Posts Tagged ‘Al-Qaeda’

As a diehard Bhuttoist and proud Jiyala, I am extremely troubled to see some fake civil society activists (pseudo-liberals) presenting themselves as pro-PPP but at the same time undermining the very foundations of the elected parliament. My leader, Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, was killed by religious fanatics namely Taliban, Al Qaeda and [...]

  Over 200 polio cases were officially reported during 2011, and this year in 2012, it is going to be even worse despite some precautionary measures are being taken. There are so many factors contributing towards the rise in polio cases in Pakistan, for example widespread corruption on the organisational level, poor planning, lack of public [...]

On April 30, 1999, Benazir Bhutto Shaheed disclosed to media that there was a definite role of Osama bin Laden, Mian Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan army's 111 Brigade in toppling her first government in early 1990s. “Bin Laden financed an operation to topple me in cooperation with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the Pakistani intelligence [...]

Members of al-Qaeda have infiltrated Syrian opposition groups, and likely executed recent bombings in the nation’s capital and largest city, the United States’ top intelligence official said Thursday. The remarks by Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper are the most definitive to date from a senior Obama administration official [...]

Related posts: A war that remains unreported: The Saudi Arabian war against the Houthis of Yemen How Saudi Arabia has corrupted Yemen to spread Wahabism Editor's note: Apparently, not unlike Pakistan's Shia Muslims (in Parachinar and Balochistan) and Afghanistan's Shia Muslims (in Kabul, Bamiyan and Mazar-e-Sharif), Shia Muslims in Yemen [...]

The Pashtun land on both sides of the Durand Line has been devastated by Jihadi-sectarian militants including foreign terrorists like Osama Bin Laden, in collusion with Pakistani military establishment. Dr. Shakeel Afridi did a great service to the world in general, and the Pashtun people in particular, by helping the US eliminate the Saudi [...]

Sectarian bloodshed, in Afghanistan and Egypt, is a tool to thwart democracy and diplomacy Lahore, Pakistan From a distance, the devastating attacks on Shia Muslims in three Afghan cities this week looked like the type of sectarian religious attacks which we got used to in Iraq. The faultline between Sunni and Shia is one of the greatest [...]

The Pir Chambal shrine strike in Pind Dadan Khan on November 12 by the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) should disturb Pakistan because of what it means in terms of the country’s capacity to fight al Qaeda. The LeJ is a sectarian (anti-Shia, anti-Iran) terrorist organisation closely aligned with al Qaeda, together with the Tehreek-e-Taliban and [...]

Abstract This is a study of the socio-political attitudes amongst youth in elite universities in the three major cities in Pakistan: Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi. The primary objective was to see whether better education and access to resources made any difference in the thinking of the youth. This was achieved through a set of three survey [...]

ACADEMICS who work on the political economy of Pakistan have no doubt in their minds that Pakistan’s military, primarily its army, remains the dominant power in any equation regarding the distribution and use of power and force in Pakistan. Despite the recent, softer transitions in the balance and distribution of power which have created far [...]

By Greg Miller U.S. counterterrorism officials are increasingly convinced that the killing of Osama bin Laden and the toll of seven years of CIA drone strikes have pushed al-Qaeda to the brink of collapse. The assessment reflects a widespread view at the CIA and other agencies that a relatively small number of additional blows could [...]

The Saudis as well as their Gulf Arab cousins are arming the Taliban. This influx of foreign money and religious ideology is causing irreparable damage to the national identity and integrity as well as the centuries old cultural heritage of Pakistan Since its birth as an independent state, the Pakistani military establishment has focused [...]

By MARK MAZZETTI, ERIC SCHMITT and CHARLIE SAVAGE WASHINGTON — F.B.I. agents hunting for Pakistani spies in the United States last year began tracking Mohammed Tasleem, an attaché in the Pakistani Consulate in New York and a clandestine operative of Pakistan’s military spy agency, the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence. Mr. [...]

The Supreme Court of Pakistan on July 15 released on bail Malik Ishaq, leader and founder of Al Qaeda-linked Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, on grounds of “lack of evidence.” The man had been facing a number of cases at the antiterrorism court in Lahore charging him with hundreds of murders. He remained in jail for 14 years while evidence against him [...]

In some ways the military follows the same occupant/conqueror mindset that was followed before 1947 and the British concept of ‘us’ and ‘them’ is still followed — only now it has been replaced with the ‘civilian and non-civilian’ binary The series of events that unfolded in Pakistan since the Raymond Davis incident in Lahore have [...]

Related Articles: LeJ’s Malik received monthly stipend from Punjab govt Jab Pakistan per firqawariyat ka saaya tha -by Ali Suleman Malik Ishaq, the chief of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), who has been set free on bail after 14 years in prison, wielded clout even in jail and was specially flown to Rawalpindi by army in October [...]

Related Articles: Malik Ishaq wielded clout in jail; helped Pak army Thank you, ISI-backed Supreme Court, for releasing Malik Ishaq By Asad Kharal Malik Ishaq enjoyed Punjab government’s financial assistance ever since the Sharif’s came to power in 2008, officials on condition of anonymity told The Express Tribune. The [...]

The Mumbai attacks will be linked to Islamabad regardless of who perpetrated them. By Con Coughlin A fresh wave of terrorist attacks are launched at the heart of the Indian city of Mumbai, and immediately the finger of suspicion points towards Pakistan. And this is before Indian counter-terrorism officials have even had a chance to [...]

Last Saturday, the Pakistan Army formally launched a full-fledged operation in central Kurram Agency, two weeks after the government had notified 80 square kilometres of the area there as a conflict zone. This Friday alone, security forces backed by gunship helicopters and artillery guns killed 11 militants, taking the enemy fighters’ death [...]

when Pakistan cries ‘foul,’ everybody just kind of laughs at it and shrugs it off and says, ‘Good job, America.’ ” (Associated Press)"] By Rowan Scarborough The U.S. has compiled a wide body of intelligence on the locations of militant training camps in Pakistan, but has been unable to persuade Islamabad to shut them down, current [...]

By ERIC SCHMITT and JANE PERLEZ WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is suspending and, in some cases, canceling hundreds of millions of dollars of aid to the Pakistani military, in a move to chasten Pakistan for expelling American military trainers and to press its army to fight militants more effectively. Coupled with a statement from [...]

Today, most leaders say they would have stood up defiantly (dutt jata) in the face of the American request to join its war on terror. Former president Pervez Musharraf is being abominated for kowtowing to the Americans; and General Parvez Kayani is trying to make amends by going dutt and teaching the Americans a lesson 10 years later. The truth [...]

The new defense chief says intelligence uncovered in the Bin Laden raid showed that 10 years of U.S. operations against the terror network had left it with fewer than two dozen key operatives. Panetta is visiting Afghanistan for the first time as defense secretary. By David S. Cloud KABUL, Afghanistan— Defense Secretary Leon Panetta [...]

Editor's note:  The following article that was originally posted in yesterday's Daily Times is the typically bold and lucid piece written by Dr. Taqi.  Along with Farhat Taj, Dr. Taqi has been the leading light in debunking the racist anti-Pushtun narrative that is hocked by the security establishment and its urban chatterers. Read and [...]

As US prepares troop withdrawal, Taliban's strong hold on border regions reveals Pakistan's vulnerability. "] By Mujib Mashal Parachinar, in Pakistan's tribal north west, remains under siege. The only road connecting this district bordering Afghanistan to the rest of Pakistan has been blocked by Taliban fighters since 2007. The blockade [...]

President Zardari called Nawaz maulana, with multiple innuendos: that he was the illicit political offspring of General Zia, that he was a covert abettor of jihadi elements in Punjab, and that he was aligning with Jamaat Islami in the AJK polls The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has finally decided that familiar is safe and to hell with [...]

The US considers Pakistan based terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), held responsible for 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, as a formidable terrorist threat to Indian, US and other Western interests in South Asia and potentially elsewhere. In Afghanistan, the US military and Nato are committed to preventing Al-Qaeda's return and disrupting any [...]

The book is a news reporter’s entry into the world of analyzing current affairs and to an extent geopolitical forecasting. Off the bat, the author rejects the prevailing western understanding of al-Qaeda being on the ropes Book review: Inside Al-Qaeda and the Taliban: Beyond Bin Laden and 9/11 – by Syed Saleem Shahzad Paperback: 272 [...]

President Obama’s Afghan withdrawal plans include working with Pakistan to “root out the cancer of violent extremism.” Bruce Riedel’s three key steps to do it right. By Bruce Riedel On Wednesday evening, President Obama rightly said we “need to work with the Pakistani government to root out the cancer of violent extremism, and we [...]

The Pakistan army has extended an investigation into officers with links to the Hizb-ul-Tahrir, a spokesman said on Wednesday, in what analysts said was a long overdue move to root out sympathizers of the banned Islamist group. The military, which said on Tuesday it had detained a brigadier -- the highest-ranking serving officer arrested in a [...]

By NICK SCHIFRIN A 17-year-old died this week in Afghanistan, hanging from the end of a rope. A prison official fastened it around the boy's neck in Kabul's largest jail, tightened the knot, and then, in front of a crowd, removed the platform that held up the boy's feet. He was hanged by the Afghan government because he was a killer. In [...]

The piece examines the TTP's media productions and the movement's shift toward having its media distributed to jihadi-takfiri Internet forums via the Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF), a long-established jihadi-takfiri media and translation network. The writer argues that this shift toward GIMF distribution is further evidence of the TTP's [...]

Amn Tehrik (Peace Movement) is an emerging and dynamic movement of concerned individuals and organizations from the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for the promotion of peace in the troubled regions of the province. Amn Tehrik has been regularly organising seminars, conferences and demonstrations to influence policymaking with reference to the [...]

Murdered journalist's findings show Al Qaeda is winning in nuclear Pakistan more effectively than in Somalia and Yemen By Khaled Ahmed Anyone who has read Inside Al Qaeda and the Taliban: Beyond Bin Laden and 9/11 by Saleem Shahzad (Pluto Press 2011) will come to the following conclusions: 1) It is Al Qaeda rather than the Taliban who [...]

By Abdus-Sattar Ghazali Disappearance of innocent citizens, extra-judicial and target killings are not uncommon in Pakistan but last Wednesday's brutal killing of young Sarfraz Shah by para-military Rangers in Karachi has shocked the nation. The trigger-happy Rangers mercilessly sprayed the unarmed young man with bullets point blank as a [...]

Reporters often put themselves in harm's way as they try to dig up the truth about Islamic militant groups, shadowy intelligence agencies and the possible links between the two. One reporter recently ended up dead; another has a harrowing tale. By Alex Rodriguez, Los Angeles Times June 6, 2011 Reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan— The [...]

Originally published in the 'Daily AajKal'.

Mansoor Ijaz says the real danger inside Pakistan is its powerful spy organization, Inter-Services Intelligence—and that an even more notorious outfit is an ISI-affiliate called S-Wing. The murder of a prominent Pakistani journalist, Syed Saleem Shahzad, who was kidnapped last Sunday in Islamabad after repeated threats by Inter-Services [...]

Inter Services Intelligence suspected of involvement has long been above the law. All aspects of this crime, including the possibility of links to the ISI, need to be independently investigated and prosecuted. The ISI and other military and intelligence-related agencies have long been beyond the reach of the regular criminal justice system. To [...]

Originally published in 'Daily Aajkal'.