Three US drone attacks in 12 hours

NORTH WAZIRISTAN: Three US missile strikes killed at least 18 suspected militants in North Waziristan on Wednesday, in the third such strike in 12 hours and seventh in six days.

US military as a rule does not confirm drone attacks.

Two attacks took place in Danda Darpa Khel village, five kilometres northwest of Miramshah, the main town in North Waziristan tribal district.

“At least 10 alleged militants were killed in the US drone attack which targeted the compound of a local militant, Abdul Aziz,” a senior security official in the area told AFP news agency, adding that the death toll may rise.

Later on Wednesday night, another drone fired three missiles in the area. “The target was a militant compound. Four militants have been killed but the death toll may rise,” said a security official based in Peshawar.

Officials said the nationalities of the dead militants were not yet known. Intelligence officials in the region have confirmed the strike and casualties.

The Long War Journal reports that the village of Danda Darpa Khel is in the sphere of influence of the Haqqani network, the al Qaeda-linked Taliban group led by mujahedeen commander Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son Siraj.

The Haqqani family runs the Manba Ulom madrassa in the village of Danda Darpa Khel, a hub of activity for the group. The US has struck at targets in Danda Darpa Khel nine times since September 2008.

In the third attack, a US drone fired two missiles which struck a vehicle, killing four alleged militants in Amboor Shaga village of Datta Khel town in North Waziristan tribal area, 40 kilometres west of Miranshah.

Datta Khel is the stronghold of Hafiz Gul Bahadar, a Taliban commander who is viewed as a “good Taliban” by the military as he does not advocate attacks on the state. Bahadar supports attacks in Afghanistan and shelters al Qaeda fighters in tribal areas under his control.

The US military as a rule does not confirm drone attacks, but its armed forces and the Central Intelligence Agency operating in Afghanistan are the only forces that deploy pilotless drones in the region.

More than 1,040 people have been killed in 122 drone strikes since August 2008, according to AFP statistics. Officials in Washington say the drone strikes are a vital tool needed to protect the 150,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, and have killed a number of high-value targets including Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud.

(WITH ADDITIONAL input FROM IFTHIKAR FIRDOUS and Zehra Abid)

In Bajaur, Pakistan Army faults U.S. strategy

Sandeep Dikshit

KHAAR (BAJAUR): After a bloody campaign that lasted six months, the Pakistan Army has restored control over this tribal agency that nearly fell last year to a rampaging Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). As the Army helicopter swept down towards the fort, it was clear that the Army and the paramilitary Bajaur Scouts were putting their best foot forward to showcase an area that had gone out of state control to militias aligned with Behtullah Mehsud’s TTP.

Rosy-cheeked children, girls and boys, stream out of schools, the older ones taking home provisions of sugar and flour, the younger ones stopping to wave at the hurrying convoy. People are clustered around a pack of shops crammed with medicines near one of the biggest hospitals in the region. And the few general-purpose shops open have multi-coloured sweets.

Three of the area’s top TTP leaders are on the run. A meticulously dug cave near the village of Damadola was assaulted and captured, and operations are on in the higher mountain reaches that enclose the wide valley of Khaar town and its adjoining villages.

No road map to break ongoing cycle of violence

By Asif Haroon Raja

When the US decided to invade Afghanistan in October 2001, both Afghanistan and Pakistan were on very friendly terms. For the first time in Pakistan’s history its western border had become safe.

Within Pakistan, FATA and Balochistan were peaceful and people of the two regions were as patriotic as of any other region. Suicide attacks or car bomb blasts were unheard of. Tribesmen of FATA stood fully committed to defend western border at their own. It was owing to their sense of patriotism that Pak government never felt the need to send regular troops there. Small scale localized skirmishes were dealt by the Political Agent who had at his command Khasadars and Frontier Constabulary.

On rare occasions assistance of Frontier Corps was sought. Despite common ethnic and religious affinities between the people living both sides of the Durand Line, the people of FATA never allowed foreign influence to penetrate within their domain. Afghanistan government’s machinations never made any impact on them despite extreme poverty and underdevelopment in FATA. Likewise NAP, latter ANP’s desire for Pakhtunistan failed to cut ice in FATA.

UN Comission Report on Benazir Bhutto Murder

United Nations has just released the report of UN fact-finding mission for Benazir Murder Case. Bhutto was killed in Rawalpindi in December 2007 during her election rally.

The commission headed by Heraldo Munoz, the U.N. representative from Chile, comments, “Bhutto’s assassination could have been prevented if adequate security measures had been taken.”

It also says :

“The commission believes that the failure of the police to investigate effectively Ms. Bhutto’s assassination was deliberate.” Also, “ The officials, in part fearing intelligence agencies’ involvement, were unsure of how vigorously they ought to pursue actions, which they knew as professionals, they should have taken.”

Note that the purpose of UN commission was fact-finding not fixing the responsibility.

The main points are :

Role of Tehrik-e-Taliban-Pakistan and Afghan Taliban

Brig. Asif Haroon Raja (Retd)

After 9/11, when Gen Musharraf was telephonically coerced by Washington, he quickly gave in to American seven demands. He agreed to side with untrustworthy USA which had a track record of leaving Pakistan high and dry in testing times, and to ditch Taliban regime which was anti-India and pro-Pakistan and had assured Pakistan of safe western border. He took a u turn at a critical time when both were badly in need of Pakistan support.

Musharraf took hasty decisions to change Afghan policy and to fight US war on terror in accordance with the wishes of Washington without taking into account its long term implications. His unwise decision to push the Army into South Waziristan antagonized the tribesmen compelling the defenders of our western border to turn their guns towards Pak Army, seen by them as a mercenary army of USA. It paved the way for our strategic assets in FATA becoming assets for our adversaries. Pakistan continues to suffer the blowback to this day.

Logically and morally, the US should have been highly obliged and indebted to Pakistan’s crucial support and should have gone out of the way to reward Pakistan handsomely for taking such a difficult decision which had grave ramifications for its security. Pakistan suffered grievous losses on social, political, economic and military planes while fighting futile war on terror. In terms of casualties, its losses far outnumber all other countries involved in war on terror. Pakistan having staked its security for protecting US interests was distrusted, maligned, coerced and destabilized. It was accused of double game and not doing enough.

India which did not shed a drop of blood was not only materially rewarded by awarding nuclear and defence deals but also made a strategic partner and given all out help to expand its influence in Afghanistan to emerge as a key player in Afghan affairs. Worst of all, CIA and FBI actively collaborated with RAW to cultivate Tehrik-e-Taliban-Pakistan (TTP) in FATA, Tehrik-e-Nifaz-Shariat-Muhammadi (TNSM) in Swat and dissident elements within Bugti, Marri and Mengal tribes in Balochistan to create lawlessness. Activities of rebellious forces were supplemented by foreign agents infiltrated from Afghanistan. The US strove to deprive Pakistan of its nukes and its media indulged in defamation campaign.

India is aiding TTP in FATA and BLA-BRA-BLUF in Balochistan. These outfits are being used for multiple purposes. Apart from the main objective of destabilizing Pakistan, these outfits are used for spoiling Pakistan’s relations with its neighbors. Kidnapping and killing of several Chinese officials working on development projects in Balochistan and in FATA were undertaken at the behest of India. Establishment of ETIM, a separatist organization vying for independence of Xingjiang province of China was reportedly based in FATA under the protection of TTP. Likewise, attacks on Imambargahs and targeting of Shia clerics and notables as well as acts of terror in Zahidan province of Iran using Jindollah group from Balochistan were RAW-CIA-MI-6 sponsored to fan Shia-Sunni conflict and to mar Pak-Iran relations. Jindollah’s leader Abdol Malik Regi who has recently been arrested was operating from Afghanistan and Dubai.

The Afghan Taliban should have carried a deep grudge since Pakistan not only betrayed them but also provided air bases, intelligence and logistic support to make US invasion successful. Pakistan is still continuing to make available its soil for transportation of war supplies to ISAF in Afghanistan. Several Taliban leaders including Abdul Salam Zaeef were handed over to USA to earn US goodwill and dollars. Conversely, Afghan Taliban should have joined hands with Pakistani Taliban, both driven by common ideological motivations, to avenge Pakistan’s betrayal. On the contrary they never fired a shot at Pakistan’s security forces. They refused to come to the rescue of beleaguered Hakimullah led militants in October-November 2009, even when the NATO-Afghan forces deliberately left the border facing SW open.

Finding that the US in connivance with India and Israel was playing dirty by indulging in covert operations in FATA, Swat and Balochistan, Pakistan wisely decided not to hound whatever few elements of Afghan Taliban and Haqqani group were present in Waziristan and to concentrate on quislings. In the wake of anti-Pakistan and pro-India Northern Alliance ruling the roost in Kabul and India striving to carve out a principle role for itself in Afghanistan after the departure of USA from the region, Pakistan is justified in keeping discreet contacts with friendly Pashtun Afghan factions.

It is ironic that Pakistan deceived Taliban and supported Karzai regime laden with Northern Alliance elements to earn the goodwill of USA but lost the goodwill of all three. It was greatness of Taliban that they ignored the great betrayal due to which they suffered a great deal and did not take it to their heart. It was black ingratitude of both Karzai led regime and US to deceive Pakistan and befriend India. Had the duo in league with India not played a double game to encircle and harm Pakistan, the latter would not have opened a window for the Taliban.

The coalition forces are fighting a protracted war in Afghanistan for the last eight years with least number of fatalities but they have got tired and weary and their morale has sunk low. The Afghan fighters on the other hand are fighting for the last three decades without any respite and have suffered colossal human and material losses. Still their resolve to continue fighting has not diminished. They show no sign of fatigue or loss of heart nor do they get over awed by the overwhelming numerical, technical, technological and firepower superiority of occupation forces. It is USA that has come down from the high pedestal and is eager to negotiate a deal with Taliban.

While the US has been constantly pressing Pakistan to do more, in actuality it is former that needs to do more. Pakistan Army with bare minimum resources, pitched against foreign trained and well equipped militants and having suffered heavy casualties has performed exceptionally well; high tide of militancy has been decisively enfeebled; morale of all ranks is high and each member is determined to root out the scourge of terrorism. Conversely, US led coalition forces enjoy vast superiority over their rag tag foes in men, material and intelligence resources. Despite being laced with all the advantages and with very low casualty rate, their performance has been dismal.

Near 80% of Afghan territory has been lost to the Taliban despite US leadership self professed claim that entire leadership of Al-Qaeda and Taliban is in Pakistan. US leaders claim that 80% of Taliban are moderate and are prepared to ditch 20% hardcore Taliban led by Mullah Omar. They also say that not more than 100 Al-Qaeda operatives are in Afghanistan. If all these claims are true, why the heavy troop surge and why so much fuss over biggest offensive in Helmand province when the expected opposition is so insignificant? Isn’t it ideal situation for beefed up coalition forces to effectively seal the border through mining, fencing and establishing posts along the border to prevent Pakistan based leaders from influencing the battles in Afghanistan and then deal with the leaderless Taliban and win the war hands down? The woven story to cover up failures needs lot of fine tuning.

Of late there is a noticeable change in the overall demeanor of USA towards Pakistan. It has belatedly dawned upon the US military that victory is not possible and safe withdrawal is the only realistic course of action left. They have realized that Pakistan in connivance with Afghan Taliban and not India or Northern Alliance would be able to arrange an honorable exit. But for this changed security situation, the US would not have changed its offensive posture towards Pakistan.

Subtle shift in US policy is not because of change of heart but because of self serving expediency. Pakistan should therefore remain wary of American moves rather than feeling euphoric that it has regained trust and confidence of USA. Under no circumstances should Pakistan hand over recently nabbed Afghan Taliban leaders like Mullah Ghani Baradar, Maulvi Kabir, Mulla Abdul Salam and Mulla Mir Muhammad either to USA or to Afghanistan since it will bring back the memories of black deeds of Musharraf. Ajmal Kasab being Pakistani national is in Indian captivity since November 2008 and has not been handed over to Pakistan. Why should Pakistan be in a hurry to hand over Afghan captives to Afghanistan ruled by US installed puppet regime whose days are numbered? After the withdrawal of foreign forces, if God forbid another bout of internecine war takes place in Afghanistan, it will not be among the Pashtuns but possibly between Pashtuns and non-Pashtuns in which the former would emerge victorious. It is therefore a strategic compulsion of Pakistan to keep the Afghan Pashtuns friendly. They must not be betrayed again.

Unlike Afghan Taliban, the TTP does not have a strong cause. While the former are fighting against occupation forces and US installed Afghan regime and US trained so-called Afghan National Army which is national in name only (over 70% are non-Pashtun) to free their country, the TTP are up against Pakistan security forces. They succeeded as long as the people believed that they were better Muslims who wanted to replace un-Islamic parliamentary and judicial systems with Sharia and were genuinely keen to provide cheap and instant justice to the poor. Their barbaric acts of suicide attacks, kidnappings for ransom, slaughtering of captives, targeting mosques, destroying schools and denying women rights created serious doubts in the minds of the people since these practices went against the teachings of Islam. They still remained in two minds since they had got utterly disgusted with the role of parasitic rulers and rich class totally callous and insensitive towards the poor. Absence of justice and extreme poverty had driven them to a state of hopelessness and despair. They prayed for a healthy change and thought that the Taliban might redress their grievances and make their lives better.

The people felt ebullient when a treaty was inked in Swat in February 2009 for the establishment of Islamic courts in Swat and Malakand Division in return for Fazlullah militants giving up militancy. Amidst rejoicing by the people of Swat, the detractors of Pakistan unhappy with the changed security situation nudged Maulana Sufi to declare that he didn’t believe in Pakistan’s constitution, democracy and legal system. As if this bomb shell was not enough, Swat militants joined by Uzbek and Tajik fighters gave a new twist to the situation when they entered Lower Dir and Buner and started harassing the public. Western media upped the ante by raising alarm bells that the militants were too close to Islamabad and might takeover the capital city as well as nukes. These unprovoked offensive acts brought a sudden change in the perceptions of the people and for the first time they saw the other side of face of TTP and TNSM. Sufi-Fazlullah threw away the battle they had won through imprudent acts. From that time onwards, public support veered towards the Army.

Once the people saw with their own eyes the connection of RAW, CIA and Mossad with Swat militants and also learnt that several Imams of mosques as well as sizeable numbers of Taliban fighters were Hindus posing as Muslims, their revulsion for fake Taliban espousing the cause of Islam got intense. They vacated their houses to let the troops deal with foreign paid militants without any let and hindrance and to restore the pristine tranquility of Swat once again. Nearly 2.5 million people got displaced but the people of NWFP bore the brunt of 80% IDPs by sharing their homes and resources smilingly. They bore the economic burden at a time when prices of daily commodities had sky rocketed, there were no jobs and load shedding was at its peak.

Encouraged by the response of the people, the Army went about performing its tasks in its usual professional manner and succeeded in toppling well entrenched strongholds of the militants in Swat within -weeks as against the estimated timeframe of -weeks. Roaring success of operation Rah-e-Rast helped the Army to seize initiative and brought a happy change in the overall security environment. Going by the military principle of maintenance of momentum, the Army kept the militants on the run giving them no respite to rest and refit. Riding on the crest of success, the Army leadership took the critical decision of locking horns with the main base of TTP in South Waziristan (SW) where it was the strongest.

With active foreign support spread over several years, late Baitullah had filled up hundreds of unapproachable caves and tunnels with all sorts of sophisticated arms, explosives and ammunition. Some tunnels were converted into field hospitals while house compounds were utilized for training. Factories producing IEDs, suicide jackets and other gadgets were in operation. Militants were equipped with high-tech telephone and wireless sets and jamming devices. Hiace and toyata hilux vehicles were in plenty to move from one place to another. The two flanks of Mehsud belt were well protected by Ahmedzai Wazirs under Maulvi Nazir within SW and Othmanzai Wazirs under Gul Bahadur along with Haqqani network in North Waziristan. Baitullah’s successor Hakimullah Mehsud had 10,000 fighters and 2000 foreigners. Terrain and weather together with home ground also suited the militants. Despite enjoying all these advantages, Pak Army took just -weeks as against stipulated time of -weeks to uproot TTP defences and is holding the captured ground with absolute firmness.

The writer is a retired Brig and a freelance defence analyst who contributes regularly for local and foreign newspapers.

India seeks facts about HUJI chief ahead of talks

By Amir Mir

LAHORE: On the heels of the much-awaited Indo-Pak secretary level talks, Indian authorities have sought intelligence sharing from Pakistan regarding the possible whereabouts of Commander Ilyas Kashmiri, the fugitive Amir of the Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (HUJI), an al-Qaeda-linked Pakistani Jihadi group, which recently threatened to target several international sporting events being hosted by India this year.

According to well-placed diplomatic circles in Islamabad, Indian intelligence agencies want from their Pakistani counterparts credible information about the likely whereabouts of Ilyas Kashmiri and his possible links with some other Jihadi groups, especially Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) which is also believed to be involved in the February 15, 2010 bomb blast at the German Bakery in the Indian city of Pune in which 10 people, including two foreigners were killed.

The attack came hardly 24 hours after India and Pakistan agreed to resume their stalled foreign secretary-level talks in New Delhi from February 25. However, a few hours after the Pune bombing, an email message allegedly sent by Ilyas Kashmiri implied the involvement of his 313 Brigade, which is believed to be an operational arm of al-Qaeda, pursuing its Jihadi agenda in Pakistan while working in tandem with several other militant groups.

Diplomatic circles say some Pakistan-based pro-Kashmir Jihadi organisations have accelerated their terrorist activities to sabotage the Indo-Pak confidence-building process and scuttle the ice-breaking secretary-level talks between the two nuclear neighbours. Therefore, they say, Kashmiri’s recent threat to target the forthcoming international sporting events to be held in India was timed to derail the scheduled resumption of the Indo-Pak peace talks.

The text of the e-mailed message allegedly sent by Commander Ilyas Kashmiri on February 15 reads: “We warn the international community not to send their people to 2010 Hockey World Cup, Indian Premier League and Commonwealth Games (to be held in Delhi later this year). Nor should their people visit India – if they do, they will be responsible for the consequences. We, the Mujahideen of 313 Brigade, vow to continue attacks all across India until the Indian Army leaves Jammu Kashmir and gives the Kashmiris their right of self-determination. We assure the Muslims of the subcontinent we will never forget the massacre of the Muslims in Gujarat and the demolition of Babri Masjid. The entire Muslim community is one body and we will take revenge for all injustices and tyranny. We once again warn the Indian government to compensate for all its injustices. Otherwise, they will see our next action.”

Pakistani authorities believe Kashmiri is currently based in Mirali of the North Waziristan Agency. However, they point out while the HUJI Amir had only implied his group’s involvement in the Pune bombing, an unknown Jihadi group, Lashkar-e-Taiba al-Alami, officially claimed responsibility for the attack in a telephone call on February 17, made to an Islamabad-based Indian journalist, Ms Nirupama Subramanian.

Identifying himself as a spokesman on behalf of a group calling itself the Lashkar-e-Taiba al-Almi, an individual using the code-name ‘Abu Jindal’ said the bombing was carried out because of India’s refusal to discuss the Kashmir issue in the talks with Pakistan. ‘Abu Jindal’ said he was calling from Miramshah in North Waziristan, and the phone number used to make the call carried an area code common to the Waziristan belt. The caller also said the group had split from the Lashkar-e-Taiba because it took orders from Pakistan agencies.

While the Pakistan chapter of the Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami is led by Qari Saifullah Akhtar, its Azad Kashmir chapter is autonomous and headed by Ilyas Kashmiri, a veteran of the Kashmir Jihad who has spent several years in an Indian jail. He has reportedly conducted several major military actions in India, including the 1994 al-Hadid operation in Delhi, to get some of his Jihadi comrades released. His second-in-command at that time was believed to be Sheikh Ahmed Omar Saeed, already convicted for the murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl in Karachi.

Kashmiri was arrested by Pakistani authorities after the December 2003 twin suicide attacks on Gen Musharraf’s presidential cavalcade in Rawalpindi, but released a few weeks later due to lack of evidence regarding his involvement. He later shifted his base to North Waziristan on the Pak-Afghan tribal belt and joined hands with the then-Amir of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Baitullah Mehsud.

Temporarily switching from the freedom struggle in Jammu and Kashmir to the Taliban-led resistance against the Nato forces in Afghanistan, Kashmiri established a training camp in the Razmak area of North Waziristan and shifted most of his warriors from HUJI’s Kotli military training camp in Azad Kashmir. Since then, he has established himself as the chief of al-Qaeda’s shadow army – Lashkar-e-Zil (LeZ), a loose alliance of al-Qaeda and Taliban-linked anti-US militia which has distinguished itself by conducting unusual guerrilla operations, like the one that targeted the CIA’s Forward Operating Base in Khost on December 31, 2009. But lately, even the Pakistani security agencies suspect his involvement in the recent wave of suicide bombings in Azad Kashmir, targeting the armed forces. In May 2009, Ilyas Kashmiri was accused of plotting to kill Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani due to his role in the war against terrorism.

Down, But Not Out

Bruce Riedel, Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Saban Center for Middle East Policy
Aysha Chowdhry, Research Analyst/Publications Manager, Foreign Policy, U.S. Relations with the Islamic World

Reports that Hakimullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, has died from wounds inflicted in a CIA drone attack are welcome if true. But his demise is unlikely to significantly disrupt the Taliban’s operations. Since its birth just a few years ago the Pakistani Taliban has rapidly developed and matured into a formidable terror network reaching across the country. There may be some confusion at the top in replacing Hakimullah, but it will not deal the terror gang a mortal blow.

Pakistan Taliban commander Hakimullah Mehsud is seen with his arm around Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud during a news conference in South Waziristan.

Hakimullah took control of the group just last August when his predecessor Baitullah Mehsud was killed in another CIA strike. For Americans Hakimullah’s infamy was assured by his role in sending a Jordanian triple agent into a CIA forward operating base in Afghanistan on December 30, 2009. Al Khurasani, as he is known in his al-Qaeda nom de guerre, blew up the base, killing more CIA officers in one attack than any terrorist since an attack in Beirut in 1983.

For Pakistanis, the Taliban has been even more devastating. According to a Pakistani think tank, over 25,000 Pakistanis were killed or wounded in terror-related violence last year. Around 5,000 were killed or wounded in suicide bombings linked to the Taliban. The Pakistani army’s two offensives against the Taliban, first in the Swat valley last summer and then in south Waziristan this fall, have so stretched the army’s resources that it told Secretary of Defense Bob Gates last month that it will not be able to conduct another large-scale offensive against the Taliban for at least six and probably twelve months.

The Taliban has expanded far beyond its roots in the tribal areas of the Afghan border in just a few years. It has conducted attacks from Kashmir in the north to Karachi in the south. It still recruits most effectively in the Pashtun tribes, but it has also developed extensive support in the Punjabi heart of the nation. It has demonstrated an uncanny ability to strike deep inside some of the most fortified secure zones of the country, including Rawalpindi, the nations’ military capital.

The group has also moved ever closer towards al-Qaeda. Khurasani’s attack was trumpeted in an al-Qaeda statement days after he struck, with the terror group saying his martyrdom was retaliation for CIA missions that had killed Baitullah and two al-Qaeda leaders. Hakimullah appeared in a video with Khurasni to underscore their close alliance.

The Taliban’s goal is to disrupt Pakistani society so as to make the country ungovernable, hoping that chaos will lead to a jihadist takeover. Their immediate objective appears to be to destabilize the country’s largest port, Karachi, by provoking ethnic and sectarian violence between the city’s various communities. Violence in Karachi directly threatens the NATO mission in Afghanistan as well, since more than three quarters of NATO’s supplies arrive via Karachi.

So Mehsud’s passing is merely a battle victory. Although his death may temporarily offset the momentum of the Pakistani Taliban, make no mistake, there are a hundred more Mehsud’s waiting in the shadows. The war is far from being decided.

Pakistan: Taliban Rebels Lose Another Leader?

Stratfor

NASEER MEHSUD/AFP/Getty Images
Tehrik-i-Taliban leader Hakeemullah Mehsud (L) and his deputy, Wali-ur-Rehman (R), in South Waziristan on Oct. 4, 2009

Summary

Hakeemullah Mehsud, the leader of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has reportedly died after succumbing to wounds sustained in a mid-January U.S. unmanned aerial vehicle strike. If the reports of Mehsud’s death are accurate, it will be the second time in six months that a TTP leader has been eliminated, which will pose a significant challenge to the group’s operational abilities.

Analysis

Confusion persisted Feb. 1 regarding the fate of Hakeemullah Mehsud, the leader of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the country’s main Taliban militant group. Reports indicated that Mehsud had succumbed to wounds initially suffered in a U.S. unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) strike on Jan. 14. The TTP has denied that Mehsud was killed as a result of the attack, as it did when TTP founder Baitullah Mehsud (Hakeemullah’s predecessor) was killed in an Aug. 5 UAV strike, and has vowed to deliver proof that Hakeemullah is alive.

For several weeks, the TTP issued denials that Baitullah had been killed before acknowledging that he had indeed been wounded, and then finally admitting that he had in fact been killed. Until that point, the only official word on Baitullah’s death had come from Pakistani and American authorities, and it is thus likely that it will be some time before the TTP confirms if Hakeemullah went the way of his former boss.

If and when it is established that Hakeemullah is dead, it will have a significant impact on the group’s operational abilities. Losing both the founder and the group’s most important field commander in the span of six months are not minor blows.

Before Baitullah was eliminated, the group’s operational tempo had declined for a few months – a situation that continued for another two months after his death. The group struck back with great ferocity during the last few months of 2009, engaging in unprecedented attacks in terms of target set and geography. During this time, the TTP was forced out of its main sanctuary in South Waziristan as a result of the Pakistani Army’s offensive there, which could explain why the group has entered another largely dormant phase since the Dec. 15 attack in Dera Ghazi Khan. The only significant TTP attack since that date was staged in Karachi during the Muslim holy day of Ashura, an isolated incident by the group, which was operating in a new area.

Now, during this period of reorientation following the ouster of the TTP from its old base of operations, the group has reportedly lost its second leader.

In the event that Hakeemullah is truly dead, the group is unlikely to go through the power struggle it experienced following Baitullah’s death, as the TTP founder had not designated a clear successor. Hakeemullah, however, has a deputy, Wali-ur-Rehman, who is expected to take over so the group could be spared the internal jockeying for power, though factionalism cannot be ruled out. It should be noted that Wali-ur-Rehman is a political leader and lacks the operational experience of Hakeemullah, who ran the largest regional command in the central part of the tribal belt before becoming the leader of the group. This could also impact the group’s abilities to wage war against the Pakistani state.

The TTP may experience a certain drop in its capabilities if reports of Hakeemullah’s death are accurate, but this does not mean the group will be incapable of recovering, and it may in fact decide to increase the number of attacks it stages, as it did after finding its footing following Baitullah’s death. The next phases will be very telling in terms of how much degradation it has suffered.

Rundown on achievements of operation Rah-e-Nijat

Asif Haroon Raja
MARK THE TRUTH

Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) established by Baitullah Mehsud in December 2007 with the help of his foreign mentors spread its tentacles in whole of FATA and some settled parts of NWFP including Fazlullah led TNSM in Swat and also gained access in South Punjab. Swat Taliban lost public support when they refused to de-weaponise and abide by Swat agreement signed in February 2009 and let Nizam-e-Adl get introduced. Occupation of Lower Dir and Buner led to launch of Operation Rah-e-Rast on 28 April. Successful Swat operation and return of 2.5 million displaced persons to their homes turned the tide and forced the militants to run in panic. Establishment of linkage of militants with foreign powers and ongoing spate of acts of terror brought Taliban in bad books of public and demand for uprooting their main base in South Waziristan (SW) grew louder. The public as well as all political parties less JI, JUI and TI stood behind the Army.

Additional troops had started to move into Waziristan from July onwards in anticipation to a decisive battle in SW. USA had been exerting extreme pressure on our government to commence operation in Waziristan in conjunction with Swat operation. Army disfavored opening of two fronts simultaneously particularly when troops were engaged in Swat, Lower and Upper Dir, Buner, Shangla, Bajaur, Mohmand Agency, Khyber Agency and Darra Adam Khel. It would have amounted to dilution and dispersion of resources thereby losing concentration of effort in all sectors. It took its time to allow consolidation of gains made on Swat front.

Period from July to mid October was judiciously utilized for gaining intelligence to formulate plans, getting to know strength and weaknesses of militants, acclimatization of troops and familiarization of area of operations, completing its operational deficiencies, tying up nuts and bolts and streamlining drills how to confront challenges of IEDs, militants adept in guerrilla warfare and rugged terrain. For the first time, the army was not launched in haste and given adequate preparation time and moral support. During preparatory maneuver, troops continued with their creeping forward policy to isolate and encircle targeted area from multiple sides. This tactic curtailed liberty of action of Hakimullah led militants and gave psychological ascendancy to the military. At the same time, both Maulvi Nazir in SW and Gul Bahadur in North Waziristan (NW) were kept under tight control and no deal was made to keep them friendly.

Once go ahead was given by the government, operation Rah-e-Nijat was unfolded from three directions on 17 October. One prong moved from north to south along axis Razmak-Makeen, second from southeast to northwest along axis Jandola-Kotkai-Srarogha, the third from south to north along axis Shakai-Shrawangai-Ladha. Balanced force was employed on each axis of advance and movement made on broad front to overcome opposition with speed and to home on to vital complex of Srarogha-Ladha-Makeen. Three pronged maneuver aimed at outmaneuvering and encircling the adversary and blocking all avenues of escape or reinforcement from elsewhere. Soldiers climbed the rugged mountains like mountain leopards and rolled down to rupture the positions occupied by militants on hilltops.

Within fortnight, considerable progress was made on all axes causing disarray among militants. Wireless intercepts indicated signs of chaos among them. Many among them shaved their beards and trimmed their beards and ran for life. Troops on Razmak pincer secured Kot Azam and Cheena and then leapt towards critical position of Makeen. On Jandola axis, troops captured important places of Spinkai Roghzai, Kotkai which is hometown of Hakimullah and Qari Hussain and then over ran the pivotal position of Srarogha. On Shakai-Shrawangai axis, Shrawangai, Khaisura, Torwam Bridge and key town Kunigram were captured. Troops on this axis attacked vital target of Ladha, 8 km ahead of Kunigram on night of 3/4 November where after intense fighting in the streets, the town was captured on 5 November, much ahead of scheduled 7 November. Soon after, this force was asked to clear Makeen and link up with the force coming from direction of Kot Azam which it did with admirable speed and efficiency.

Although the militants put up stiff resistance at each point, however the resolve and determination of assaulting troops led by officers was so strong that they had to give in. Rapid successes made by the brave-hearts shattered centuries-old myth of invincibility of tribesmen of this region. Terrorists are failing and will fail because they are fighting for a wrong cause and at the behest of foreign powers. Huge caches of arms, ammunition, explosives, suicide jackets and material required for suicide jackets have been seized; chemical factories making IEDs taken over. Five truckloads of Indian origin arms, ammunition, medical equipment and literature were apprehended from Shrawangai. One laptop of 1000 GB with external drive containing all sorts of data, training lessons, and videos of criminal activities of so-called Taliban recovered.

Tunnels laden with armaments in hundreds have been discovered in captured areas. One of the tunnels in Kotkai was 500 meters long. These tunnels were in use for treating injured, for rest and refitting, for training and hiding suicide bombers and for making escape good. Houses with compounds and high mud walls where suicide bombers were imparted training have also been unearthed. Weapons and equipment seized include heavy MGs, RPGs, 12.7mm and 14.5mm guns, 107mm rockets, AK-47 rifles, SMGs, missile launchers, anti-aircraft guns, grenades, anti-tank mines, chemicals, explosives, wireless sets, jamming equipment. These were mostly Russian and Indian made.

It was foreseen that battle within Ladha-Makeen complex will be the hardest where top leadership of TTP is based and where majority of militants uprooted from forward positions would withdraw and would give last ditch battle. Large numbers have been killed and arrested. Most survivors have moved towards the western Shawal Range or into dense jungle northwest of Makeen. Occupation of critical triangle of Srarogha-Ladha-Makeen together with main communication lines has dismantled the TTP network and it is no more in a position to put up an organized fight except for sporadic raids. Maj Gen Rabbani led Division has made further progress west of Shrawangai-Kunigram-Ladha towards Shawal Range through search operations and cleared more militant nests and made more recoveries of armaments.

Although border security check posts along Afghan-Pakistan border were deviously vacated by US-Nato troops with sinister motives at a crucial time when operation had just begun, the scheme backfired. Much to the disappointment of detractors of Pakistan, Afghan Taliban categorically stated that they would abide by their policy of not confronting Pak Army. Spate of suicide attacks from September onwards were undertaken by bombers already launched from SWA. Involvement of Blackwater and RAW in terrorist activities in major cities of Punjab, NWFP is evident. India is desperate to ease pressure on beleaguered TTP since its massive investment is going waste.

New battlegrounds in NWA and Karachi are being created to stretch the Army. Orakzai Agency, which had become another breeding ground for suicide bombers, has been controlled through a focused FC operation resulting in curtailment of suicide attacks. Militants in Mohmand, Bajaur and Khyber Agencies too have been given no respite. Simultaneous and strenuous efforts by the Army and FC have begun to pay dividends. Tribal jirga of Mahsud tribe have agreed to hand over TTP chief as well as wanted 377 other militants and has announced its full support to the government.

Successful completion of Rah-e-Nijat would help in curbing terrorism to a great extent. The Army having played its part commendably, it is now the turn of political Administration to play its part to win the hearts and minds of the affected areas through relief and rehabilitation works together with development works and adopting people friendly rather than US friendly policies. FATA should be freed of presence of CIA and RAW agents and foreigners.

The writer is a retired Brig and a defence and security analyst.

Pakistan – Terrorist killed in FBI strike

Associated Press

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan – A U.S. missile strike in Pakistan killed one of the FBI’s most-wanted terrorists, a man suspected in a deadly 1986 plane hijacking with a $5 million bounty on his head, three Pakistani intelligence officials said Friday.

The death would be the latest victory for the CIA-led missile campaign against militant targets in Pakistan’s insurgent-riddled tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, a campaign that has recently escalated. One Thursday is believed to have missed Pakistan’s Taliban chief.

The intelligence officials said a Jan. 9 missile strike in the North Waziristan tribal region killed Jamal Saeed Abdul Rahim. The FBI’s Web site lists him as a Palestinian with possible Lebanese citizenship. The Pakistani officials called him an al-Qaida member, but the FBI site says he was a member of the Abu Nidal Palestinian terrorist group.

Rahim is wanted for his alleged role in the Sept. 5, 1986, hijacking of Pan American World Airways Flight 73 during a stop in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, according to the FBI site.

The hijackers demanded that 1,500 prisoners in Cyprus and Israel be released and that they be flown out of Pakistan. At one point, the hijackers shot and threw hand grenades at passengers and crew in one part of the plane. Some 20 people, including two Americans, died during the hijacking.

Rahim had been tried and convicted by Pakistan, but he and three suspected accomplices were apparently released in January 2008. All four were added to the FBI list late last year.

The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday. The three Pakistani intelligence officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they lacked authority to speak to media on the record. They cited field informants and sources in militant ranks.

But the information is nearly impossible to verify independently because access to Pakistan’s tribal regions is restricted.

North Waziristan is considered a key sanctuary for a range of militant groups, including al-Qaida and factions focused on battling the U.S. in Afghanistan. Pakistan has been resisting mounting U.S. pressure to wage an army offensive in the region.

In the meantime, the U.S. has been pounding it with missiles. A pair of missiles hit a house in the Mishta area of South Waziristan on Friday, the 10th such attack in roughly two weeks in Pakistan’s tribal belt bordering Afghanistan. Two intelligence officials told The Associated Press that the two people killed were suspected militants. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they did not have the authority to make such disclosures to the press.

Four of the drone-fired missiles landed Friday in the Zarniri area of North Waziristan, killing three people. The area is near where a strike Thursday killed 12 people but is thought to have missed its apparent target, Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud.

A purported audiotape of Mehsud denying his death emerged Friday but contained no specific reference to the missile strike.

The lack of a reference to Thursday’s strike means the tape could have been recorded prior, possibly to keep the Pakistani Taliban united in case Mehsud was incapacitated. Militants have in the past given misleading information about who lived and who died.

“Propaganda is spreading through the media that Hakimullah has been martyred, and propaganda is spreading that the operation in South Waziristan has successfully concluded. It can never happen,” Mehsud said in the Pashto language on the audio recording.

Another Pakistani Taliban militant played the audiotape for the AP reporter in a landline phone call, which the reporter recorded. The reporter recognized the voice as Mehsud’s.

Intelligence officials have said Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud appeared to have escaped the strike, while a local Taliban commander also denied rising speculation Friday that Mehsud was wounded.

“I can confirm that our emir, Hakimullah Mehsud, is alive. He is not wounded. He is leading the fighters in South Waziristan,” said the commander, Omar Khatab, in a walkie-talkie conversation with an Associated Press reporter.

Killing Mehsud would be a major victory for both Washington and Islamabad.

Under the 28-year-old’s watch, militant attacks in Pakistan have soared since October, even as the army has waged an offensive against the Pakistani Taliban in South Waziristan tribal region. Mehsud also appeared on a recent video with the Jordanian militant who killed seven CIA employees in a December suicide attack in Afghanistan.

Mehsud’s predecessor, fellow tribesman Baitullah Mehsud, died in a missile strike last August in South Waziristan. For nearly three weeks, militants denied his death even as U.S. and Pakistani officials said they were increasingly confident of it.

The Pakistani Taliban appeared in disarray for those initial weeks following Baitullah Mehsud’s death, with several reports emerging of a power struggle between Hakimullah Mehsud and the man who eventually became his deputy, Waliur Rehman.

In public, Pakistani government officials criticize the missile strikes and say the United States is violating their country’s sovereignty. But there is little doubt Islamabad agrees to at least some of the attacks and provides targeting information for them.

Image of the Beast

By Peter Chamberlin

Up until now, the United States has been able to exert control over most of the earth just by controlling the narrative that reflects popular opinion about the war on terror. Whatever government spokesmen or reporters have said happened on a particular day, was what really happened; it was validated by popular consent. The ability to shape people’s thoughts and opinions is a power that every tyrant has dreamed about. Global trust in the good intentions of the people of the United States moves individuals and entire nations to give American leaders the benefit of the doubt, even when common sense cautions against it.

Until fairly recently, popular opinion did not often call into question the American or allied version of events. Widespread civilian “collateral damage” from air strikes and disagreements between the Pakistani and American military have opened the door to questions about the very nature of this war and the leadership, or lack thereof, displayed by Western decision-makers.

The US has decided that to win the war in Afghanistan, it must attack its closest ally in the war, because allegedly, Pakistan is the state sponsor of the Afghan Taliban. The Pak Army refuses to fight all the militants in Pakistan at one time, because their numbers are so great and tribal connections run so deep that it would be suicidal. American leaders claim that such a nationwide Pakistani offensive is the only way that the war can be won. Pakistan, on the other hand, maintains that the US, India and Israel are the state sponsors of the “Pakistani Taliban” terrorist outfit which is waging war against the people of Pakistan. Since the United States controls the narrative, the whole world holds Pakistan accountable for all the terrorism in the world, no matter whether it is true or not.

Now is a good time to question American motives and CIA dishonesty as the primary source of problems in this war. Obama’s minor investigation into agency shortcomings demonstrated during the underwear bombing incident, the destruction of the CIA drone center in Khost and the scathing NATO report on US intelligence shortcomings (“Fixing Intel”), on the heels of the Eric Holder investigation of CIA torture-all of these ongoing problems scream of an out-of-control spy agency. We have entrusted the CIA to lead this intelligence-driven war and time after time, but the egomaniacal spooks have consistently dropped the ball.

But the CIA has done much worse than merely fumbling their appointed tasks, they have demonstrated malice and outright criminality in their multi-layered covert war, which goes far beyond targeting any real or imagined enemy, as the plan moves forward to wage war against the entire human race, in order to accomplish their Imperial goals. Obama touched on the problem indirectly when he said someone “took their eye off the ball,” but he did not pursue the idea to its obvious conclusion-a lot of people “took their eyes off the ball,” all at the proper time to make the “al Qaida” plan work. Clearly, there are assets in key security positions who facilitated the Yemen attack, just as there were complicit facilitators who made the 911 attacks happen. It is no coincidence that there seem to be crossovers between militant groups and the security agencies which are tasked with pursuing them. This is because the militant groups are all children of various intelligence agencies, most of them working under contract for the CIA, knowingly or not, at some point.

Pakistan is allegedly the “epicenter of terrorism,” but if that was true, then why do most terror attacks in the world happen in Pakistan? Do not forget that the CIA provides 50 percent of the ISI’s budget. The ISI is a primary American contractor, as is India’s RAW. Western popular opinion fully accepts the American/Indian narrative, that only Pakistan sponsors terror. This ignores revelations by former Indian spy chiefs, who have confirmed that India did sponsor thousands of terrorists within Pakistan in the past, under a program called “Counterintelligence Team X,” but this allegedly ended in 1998.

Contrary to Indian and American statements, India is still a primary state sponsor of terrorism within Pakistan, but Western apologists help hide that fact, because the CIA is a partner in the current operations. In the past, India’s RAW and the CIA have been adversaries. Up until the era of the India/US nuclear agreement that hostility prevailed between the agencies.

The ongoing controversy over American spy David Headley is not the only public embarrassment that RAW has suffered at the CIA’s hands. In 2004, RAW spy chief Rabinder Singh was caught obtaining documents for the CIA and meeting with a female agent at a local motel.

He escaped to the US, where he was located in New Jersey in 2006. The Indian government tried to extradite him, appealing the charges against him, he claimed that he quit the agency and fled to the United States after being ordered to “participate in an assassination plot against a senior religious Sikh leader.”

Sometime after the extradition papers were filed, the following document was posted on the Internet. That document, called Summer Offensive Report was on the operations of “Counterintelligence Team X,” Singh had formerly ran the “Counterintelligence Team J,” which terrorized the Sikhs in Punjab. The Report gives no clue as to who ran the “X” Team, but the name Alok Tiwari comes-up in another paper, titled “Operation Blue Tulsi.”

The Summer Offensive Report claims to describe Indian/Israeli operations against Pakistan in 2004, centered around the town of Wana. A new operation did begin in Wana that year, the beginning of the “Pakistani Taliban” (TTP) project. That operation began with the killing of Nek Muhammad on June 17. Arguably, it probably began in with the Ilyas Kashmiri attack upon Musharraf. After being picked-up by the security services, the former Pakistani Special Forces commando/militant was captured was allegedly tortured until his release in early ’04. The experience left him a shattered man and he retired from the jihad until 2007.

The guided missile attack that killed Nek set in motion the events that would bring Baitullah Mehsud to power. He inherited a ready-made army from his cousin Abdullah Mehsud, which formed the hardcore Uzbek center of the TTP. After his sudden release from Guantanamo to Afghanistan in 2002, Abdullah suddenly amassed thousands of Uzbek and Northern Alliance fighters and became endowed with millions of dollars in cash and tons of the most advanced weapons.

Until now, researchers have consistently charged that the Pakistani Taliban were sponsored by India and Israel, but have had nothing to prove this other than photos of tons of Indian/Israeli/American arms. The following from Summer Offensive Report reinforces those charges:

“The summer offensive includes establishment of 57 training camps in Occupied Kashmir, East Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Assam to train and launch terrorists inside Pakistan. Trainees are generally drawn from the Indian hatched dissident groups of Mohajir Qaumi Movement (MQM), Jiye Sindh Mohaz (JSM), Jiye Sindh Students Federation (JSF) and Balochi nationalists and other nationalist groups from various parts of Sindh, Balochistan and Tribal Areas.

For Pakistan RAW centers at London, Dubai, Iran, and South Africa operate against Pakistan jointly with Israeli MOSSAD.

India has opened Consulates (IOC’s) in Kandahar, Jalalabad, Mazar-e-Sharif and Herat, besides having an oversized diplomatic mission in Kabul.

Kandahar and Jalalabad are near the borders of Pakistan, which insinuates many things. The ongoing Wana operation is being fed cash, weapons and ammunition indirectly by RAW operatives under cover of Al-Qaeda. MOSSAD and AMMAN have also contributed heavily towards the funding and material requirements for these operations. The direct result of this was the effective slaying of 121 Pakistani regular infantry soldiers on Nov 8th’2004, just 3 days after the infusion of war material and assistance in logistics and planning operations of the tribals by operatives of RAW.

The summer offensive of RAW includes working on ethnic, regional, parochial and secular themes, which include Sindhu Desh Movement in Sindh, Saraiki Movement in Punjab, Tribal Balochis in the name of Greater Balochistan and taking advantage of Northern Alliance Government in Afghanistan and using its tentacles at Kabul, Jalalabad, Khost, Kandahar and Spin Boldak, the tribals in Waziristan and Balochistan are continuously being kept activated for fomenting trouble – while Taliban and Al-Qaeda are getting the blame and Pakistan gets the rap for “not doing enough” by US and “FRIENDLY” Afghan authorities.

After the Indian consulate in Karachi was wound up. RAW started maintaining contacts in their sources/links in Pakistan through their consulates at Zahidan and Dubai. Most of the staff at Indian Consulate in Zahidan is from intelligence/security organisations including RAW, Intelligence Bureau and Military Intelligence. The sizeable cover staff in their Embassy at Dubai under the pretence of tourist traffic. The set-ups are dedicated units mainly responsible for promoting ethnic unrest in Pakistan. They continue to provide financial and material support to various regionalist/sectarian parties in Sindh and Balochistan

UAE is being used as a launching pad for terrorist activities in Pakistan. Agents are getting hold of young, disgruntled elements and after carrying out their proper brainwashing, they are dispatched to Dubai. Indian Consulate in Dubai is issuing temporary passport to these activists for getting training/briefing. After completion of their formal training, they are launched into Pakistan to carry out their terrorist/sabotage activities.”

About the content:

I checked the Fata timeline and found the following-The Report claimed that “121″ soldiers were killed near Wana in a large attack sometime between Nov. 4 and 8, 2004-the timeline doesn’t list anything like that, but it does report that 140 soldiers and scouts were killed in or near Wana between March 16 and Dec. 9, 2004.

Beginning in November, the Report list dozens of rocket, mortar and land-mine/IED attacks around Wana.

The report author claims that the Indian embassy in Zeheden is the source of attacks in Iran, attacks that have probably been attributed to “Jundullah.” Jundullah did begin around Wana in ’04. The Report also mentions Amman, Jordan as a participant with Israel in the Wana effort. The suicide bomber who recently targeted the CIA drone base in Khost, Afghanistan was a Jordanian intelligence officer, related to King Abdullah, from the same hometown as “al Qaida in Iraq” leader Abu Musab Zarqawi. The Jordanian attacker was sent by Hakeemullah Mehsud, the commander of the Tehreek e-Taliban Pakistan, from Wana. It was a revenge attack for the killing of Baitullah.

more about “CIA Khost Bomber and Hakeemullah Mehsud“, posted with vodpod

Another document, which continues the alternative narrative since 2006 is the report titled, “Operation Blue Tulsi,” which began in early 2001, marking the start of Israeli/Indian operations against and within Pakistan.

By mid 2001 eyebrows were being raised over R&AW and Mossad’s cooperation and in July 2001 Janes Information Group reported that RAW and Mossad are cooperating to infiltrate Pakistan to target important religious and military personalities, journalists, judges, lawyers and bureaucrats. In addition, bombs would be exploded in trains, railway stations, bridges, bus stations, cinemas, hotels and mosques of rival Islamic sects to incite sectarianism. At the same time the Balochistan Liberation Army rose out of dead like a second incarnation and Balach Marri a Moscow graduate declares himself as the leader of BLA. Within weeks in Balochistan numerous training camps sprouted with each camp reported to be training up to a hundred militants. Agents from RAW, Mossad and CIA operating in Afghanistan started moving in.

In mid 2001 reports appeared that Special Operations Division of Mossad, also known as Metsada, specializing in assassinations and sabotage, has been based in India since May 2001 to train RAW operatives and Mossad and Shin Bet or Shabak were operating a number of teams in Indian Held Kashmir and were also operating a delicate spy network from Indian soil. In July 2001 RAW increased its budget for Indian consulates in Afghanistan by nearly 10 times.

Late in 2002 US and India signed an agreement on cooperation in disarming Pakistan’s nuclear assets and the two-player offensive team of OperationBlueTulsi found a third partner in the form of CIA. As a result of this deal Abdullah Mehsud was freed from Guantanamo Bay and returned to Pakistan with millions of dollars in cash.

By mid 2004, the government had ample evidence that BLA and some Baloch leaders were conspiring against the government, aided by foreign countries.

On 13 August 2004, the Chief Minister of Baluchistan, Jam Muhammad Yousaf is quoted by The Herald (Sep 2004-Karachi) as saying: “Indian secret services (RAW) are maintaining 40 terrorist camps all over the Baloch territory”.

Jan. 1, 2005 was the starting date. The local agents got the signal and the operation started with the ominous rape of a female doctor in Sui on 2 January 2005.

As expected the incident created headlines all around and culprits not being found created a widespread indignation. This was shortly followed by the firing of hundreds of small rockets at gas installation in Sui on 7 January 2005 which put a hole in the supply of gas to the rest of the country for an entire week.

Starting March 2007…,the numbers of ‘Pakistani Taliban’ in Swat surged and just their ammunition and their military hardware did. Some of this hardware was more advanced to what the Pakistani soldiers used.

A portion of this military hardware ended up in the ill-fated Lal Masjid. While intelligence and military were busy keeping Musharraf’s seat safe in Pakistan, a new political game started in the UAE.

Rehman Malik enthusiastically started pursuing the goal of National Reconciliation Ordinance. He became instrumental in the final deal between Benazir Bhutto, US and Pervez Musharraf and NRO.

Near the end of 2007, the intelligence and the military were convinced that a conspiracy had been hatched in the country with the sole aim of removing Musharraf from power.

The Assassination of Benazir Bhutto, simultaneous riots throughout the country, terrorist activities occurring in every province, all of this had considerable similarities to the Bush Administration-backed Color Revolutions. In order to keep Musharraf in power the government kept giving into one demand after the other. As a result Rehman Malik becomes head of Interior Ministry, Yusuf Raza Gilani becomes the Prime Minister of Pakistan and sweeping changes are made in the security and intelligence community. Still, the government saw the war finally over when in one move Gilani puts ISI under the Interior Minister on 27 July 2008.

The entire Wana-centric destabilization plan can be seen in the so-called Tehreek Taliban Pakistani movement, the Punjabi-Taliban influence and the leadership succession. In addition, it traces the roots of the entire “Islamist” psyop that grew from CIA/ISI operations against the Soviets and the Iranians. Anti-Shia sectarian terror outfits were formed in Pakistan, then sent into Afghanistan, where they slaughtered both Soviets and Shiites. After the Soviet defeat, they turned against the Iranian-sponsored Northern Alliance troops, before being fought to a standstill by the forces of legendary rebel leader

Ahmed Shah Mahsoud.

(Mahsoud was eliminated by a suicide bomber on September 10, 2001, his forces taken over by Uzbek General Abdul Rashid Dostum with the aid of one Amrullah Saleh, who is now the head of the Afghan secret police (NDS) and might be working for Iran.)

In ’07 the British operation in Helmand, Afghanistan, which had been centered around recruiting the brother of militant Mullah Dadullah, Mansoor was merged with the Indian/American/Israeli hotbed of terrorism in S. Waziristan. Baitullah was promoted to top dog in the militant hierarchy, as Benazir Bhutto was killed and Mansoor Dadullah took the blame. The Afghan Taliban transferred Dadullah’s forces to Mehsud, conferring legitimacy upon the operation, Mullah Omar not yet realizing that Baitullah was really anti-Taliban.

Mehsud’s Swat operation under radical disc jockey, Mullah Fazlullah, was the opening front of the Wana-trained forces against the Pakistani Army. It is no coincidence that there was not a single Predator attack against Fazlullah’s forces, and all drone attacks from that point on were against Baitullah Mehsud’s main adversary, Mullah Nazir in Wana. Nazir was the head of the Pak Army supported tribal lashkars who had run the Uzbeks of Mehsud out of Wana.

In 2008 Bush signed a secret order authorizing operations inside Pakistan and the Pakistani Army secretly acquiesced to American Predator show attacks upon former Guantanamo alumni. This provided a means to keep up the show for the American audience. It also opened the door to covert commando strikes in conjunction with action by the Pakistani Taliban.

The rest is history. On August 6, 2009, Baitullah Mehsud was mistakenly killed by an American guided missile, tracking a Pakistani-planted transmitter. It is likely that the CIA was tricked into killing Pakistan’s primary enemy. Ten days later, the tribal rival of Mehsud, Maulvi Nazir, who very likely had planted the tracking device, is killed by black-clad Special Forces type commandoes near Wana; probably payback from the United States.

The “AfPak” zone of conflict is a land of smoke and mirrors intended to put-on a show and simultaneously obscure the action on the ground. Beginning in 2007, the action obscured was a covert Indian/American war upon the people of Pakistan.

All the usual voices will chime in here, saying-”We didn’t create al Qaida; we didn’t sponsor Abdullah Mehsud, or Baitullah; we don’t create terrorists”! No matter how much they yell, the truth remains to be seen in these militants and their actions. After his release from Guantanamo, Abdullah Mehsud did not kidnap or kill Americans; he went straight after America’s greatest competitor, the Chinese. Likewise, in the case of Abu Musad al-Zarqawi, the leader of “al Qaida in Iraq,” after his release from Jordanian prison, his victims were usually Iraqi Shiites, not Americans. After being captured, abused and then released, both of these guys went after our enemies, no matter what the press has reported otherwise. Were they brainwashed, “Manchurian candidates,” or were they merely paid-off? US Rep. Mark Kirk has raised the issue that most of the militant leaders in southern Afghanistan were formerly held at Guantanamo and Bagram. Is that also a coincidence, or by design? “Islamists” are primarily a product of the intelligence agencies.

American/Israeli/Indian/Iranian/British hands are all extremely dirty after taking a walk on Dick Cheney’s “dark side” in Pakistan and they owe a heavy penalty to both Pakistan and Afghanistan for what they have done there. It is high time to drag all the spooks out of their closets and air their dirty linen to the world. Only such a complete CIA housecleaning as this will redeem the United States of America in the eyes of the world. Anything less would do no good at all, and would also be a grave insult to those who have fallen in our poisonous shadow.

peter.chamberlin@hotmail.com

Most Afghans optimistic about the future, poll finds

By Katherine Tiedemann

Event notice: New America Foundation counterterrorism fellow Brian Fishman will be speaking today at 2:30pm in Washington, DC on “Making the Next Bin Laden.” Details here .

At the polls

Newly released annual polling in Afghanistan conducted in the country’s 34 provinces in December 2009 from BBC/ABC/ARD suggests that Afghans are more optimistic about the future; 70 percent believe the country is headed in the right direction, up from 40 percent a year ago (BBC). 83 percent of those surveyed have a favorable opinion of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, while the U.S. military forces in Afghanistan are supported by 68 percent of Afghans and the Taliban by 10 percent; 72 percent of Afghans support the more than 30,000 additional U.S. and NATO troops being sent to the country. The full polling results are available here (BBC-pdf).

Karzai submitted a second round of picks for his cabinet on Saturday, after the Afghan Parliament roundly rejected 17 of his 24 original choices, though lawmakers indicated that Karzai faces another uphill battle in getting his choices confirmed as the new nominees have been criticized for lacking necessary credentials, being too close to warlords, or were selected for supporting Karzai (AP, BBC, Globe and Mail, LAT, NYT). Three women were included, after the only woman nominated in the first round was rejected; a full list is available here (AP).

Casualties

A defense correspondent for the Sunday Mirror tabloid newspaper has become the first British reporter to die covering the war in Afghanistan after his vehicle drove over a roadside bomb on Saturday in Helmand province during a patrol with U.S. Marines (AFP, Reuters, NYT, AP, Guardian, Telegraph, Mirror, AJE, BBC, WSJ). Rupert Hamer is the second Western journalist to be killed in Afghanistan in ten days; Canadian reporter Michelle Lang of the Calgary Herald died in neighboring Kandahar province from a roadside bomb on December 30.

Three U.S. soldiers were killed earlier today while fighting insurgent forces in volatile southern Afghanistan, bringing the total number of U.S. troops killed in the country in 2010 to 10 (AP, AFP, Pajhwok). NATO forces seized more than 5,300 pounds of processed opium in a search of a “suspicious vehicle” in Kandahar on Friday, and the commander of all Marines in southern Afghanistan Brigadier General Larry Nicholson told the AP that Marjah, just west of the provincial capital of Helmand province, is “where we’re going next” to fight the Taliban (AFP, AP).

Top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan General Stanley McChrystal said in an interview with ABC that the additional U.S. troops being sent to the country has “changed the way we operate” and cautioned that although “we’ve made progress, it’s not a completed mission” (ABC, AP).

Media appearances

The Jordanian doctor and al Qaeda double agent believed to be behind the Dec. 30 suicide attack at a CIA base in Khost, Afghanistan, which killed seven CIA operatives and a Jordanian spy, appeared in a video aired over the weekend alongside Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud, underlining the connections between the Taliban and al Qaeda (CNN, Aaj, NYT, McClatchy, BBC, Wash Post). Humam Khalil Abu Mulal al-Balawi was shown vowing revenge for Hakimullah’s predecessor, Baitullah Mehsud, who was killed by a U.S.-operated drone in August 2009.

The Washington Post has today’s must-read describing how al-Balawi detonated his explosives “just before” he was going to be searched at Forward Operating Base Chapman (Wash Post). And on Sunday, CIA director Leon Panetta protested public commentary about the attack “suggesting that those who gave their lives somehow brought it upon themselves because of “poor tradecraft.” That’s like saying Marines who die in a firefight brought it upon themselves because they have poor war-fighting skills” (Wash Post).

The Afghan government agreed on Saturday to assume responsibility for the management of the U.S.-run military prison at Bagram air base, which houses more than 700 detainees captured by U.S. forces (NYT, AJE, AP). Initially, the Afghan Ministry of Defense will run Bagram, and eventually transition control to the Ministry of Justice, possibly by the end of year.

Drone watching

Christopher Drew has another fascinating read today describing the deluge of data generated by U.S.-operated drones in Afghanistan and Iraq, writing that Air Force drones gathered 24 years’ worth of video over the two countries last year, three times as much as in 2007 (NYT). And a handful of suspected militants were killed by the sixth reported drone strike in Pakistan this year in the Ismail Khel village in the Datta Khel region of North Waziristan on Saturday (AP, AFP, CNN, Geo, Times of India). Another reported drone strike targeted the town of Tappi in North Waziristan on Friday (AFP, AP, CNN, Geo).

Dozens of people have been killed in a wave of targeted attacks since the beginning of the year in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, among rival political groups that “some say is aimed at destabilizing the country’s ruling coalition” (AP, Dawn, Daily Times). There were 86 targeted killings in Karachi in 2008, and 152 in 2009.

Pakistani police have detained five female would-be suicide bombers in Islamabad and the Swat Valley in Pakistan, and one of the girls told members of the media that she had been trained by Maulana Fazlullah, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban in Swat (Pajhwok). And Sarah Kershaw reviews a “range of patterns” that has emerged from the study of the psychology of terrorism (NYT).

Barnes and Noble Kabul

The government of Denmark is funding the construction of three bookstores in Kabul that will have the capacity to store up to 15 million books (Pajhwok). The facilities are scheduled to be completed within a year.

Waziristan war in critical stage

Rahimullah Yusufzai

Already suffering from the fall-out of the eight-year-old US-led war against the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, Pakistan is now confronted with arguably the most dangerous phase of the seemingly endless battle. This is a critical stage also for the future of Islamabad’s uneasy relationship with Washington.

With the formidable US spy network, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), threatening revenge after losing seven agents including two women in a Taliban-sponsored suicide bombing in Afghanistan’s Khost province bordering North Waziristan, there will definitely be an escalation in its not-so-secret war being conducted primarily through unpiloted predator and reaper aircraft striking targets in Pakistan’s tribal areas. One should now expect North Waziristan and, to a lesser extent, South Waziristan and other parts of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) to become a frequent hunting ground for the drones operating in the region..

Pakistan’s dilemma in these difficult times is hard to explain. It is critical of US drone strikes on its soil, but is unwilling and unable to go beyond the customary and almost muted protests over the violation of its airspace. It doesn’t want to risk America’s wrath by trying to shoot down the CIA-operated spy planes. It has the capability to bring down the intruding drones, but such an act would be considered hostile and unpardonable by the US. Pakistan has been designated the closest non-NATO ally by the US and members of the western military alliance, and is expected to remain a steadfast partner in the so-called ‘war on terror’. It is being paid to fight the war within its borders and the US military aid has now been augmented by civilian assistance amounting to $7.5 billion over the next five years.

However, Pakistan has to pay a huge price for remaining a US ally. At a time when public opinion surveys show more than 80 per cent of Pakistanis opposing US policies and mentioning it as a bigger threat to Pakistan than India, Al Qaeda and Taliban, it cannot be easy for any government or military to justify an unpopular alliance with America. The closer Pakistan is seen standing with the US, the greater the chances of its streets becoming restless and the conservative sections of its population showing resentment. In a world where the Muslim populations have become polarised with their rulers mostly siding with the US, contrary to the aspirations of their subjects, it becomes all the more difficult for politically unstable and economically depressed countries such as Pakistan to justify its alliance with America. Pakistan would certainly become a less violent place if it could detach itself from the US war on terror but this is easier said than done. It won’t be easy for Pakistan to extricate itself from a suffocating embrace with the US and even if it were to happen, the consequences would be painful.

Already, there has been a dramatic increase in the number and intensity of the US drone attacks, particularly in North Waziristan where there was no shortage of local and foreign militants. More have flocked there from the adjoining South Waziristan agency following the ground offensive by Pakistan’s security forces on October 17 last year. Reports showed there were 44 strikes by the US drones in 2009 in which 708 people, overwhelmingly Pakistani civilians though many guilty of hosting wanted Al Qaeda and Taliban operatives, were killed. The known militants killed in these attacks were few and far between and among them were Pakistani Taliban commanders Baitullah Mehsud and Haji Omar, and Al Qaeda’s Usama al-Kin and Sheikh Ahmad Salim. In 2010, there have already been three drone strikes in North Waziristan and many more should be expected. If these airstrikes are to continue at this pace, 2010 will see record attacks by the US drones.

It isn’t hard to imagine the anger that these US missile strikes will cause in North Waziristan and other parts of country, not only against America but also the government and armed forces for their inability to protect Pakistani citizens and territory, and for continuing to side with the US. Sections of the Pakhtun youth on both sides of Pak-Afghan border have already been radicalised, and more would be tempted to take the same emotional route as the US drone programme in Pakistan’s tribal areas escalates and the military surge ordered by President Obama in Afghanistan leads to more fighting.

There is no doubt that the December 30, 2009 suicide attack on the CIA station in Khost at the Forward Operating Base Chapman was a historic blow as it was the deadliest ever in the spy agency’s history. In one incident, seven CIA operatives who for years had been hunting key Al Qaeda and Taliban figures were dead and six others wounded. Those who were killed include the CIA station head, an unidentified woman in her 30s, who since 1990s had been part of the team unsuccessfully chasing Osama bin Laden. They were probably the best CIA assets working in a dangerous place, hiring and cultivating Afghan and Pakistani informants, coordinating the drone attacks in Pakistan’s tribal areas and collectively possessing the most comprehensive knowledge about the Al Qaeda and Taliban. The eighth spy killed in the suicide bombing was a Jordanian, Captain Ali bin Zeid, from his country’s intelligence organisation, Mukhabirat. He is the first soldier from Jordan, which along with Turkey, UAE, Kazakhstan and Albania are the Muslim countries with troops deployed in Afghanistan as part of the US-led coalition forces, to die in battle in the war-battered country. His presence also explains the fact that spies from Middle Eastern countries are an essential part of the CIA campaign.

Perhaps bigger than the loss of its experienced agents was the embarrassment caused to the CIA and the US army of the security lapse at a base as secure as the old, Soviet-built Khost airbase where the suicide bomber was able to strike. The Afghan Taliban were obviously proud of the feat and they wasted no time in claiming that a double-agent Afghan named Samiullah was the suicide bomber, a CIA informant, allowed unhindered access to the base.

It was clear that the Haqqani Network, named after the legendary Afghan mujahideen and Taliban commander Maulvi Jalaluddin Haqqani but now run by his son Sirajuddin Haqqani, was behind the suicide bombing even though the Pakistani Taliban commander Qari Hussain unconvincingly claimed responsibility for the attack to avenge the assassination of Baitullah Mehsud. The US army, or the CIA to be specific, and the Haqqanis were already involved in a deadly war of revenge against each other and their blood feud has now become deadlier and personal. In the 80s, the elder Haqqani and CIA cooperated with each other fighting the Soviet occupying forces in Afghanistan. Today, they are rivals.

The US Special Forces and CIA have killed scores of Haqqani’s men, women and children in secret operations and drone strikes in Afghanistan and in North Waziristan, where the family migrated from Khost after the Soviet invasion in December 1979. The CIA will now try harder to eliminate the Haqqanis, who control one of the most powerful Taliban groups in Afghanistan. To succeed, the CIA will make more frequent use of drones in North Waziristan and other Pakistani tribal areas, and hire a larger number of informants, (better screened to prevent incidents like the recent suicide bombing at Khost).

Aware that escalation in US drone strikes will further destabilise Pakistan, Islamabad is urging restraint on part of Washington. But the US, upset that Pakistan hasn’t taken any action against the Haqqanis and the Afghan Taliban’s Quetta Shura, is unlikely to heed this advice. More drone attacks could also cause the collapse of the critical peace deals that the Pakistan government has made with powerful, non-TTP Pakistani Taliban commanders Hafiz Gul Bahadur in North Waziristan and Maulvi Nazeer in Wana to prevent them from joining forces with the Hakimullah Mehsud-led militants in South Waziristan.

It seems the US prefers this scenario so that Pakistan’s armed forces are forced to launch military operations in both Wana and Shakai in North and South Waziristan. This will widen the battlefield and result in more retaliatory suicide attacks by the militants in Pakistani cities. In case Islamabad decides under US pressure to cut off its links with the Afghan Taliban, particularly the Haqqanis, it means creating more enemies at a time when Pakistan is finding it difficult to put down an insurgency fed by Pakistani Taliban and other home-grown jihadis.

The writer is resident editor of The News in Peshawar. Email: rahim yusufzai@yahoo.com

PAKISTAN: America should not play double

West Ignores Pakistan’s Sacrifices Against Terrorism

Sajjad Shaukat

Whenever any terror-incident takes place or any plot is foiled in Europe and America, their high officials deliberately link it with Pakistan in one way or the other. Notably, when more than 12 Pakistani students were arrested in UK last year in connection with terrorism, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown had sated that the most dangerous plot had been foiled by the police. Afterwards, British authorities admitted that the students had no link with terrorism.

A few months ago, some suspected white nationals were arrested in Germany. Again, German and American intelligence agencies tried to link them with the tribal areas of Pakistan, despite the fact that there was no such evidence.

It is pertinent note that on December 26, 2009, a Nigerian, Umar Farouk-the alleged Al-Qaida agent tried to blow up a plane as it was about to land in Detroit, America. US law enforcement officials have shown his connections with Yemen. The government of Yemen also confirmed that he was in the country earlier this month. After this terror-attempt, US President Barack Obama pledged to “disrupt, dismantle and defeat the violent extremists who threaten” Americans, adding that whether they are from Afghanistan or Pakistan, Yemen or Somalia.” Every one knows that Umar Farouk has no connections with Pakistan, but Obama also mentioned the name of this country without any logic.

In the last three years, western leaders and media have continuously been propagating against Islamabad through various concocted stories. Besides other accusations, sometimes they say that white terrorist’s training camps exist in Pakistan’s FATA regions, and sometimes they indicate that a plot to attack American homeland and Europe has been planned in these areas. In the recent series of allegations, American and British high officials have blamed that Osama and top leadership of Al Qaeda have taken shelter in Pakistan’s tribal areas and Balochistan. To what extent, Osama could be used to gain political aims against Pakistan can be judged from the statement of British PM Brown who revealed on November 29, 2009, “We believe, he is in Pakistan.” As a matter of fact, in line of Obama’s new Afghan strategy, Brown wanted to justify 500 additional troops for Afghanistan in face of demestic pressure. Meanwhile, the US National Security Adviser Gen. James Jones has also expressed similar view.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit, while refuting west’s accusation, remarked that the US and UK should share evidence with Islamabad regarding bin Laden’s presence in Pakistan, but they did not provide any proof in this respect.

In the recent days, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki admitted that Osama Bin Laden’s daughter Iman is currently staying in Tehran. In this connection, The Bangkok Post revealed on December 23, “six of Osama bin Laden’s children and one of his wives, missing since the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, are under house arrest in Iran.” Bin Laden was a wealthy national of Saudi Arabia, who also lived in Yemen and Qatar. In this context, it is also of particular attention that all the alleged terrorists who planned the 9/11 catastrophe were from Arab countries. The posters of the most wanted terrorists regarding that tragedy were Arabic in appearance.

Quite contrarily, the US and European leaders only want to use Osama Bin Laden as a scapegoat to target and destablise Pakistan because it is the only nuclear country in the Islamic World.

While Mullah Omar including other core leadership of Al Qaida cannot take shelter in Pakistan where CIA-operated drone strikes have killed a few of the renowned commanders of the Taliban, especially Naik Muhammad and Baitullah Mehsood at a cost of around 2000 innocent lives; there is no mention of these as if these were worthless animals. Moreover, since 9/11, Pakistan’s security agencies have also killed or captured many militant commanders which also include the masterminds of Al-Qaeda, namely Khalid Sheikh and Abu Faraj entailing other key leaders. Owing to these developments Taliban leaders had already decided to go to Afghanistan where they have control over more than 70 percent of the territory. Here it is pertinent to ask that before in the name of Al-Qaida, more lives and properties are destroyed, who created Al-Qaida? America needs to answer this question.

Especially, during the successful military operations in Swat and Malakand Division, the Taliban commander, Maulana Fazalullah escaped to Afghanistan who was recently seen in a video-tape, telecasted by some TV channels. Since the recent military action started in South Waziristan, various middle and lower level commanders of the insurgents have also run to Afghanistan. In this respect, question arises as to how Osama could be hiding in Pakistan, while Al Qaeda or Taliban commanders prefer to live in Afghanistan where they are more safe, and where they have been fighting against the US-led NATO forces, and where level of militancy has increased in 2009 as admitted by the western military commanders.

Nevertheless, if we judge the losses of any country regarding war against terrorism in the last eight years, Pakistan as a frontline state has given great sacrifices in terms of human life, collateral damage and economic losses. In this context, on November 14, 2008, a statement of Pakistan’s Finance Division indicated that the country’s economy suffered a loss of Rs2.1 trillion due to the global war on terror. It elaborated that the economy suffered direct and indirect losses in terms of exports, foreign investment, privatization and industrial production. Chairman Pak-US Business Council and VP SAARC CCI Iftikhar Ali Malik had pointed out on March 24, 2009: “Pakistan’s economy has suffered irreparable loss of US $68 billion due to turmoil in Afghanistan-more than three million Afghan refugees harbouring in the country are also posing security risk.”

According to an estimate, Pakistan’s national economy is exclusively suffering a net loss of $7 billion annually as fallout of the war against terror, which has displaced thousands of people.

No doubt, Pakistan has sacrificed more than NATO and USA owing to this new style conflict. Besides other losses like suicide attacks and lawlessness in the country, more than 2000 personnel of the security forces have been martyred during war against militancy.

In fact, Indian secret agency, RAW which has established its clandestine networks everywhere in Afghanistan in connivance with the Indian army and additional consulates has regularly been sending well-trained militants in Pakistan so as to target the security agencies and to commit suicide attacks. Perennial support to separatism in Balochistan, and insurgency in the Frontier Province are part of this plot against Pakistan. During the Swat-Malakand and South Waziristan operations, ISPR spokesman, Maj-General Athar Abbas has shown to the media, huge cache of arms and ammuniton, entering Pakistan from Afghanistan. Recently, Pakistan’s prime minister and foreign minister have disclosed that India is backing the militancy in our country.

India whom America wants to make a super power of Asia has spent millions of dollars in Afghanistan to strengthen its grip, and to get strategic depth against Pakistan, while also acting upon anti-China policy. For these secret strategic goals, India is determined to keep its security agencies there permanently under the cover of the US-led allied forces.

The US is following a dual policy with Pakistan, its most trusted ally. America needs to address Pakistan’s concerns vis a vis Indian and Israeli presence in Afghanistan. Why these two countries are being given free hand against Pakistan? Mr. Obama should pick up the courage and fold these two countries out of Afghanistan. If America fails to address these genuine concerns, it would become increasingly difficult for Pakistan to support the war on terror against the mounting public pressure.

The recent utterances by the Indian army chief to attack Pakistan and China is also a continuation of the same duality of the American policy. Basically this threat by General Kapoor is meant for Pakistan and not for China. Now India feels well entrenched in Afghanistan and thinks that it could attack Pakistan from both East and West. Such misadventures would only raise the stakes for a nuclear war.

While, the US and some western countries praise the successes achieved by Pakistan’s armed forces during the military operations against the Taliban militants, but still emphasise to do more in this regard. They also propagate that the nukes of Pakistan are unsafe. Meanwhile, by ignoring the role of Hindus and western nationals in relation to the nuclear black market, revival of blame game about Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan’s network is also part of deliberate campaign against Islamabad. In this context, The Washington Post, citing a previous account of Dr. Khan reported on December 27, “Pakistan helped North Korea with vital machinery and technical advice for enrichment of uranium in addition to making plutonium for bombs.” On the other side, Islamabad has strongly denied these accusations about Khan and North Korea.

Of late, the Zionist controlled media of the US is publishing and reporting instigative stories about Pakistan. They are propagating Pakistan’s disintegration and fueling the disgruntled elements. How would America feel if China are Russia were to instigate such movements within America? Freedom of press and expression is understandable but playing a role of a deceptive weapon is nothing short of open hostilities against the target country.

However, these false allegations are part of a conspiracy against our country. Particularly US which tactically favours anti-Pakistan campaign of India has been playing a double game with Islamabad. It could also be assessed from some latest developments. In the aftermath of Obama’s decision to increase additional 30,000 troops for Afghanistan, on December 27 last year, America’s B-52 heavy bomber aircraft which can carry nuclear and conventional ordnance was again seen hovering over Pakistan’s tribal areas. Furthermore, Obama did not consult Islamabad for new Af-Pak strategy.

All these moves against Islamabad indicate that some US-led countries can conduct full-fledged air strikes on our FATA regions. Although fact remains that in the last eight years, unlike other countries, Pakistan has borne the brunt of major losses during war on terror, yet America and its western allies ignore the sacrifices of our country.

Sajjad Shaukat is a regular writer for Opinion Maker. He writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations.

ALERT: Pakistani Evidence vs. Indian Evidence

India’s Ridiculous Mumbai Evidence Vs. Pakistan’s Concrete Waziristan Proof

• See A Comparison Between India’s evidences and Pakistan’s proof of Indian terrorism inside Pakistan
• China Has Strong Evidence Of Indian Terror Involvement In Tibet & Western China
• Musharraf showed a photograph to US ambassador Baitullah Mehsood was seen coming out of one of the Indian ‘diplomatic’ missions in Afghanistan
• Pakistan’s Interior Ministry & Foreign Office are mysteriously quiet on ridiculous Indian evidence
• Use of Indian currency in all parts of Afghanistan is encouraged, another sign of how US is trampling on Pakistan’s security interests in the region

South India’s Vaigai Chemical Industries and Indian Ordnance Factories provide arms and explosives to terrorists in Pakistan. Evidence of Indian-origin combustible chemicals has been found in western Pakistan. The mysterious fire that gutted Karachi’s business district is not possible without the use of such material. India has already launched a two-front secret war against both China and Pakistan.

By Makhdoom Babar
Editor-in-Chief
The Daily Mail of Pakistan
WWW.AHMEDQURAISHI.COM

While the Indian Army has announced that it is ready to open a two-front war against Pakistan and China, the Army Headquarters at New Delhi forget that the Indian government and its spy agencies like RAW have already imposed a secret war against both Pakistan and China and certain credible proofs of the same have started surfacing both in China and Pakistan but due to certain unknown reasons, both Beijing and Islamabad are not taking up the issue officially with India or the global community, perhaps to maintain a calm in the region.

The investigations of The Daily Mail indicate that there are enough evidences available with China to prove that Indian Intelligence agency RAW had been active behind last year’s unrest in Tibet while the foreign hand behind recent riots in Chinese province Xinjiang is also believed to be that of RAW. Similarly the Pakistan government has been provided a variety of proofs of involvement of Indian government and especially the Indian intelligence agency behind the continuous chaos in various parts of Pakistan, particularly NWFP province’s Malakand division and tribal agencies of North and South Waziristan where Pakistan army is fighting awar against terrorists.

The Indian weapons made by IOF and explosives of India’s Vaigai Industries, seized by Pak security forces from Taliban in Waziristan	82 mm shells, made by a unit of IOF seized by Pak security forces from militants in Waziristan	The Indian weapons made by IOF seized by Pak security forces from militants in Waziristan
The India’s new weapon, the curry bomb, seized by Pak security forces from Taliban in Waziristan	Currency bills of Indian currency seized by Pak security forces from militants in Waziristan	The made in India medicines seized by Pak security forces from militants in Waziristan
Mortar shells made by Indian ordnance factories, seized by Pak security forces from militants in Waziristan	Security officers showing Indian arms and ammunitions, seized by during an operation against militants in NWFP province.	Indian vickers machine gun, seized during an operation by Pak security forces in Swat.

The Pakistan Army and the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) have succeeded in gathering a number of proofs that conclusively show that the Indian government is hectically engaged in sponsoring the terrorists and extremists in various parts of Pakistan and especially those waging a war against Pakistan Army in NWFP province and tribal areas. Pakistani intelligence authorities have also detected that RAW was even involved in Monday’s carnage at Karachi in which, after a suicidal attack on a procession, through a well calculated and pre-planned exercise, a hell of fire was unleashed in the top commercial area of the city which caused huge financial loss, estimated to be over 5 billion rupees in less than a five hours’ time. The Daily Mail’s investigations indicate that the authorities have discovered certain potassium-chlorate based explosives, manufactured by Vaigai Industries, Madurai district of Tamil Nadu state in southern India.

Some weapons, available in the international market to every one were also given by the Indians in farcical dossier to prove the Mumbai attackers were Pakistanis	The image of Milk Pak, a dry milk brand of Pakistan given by the Indians in farcical dossier to prove the Mumbai attackers were Pakistanis
A funny proof, given by the Indians in farcical dossier to prove the Mumbai attackers were Pakistanis

The Daily Mail’s investigations reveal that the ISI and Pakistan Army started discovering the proofs of comprehensive Indian involvement when a military operation was launched against terrorists in Balochistan province a few years back. These investigations indicate that the Pakistani law enforcing agencies found highly credible evidence proving that the Indians were not only giving comprehensive financial support to terrorists in Balochistan but were also providing them with huge caches of all sorts of weapons and other military equipment. These investigations indicate that those proofs were given to the federal government in Islamabad. But at that time, then President of Pakistan General Pervez Musharraf deferred taking up the matter with the Indians as he was focusing on enhancing the peace process with New Delhi. However he is believed to have shown these proofs to the Americans.

According to some credible sources, at one stage President Musharraf showed a photograph to the US ambassador to Pakistan in which the most wanted militant Baitullah Mehsood could be seen coming out of one of the Indian diplomatic Missions in Afghanistan.

The Daily Mail’s findings further indicate that owing to the US pressure to keep increasing friendly ties with India, the Gilani government also preferred to avoid taking up the issue of Indian involvement in Baluchistan with New Delhi.

In the meanwhile, the incident of 26/11 took place which pushed Islamabad on the back foot and the issue of raising the matter with New Delhi was deferred further as New Delhi, after the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, sent a farcical dossier, based on a fabricate confessional statement by a RAW created fake surviving terrorist.

It remains a fact that the said statement of the fake accused was exposed as a RAW fabricated draft by The Daily Mail in its special investigative report. This faulty dossier, based on ridiculous proofs turned out to be more than enough to spin the minds of officials of Interior Ministry and Foreign Office at Islamabad and they, instead of challenging the farcical India dossier and rejecting it completely they rather started acting in accordance with the India dossier that was actually nothing but a double bullshit with cherry on the top.

In the meanwhile, when the government ordered a comprehensive military operation against the extremists and terrorists in parts of NWFP province and the tribal belts of Waziristan agencies, the Pakistani security forces and intelligence authorities were shocked to see that all the ammunition dumps of Taliban militants were full of Indian weapons, arms and explosives. Here again the security forces discovered the weapons manufactured by different units of Indian Ordinance Factories (IOF) and explosives and chemicals made by Vaigai Chemical Industries of India. It is worth mentioning here that there are around 40 arms and ammunition manufacturing units in India that work under IOF while the Vaigai is the 2nd largest Potassium chlorate manufacturing facility of India.

The Daily Mail’s findings indicate that not only this but the Pakistani security forces also seized a large amount of Indian currency and Indian medicines from the deserted or conquered hideouts of militants in different operations in Swat and Waziristan. The Daily Mail has learnt that the Indian medicines were used by militants not only as routine life saves or pain killing drugs but these also include the sex and emotions related medicines and were found in abundance at different hideouts of the militants and at their small secret hospital and medical facilities. In addition, the security forces also seized huge amount of currency bills of Indian currency either from the arrested militants or from the captured hideouts. The investigations reveal that trade in Indian currency in all parts of Afghanistan is quite open and normal and one can buy anything at anywhere with Indian currency in any part of Afghanistan. According to some reports, the Indian currency is more acceptable than the US Dollar in Afghani business markets.

INDIAN GRENADES & THE ‘SPICE BOMB’

The Daily Mail’s findings indicate that the most interesting proof of the Indians sponsoring the militants in Pakistan was the discovery of an India made strange grenade. These grenades that were seized amongst other Indian weapons from militants’ different ammo dumps and hideouts is known as the curry bomb and Indians have used it in Pakistan through militants as a test case.

The Daily Mail’s findings indicate that this a one hundred percent indigenous bomb of the Indian Ordnance factories and the Indians have tested it against the enemy for the first time in Waziristan. The terrorists would use these curry bombs to attack on different camps and posts of security forces to flush the personnel out and then to target them, something that was quite new for Pakistani security forces. According to the British newspaper Daily Mail (UK), “India’s weapons development experts have developed an eye-watering spice bomb, packed with a potent mix of red chilli and pepper which will be used to smoke out militants during counter-insurgency operations. As Britain’s legion of Friday night Vindaloo casualties will testify, too much chilli can be debilitating.

But scientists from India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation have discovered that the spices which make your curry so hot can also bring an enemy to his knees in seconds. Eye-watering: The spice bomb is packed with a potent mix of red chilli and pepper. The mix of spices and phosphorous chokes the enemy’s respiratory tract, leaving targets barely able to breathe for a time,” the newspaper concludes.

The Daily Mail’s findings indicate that though all these concrete proofs have been handed over to the federal government by the security forces and intelligence agencies, yet the government is not feeling like taking up the matter with the Indians or the global community. The Daily Mail is here publishing the comparative images of the evidences given to Pakistan by the Indian government regarding the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and the concrete evidences discovered by Pakistani security forces and given to the government so that a dossier can be sent to New Delhi as well.

Mr. Makhdoom Babar can be reached at macbabur@hotmail.com