Pakistani internal security (catch all)

[omarali50]

For anyone who can understand urdu. Outstanding speech. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=761289083962711

[davidbfpo]

Beyond the sub-title there is value here, especially that painful question for the Pakistani people - so only killing Army children and their teachers causes the state to react?

Anyway the sub-title is:

In the absence of effective political institutional input to set up mechanisms able to handle terrorism, Pakistan has given the military a free hand to maintain the status quo.

Link:https://www.opendemocracy.net/syed-i...-strategically

[omarali50]

I have a post up about the latest Shia killing and long section on the background to this particular phenomenon in Pakistan

http://brownpundits.blogspot.com/201...round-and.html

Except:
So where will this end? Prediction is where the pundit rubber meets the road, so here goes:

1. The state will make something of an effort to stop this madness. Shias are still not seen as outsiders by most educated Pakistani Sunnis. When middle class Pakistanis say “this cannot be the work of a Muslim” they are being sincere, even if they are not being accurate.
But if the state makes a greater effort to rein in the most hardcore Sunni militants, it will be forced to confront the “good jihadis” who are frequently linked to the same networks. This confrontation will eventually happen, but between now and “eventually” lies much confusion and bloodshed.

2. The Jihadist community will feel the pressure and the division between those who are willing to suspend domestic operations and those who no longer feel ISI has the cause of Jihadist Islam at heart will sharpen. The second group will be targeted by the state and will respond with more indiscriminate anti-Shia attacks. Just as in Iraq, jihadist gangs will blow up random innocent Shias whenever they want to make a point of any kind. Things (purely in terms of numbers killed) will get much worse before they get better. As the state opts out of Jihad (a difficult process, but one that is almost inevitable, the alternatives being extremely unpleasant) the killings will greatly accelerate and will continue for many years before order is re-established. The worst is definitely yet to come. This will naturally mean an accelerating Shia brain drain, but given the numbers that are there, total emigration is not an option. Many will remain and some will undoubtedly become very prominent in the anti-terrorist effort (and some will, unfortunately, become special targets for that reason).

3. IF the state is unable to opt out of Jihadist policies (no more “good jihadis” in Kashmir and Afghanistan and “bad jihadis” within Pakistan) then what? I don’t think even the strategists who want this outcome have thought it through. The economic and political consequences will be horrendous and as conditions deteriorate the weak, corrupt, semi-democratic state will have to give way to a Sunni “purity coup”. Though this may briefly stabilize matters it will eventually end with terrible regional war and the likely breakup of Pakistan. . Since that is a choice that almost no one wants (not India, not the US, not China, though perhaps Afghanistan wouldn’t mind) there will surely be a great deal of multinational effort to prevent such an eventuality. If it does happen, the future may look very different from the recent past (btw, a little explanation of the scenario building in that last link is here).
Sadly, the Tariq Ali type overseas/Westernized-elite Left will play no sensible role in any of this. If we do (God forbid) get to the nationalist-Sunni-coup phase; Pankaj Mishra may find something positive in it (“strength” and the willingness to stand up against imperialism being a high priority for him) but events will not fit into that semi-positive framework for too long.

[blueblood]

For anyone who can understand urdu. Outstanding speech. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=761289083962711

Well that was horrifying. Especially the Mazar-i-Sharif part.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battles...%E2%80%9398%29

According to the person in the video, 2000 Hazara (Shia) were massacred when taliban took over the city and some Mullah gave them 3 choices.

1) Recite Kalma and become a "Muslim".

2) Remain a non Muslim and pay Jizya (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jizya).

3) Or die.


At one point of time, you can hear an iPhone ringing, so I think it was a gathering of elites.

[blueblood]

ISLAMABAD: Just as Pakistan was celebrating the launch of Chinese investments worth $46 billion in the country, the militant organization Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on Monday claimed to have successfully test fired its first indigenously developed missile named as "Omar-1".

To justify its claim, the TTP, which has presence across the country and currently resisting Pakistani troops in the volatile tribal regions on the border with Afghanistan, has issued a statement and posted a video demonstrating the launch of missile.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...w/47004090.cms

Waiting for the confirmation by Pak media. It is still unknown what kind of missile this is.

[omarali50]

On the Pak-China Economic Corridor

http://brownpundits.blogspot.com/201...-corridor.html

btw, does any credible person take the Taliban claim of downing the helicopter in Naltar seriously? or is there consensus that the chopper crash was an accident? I ask because Major Amin (who is frequently unprintably rude, but usually does have information) insists it was brought down, but nobody else seems to agree. What do "serious" people think? (obviously no one will reveal classified information, but what is out there in public?)
(Major Amin's claim is here http://electronicwarfares.blogspot.c...-security.html )

[davidbfpo]

Yet another example of the hatred by some Sunni towards the Shia minority, claimed by different groups. A simple BBC report:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-32732784

Want more, Zoha Waseem (Kings War Studies), adds much more:http://strifeblog.org/2015/05/13/kar...into-question/

[omarali50]

I had an early post on this massacre. Nothing much has happened since in terms of leads or people being caught, so this is pretty much up to date.

http://brownpundits.blogspot.com/201...rat-moved.html

[davidbfpo]

From a BBC report:

Officials in Pakistan's MQM party have told the UK authorities they received Indian government funds, the BBC learnt from an authoritative Pakistani source.UK authorities investigating the MQM for alleged money laundering also found a list of weapons in an MQM property.
A Pakistani official has told the BBC that India has trained hundreds of MQM militants over the last 10 years.
The Indian authorities described the claims as "completely baseless". The MQM said it was not going to comment.

Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-33148880

The MQM is mainly active in Karachi and can order up crowds, disorder and shootings. For context see the stand-alone thread on Karachi:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ad.php?t=21443