Pakistani internal security (catch all)

[davidbfpo]

A short BBC News article based on two women in the Swat Valley:

Swat in north-west Pakistan is still recovering from a period of militancy several years ago. Men and women deemed un-Islamic were killed by the Taliban and their bodies dumped on the street. Hundreds of girls schools were destroyed before the army ousted the militants in 2009. A local school girl and Swat's first woman to train as a lawyer told Nosheen Abbas how life is changing.

Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-14420886

A reminder too of women's role in COIN, which IMHO we often overlook.

[carl]

This comment is in regard to David's post #147 from 1 week ago.

Just when I thought I could not be surprised by Pak Army perfidy, here is an account of a conventional Pak Army operation, complete with air support, the objective of which is to facilitate Haqqani and Taliban & Co. attempts to kill Americans. They mounted a big operation in order to clear a supply route for Taliban & Co. I wonder if some of the jets providing air support were F-16s.

[davidbfpo]

Hat tip to Circling the Lion's Den for this update:http://circlingthelionsden.blogspot....s-in-fata.html

Given the criticism of the Pakistani Army, here is a comment by the:

.. head of the pro-government Amn Lashkar militia announced this week that he was closing down their centre in Shahukhel village in Hangu district due to non-cooperation from the security forces and the government. Nine members of the lashkar have been killed in the last year and 13 others injured. “The government had pledged to provide us with arms and ammunition but it could not deliver on its promise. We cannot continue battling the militants on our own,” said Salamat Khan Orakzai.

[davidbfpo]

Hat tip to the Australian Lowry Institute for a recommendation of 'The Most Dangerous Place: Pakistan's Lawless Frontier' by Imtiaz Gul (Pub. June 2010):

a wonderfully written, deeply researched, but profoundly depressing book. Gul takes the time to explore in detail the social, historical, tribal and religious complexities of the Pakistan-Afghan border regions in ways that show why any and all attempts to impose external order are deeply futile. The Most Dangerous Place should give pause to optimistic scenarios that there will be stability and peace in that part of the world any time soon.

Link:http://www.amazon.com/Most-Dangerous...3899324&sr=1-1

[davidbfpo]

Pakistan's western province of Balochistan / Baluchistan is rarely reported upon so Al Jazeera decided to have a look and broadcast early in January 2012.

From the short written summary:

This film offers a glimpse into a region which, in 2010, had the highest number of militant, insurgent and sectarian attacks of any province in Pakistan. It is a region torn apart with separatist organisations attacking the state, sectarian and ethnic attacks, and crime, including kidnapping for ransom.

Link to summary:http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/...372863878.html

Link to film (47 mins):http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4aTxF3xjWA

What startled me was to see Cryptome feature the documentary via a what shall I say opinionated Pakistani blogsite, who had watched very closely and noted early on (02:02 to 02:16):

what came as a new revelation was a militant carrying an "SA-7" MANPAD. Yes, a shoulder launched surface-to-air missile, the Soviet SA-7, a weapon which is not even in use with the Afghan Taliban. After the withdrawal of Soviet Union from Afghanistan and several subsequent years of civil war, an SAM was never noticed in use by the militants in Afghanistan. The terrorist front, TTP, could not get its hand on an SAM, despite some reports which suggested they were trying very hard to get access to missiles for use against the Aviation Wing of Pakistan's Army.

The Pakistani blogsite:http://www.terminalx.org/2012/01/tx-...militants.html

[davidbfpo]

Hat tip to Circling the Lion's Den blogsite:

I have been perplexed for some time by the figures for militants killed in clashes with the Pakistani Army and Airforce. If accurate, then given the massive attrition these figures suggest, it is surprising that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan can still find anyone willing to fight for it....

Thus in the last three months - and accepting that these figures are not complete - a reported 496 militants, mostly members of the TTP or Lashkar-e-Islam, have been killed in military action in the FATA region of Pakistan. A similar number have been injured. Can this be possible? If so, it certainly confirms FATA as more of a battlefield than southern Afghanistan, for example, where reported deaths of militants are much lower. Either that, or the official figures are suspect. You decide.

A list of reported incidents is included:http://circlingthelionsden.blogspot....-pakistan.html

Have our observers of the Pakistani security scene noted a change in 'will'? Plus after the passage of time 'capability' may now be far more effective.

[omarali50]

Maybe more are getting killed, but there is one definite pattern: If "militants" (aka "bad jihadis") ambush the security forces and kill some of them then that incident is NEVER reported as just an ambush and X security forces dead. A larger number of militants is invariably announced as having been killed in the "clash" or in counter-operations by the security forces. I cannot recall a single ambush/clash in which the claimed militant death toll did not exceed the security forces death toll. If there are some, I will be happy to be proven wrong. (there are occasional IED or bomb blast events in which no militants are said to be killed).
That sounds suspicious to suspicious people, but then, some people are incorrigible cynics.
Having said that, I do not doubt that the Pakistani security forces will fight a longer and bloodier war in the years to come. I know the official line (Ahmed Qureshi) is that things will become normal once the accursed Americans leave, but I have my doubts. Some people are also incorrigible pessimists.