Posts Tagged ‘War on Terror’

First week of January, we start our new year by discovering the bodies of 15 Pakistani soldiers who had been kidnapped in December. According to the news reported by various newspapers, a spokes person of Taliban by the name of Ihsanullah Ihsan accepted the responsibility on the behalf of Taliban and described them as an “act of revenge” for [...]

Tom Hussain Special to The News ISLAMABAD: Confirmation by the prime minister on Saturday that talks with the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) are part of “an ongoing process” represents a delicate and potentially dangerous point in the militant insurgency. If so chosen, a politically expedient pursuit of “giving peace a chance” could [...]

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 [...]

If terror attacks in Pakistan is Pakhtun revenge, then the ANP must be involved in the attacks. Surely, ANP and non-ANP victims of terrorism share the same culture and social setup By now the notion that several of the terror attacks in Pakistan are the Pakhtuns’ revenge in response to Pakistan military operations and US drone attacks in [...]

The greater of the aggressors Nato choppers present in Afghanistan attacked Pak Army check posts and killed 24 of our soldiers. Presently our security establishment is furious and as a gesture of true patriotism our social, religious and political parties are staging protests against the West. On the one hand, there are those in Pakistan who [...]

By ERIC SCHMITT and DAVID E. SANGER WASHINGTON - Just a month after accusing Pakistan's spy agency of secretly supporting the Haqqani terrorist network, which has mounted attacks on Americans, the Obama administration is now relying on the same intelligence service to help organize and kick-start reconciliation talks aimed at ending the war in [...]

With many in Pakistan still wooing for Taliban victory in Afghanistan, let's glance through the decrees issued under this short yet 'glorious' rule. Here are some of the laws issued by the Taliban government in Afghanistan. ■The government declared: “A denier of veil is an infidel and an unveiled woman is lewd.” ■The veil must [...]

Unicode version   افغانستان اور پالیسی ساز اشرافیہ کے تصوّرات تحریر؛  علی ارقم پاکستان میں سول اور عسکری ہیئت مقتدرہ کے غالب کردار اور سرد جنگ کے دور کے زیر اثر چلے آرہنے والے قومی سلامتی کے [...]

By BILL ROGGIO A Pakistani man who trained at Lashkar-e-Taiba's terror camps has been arrested in the US on charges of producing propaganda for the terror group. The Long War Journal has obtained a copy of the propaganda video, which is published here. Jubair Ahmad, a Pakistani man who moved to Virginia in 2007, was charged on Sept. 1 and [...]

A new U.S. report calls the Pakistani legal system “almost incapable of prosecuting suspected terrorists,” claiming that the acquittal rate stands at about 75 percent in such trials. The US State Department has come out strongly against Pakistan for not taking credible actions on the terror front including acting on US designated groups [...]

Related Article: China Blames Pakistan for Violence, Our Spymasters Spin through media It was heartening to see the President of Pakistan, Asif Zardari, spending Eid in China's Muslim majority province called Xinjiang and performing Eid prayers in the city of Urumqi. Though this will again be ignored by our right wing media and the [...]

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 [...]

ALEXANDRIA: In a federal courthouse, nearly two and a half hours after his case was scheduled to begin, Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai was brought into Courtroom number 501, filled primarily with his supporters and journalists from the subcontinent. As Fai’s wife and friends watched on, Gordon Kromberg, the prosecution lawyer, began by telling the court [...]

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 [...]

The US has accused two men with being unregistered lobbyists of funneling millions of dollars on behalf of Pakistan’s intelligence service in payments to US officials, and other efforts to influence Washington’s policy. Federal Bureau of Investigation agents on Tuesday arrested Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai, of Fairfax, Va., director of the Kashmiri [...]

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 [...]

By Harris Bin Munawar Osama bin Laden has been stolen, Raymond Davis exorcised, and the military’s ego has been hurt once again by men “dressed like characters from Star Wars”. “America is an unreliable ally,” the ISI chief is said to have told the Pakistani parliament in a closed-door briefing. Pakistan’s ties with terrorists [...]

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 [...]

It is said that a wounded animal is most dangerous. Our military is behaving like a wounded animal and trying to shut down all dissenting voices. The military operation in Balochistan is a clear example of how the army deals with dissent Terrorism at its peak, bomb blasts in every nook and corner of the country targeting both the security [...]

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 [...]

Balochistan is quite fashionable these days, especially amongst the establishment wallahs, some of whom have been visiting the place, writing about it or even getting research grants to figure out ways to make the Baloch patriotic. There are two state-friendly narratives available. The first is, that all violence in Balochistan is a foreign [...]

As the theatre of the U.S initiated war moves to Pakistan the Pakistani military feels cornered and its commanders are looking for internal unity and reaching out to new and old foreign friends. Interestingly, perhaps for the first time, Pakistani commanders are more worried about the U.S plans rather than the Indian threat. Also breaking from [...]

Pakistan's civilian leaders should capitalize on public anger with the military and try to ease its grip on power, a leading human rights activist and lawyer Asma Jahangir said. The army's image has been dented by a number of setbacks starting with the killing of Osama bin Laden last month by U.S. special forces on Pakistani [...]

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 [...]

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 Pakistani Army and it's leadership is facing worst sort of credibility crises and increasing criticism of poor administrative and defense practices, and right now practically it finds itself in the midst of a inferno, particularly after Osama Bin Ladan debacle, Saleem Shahzad's murder and 16 hours siege of the Naval Air Base PNS Mehran in [...]

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 [...]

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto had enemies in the Pakistani military, Saudi Arabian ruling classes and the U.S government.  Benazir had equipped the Pakistani military with missile technology, which she had successfully obtained from North Korea, and supported the military in many other ways but despite her efforts she remained [...]

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 [...]

A number of interrogations about the causes of extreme radicalism & terrorism in Pakistan occupy every psyche – from a lay man to the ruler of the state, no one considers his life secure in this country. Indeed, that is a genuine concern. However, rolling the folios of the precedent enables one to grasp some facts about its underpinning, and [...]