zone is closed to journalists.

Separately, an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) exploded near an army vehicle in another tribal district of Bajaur, killing two troops.

One troop was also injured in the explosion that took place in Salarzai area of the district.


 

© Copyright 2007 by monstersandcritics.com.
This notice cannot be removed without permission.

 

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Suicide blast kills 20 in Charsadda


Tuesday, 10 Nov, 2009
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/provinces/04-blast-in-charsadda-qs-09


The blast ripped through a busy shopping street in the northwestern town. — Photo by AP

PESHAWAR: A suspected car bomb exploded just outside a crowded market in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday, killing 20 people and wounding 55, police said.

The bombing in Charsadda city was the third attack in as many days in or close to Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province.

Militants have stepped up attacks in recent weeks in retaliation for an army offensive in a key area along the Afghan border.

The bomb exploded in an intersection just outside the market in Charsadda, located some 25 miles north of Peshawar, destroying shops on both sides of the road and knocking down electrical wires.

The blast wounded 55 people, 10 of them critically, said police official Riaz Khan.

Local television showed ambulances ferrying the dead to the hospital along roads littered with debris.

‘I had just passed through this place hardly two minutes before the blast. I felt it myself,’ said Khan. ‘We got back and saw destruction everywhere.’

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Bomber Kills 4 at Pakistan Checkpoint
 
 
11/11/2009 02:30:00 AM GMT   
http://aljazeera.com/news/articles/34/Bomber-Kills-4-at-Pakistan-Checkpoint.html
 

 
A suicide bomber blew himself up at a Pakistan police checkpoint in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Monday killing four people, police said.
 
Initial reports said the bomber got out of a rickshaw and detonated his explosives at the checkpoint on the outer ring road of the northwestern metropolis, which runs into the Al-Qaeda and Taliban-infested tribal badlands. "It was a suicide attack," city police chief Liaquat Ali Khan said.
 
Doctor Zafar Iqbal at the city's main government-run Lady Reading Hospital confirmed that medics received two dead bodies and six wounded.
 
Suicide attacks and bombings frequently strike Peshawar. On Sunday, a suicide bomber killed 14 people in a crowded cattle market. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was avenging Mayor Abdul Malik's efforts to raise a militia to fight the rebels.
 
Pakistan is waging a military offensive against homegrown Taliban umbrella movement Tehreek-e-Taliban in their mountain hideouts in South Waziristan.
¬
Source: AJP
 

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Afghan Taliban rebuffs any association with TTP

SANA

http://uruknet.com/index.php?p=m59939&hd=&size=1&l=e

November 10, 2009

QUETTA (SANA): Afghan Taliban has strongly denied any association with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), says alleged Afghan Taliban commander.

The Afghan Taliban commander Abdul Manan Aka Mulla Toor Jan expressed those views during his exclusive media interview wherein he mentioned that al Qaeda has no link with the TTP embroiled in war against Pakistani forces in embattled South Waziristan and Swat district.

"The Afghan Taliban leaders have not crossed the border, they are not hiding in Pakistan, but they are targeting coalition and NATO forces from Afghanistan only" he said.

The Afghanistan Taliban commander strongly condemned targeting civilians in the alleged US drone attacks in the various bordering parts of the Pakistan for the last few years.





 

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Wednesday, November 11, 2009
19:41 Mecca time, 16:41 GMT 
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/11/20091111155218847982.html
 
News CENTRAL/S. ASIA 
 
Soldiers killed in Pakistan attacks 
 

Thousands of Pakistani forces are battling Taliban fighters in South Waziristan [EPA] 
 
At least 10 Pakistani soldiers have been killed in two separate attacks near the Afghan border, officials have said.

A roadside bomb killed eight security officers travelling along a road in the Mohmand tribal region on Wednesday evening, officials said, while two soldiers were killed in an ambush in the same district.

"Eight soldiers were martyred and two were wounded when their vehicle hit a landmine buried on the roadside," Major Fazal ur-Rehman, spokesman for the Frontier Corps, told the AFP news agency.

"The soldiers were on a routine patrol. The landmine was buried by militants. The explosion damaged the pick-up," he said.

The ambush, which occured at a security outpost in Mohmand, saw dozens of fighters armed with automatic weapons and rocket launchers attack forces, local officials said.

The army responded by shelling militant positions there, killing 10 suspected fighters, intelligence officials told the AP news agency.

Army offensive

Mohmand lies some 200km north of South Waziristan, where the army is undertaking a major offensive against the Taliban.

The district has been the scene of sporadic army offensives over the last year, but the latest violence could be a sign that violence is spreading away from the main frontlines.

Wednesday's attacks come a day after at least 26 people died in a suicide car bombing in a crowded market in northwest Pakistan.

General Ashfaq Kayani, Pakistan's army chief, described the attacks on civilians as "cowardice and frustration".

"Since terrorists were incapable of confronting the military operation, they were targeting innocent civilians," he said in a statement.

But Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq told AFP on Tuesday that attacks on cities were part of a strategy.

The militia has embarked on a guerrilla war from the mountains of South Waziristan, he said, pledging: "We will prove that we can fight for years."

Some 502 Taliban fighters have reportedly been killed since the battle against an estimated 10,000 Islamists began on October 17.

The army says 46 soldiers have been killed.
 
 Source: Agencies 
 
 
 
 
 

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Pakistan’s Civilians Pay Heavy Price for Military’s Offensive

Growing Frustration Over 'Unending War'

                                     

by Jason Ditz, November 11, 2009
http://news.antiwar.com/2009/11/11/pakistans-civilians-pay-heavy-price-for-militarys-offensive/

Since the recent invasion of the South Waziristan Agency, militants have been launching an ever growing number of high profile attacks, hitting many government targets but also taking a rising toll on Pakistan’s civilian population.

The most recent string of bombings hit in and around the major city of Peshawar, which caused hundreds of civilian casualties in crowded marketplaces. Though Peshawar hasn’t had any direct fighting, it has had to cope with influxes of millions of refugees, and has also seen many attacks.

Locals are asking why they are becoming such a common target, and some are annoyed that the government continues to expand the operations, from tiny Bajaur to the Swat Valley, and now to South Waziristan, giving the sense that the nation is in an unending war.

The government has been launching crackdowns in the capital region lately, ostensibly in reaction to a pair of high profile militant attacks. But even that has netted hundreds of “suspicious persons” for charges like having banned alcohol or illegal cell phone SIMs.

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Friday, November 13, 2009
11:29 Mecca time, 08:29 GMT
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/11/200911132746686191.html
   
News CENTRAL/S. ASIA  
 
Bomb targets Peshawar spy agency 
 

Officials said the blast targeted the offices of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency [AFP]


 
A car bomb explosion has killed at least ten people and badly damaged a building belonging to Pakistan's national intelligence agency, in the Pakistani city of Peshawar.

Ambulances and security forces rushed to the scene of the blast early on Friday morning, cordoning off the site evacuating scores of wounded.

Police said that in addition to the ten killed, more than 60 other people were wounded in the blast and had been sent to nearby hospitals.

A military spokesman said the bomber's target was the three-storey building belonging to the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency.

'Suicide attack'

The Reuters news agency said the attack was carried out by a suicide car-bomber.



In depth

-  Video: On Pakistan's frontline
-  Video exclusive: South Waziristan's civilians suffer 
-  Video: Civilians flee Pakistani army offensive
-  Video: Security crisis in Pakistan
-  Video: Pakistan army HQ attacked
-  Profile: Pakistan Taliban
-  Witness: Pakistan in crisis
-  Riz Khan: The battle for the soul of Pakistan

 
Separately, at least six people were killed in a bombing at the Bakakhel police station in the town of Bannu, in Pakistan's North West Frontier province (NWFP), police said.

Bannu is close to the tribal region of North Waziristan, a Taliban stronghold.

The latest attacks come one day after 17 Pakistani soldiers were killed in fighting in South Waziristan.

Pakistan has been on heightened alert since mid-October when government forces launched an offensive against Pakistani-Taliban fighters in the country's semi-autonomous tribal region of South Waziristan.

Liaqat Ali Khan, the city police chief, said a car bomber attacked the main gate of the complex, triggering a blast so powerful that most of the building had collapsed.

"It was the biggest explosion I've ever heard," Asad Ali, a witness, said.

'Powerful blast'

Al Jazeera's correspondent Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said other Peshawar residents reported a massive explosion that was heard across the city.


Attacks in Pakistan have increased as army continues its offensive against Taliban [AFP]

He said the explosion happened at about 06:40am local time (01:40 GMT), when not many people were on the streets except for children on their way to school.

Citing local witnesses our correspondent said the explosion was powerful enough to be heard across Peshawar, causing heavy damage to a large number of houses and structures nearby.

He said many other victims were feared to have been buried under the rubble of the collapsed building.

He added that the attack would have had to have been carefully planned because the intelligence agency office is located in a high security area of the city, close to top military and government offices.

Instability

The blast, the fourth in or around Peshawar in as many days, comes as Pakistan presses ahead with a military offensive against the Taliban, most recently in South Waziristan.


FROM THE BLOGS
Cold vote in northern Pakistan
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/asia/2009/11/12/cold-vote-northern-pakistan
By Kamal Hyder in The Asia Blog  
 
Anti-government Taliban fighters have struck numerous times in Pakistan in recent weeks, killing more than 300 civilians and soldiers.

The attacks appear to be aimed at weakening the government's resolve to continue its military operation in South Waziristan, their main bastion, on the Afghan border.

Last month a huge car bomb ripped through a crowded grocery market in the centre of Peshawar, killing more than 100 people, mainly women and children.

The Taliban said it did not carry out the October attack in Peshawar that was marked as the deadliest attack in the country in two years
 
 Source: Al Jazeera and agencies 
 
 
 
 
 

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At Least 17 Pakistani Soldiers Killed in South Waziristan

Fierce Fighting Marks Deadliest Day Since Offensive Began

by Jason Ditz, November 12, 2009



In what is by far the largest death toll of the Pakistani military’s nearly month-long South Waziristan offensive, officials say that at least 17 soldiers were killed today in fierce fighting across the agency.

At least 15 were killed in clashes according to the Pakistani Army, while two others were killed in a roadside bombing. The Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has claimed a large number killed over the past month, but the military has rarely acknowledged more than a handful of soldier deaths.

Pakistan launched the offensive in Mid-October, at the behest of the US. The offensive has driven hundreds of thousands of civilians from their homes, and locals say the military’s constantly air strikes have left many towns completely bombed out.

Officials have been insisting virtually since the offensive began that it is going exceedingly well, and that they have met little resistance from the TTP. The reality on the ground is difficult to determine, however, as journalists are barred from the region.

http://news.antiwar.com/2009/11/12/at-least-17-pakistani-soldiers-killed-in-south-waziristan/

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Stop military operation in Balochistan, Nawaz asks govt

* PML-N chief says govt must consult Baloch leaders on provincial package

* Calls for withdrawal of cases against Baloch leaders

* Government should take up issue of Indian involvement in Balochistan at every forum including United Nations

By Irfan Bukhari
http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\11\13\story_13-11-2009_pg1_10

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif on Thursday called on the government to immediately stop military operations in Balochistan, if any were being conducted in the province.

Nawaz’s demand came at a meeting with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. “Cases against Baloch leaders should be withdrawn [as well], and the killers of Baloch leaders – particularly of Nawab Akbar Bugti – must be brought to justice,” Nawaz told a press conference after the meeting. He demanded that the government make arrangements to trace missing Baloch as soon as possible.

Balochistan package: Nawaz said stakeholders would not accept the Balochistan package if the entire Baloch leadership was not taken on board before the final announcement.

“Take all Baloch nationalist parties into confidence over package, make it public for debate and then table it in parliament to build a national consensus, so that this package is acceptable to all,” said Nawaz.

He said the government should contact all Baloch leaders – including those in exile. “The PML-N is ready to play its role as a mediator between the government and the angry Baloch leaders to remove the mistrust, but it would be possible only if the government takes the lead in contacting the entire Baloch leadership. I talked to Akhtar Mengal before meeting the prime minister and also consulted Hasil Bizenjo,” he said.

The PML-N chief said the steps proposed by his party would help settle down the annoyed Baloch, and ultimately build their confidence in the government. “The deployment of the FC in Balochistan should also be renegotiated with the provincial government,” he said, adding that he had advised the prime minister to give a timeframe for the announcement of the Balochistan package.

Indian involvement: “The government has told us that there are confirmed reports of Indian involvement in security problems in Balochistan,” said Nawaz, adding that it was “highly lamentable” that India was involved in the province’s turmoil. He said the government should take up the matter at every forum, including the United Nations, with solid evidences.

Nawaz said he also brought up the repeal of the 17th amendment and the implementation of the Charter of Democracy (CoD) during his meeting with the prime minister.

He told the media that wile in Hunza, he received a call from the president, who “expressed his desire for a meeting … but did not say as to when this meeting would take place”.