Pakistan- news and opinions thread

[thomasjay]

(note- i'm going to use this thread on an ongoing basis for Pakistan news, rather than start a new thread for each article

There is a war going on in Pakistan beyond the US predator drone strikes near the Afghan
border.The Pakistani government is at war with their own homegrown Taliban, whose control of the
northwest of the country has been creeping closer to Islamabad itself.The government is in the
middle of a new offensive and reporting some territorial gains. But this has been going on for
several years,with past Pakistani army offensives being ineffective and casualty heavy. Negotiated
ceasefires that even included hefty payments to Tribal and Taliban leaders haven't held.

These are really not nice people, as you can see from the excerpts below:

the story of Amjad Islam. Islam, a schoolteacher in Matta, Pakistan, refused to comply when
local Taliban leaders demanded that he hike up his trousers to expose his ankles in the manner of
the Prophet Muhammad. The teacher knew Muslim teachings and had earned jihadist stripes fighting
Soviet troops in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Their edict was wrong, Islam told the Taliban enforcers; no such thing had been demanded even by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in the '90s. The scuffle that resulted left Islam's body hanging in the town square. To drive home their warning to the locals, the militants also shot the teacher's father.

Pakistan Poses a Growing Challenge for the Obama Administration

Fazlullah's supporters have blown up 173 schools, 105 of them for girls, since 2007, Sher Afzal, a Pakistani education ministry official, said last month.
'Out of control'
Kamal Hyder, Al Jazeera's correspondent in the Swat valley, said that decapitated bodies of
policemen, left with notes warning authorities, were now a common sight on streets in the area.

Pakistani Taliban rule Swat valley

Pakistan has a very weak civilian government that for all intents and purposes serves at the
pleasure of the military and ISI( inter-services intelligence agency, their version of the CIA).
The ISI supported the Talibans rise to power in Afghanistan and have nurtured the Kasmir extremist
groups for several reasons. In large part it's been done as a foil for their arch-enemy India,
but there are some elements in both the ISI and military that are cut from the same ideological
cloth as the extremists.

Pakistan also has nukes. That's something that really concerns me.

I've been following this situation for awhile, and there are developments almost everyday, though
they don't usually make it into big MSM. Here's a few from the last couple days:
Pakistan-Taliban Swat battle rages
Fresh attack on Pakistan lorries
Blast damages under construction bridge in Mardan
Swat militants seize police checkpoint, detain 30 cops
Rocket attack on police checkpoint in Mianwali: Police

And for some background, chapters 4&5 of this PBS Frontline War Briefing are pretty enlightening if you have about 15 minutes and a decent stream:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/warbriefing/view/4.html

If the situation deteriorates, when and how do you think the outside world should intervene?

[catch-22]

There is a war going on in Pakistan beyond the US predator drone strikes near the Afghan
border.The Pakistani government is at war with their own homegrown Taliban, whose control of the
northwest of the country has been creeping closer to Islamabad itself.The government is in the
middle of a new offensive and reporting some territorial gains. But this has been going on for
several years,with past Pakistani army offensives being ineffective and casualty heavy. Negotiated
ceasefires that even included hefty payments to Tribal and Taliban leaders haven't held.

These are really not nice people, as you can see from the excerpts below:

the story of Amjad Islam. Islam, a schoolteacher in Matta, Pakistan, refused to comply when
local Taliban leaders demanded that he hike up his trousers to expose his ankles in the manner of
the Prophet Muhammad. The teacher knew Muslim teachings and had earned jihadist stripes fighting
Soviet troops in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Their edict was wrong, Islam told the Taliban enforcers; no such thing had been demanded even by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in the '90s. The scuffle that resulted left Islam's body hanging in the town square. To drive home their warning to the locals, the militants also shot the teacher's father.

Pakistan Poses a Growing Challenge for the Obama Administration

Fazlullah's supporters have blown up 173 schools, 105 of them for girls, since 2007, Sher Afzal, a Pakistani education ministry official, said last month.
'Out of control'
Kamal Hyder, Al Jazeera's correspondent in the Swat valley, said that decapitated bodies of
policemen, left with notes warning authorities, were now a common sight on streets in the area.

Pakistani Taliban rule Swat valley

Pakistan has a very weak civilian government that for all intents and purposes serves at the
pleasure of the military and ISI( inter-services intelligence agency, their version of the CIA).
The ISI supported the Talibans rise to power in Afghanistan and have nurtured the Kasmir extremist
groups for several reasons. In large part it's been done as a foil for their arch-enemy India,
but there are some elements in both the ISI and military that are cut from the same ideological
cloth as the extremists.

Pakistan also has nukes. That's something that really concerns me.

I've been following this situation for awhile, and there are developments almost everyday, though
they don't usually make it into big MSM. Here's a few from the last couple days:
Pakistan-Taliban Swat battle rages
Fresh attack on Pakistan lorries
Blast damages under construction bridge in Mardan
Swat militants seize police checkpoint, detain 30 cops
Rocket attack on police checkpoint in Mianwali: Police

And for some background, chapters 4&5 of this PBS Frontline War Briefing are pretty enlightening if you have about 15 minutes and a decent stream:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/warbriefing/view/4.html

If the situation deteriorates, when and how do you think the outside world should intervene?

Hasn't the outside world intervened already?

That's not a judgement question. Just a question.

others have tried to intervene, as I saw in the video, Russians etc, and have been defeated....soundly.

Very good post, btw. Thought provoking and extremely well constructed (no opinionated bullshit)

[thomasjay]

Hasn't the outside world intervened already?

That's not a judgement question. Just a question.

others have tried to intervene, as I saw in the video, Russians etc, and have been defeated....soundly.

Very good post, btw. Thought provoking and extremely well constructed (no opinionated bullshit)

No the Russians etc. have tried to intervene in Afghanistan, not Pakistan. The overall documentary was about Afghanistan and Pakistan, so they may have mentioned the Soviets in that context.
The mujahideen in the Soviet-Afghan war used Pakistan as a safe haven like they're doing now against US and NATO troops. And the US and Saudi Arabia used the ISI to funnel weapons and funds to the mujahedeen, including the ones who turned into Taliban and al-Qaeda.

[catch-22]

Hasn't the outside world intervened already?

That's not a judgement question. Just a question.

others have tried to intervene, as I saw in the video, Russians etc, and have been defeated....soundly.

Very good post, btw. Thought provoking and extremely well constructed (no opinionated bullshit)

No the Russians etc. have tried to intervene in Afghanistan, not Pakistan. The overall documentary was about Afghanistan and Pakistan, so they may have mentioned the Soviets in that context.
The mujahideen in the Soviet-Afghan war used Pakistan as a safe haven like they're doing now against US and NATO troops. And the US and Saudi Arabia used the ISI to funnel weapons and funds to the mujahedeen, including the ones who turned into Taliban and al-Qaeda.

I knew you meant Afghanistan. That's why I asked if the outside world hadn't intervened already! Russia included, who got their ass whipped.

I ddin't miss your point about the US and the Sauds supporting the Mujahadeen against the Russians. I didn't know that! Is it common knowledge? Am I missing something? If I am, why aren't we better educated about this stuff?

[thomasjay]

I knew you meant Afghanistan. That's why I asked if the outside world hadn't intervened already! Russia included, who got their ass whipped.

I think we're having some confusion, which is probably my fault with bad wording. When I ask about how and in what circumstances the outside world might need to intervene, I'm talking specifically about Pakistan, not Afghanistan.
And the big factor to me is their nukes. I have no idea where they're all located or how secure they are, especially with extremist sympathizers in the Pakistani military, ISI and some of the political parties like Jamaat -e-Islami. If India doesn't see anyone else acting they'll probably act unilaterally, almost guaranteeing a nuclear exchange. And that in turn could well lead to the widest war in 60 + years.

[catch-22]

I knew you meant Afghanistan. That's why I asked if the outside world hadn't intervened already! Russia included, who got their ass whipped.

I think we're having some confusion, which is probably my fault with bad wording. When I ask about how and in what circumstances the outside world might need to intervene, I'm talking specifically about Pakistan, not Afghanistan.
And the big factor to me is their nukes. I have no idea where they're all located or how secure they are, especially with extremist sympathizers in the Pakistani military, ISI and some of the political parties like Jamaat -e-Islami. If India doesn't see anyone else acting they'll probably act unilaterally, almost guaranteeing a nuclear exchange. And that in turn could well lead to the widest war in 60 + years.

I see!
Do you think the Taliban could get their hands on the nukes if they continue to push into Pakistan, and if so what other targets could they set their sights on besides India?

I mean if the Taliban could become a nuclear threat to the US, for example, that could cause us to act with large scale conventional war rather than India nuking Pakistan.

I would go with that, I think.

[Americanadian]

If it's any consolation, if Al Qaeda does obtain Paki nukes, rest assured, Israel will take the brunt of them.

[thomasjay]

Do you think the Taliban could get their hands on the nukes if they continue to push into Pakistan, and if so what other targets could they set their sights on besides India?

I mean if the Taliban could become a nuclear threat to the US, for example, that could cause us to act with large scale conventional war rather than India nuking Pakistan.

I would go with that, I think.

The taliban and other extremist groups could get their hands on a nuke or nuclear materials if the sites are located in the areas they're pushing in to. Especially if the government troops guarding the facility have sympathies to their cause and don't put up much of a fight. A more likely scenario in my mind though is that the current civilian government may fall to a coup led by extremists in the military and ISI who won't even bother playing both sides anymore the way Musharaff did.
Other than India, there's not much they could hit besides US bases in Afghanistan. They don't have long range capabilities now and it's pretty implausible imo that the US or NATO would wait until they do before they went in militarily. Personally I don't think they're nuts enough to hit NATO bases, but they are definitely nuts enough to launch a first strike on India.
And then going back to Afghanistan, we're increasing troop levels and aid, which I think is a good move. But as long as the Afghani Taliban has safe haven across the border with their brethren and very likely Saudi funding through ISI, we face the same unwinnable quagmire we helped setup for the soviets.

I don't like feeling like a doomsayer, but I fear this is going to be Obamas war. Although I'm confident he'll have the judgement and right people around him to handle it.

I ddin't miss your point about the US and the Sauds supporting the Mujahadeen against the Russians. I didn't know that! Is it common knowledge? Am I missing something? If I am, why aren't we better educated about this stuff?

It was common knowledge and regular on the nightly news while it was going on during the Carter and Reagan years. Only then they were presented as pious freedom fighters against Soviet agression and godless communism. No mention that they also hated the West. But that seems to have gone down the memory hole, no doubt in part because in hind sight by supporting them as a cold war strategy, we created our new monsters.

There's a book written by one of the guys featured in the video, Steve Coll, that's a really good read if you're interested in this:
Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001
It's an objective history that reads like a Tom Clancy novel and will give you a few wtf moments. Most local libraries will have it because it was a 2005 Pulitzer prize winner.

[Cartoon Head]

It's odd, huh?

The Western media are obsessed with the idea that Iran might develop a nuke, when we have a nation such as Pakistan already with nukes!

I might ask the question, hey, if one nation is permitted nukes, why is another denied them, but that is something for another day.

The difference is that Western Governments are 'friends' with Pakistan, so are prepared to turn a blind eye, just as they are prepared to turn a blind eye to Saudi Arabia, as it suits them to.

Pakistan are certainly a larger and more equipped nation than Iran.

There is no question that among their government, they have those with an attitude to being war like.

There is a strong chance that various wanted men do hang out in Pakistan.

The US has to also (at least pretend), to be friends with India as well, to keep some sense of peace between those two nations.

[thomasjay]

What kind of ally is Pakistan?
Saturday, February 7, 2009

It could be an episode of "24." A rogue bombmaker peddles nuclear weapon technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya. He's caught but then set free in the seething, violent politics of his home country.

This isn't a Hollywood script. It's the real-life story of A.Q. Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear program. On Friday he was freed from house arrest in the country's capital in a move that drew sharp criticism from Washington.

Pakistani leaders served up the awkward news as a hands-off legal matter and the end of a lengthy court case that began when Khan was arrested in 2004. But it carries another meaning - a very troubling one - for Pakistan's neighbors and allies.

Quite simply, the nation isn't a reliable force for peace or stability in a central front of the terrorism fight. Khan was accorded the status of a populist hero, a scientist who gave his country a mighty weapon to hold far-bigger India at bay. When he set up a black market network to sell nuclear supplies to three of the worst countries imaginable, he was given wrist-slap treatment and protected from international investigators.

Pakistan's reputation needs shoring up. Its fitful efforts to eradicate Taliban strongholds have led the American military to send missile-equipped drone planes to do the job. The Mumbai attacks in November that killed 179 people were launched from Pakistan and have left relations with India at the brink of war. The assassination of presidential contender Benazir Bhutto last year was an additional low point.

Washington must take stock of its erratic and undependable ally. During his campaign, President Obama said he wouldn't hesitate to attack terrorists on Pakistan's soil, and in his first week in office, he followed through by permitting a drone attack on terrorist camps despite Pakistani protests. Even "smart power" and gentle diplomacy have their limits.

Another decision may come if Congress passes a $7.5 billion civilian aid package for Pakistan. At this point, it's hard to imagine the idea would win support, but if it did, there must be the guarantees the country would genuinely move against the Taliban.

There are appealing reasons to go easy on Pakistan. A new and fairly weak central government needs time to establish itself. Suicide bombs have killed more than 50 people since December in attacks tied to sectarian religious fights. Tensions exist between the nearly autonomous military and the civilian leaders.

The United States requires Pakistan in the terrorist fight. Washington is sending 30,000 more troops to reverse a losing, seven-year fight Afghanistan. The United States can't allow the Taliban to use next-door Pakistan as a safe harbor and training base.

Bombmaker Khan may be one nightmare in this region. But imagine another: a crumbling Pakistan that can't control extremists spreading across its home turf. That's a course all too plausible to envision.


What kind of ally is Pakistan?

[thomasjay]

Obama's biggest foreign policy challenge? It's Pakistan
A nearly completed U.S. military study is expected to say that nuclear-armed Pakistan, not Iraq, Afghanistan or Iran, is the most urgent foreign policy challenge facing President Barack Obama.

Pakistan - convulsed by a growing al-Qaida-backed insurgency, hamstrung by a ruinous economy and run by an unpopular government that's paralyzed by infighting and indecision - is critical to U.S. efforts to stabilize Afghanistan, thwart the spread of nuclear weapons and prevent tensions with neighboring India from escalating into a nuclear showdown.

The U.S. Central Command review is assessing the situation in the Middle East and South Asia as the Obama administration plans to draw down U.S. forces in Iraq and double the 30,000-strong American military presence in Afghanistan, several people involved in the study told McClatchy Newspapers. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the study is still underway and they weren't authorized to discuss it publicly.

The assessment, they said, is expected to recommend major changes in the U.S. approach to the volatile region, including major increases in U.S. aid to Pakistan in areas such as public education, health care and good governance, in a bid to stem the poverty and illiteracy that help fuel the country's Islamic insurgency.

Stepped up non-military aid also could ease popular anger at the government and its chief ally, the United States, which many Pakistanis accuse of stoking the insurgency by relying primarily on military offensives and missile strikes that have claimed numerous civilian lives, the officials said.

Such recommendations are consistent with an administration plan championed by Vice President Joseph Biden to give Pakistan $15 billion in non-military aid over the next 10 years. Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the U.S. has given Pakistan more than $7 billion in military assistance and just over $3 billion in non-military aid.

The administration's plan would condition new military assistance on the Pakistani Army's cooperation in curbing the insurgency and eliminating the refuges in the remote Afghan border region that the Taliban use to attack U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan and al-Qaida uses to train terrorists and plot new strikes on U.S. and other Western targets.

However, crafting a new U.S. policy on Pakistan is likely to be a daunting task for Obama and his special envoy, Richard Holbrooke, who's to make his first visit to the region this week.

"This will be a major policy challenge," warned Paul Pillar, a professor at Georgetown University in Washington who served as the top U.S. intelligence analyst on the region. "The situation is in flux."

Pakistan is slipping deeper by the day into political, economic, ethnic and religious chaos.

The Pakistani Taliban control most of the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan and have seized Swat, a valley 100 miles from Islamabad. Electricity and food shortages have sparked unrest and stalled industrial production, and the stock market has dropped more than 60 percent while the Pakistani rupee has fallen 30 percent against the dollar in the past year.

Meanwhile, the coalition government led by President Asif Ali Zardari, mired in infighting and incompetence, has failed to unite around a strategy to contain the crisis, and some U.S. and Pakistani experts warn that there's a growing danger that Pakistan could have its fifth military coup since it won its independence from Britain in 1947.

"The civilian leadership is weak and fearful of the inevitable in Pakistan, that it oversteps the mark and runs the risk of being removed (by the Army)," said Rashed Rahman, a political analyst based in Lahore. "It is a non-functional government. There is no legislative program. Parliament was always a talking shop in Pakistan, but they have taken it to new heights."

http://www.kansascity.com/451/story/1023703.html

[Cartoon Head]

So, what's the thrust then, fella?

Pakistan is a dangerous political ally?

Perhaps better to have them as allies, than as enemies, that is probably what the West think, I would imagine.

There are usually no morals or ethics when it comes to selecting an ally.

There is a groundswell of support for Israel in the US, one could argue that Israel are an unstable and expensive ally, for the US to have.

[thomasjay]

India's Congress wants Pakistan declared terror state

(Corrects to make clear it is Congress Party, not Indian government)

By Bappa Majumdar

NEW DELHI, Feb 7 (Reuters) - India's Congress Party on Saturday said the international community should consider declaring Pakistan a terrorist state in light of the latter's release of a scientist who sold nuclear secrets around the globe.

"It is time for the international community to think whether to declare Pakistan a terrorist country," Manish Tewari, the Congress party spokesman said in New Delhi, in reference to the end from house arrest of Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan.

India's Congress Party rules in a coalition, and the call to the world community was from the party, not from the Indian government.

Khan, the man at the centre of the world' most serious nuclear proliferation scandal, was released on Friday after five years of house arrest.

Revered by many Pakistanis as the father of the country's atomic bomb, he confessed to selling nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya in 2004. He was immediately pardoned by the government, although his movements were restricted.

India's Congress party, which faces election in April, where security is likely to be a major voting issue, said Khan's release was a serious security concern.

"Defending him proves Pakistan as not only an exporter of terrorism, but has also given rise to doubts of certain countries, including (United States) America, that nuclear weapons could go into the hands of terrorists," Tiwari told reporters.

Earlier, the Indian army chief said militant camps in Pakistan were thriving and had increased in the past year, as India put pressure on Islamabad to bring militants behind last November's attacks in Mumbai to justice.

"I would not talk about the numbers specifically right now...but infrastructure is existing and active," General Deepak Kapoor told the Press Trust of India (PTI).

India has said the militant attack on its financial capital Mumbai last November, in which 179 people were killed, was planned from a camp in Pakistan.

Relations between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan have been strained since then, with India saying Pakistan was not doing enough to rein in militants.

Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon said this week Pakistan's main spy agency was linked to planners of the Mumbai attacks.

Pakistan has denied any involvement by state agencies and has said it was investigating a dossier of information from India, to which it will reply next week. (Additional reporting by Sujoy Dhar in Kolkata; Editing by Matthew Jones)

http://uk.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUKL7478886

[thomasjay]

So, what's the thrust then, fella?

Pakistan is a dangerous political ally?

Perhaps better to have them as allies, than as enemies, that is probably what the West think, I would imagine.

There are usually no morals or ethics when it comes to selecting an ally.

Yes, the thrust is they are an unstable, duplicitous ally. I think you're absolutely right about the Wests thinking, but the situation is so precarious that whether they will maintain even the semblance of being an ally is tenuous. Depending on developments there may need to be some serious re-evaluation and hard decisions made.

There is a groundswell of support for Israel in the US, one could argue that Israel are an unstable and expensive ally, for the US to have.

Steve, I appreciate what you're saying, but I'd like to keep I-P out of this thread. There's going to be plenty to discuss without getting into that.

[thomasjay]

This happened yesterday in Punjab province. This isn't one of the border tribal regions, this is the heart of Pakistan.

February 7, 2009 -- Updated 0822 GMT (1622 HKT)

Militants attack Pakistan checkpoint

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Eight police personnel were killed in an early-morning attack Saturday on a police security checkpoint in Pakistan's Punjab province, a police official said.

The attack happened at 3:30 a.m. Saturday (2230 GMT Friday). Some personnel were asleep in the checkpost guard quarters and others were standing guard when unknown militants attacked the checkpost from their vehicle, a police official from the Mianwali district of the province said.

All the men were killed by gunfire. The attackers then blew up the checkpost with explosives, the police official said.

The checkpoint was part of the NATO supply routes transporting goods from the port city of Karachi through Pakistan's northwestern region and tribal areas into Afghanistan.

Police told CNN that an attack a few days ago also targeted a checkpoint in the Mianwali district. Rocket fire damaged the top level of building but no one was killed in the attack.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/02/07/pakistan.attack/

[Cartoon Head]

It's possible that matters could be re-evaluated under a new President, albeit, I have the feeling he seems to want to build bridges, rather than break them.

Not saying that is a bad thing, on the contrary, it is usually a good thing.

[thomasjay]

February 16, 2009

Perves Musharraf was playing 'double game' with US
Washington sent Special Forces into Pakistan last summer after intercepting a call by the Pakistani army chief referring to a notorious Taleban leader as a “strategic asset,” a new book has claimed.

The intercept was ordered to confirm suspicions that the Pakistani military were still actively supporting the Taleban whilst taking millions of dollars in US military aid to fight them, according to the “The Inheritance,” by the New York Times correspondent David Sanger.

In a transcript passed to Mike McConnell, the Director of National Intelligence in May 2008, General Ashfaq Kayani, the military chief who replaced Pervez Musharraf, was overheard referring to Maulavi Jalaluddin Haqqani as “a strategic asset”. The remark was the first real evidence of the double game that Washington had long suspected President Musharraf was playing as he continued receiving US military aid while aiding the Taleban.

Mr Haqqani, a veteran of the anti-Soviet mujahidin wars of the nineties, commands a hardline Taleban group based in Waziristan and is credited with introducing suicide bombing into themilitants’ arsenal.

Washington later intercepted calls from Pakistani military units to Mr Haqqani, warning him of an impending military operation d esigned to prove to the US that Islamabad was tackling the militant threat.

“They must have dialled 1-800-HAQQANI” a source told Mr Sanger. “It was something like, ‘Hey, we’re going to hit your place in a few days, so if anyone important is there, you might want to tell them to scram’.”

The intercept was the clue that led the CIA to uncover evidence of collusion between the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) and Mr Haqqani in a plot to carry out a spectacular bombing in Afghanistan. Two weeks later, India’s Embassy in Kabul was bombed, killing fifty-four people and prompting a CIA mission to Islamabad to challenge the government with their evidence.

The first cross-border strike took place in early September without Islamabad’s knowledge after Washington concluded that no one could be trusted with the information.

General Kayani, a former ISI chief, became army chief when Mr Musharraf relinquished that post in 2007, a year before he was forced to quit as president. Worryingly for Washington, General Kayani remains Pakistan’s army chief.

Mr Musharraf reacted angrily to the book’s allegations of double-dealing, which appeared in the Pakistani press for the first time today. “Get your facts correct, I have never double-dealt,” Mr Musharraf told Pakistani television stations.

“There is a big conspiracy being hatched against Pakistan, to weaken the Pakistan army and the ISI to weaken Pakistan.”

Mr Sanger’s book, detailing the foreign policy challenges inherited by the Obama Administration, was published in the US last month. In it, US intelligence officials also speak of their fears that Islamist militants might launch a spectacular attack on Indian soil in the hope of ramping up tensions on the subcontinent, leading Pakistan to deploy its nuclear weapons.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5747696.ece

[thomasjay]

* article is from June 26, 2008

Pakistani Taliban Say They Killed 28 Men From Peace Group
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — The bodies of 28 members of a government-sponsored peace committee were found dumped on a road near the tribal area of South Waziristan on Wednesday, Pakistan officials said. The Pakistani Taliban said the men were killed because they supported the government, according to a Taliban statement made to a local journalist.

The peace committee was attacked by forces of Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, near the town of Jandola on Monday, not far from the Afghan border, said the district coordinating officer, Berkatullah Marwat.

The attack on the peace committee sent a particularly chilling message because it was a brutal tactic by Mr. Mehsud’s forces to quash pro-government groups in the region, tribal elders said. The killings appeared to be a direct challenge to the policy of the new Pakistani government to negotiate with militants rather than use military force. Some of the men had been shot; others had their throats slit.

“This is a message to the tribal area that whoever sides with the government will meet the same fate,” said Mirza Jihadi, an elder from the tribal areas. He added that the killings of the peace committee members were intended “as a lesson” to people who try to resist the Taliban.

Maulavi Omar, the spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, said Wednesday that the 28 men were killed on orders of a Taliban court that conducted proceedings against the men, according to the statement received by Sailab Mehsud, a journalist in the town of Dera Ismail Khan.

The dead were among 30 members of the peace committee abducted on Monday near Jandola. They were then taken about 50 miles to Spinkai Raghzai, the stronghold of Mr. Mehsud, put on trial and killed, according to the account provided by Maulavi Omar to the journalist. The other two men are still missing.

The 200- to 300-member peace committee, formed under the auspices of the government last year, was led by Hajji Turkistan, a powerful leader of the Bhittani tribe that has long opposed the Mehsud tribe of Mr. Mehsud.

Mr. Turkistan apparently escaped when the Taliban forces swept into Jandola to round up the committee, according to local residents. His house and houses belonging to other members of the committee were burned.

Army helicopters and personnel carriers moved into Jandola on Tuesday, but the military did not retaliate against the Taliban, who had surrounded the town, the local authorities said.

In another step that showed the escalating strength of the Taliban, villagers belonging to the Bhittani tribe, which dominates the peace committee, were ordered to leave their homes near the town of Tank.

Witnesses reached by telephone said that women and children were running away from their homes in sweltering heat on Wednesday. By nightfall one village of the Bhittani tribe had emptied out, and another was given a deadline of 9 p.m. for all residents to leave.

The Pakistani Army negotiated a cease-fire with Mr. Mehsud’s forces earlier this year and pulled its soldiers back from Mr. Mehsud’s territory after occupying his stronghold in the mountainous region of South Waziristan.

The army took journalists to Spinkai Raghzai last month to show them how its troops had routed Mr. Mehsud from his stronghold. But several weeks later, Mr. Mehsud invited journalists to the area to show that he was back in charge and that the army had pulled away.

The killings of the peace committee members came after a series of violent attacks by Taliban militants across the tribal region in the last few days, including the public killings of six men, called criminals by the Taliban, in the Orakzai Agency, one of seven agencies in Pakistan’s tribal areas.

On Wednesday, the government convened a meeting of its top security officials in the capital, Islamabad, led by the prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani. At the meeting, the chief of the army, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, was given a mandate to use force in the tribal areas and the North-West Frontier Province when “verifiable intelligence” was available, Pakistani television stations reported Wednesday night.

But the reports also said that the use of force against the militants would be in keeping with current government policies and used only as “a last resort.”

“Pakistan will not allow its territory to be used against other countries, especially Afghanistan, and under no circumstances will foreign troops be allowed to operate inside Pakistan,” the government said in a statement after the meeting.

The statement showed the concern within the government that American or Afghan troops might intervene in the tribal areas to stem the stepped-up flow of Pakistani militants into Afghanistan, where they join the Afghan Taliban to fight NATO and American forces.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/26/world/asia/26pstan.html?_r=1

[thomasjay]

Pakistan to end military operation and implement sharia in Malakand Division

By Bill RoggioFebruary 15, 2009 11:22 AM


The Pakistani government has negotiated an agreement with the Taliban in the war-torn district of Swat to end the fighting in exchange for the implementation of sharia, or Islamic law in a large region of the Northwest Frontier Province.

Negotiations on the five-point agreement have been conducted between the government of the insurgency-infested Northwest Frontier Province and Sufi Mohammed, the spiritual leader of the Movement for the Implementation of Mohammad's Sharia Law, and Mullah Fazlullah, the leader of the Swat Taliban and Sufi's son-in-law.

The provincial government agreed to allow for the implementation of sharia law the entire Malakand Division, a large region in the Northwest Frontier Province made up of the districts of Malakand, Swat, Shangla, Buner, Dir, and Chitral, Geo News reported. The government agreed to end the military operation in Swat and participate in the "rebuilding process," ARY Television reported. Girls schools, which have been savaged by the Taliban and forced to close, will be reopened.

Sufi Mohammed's Movement for the Implementation of Mohammad's Sharia Law will be at the forefront of establishing a new political administration in Swat, according to the according to the ARY Television report. He "will pave public opinion for a new local administration, to be established in Swat, by holding public gatherings throughout the district."

Other parties have been advocating for the implementation of sharia. Imran Khan, the leader of the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf, or the Pakistan Movement for Justice, called for the government to allow for sharia law not just in the tribal areas and the northwest, but throughout the country. Khan and his party are considered moderate by some observers of Pakistan.

"The government must devise new policy to safeguard the interest of Pakistan rather than the US in the region," Khan said, while criticizing the government for allowing Predator strikes to be launched against al Qaeda and the Taliban from its territory. "On one hand the government is carrying out drone attacks on its own people while shedding crocodile tears on the other," Khan said, referring to the recent disclosure by a US senator that the US is operating Predators strike aircraft from Pakistani soil.

Three large protests were held in Swat and Peshawar, the provincial capital, advocating for sharia. University student protested in Peshawar, while a local non-governmental organization called the "International Human Rights Commission" demanded the immediate implementation of sharia in Swat.

The current agreement to implement sharia in the Malakand Division and end the fighting in Swat mirrors a similar deal that was agreed upon by the same parties just 10 months ago. On April 22, 2008, Sufi was freed from prison in exchange for the implementation of sharia and an end to the fighting in Swat.


Mullah Fazlullah. Click image to view the slideshow of the Taliban Leadership in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The deal collapsed over the summer. Sufi's followers and the Swat Taliban claimed the government failed to allow for the implementation of sharia, while the Swat Taliban continued to attack police and military forces in Swat and throughout the region. Another peace agreement signed between Fazlullah and the government in May 2007 also failed.

Pakistani forces have been fighting Islamist aligned with Fazlullah since November 2007. Fazlullah runs the Movement for the Implementation of Mohammad's Sharia Law in Swat and merged with Baitullah Mehsud's Tehrik-e-Taliban, or the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, in December 2007.

The Movement for the Implementation of Mohammad's Sharia Law (Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammad or TNSM) is known as the "Pakistani Taliban." This group is behind the ideological inspiration for the Afghan Taliban. The TNSM sent more than 10,000 fighters into Afghanistan to fight US forces during Operation Enduring Freedom in October 2001. Sufi's forces were decimated in US airstrikes and he was arrested after returning to Pakistan. His group was later banned.

Fazlullah has successfully organized a campaign opposing polio vaccinations and has forced the closure girls' schools throughout the region. More than 200 schools have been destroy in Swat since fighting began in 2007. He advocates sharia and violence against the government on broadcasts on his illegal FM radio.

The fighting has destroyed Swat's once thriving tourist industry. Fazlullah's forces have burned down the popular ski lodge and bombed the lifts.

The TNSM also holds sway in other war zones in Pakistan's northwest. Faqir Mohammed is the leader of the TNSM in the Bajaur tribal agency. The military has failed to defeat Faqir's forces despite waging a brutal military operation that began in July 2008. Bajaur is a stronghold for the TNSM and serves as a major hub for al Qaeda and Taliban operations in eastern Afghanistan. The joint al Qaeda and Taliban Shadow Army has conducted operations alongside Faqir and Fazlullah's forces in Bajaur and Swat.

The peace agreement will ease the pressure on the Taliban in Bajaur, provide a safe haven neighboring areas, and allow the Taliban and allied extremist to concentrate forces in the tribal agency.


For additional information on the situation in Swat, see:

• Taliban capture, release 30 security personnel in Swat
Feb. 4, 2009
• Pakistani forces regain control of region in Swat
Feb. 1, 2009
• Swat Taliban summon government officials to sharia courts'
Jan. 25, 2009
• Taliban rule Pakistan's 'valley of death'
Jan. 23, 2009
• Pakistan 'lost control' in Swat
Dec. 6, 2008
• Taliban rampage in Pakistan's Swat district
June 27, 2008
• Pakistani government inks peace deal with Swat Taliban
May 21, 2008
• Swat joins 'Talibanistan'
July 7, 2007

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2009/02/pakistan_to_end_mili.php

[Big Slick]

I find it interesting "terrorist" is the new "communist".

During the cold war the whole world was trying to rid the world of communist. Those evil communist were a threat to the safety of everybody. Every country wanted to accuse their enemies of being communist. That plan grew tired and everyone moved on to the next threat. Nothing ever happened, communism still exists today.

Now it's terrorists. Those evil terrorists are going to destroy the world. India wants to delcare Pakistan a terrorist state. The US wants to declare Iran a terrorist state. It goes on and on. I would guess this too will eventually go away without much happeneing. 20 years from now we'll be worried about the next big threat that's going to destroy the world.

Who knows maybe it will be capitalism under fire. What if the US were on the receiving end of global hostility, like the USSR in the 80s and Iran currently. Wonder how different this country would be.

[Cartoon Head]

I find it interesting "terrorist" is the new "communist".

During the cold war the whole world was trying to rid the world of communist. Those evil communist were a threat to the safety of everybody. Every country wanted to accuse their enemies of being communist. That plan grew tired and everyone moved on to the next threat. Nothing ever happened, communism still exists today.

Now it's terrorists. Those evil terrorists are going to destroy the world. India wants to delcare Pakistan a terrorist state. The US wants to declare Iran a terrorist state. It goes on and on. I would guess this too will eventually go away without much happeneing. 20 years from now we'll be worried about the next big threat that's going to destroy the world.

Who knows maybe it will be capitalism under fire. What if the US were on the receiving end of global hostility, like the USSR in the 80s and Iran currently. Wonder how different this country would be.

V good post, mate.

There always has to be a 'bogeyman', it seems.

The puppetmasters rely on it.

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