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India-Pakistan
Day 2: Pakistan blames 'security lapse' for mosque blast; 100 dead
2023-02-01
NO!! Reeeeeeeealy??
[An Nahar] A suicide kaboom that struck inside a mosque at a police and government compound in northwest Pakistain
...that’s Peshawar’s Police Lines area mosque, where police, army and government types all prayed together...
reflects "security lapses," current and former officials said as the corpse count from the devastating blast climbed to 100 on Tuesday.

The blast, which destroyed a Sunni mosque inside a major police facility in the city of 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 Pakistain's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire...
, was one of the deadliest attacks on Pak security forces in recent years. It left as many as 225 maimed, some still at death's door in hospital, according to Kashif Aftab Abbasi, a senior officer in Peshawar.

More than 300 worshipers were praying in the mosque, with more approaching, when the bomber set off his explosives vest on Monday morning, officials said.

The explosion blew off part of the roof, and what was left soon caved in, injuring many more, according to Zafar Khan, a police officer. Rescuers had to remove mounds of debris to reach worshipers still trapped under the rubble.

More bodies were retrieved overnight and early Tuesday, according to Mohammad Asim, a government hospital front man in Peshawar, and several of those critically injured died. "Most of them were coppers," Asim said of the victims.

Bilal Faizi, the chief rescue official, said rescue teams were still working Tuesday at the site as more people are believed trapped inside. Mourners were burying the victim at different graveyards in the city and elsewhere.

Counter-terrorism police are investigating how the bomber was able to reach the mosque, which is in a walled compound, inside a high security zone with other government buildings.

"Yes, it was a security lapse," said Ghulam Ali, the provincial governor in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, of which Peshawar is the capital.

Abbasi, the official who gave the latest casualty tolls, concurred. "There was a security lapse and the inspector-general of the police has set up an inquiry committee, which will look into all aspects of the bombing," he said. "Action will be taken against those whose negligence" caused the attack.

Talat Masood, a retired army general and senior security analyst said Monday's suicide kaboom showed "negligence."

"When we know that Tehrik-e-Taliban
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
 Pakistain is active, and when we know that they have threatened to carry out attacks, there should have been more security at the police compound in Peshawar," he told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named on Tuesday, referring to a bad boy group also known as the Pak Taliban or TTP.

Kamran Bangash, a provincial secretary-general with opposition party Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf
...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations....
 called for an investigation and said Pakistain will continue to face political instability so long as the current government is in power.

"The current government of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif
...Pak dynastic politician, brother of PM Nawaz Sharif, chief minister of Punjab...
 has failed to improve the economy and law and order situation, and it should resign to pave the way for snap parliamentary elections," he said.
Related:
Police Lines area: 2023-01-31 Pakistan Taliban Suicide bombs Sunni Mosque in Peshawar 59+ dead UPDATE: 100 dead, 53 still in hospital
Police Lines area: 2019-09-05 6 'IS militants' killed in security operation in Quetta
Police Lines area: 2019-08-17 Two killed in Pakistan mosque bomb blast
Link


India-Pakistan
Taliban Group Gives Up Armed Struggle In Pakistan
2014-09-15
[Telegraph] Leader of the Punjabi Taliban, one of Pakistain's most effective terror groups, says it is to end its insurgency and embrace charity work

One of Pakistain's most deadly Taliban groups has abandoned its armed struggle and announced it will focus on a peaceful campaign calling on the country to adopt Islamic sharia law.

The Punjabi Taliban is believed to have carried out a number of significant terrorist attacks, including the 2009 assault on the Pakistain army's general headquarters in Rawalpindi, in which nine soldiers were killed; the commando raid on the Sri Lankan cricket team in the same year, and the 2011 attack on the naval airbase at Mehran in which 18 servicemen and two US-donated aircraft were destroyed.

It has also been blamed for a number of sectarian atrocities, including attacks on the country's Ahmadi Moslems and the liquidation of Pakistain's Christian minorities minister Shahbaz Bhatti in 2011.

The announcement is seen as a further setback for Pakistain's alliance of 'Taliban' terrorist groups, which has suffered a number of fractures in recent weeks.

The Tehrik e Taliban Pakistain umbrella group broke into three factions earlier this month after a group of commanders, mainly Mehsud and Wazir rustics from North Wazoo, announced they had broken away to form their own group.

Observers said they were divided over the Pakistain army's offensive in the tribal areas which has driven thousands of people from their homes and fuelled dissent over whether the gunnies should fight their own country's army. There is also opposition to the umbrella group's leader, Mullah Fazlullah
...son-in-law of holy man Sufi Mohammad. Known as Mullah FM, Fazlullah had the habit of grabbing his FM mike when the mood struck him and bellowing forth sermons. Sufi suckered the Pak govt into imposing Shariah on the Swat Valley and then stepped aside whilst Fazlullah and his Talibs imposed a reign of terror on the populace like they hadn't seen before, at least not for a thousand years or so. For some reason the Pak intel services were never able to locate his transmitter, much less bomb it. After ruling the place like a conquered province for a year or so, Fazlullah's Talibs began gobbling up more territory as they pushed toward Islamabad, at which point as a matter of self-preservation the Mighty Pak Army threw them out and chased them into Afghanistan...
, who is based in Kunar province
... which is right down the road from Chitral. Kunar is Haqqani country.....
 in Afghanistan and regarded as an outsider by Wazir and Mehsud rustics.

The rift has been credited with yielding intelligence which led to the arrest of a gang of turbans Pakistain's security forces believe carried out the failed liquidation attempt on Malala Yousafzai, the 14-year-old schoolgirl who defied the Taliban's ban on female education.

The Punjabi Taliban's existence and the success of its terrorist operations has been a long-standing challenge to government attempts to portray its insurgency as one led by distant gunnies from the country's unruly tribal frontier rather than strongly rooted in Pakistain's heartland.

Its announcement that it was abandoning its "armed struggle" was made with a declaration of its patriotism and desire to defend Pakistain from "outside threats".

Punjabi Taliban chief Ismatullah Muawiya said that after consulting other Moslem leaders, the organization would now limit its use of force to "infidel forces" and would focus on promoting sharia law.

In a video message, Muawiya said the Punjabi Taliban would continue to operate in Afghanistan but would focus on "Dawat Tablig" preaching and called on other Taliban factions to abandon their insurgencies in Pakistain.
He called on the Pakistain government to compensate those affected by its offensive in Waziristan and other tribal agencies and to rehabilitate them with "honour and dignity".

"Peace is the need of the hour to foil conspiracies against Pakistain and its people," he said.

The announcement was welcomed by military sources in Pakistain who said it was a significant development involving a group which had inflicted heavy casualties on the army. Questions remained, however, about the group's intentions in Afghanistan.

"This is a very important group which had been committed to attacks and terrorism, they have been very effective in the past. This [announcement] will demoralise the others. It shows the military operation in North Waziristan is having an effect. It would be very unfortunate though if Pakistain allows them to go to Afghanistan -- we have to make sure they don't use their energies in Afghanistan", said retired Lieutenant-General Talat Masood, a leading strategic analyst.
Link


India-Pakistan
Punjabi Taliban shift focus to Afghanistan
2014-09-06
[DAWN] Punjabi Taliban, an influential myrmidon faction of the Pak Taliban on Friday said it would abandon krazed killer activity inside the country and redirect its energies towards Afghanistan.

The announcement indicates further fragmentation in the umbrella Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP), which suffered a setback Thursday when a new bloc declared its split from the group's official leadership.

"We will confine our practical jihadist role to Afghanistan in view of deteriorating situation in the region and internal situation of Pak jihadist movement," Punjabi Taliban chief Ismatullah Muawiya said in a pamphlet faxed to the media, without clarifying further.

Jamatul Ahrar welcomes new Al Qaeda branch

The faction is active in Punjab, Pakistain's wealthiest and most populous province and the political power base of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
 and his Pakistain Moslem League-Nawaz (PML-N) party.

Muawiya said the faction will operate in Afghanistan under the guidance of Mullah Omar
... a minor Pashtun commander in the war against the Soviets who made good as leader of the Taliban. As ruler of Afghanistan, he took the title Leader of the Faithful. The imposition of Pashtunkhwa on the nation institutionalized ignorance and brutality in a country already notable for its own fair share of ignorance and brutality...
, the spiritual leader of Afghan Taliban, while its activities in Pakistain will be confined to preaching Islam.

"The announcement is a major setback for the TTP as it shows fragmentation is continuing and the organization is fracturing," defence and security analyst Talat Masood told AFP.

"The groups within TTP have not accepted Mullah Fazlullah
...son-in-law of holy man Sufi Mohammad. Known as Mullah FM, Fazlullah had the habit of grabbing his FM mike when the mood struck him and bellowing forth sermons. Sufi suckered the Pak govt into imposing Shariah on the Swat Valley and then stepped aside whilst Fazlullah and his Talibs imposed a reign of terror on the populace like they hadn't seen before, at least not for a thousand years or so. For some reason the Pak intel services were never able to locate his transmitter, much less bomb it. After ruling the place like a conquered province for a year or so, Fazlullah's Talibs began gobbling up more territory as they pushed toward Islamabad, at which point as a matter of self-preservation the Mighty Pak Army threw them out and chased them into Afghanistan...
, which has caused a serious split in the organization."

Mullah Fazlullah was elected head of the TTP last November following the killing of Hakimullah Mehsud in a US drone strike.

A new bloc, named the TTP Jamatul Ahrar (freedom fighters group), announced its split from the group Thursday and named Omar Khalid Khorasani as its commander.
Link


India-Pakistan
Masood Azhar resurfaces, ignites Indian fears of attacks
2014-02-19
[Pak Daily Times] The Pak Islamic hardliner blamed for an attack on India's parliament that brought the nuclear rivals to the brink of war has resurfaced after years in seclusion, setting off alarm bells in New Delhi.

Twice since the end of December, Indian authorities have issued an airport security alert, warning of an attempt by members of a Pakistain-based krazed killer group called Jaish-e-Mohammad
...literally Army of Mohammad, a Pak-based Deobandi terror group founded by Maulana Masood Azhar in 2000, after he split with the Harkat-ul-Mujaheddin. In 2002 the government of Pervez Musharraf banned the group, which changed its name to Khaddam ul-Islam and continued doing what it had been doing before without missing a beat...
, or Army of Muhammad, to hijack a plane, with smaller airfields most at risk. Indian officials have said the alerts followed reports of increased activity by Maulana Masood Azhar, the leader of the outlawed krazed killer group.

Azhar was named by an Indian court as the prime suspect in a 2001 attack on India's parliament aimed at taking top politicians hostage. Fifteen people were killed, most of them security guards as well as the five men who stormed the complex.

Tensions between the old enemies spiralled after the attack and up to a million troops were mobilised on both sides of the volatile border. Pakistain refused to hand over Azhar to India.

The portly and bearded holy man has remained mostly confined to a compound in his home city of Bhawalpur in Pakistain's Punjab province for years, but three weeks ago, he addressed supporters and said the time had come to resume jihad, or holy war, against India.

"There are 313 fidayeen (fighters who are ready to die) in this gathering and if a call is given the number will go up to 3,000," he told the rally held in the city of Muzaffarabad by telephone. A Rooters journalist who was present said a telephone was held next to a microphone which broadcast his comments to loudspeakers.

Flags of Jaish, inscribed with the words "jihad", fluttered in and around the venue of the gathering. Azhar spoke from some holy man's guesthouse an undisclosed location.

Indian intelligence analysts have described Azhar's resurgence as part of a change in tactics in Pakistain as US forces withdraw from Afghanistan this year, and as Islamabad tries to clamp down on Islamic forces of Evil who oppose the Pak government.

The Indians say Pakistain's military establishment is bringing Death Eaters like Azhar out of cold storage, with the promise of helping them fight India, while trying to stamp out the gunnies they can't control.

Talat Masood, a retired Mighty Pak Army general, said: "It is very dangerous that the Pak establishment is giving space to him. They are playing with fire and the fire will engulf them."

A former fighter for Jaish, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
, said Azhar remained in command of the group, operating from his Bhawalpur base.

"His speech via telephone should not be a surprise for people involved in jihad, he has been controlling the organization very actively," the man said.

The security alerts in India occurred just days before Azhar spoke. They were not publicised but two officials, one from the domestic Intelligence Bureau and the other from the Central Industrial Security Force, said authorities had increased checks on airport staffers to ensure nobody with forged passes gained access. Security had also been increased in Delhi's suburban rail system, where commuters go through metal detectors, are patted down and have their bags checked in x-ray machines.

Staff of the Central Industrial Security Force now work 10-hour shifts in the metro system, so there were more guards at any point.

Azhar was enjugged
... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not...
 in Indian Kashmire in 1994 while travelling on a forged Portuguese passport. India freed him and two other locked away
Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up!
 Pak Death Eaters in 1999 in return for 155 passengers held hostage in an Indian Airlines aircraft that was hijacked to southern Afghanistan.

One of the other freed Death Eaters was British-born Omar Sheikh, a close associate of Azhar who was later convicted in the 2002 abduction and murder of Wall Street Journal news hound Daniel Pearl.

After his release, Azhar set up the Jaish to fight Indian forces in Kashmire, the Himalayan region claimed by both countries and the trigger for two of their three wars.

"Jaish has an obsession with India that transcends Kashmire. They had so many plans. Any reactivation of Masood Azhar is cause for deep concern," said AK Doval, a former head of India's Intelligence Bureau and one of the foremost experts on krazed killer groups in South Asia.

Other officials in India said the rally in Muzaffarabad and Azhar's address wouldn't have been possible without state clearance, a charge Pakistain strongly denies.

"He addressed a rally, but steps will be taken to ensure he doesn't do it again," said Tasnim Aslam, spokeswoman for Pakistain's foreign ministry.

"It is not possible we would allow his group to cause terrorism elsewhere when it is banned for causing terrorism in Pakistain."

She said independent investigations had often shown that attacks in India were blamed on Pakistain but sometimes caused by domestic politics or rogue members of the Indian security services.

"There's a tendency in India to hyperventilate without finding out all the facts," she said.

Link


India-Pakistan
New Taliban chief could push Pakistan to military action
2013-11-09
[Al Ahram] The Pak Taliban's appointment of a new hardline leader opposed to peace talks and with a long history of attacks against the military could push the army into launching a fresh offensive, analysts said Friday.

The election of Mullah Fazlullah
...son-in-law of holy man Sufi Mohammad. Known as Mullah FM, Fazlullah had the habit of grabbing his FM mike when the mood struck him and bellowing forth sermons. Sufi suckered the Pak govt into imposing Shariah on the Swat Valley and then stepped aside whilst Fazlullah and his Talibs imposed a reign of terror on the populace like they hadn't seen before, at least not for a thousand years or so. For some reason the Pak intel services were never able to locate his transmitter, much less bomb it. After ruling the place like a conquered province for a year or so, Fazlullah's Talibs began gobbling up more territory as they pushed toward Islamabad, at which point as a matter of self-preservation the Mighty Pak Army threw them out and chased them into Afghanistan...
, notorious for leading the bully boys' brutal two-year rule in Pakistain's northwestern Swat
...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat...
valley, is like a "red rag to a bull", one analyst said.

It could also raise tensions with Kabul at a critical juncture as US-led forces withdraw from Afghanistan after 12 years of war.

While Kabul has long accused Islamabad of supporting the Afghan Taliban, Fazlullah has orchestrated cross-border attacks from his hideout in eastern Afghanistan, and Pakistain suspects its neighbour's intelligence services of supporting him.

Fazlullah, nicknamed Mullah Radio for his fiery
...a single two-syllable word carrying connotations of both incoherence and viciousness. A fiery delivery implies an audience of rubes and yokels, preferably forming up into a mob...
 sermons over the airwaves denouncing polio
...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set...
 vaccination campaigns and female education, is renowned as a lunatic an uncompromising commander.

Pak intelligence believes he is linked to the failed attempt
Curses! Foiled again!
 to kill schoolgirl education activist Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in Swat in October 2012. He was appointed chief of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) on Thursday, nearly a week after a US drone strike killed his predecessor Hakimullah Mehsud.

Islamabad reacted angrily to the killing of Mehsud, with the interior minister saying Washington had "sabotaged" peace talks.

It is not clear what progress, if any, had been made towards meaningful dialogue -- but the process lies in tatters after Fazlullah's election.

On Thursday, the snuffies dismissed the idea of peace talks with the government as a "waste of time", and said they would never negotiate until sharia law was imposed across the country.

Defence analyst Talat Masood, a retired general, said the TTP's choice of Fazlullah, whose men have carried out bloody and humiliating attacks against the army, was like a "red rag to a bull".

"This leaves no margin for negotiation and they will have to resort to a military operation and will have to be fully prepared to prevent terrorist actions in the country," Masood told AFP.

"He is enemy number one of the military."

In September, political parties backed the government's proposal for talks to try to end the TTP's six-year insurgency, which has killed thousands.

Fazlullah's men responded by killing two senior army officers, including a major general, in a roadside kaboom -- a galling blow to the pride of the military, which remains the most powerful institution in Pakistain.

Fazlullah rubbed salt in the wounds by issuing a video message to claim the attack and to reveal the intended target was General Ashfaq Kayani
... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI...
, the army's supreme commander.

In 2009 a major military operation ended Fazlullah's rule in Swat. Later that year another offensive cleared bully boy hideouts in South Wazoo, one of the seven tribal areas along the Afghan border seen as a haven for Taliban and Al-Qaeda bully boys.

Washington has pushed for a similar offensive in North Waziristan, which has borne the brunt of the US drone campaign targeting suspected bully boys, but none has yet taken place.

A senior security source told AFP a military operation would "become inevitable" if, as seems likely, dialogue does not proceed, and warned of worsening relations with Kabul.

"The government and the military top brass in almost all previous rounds of meetings with their Afghan interlocutors have been pointing out Fazlullah's presence on Afghan soil and his activities against the Pak state," the source said.

Kayani is to retire on November 29 and his replacement as army chief has yet to be announced. The security official said Fazlullah's appointment would have a bearing on the decision.

"The priority will now be to have a person on this post, who has expertise in counter insurgency and related matters," the official said.
Link


India-Pakistan
Pakistan's Gilani acknowledges possibility of contact with U.S. over planned drone strikes
2013-10-25
[Washington Post] A former Pak prime minister strongly denied
No, no! Certainly not!
 Thursday that he had quietly authorized U.S. drone strikes inside his country, but he didn't rule out secret deals made without his knowledge.

A day earlier, a Washington Post story detailed how the United States and Pakistain communicated about, and in some cases coordinated, dozens of drone strikes in Pakistain from late 2007 to late 2011. But former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
... Pakistain's former prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics could be awe-inspiring ...
, who was the country's prime minister from 2008 to 2012, said in an interview it was "totally absurd" to suggest his government condoned the attacks.

"During my government, there was no such support given to drone strikes whatsoever," Gilani said, adding that he had discussed with President B.O. in 2010 "how this strategy with drones was counterproductive and undermining our anti-terror efforts."

Gilani said he could not rule out that the two countries communicated about planned drone strikes during his tenure. But if they did, he said, the parties involved would have been the CIA and Pakistain's InterServices Intelligence agency under conditions set by his predecessor, former military ruler Pervez Perv Musharraf
... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ...
"The permission must have been given earlier," said Gilani, who was also cited in a 2010 WikiLeaks report as being privately supportive of some drone strikes. "After 9/11, the U.S. rang up Musharraf and said, 'You are either with us or you are not with us,' and he said, 'We are with you.' "

In an interview with CNN last year, Musharraf admitted to authorizing "a few" U.S. drone strikes before he stepped down in 2008. Pakistain's Express Tribune newspaper reported Thursday that a former top-ranking military commander who served under Musharraf, retired Lt. Gen. Shahid Aziz, is calling for Musharaff to be charged with extrajudicial murder for his role in the drone campaign.

Musarraf is already under house arrest in Islamabad for several charges stemming from his autocratic tenure.

But the Washington Post report details coordination as recently as 2011, causing some analysts to suspect that Musharraf's successors were also aware of some U.S. strike targets.

"This puts cold water on the hype," said Talat Masood, a retired Pak general and military analyst, referring to the public anger in Pakistain over U.S. attacks. "I think people knew it already, but this makes it much more obvious, and the [Pak] media and others will have to cool off."
Link


India-Pakistan
Secret memos reveal explicit nature of Pak-US drone deal
2013-10-25
[Pak Daily Times] Despite repeatedly denouncing the CIA's drone campaign, brass hats in Pakistain's government have for years secretly endorsed the programme and routinely received classified briefings on strikes and casualty counts, according to top-secret CIA documents and Pak diplomatic memos obtained by The Washington Post.

The files describe dozens of drone attacks in Pakistain's tribal region and include maps as well as before-and-after aerial photos of targeted compounds over a four-year stretch from late 2007 to late 2011 in which the campaign intensified dramatically. Markings on the documents indicate that many of them were prepared by the CIA's Counterterrorism Centre specifically to be shared with Pakistain's government. They tout the success of strikes that killed dozens of alleged al Qaeda operatives and assert repeatedly that no civilians were harmed.

The Post report states Pakistain's tacit approval of the drone programme has been one of the more poorly kept national security secrets in Washington and Islamabad. During the early years of the campaign, the CIA even used Pak airstrips for its Predator fleet. But the files expose the explicit nature of a secret arrangement struck between the two countries at a time when neither was willing to publicly acknowledge the existence of the drone programme. The documents detailed at least 65 strikes in Pakistain and were described as "talking points" for CIA briefings, which occurred with such regularity that they became a matter of diplomatic routine. The documents are marked "top ­secret" but cleared for release to Pakistain.

A CIA front man declined to discuss the documents but did not dispute their authenticity. The Washington Post quotes Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, the front man for the Foreign Ministry, as saying that his government does not comment on media reports that rely on unnamed sources. But Chaudhry added that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
, who took office in June, has been adamant that "the drone strikes must stop." "Whatever understandings there may or may not have been in the past, the present government has been very clear regarding its policy on the issue," Chaudhry said. "We regard such strikes as a violation of our illusory sovereignty as well as international law. They are also counter-productive."

Chaudhry said Pakistain's government is now unified against US drone strikes, which are deeply unpopular within Pakistain, and has made its disapproval clear to senior US and United Nations
...the Oyster Bay money pit...
 officials. There was no immediate comment from Pakistain's military or intelligence service, but the Post report quotes Talat Masood, a retired general, as saying that the revelation that Pakistain's government was well-informed about the drone programme will likely "put cold water on the hype" within Pakistain over the issue.
Link


India-Pakistan
Foreign Policy In 'Chaos'
2012-06-02
Defence and foreign relations experts discuss ties between US and Pakistain in a conference in Islamabad

As state institutions refuse to admit their roles in the recent foreign policy fiascos, the situation can only be explained with one word: chaos. Participants of a recent dialogue in Islamabad said the parliament's demand from the world super power to kneel before Pakistain is over-ambitious and unrealistic, and there are various shades of opinions and tactics in Pakistain that lack coherence and consistency.

"The blockade of NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization....
 supply routes for six months in reaction to the Salala attack is ridiculous," former foreign secretary Riaz Khokhar said last week, at a Jinnah Institute sponsored policy debate on "Re-evaluating Pak-US Relations". "Such foreign policy issues should not be dragged for too long," he said.

"The decision (of blocking NATO supplies) after the Salala incident was a bold but unsustainable step," said Tanvir Ahmed Khan, also a former foreign secretary. "The situation is likely to deteriorate," he said.

"The parliamentary recommendations on Pak-US relations are very harsh, ambitious and undoable," said defence expert Gen (r) Talat Masood, speaking at the same event.

The participants agreed that public sentiments must not impede the formulation and implementation of a dispassionate foreign policy, based on the national interests.

What Morgenthau taught, Jervis preached and Kissinger practiced, the neo-realism based American foreign policy allows little space for emotions and sentiments. Hans J Morgenthau says: "The rational requirements of good foreign policy cannot from the outset count on the support of a public opinion whose preferences are emotional rather than rational."

Ties between Pakistain and the US have worsened over the last year. After a spate of issues like the arrest and repatriation of Raymond Davis, drone attacks, Operation Geronimo, the Salala attack, conviction of CIA aide Dr Shakeel Afridi, and aid restrictions by the US politicians against Pakistain, mutual ties have reached their lowest ebb.

"The drone attacks are not stopping anytime soon. Our strangely rigid stance has created a very difficult situation for us," said Khokhar. He said the mistrust between the armed forces and intelligence agencies of the two countries was aggravating the situation.

Polls in the United States show a majority Americans do not approve of Pakistain, and vice versa. State institutions probably have similar feelings. In recent years, hawks in the CIA and Pentagon view every Pak move with suspicion. The pro-Pakistain State Department seems to have failed to resist the pressure they were exerting on Pakistain.

Khokhar says nations with begging bowl cannot dictate their terms. In Pakistain's case, we cannot force the United States to make an apology over the Salala attack. "It doesn't make sense to bring the relationship to a standstill. There is a need to move beyond seeking apology and aim to work for a new working relationship."

Tanvir Ahmed Khan was more apprehensive about Pakistain's diminishing role in so-called Afghanistan Endgame.

It was expected that Pakistain would not be invited to the conference in Chicago to decide the future of NATO in Afghanistan. The invitation was extended fairly late, but the harshness of tones did not subside throughout the conference.

"It's a mutually constrained game, wherein Pakistain has some big stakes," he said. He assumed the political government in Pakistain would have been comfortable dealing with the United States if there was no pressure from the military establishment to make an unreasonably firm stance.

Gen Masood said the two-year rollercoaster ride of Pak-US relationship was taking a nosedive. He claimed the United States wanted to build a new democratic Afghanistan and it seemed Pakistain was not prepared to offer the support required.
They've been undermining since the 1990s. That counts as negative support, right?
He sounded pragmatic in saying that it would not matter if Pakistain had long-term strategic or indefinite transactional relationships with the United States. "It doesn't matter at all when the choices are hard or limited."

He said the recommendations by Pak parliament, which in fact are a long list of demands from the United States, were not doable. But he also underlined foreign relations are a two-way street.

Responding to a question, Khokhar didn't rule out the possibility of the two countries working together after the Afghanistan endgame, if the United States was serious in containing China and Iran. Pakistain may become useful again.

Khan said both the civilian government and military establishment were reluctant to accept the responsibility of flaws in the country's India and Afghan policy. "As a result, the political government has bruised, while the army too has lost some of its say in such matters," he added.

The experts were uncertain who was in-charge of engaging with the United States. Traditionally, the GHQ had the final say in defining the mode and scope of engagement with the US. But not any more.

"It's a total chaos here. We don't know who is controlling the foreign policy (of Pakistain)," concluded Khokhar, who was a known hawk when heading the Foreign Office during Gen Musharraf's regime.

A recent issue between Pakistain and the US is the conviction in Pakistain of Dr Shakeel Afridi, who helped the CIA find the late Osama bin Laden
... who no longer exists...
. Dr Afridi has sympathisers in the US.

Recently, conservative Senator Paul Rand from the State of Kentucky who heads the Tea Party Movement vowed to move a bill in next Senate session seeking American citizenship for Dr Afridi.
It seems the Democratic Party is not alone in being unable to conceive of a truly self-organized, grassroots political movement. This is the second time in as many days I've seen Senator Paul accused of running the Tea Party. At least the savants at The Friday Times understand it is a movement rather than a party, which is a start.
Dr Afridi has been locked up in bad boy-infested Beautiful Downtown Peshawar Central Jail after a dubious trial under British-era Frontier Crimes Regulations. Most of the Islamic fascisti he shares the jail with are pro-Osama, and he is at a serious risk.
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India-Pakistan
Pakistan tests nuke-capable ballistic missile
2012-04-26
[Bangla Daily Star] Pakistain successfully test fired a nuclear-capable intermediate range ballistic missile yesterday, the military said, less than a week after India test launched a long range missile.

The exact range of the missile was not revealed, but retired General Talat Masood, a defence analyst, told AFP intermediate range ballistic missiles could reach targets up to 2,500 to 3,000 kilometres away -- which would put almost all of arch-rival India within reach.

On Thursday India test fired its long range Agni V missile, which can deliver a one-tonne nuclear warhead anywhere in China.

"Pakistain today successfully conducted the launch of the intermediate range ballistic missile Hatf IV Shaheen-1A weapon system," Pakistain's military said in a statement.
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India-Pakistan
No boots in Pakland: US
2011-10-01
WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD: A senior US official told Reuters on Friday that Washington would not send ground troops into Pakistan to attack militant positions in North Waziristan.

"There will be no boots on the ground," the official said. "That has been communicated to them (the Pakistanis)."
Personally I'd tape the note to a Hellfire being fired at a senior member of the ISI, but I'm not the most diplomatic of Rantburg moderators...
Pakistan and the United States have engaged in a diplomatic fusillade over the last week after outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen said a Taleban faction was a "veritable arm" of the Pakistani spy agency. Mullen's charges has added to anti-American sentiment in a country where a poll in June showed that almost two-thirds of the population considered the US an enemy.

"The prevailing view in Pakistan is that because of our alignment with the United States, our problems have increased," said Talat Masood, a retired general and analyst.

"America's view is the opposite: 'Because you are not aligning yourself with us, your problems are increasing.'" "This," he said, "is the whole dilemma at the moment."

In Hyderabad, about 900 people from a group whose militant arm has been accused of killing thousands of people, burned an effigy of US President Barack Obama and chanted "America is a murderer."

In Lahore, at least 800 people protested at the headquarters of the Jamaat Islami (JI). "Go, America, Go!" rose from the angry crowd.

Another protest in Peshawar drew around 200 people. They chanted "America's Graveyard -- Waziristan, Waziristan", referring to the tribal areas on the border with Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, a US missile strike killed three suspected militants in a tribal region near the Afghan border on Friday, a reminder of the weapons at American disposal at a time of intense strain with Islamabad, two Pakistan officials said.
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India-Pakistan
Anti-US protests in Pakistan follow defiant declaration
2011-10-01
[Dawn] Anti-American protests by religious parties broke out in several Pak cities on Friday, a day after politicians joined in rejecting US accusations that Islamabad was supporting beturbanned goons.
Don't let the American public forget how much you hate us...
Charges by a top US general that Pakistain's spy agency had supported this month's attack on the US mission in Kabul has added to anti-American sentiment in a country where a poll in June showed that almost two-thirds of the population considered the United States an enemy.

"The prevailing view in Pakistain is that because of our alignment with the United States, our problems have increased," said Talat Masood, a retired general and military analyst.

"America's view is the opposite: 'Because you are not aligning yourself with us, your problems are increasing.'"
"This," he said, "is the whole dilemma at the moment."

In Hyderabad, about 900 people from an anti-Shia group whose beturbanned goon arm has been accused of killing thousands of Pak Shia's since the 1990s, burned an effigy of US President Barack B.O. Obama and chanted "America is a murderer".

In Lahore, at least 800 people protested at the headquarters of the Jamaat Islami (JI), Pakistain's biggest religious party.

"Go, America, Go!" rose from the angry crowd. Another protest by JI in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, northwest of Islamabad, drew around 200 people.

They walked a donkey over an American flag laid on the road, and chanted "America's Graveyard Wazoo, Waziristan", referring to the tribal areas on the border with Afghanistan that is a hotbed of beturbanned goon groups.
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India-Pakistan
APC underway over tense relations with US
2011-09-30
[Dawn] An All-Party Conference (APC) convened by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ...
 began in the capital city on Thursday to discuss the situation arising out of serious allegations levelled by US officials against Pakistain's armed forces and its intelligence agency, the ISI.

At the start of the conference which was being attended by several politicians, Prime Minister Gilani addressed the gathering and said that Pakistain rejected US allegations and that the pressure of "do more" should not longer be applied on Pakistain.

"American statements shocked us, and negate our sacrifices and successes in the ongoing war against terror," he told the conference.

"Pakistain cannot be pressurised to do more," Prime Minister Gilani said. "Our doors are open for dialogue (with the international community)," he added.

He further said that Pakistain has never deviated from its international obligations.

The conference was briefed by Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar and would also be briefed by security officials and certain other cabinet ministers.

The nation has pinned great hopes on leaders representing all shades of opinion to evolve a framework for the country's foreign and security policies and to set direction for its progress on genuinely independent lines.

The top military leadership invited to the conference may face some tough questions, especially from the PML-N chief, Mian Nawaz Sharif
... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Müslim League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
, and leaders of nationalist and religious parties about what is considered to be ambiguous relationship with the West, particularly the United States, and military's engagement on western borders.

The conference has a one-point agenda -- national security in the aftermath of security challenges emerging from outside the country.

Because of US allegations that the ISI is hand in glove with the Haqqani network, the two countries are facing a tough challenge to keep their alliance intact in the so-called war against terrorism.

Chief of Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani
... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI...
 and Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Gen Khalid Shameem Wynne are also attending the conference while ISI Director General Lt-Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha is expected to make a detailed presentation on national security concerns besetting the country vis-à-vis US interests in Afghanistan.

Retired general turned political analyst Talat Masood told a news agency that the government and the military want to defuse the latest crisis.

"The gathering is intended to send a strong signal from the country's political parties that they stand united behind the military in the wake of US pressures," he said.
"Don't kill us!"
"The government wants to release pressure... although everybody knows that it is the military that will decide what type of relationship it wants with the United States.

"The conference will serve as political catharsis to let passions cool off."
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