Pakistani internal security (catch all)

[Sarajevo071]

You are welcome. I thought maybe it could be important piece of news.

To be honest with you, I have no idea what to think... Or mujahideen there are that strong or Pakistani army is that weak. Or is some kind game/deal. It would be the first time. Seams it was not attack with casualties but rather surrender and grab. Prelude for something else? Musharaf is slowly going down. Maybe he have something in mind?

[Sarajevo071]

Talks on release of kidnapped troops begin

As a tribal jirga went into talks with hostage-takers, the government - changing its earlier position - has held Mehsud tribesmen responsible for the kidnapping of army and paramilitary personnel in the volatile South Waziristan region.

As the number of soldiers in captivity increased to more than 200, government officials alleged local Taliban - led by commander Baitullah Mehsud - were behind the hostage drama. On Friday, the miscreants seized four vehicles carrying rations for security forces along with five drivers in the Jandola area.

About army 205 army and Frontier Corps personnel were being held hostage by the militants, residents claimed, saying a colonel, three majors and four captains were among the captives. The kidnappers accused the authorities of failing to keep its promise of withdrawing troops from the Mehsud-inhabited areas in return for the 19 security men freed earlier in the week.

http://www.pajhwak.com/viewstory.asp?lng=eng&id=42063

[davidbfpo]

I read earlier this week that a party of Frontier Corps (para-military and locally raised troops) had been seized and one has been shown being beheaded by teenagers on video. Then there was a story they had been released.

Nothing like intimidation to stop local troops doing nothing.

Seizing a larger group, almost sounds like a convoy / company sized, with more officers than normal is very different. History shows many Imperial era convoys got seriously damaged when in transit, although I cannot recall a surrender.

Loss of will to resist sounds like the best explanation. Where was the support for them? Was the route picqueted?

Not a good sign for the national Pakistan government and should lead to the Army thinking hard - what happened?

davidbfpo

[TROUFION]

The surrender without firing a shot is more on line with the reaction of UN Peacekeepers (note Senegal in 1999-2000), perhaps the Pakistanis have learned the wrong leasons. Or perhaps the border guards, not the best troops and lacking in the will to resist just got sold out. Not a good sign no matter how you cut it.

[Sarajevo071]

I read earlier this week that a party of Frontier Corps (para-military and locally raised troops) had been seized and one has been shown being beheaded by teenagers on video. Then there was a story they had been released.

You are talking about these soldiers, right?

Militants Free 19 Pakistani Hostages
By SADAQAT JAN
The Associated Press
Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Militants on Tuesday released 18 soldiers and a Pakistani government official kidnapped near the Afghan border earlier this month, the army and the militants said.

Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad said the hostages were released in South Waziristan, a stronghold of pro-Taliban militants in Pakistan's lawless frontier region.

A militant leader, Rehmanullah Mehsud, said the captives were handed over to tribal elders in Kaniguram, a village north of Wana, South Waziristan's main town.

"Now they are heading to Wana to be handed over to government officials," Mehsud told The Associated Press by telephone.

The kidnappers had reportedly demanded the release of jailed comrades and a pullback of army troops in negotiations carried out through lawmakers for an Islamist political party.

However, Arshad said on Geo television news that the hostages were released unconditionally.

Militants seized 16 paramilitary soldiers after they left their base in a van on Aug. 9. One was later decapitated and his body dumped in a soccer field in the town of Jandola.

The other freed men were an army colonel, two soldiers and a security official seized last week near Laddha, another village in South Waziristan.
...

[Sarajevo071]

In mean time (update):

Militants link soldiers’ release to pullout
Monday, September 03, 2007
By Mushtaq Yusufzai & Sailab Mahsud

Tribal militants holding around 300 security personnel hostage in South Waziristan on Sunday made their release conditional to withdrawal of troops from the tribal areas besides release of their 15 comrades. They also claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of 10 FC soldiers from Mohmand Agency on Saturday evening.

Also, a bomb blast in Wana claimed the lives of four persons and injured 13 others Sunday. As the row between the Army and the tribal militants deepens, the authorities have put the Army on alert for launching a major operation against the tribal militants if they fail to release the abducted soldiers without any condition.

Tribal sources told The News from Wana, the headquarters of South Waziristan Agency, that a 100-member Jirga comprising prominent tribal elders from all the three subsections of Mahsud tribe and 21-member peace committee headed by JUI-F MNA Maulana Merajuddin returned to the town after holding unsuccessful talks with tribal militants in Ladha over the release of held soldiers.

The Jirga met with militant commanders including Baitullah Mahsud, Qari Hussain and Asmatullah Shaheen Bhittani at an undisclosed location in Ladha subdivision on Saturday evening and exchanged views with them on contentious issues, including the release of the held soldiers. On their arrival in Wana on Sunday, the Jirga members were received by senior officials of the political administration, Army and FC at the Civil Colony.

Briefing government officials about the outcome of their negotiations, Maulana Merajuddin said militants who earlier demanded the release of their 10 colleagues had now increased their number to 15. He said the militants claimed that these men were in the custody of the government on various charges. The government would have to release all of them if it wanted the safe return of the held soldiers and restoration of peace in the region.

The militants also demanded implementation of the Sara Rogha peace agreement signed between the government and Mahsud tribal militants on February 9, 2005, under which militants claimed they were promised that security forces would not be deployed in the Mahsud inhabited areas besides removal of the forces checkpoints. The agreement, they stressed, also called for the withdrawal of Army from the agency. By stressing the need for implementation of the Sara Rogha peace accord, the militants in fact wanted complete command and control over the area.

Similarly, they demanded that military officials would inform militants through the political administration about the troops movement in their areas so that they could take possible arrangements for their safe passage.

The militants further told the Jirga that the government would have to release all the Mahsud tribesmen taken into custody during the past few days in the wake of soldiers’ abduction under territorial responsibility clause of the Frontier Crimes Regulations.
....

more here:
http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=9898

Jirga fails to secure release of soldiers
September 03, 2007 Monday
By Alamgir Bhittani and Shams Momand

Local Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud has linked the release of over 150 soldiers taken hostage on Aug 30 to the implementation of the Sararogha agreement signed in Feb 2005, Zulfiqar Mehsud, a spokesman for the commander, said on Sunday.

The agreement requires the government to grant amnesty to the militant commander and restrains Baitullah Mehsud from protecting and assisting foreign militants, attacking government officials and installations or blocking development projects in the area.

But militants claim that a clause, which is not included in the written agreement, requires security forces to stop their movements in the Mehsud-dominated area of South Waziristan.

Militants dispute the figure of 150 hostages given by the government and claim to have seized 300 soldiers.

The spokesman also claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of 10 personnel of the Frontier Corps in the Mohmand Agency, and warned of suicide attacks if the government started military operations in tribal areas.

“Our foremost demand is the implementation of the Sararogha agreement, which binds the government to contain the movement of troops in South Waziristan,” he said.

Sources said that talks between members of a tribal jirga and militants for the release of over 150 security personnel had failed. The 50-member jirga headed by Senator Salih Shah went to Wana from Laddah and briefed Political Agent Hussainzada Khan on Sunday on talks held with militants.

The sources said that militants had told the elders of the Mehsud tribe that further talks were meaningless till the previous agreement was honoured.
...

more here:
http://www.dawn.com/2007/09/03/top1.htm

[Sarajevo071]

Militants withdraw threat to behead abducted soldiers
by Mushtaq Yusufzai & Sailab Mahsud

A pro-Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal tribal senator said on Monday the militant commander holding 300 soldiers hostage in South Waziristan had withdrawn his threat to behead five soldiers a day due to the efforts of a Jirga.

Senator Maulana Saleh Shah, who belongs to South Waziristan and is affiliated to the JUI-F and MMA, is heading a 100-member Jirga to secure release of the abducted soldiers. He said commander of the militants had earlier conveyed to the Jirga that he would start killing five soldiers every day and send their bodies to the Pakistan Army base at the Frontier Corps (FC) Fort in Jandola.

Shah was part of the Jirga that held extensive talks with the militants to secure the release of around 300 security personnel, who were taken hostage by the militants last Thursday along with 16 vehicles and ammunitions in South Waziristan.

He said Commander Baitullah Mahsud was angry over the detention of his tribesmen by the government and threatened to behead five hostages daily if the government did not release all of them and stopped their arrest.

The Maulana said the militants at the request of the Jirga withdrew their threat and asked them to convoy their message to the government officials to immediately release all the innocent detained tribal people.

As a sign of goodwill gesture the government on Monday released all the 80 Mahsud tribesmen, arrested under territorial responsibility clause of the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR). They had been arrested soon after the security personnel were made hostages by the tribal militants in their area.
...

http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=9916

Govt yielding to pressure; 100 tribesmen freed: Troops held hostage number about 300
by Ismail Khan

Militants holding hundreds of soldiers hostage have demanded withdrawal of forces from the restive South Waziristan tribal region and release of 15 alleged would-be suicide bombers in government custody, an official told Dawn.

“The militants have made certain demands but it does not mean that we will accept them. It will be managed,” the official said.

He acknowledged that the Taliban were holding close to 300 army and paramilitary personnel, including some senior officers.

Maulana Esamuddin, a member of the Mehsud tribal jirga, endorsed the official’s statement and said the authorities had asked them to help secure the release of 270 troops.
...

http://www.dawn.com/2007/09/04/top1.htm

[Tacitus]

Click on this link to listen to their report.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...oryId=14191419

From the people they interivew, the mood in Pakistan is "anger and embarassment."

If that many soldiers can be taken without even firing a shot, it makes you wonder. Either about the fighting capability of the army, or their loyalty (or lack of?) to the government, maybe some of both. Considering the report of political unrest there lately, if I was thinking about plotting a coup d'etat, the time would seem right.

I wonder what India to the south thinks about the fighting capacity of the Pakistani army.