Pakistani internal security (catch all)

[George L. Singleton]

Once you plow through the immature rantings of overseas Pakhtun high school students in places like London, in Canada, and Australia, where they and their parents live well and have freedoms impossible in Pakhtun areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan...then you get to some rational, common sense mature remarks and dialogue such as this May 13, 2009 posting on Global Hujra Online:

khyaal
Salaar Join Date: May 2006
Location: Hashnaghar Pakhtunkhwa
Posts: 1,517

Originally Posted by aimal khan May 13, 2009:

In this context Budhas were destroyed by Wahabism inspired Taliban not USA, Pakistan or others. In Swat what happened is the replica of the Taliban ruled Afghanistan not the formative phase of Taliban by USA, Pakistan or others.

For your information the whole plan of Taliban had been planned by Pakistan and Saudis and it is has been confessed by Naseer ullah Babar, the then Interiour minister of Pakistan. Just read the book 'Taliban' by Ahmad Rashid and you will know the whole truth. Now it is an established fact that Pakistan confesses its role of capturing Afghanistan through Taliban and the architects of the plan were General Aslam Beg and General Hamid Gul, former DG ISI.

For your information the strategic depth concept against india was that of Paksitan and not of US. After the end of Afghan proxy war in in 1988 US imposed sactions on Pakistan under Pressler amendment bill, and thus US completely dissociated itself from Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Further, for your information, the US government till the very last moment of Taliban regime didn't recognise that regime, on the contrary US considered Burhan ud din Rabbani's government as the legitimate afghan government.

Throughout the world it was only Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and UAE helped estabish Taliban regime and recognised Taliban against that of the UN as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan.

The regime of Taliban would be run through the militant pakistani organisation like Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Jaish Mohammad, and people from military like, General Mahamood, former DG ISI and Col. Imam. (col. Amir Sultan from Gujrat).

See following series of postings, but in particular posting #1:

http://www.khyberwatch.com/forums/sh...ed=1#post69664

[MikeF]

Mark Kukis, a Texan reporter for Time Magazine, is one of my favorite journalist. He's started his own blog here. Currently, he writes for Time Magazine. He has spent time in the White House, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. In Iraq, he lived day in and day out with my boys. Here is his latest on Pakistan.

v/r

Mike

Beyond the valley in Pakistan

The Pakistani military appears poised to deliver a blow to Taliban fighters holed up in Swat Valley, which has seen a massive refugee exodus. The picture of how the battle is unfolding day to day is murky at best. There are few, if any, journalists in the area, and neither the Pakistani army nor the Taliban can be expected to provide honest accounts.

The eventual outcome is already clear nonetheless. In the days ahead, Pakistani troops will overrun the Taliban positions in Mingora, the valley’s main town. Taliban survivors of the assault will scatter and begin to regroup for a counterpunch. Pakistan now has an insurgency on its hands, and so it will go like this for as long as one side or the other is willing to keep up the fight.

But the battles in the counter-insurgency campaign Pakistan is now undertaking distract from the real mission the government must launch, i.e. bringing the tribal territories where the Taliban were born under government control. The military will have a role in that to be sure, but the real work to be done is in development of this desperately poor region.

For decades the central government of Pakistan has allowed tribal rule of its territories bordering Afghanistan. Islamabad has granted the tribal territories government support such as roads and basic services but without demanding that the societies who benefit from this state support adhere to systematic rule of law like the rest of the country. That’s why you see the occasional news of a public stoning in the tribal territories, where the central government usually leaves law and order to tribesman rather than police and courts. Nuclear Pakistan allows, even encourages, a huge swath of the country’s population to languish in underdevelopment and backwardness. This must end if Pakistan is to escape the fate of failed states.

There are many voices in Pakistan and even the West who may balk at the idea of judging an entire society’s way of life as “backwards” and consider it an imperial insult. To that I would say: Bull####. There are societal norms we can all agree are good. Things like low infant mortality, literacy and longevity. These development indicators all point in the wrong direction in tribal societies and have throughout time. There is an enormous body of scholarship documenting this truth. Read Nonzero by Robert Wright and Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond for a start if you need convincing that romantic notions of tribalism serve only to perpetuate human suffering.

The reasons why Pakistan has preserved its tribalism are part cultural, part economic and part strategic. Regardless, the result of brooking tribalism for decades amounts to a social and political disaster for all involved. The people in the tribal territories of Pakistan live in some of the deepest poverty found in Asia or the Islamic world. And the militancy bred there now threatens to undo much of the rest of the country’s progress, hence the fleeing of more than a million Pakistanis from Swat, a formerly bucolic tourist destination.

The Pakistani military can and must defeat Taliban forces on various battlefields in the months and years ahead. But no number of military victories can solve the root problem. To civilize the tribal territories will require a massive act of well-intentioned statecraft along with a completely altered political view from Pakistan’s leadership on what the country will be in a future time, when perhaps the residents of Swat have returned home.

[George L. Singleton]

These excellent photos of displaced families/people in Pakistan (including one young boy with his even younger sister who show great entrepaneurial spirit by setting up shop to sell food items under a tent top (shamiani) take only a few seconds to go through and paint a clear picture of the Pakhtuns who are the direct descendants of the legions of Alexander the Great:

http://www.khyberwatch.com/forums/sh...0411#post70411

[George L. Singleton]

http://www.khyberwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6844

Here is a partial quote from the article, which for a Pakistani commentary is about the best you can find in print over there to buck up the population and support their Army in the field against the terrorists, the Taliban and al Qaida:

#9 Yesterday, 03:43 AM
WatanGul
Salaar Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 1,284


Pakistan's first (or rather second) true war

We are in a tight spot, no doubt about it, facing domestic enemies and external pressures. But if we emerge from this test successfully -- and there is no reason on earth why we should not -- we will be a stronger nation, leaving many of our present troubles behind us. Wars are never a good thing but when they become unavoidable, as on this occasion, they test a people's mettle. Whether we like it or not, great nations, throughout history, have been forged in the fire of conflict.

If I may be forgiven another de Gaulle quote: "The sword is the axis of the world and its power is absolute." The world as we know it has been shaped by the power of the sword. In the mountains and valleys of Malakand it is our sword against the Taliban's. We win and the Republic is secured. They win -- and I am only presenting this as an argument --Pakistan as we know it is lost. It's as simple as that.

It is always possible to take exception to the conduct of military operations. If an army botches an operation, if it suffers too many needless casualties, if it is not properly led in battle, if soldiers shirk their duty, if a sledgehammer is used when something lighter could have sufficed, it is perfectly legitimate and even necessary to point out these things. But to be critical about the tactical aspects of any particular operation is quite different from questioning the entire basis of the present war which is what some of our more confused politicos and media people are doing.

In the first two or three years of the Second World War nothing went right for the British. But no one said that Britain should make peace with Hitler. The Soviets suffered catastrophic losses when Hitler attacked the Soviet Union. But that did not persuade Stalin to sue for peace.

So it is a bit baffling to hear some of our astute thinkers who, even at this late hour, are mouthing clichés about dialogue and a 'political settlement'. Dialogue with whom? Maulana Fazlullah, the Reverend Muslim Khan whose aim is not dialogue but the establishment of an Al Qaeda--inspired emirate?

If they were at all interested in a peaceful solution they would have seized upon the Swat accord, which was wholly to their advantage, and made it stick. But peace was not their agenda. Before even the ink on the accord was dry, they set about expanding their sphere of control. That's when the roof came crashing down on their heads, for which they have only themselves to blame.

[George L. Singleton]

Peshawar FRONTIER POST front page article May 28, 2009

(The writer of this article works in the Lahore branch office of the FRONTIER POST newspaper)

Main battle must now be fought by the people Lahore Note Book

Rahim Sheikh

Our office is just 25 yards from the place terrorists attacked the 15 Police Rescue office. My office is no more. Why attack an ambulance and rescue service? This is a clear sign of desperation.

This is a call to all Pakistanis to weed out extremists living among the community. My view is that the real target was the ISI office just across the street.

Two senior Army officers have also been killed, so tells us official sources. This is besides the over 40 policemen and citizens who perished in this mindless blast, not to speak of the hundreds injured, some very badly.

The "recoil" of the military operation in the NWFP will continue, as the terrorists, clearly enemies of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and his religion of peace, hit back before finally being overwhelmed.

In an earlier piece one had said that we should not live in an illusion. This is a fight to the end. But mind you, the terrorists will be overwhelmed by the people.

Yes, the Pakistan Army and the police of all the provinces will bear the brunt, but the main battle must now be fought by the people. The main action was an initial gunfight, followed by one explosion. The rebound of the blast was as severe. After all, a 100 kilo bomb is no joke.

This was a huge attack, very well planned and one is also hearing reports of two persons firing after the blast and escaping.

We also hear of six arrests, maybe half of them innocent, or so it seems. But even in this hour of anguish, Pakistanis must not lose their head. This is going to be a very long and bitter fight, and we must not lose sight of the objective … that is to save Pakistan and make it a true Islamic republic where no Islamic political parties are allowed to function to promote the exclusion of other Muslims. That is why such moves on the political front, in the Constitution, are critical.

The war against terrorism must now be widened to include the people of Pakistan. The people of Lahore and the Punjab will also be hit, and hit badly. In return the people of the NWFP, FATA and PATA know full well that enough food will be provided by the Punjab to keep going. That is why this war must be fought in every village of the NWFP and Punjab. It must be organised at the village and streets level.

All religious leaders must be kept under scrutiny and all 'talibs' must be watched, especially by their own families. This war will have to be fought at the family level.

We have lessons in our own history to learn from. Take the Thug Campaign. That was a war won by the intelligence services and by the ruthless elimination of all thugs. Mind you even that was a religious sect. They had to be eliminated. Sadly, that happens when beliefs cross all reason. It hurts humanity, and humanity must never be violated, just as the Taliban are doing.

But on the other side of the spectrum we must accept that Pakistan is a very corrupt society where honest effort is not rewarded. Governance is bad, justice is denied and economic development is ignored.

As in our case this entire mess has been triggered by the Afghan War, we must accept that the entire world should assist. But, in the end it is our country, and we have the motivation to beat these extremists.

That is why we must make sure that terrible attacks like the Lahore Blast must not derail our effort to eliminate the Taliban. They are a genuine threat to Islam and to our way of life; they are a threat to the entire female population, to all educated men, to men of vision and to the wise old men of our villages and cities.

In short, this is a threat to our civilization. Let not this blast derail the war. Battles are lost, of that there is no fear. But we must not lose the war.

http://www.thefrontierpost.com/News....at=ts&nid=1356

[IntelTrooper]

Interesting that this article places responsibility on Pakistanis but expects international aid since the situation was "caused by the Afghan War." Perhaps they have forgotten where the Taliban movement was born...

[George L. Singleton]

Thanks for your input. Latvia is a brave nation which has been a loyal Western ally since becoming independent of the old USSR.

[IntelTrooper]

Thanks for your input. Latvia is a brave nation which has been a loyal Western ally since becoming independent of the old USSR.

You bet. Hopefully my avatar isn't too misleading -- although I am of Latvian heritage, I'm not a Latvian citizen. I did have the honor of serving with a Latvian OMLT (NATO embedded training team) in Afghanistan. My avatar is in memory of the two Latvian mentors killed recently in Konar Province.

[George L. Singleton]

My prayers go up for your two Latvian friends.

While I am 69 years old, we have friends children and grandchildren who are adult soldiers, sailors, and airmen serving in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq today.

I pray for all in harms way.

Thanks for clarifying your US identity with Latvian connections.

[George L. Singleton]

Click on Internet subject line for complete article dateline 5/28/09 in the Peshawar edition of the FRONTIER POST.

http://www.thefrontierpost.com/News....at=ts&nid=1355

View of destruction at 15, Frontier Post offices Massive blast kills 30, injure 300 in Lahore F.P. Report

LAHORE: Gunmen detonated a car bomb in 'Rescue 15' office in the heart of the city on Queens Road on Wednesday, killing around 30 people, including 15 policemen and eight civilians, and wounding over 300 according to the official version. Four men with rifles alighted from the car and opened fire on the intelligence agency building, then set off a massive blast almost immediately when security guards returned the fire, officials said. The explosion sheared the walls of buildings in a main business district. The Frontier Post Office which is only 50 metres away from the blast was almost fully destroyed with cracks in the walls, windows smashed and doors blown from their hinges.The ceilings of operating rooms in a nearby hospital collapsed, injuring 20 people. A row of car show rooms saw the windows of their brand new cars shatter.

[George L. Singleton]

I have removed identifying info on this 5/29/09 e-mail received by me today from a location outside of Swat. This writer has some family members still in Swat [whom they visited with earlier this year].

Tough reading if all is in fact as alleged in this note. Past experience has been that this writer is sound and truthful, but here they use some "heresay" info which is up for "interpretation."

Dear Mr Singleton,

Thank you for the articles (copies of some recent days 3 letters to editor of the FRONTIER POST back and forth between me and a fellow in Lahore who seems pro-Taliban/al Qaida.)

My family from the Swat valley that did not leave are giving horrifying accounts of the conditions there.

The Taliban fed captured soldiers through a thresher and video taped it. From what I hear the CD is easily available in Peshawar as Swat 4. Swat1-3 are of beheadings and other executions before this operation.

By some accounts the dead soldiers in this operation number in the 500's as oposed to the statement of 90 from the government.

It looks like the Pak Gov is really trying to quash the Taliban, but many of them are also getting away. Two weeks ago Fazalullah was said to have broadcast over his illegal FM radio that he did not understand why the army says they couldn't find him when it was they who had just dropped him off at his current safe house, I hope this is only propoganda and not some deal the goverment has worked out. During the curfews the Taliban were openly going to villages and dragging out and beheading any one who opposed them, that seems to have stopped for the time being.

There are other stories circulating of fleeing families gunned down both by the Taliban and the stench of rotting bodies getting unbearable in the summer heat. Food supplies ran out about 10 days ago and the army has selectively airdropped food at certain location, but with the curfew in place and no power people have run out of drinking water too. Medicine had run out 3 weeks ago. This current curfew that was imposed for 25 days still has about 10 more days to go and a big exodus is expected.

There were many pregnant women who were near their due dates and those that could not leave were left behind have probably delivered their babies in empty homes with no one to help them. 15 days ago when the curfew was lifted there were many reports of women giving birth on the road sides and of elderly people who dropped dead from exhaustion and heat.

It is a grim situation there and hopefully Pakistan has decided to get rid of the Taliban once and for all. I hope that the current hardship of the IDP's will be rewarded with a safe Swat to return to. END of e-mail of 5/29/09 to Singleton.

[IntelTrooper]

In retaliation the Taliban fed captured soldiers through a thresher and video taped it. From what I hear the CD is easily available in Peshawar as Swat 4. Swat1-3 are of beheadings and other executions before this operation.

Hi George,

I'm working with contacts on the AfPak border to confirm/deny this section.

[George L. Singleton]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle6350500.ece

This article focused in a young recently fled male MD from Mingora, the capital of Swat, is grizzly.

But, it sounds very much like other info I posed yesterday from another MD whose family is still inside Swat...which other info from yesterday concludes that this tim the Pak Army is really going after and seeking to finish off the Taliban. I hope the destruction literally of the Taliban and al Qaida in facts continues, as this is the only way to end their insane zealot terrorist religious insanity.

[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]

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.?

[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