Pakistani internal security (catch all)

[Wana88]

http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/article.aspx?id=3850

On Sunday, 25 more Taliban militants -- including a senior leader, Miraj Burki -- died in clashes with Pakistani security forces in Burki's strongholds in the Spinkai Raghzai and Tiarza areas of South Waziristan.

A resident of Jandola, interviewed by telephone, said that hundreds of troops along with heavy military hardware, including tanks and artillery pieces, were seen transiting the town last Tuesday. The troops were moving towards the Mehsud area, the stronghold of Baitullah Mehsud, head of Pakistan's largest militant group, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Baitullah's operational commander, Qari Hussain, is close to the al-Qaida leadership in the area, so the latter is expected to fully back the Taliban militants in the fighting with government forces.

The military action against Baitullah is being launched while the Pakistani military is still fighting a tough battle against Taliban militants in certain parts of the Malakand district, including the Swat valley. [B]Critics have also questioned the rationale of Zardari's revealing the Waziristan operation well before it actually began."

[Wana88]

http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=22464


Monday, June 01, 2009

By Mushtaq Yusufzai &
Irfan Burki

"

PESHAWAR/WANA: Twenty-five militants, including a senior commander of Baitullah Mehsud-led Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Miraj Burki, and six soldiers were killed and several others injured in the deadly clashes between the militants and security forces in the South Waziristan Agency (SWA) tribal region on Sunday night.

Other reports said 13 soldiers were killed and over two dozens injured in the two deadly attacks.

Fierce fighting between the militants and security forces forced thousands of the tribal families to leave their homes in the Mehsud-inhabited areas."

Raises the imp question: Where are the AQ/IMU etc "guests" relocating to???

[Ron Humphrey]

Raises the imp question: Where are the AQ/IMU etc "guests" relocating to???

Guess it would be overly optimistic to hope that particular group will find no room at the inn.

[George L. Singleton]

Ron, Wana, et al:

Baitullah Mehsud was the man behind the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on 27 December 2007. Mrs. Bhutto was the wife of current Pakistani President Zardari. I believe Zardari's military actions, which my sources say are hot, furious, and daily on-going in Wazaristan, are quite genuine and that Mehsud's demise is a clear cut goal for the Pakistani military currently.

North and South Waziristan have for too long been allowed to exist as terrorist "quasi states" within the theoretical boundaries of Pakistan.

Pakistan since it's inception in 1947 has had little control in these and other Norhtern Pakistan areas. Raj-era governance at the local levels was allowed to carry over in the founding of Pakistan, but then came the USSR invasion of Afghanistan, radicalization of the tribes and general Pakhtun population, and this and these religious terrorists, once the USSR was defeated and driven out, then turned on Pakistan, internally.

Around 7 million Pashtuns fled Afghanistan into Northern Pakistan during the war with the USSR. These millions of course kept having babies. Thus probably a majority of all Pakhtuns in Pakistan, numbering around 26 million total, likely have roots in and their familes came from [fled] Afghanistan for refugee camps and safe havens inside Pakistan.

Getting the displaced peoples, Pakhtuns and non-Pakhtuns alike out of the tent cities/refugee camps today and back into their home areas will require, must require permanent stationing of Pakistani military forces in areas never before permanently secured by garrisons, along with the Frontier Corp, which is made up largely of ethnic Pashuns, too.

My two cents this morning.

[Wana88]

1)Baitullah Mehsud was the man behind the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on 27 December 2007. "

2) North and South Waziristan have for too long been allowed to exist as terrorist "quasi states" within the theoretical boundaries of Pakistan.

3)...then came the USSR invasion of Afghanistan, radicalization of the tribes and general Pakhtun population, and this and these religious terrorists, once the USSR was defeated and driven out, then turned on Pakistan, internally.

4) Getting the displaced peoples, Pakhtuns and non-Pakhtuns .... back into their home areas will require, must require permanent stationing of Pakistani military forces in areas never before permanently secured by garrisons, along with the Frontier Corp, which is made up largely of ethnic Pashuns, too.

Just want to offer my two cents on these comments:
1)BM has never said he did it/was behind it. Raises question: what does HE (&TTP) gain by killing her?? Who else gains (and the list is LONG)?

2)Those who have proudly inhabited this area called "SWA" today would resent that statement. The truth is not so simple and is multifaceted. These qaums have been some of the most devoted followers of Pushtunwali (unwritten tribal code based on honor that predates Islam) and that has been their undoing vis-a-vis the Muslim/Arab "guests." Second, ask these proud, fiercely independent, residents if they'd wanted to join the state called "Pakistan" which would lead to being dominated by "foreigners" i.e. Punjabis. The answer is "no." They wanted to go their own way and/or rejoin their kin as part of Afghanistan. To obtain their "compliance" they were offered a semi-autonomous status within this new state. That is the only reason why outright war did not break out as in an insurgency at partition in '48. That was the deal. Ask a Pushtun from the FATA and he'll say he is an Afridi first, a Pushtun second, a Muslim third and a Pak fourth.

3)The Soviet genocide (primarily Pushtun focused) coupled with dictator Zia's manipulation/corruption and the rise of the Klashnikov and heroin culture coupled with the influx of every Tom, Dick and Abdullah from the Arab world who sought an adventure, has cost the social structure much.

4) Agree with aggressive and permanent, stationing in the settled areas of the NWFP; but to have non-Pushtun soldiers permanently based in SWA etc would be something that would not accepted by the tribes. Instead, negotiating w/the elders/maliks of each khel and to bolster the Frontier Corps would be best for now.
If the non-Pushtun seek to subdue the Pushtuns and to bring them into the state's fold they need to do it slowly with sincere offers of economic assistance and development which the locals want/have wanted for a while. But given Pak's current situation, this is unlikely to be forthcoming

[George L. Singleton]

Wana88:

Telephone recorded evidence (you can read it on the Internet if you like) and comments by Batulla himself state he was the master planner behind the murder of Mrs. Bhutto.

What was gained? Chaos, which always benefits the terrorist cause inside Pakistan. Plus the terrorists were and are very much against "democracy" and the PPP which advocated more democracy and a more sectarian society.

Bearing in mind it was indeed long ago, bit I did live and work in Paksitan for almost two years, and later did business with Pakistan folks as an international banker. My comments today are built from current tense friends, locals, inside Pakistan, not "opinions."

Thanks for your reply, but Massud is the bad guy and President Zardari has the motivation of his wife's murder to go after him, and that he/the Pak military are doing, and I hope continue to do until he and his league of terrorists are wiped out.

[Wana88]

but Massud is the bad guy and President Zardari has the motivation of his wife's murder to go after him, and that he/the Pak military are doing, and I hope continue to do until he and his league of terrorists are wiped out.

Mr S:
Never said BM did or didn't do it. No one knows all the facts or motivations --except the mastermind(s)behind what, on the surface, seems an open and shut case. But as all the growing list of "experts" on the place must know/understand, things are never what they seem thus the predilection for conspiracies by the "natives."
The young men who detonated certainly looked "Pushtun." But one should never take things at face value. Some say BM did Zardari a favor and that's the charitable view BTW thats bandied about.
As for BM being "bad;" well that is putting it rather mildly. He is just another meglomaniacal terrorist busy terrorizing (mostly his own kinsmen) fellow Muslims. As for Zardari's motivations well that is something better left for another discussion. This is a man who had his own brother in law (Murtaza) gunned down while BB sat on the throne. The only member of that cursed Bhutto family that has any credibility is Fatima Bhutto (Murtaza's daughter) and maybe ZUlfiqar junior but he is still young.
Finally, last but not least, is the Pak army also going to head down to Quetta and "take care" of the Taliban Central folks who are the VIP guests of ISI????

Beaten this dead horse enough...le fin.

[Wana88]

Guess it would be overly optimistic to hope that particular group will find no room at the inn.

Ron:
The foreign "guests" have been in these environs (SWA) primarily since after 9/11 (in the 80s their presence was minimal in SWA; more ensconced in NWA and particularly west of Parachinar (Kurram) and across the Durand in the Tora Bora area and Bajaur. But the bulk made "comfortable" Peshawar's University Town, and also the new development, Hyatabad, their home base.

Today their tentacles extend throughout Pak and they actually have never felt "comfortable" amongst the Pushtuns. Pushtuns aren't the more malleable Punjabis, and other Asian Muslims. Most Pushtuns don't buy into the Khaleej Arab racist thesis that promotes an Islamic "hierarchy" with the Khaleejis at the top as the "purest of the pure." Pushtuns perceive selves as just as equal as the next Arab and the Arab's never took kindly to this (80s). Also the ancient, passed down, narrative amongst the Pushtun of being "Bani Israel." Until fairly recently, Pushtuns would proudly subscribe to being "Israelites" by descent. And vociferously deny that they were "Jews." Two different entities in their minds. Yet,another "narrative" the "Afghan-Arabs" have worked hard at in extinguishing with much success.

Instead, the Afghan Arabs encouraged the "Arab descendants" hypothesis to convince their hosts that the Pushtuns actually have a lot of THIER (Arab) blood in them thus were blood brothers. This BS --and the Arabs aren't bad at IO-- plus free room and board at the madrassas; plus offers of employment in the Khaleej have resonated...for now. But the underlying hate and hostility between the Pushtuns (especially those in the Pushtun core: Khyber, NWA and SWA) and the Arabs is strong and deep. Pushtuns, xenophobic as they are, if provided appropriate "incentives" would quickly sell these "Arab brothers" with the exception of some die hard/well indoctrinated Pushtuns.

[Ron Humphrey]

Ron:


Instead, the Afghan Arabs encouraged the "Arab descendants" hypothesis to convince their hosts that the Pushtuns actually have a lot of THIER (Arab) blood in them thus were blood brothers. This BS --and the Arabs aren't bad at IO-- plus free room and board at the madrassas; plus offers of employment in the Khaleej have resonated...for now. But the underlying hate and hostility between the Pushtuns (especially those in the Pushtun core: Khyber, NWA and SWA) and the Arabs is strong and deep. Pushtuns, xenophobic as they are, if provided appropriate "incentives" would quickly sell these "Arab brothers" with the exception of some die hard/well indoctrinated Pushtuns.

So could this lead one to conclude that the best way to encourage that last will be if the Pak military successfully follows the clearing their in the process of with good hold and build such as George referred to.?