Tacstrat: America’s Indian successor for Afghanistan

By Nida Afaque
Tacstrat Analysis

Will India decide to play a central role in Afghanistan after 2014?

As the Afghan war winds down, the focus of attention has diversified to include regional powers which will bear the partial burden of restoring stability to their Afghan neighbor. India, for one, has increased its presence in Afghanistan in social, economic and most recently, in political spheres. Under the umbrella of the War on Terror, India has had the opportunity to widen its wings into Afghanistan that had previously been restricted due to the Taliban rule. The more pressing concern is whether it will continue with the same fervor once NATO forces withdraw in 2014.

India’s foreign policy and nationalistic goals can provide a better understanding about its interests in Afghanistan. India hopes to develop into an self-sufficient nation not only capable of protecting its national interest and managing its own economy but also one that drives other economies. Furthermore, it wants to be recognized as a leading member in regional matters. Equipped with the world’s largest democracy, an expanding economy and developed military forces, India has set its eye on becoming the unrelinquished power in Asia.

With this goal in mind, it has ventured into the troubled lands of Afghanistan. Since its experience with the Taliban have not been very pleasant, India has played safe by directing majority of its involvement in the developmental sector. In the past decade, it has provided aid worth approximately $ 2 billion, thereby becoming Afghanistan’s fifth largest donor. It has made generous contributions to healthcare, food supplies and rural developmental projects. It has set up the largest children’s hospital in Kabul. Thousands of Afghan students are enrolled in Indian universities on scholarships.

To facilitate foreign return on investments, it has initiated infrastructural projects in Afghanistan. Just last month, the Indian government organized a summit to encourage local entrepreneurs to invest in Afghanistan. Up till now, Indian companies have successfully built the Delaram-Zaranj highway connecting Iran with major cities of Afghanistan and provided Kabul with non-stop supply of electricity through power lines originating from Uzbekistan. They are also constructing a government building in Kabul and the Salma hydro-electric power dam in Herat. In addition, India is making headway into the mining sector. Work has begun at the Hajigak iron-ore mines in Bamiyan and it hopes to extend it scope to the copper and gold mines too.

India has also been importing fruits from Kandahar where locals have expressed a desire for India to set up storage and processing facilities. The Preferential Trade Agreement signed in 2003 has helped to consolidate trade relations between the two nations. India hopes that one day Afghanistan would allow it to extend trade to Central Asian Republics through its territory. Greater regional associations would help in countering the vast influence of China especially in technology and manufactured goods.

India must be commended for such a well-conceived strategy of involvement for it ensured that it had the support of the government but more importantly that of the people. Recent polls have shown India’s unparalleled popularity amongst the locals (71%). This widespread support has paved the way for India to engage in political and security matters of Afghanistan with great ease. It signed a Strategic Partnership Agreement in October 2011 where India pledged to enhance Afghanistan’s economic and political assets. Although India was against any involvement with the Afghan Security Forces, it has now agreed to train them on its own soil. Afghan officers receive training in counter-insurgency and counter-terrorist operations at various regimental centers in India. So far approximately 2500 soldiers have been trained. Together with its other projects, this move shows India’s commitment to Afghanistan’s capacity building plans. At the same time, this strategic position in Afghan politics allows India to prevent Pakistan from developing an overwhelming influence in Afghanistan.

By securing a say in Afghan defense plans, India also has the chance to address its fear of radical Islamic militants, especially those who have links to the Afghan Taliban. Some of these groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Tehrik-e-Taliban use Pakistan as a safe haven. Some reports even claim that the ISI has befriended these groups to carry out its dirty work. If the Afghan Taliban patch up relations between Pakistani forces and terrorist organizations residing in Pakistan, it could result in a renewed and even more forceful attack on India specifically in Kashmir. For this reason, India may choose to build assets in Afghanistan to counter Pakistani militants. Already, there are suspicions that Afghanistan’s intelligence agencies are helping India in fueling anti-Pakistani sentiments through the Baluch rebels hiding in Afghanistan.

Over and above these incentives for engagement in Afghanistan, is the pressure from United States which is urging India to take up a greater role in the endgame. The US has tried to work with Pakistan. However, Bin Laden’s sanctuary in Abbottabad and the failure of the Pakistan army to wipe out terrorist networks in Waziristan has cracked US confidence in Pakistan. China is mostly interested in mineral extraction and Russian has generally disapproved excessive American presence in the region. The conflict over Iran’s right to a nuclear bomb rules out Iran as an ally. That leaves India.

The US is wooing India by recalling their close knit collaboration in defense and warfare. In the last 10 years, arms worth $8 billion have been sold by US to India. Furthermore, US has shown favors towards India in terms of nuclear non-proliferation. While it censured North Korea and Iran on their nuclear weapons, India launched it long range missile without any resistance.

Indian authorities have resisted adopting the position of a leader for the rehabilitation of Afghanistan with open arms. The geographical disadvantage it encounters actually gives Pakistan an edge over it. Not only does the latter share a border with Afghanistan, its citizens also share a common religion and culture with the Afghans. Thus, the materialization of India’s plans for its Afghan neighbors with a hostile Pakistan in between poses a great challenge.

As with the rest of the world, India has been affected by the global financial crisis. The rupee has declined against the dollar and investments have fallen by 41% causing deficits to increase. State institutions are plagued by corruption, the caste system is still prevalent and inequalities in income continue to rise while welfare services remain meagre causing 350 million people to be living below the poverty line. Due to these reasons, the Indian public is uncertain about the cost effectiveness of investing in Afghanistan.

India’s advancement in its relations with US could cost them regional peace. Pakistan is already antsy with India’s growing presence in Afghanistan, one wonders what it might do if India decides takes over the reins. As recent as April 2012, Pakistan launched a missile soon after India conducted a missile test. Similarly, India doesn’t want to pick a fight with China by openly aligning itself with the US. Iran is a significant supplier of India’s petroleum demands; too much allegiance to America would harm India’s economy.

In a nutshell, domestic and foreign pressures are urging India to play an active role in Afghanistan. Out of the coalition partners, only US will be retaining some training brigades after 2014. Regional powers have to step in or risk the spread of insecurity to their nations. Pakistan’s relations with America tend to oscillate whereas India has proven to be more consistent and helpful. Another point to consider is that out of all the regional powers, India has strong resources to achieve its objectives and is probably at the best possible terms with both the Afghans and the coalition partners. Pakistan, Iran, Central Asian Republics , China and Russia all carry some serious differences with either coalition partners ( mainly the US) and/or the Afghans. Although the situation with Taliban is tricky, recently the militants have warmed up to Indians and even praised their government for not buckling under US pressure. India too has relaxed its stiff stance against the Taliban when it showed willingness for an Afghan-led reconciliation process. In other words, India can easily be expected to assume a dominant role, if not command, the rehabilitation process.

Rather than showing tantrums over India, Pakistan must act reasonably. An unstable Afghanistan would be detrimental to both nations. Pakistan and India should treat this as an opportunity to set aside their differences. Afghanistan can provide trade routes to facilitate investment activities beyond South Asia. Projects like the TAPI gas pipeline project can promote interdependence and harmony in this region. If transparency and boundaries of engagement are properly designed for these projects, there is no reason for concern for the two rivals.

Death of the ‘Imam’

By Shemrez Nauman Afzal
ZoneAsia-Pk

Amir Sultan Tarar AKA Colonel Imam

Brigadier Retired Amir Sultan Tarar is suspected to have died in Taliban captivity, presumably because of cardiac arrest, but suspicions and conspiracy theories indicate that his captors, the Taliban, may have murdered him because of non-payment of ransom by his family. However, the official quarters including Military sources as well as the Frontier Corps are finding it hard to verify the reports saying they have no confirmed information in this regard.

“We have been told that his dead body has been seen near Danday Darpa Khel area in North Waziristan Agency, but the news could not be confirmed nor could we get any picture of the dead body of Colonel Imam”, a senior Army official told this scribe when contacted. Similar remarks were offered by the FC sources.

Read Complete Article Here: Death of the ‘Imam’

Faisal Shahzad: A Game Against Pakistan

By Brig Asif Haroon Raja

Going over the sequence of events that led to detection of smoking SUV at Times Square (TS) on 1 May and arrest of Faisal Shahzad from Dubai bound plane on 3 May, that is two days after the botched attempt, and speedy linkage of Faisal with Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP) in North Waziristan (NW), coincidental reincarnation of declared dead Hakimullah Mehsud in January and his offensive statements to burn down cities of USA, his spokesman Azam Tariq claiming responsibility of failed TS incident, arrest of a Pakistani in Santiago and some others in USA and their alleged connections with Faisal, one has reason to believe that something fishy is going on. Possibility that Faisal was framed in order to maximize pressure on Pakistan at a time when it is not agreeing to start an operation in NW cannot be ruled out.

People protesting against a fake case of Faisal Shahzad

Pakistan Taliban Isn’t on U.S. Terror List

By DEVLIN BARRETT

The State Department still hasn’t decided if the Pakistan Taliban-blamed for the failed plot to detonate a car bomb in Manhattan’s Times Square more than a week ago-should be labeled a terrorist organization.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.) urged the Obama administration on Tuesday to add the group, also known as Tehrik-i-Taliban, to the U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations.

“I was shocked to learn that the group was omitted from the list,” Mr. Schumer told reporters. “They’ve declared war on the citizens of the United States. We must respond appropriately.”

The suspect captured in the Times Square plot, Faisal Shahzad, has told investigators he received bomb-making training from the Taliban in his native Pakistan, authorities say.

Sheikh to Terrorists: Go to Hell

A Pakistani cleric declares jihad on suicide bombers. And the story is just beginning.

BY CHRISTIAN CARYL

Pakistani newspapers recently picked up an intriguing story from the country’s security establishment. Reporters learned that their government had intercepted a secret message circulating within Tehrik-e-Taliban, the most prominent of several militant groups trying to overthrow the government in Islamabad. The jihadists, it seemed, had just added a new target to one of their death lists. His name is Tahir ul-Qadri, and he’s no government official. He’s one of Pakistan’s leading Islamic scholars, an authority on the Quran and Islamic religious law.

Lashkars vs Taliban

Sajjad Shaukat

Recently, by raising their own traditional militias, called Lashkar, on June 7 this year, hundreds of tribesmen in Upper Dir laid siege and killed 14 Taliban in reaction to a mosque blast which killed 40 individuals on June 5 during Friday prayers. At some places clashes have been reported between the local tribesmen and the Taliban in the Malakand Division.

It is notable that in 2008, moderate tribesmen in their affected parts of the NWFP had challenged the extremists by raising Lashkars. In that respect, Asfandyar Wali Khan, leader of the Awami National Party, who himself survived in a suicide attack had remarked regarding the Lashkars, “It will be the people versus the Taliban.” Lat year, on October 10, seeking reprisals through a suicide attack, the Taliban militants massacred 100 tribesmen in Orakzai in a jirga, called to raise a Lashkar. Similar sorts of events had also occurred in some other tribal regions. Discouraging the tribal elders, some Western and our political analysts had opposed the formation of tribal Lashkars, saying that the tribal elders were risking retaliation from the Taliban warriors.

But this year, situation took a dramatic change, which greatly encouraged the tribal elders to form Laskars without any fear of the Taliban. In this context, within less than three months, Pakistan’s armed forces have successfully ejected the well-trained and well-armed Taliban militants out of Buner, Dir, Swat and other adjoining areas. By sacrificing their lives, our forces killed and captured thousands of the militants – breaking their backbone by eliminating their control and command structure. Reports suggest that tens thousands of the Taliban have fled Malakand and Swat regions. After achieving victory in these areas, military operation has also been launched in South Waziristan. In this connection, on June 14, Governor of the Frontier Province, Awais Ghani said at a press conference that the government has ordered a “full-fledged” military operation against Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Baitullah Mehsud and Mehsud tribes for harbouring terrorists, abetting terrorist activities and killing innocent people.

He further stated with reference to Afghanistan, “There are a large number of foreign terrorists in these areas. They are getting help from outside.” Recently, this fact was proved when Pakistan Army captured a number of foreign fighters, spies of Indian secret agency, RAW and other militants who confessed that they got training from Afghanistan. In this respect, ISPR spokesman, Maj Gen Athar Abbas revealed in various press briefings in relation to the ongoing military operations that a number of foreigners from Chechnya, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Saudi Arabia, Libya and India, including Afghanistan having connections with the enemy countries have been arrested along with heavy caches of arms and ammunition, made in India and America. In one of the briefings, he disclosed that 400 foreign fighters were captured who had been infiltrated into Pakistan with the help of some external agencies bordering Afghanistan.

In the past few days, terror incidents have taken place at rapid succession. Besides some major events like suicide attacks at the Pearl Continental Hotel in Peshawar, Rescue 15 building in Lahore and martyring Pakistan’s top religious scholar Allama Dr Sarfraz Naeemi Al-Azhari, these incidents continue as noted in the public places of Peshawar, Islamabad, Dera Ismail Khan, Upper Dir, Kohat, Nowshera, etc,. For almost all these terror-events, TTP led by Baitullah Mehsud claimed responsibility, especially for the Lahore carnage whose actual target was the building of Inter-services Intelligence Agency (ISI). He had also admitted that his militant group had raided the Manawan Police Training Centre in Lahore.

As regards Bailtullah Mehsud, reports suggest that on several occasions, the US military commanders had been provided with his exact location by Pakistan’s secret agencies, but the CIA-operated predators did not hunt him as he is Pakistan’s real enemy who masterminded almost every suicide mission in the country. In the past, US had killed the Taliban leader, Nek Muhammad through a missile when he was using his mobile phone, but Mehsud is free to talk on phone. In fact, Mehsud whose insurgents are more active in Waziristan is common agent of RAW and CIA. While, playing a double game, his sole aim is to destabilize Pakistan.

However, effective and decisive military operations could be judged from the fact that even an influential leader of the Mehsud tribe in South Waziristan Agency, Qari Zainuddin, revealed that he had mobilized 3,000 armed followers for an attempt to wipe out Baitullah Mehsud and to drive his al Qaeda supporters out of the country. In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Zainuddin declared that Mehsud had betrayed both his religion and his tribe. He elaborated that Islam did not allow “these bombings in mosques, in markets, in hospitals”. He further remarked that he did not agree with Mehsud, responsible for sending out hundreds of suicide bombers and staging attacks across the country.

Nevertheless, after Upper Dir, this latest evidence in Waziristan shows a growing anti-Taliban sentiment in the tribal areas – a shift that comes as suicide attacks have surged, while Pakistan’s armed forces have been successfully waging a war against these insurgents.

Besides, some other developments have also emboldened the tribesmen, giving a greater impetus to raise Lashkars in their concerned regions in order to cope with the Taliban militancy which has challenged their survival.

After facing a prolonged threat of the Taliban owing to their anti-social activities such as beheadings, burning of girl’s schools, destruction of installations, abductions for ransom, smugglings, etc. in the name of holy war, tribal people have come to know that the Taliban militants wanted to impose rule of terror under the cover of Shariah. In this context, more than four million Internally Displaced People (IDPs) refused to accept Taliban style of Shariah and preferred to live in camps. All these anti-Islam crimes of the banned Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM) led by Sufi Muhammad and Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) headed by Maulana Fazlullah, including that of Mehsud exposed their real face before the people of every province of Pakistan – especially before Pashtoons of the Frontier Province. It was due to these sinister designs of the militants that all over the country, leaders of various political and civil societies – particularly religious scholars have strongly backed the military operation, denouncing the Taliban. From Lahore to Karachi, a number of conventions were held in this connection.

Nonetheless, when the peace-loving tribesmen and Pashtoons found that public opinion in Pakistan has turned against the Taliban whose atrocities are unjustified, they decided to support the armed forces by raising Lashkars.

There is appropritate logic behind Lashkars which are part of centuries old traditions of the tribal people. In Pushto language, the term, “Chaghah”, which also means “a loud scream” was coined in the past. It means existence of emergency which requires assistance of other tribesmen. In the cultural history of FATA, shepherds were very common, having their cattle grazing in grassy fields. When the cattle were threatened by the wolves’ attacks, then the shepherd used to raise alarm (Chaghah) for help. Hearing his screams, the tribal people used to gather and form a Lashkar to rescue the cattle and the shepherd. Similarly, at present, Lashkars have been formed by these people under the same “Chaghah” concept in form of traditional armies of volunteers, equipped with arms to fight the today’s terrorists (wolves) who have been destroying the infrastructure, business activities, daily life and religious rituals, killing the innocent people through suicide attacks and bomb blasts.

It is mentionable that formation of Lashkars is not a permanent phenomenon, but a temporary arrangement indigenously made with the help of political agents to serve the public interest. These traditional groups have no political agenda as the Lashkar people will disintegrate and start their routine life when threat of the Taliban is over. A renowned political thinker, Morgenthau remarks that sometimes politicians have to “choose between the lesser and the greater evils” in accordance with “the circumstances of time and place”.

Although the government has been implementing a multi-prone strategy in coping with the Taliban militants supported by the external elements, yet encouraging the Lashkars is also a necessary evil, while there is already logic behind these Lashkars, being part of tribal traditions.

Now organized resistance by the people of Upper Dir and preparation by the supporters of Qari Zainuddin against the Taliban militants have provided an incentive to other tribal elders to raise similar Lashkers in their areas, while Pakistan’s security forces have decided to eliminate the militancy once for all. A strong sense of unity among our armed forces and the tribesmen is very essential in coping with the Taliban insurgents successfully.

The writer is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power

The Ugly face of so-called Swat Taliban exposed

Written by Brig.Asif Haroon Raja (Retd)

Peace deal was signed between the ANP government in NWFP and Maulana Sufi on 16 February; it was agreed to establish Nizam-e-Adl in Malakand Division and Kohistan District of Hazara in return for azlullah led militants surrendering arms and refraining from all sorts of violent acts.

When Sufi’s son-in-law Fazlullah agreed to the 14-point peace agreement, it brought joy to the people of Swat who in large numbers had got displaced as a consequence to military operation in July 2008. They returned to their homes smilingly and normalcy was restored in the valley which had seen upheavals since 2007. None could imagine that peaceful conditions were temporary and that so-called Taliban pretending to introduce Islamic laws to provide cheap and speedy justice to the people were in actuality interested in power and money only.

When the Americans and western nations as well as liberal segment within Pakistan started to criticize peace deal and exerted massive pressure on the government to scrap the deal, the prevailing common perception that America had evil designs against Pakistan got reinforced. Apologists of Taliban said that it was now getting clearer that pro-west writers were spreading gloom and doom and magnifying threat of Talibanisation to give an excuse to USA to rescue them from horrors of monstrous Taliban hell-bent to impose Islamic laws in Pakistan. They said that liberal writers were constantly drumming that the state and army had utterly failed to provide protection and the only way left for them was to settle down in the west since it was better to live as second rated citizens in foreign lands and bear the stings of humiliation rather than living under barbarians. Notwithstanding counter arguments of sympathasirs of Taliban, there is no denying the fact that liberals had got disillusioned with secular ANP which in their view had abandoned secular values and had succumbed to Taliban pressure.

Swat peace deal provided an excellent opportunity to Islamists to accomplish the unfulfilled desire of introducing Islamic laws in Malakand Division. Successful implementation of Islamic system could have become a role model for others to emulate and to introduce it in other parts of Pakistan as well. When certain acts of violence took place in Swat in which soldiers/policemen were gunned down and kidnapped, it gave ammunition to anti-Taliban elements to cry out that the militants had sinister designs and Sharia was just a façade to cover their hidden agenda. The anti-American elements argued that violence was resorted to by miscreants and RAW agents to defame Islamists and to annul peace deal. Things became worrisome when armed militants refused to close down check posts and continued with acts of vandalism to prevent re-establishment of writ of government in Swat. Some armed militants from Swat moved into neighboring Lower Dir and gained control after intimidating the locals, looting their houses and forcing many to flee. They next moved into Buner and began to consolidate positions through coercive tactics. Alarm bells were raised by Washington as well as people like Maulana Fazlur Rehman that the Taliban were on the march and soon they would gain control of Haripur, Tarbela and then enter Islamabad. All this time, NWFP government kept reminding Fazlullah through Maulana Sufi that it had honored its commitment of Nizam-e-Adl but the other side had not desisted from militancy. Consequent to intelligence reports that militants were making hectic military preparations and recruitment on a large-scale and they had no intentions to abide by the terms of peace agreement, ANP Ministry was left with no choice but to request for military intervention. When the military entered Lower Dir on 25 April on express orders of PM Gilani, it met with stiff resistance from the militants mostly Tajiks, Uzbeks and Afghans. When they were flushed out, they took up positions in Buner and gave a determined battle to the army. By the time the army pushed into Swat, the real face of militants disguised as Taliban began to get exposed.

A convention was organised by Mushaikh Council on 16 May. Ulema and Mushaikh from all hues took part and declared their unstinted support to the army and condemned barbaric activities of the Taliban giving a bad name to Islam.. On May 18, an all parties conference presided over by PM Gilani vowed to unite the nation against foreign sponsored insurgency in Swat and Malakand, and to end terror. Apart from all the political parties, the religious scholars and organizations too favored the military operation. These two events in the backdrop of interview of Maulana Sufi to a journalist Salim Safi in April in which he had declared democracy, parliament and judiciary as un-Islamic, helped in bringing a sea change in perceptions of the public. Grisly video clip of beheading of soldiers by the Taliban invoked feeling of revulsion. For the first time the people saw the ugly side of Taliban whom they had all along regarded as well-meaning.

A perception had been built that sole demand of Taliban was Sharia and nothing else. Criminal acts like burning of video shops, TVs, barber shops, resorts, and restraining women from moving unescorted, were also seen as essential steps to remove vices and to promote virtues in the contaminated society. Looting was ignored under the misperception that wealth looted from the rich was doled out to the poor.

Reasons for getting influenced by the preaching of the Taliban through FM radio were lack of justice, poverty, unemployment, illiteracy and insensitivity of the elite class towards the poor. Apart from sufferings of the deprived class, power of gun wielded by Taliban and enticements offered were other factors that made them look the other way to certain detestable acts like burning of schools, hostage taking for ransom, suicide attacks on mosques, Imambargahs, funerals, ruthless beheadings and tying some to the poles and trees. These were in fact coercive tactics to terrorise the people and make them veer towards the Taliban.

To start with each recruit was paid $9 per day; later on, pay scale was increased to $ 40 a day as well as a weapon and security to the family. Each family was asked to hand over one male member to them to help them wage Jihad and in introducing Nizam-e-Adl and a daughter to be wedded to the Taliban or else the family will be beheaded. Since the Civil Administration and the police had been made ineffective, the people were virtually left at the mercy of the gun totting militants to make people obey their commands. Fazlullah led Taliban had no dearth of money, weapons of all hues, ammunition, explosives, mines and electronic equipment since these were liberally provided by CIA, RAW, RAAM, Mossad. Other means of collection of money was bank looting, kidnapping for ransom, extortion from rich, drug and timber trade. Trained men mostly of Tajik, Uzbek, Afghan, Arabs and Chechen origins were sent in regularly wherever reinforcement was needed or guidance required how to conduct operations or prepare under ground tunnels/communication network. They had the advantage of built up areas, inaccessible heights converted into strongholds, and locals as human shields. They had tactical nexus with Tehrik-e-Taliban led by Baitullah. They had own training areas at Peuchar and elsewhere with firing ranges and wide variety of training aids to impart training to local recruits and had improvised bomb making factories. That way, Swat militants were no less trained, motivated and equipped fighters than infantry soldiers. Rather, they were better paid and were fed with a superior ideological cause and had no logistic tail. Under the given circumstances, the lightening speed with which the army has cleared Lower Dir, Buner and Swat is amazing and deserve all kudos. I salute the braves who laid down their lives for the supreme cause to give us a better tomorrow.

The writer is a defence and political analyst. Email:
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ah.raja@yahoo.com

Indian RAW funded Swat terrorists: Rs. 650 million to destabilize Pakistan

by Moin Ansari

There have been reports about Indian involvement in BLA and other nefarious crooks of the garden variety. Now there is solid proof and Indian RAW agents have been caught red handed.

India intelligence: “‘the aim of RAW is to keep internal disturbances flaring up and the ISI preoccupied so that Pakistan can lend no worthwhile resistance to Indian designs in the region.”

Many moons ago We discussed the Indian involvement in terror activities in Pakistan.

India a secret player in Afghanistan: Bases-Lashkargarh, Qushila Jadid,Khahak,Hassan Killies

We have reported on Indian intelligence services from our columnists in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, India, Pakistan and USA. Now there are reports that Afghans have been captured admitting to the RAW activities.

· Anatomy of Indian Intelligence Services and Alliances
· RAW facts on South Asia- India fails to occupy countries.
· LTTE was created by India
· Indian sponsored Tamil terror in Sri Lanka continues unabated
· Lanka: Indian LTTE terrorists use youth as cannon fodder
· Lanka Letter: RAW THE RASCAL by Prem Raj in Columbo
· Pakistan Sri Lanka growing military alliance
· Growing Pakistan Sri Lanka ties

Arrested militants name RAW for funding 680m through Afghan secret agency: The three arrested members of a militants’ gang especially deputed by Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan have disclosed that RAW has been funding suicide bomb attacks in Pakistan and that the Indian agency has funneled Rs 680 million through its links with the Afghan secret agency. The gang of three persons have brazenly admitted that they belong to the group of persons who had been deputed to ‘destabilise democratic Pakistan’ with the sole purpose of ‘enforcement of Shariah’ in the country. Operators of an intelligence agency, working beyond the call of their duty, came into contact with a source ready for a tip-off against a reward and led to the arrest of Khurram Ishtiaq, Ghulam Mustafa and Shamim. The persons had been working under Qari Hussain, second-in-command to Baitullah Mehsud. All the three had been arrested on Aug 13 this year while they were on the prowl for a target. The militants had been arrested ‘red-handed’ as they possessed complete suicide kits, including two jackets and 70kg of explosives and detonators. The accused were hardened militants and took a lot of time to break in and make confessions. They revealed that Qari Hussain had been working to help three adjutants, “Farukh Usman alias Shahjee, Tayyab alias Baba; Ustad, the trainer to destabilise democratic government. The Nation october 22nd, 2008

BLA – A threat to international peace by Ahmad Shah Baloch: “The BLA is the creation of Indian intelligence agencies, which are trying to create instability in the areas bordering Iran and Afghanistan.”. Expose on RAW by Isha Khan of Dhaka Bangladesh

Dhaka Diary: RAW 2008: An Instrument of Indian Imperialism by Isha Khan Dhaka Bangladesh. In typical “baghal main churi, moun men ram ram” fashion, the Indian delegation first hides the fact that the RAW agents are funding and arming the BLA and supporting suicide bombings by anti-Pakistan elements in the USA

Wednesday, October 22, 2008 By MAK Lodhi

LAHORE: The three arrested members of a militants’ gang especially deputed by Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan have disclosed that RAW has been funding suicide bomb attacks in Pakistan and that the Indian agency has funnelled Rs 680 million through its links with the Afghan secret agency.

The gang of three persons have brazenly admitted that they belong to the group of persons who had been deputed to ‘destabilise democratic Pakistan’ with the sole purpose of ‘enforcement of Shariah’ in the country.

Operators of an intelligence agency, working beyond the call of their duty, came into contact with a source ready for a tip-off against a reward and led to the arrest of Khurram Ishtiaq, Ghulam Mustafa and Shamim. The persons had been working under Qari Hussain, second-in-command to Baitullah Mehsud. All the three had been arrested on Aug 13 this year while they were on the prowl for a target. The militants had been arrested ‘red-handed’ as they possessed complete suicide kits, including two jackets and 70kg of explosives and detonators.

The accused were hardened militants and took a lot of time to break in and make confessions. They revealed that Qari Hussain had been working to help three adjutants-Farukh Usman alias Shahjee, Tayyab alias Baba; Ustad, the trainer to destabilise democratic government.

Qari Hussain, the leader, prepares suicide bombers and dispatches them throughout Pakistan. He also manages funds for the splinter groups from RAW which works in collusion with the Afghan intelligence agency RAM.

Farukh Usman works as Qari’s deputy and runs the sub-setup to carry out attacks in Lahore in particular and Punjab in general. He was the mastermind of suicide attacks on FIA building, Naval War College, Model Town, Lahore High Court and PAF bus in Sargodha, the investigation has revealed.

Tayyab alias Baba mainly deals with Rawalpindi/Islamabad. He was the man behind blasts at Aabpara Market and Marriott Hotel. The third person known only as Ustad is an expert of making bombs. He is said to be of Indian origin and he ‘works with a vengeance’. He is the man who leads suicide bombers to the marked site of the blast.

The investigation revealed that there are two sub-teams: three persons of one team work under Ustad. Two of the arrested persons-Shahmim Alam alias Sohail alias Kashif alias Uncle and Khurram Ishtiaq alias Ibrahim-have been active members of the TTP and worked under direct guidance of Ustad.

Shamim was the facilitator. His task was to distribute funds to suicide bombers at the behest of Qari Hussain and Tayyab@Baba. Being educated and a well-dressed civilian-look-alike, he was assigned another important job of providing ‘reconnaissance of the target area’.

He possesses the canny ability of mixing up with urbanites. Khurram Ishtiaq alias Ibrahim is a well-trained militant. His job is to harbour suicide bombers at a secret venue till they are led to the area of operation to carry out the job. The third person of this setup, Sajid, is a resident of Ali Khel, Waziristan. It is not certain whether his services were ‘utilized’ or made his escape good.

Another team which works under Farrukh Usman alias Shahjee includes Bablu, Rehan, Ghulam Mustafa @Asif (the third arrested person) and Abdul Rahim. Bablu’s assignment is to provide explosives at the nick of time when the suicide bombers have been finally prepared to perform the ‘sacred feat’.

Ghulam Mustafa and Abdul Rahim, a diehard Jehadi serve as guards and take care that none of perpetrators shows his back and become a deserter. In that case, there is only one choice left and that too leads one to heavens.

Former boss of the intelligence agency, Tariq Lodhi, had recommended a reward and commendation for the team who apprehended the culprits but they say their new boss Shoaib Suddle turned it down on the grounds that agency operators just did their job and no reward should be given for performing duty.

The team members disclosed that they had arrested two prime targets during Pervaiz Musharraf regime and they both had a head money of $5 million each but the reward money was shared by the two premier agencies instead passing it on to the individuals who had arrested them on their own initiative.

The team has long been working on the intelligence of militants but they got the culprits apprehended through a middleman who is ready to divulge more but “only if he is rewarded for the catch.”

The team claims that it could reach out to Qari Hussain and his gang and thus eliminate the danger of suicide blasts in Pakistan by 90 percent. Talking to The News on the condition of not divulging their names, they said, “We neither have free hand nor enough resources to break the hornet’s nest.” (Exceprt from The News-Submitted by Irtiza)