Recent Appearances...

Warning: Undefined array key "rbname" in /data/rantburg.com/www/pgrecentorg.php on line 14
Hello !
Recent Appearances...

Faqir Muhammad	Faqir Muhammad	al-Qaeda	India-Pakistan	20060126	Link
Maulana Faqir Muhammad	Maulana Faqir Muhammad	Tanzim Nifaz Shariat-e-Muhammad	Afghanistan/South Asia	20050706
	Maulana Faqir Muhammad	Tehrik-e-Nifaz Shariah Muhammad	India-Pakistan	20060714	Link
	Maulana Faqir Muhammad	Jamaat-e-Islami	India-Pakistan	20060114	Link
	Maulana Faqir Muhammad	Tehrik Nifaz-e-Shariah Muhammadi	India-Pakistan	20060116	Link

India-Pakistan

TTP Commander Killed

2021-12-21

[NATION.PK] On Saturday, news reports emerged that security forces killed a terrorist commander, identified as Ghafoor alias Jaleel, in an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Bajaur tribal district. The ISPR has revealed that the terrorist was a close acquaintance of Maulvi Faqir Muhammad — a top leader of Tehrik-e-Taliban
Taliban

...Arabic for students...
Pakistain (TTP) — and was involved in many terrorist activities.

We gave peace a chance and since that offer was thwarted, now there can be no compromise on our internal security and no more innocent lives of civilians and security forces can be lost to this menace. This operation was conducted two days after Maulvi Faqir escaped unhurt from a suspected dronezap—and a week after the ceasefire with the Pakistain government collapsed—on a safe house in eastern Afghanistan. While there has been no confirmation regarding who carried out the attack, the Taliban government has stated that the strike was an explosive fired from the ground.

In addition to the operation in Bajaur, two more holy warriors were also killed in a clearance operation in the Boya area of North Wazoo district. It appears that a crackdown against the TTP has commenced and the government must be commended for acting swiftly. It is also important to note that terrorist targeted in the rumoured dronezap, Maulvi Faqir, was part of the recent talks between the TTP and the government before the ceasefire was violated by the turban group.

It remains to be seen how comprehensive this operation is going to be what strategy the security forces will adopt. Is the focus going to be on decapacitation of leadership figures or will it extend to the foot soldiers as well? Regardless, the authorities will have to be extremely vigilant in the coming days as the group will try to muster a response. Going forward, Islamabad must also take the Afghan government into confidence regarding next steps and ensure that the bully boyz find no space across the border to operate and conduct cross-border attacks.

Link

India-Pakistan

6 Levies personnel martyred in Ziarat

2019-03-21

[DAWN] Six Levies personnel were martyred in an attack in Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
's Ziarat district on Wednesday.

Deputy Commissioner Ziarat Qadir Bakhsh Pirkani said that armed gunnies attacked a Levies checkpost in Ziarat's Sanjavi area in the morning.

All Levies personnel deployed at the checkpost were martyred, he added, while the gunnies managed to escape. The bodies of the martyred personnel, identified as Daffadar Mehtabuddin, Sepoy Abdul Hakeem, Sepoy Faqir Muhammad, Sepoy Muhammad Usman, Sepoy Abdul Shakoor, Sepoy Daad Muhammad, were taken to Sanjavi Hospital.

After the incident, Levies personnel and other law enforcement agencies reached the spot to launch an investigation into the attack.

An Nahar adds:

"It was a sudden attack. The attackers came on cycle of violences and killed all six personnel on duty," Qadir Bakhsh, a senior government official in Ziarat, told AFP.

Bakhsh said the attackers were armed with automatic weapons and fled after the assault early Wednesday, adding that a search operation has been launched in the area.

The Pak Taliban
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
later grabbed credit for the attack in an email sent to media.

Link

India-Pakistan

US names three Pakistanis as ‘terrorist facilitators’

2018-02-09

[DAWN] The United States on Wednesday named three Paks as key "terrorist controllers", saying they worked closely with a well-known backer of Al Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Taiba

...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI...
(LeT) and the Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
known as Shaykh Aminullah.

The US Treasury placed Rahman Zeb Faqir Muhammad, Hizb Ullah Astam Khan and Dilawar Khan Nadir Khan on its blacklist of "Specially Designated Global Terrorists," in an effort to disrupt the group’s ability to obtain and distribute financing.

All three were tied to Shaykh Aminullah, who has been on international terror blacklists since 2009.

US officials allege that Shaykh Aminullah turned the Ganj seminary in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar

...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
into a training and recruiting base for Al Qaeda, the Taliban and LeT.

The three men were involved in providing financial and logistical support, explosives and technological aid to the three Pakistain- and Afghanistan-based Lion of Islam groups, the Treasury said.

Rahman Zeb, it said, had been in charge of raising funds and materials for LeT in the Gulf region, and helped Shaykh Aminullah travel to the Gulf in 2014.

Hizb Ullah was involved in Shaykh Aminullah’s seminary and helped him on various trips to the Gulf. Dilawar, meanwhile, was a close assistant to Shaykh Aminullah, arranging his travel around Pakistain and handling his correspondence and financial transactions.

Link

India-Pakistan

COAS Gen Bajwa confirms death sentences of SSP Chaudhry Aslam's 'killers'

2016-12-06

[DAWN] Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Jawed Bajwa on Monday confirmed the death sentences awarded to four 'hardcore terrorists' tried by military courts, according to an Inter-Services Public Relations statement.

The convicts were involved in "heinous offences related to terrorism, including killing of innocent civilians, officials of Law Enforcement Agencies and Airport Security Force," ISPR said.

They planned and executed attacks on Jinnah International Airport Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
, CID building Karachi, Inter-Services Intelligence
...the Pak military intelligence agency that controls the military -- heads of ISI typically get promoted into the Chief of Army Staff position. It serves as a general command center for favored turban groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, tries to influence the politix of neighboring countries, and carries out a (usually) low-level war against India in Kashmir...
(ISI) office Sukkur and a convoy of Law Enforcement Agencies, ISPR said.

The convicts were involved in killing of 58 people including Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) Chaudhry Muhammad Aslam and wounding 226 others including SSP Farooq Awan. Firearms and explosives were recovered from the convicts' possession, ISPR said.

Chaudhry Aslam, Karachi's top cop, was killed when a jacket wallah targeted a convoy of police vehicles in 2014. The attack was claimed by the

Mohmand Agency
... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar and Kunar...
chapter of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain.

This is the first time COAS Gen Qamar Jawed Bajwa has confirmed the death sentences of 'hardcore terrorists'. The development comes as the power of military courts to try civilians is likely to end in a month as the government does not appear interested in extending the relevant amendment to the Constitution, which will lapse on Jan 2.

The details of the convicts shared by ISPR are below:
Three convicts Attaur Rehman s/o Faqir Muhammad, Muhammad Sabir s/o Alaf Gul and Muhammad Farooq Bhatti s/o Muhammad Ishaq were members of proscribed organizations.

They were involved in attacking innocent civilians, LEAs ISI officials and Jinnah International Airport, which resulted in deaths of 58 individuals including SSP Chaudhry Muhammad Aslam.

As a result of these terrorist attacks, 226 persons including SSP Farooq Awan also sustained injuries. These convicts admitted their offences before the Magistrate and the trial court. They were awarded death sentences.

Gul Zareen s/o Gul Sharif: The convict was a member of proscribed organization. He was involved in attacking police officials, which resulted in death of police constable Sartaj, police constable Ahmed Khan and injuries to 10 others including SSP Farooq Awan. He was also found in possession of fire-arms and explosives. The convict admitted his offences before the Magistrate and the trial court. He was awarded death sentence.

Link

India-Pakistan

Interpol help to be sought for militant's repatriation

2013-02-25

[Dawn] The government will soon approach Interpol to seek repatriation of senior commander of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain, Maulvi Faqir Muhammad, now under detention in Afghanistan.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik
Pak politician, Interior Minister under the Gilani government. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Nawaz Sharif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. He had to give up the interior ministry job because he held dual Brit citizenship.
told news hounds here on Saturday that Maulvi Faqir was involved in a series of terror attacks in the country. The government wanted his deportation from Afghanistan so that legal action could be initiated against him, he added.

Link

Afghanistan

Former Pakistani Taliban No 2 arrested in Afghanistan: reports

2013-02-19

[Dawn] Afghan intelligence officials on Monday claimed to have enjugged
Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw!
the former second-in-command of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP), Maulvi Faqir, along with "four accomplices" while he was trying to enter Pakistain's Tirah Valley from Afghanistan's Nangarhar
The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country..
province.

"Maulvi Faqir and his four accomplices who had entered Nangarhar from Bajaur Agency, aka Turban Central

...Smallest of the agencies in FATA. The Agency administration is located in Khar. Bajaur is inhabited almost exclusively by Tarkani Pashtuns, which are divided into multiple bickering subtribes. Its 52 km border border with Afghanistan's Kunar Province makes it of strategic importance to Pakistain's strategic depth...
were apprehended near Basawal on Torkham Road near the border of Khyber Agency's Tirah Valley," an Afghan intelligence official said on condition of anonymity.

"Yes I can confirm their names as they had told us. Maulvi Faqir, Shahid Umar, Maulana Hakeemullah Bajauri, Mualana Turabi and Fateh are the people who have been arrested," he replied when asked about the identity of the arrested people.

"They were traveling in a vehicle when (we) intercepted near Basawal village of Nangarhar," he added.

The Afghan intelligence official, who identified himself with the name Abdullah, said: "Arms and ammunition have also been seized from their vehicle. The five are in the custody of Afghan intelligence officials who are interrogating them."

Maulvi Faqir was the deputy amir (second-in-command) of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) and the Taliban chief in Bajaur Agency, but was later removed from his position in March 2012 on suspicions of entering into a peace deal with the Pak government.

Faqir Muhammad, who hails from Chopatra Village of Bajaur Agency, was first part of the Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi, and later the deputy chief of TTP until March 2012 when he announced himself as the TTP chief after the death of Baitullah Mehsud. Faqir had also publicly accepted his ties with al-Qaeda network and had been accused of a number of cross-border attacks in Bajaur Agency and the settled Lower and Upper Dir district.

Link

India-Pakistan

NATO Says Pakistani Militant Commander Killed in Afghanistan

2012-08-25

[NY Times] NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants...
forces said on Saturday that they had killed a senior Pak Taliban capo in an ~~Arclight~~ airstrike in Afghanistan, highlighting the increasingly complicated nature of the fight against Islamist cut-throats along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistain.

Mullah Dadullah, who led the Pak Taliban in the Bajaur tribal agency, was killed late Friday in a strike on a compound across the border in the Afghan province of Kunar, NATO and Pak intelligence officials said.

The Kunar police chief, Gen. Elwaz Mohammad Naziri, said 12 other myrmidons, including Dadullah's deputy, were also killed.

The death of Mullah Dadullah, a former prayer leader who rose through the Taliban ranks to become a commander, will have an impact on the fighting in Bajaur, where the Pak Army has been battling the Pak Taliban since 2008.

But it may also offer an opportunity for a fresh turn in the relations among NATO, Pak and Afghan forces along the mostly non-existent border, which have been marred by acrid recriminations in recent months.

Pak officials have publicly accused NATO of failing to stop Taliban fighters sheltering in the Afghan provinces of Kunar and Nuristan, from which American forces have largely withdrawn, from carrying out attacks inside Pakistain.

The officials' protests reached a crescendo in June after a Taliban ambush on a Pak border patrol killed 13 troops, 7 of whom had their heads chopped off. Some Pak officials have gone as far as to accuse NATO and Afghan forces of secretly supporting the bad turbans.

The Afghan government has replied by saying that Pakistain's military regularly fires artillery salvos across the border into remote Afghan villages, killing scores of civilians. Tensions between border police on both sides have flared into gunfire exchanges several times in the last month.

NATO officials, meanwhile, note that Pakistain has failed to crack down on much larger Afghan Taliban sanctuaries inside its own territory -- particularly in North

Wazoo, further west along the border, where the notorious Haqqani network holds sway.

There, the campaign against the Taliban is being led by Central Intelligence Agency drone strikes, which have attacked targets in North Waziristan on four of the last eight days. Senior American officials in Washington say one of the strikes may have killed Badruddin Haqqani, the operational leader of the Haqqani network.

Now, Mullah Dadullah has become the most senior Pak Taliban capo to be killed by NATO in Afghanistan. In Kabul, the Afghan capital, a NATO official said the killing signaled a desire for greater cross-border cooperation with Pakistain. "This is an example of that," he said.

NATO said Mullah Dadullah was important on the Afghan battlefield, too. In a statement, the military alliance said he "was responsible for the movement of fighters and weapons, as well as attacks on Afghan and coalition forces."

A front man for Pakistain's military was not immediately available for comment.
"I can say no more!"
But Asad Munir, a retired Pakistain military brigadier and former intelligence chief in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, said Mullah Dadullah's killing was a "very calculated move that is likely to be appreciated by our army."

"Their complaint has been that American and Afghan forces are not targeting the Pak Taliban. This is a good sign," he said.

Mullah Dadullah, also the name of an Afghan commander of the Taliban who was killed in 2007, was the nom de guerre of Jamal Said, a prayer leader from the village of Damadola, in Bajaur. He rose through the ranks of the Pakistain Taliban and in 2008, he headed its vice and virtue department, which enforces strict moral edicts based on a narrow interpretation of Islamic texts, and later ran its charity.

He became a Taliban capo in Bajaur after the group's leadership fired his predecessor, Maulvi Faqir Muhammad, for engaging in unauthorized peace talks with the Islamabad government.

Mr. Muhammad now leads a rival Taliban faction, which is also based in Afghanistan and has been attacking Pak border posts. His troops have clashed with those of Mullah Dadullah in the past month, a local news hound from Bajaur said by telephone.

Link

India-Pakistan

Pakistani Taliban release 17 hostages

2012-01-06

[Dawn] Pak Taliban on Thursday released 17 people after over three months of captivity who mistakenly crossed the border from the country's lawless northwest into Afghanistan, officials said.

More than 30 young people aged between 20 and 30 were kidnapped from Pakistain's Bajaur tribal region during celebrations marking the Mohammedan Eid holiday in September 2011.

"Today Taliban has released 17 of them, some 8-10 are yet in their custody," Bajaur administration official Islam Zeb told AFP.

Zeb at the time said the boys had been kidnapped by a bad boy group allied with Taliban capo Maulvi Faqir Muhammad, who led local gun-hung tough guys but is believed to have decamped to Afghanistan in 2010.

"They have ben freed unconditionally," he added. Another bigwig, Mohammad Tariq Khan, confirmed the release.

Afghanistan shares a disputed and unmarked 2,400-kilometre (1,500-mile) border with Pakistain, and Taliban and other Al-Qaeda-linked forces of Evil have carved out strongholds on either side.

Afghanistan and Pakistain blame each other for several recent cross-border attacks that have killed dozens and displaced hundreds of families.

For years the neighbours have traded accusations over the Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked forces of Evil embedded in both countries, who criss-cross the porous, unmarked border and fight security forces from both governments.

Link

India-Pakistan

Nuggets from the Urdu press

2011-11-20

Lal Masjid cleric makes a mistake
Reported in Mashriq deputy leader of prayers of Islamabad's famous Lal Masjid, Maulana Amir Siddiqi complained that after he had made a trip to Iran he was receiving death calls. He had gone to Iran in a group of ten religious scholars on the invitation of Iran's Shia Council but forgot that his mosque was aligned with a school of thought that adhered to Al Qaeda and was opposed to Iran.

Another cricketer shows 'real' character
According to Mashriq Pakistan's pace bowler Suhail Tanvir got married (nikah) to a doctor but immediately after the wedding his former wife Nosheen appeared on the scene saying he had secretly married her earlier and had a daughter with her and had not taken permission under law from her for his second marriage. There is one year's prison for violating the law. But the clergy in Pakistan does not accept the law, so he was safe.

Musharraf wanted to hang Nawaz
Former General Ziauddin told daily Pakistan that Musharraf wanted to hang Nawaz Sharif after overthrowing his government in 1999. He had set up the scaffold at Attock Fort and the hangman had also been appointed. He said Nawaz Sharif as prime minister had dismissed Musharraf as army chief and appointed Ziauddin in his place because he knew what Musharraf had planned against Nawaz. Nawaz Sharif was spared because of international pressure.

Jinnah was unhappy with Bahawalpur
Daily Pakistan reported that Jinnah was unhappy with Nawab of Bahawalpur because of his activities and this had resulted in two Hindus trying to kill Jinnah but the plot was foiled just two days before it was to happen. Jinnah was about to take action against the Nawab.

Give women right to marry two men!
Reported in Jinnah Justice (retd) Nasira Iqbal said that men could marry second wife only under certain conditions usually taken to mean that he treat all his wives equally which was not possible according to the Quran. Sharmila Farooqui of PPP said that women too should be given permission to marry a lot of men.

Ah, Pakistan, Land of the Pure: where the impossible is permitted, and the possible is forbidden.

Allama Iqbal and Curse of America
Famous columnist Hamid Mir wrote in Jang that America was on its last legs as the entire world was unhappy with the capitalist system imposed by it. He asserted that Allama Iqbal had warned the nation that it was not right to depend on London and Geneva because these places were in the clutch of the Jews (Panja-e-Yuhud). He also asserted that Western civilisation was on its death bed in its very youth.

Russia and Chechnya
World famous intellectual Zulfiqar Ahmad Cheema

Who?

wrote in Jang that he had gone to Russia with a delegation and was received by a famous think tank. There he had the great wisdom of asking the leader of the think tank why Russia, after having given freedom to Uzbekistan and other republics, not allowed Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan the same freedom. (He forgot that new republics were created after the break-up of the Soviet Union; Russia did not break up therefore the above three areas of Russia were not to be freed without breaking up Russia too.)

So this would be that specific definition of great wisdom which means the sum of stupid plus ignorant. Got it.

Secretary petroleum does 'ghul-ghapara'
Reported in Jinnah that federal secretary petroleum became drunk on alcohol during a charity show in Islamabad, took off his shirt to bare his body after which he began to pursue the ladies present on the occasion. He caused a lot of disorder (ghul-ghapara) after which he specially turned his attention to foreigner ladies in hopes of attracting them to his bare body. On this he was overpowered by the guards and made to sit out the function.

Clearly the ladies weren't attracted to his mind, either.

Senior journalist also does 'ghul-ghapara'
Daily Jinnah reported that a senior journalist (hint-hint) and columnist of great fame in Lahore (name withheld) was found doing ghul-ghapara at Lahore's Gymkhana Club. The said journalist whose name could be easily guessed because of his well known inability to hold his drink was most abusive to club members in Chandni Lounge. The club administration was shocked at the fertility of the journalist's brain to produce long and very descriptive abuses.

Aisha is still Hamza's wife!
Daily Mashriq reported that Aisha Ahad Malik was still married to Nawaz Sharif's nephew and son of Punjab chief minister, Hamza Shahbaz Sharif. This was confirmed by the parents of Aisha - Ahad Malik of PMLQ and his wife. Hamza denied that he was married to her.

Saudi Arab wanted Nawaz Sharif as premier
Famous double-game president General Musharraf was quoted in Jinnah as saying that the Saudis wanted him as president of Pakistan provided he kept Nawaz Sharif as prime minister. Saudis got Nawaz to agree that he would stay out of Pakistan for a decade but later it was agreed that he would return but would not demand restoration of the judges nor want President Musharraf removed.

Drone kills Umar Abdur Rehman's son
Reported in Jinnah a drone killed three Arabs in Pakistan including two of them - a son and a grandson of - Umar Abdur Rehman the fiery blind orator-leader of Egypt's Gamaa Islamiyya serving a long sentence in America since 1995 for plotting to blow up the American Trade Centre through Ramzi Yusuf who is also serving a long sentence.

Maulvi Faqir calls Pakistan 'ghulam'
Quoted in Mashriq deputy chief of the Taliban Maulvi Faqir Muhammad said that it was no use talking to Pakistan because it was a slave (ghulam) of America. He said America was losing the war in Afghanistan and was therefore deceptively talking about peace with the Taliban. He denied that he had recently visited India; nor was he killing Pakistanis at the behest of India.

India cannot be 'most favoured'
Famous columnist Tanvir Qaiser Shahid wrote in Express that India could not be granted the title of Most Favoured Nation (pasandida tareen mulk) because it had inflicted so much cruelty on Pakistan. How could it be acceptable to the armed forces of Pakistan and how can it be acceptable that our army chief invites foreign guests to his meetings only to have them say in public that the army was in agreement with the award of MFN to India.

Kick America out!
World famous spy-master and intellectual Hamid Gul told Nawa-e-Waqt that if Afghanistan could beat up the US (maar-bhagaana) and throw it out of its territory, why couldn't Pakistan do it? He said Pakistan should stop the greatly expensive equipment of the US leaving Afghanistan through Pakistan, which Pakistan should confiscate.

A new slant on 'halala'
Daily Jinnah reported that chief of the world renowned madrassa of Karachi Jamia Banuria chief Mufti Naeem said that the contracting of second marriage by Suhail Tanvir without the permission of his first wife was a kind of halala (making permissible) which was allowed by Islam. He said Islam did not make second marriage or more conditional to taking permission from the first wife. Normally halala means remarrying first wife after first marrying her to another man, who is usually a cleric, complete with consummation of marriage through sleeping with the said cleric.

Link

India-Pakistan

Nuggets from the Urdu press

2011-10-16

Jinnah wanted normal relations with India
Columnist Ataul Haq Qasmi quoted Mujibur Rehman Shami's letter about Jinnah in Jang explaining how founder of the nation Jinnah was talking to the Indians about retaining his house in Bombay which he might visit once Indo-Pak relations returned to normal.

Lucky for Mr. Jinnah he died only a year after Pakistan became independent. He would have been very upset to see what his little project became.

Asfandyar got $23 million?
Daily Jang quoted MQM leader Altaf Hussain as saying that ANP leader Isfandyar Wali got $23 million from America to pay his way to winning the 2008 elections in Pakhtunkhwa. Altaf said he did not consider Pashtun leader Ghaffar Khan as a traitor. (Hussain later apologised for the charge.)

Dr Safdar defeats Ziring
Famous historian and ex-Intelligence Bureau officer Dr Safdar Mehmood wrote in Jang that the following American scholars were predicting Pakistan's failure: Selig Harrison, Stephen Cohen and Prof Lawrence Ziring. Ziring was author of half a dozen books predicting Pakistan's demise and when Dr Safdar encountered him on one occasion in Islamabad he challenged him on his basing his prediction on Dr Safdar's books. Later when Pakistan survived Dr Safdar challenged him again. On this occasion Ziring apologised for having predicted death of Pakistan. Dr Safdar wrote: 'Friends! Believe me, Allah has his protective shadow falling on Pakistan which will live forever'.

Army needs MQM
Reported in Jang news commentator Kamran Khan revealed that MQM was greatly needed by the ruling party PPP. At the same time both the Americans and the Pakistan Army also needed the MQM. All this meant that the PPP-MQM alliance was needed by all the important actors in the region.

Did Musharraf kowtow to America?
Writing in Jang ex-president Pervez Musharraf stated that the allegation that he accepted all the demands for cooperation by America after 9/11 was wrong. He took the American demand to his generals, then to all the cantonments and talked to the rank and file of the army and got agreement everywhere. Then he went to the cabinet and got its agreement and thereafter discussed it with all the big stakeholders. He gave Shamsi airbase in Balochistan to the Americans only for transit into Afghanistan and the Jacobabad base in Sindh, but did not allow use of airports and ports.

Jinnah's doctor made millions
Daily Pakistan revealed that Jinnah's personal doctor Col Ilahi Baksh managed to squeeze a lot of benefits from the government for his treatment of the Father of the Nation. He got a big plot in a place which later became Gulberg in Lahore and he got allotted a hotel in the Shah Alami Market.

Kulsum Saifullah regrets
Reported in Jang Kulsum Saifullah who wrote Meri Tanha Parvaz (My Solo Flight) regretted that her book contained slander against the person of late General Akhtar Abdur Rehman whose family was greatly perturbed. She apologised to the sons of General Rehman and said that the said general was an asset to Pakistan and that her book wrongfully contained sections against him because she could not supervise the proofreading and publishing of the book.

Ch Nisar's children are American!
Chief Editor Jinnah wrote that it was shameful that the parliamentary opposition leader in Pakistan Ch Nisar Ali Khan of PMLN had dual nationality and his children were all American citizens. Perhaps this was an American reward for handing over Aimal Kansi to the Americans whom Ch Nisar now criticises. Why were the children of Ch Nisar given American nationality without spending the mandatory five years in America? Ch Nisar Ali Khan responded that his wife was American at the time of marriage and her children were all American as a result.

America will be destroyed in one year!
Famous leader of Jamaat Islami Munawwar Hasan told Jinnah that American will come to an end in one year because people like Osama are born only for achieving shahadat (martyrdom). He wanted the nation to rise after tying shrouds to their bodies (kafan bandh kar) and form themselves into an army of the faithful and put an end to America.

Ch Pervaiz Elahi is like dengue mosquito!
Famous law minister of Punjab Rana Sanaullah told daily Pakistan that PMLQ leader Ch Pervaiz Elahi was like a huge dengue mosquito which was ever ready to bite the poor and suck the blood out of them. This was his reply to Elahi's criticism of the PMLN's readiness to counter dengue fever in Punjab.

Alexander killed by dengue mosquito!
Daily Jang reported that the people of Pakistan suffering from the epidemic of dengue fever should know that as long ago as 3 BC a mosquito had attacked and killed Alexander the Great when he was conquering Punjab. Mosquitoes also killed the biblical villain Nimrod and malaria spread by mosquitoes also killed the famous Italian poet, Dante.

Drones do selective killing!
Famous columnist Hamid Mir wrote in Jang that American troops are present in the Afghan province of Kunar in good numbers but when Pakistani terrorists from Bajaur attack from Kunar the Americans don't do anything to stop them. American drones too ignore these terrorists who recently abducted Pakistani children from Bajaur during a picnic.

Was Osama in Abbottabad?
Head of the judicial commission on Osama bin Laden's death in Abbottabad told Jinnah that he would also probe whether Osama actually died in Abbottabad. He said people were upset after his death and this anxiety must be removed through honest investigation.

National hockey too goes crooked!
Daily Nawa-e-Waqt reported that after Pakistani cricketers were found to be corrupt, Pakistan's leading lady hockey player Huma Nur too was discovered to be a con artist. She stole a cheque from her school and got it encashed. Just like the cricket players she was caught red-handed on the bank's CCT camera.

Kulsum Saifullah is lying!
World famous military mind ex-ISI chief Hamid Gul was quoted in Nawa-e-Waqt as saying that Kulsum Saifullah's allegation in her book that Pakistan blew up the Ojhri camp in 1987 because it had stolen and sold them to Iran a number of Stinger missiles from the munitions depot was wrong. He said that Ojhri fire was an accident and the 248 stingers were destroyed in the fire. Gul was in charge of ISI then.

Gems from Major Amir of ISI
Chief Editor of Jinnah wrote that he had met ex-ISI officer Major Amir of the Midnight Jackals fame and discussed the current crises of Pakistan on which Major Amir said that those who had not made money were predicting doom while those who had were enjoying Pakistan. Major Amir is a famous and much admired former officer of the ISI who came with the true Islamic credentials of the seminary Panjpir in the Tribal Areas from where Pakistan was to produce such great sons of Islam as Maulvi Faqir Muhammad of Bajaur, putting the fear of God in the breasts of the Americans.

AQ Khan's no comment on Kulsum's book
Famous nuclear scientist Dr AQ Khan was quoted in daily Pakistan as saying that he will be mum on Kulsum Saifullah's book where she claimed that Dr AQ Khan and some others had a part in Pakistan's crime of nuclear proliferation. Her book is titled My Solo Flight.

Link

Afghanistan

Taliban kidnap 40 Pak boys in Afghanistan

2011-09-03

[Pak Daily Times]

Suspected Talibs in Afghanistan have kidnapped as many as 40 Pak boys after they inadvertently strayed across the border, Pak officials said on Friday.

The boys, from the town of Mamoun in the Pashtun tribal region of Bajaur, were trekking when they ended up in Afghanistan on Wednesday, the officials said.

"Now, they are being held by forces of Evil across the border," Pakistain government official Muhammad Haseeb Khan told Rooters.

It was not possible to verify the claim.

Two local intelligence officials said that the kidnappers were apparently from a Death Eater group allied with Taliban capo Maulvi Faqir Muhammad, who led cut-throats in Bajaur but is believed to have decamped to Afghanistan in 2010.

"The kidnappers were Talibs, belonging to Maulvi Faqir Muhammad group," one official said, on condition of anonymity.

Another Pak administration official speaking anonymously said security forces were stretched thin along parts of the frontier.

"It is a mostly non-existent border and security cover is not available everywhere," he said.

Security officials said they learned of the kidnappings when parents of the children, members of a tribe that inhabits the frontier area, informed them of the abductions on Friday.

They said about 20 boys below ten years old in the group were allowed to return to Pakistain, But boys between 12 to 14 years old were held. About 60 children took part in the outing.

Tribal elders and holy mans were trying to negotiate with the forces of Evil to secure their release, officials said.

However,
a woman is only as old as she admits...
Afghan border police commander General Aminullah Amarkhel said he had no knowledge of the abduction, and the local Taliban capo in Kunar province,
... which is right down the road from Chitral...
where the boys vanished, also said he was unaware of the incident.

Afghanistan shares a disputed and unmarked 2,400-kilometre (1,500-mile) border with Pakistain, and Taliban and other al Qaeda-linked forces of Evil have carved out strongholds on either side.

Bajaur is opposite the eastern Afghan province of Kunar and has long been an infiltration route for forces of Evil entering Afghanistan to fight US-led forces there.

Tribesmen from Mamoun are opposed to al Qaeda and the Taliban and have raised militias to fight them, angering forces of Evil who often hit back with bombings and shooting attacks.

The Pak military has repeatedly claimed to have eliminated the Death Eater threat in Bajaur, one of seven districts in the semi-autonomous tribal belt that the United States sees as the global headquarters of al Qaeda.

Link

India-Pakistan

Militant leader claims he rejected offers to explode bombs in Pakistan

2010-02-23

[The News (Pak) Top Stories] A known Taliban commander, Qari Ziaur Rehman, who has been engaged in fighting against security forces in Bajaur, claimed on Sunday that he had rejected lucrative offers and financial support offered to him by Afghanistan's Northern Alliance for fighting against the Pakistani military and carrying out bomb blasts in the country.

He also claimed that the militants in Bajaur had deposed regional Taliban chief Maulana Faqir Muhammad for his alleged secret links to the government and for refusing to resist security forces in their recent advancement on the militant strongholds in Mamond area.

"I received lucrative offers from the Northern Alliance of Afghanistan," claimed Ziaur Rehman. Talking to The News by phone from an undisclosed location, he said he and his fighters had been fighting under certain compulsions in Pakistan.

The government had declared him an Afghan national, hailing from the Kunar province bordering the Bajaur tribal region, and announced Rs 5 million as head money for him for having association with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and organising attacks on troops in Bajaur.

He, however, denied his Afghan nationality, arguing that if so, why the Pakistani government issued him a computerised national identity card (CNIC). "You may know the tribesmen live and have properties on both sides of the Pak-Afghan border. My forefathers were born and died in Bajaur and I am a Pakistani by birth," argued the militant commander, who was described by the Pakistani military authorities as one of the most ruthless commanders operating in Bajaur.

He said some of his relatives had migrated to Kunar in Afghanistan from the Mamond area of Bajaur where they are still known as "Bajauri Mamond." Ziaur Rahman claimed that he had been made the commander for both Bajaur and Marawara area in the Kunar province. He admitted that security forces had captured most areas of Bajaur, particularly Mamond, which had been a stronghold of Maulana Faqir Muhammad-led militants.

Ziaur Rahman said Faqir Muhammad had been replaced by Commander Jamaluddin Dadullah, as the former had struck an underhand deal with the government and refused to fight the advancing security forces in Mamond. He said the militants had vacated their positions under a strategy and would launch guerrilla attacks against the troops once they entered their areas of control.

Link

Warning: Undefined property: stdClass::$T in /data/rantburg.com/www/pgrecentorg.php on line 132
-12 More