DTN News: Wiki Wiki Leaks - Media Conduct Questionable In WikiLeaks Affair

DTN News: Wiki Wiki Leaks - Media Conduct Questionable In WikiLeaks Affair

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources & report / story by Bogdan Kipling is a Canadian journalist in Washington - The Chronicle Herald.ca ( bkipling@herald.ca)

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - July 31, 2010: If the world were saner, we would know better than to get excited over any orchestrated leak of dark secrets. We would discount Washington’s cathouse promiscuity with the "Top Secret" stamp and mutter something about patients running the insane asylum on reading the Afghanistan papers story the New York Times, the Guardian in London, or Der Spiegel in Germany published last Sunday. The troika disclosed nothing new about the war in Afghanistan, the Taliban insurgents and Pakistan’s alleged double-dealing. In that sense, the hot papers are like the CIA microfiche I bought at a National Press Club documents sale some yeas ago. It was an "eyes only" report informing President Eisenhower that George Diefenbaker had won the 1958 election, including the source of the information: "Canadian Press and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation." Nothing quite so funny and so revealing has come over my transom since then — and that is a pity. Whipping up such froth is fun, and readers love it. The Afghanistan papers story may be hollow but it is not funny. It raises questions about journalism and concerted political action and which is which. If it is the latter, why not declare it? But if newspapering is still the game, what happened to the abhorrence of being sued? What I see here is a joke on the news side and severe damage to confidence on the part of America’s allies. Why should Canada’s secret service trust American services to keep shared secrets? And what’s true for Canada is true for all America’s allies in the world. Why have three serious news organizations decided to lend their simultaneous media power to Julian Assange’s WikiLeaks blog? Mr. Assange is a self-described "madman of hacking." If this is a certificate of maturity, then there is no such thing as recklessness with access where life-and-death decisions are made. Disapproving or approving of a war is everybody’s right in a free society. But it gives pause that these eminent news organizations agreed to sit on the information — such as it is — until a chap much given to self-promotion was ready to set off his big bang. Mr. Assange says Americans and all their foreign allies must get out of Afghanistan. Many Americans agree with him — and so do Canadians, Britons, Germans, Poles and others in the vast military alliance fighting al Qaida and the Taliban. That people in Afghanistan and Pakistan want to see the end of the war is so obvious it is embarrassing to mention it. They are at the receiving end of missiles, bombs, grenades and bullets. They want the shooting to be somewhere else even when they see the war as their own liberation. Mr. Assange would talk to the Taliban to end the war. He sees the Americans as aggressors and condemns their killing of civilians. He is less outspoken about the murders of innocent people that the Taliban al Qaida commit, but then, the activist crowd regularly hates only one villain. Seeing as I am talking about a mad world where anything can happen, maybe Mr. Assange is promoting peace with the Taliban for Big Gas and its pipelines. Ahmed Rashid’s definitive book "Taliban — Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia," put the seed of this idea in my head. The author says his book "has been 21 years in the writing — about as long as I have covered Afghanistan as a reporter." Washington, he writes, has "strongly backed" Unocal, an American energy company, "to build a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to Pakistan across Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. He says when the Taliban captured Kabul in September 1996, Unocal executive Chris Taggert "told wire agencies that the pipeline project would be easier to implement" now that the Taliban are in the saddle. Mr. Rashid reminds us that the State Department announced "within hours" of Kabul’s capture by the Taliban, that the United States would establish diplomatic relations with the new rulers. Their crimes against Afghan women caused some delays, but diplomacy had to move on — and it did. The Taliban foreign minister talked pipelines in the State Department while President Clinton pounded Osama bin Laden’s camps in his country. In a mad world, it is easy to imagine that Mr. Assange works for Big Gas and its pipelines and coddles the Taliban as the chaps you can do business with.

*This article "Media Conduct Questionable In WikiLeaks Affair - The Chronicle Herald.ca " & link to read in originality form....click here.

*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News, contact: dtnnews@ymail.com

DTN News: Malaysia TODAY February 19, 2010 ~ First Malaysian Women To Be Caned Make Statements

DTN News: Malaysia TODAY February 19, 2010 ~ First Malaysian Women To Be Caned Make Statements *Source: DTN News / Int'l Media (NSI News Source Info) KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - February 19, 2010: The first Malaysian women to be caned under Islamic law for having illicit sex have reportedly said they regretted their actions and welcomed the punishment. The three women, whose identities were not revealed, gave the first account of the caning which took place earlier this month, drawing condemnation from human rights activists and applause from some Muslim groups. "On the day I was caned, I was scared but, at the same time, I knew I deserved it and was willing to take the punishment," said one of the women, a 25-year-old who went by the name of "Ayu". She told the New Straits Times that the punishment -- administered while they were fully clothed and by a female prison officer wielding a thin rattan cane -- did not hurt. "Those out there who are having sex before marriage should really consider the consequences and not only think about momentary pleasure," she told the daily. The three women said they turned themselves in to religious authorities after being wracked by guilt over having pre-marital sex. "Ayu" has a one-year-old daughter with her boyfriend, who she plans to marry, and the other two women also gave birth out of wedlock. Human rights campaigners, who were stunned by the caning of the three women which had not been foreshadowed by authorities, were sceptical over the comments published in several Malaysian newspapers. "These three women are just normal people who have been surrounded by all kinds of legal mumbo jumbo and pressured into agreeing to be caned," one activist told AFP, declining to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue. Islamic authorities triggered uproar last year when they sentenced mother-of-two Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno to six strokes of the cane after she was caught drinking beer in a hotel nightclub. Her case, which was to have been the first time a woman was caned under Islamic law in Malaysia, is still under review after she was given a last-minute reprieve amid intense media coverage. Malaysia's Bar Council has said it was "shocking" that the caning of the three women went ahead while the Kartika case was unresolved. Legal commentators have said that the Islamic courts -- which operate in parallel to the civil system in Malaysia -- are becoming increasingly confident, threatening Malaysia's status as a secular nation. The Sharia courts have been clamping down on rarely enforced religious laws that apply to Muslim Malays who dominate the population -- including a ban alcohol and sex between unmarried couples.

DTN News: Muslims Warned Not To Go Through Airport Body Scanners Because They Violate Islamic Rules On Nudity

DTN News: Muslims Warned Not To Go Through Airport Body Scanners Because They Violate Islamic Rules On Nudity

*Source: Daily Mail By David Gardner (NSI News Source Info) LONDON, UK - February 14, 2010: Islamic scholars have forbidden Muslim travellers from passing through full body scans at airports because they violate religious rules on nudity. The Fiqh Council of North America issued a fatwa, or religious ruling, yesterday warning Muslims not to go through the scanners. ‘It is a violation of clear Islamic teachings that men or women be seen naked by other men and women,’ read the order.‘Islam highly emphasises haya (modesty) and considers it part of faith. The Quran has commanded the believers, both men and women, to cover their private parts,’ it added. The ban is the latest privacy blow to the controversial x-ray machines now in place at Heathrow, Manchester and many airports around the world. In the U.S., there are now forty scanners in nineteen airports and could be as many as 450 by the end of the year. They were implemented as part of a global security crackdown ordered after the thwarted Christmas Day bombing when Nigerian former London university student Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab smuggled explosives onto a US-bound plane hidden in his underpants. The new scanners were implemented after the bombing attempt of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on Christmas Day Some Muslim-American groups were said to be supporting the fatwa last night. In the U.S., the Transportation Security Administration said Muslims will have the option of a pat down search by a security guard. However, in Britain, travellers who refuse to pass through the scanners could be barred from boarding. The Muslim Council of Britain has not yet responded to a call for comment. The powerful council of ten scholars that issued the fatwa is affiliated with the Islamic Society of North America. The ruling won support last night from the Council on American-Islamic Relations. 'We support the Figh Council’s statement on full-body scanners and believe that the religious and privacy rights of passengers can be respected while maintaining safety and security,’ said national director Nihad Awad. The TSA said it is committed to keeping passengers safe and insisted the scanners that show the outlines of a person’s body in graphic detail did not represent an invasion of privacy. ‘The TSA's mission is to keep the travelling public safe. Advanced imaging technologies are an important tool in a multi-layered security system to detect evolving threats such as improvised explosive devices,’ said a spokesman. ‘Use of these technologies includes strong protections in place to safeguard passenger privacy. Screening images are automatically deleted, and the officer viewing the image will never see the passenger.’ The TSA stressed that the body scanners are ‘optional to all passengers’. Those who turn them down in the US ‘will receive equivalent screening that may include a physical pat-down, hand-wanding, and other technologies.’ ‘Physical pat-downs are performed by Transportation Security Officers of the same sex as the passenger in a private screening area, if the passenger requests.’ Body scanners do not produce photos’, the agency added. Rather, the images ‘look like chalk outlines’

DTN News: Pakistan TODAY December 22, 2009 ~ Suicide Bomber Targets Peshawar Press Club

DTN News: Pakistan TODAY December 22, 2009 ~ Suicide Bomber Targets Peshawar Press Club *Source: DTN News / Int'l Media (NSI News Source Info) PESHAWAR, Pakistan - December 22, 2009: A suicide bomber on Tuesday attacked a Pakistan journalists' club, killing three people in the first assault on media offices.Pakistani volunteers remove a dead body after a suicide attack in the compound of Peshawar Press Club in Peshawar, Pakistan on Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2009. A suicide bomber detonated his explosives outside the press club in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing two people in the latest of a slew of attacks to strike the city of Peshawar since the military launched a major offensive near the Afghan border. Strapped with explosives, the man walked up to the gate of the press club in the northwestern city of Peshawar, where he blew himself up as police stopped him from entering the building, officials said. 'I was coming out of the canteen when I suddenly heard a huge blast. Smoke engulfed the building immediately and when I reached the spot, I saw human organs littered on the ground,' said television journalist Nisar Mohammad Khan. The force of the explosion blew out the windows at the press club, damaged the guard hut and ripped through nearby vehicles, said witnesses. 'He was stopped by police deployed outside. When the police official started searching him, the attacker blew himself up,' Peshawar police chief Liaquat Ali told reporters at the scene. Taliban militants, who are powerful in northwest Pakistan, threatened media in Peshawar, said the president of the press club, Shamim Shahid. 'We beefed up security after the threats and people coming to the club were properly checked,' he said. Doctors at Peshawar's main Lady Reading Hospital said three people were killed - a policeman, a press club employee and a woman. Doctor Zafar Iqbal said 17 people were wounded and later clarified that an original death toll of four included the bomber. Police said four journalists were among the wounded. Bomb disposal squad chief Tanveer Ahmed said most of the casualties were caused by steel pellets and nails stuffed in the suicide bomber's explosives vest. North West Frontier Province information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain, who visited the wreckage, acknowledged that extra security measures in place for the holy Muslim month of Muharram could not totally eliminate attacks. 'We have already taken special measures in view of Muharram but suicide attacks cannot be totally eliminated such incidents cannot be ruled out in future. But we will continue our struggle against terrorists,' he said.

DTN News: Terrorism TODAY August 13, 2008 ~ Role Of Pakistan To Counter Global Terrorism

DTN News: Terrorism TODAY August 13, 2008 ~ Role Of Pakistan To Counter Global Terrorism *Source: DTN News / AFP By Mohammed Idris Khan

(NSI News Source Info) ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - August 13, 2009: The international community feels constantly threatened over growing menace of terrorism, extremism and militancy. The community maintains that the terrorists have openly declared war on the world and humanity at large in the name of Islam. Given this distressing state of affairs, peace continues to remain elusive. Without peace, security and stability, no activity for socio-economic development is possible. The world community is, therefore, pushing for making a concerted effort to counter these evil forces. Pakistan strategic and geographic location in the region, links interest of the whole world. This position thus carves a role of front- line state of Pakistan. (Photo: A detained alleged teenage suicide bomber in Mingora in Swat valley. AFP) Aftermath of 9/11 After September 11, 2001, when symbols of Americ economic might, the Twin Towers in New York, the nerve-centre of its military, the Pentagon, and the White House were simultaneously subjected to attack, America held Al-Qaeda responsible for the same. In order to rout the organization, it decided to assail Afghanistan. Once again, America wooed Pakistan. This time it was support for the US war on terror that topped the agenda and for this Islamabad succumbed to acquiesce. Since March 2004, Pakistan is confronted with mounting threat of Talibanization, which has spread from the autonomous Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) along the Afghan border deeper into the NWFP, with Swat becoming a major stronghold for Pakistani Taliban. Foreign fighters (Uzbeks, Tajiks, Chechens) including Al-Qaeda militants are also operating in tribal areas. The Kalashinkov culture following the Afghan- Russia war was converted into terrorism and militancy. The militants have gained strength with the help of local criminals, drug mafia, arms dealers and foreign hands joining them on the way. Precarious situation Pakistan lost its great leader Mohatarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed to terrorists. Around 2,000 Pakistanis lost their lives in more than 600 terror related incidents last year alone. A direct and indirect loss of more than $35 billion has been inflicted on Pakistan economy. Unless and until the nation gets rid of terrorism, attention could not be paid to other challenges like inflation, power generation and the economic meltdown. The situation became precarious as the militants descended from their mountain hide-outs in Swat. They were in possession of many strategic points and intended to take control of additional areas. They were out to impose their lifestyle on civil society. Taliban combatants terrified the people. They attacked the Security Forces, kidnapped the people and beheaded them dubbing them as spies. They desecrated mosques and funeral prayers and destroyed schools, hospitals and killed innocent people including children. Their threats to journalists, politicians and others reflected their intention to rule by force and unleash their barbaric sway. They had captured emerald mines. They seized houses and Government buildings. They piled up money by collecting ransom. They also looted a number of branches of the banks. They resorted to destruction of girls schools. Restrictions were placed on women from coming out of their homes. There was public flogging of a young girl by militants in Swat. They attacked the saint shrines and mausoleums of Sufis and religious figures. They destroyed the shrine of Rehman Baba. These negated the basic teachings of Islam. They in fact wanted to crumble the federation. They were widely considered as the enemy of Islam, humanity, peace and stability and future of the country. Breach of agreement Contrary to their commitment that after implementation of Nizam e- Adl they would discontinue their activities, they continued to display arms and carry out their activities, even after signing of the peace agreement. Sufi Muhammad, the head of the Tanzim Nifaz Shariat- e- Muhammadi (TNSM) declared that democracy was un-Islamic and that sharia must be enforced across Pakistan. Taliban militants wanted to enforce their own brand of laws in the region and started challenging writ of the Government by attacking Government buildings, courts and security forces in Buner, Dir and Shangla. The militant tactics used off the war area included booby traps, roadside bombs and other type of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) besides suicide bombers. The continued wave of bomb blasts against law- enforcing agencies in NWEP and Punjab was intended to divert attention of Pakistan Armed Forces from concentration of militants. Massive operation The blatant challenging of the writ of the Government constrained Pakistan Armed Forces to launch a massive operation called operation Rah-e- Raast since April, 2009, so as to flush out the anti-state elements in the north-west of the country. The Army with the support of Pakistan Air Force carried out operations in swat, Bajaur, lower Dir and Buner against the militants and extremists. Pakistan Armed Forces have indeed the support of all segments of society against terrorism and militancy. The Taliban and other Jihadi cohorts have lost their appeal. A recent survey showed 81 percent Pakistanis think that the activities of the Taliban and other extremists are a critical threat, up from last 34 percent in September 2007. The Security Forces hunted down the Taliban militants. Pakistan Armed Forces in operation Rah-e- Raast in Swat cleared the town of Mingora, Charbagjh city overcoming stiff resistance. Militants strongholds in Mingora, Peochar, Kabal, Khwazakhela, and Shangla had been attacked successfully. Resultantly, Pakistan Armed Forces succeeded in defeating the insurgents by ejecting them from Buner, Dir and other adjacent areas. So far, over 3000 militants have been killed including high profile commanders like Ibne Amin, Zainuddin and Taliban, Swat chapter. Their command and control, logistics and training infrastructure has been destroyed. Substantial number of middle and low level leadership has been wiped out. According to Army sources, there was least possibility of return of the leadership of the Taliban to regroup and operate in the valley. The operation conducted by the Armed Forces in Swat to flush out around 5,000 militants and led 3.5 million people to shift to camps in Peshawar, Charsada, Mardan and Swabi. Operation Rah-e- Raast is advancing to its successful culmination paving way for the safe return of IDPs of Malakand Division including Swat. No-go areas like Peuchar, Skahra and Biha valleys have been secured. The Security Forces cleared mines and defused Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and destroyed hide- outs of the terrorists. Setting up a cantonment A number of training centres having tunnels and bunkers have also been destroyed. On completion of the Operation Rah-e- Raast, the Army has now launched the Operation Subh-e- Nau for repatriation of IDPs. The Emergency Responsive Unit (ERU) has been formed to deal with the issue of IDPs. Chairman of Special Support Group (SSG) indicated that IDPs repatriation would be completed in four phases. In the wake of evolving security constraints, the Government has decided to establish a cantonment in Swat. An elite force is also being constituted for Malkand and services of 1,800 ex-army men have been hired. Confrontations With the approval of Chief of Army Staff. Besides, community policing system is being introduced in the affected areas. Checkpoints are being set up on entrance and exit points. Latest scanning equipment is also being installed at each check point. The Armed Forces are now engaged in the operation Rah-e- Nijat against Baithullah Mashud and his network in south Waziristhan Agency. He and his terrorists have wreaked havoc on Pakistan people’s lives and properties and indeed are posing a civilization threat to the homeland. He spearheads terrorist attacks in settled areas. There are reportedly 12000 Mehsud fighters. The Security Forces have also to confront three other terrorist chiefs and their networks operating in Waziristhan, namely Maulvi Nazir, Hafiz Gul Bahadur and the deadliest of them all, Jalaluddin Haqqani, a national of Afghanistan. The US has reportedly made 40 drone sorties inside the Pakistan border in the last 10 months killing hundred of persons. The ever increasing bitterness and resentment amongst the local population in particular and public in general against the US drone attacks involving extensive collateral damage is vitiating overall atmosphere. Thereby impacting negatively on Armed Forces gains. Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik asserts that Pakistan efforts to take on the Taliban on its side of the border are being hampered by the failure of American and British troops in Afghanistan to monitor their side. Two years ago we were being criticized by the West for our ISI (Inter Services Intelligence agency) helping the Taliban cross into Afghanistan. The Minister maintained, we have stopped the border crossing. Now we re finding the same situation. They’re coming from the other side, bringing arms and fighters from Helmand into Baluchistan and into Waziristhan. Should we say it Afghan or western intelligence helping them? An IDP Pakistani family in Swat Valley. AFP The Armed Forces are also closely safeguarding nuclear weapons as western nations apprehend that Taliban sympathizers within Pakistan Army could help the terrorist organizations acquire some of the country nuclear weapons. Pakistan Armed Forces despite heavy odds are putting up a tenacious fight against terrorism and militancy. The Taliban make use of the battlefields of southern Afghanistan as a training ground. They have turned into a disciplined fighting force and the terrain suits them whereas the Pakistan Forces are mainly trained in conventional warfare. Heavy death toll In hilly terrain, the infantry has to make use of tracks made by animals adding to its logistic problems. Moreover, so long Pakistan military is preoccupied by any potential threat from India, it could not appropriately concentrate on eliminating the Taliban and Al-Qaeda forces. In the war on terror, around 1500 Armed Forces personnel have embraced martyrdom since September 2001. These sacrifices are being commended by the international allies in war on terror. Admiral Mike Mullen, US chairman Joint Chief of Staff said: A year ago, not many people would have said that the Pakistan military could pull that Swat off, and yet they have made an awful lot of progress. The G-8 Summit held in Italy in July this year, said in a statement that they stand with Pakistan in its fight against the recent surge in Taliban activity in the northwest of country, where military is trying to push back a growing insurgency. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband recently announced that the UK fully recognized Pakistan immense sacrifices in war against terrorism. Pakistan Armed Forces’ operation against extremists and militants has achieved a great success. As a matter of fact, the victory of the Armed Forces over the perpetrators of violence and terrorism remains a major determinant of a viable future of Pakistan and sustainable peace all the world over.

DTN News: Pakistan ~ Unclear If Military Had Defeated Taliban In Swat Region Or Simply Driven Them Underground Says Richard Holbrooke

DTN News: Pakistan ~ Unclear If Military Had Defeated Taliban In Swat Region Or Simply Driven Them Underground Says Richard Holbrooke

*Source: DTN News / Int'l Media

(NSI News Source Info) WASHINGTON, USA- August 1, 2009: Pakistan raised the issue of India’s involvement in Balochistan with the US, but provided no credible evidence to support their claim, says America’s special envoy Richard Holbrooke. Pakistani Pastun people read a copy of Taliban code of conduct in a Pakistani border town of Chaman along the Afghanistan border on Friday, July 31, 2009. A Taliban code of conduct that pledges to limit attacks on civilians and curb suicide bombings appears aimed at mustering support among the Afghan people and refurbishing the militants' international image ahead of peace talks widely expected after next month's presidential elections. ‘I would be misleading, if I said it didn’t come up,’ said Mr Holbrooke when asked if Pakistan brought up this issue during his visit to the country last week. Responding to the second part of the question — ‘if Pakistan also gave credible evidence to support its claim’ — Mr Holbrooke said: ‘The narrow answer to your question is no.’ Pakistan raised this issue with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as well at a bilateral meeting in Egypt on July 16. On Wednesday, Mr Singh defended the inclusion of Balochistan in an India-Pakistan joint statement issued after the meeting but said he received no dossier from his Pakistani counterpart on India’s alleged involvement. The New York Times reported on Wednesday that Pakistan linked its action against the Lashkar-e-Taiba with New Delhi ending its covert operations in Balochistan. The report said that in conversations with the Obama administration, Pakistan’s army chief indicated that India needed to stop meddling in Balochistan in return for Pakistan’s actions against the Lashkar. At his briefing in Washington on Wednesday afternoon, Mr Holbrooke also refused to discuss occupied Kashmir, saying that it was outside his area of responsibility. ‘That issue is outside my area of ability to discuss,’ he said when asked to what extent the resolution of the Kashmir issue would help him in achieving the US goal to dismantle, disrupt and defeat the Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Mr Holbrooke cast doubt on the success of Pakistan’s Swat valley offensive, saying that it was unclear if the military had defeated the Taliban in the region or simply driven them underground. ‘We don’t know exactly to what extent the Pakistani army dispersed or destroyed the enemy,’ he told his first media briefing after his visit to Pakistan and Afghanistan last week. ‘The test of this operation is, of course, when the refugees return. Can they go home? Are they safe? And we’re just going to have to wait and see.’ Mr Holbrooke said that during his trip he wanted to visit Swat as well but the Pakistani military advised him not to do so now. ‘I asked to go to Swat or Buner knowing that I wasn’t going to be able to go to Mingora, but I wanted to establish the limits of what was possible here,’ he said. ‘And the military said they really would prefer we didn’t do it now. And look, ‘prefer’ means ‘no’. So we didn’t.’ Mr Holbrooke, however, said the US was in constant touch with Pakistan to help it deal with any spill-over effect of stepped-up operations by international forces on the Afghan side. He said that top US military commanders in Afghanistan often visited Pakistan to discuss the issue. ‘So the military-to-military discussions are helping to harmonise the situation’ in the area, he said. The purpose of these consultations, he said, was to alert Islamabad of any movement of militants from Afghanistan into Pakistan. Mr Holbrooke urged the international community to provide sustained economic support to Pakistan so that it could deal with the problem of the Swat refugees and the economic and energy crises. ‘Pakistan is critically important to the rest of the world’ and could not be ignored. Secondly, he said, what happened in Pakistan affected Afghanistan. Mr Holbrooke also praised the Pakistani leadership for shifting some of its forces stationed along its eastern border with India to the western frontier bordering Afghanistan to fight out Taliban and Al Qaeda. ‘The Pakistanis have moved a very large number of troops from their eastern border to their western border. That’s a historically significant redeployment,’ he said.

Pakistan: Thousands Evacuate War Zone As Curfew Eased In Swat

Pakistan: Thousands Evacuate War Zone As Curfew Eased In Swat

(NSI News Source Info) SHAGUNA NAKA, Pakistan - May 15, 2009: Pakistan's military suspended a curfew Friday in Swat’s main city of Mingora where it is fighting Taliban militants, officials said, allowing tens of thousands of civilians to flee the area. Pakistani civilians fleeing to camps for the internally displaced are seen through a bullet-ridden windshield in Mardan district, some 200 km northwest of Islamabad on May 15, 2009. Pakistan's military suspended a curfew in a northwest city where it is fighting Taliban guerrillas, officials said, allowing tens of thousands of civilians to flee the area. In what is emerging as a grave humanitarian crisis, hundreds of thousands of desperate civilians have been trying to get to safety from the Swat valley, where the army launched a new offensive late last month to crush the militants. Hundreds of thousands of desperate civilians have been trying to get to safety from the Swat valley, where the army launched a new offensive late last month to crush the militants. The government suspended a curfew for people going out of Swat's main city of Mingora from dawn until mid-afternoon, and local administration chief Arshad Khan said residents had been advised to leave — and were doing so. ‘People are leaving in large numbers,’ Khan said. ‘They are vacating their homes.’ Hundreds of vehicles including buses, cars, rickshaws, pickups and motorbikes were seen crossing the Shaguna Naka checkpoint at the exit of the conflict zone. People sat on the roofs of buses and backs of trucks with their bedding and clothes as they headed for Mardan 30 kilometres away where authorities have set up camps for the displaced people. ‘The situation is very, very bad. We have no hope for life,’ said a young man who identified himself only as Ibrahim. He said he came with 30 people who fled Odigram village near Mingora to escape the fighting. ‘We are going to Mardan. We are just going to sit under a tree somewhere. We just want some safety for our children,’ he said. ‘It was painful, every second we thought we were dying. There was a lot of bombing and shelling,’ he said, adding that the entire market in his village was destroyed. The military says its forces have encircled Mingora, which is held by Taliban militants who have waged a brutal insurgency to extend their control and enforce an uncompromising version of sharia law. There are also concerns that the army campaign — including artillery bombardment, attacks by helicopter gunships and commandos dropped behind Taliban lines — will grow more and more unpopular among Pakistani civilians. DAGAR, BUNER - MAY 15: A truck carrying residents drive past a vehicle destroyed during military operations against the Taliban on May 15, 2009 in Dagar, in the district of Buner, Pakistan. Hundreds of thousands of people are believed to be displaced as a result of these military operations against the Taliban. Naeem Akhtar from Mingora who works in a bank was travelling with his wife and two children in his car riddled with bullets. He said he was furious over the military action, and accused the army of destroying his house. ‘Four members of my family were killed in shelling. The army did it. We have spent last two weeks just like in hell…We just want out of Swat and we would find some safe place.’ An official from the International Committee of the Red Cross, which this week was able to enter one of the hardest hit districts, said there was no longer any electricity or fresh drinking water. The military says up to 15,000 troops are taking on about 4,000 well-armed fighters in Swat, where Islamabad has ordered a battle to ‘eliminate’ the militants. The fighting has sent more than 800,000 people fleeing Swat as well as the areas of Lower Dir and Buner, while hundreds of thousands are believed still trapped in the conflict zone. DAGAR, BUNER - MAY 15: A man walks past a burnt out tank, destroyed during the Pakistan Army's offensive against the Taliban on May 15, 2009 in Dagar, in the district of Buner, Pakistan. Hundreds of thousands of people are believed to be displaced as a result of these military operations against the Taliban. Pakistan's military insists it is taking all possible measures to lessen civilian casualties and avoid populated areas, but analysts have warned that general public support for the offensive could sour as the human cost soars. Before Friday, the military estimated that around 200,000 people remained in Mingora.

Pakistan Pounds Taliban Bastions, More Than 834,000 Flee / Pakistan : More Than 834000 Civilians Have Now Fled And displaced: UN

Pakistan Pounds Taliban Bastions, More Than 834,000 Flee / Pakistan : More Than 834000 Civilians Have Now Fled And displaced: UN

(NSI News Source Info) YAR HUSSAIN CAMP/PESHAWAR - May 14, 2009: More than 834,000 civilians have fled recent fighting between security forces and the Taliban in the northwest of the country, the UN refugee chief said on Thursday. Pakistani Frontier constables stop vehicles entering Buner in Swat district, where troops launched an offensive against militants, May 13, 2009. Pakistan's army chief ordered his men on Wednesday to ensure civilian casualties are kept to a minimum, even if that meant danger for them, in an offensive against Taliban militants in the Swat valley. A senior military official overseeing help for the internally displaced people (IDPs) said on Tuesday an estimated 800,000 civilians had fled from the latest fighting.* The figure was a leap of more than 163,000 people registered since Wednesday, as desperate families piled onto trucks and tractors, or stream on foot out of the three worst-affected districts to hastily set up camps. ‘Some 834,000 IDPs (internally displaced people) have been registered so far. This is a massive, massive displacement in the world today,’ said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres. ‘Pakistan is passing through a difficult period. The international community should come forward and help Pakistan. I cannot give a figure but they need a lot of help,’ he added as he toured the Yar Hussain camp in Swabi district. Ariane Rummery, spokeswoman for the UN refugee agency, said that 835,226 people had now registered since May 2. They join another 500,000 people who fled bouts of fighting in the northwest last year, where extremist Taliban militants have been fighting to gain control and impose their brand of Islamic law. With more than 1.3 million people displaced, Human Rights Watch has warned that Pakistan is facing its biggest movement of people since the partition of India in 1947, which led to the migration of millions. Security forces have launched a fresh offensive in Swat, Lower Dir and Buner districts after the insurgents advanced to within 100km of Islamabad.

Somalia Is Second Country After Pakistan Bowing To Islamic Militants Demand / Somali President Approves Islamic Law, But Insurgent Attacks Continue

Somalia Is Second Country After Pakistan Bowing To Islamic Militants Demand / Somali President Approves Islamic Law, But Insurgent Attacks Continue

(NSI News Source Info) MOGADISHU - May 14, 2009: As Islamist insurgents continued an assault on government forces in Mogadishu, President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed signed a bill late Wednesday enacting Islamic Sharia law in the country.

A militiaman from the Hizbul Islam fighters takes cover with his weapon during clashes with Somali authorities in the vicinity of the presidential palace in Mogadishu on May 14, 2009. Somalia's president was holed up in his compound and residents fleeing Mogadishu today, as Islamist insurgents prepared for a final push to seize power, witnesses and officials said. Insurgents have been redeploying many forces from across the country to launch an unprecedented offensive, while Ugandan and Burundian African Union (AU) peacekeepers held the fort for Sharif's beleaguered administration.

President Ahmed said Somalia is a Muslim country and the people support Islamic law. He instructed his cabinet ministers to implement the legislation and defended the bill from the criticism of the insurgents threatening the government. Mr. Sharif said this is the first time Islamic law has been introduced in Somalia, so what reason do they have for opposing it, other than to destroy the country?

Application of law unclear

It remains unclear how the law will be applied or how it will relate to the existing secular constitution that governs Somalia's provisional government. President Sharif said he would name legal experts to work through any conflicts.

Supporters of the president hope that the formal introduction of Islamic law will help to undermine the Islamist insurgency. Since last Thursday, fighters from the al-Shabab and Hizbul-Islam militias have led an offensive against government forces, pro-government militias and African Union peacekeepers.

A Hizbul-Islam rebel takes aim during clashes with government forces near presidential palace in Mogadishu, 14 May 2009. But a top al-Shabab leader, Sheikh Muktar Abdirahman "Godane", issued a taped message Wednesday urging fighters to continue their attacks against the government. Godane said the government should not be considered Islamic because it was created to fight Islamists.

President Sharif served alongside several of the current insurgent leaders in a short-lived Islamist government that was ousted by Ethiopia in late 2006. President Sharif's faction of the opposition signed a deal with the government last year and joined it in January.

International support doesn't lead to stability

President Sharif's government enjoys international backing, but has little control on the ground, beyond a few streets and key buildings in the capital.

The U.N. representative for Somalia said the international community should defend the fragile government. But after discussing Somalia on Wednesday, the U.N. Security Council said it would not send a peacekeeping force until the security situation improves. Instead, the Council said it would continue to support the 4,000 member African Union peacekeeping force.

Red Cross: more than 400 mostly civilians wounded

According to reports from the country, at least 120 people have been killed by the fighting during the past week. The International Committee of the Red Cross said more than 400 people have been treated at hospitals it supports in Mogadishu, most of them civilians, and that thousands of people have been newly displaced from their homes.

On Thursday, at least three more people were killed in clashes in northern Mogadishu. International humanitarian agencies are warning the latest fighting exacerbates an already dire situation. More than one million people have been displaced by previous rounds of fighting. The United Nations also says Somalia is facing its worse drought in a decade, with almost half the population malnourished.

Taliban Trap Civilians In Pakistani War Zone

Taliban Trap Civilians In Pakistani War Zone

(NSI News Source Info) MINGORA, Pakistan - May 7, 2009: Taliban militants blocked roads with rocks and trees, preventing terrified civilians from fleeing a Pakistani valley Thursday as the army stepped up a ground and air assault on the guerrillas that has been applauded by the U.S., witnesses said. Buner refugees travel by road as they flee fighting on May 6, 2009 near Swabi, Pakistan. Hundreds of thousands of Pakistani people have fled their homes due to fighting between the Pakistan army and Taliban forces in the Northwest Frontier Province. Destabilizing violence is flaring in Pakistan just as its embattled president is appealing in Washington for more help to reverse the extension of Taliban-held territory to within 60 miles (100 kilometers) of the capital. The U.S. is particularly concerned by the unrest because its troops are fighting an increasingly virulent insurgency in Afghanistan fed from militant havens in Pakistan's lawless border area. Officials are bracing for a mass exodus from the Swat Valley, a former tourist destination where fighting has resumed after the breakdown of a controversial peace deal earlier this week. The military claimed to have killed more than 80 militants in the region on Wednesday. There has been no official word on civilian casualties. More than 500,000 Pakistanis driven out by fighting in other regions of the northwest are already living in makeshift camps or with relatives, adding a growing humanitarian crisis to the country's daunting security, economic and political problems. With Taliban militants roaming the streets of Mingora, Swat's main town, on Thursday and troops launching artillery and airstrikes on militant targets from helicopter, many residents hunkered down in their homes. The army announced it was relaxing its blanket curfew in the area, but some of those who tried to make a swift exit said militants blocked their way. Ayaz Khan, a 39-year-old from the Kanju area of Swat, said he loaded his family into his car early Thursday but that rocks, boulders and tree trunks has been laid across the roads, forcing him to turn back. "I am helpless, frustrated and worried for my family," he told an Associated Press reporter by telephone from his home. He appealed to authorities to clear the barriers and let people move to safety. A health worker living in Mingora said militants had warned her to stay in her home. "During the whole of last night, I heard firing, and again this morning," said the woman, who would only give her first name, Maryam, for fear she could be targeted for speaking with a reporter. "I don't know when some weapon will hit our home and kill us," she said. Washington has said it wants to see a sustained operation in Swat and surrounding districts, mindful of earlier, inconclusive offensives elsewhere in the Afghan border region. Eight years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the area remains a haven for al-Qaida and Taliban fighters blamed for spiraling violence in Pakistan and Afghanistan. But uprooting the insurgents from the valley will mean civilian casualties, property damage and massive disruption which could sap the resolve of the government, which is struggling to convince the nuclear-armed Muslim nation that fighting the militants is in its interests as well as those of the U.S. President Barack Obama and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari met Wednesday in Washington to explore ways to boost the country's antiterror fight, seen by many as the most pressing foreign policy issue facing the U.S. administration. "Pakistan's democracy will deliver," Zardari said in Washington. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the military offensive against the Taliban was a positive sign. "I'm actually quite impressed by the actions the Pakistani government is now taking," she said. "I think that action was called for, and action has been forthcoming." The Swat accord began unraveling last month when Taliban fighters moved from the valley into the nearby district of Buner, even closer to Islamabad, prompting an operation that the military says has killed more than 150 militants but has yet to drive them out. The Swat Taliban are estimated to have up to 7,000 fighters — many with training and battle experience — equipped with rocket-propelled grenades, explosives and automatic weapons. They are up against some 15,000 troops who until recent days had been confined to their barracks under the peace deal.

Outside View: If Pakistan Fails -- Part 3

Outside View: If Pakistan Fails -- Part 3

(NSI News Source Info) May 1, 2009: The fertile ground for radical violence in Pakistan is provided by various fundamentalist factions that prosper in this large, heavily populated, backward country with a population now probably in excess of 170 million but still afflicted by the added huge malady of permanent political immaturity. Armed militants of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), stand next to a graffiti which read as "Long Live Tehreek-e-Talban Pakistan" at a camp in a Pakistani tribal district of Mohmand Agency. The provincial government of North West Frontier Province (NWFP) on April 21 vowed to continue a peace dialogue with militants but said it would keep the option of force as last resort. TTP chief and Talban warlord Baitullah Mehsud last week asked the provincial government of NWFP to resign in five days or be ready for attacks, accusing it of failing to keep up promises made in peace agreements. In Pakistan, U.S. policymakers confront the dilemma of armed forces incapable of really leading the country to modernity but at the same time skeptical of the ability of democratically elected civilian governments and their leaders to accomplish the same goal. So over the 62-year history of the independent Pakistan state, either military strongmen have ruled through the exercise of force or they reluctantly yield power to weak civilian governments that rapidly prove incapable of extricating themselves from the morass of feudal politics laced with corruption. In this mess, Islamic radicalism prospers, as it seems capable of providing guidance and inspiration to significant segments of an otherwise disoriented population. Pakistan's perennially unresolved Kashmir dispute with India, with nationalist and religious components, adds a huge element of constant frustration and paranoia against the more powerful and now more economically advanced neighbor. As a way to gain leverage in this dispute, the Pakistani government over time trained and enabled radical mujahedin guerrillas based on their side of the Line of Control in Kashmir who were willing to carry on the fight against the Indians. In so doing, however, Islamabad created violent agents who may now be beyond its direct control. As a result, we have now the fairly popular paranoid notion among the people of Pakistan that their country remains under siege, ruled by agents of the United States, and that it is threatened by a vast conspiracy including the West and India. This conspiratorial belief extends to at least some elements of the vast number of Pakistanis who have settled in Europe and the Middle East. This complicates matters, as Western governments and security services now face the problem of millions of people of Pakistani origin who now hold British passports and who freely travel back and forth between Britain and Pakistan. A small minority of them, still significant in their numbers and the potential threat they pose, have received and are receiving military training in Pakistan. Western security services already know that some of them have been engaged in violent plots on different continents. In short, Pakistan is a weak country, close to being ungovernable, to the extent that too many elements within the society do not really recognize the legitimacy of popularly elected leaders. Why the Pakistani government does not dare to challenge the legitimacy of the radical Islamic groups that are undermining its control and effectiveness!

Pakistan: Military Operation In Buner

Pakistan: Military Operation In Buner

(NSI News Source Info) April 29, 2009: Pakistani troops took control of the key town of Daggar, the headquarters of Buner district, a day after launching a major ground and air assault against Taliban militants. The operation in Buner has been mounted to stem Taliban efforts to encroach into regions beyond Swat.

In February, the government agreed that Islamic sharia law could be enforced in Swat and its surrounding districts in the Malakand region in a deal aimed at ending two years of rebellion during which followers of radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah beheaded opponents and torched girls'. Pakistani army trucks carrying cannons and armored vehicles for the military operation against the Taliban arrive in the Umar Abad area outside Buner district.

Afghanistan: British Forces On Guard And Hunting Taliban Hideout

Afghanistan: British Forces On Guard And Hunting Taliban Hideout

(NSI News Source Info) April 29, 2009: In this undated image made available in London Wednesday April 29, 2009 by the Ministry of Defence, snipers and an observer of the Black Watch, the 3rd Battalion the Royal Regiment of Scotland, take up positions during Operation Sarak 1 in the Maywand region of Afghanistan. Operation Sarak 1, which took place from April 21 to April 25, enabled the troops to carry out searches and exploit compounds of interest following a helicopter air assault to shuttle troops to their area of operation.

Pakistan: Where Has Sufi Mohammad Gone?

Pakistan: Where Has Sufi Mohammad Gone?

(NSI News Source Info) PESHAWAR - April 28, 2009: The government as well as followers of Sufi Mohammad's defunct Tehrik-i-Nifaz-i-Shariat Muhammadi are looking for him for one reason: to start talks to remove the last few remaining hurdles in the enforcement of Nizam-i-Adl Regulation. Sufi Mohammad was last seen leaving for his home in Lal Qila area from his base camp in Maidan on Saturday afternoon. Sufi Mohammad was last seen leaving for his home in Lal Qila area from his base camp in Maidan on Saturday afternoon. On Sunday morning, according to his spokesman Ameer Izzat, the cleric started for his base camp along with his son Ziaullah, just when the paramilitary forces moved in to attack militants’ hideout in Lal Qila. ‘The last time we had contact with Sufi Sahib was when he said he was on his way to Maidan. He said that he wanted to return home but he was not allowed to proceed by security people because of the fighting there,’ Ameer Izzat said. ‘There has been no communication since then and we don’t know where he is. Everybody is looking for him. We are looking for him. The government is looking for him. We are concerned. We want him to come back and resume talks to resolve the pending issues.’ Ironically, the NWFP government faces the same predicament. It desperately needs to start talks and announce the remaining steps for the implementation of the recently-announced regulation but it does not know where to find the TNSM chief. In fact, a two-member team of the NWFP government comprising Senator Afrasiab Khattak and Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain flew into Upper Dir on Monday. But Sufi was nowhere to be seen. Anxious to resolve the remaining issues, the government is believed to have reached out to all those who could locate Sufi Mohammed. One significant announcement would be the setting up of Darul Qaza in Malakand. This would be a major stride in the full implementation of the regulation but before it does so, the government would like to consult the unpredictable TNSM leader. Pakistani citizens rally against Taliban in Lahore, Pakistan on Tuesday, April 28, 2009. Fighter jets began bombing Taliban hide-outs in a district near the Pakistani capital Tuesday, a military spokesman said, signaling an expansion of an offensive against militants seemingly emboldened by a controversial peace deal. The TNSM wants the operation to be halted and one reason for the demand is to help find their leader, who is known for his disappearing antics. In 1994, when the TNSM had launched an armed rebellion against the state for enforcement of Sharia in Malakand, Sufi was literally pulled out from the mountains by a helicopter to negotiate a settlement. Sufi had agreed and went along with government officials to disarm his supporters and dislodge them from the mountains.

Taliban Commander Confirmed Dead In Pakistan's Military Offensive

Taliban Commander Confirmed Dead In Pakistan's Military Offensive

(NSI News Source Info) ISLAMABAD - April 27, 2009: A senior Taliban commander has been confirmed dead in the military offensive by Pakistan's security forces on Sunday in a northwestern district, local television reported Monday. "Maulana Shahid is confirmed to be killed in the military operation," Dawn TV channel quoted Taliban sources as saying. Local resident examine a damaged government girls school which was wrecked by militants with explosives on outskirt of Bannu, a town near Pakistani tribal areas along Afghanistan border, Saturday, April 25, 2009. Pakistani security forces are engaged with militants and Taliban in the northern Pakistan. Pakistan's military on Sunday launched an operation against the Taliban in Lower Dir district of North West Frontier Province (NWFP) hours after militants ambushed an army convoy and killed a soldier. The military operation had killed 26 militants, according to a military statement. One soldier was also killed in the operation. The Taliban commander Maulana Shahid is among the dead, who is said to be in charge of Lower Dir district. The operation began amid the spiraling concerns about the security situation of the nuclear-armed country when Taliban militants are spreading their influence in the northwestern region. Lower Dir is one of the districts of NWFP's Malakand division, where Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari had signed a regulation introducing Sharia, or Islamic law, after February's peace deal. But critics have said that the deal has surrendered the writ of the state to terrorists, and invites the terrorists to extend their sway to other areas of the country. Pakistani Taliban fighters sit in the back of a truck with their weapons in Buner, about 100 km (60 miles) northwest of Islamabad April 24, 2009. A Pakistani Taliban commander withdrew his fighters from a key northwestern valley on Friday, amid growing alarm in the United States that the Taliban were creeping closer to the capital of nuclear-armed Pakistan. Taliban militants infiltrated into Buner district, only about 100 kilometers away from the capital Islamabad, from adjourning Swat valley last week, sparking fears among local people. "The government has no option but to take action against Taliban," said Advisor to the Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik on Sunday. In the meanwhile, a spokesman for Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM), whose chief Sufi Mohammed brokered the Taliban peace deal, said the operation by the security forces in Lower Diris a violation of the peace deal, adding that "the government is responsible for the damage".

Pakistan: Unfortunately Has To Face, It's Past Undoing

Pakistan: Unfortunately Has To Face, It's Past Undoing

(NSI News Source Info) ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - April 21, 2009: Back in the late 1970s, when the army generals running Pakistan (for the third time since it was formed in 1947), the guy in charge, general Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, decided to back the many Islamic radicals in the country, who believed Sharia (Islamic) law, not the secular common law inherited from the British, should be the law of the land.

Pakistani Taliban gather during a rally addressed by their spiritual leader Sufi Muhammad in Mingora capital of Pakistan's troubled valley of Swat on Sunday, April 19, 2009. A hard-line cleric who mediated that deal demanded the government take meaningful steps to enforce the new system over the next month, including setting up proper appeals courts in four days. Already, a handful of judges trained in Islamic law have begun hearing cases.

The problem with that was that Sharia, in the fine print, called for a religious dictatorship, run by clerics. Neither the politicians nor the generals in Pakistan wanted that, but many local Islamic radicals did, and they used general Zia's support for Sharia to push for an Islamic republic. The Islamic radicals got a boost in the 1980s, when the Russian (Soviet) invasion of Afghanistan brought in billions of dollars a year from Saudi Arabia and other pious Gulf oil millionaires.

Along with the money came Arab volunteers, to join the fight against Godless communism in Afghanistan.

It also brought in some U.S. money and the CIA, but the major players, and paymasters, were the Gulf Arabs and their very conservative form of Islam. Pakistan served as the base for millions of Afghan refugees. Protected by American military power, the Afghans used their Pakistani bases to wear down the Russians, who eventually left Afghanistan in 1989 (the same year communist rule collapsed in Eastern Europe, followed by the dissolution of the Soviet Union over the next two years). Islamic radicals in Pakistani military intelligence came up with the idea for creating the Taliban in the mid 1990s, as a way to settle the civil war raging in Afghanistan in the wake of the Russian withdrawal. The Taliban ruled most of Afghanistan in the late 1990s, alienating most Afghans. Many Pakistanis were similarly dismayed by the failure of Islamic rule in Afghanistan, but the Taliban also took hold in Pakistan.

After all, Pushtun tribes lived on both sides of the border. In fact, there were twice as many Pushtun in Pakistan as there were in Afghanistan. While the tribal people (the Pushtuns and Baluchis) are less than 20 percent of the population, many non-tribal Pakistanis (over 80 percent of the population) still believe that Islamic law is a cure for the corruption and inefficiency that cripples the country. But most Pakistanis recognize that general Zia's use of Islamic conservatism and Sharia did not work. Islamic rule was a disaster in Afghanistan, and was equally harmful in Iran and Sudan. However, the minority in Pakistan that still believes in Islamic rule, are fanatical about it, and willing to kill, and, more importantly, die for it. This is where the Pakistani government is in big trouble. Up to a third of the population are believers in Islamic law as the cure for the country's problems. Many of these true believers are in the army and government bureaucracy. Thus going to war with the Islamic radicals risks rebellion and mutiny in many parts of the government.

For that reason, the government must constantly reassure the West that Pakistan's nuclear weapons are "safe" (under the guard of troops who are immune to calls for Islamic radicals to have nukes). In the meantime, the government is paralyzed with fear that if they take decisive action against the radicals, the nation might collapse into civil war. The Pakistani government and people are split on the issue of Islamic rule, and how to deal with corruption. The latter is the primary curse in the country, inhibiting economic growth and effective government. But much of the corruption is wrapped up in traditions that many Pakistanis are comfortable with. This web of feudal, religious and familial obligations keeps most of the population poor, and a minority (which has always run the country, and military) quite wealthy. India bit the bullet sixty years ago, and passed laws stripping many Indian nobles and landlords of rights and properties that kept many poor Indians in a state of feudal servitude. No such reforms in Pakistan, and the country continues to suffer for it.

Islamic radicals like to promise freedom from feudal obligations, and this is very popular. But many Pakistanis note that religious rule in Afghanistan and Iran simply replaced one form of economic tyranny and corruption with another, and the poor people were still poor and without power. But many Pakistanis are so desperate that they ignore (or are ignorant of) the lessons of Afghanistan and Iran, and step forward to fight, and die, for the Islamic revolution. The U.S. is increasingly frustrated by the incompetence of the Pakistani government in dealing with Islamic radicals (Taliban and al Qaeda). Thus the U.S. has been expanding its activities in the tribal territories over the last few years. First it was more intelligence gathering. That was, of necessity, done quietly, and the Pakistani government didn't complain much. Then, about a year ago, the use of UAV missile attacks on al Qaeda leaders increased.

There were protests in Pakistan, which the U.S. got away with ignoring. Pakistan and the U.S. benefitted from the death of these foreign terrorists, and these al Qaeda foreigners had few followers or supporters in Pakistan (even in the tribal territories). Then the U.S. expanded the attacks to Taliban leaders recently.

These guys had more followers in the tribal territories, but the U.S. and Pakistani government both wanted them dead. Now the U.S. is jamming the illegal Taliban radio stations that spread the Islamic radical line in many parts of the tribal territories. The U.S. is offering the Pakistani government jamming equipment, and the Pakistanis are inclined to take and use the gear. The Taliban and al Qaeda are hitting Pakistani troops several times a week with suicide bombings and gunfire. Soldiers manning checkpoints in the tribal territories are a frequent target. The army is responding with air raids and artillery fire on Islamic radical targets, particularly leaders. Over the weekend, more than fifty died from such violence in the tribal territories. Violence in Indian Kashmir has left ten dead in the last few days, including four policemen. Maoist violence in eastern India has reduced (to 45-55 percent) voter turnout in the elections underway there. In Bangladesh, a senior intelligence official was arrested for involvement in the sales of tons of weapons to rebels in northeastern India. The ten truckloads of weapons were seized, in Bangladesh, five years ago, but the investigation to find those responsible got nowhere. That was because so many senior government officials were involved in the gun running. But that government is gone, and the current one is after the corrupt officials. April 20, 2009: The prosecution of those responsible for last November's terror attacks in Mumbai, India, has filed charges against 47 people, 35 of them Pakistanis. India also launched an Israeli made radar satellite. This bird uses a high resolution SAR radar to obtain detailed images in any weather. India will use it to keep an eye on China and Pakistan. April 16, 2009: In Pakistan, a panel of judges has granted radical cleric Abdul Aziz bail, and released him from house arrest. Abdul Aziz was accused of complicity in the Red Mosque terrorism in the capital. Two years ago, this resulted in a bloody police raid on the Red Mosque. Now Abdul Aziz is back at the Red Mosque, calling for Islamic revolution and daring the government to arrest him again. In eastern India, Maoist election day violence left at least 16 dead. April 15, 2009: The Taliban group that negotiated a peace deal in Pakistan's Swat Valley, now say that it is un-Islamic for them to disarm. That was part of the deal with the government, which basically gave the Taliban control of Swat. Most of the locals don't want to be ruled by the Taliban, but the government does not want to commit the army to a battle for the strategic valley northwest of the capital.

Pakistan: Taliban Marching, Covering, Spreading, Moving On Mardan And Other Cities

Pakistan: Taliban Marching, Covering, Spreading, Moving On Mardan And Other Cities (NSI News Source Info) April 17, 2009: The Taliban continue their advance in northwestern Pakistan. The district of Mardan in the Northwest Frontier Province may be the next region to fall to the Taliban as the terror group has stepped up its attacks in the area. The Taliban murdered two women in Mardan yesterday, signaling the district is marked for takeover. A female aid worker for the non-governmental organization National Rural Support Program was killed in a bombing at her office.

Taliban presence, by district and tribal agency, in the Northwest Frontier Province and the Federally Administered Tribal Agencies. Information on Taliban presence obtained from open source and derived by The Long War Journal based on the presence of Taliban shadow governments, levels of fighting, and reports from the region. A local Taliban commander named Habibur Rehman claimed credit for the attack. "He accused NGOs of propagating obscenity and vulgarity and threatened further attacks," Dawn reported. The Taliban also gunned down a female councilor for a local union. The murders were the latest in a series of attacks in Mardan that signal the Taliban is setting its sights on the district. Since early March, in Mardan the Taliban have bombed two girls' schools, dozens of CD and video shops, and an electrical tower. The Taliban have forced the closure of more than a hundred CD shops after issuing threatening night letters and ordered barbers to stop shaving men's beards. The Taliban conducts attacks like these to intimidate the local population while setting the precedent for the establishment and enforcement of its brutal version of sharia, or Islamic law. Attacks such as these preceded the Taliban takeover of Tank, Bannu, Hangu, Lakki Marwat, Swat, Shangla, Arakzai, and Bajaur. Mardan was also one of the districts chosen by the Swat Taliban to parade through after its near-effortless takeover of Buner, a district just 60 miles from the capital of Islamabad. Earlier this week, a Taliban convoy of 10 trucks filled with fighters brandishing heavy weapons drove from Buner, through the district center in Swabi, and through Mardan before passing into Malakand, Dawn reported. The Taliban convoy was untouched by Pakistani security forces. "They drove through a district HQ of a district they have not yet occupied ... on the federally policed motorway; through an army cantonment – as a matter of fact right past the Punjab Regimental Centre’s shopping plaza containing the usual bakery and pastry-shop run by serving soldiers – and thence through the rest of the crowded city of Mardan which is also the home of the chief minister of the province," Dawn reported. Taliban nearing encirclement of Peshawar The takeover of Mardan would put the Taliban one step closer to completing an encirclement of Peshawar, the provincial capital of the Northwest Frontier Province. The Taliban have taken control of vast swaths of tribal agencies Arakzai, Khyber, and Mohmand, and maintain a strong presence in Charsadda and neighboring Mardan. Charsadda is still contested, but the Taliban have launched some of the largest suicide strikes in this district in an effort to break the security forces. In the latest suicide attack on April 15, nine policemen were among 18 Pakistanis killed in a suicide attack on a police checkpoint. The district of Nowshera to the east of Peshawar has been spared some of the heavier violence that has plagued the Northwest Frontier Province, but the Taliban are showing signs of advancing there as well. Over the past month, the Taliban assaulted two police checkpoints and bombed 20 CD shops. Peshawar itself is under Taliban siege. The city has been described as a fortress as the Taliban maraud through the countryside. The Taliban have conducted dozens of assaults on trucking terminals that handle supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan. Since late 2008, the Taliban have destroyed more than 500 trucks and containers destined for Kabul in an effort to strangle NATO's primary supply route. The military has launched multiple offensives to clear the Taliban from Peshawar, Khyber, Arakazai, Mohmand, and Charsadda. The Taliban typically lay low during the operations and return after the government calls them off and withdraws troops. The Taliban are nearing their takeover of the Northwest Frontier Province. The Pakistani government recently ceded the northern third of the province to the Taliban after agreeing to implement sharia in a large region known as the Malakand Division. The seven western tribal agencies and most of the bordering districts are under Taliban control or under strong Taliban influence.

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari Signs Off On Islamic Law Deal

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari Signs Off On Islamic Law Deal

(NSI News Source Info) ISLAMABAD - April 14, 2009: Pakistan's pro-U.S. president signed a regulation late Monday to put a northwestern district under Islamic law as part of a peace deal with the Taliban, going along after coming under intense pressure from members of his own party and other lawmakers. U.S. Sen. John Kerry, right, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, shakes hands with Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi prior to their meeting in Islamabad, Pakistan on Monday, April 13, 2009. Kerry arrived in Pakistan to hold talks with Pakistani officials and leaders regarding regional security, and economics issues. Asif Ali Zardari's signature was a boon for Islamic militants who have brutalized the Swat Valley for nearly two years in demanding a new justice system. It was sure to further anger human rights activists and feed fears among the U.S. and other Western allies that the valley will turn into a sanctuary for militants close to Afghanistan. Whatever criticism may come, Zardari can claim some political cover — the National Assembly voted unanimously Monday to adopt a resolution urging his signature, although at least one party boycotted. Earlier, a Taliban spokesman had warned lawmakers against opposing the deal. Zardari's spokeswoman, Farahnaz Ispahani, confirmed the president signed the regulation Monday night. His signing implemented a deal agreed to in February by provincial officials to impose Islamic law in the Swat Valley and surrounding areas in exchange for a cease-fire between security forces and the local Taliban. Zardari had put off signing the agreement, saying he wouldn't until peace was restored in Swat but never defining what that meant. The delay led a hard-line Muslim cleric mediating the agreement to leave Swat in anger last week and upset lawmakers from the region. As pressure mounted, the federal government said over the weekend that Zardari wanted parliament first to debate the accord to implement an Islamic legal system, as long demanded by some residents disenchanted with inefficient regular courts. Lawmakers made clear they believed the deal should go ahead, saying it would bring calm to the area after months of bloodshed that killed hundreds of people and displaced up to one-third of the valley's 1.5 million residents. "The whole nation is united in its support of the Swat regulation and wants the president to approve it," Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said at the start of parliamentary debate Monday. Even without the president's approval, judges trained in Islamic law had begun hearing cases in Swat, and witnesses say Taliban fighters are in effective control of much of the region. The provincial government also agreed to other measures under the peace deal, such as cracking down on prostitution and sales of movies deemed "obscene." Supporters say the changes in the legal system will speed up justice, not lead to harsh punishments or restrict the rights of women. Critics say the agreement is a surrender to extremists whose tactics include beheading opponents and burning girls' schools. The events Monday "strengthened the militants," said Mahmood Shah, an analyst and former top security official in northwest Pakistan. Shah noted Taliban fighters in Swat recently staged a violent foray into the neighboring Buner district, possibly to put the heat on lawmakers and Zardari to support the deal. "They have really forced the government to do that," he said. Those brokering the deal have given few specifics about conditions placed on the Taliban in Swat, including whether they have to give up their weapons. But the Swat Taliban's spokesman, Muslim Khan, suggested after the parliament vote that disarming was at least an option. "We had picked up weapons for the sake of a justice system, and we will put them down for the sake of a justice system," he said. Lawmakers from the Muttahida Quami Movement, a party based in the southern city of Karachi that has a strong anti-Taliban stance, walked out of the parliament session before the vote on the resolution. "We can't accept Islamic law at gunpoint," said Farooq Sattar, a top party leader. Muslim Khan would not say if the Taliban would target legislators who opposed the deal, saying only that a militant council would discuss the matter. The Taliban warned before the vote that lawmakers against the deal were guilty of apostasy, or abandoning Islam, which carries the death penalty in some parts of the Muslim world. Elsewhere, Pakistani authorities announced the arrest of another suspect in the deadly terrorist assault on the Indian city of Mumbai, which killed 164 people as well as nine of the 10 gunmen. Pakistan has acknowledged that the November attack was partly planned on its soil. The Interior Ministry chief, Rehman Malik, said Shahid Jamil Riaz was arrested in Karachi on charges of maintaining financial accounts and helping plan the attack. Authorities now have five suspects in custody, he said. Also Monday, visiting U.S. Sen. John Kerry met with Pakistan's president, prime minister and other top officials, including Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shujaa Pasha, head of Pakistan's most powerful spy service, Inter-Services Intelligence. Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is spearheading a bill to increase nonmilitary aid to Pakistan, with the goal of helping it improve economic, educational and other sectors as a way to lessen the allure of Islamic extremism. In a statement after the meeting, Gilani urged the U.S. not to attach conditions to aid funds, saying "strings attached would fail to generate the desired goodwill and results in Pakistan." During a news conference, Kerry took a friendly stance when asked about U.S. allegations that elements within Pakistan's spy agencies are assisting militant groups, saying he had a good meeting with Pasha. "I think that he and your government are making enormous efforts to guarantee the absolute cooperation and accountability of the intelligence efforts in this country," Kerry said.

Pakistan And Afghan Taliban To Unite In Their Fight Against US Troops In Afghanistan / United Taliban Ready To Face U.S.

Pakistan And Afghan Taliban To Unite In Their Fight Against US Troops In Afghanistan / United Taliban Ready To Face U.S.

(NSI News Source Info) ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN - March 28, 2009: Obama’s decision to send 17,000 reinforcement troops in Afghanistan has only strengthened resolution of Taliban to hold ground and fight. In fact Pakistan and Afghan Taliban have buried their differences, closed ranks and agreed to unify in their war against US. Supporters of Pakistani religious party Jamiat-Ulema-i-Islam rally, protesting against U.S. policy of expanding strikes on Pakistani territory, in Pakistani border town of Chaman along Afghanistan, Friday, March 27, 2009. They chanted slogans in favor of Taliban and their leader Mullah Omar. Taliban fighters across borders are preparing to greet influx of American soldiers with bombs and suicide attacks. Taliban leaders have revealed in this in their recent interviews. Pakistan Taliban which has been engaging Pakistan military and asserting their ground in Pakistan has been asked to shift focus towards Afghanistan. This new strategic alliance is a worrying factor for both NATO forces and Pakistan. The conflict is going to worsen and spread in to Pakistan as well. American intelligences forces also claim that Pakistan military agency has been offering all help to Taliban insurgents hoping to shape new government in Afghanistan once NATO forces leave. The two sides are preparing for a showdown. Young commanders are being trained. Another battle will intensify. This time it’ll be bloodier direct confrontation between NATO troops and unified Taliban. And casualties will be high too. Wars can only bring more reasons for war.

U.S. Weighs Nawaz Sharif As Possible Partner

U.S. Weighs Nawaz Sharif As Possible Partner

(NSI News Source Info) LAHORE, Pakistan — March 25, 2009: The opposition leader, Nawaz Sharif, sealed his place as the most popular politician in Pakistan this month when he defied his house detention and led a triumphant protest that forced the government to restore the country’s chief justice. Nawaz Sharif, the former Pakistani prime minister, outside his home in Raiwind on Sunday. Now, as the Obama administration completes its review of strategy toward the region this week, his sudden ascent has raised an urgent question: Can Mr. Sharif, 59, a populist politician close to Islamic parties, be a reliable partner? Or will he use his popular support to blunt the military’s already fitful campaign against the insurgency of the Taliban and Al Qaeda? More nationalistic and religiously oriented, Mr. Sharif and his party, the Pakistani Muslim League-N, have traditionally found common cause with the religious parties, some of which have run madrasas that have funneled fighters to the Taliban. A former two-time prime minister, Mr. Sharif once pressed for Islamic law for Pakistan, tested a nuclear bomb and was accused by his opponents of undemocratic behavior during his tenure in the late 1990s. That political past has inspired distrust here and in Washington and left some concerned that Mr. Sharif is too close to the conservative Islamists sympathetic to the Taliban to lead a fight against the insurgents. His supporters and other analysts say that Mr. Sharif is now a more mature politician, wiser after eight years of exile in Saudi Arabia and London, and that he is eager to prove he can work with Washington and to put his imprint on a workable approach toward stabilizing Pakistan. In any case, opponents and supporters alike note, Mr. Sharif has made himself a political leader Washington can no longer ignore. Just weeks ago, Mr. Sharif appeared to be sidelined, when a Supreme Court ruling barred him from office, citing an earlier criminal conviction. After forcing the government to reinstate the chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who seems likely to reverse that decision, Mr. Sharif is now front and center in Pakistani politics. His protest tapped a deep well of dissatisfaction with the government of President Asif Ali Zardari, who seems increasingly unable to rally Pakistanis behind the fight against the insurgents. The new breadth of Mr. Sharif’s support will make him either a drag or a spur to greater Pakistani cooperation, and it positions Mr. Sharif as a potential prime minister, if the already shaky public support for the Zardari government completely erodes. “If Washington is going to carry Pakistan, it is important they do it with popular support,” said Senator Enver Baig, a disaffected member of the governing Pakistan Peoples Party, who resigned from a party post last month. “There’s the realization in Washington that he is the next guy we should talk to.” That would be a change. After Mr. Sharif’s return from exile in late 2007, the Bush administration kept him at a distance, choosing instead to broker a power-sharing deal between Pervez Musharraf, the president at the time, and another former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto. More secular in outlook, Ms. Bhutto and her Pakistan Peoples Party were considered more amenable allies for Washington. After Ms. Bhutto was assassinated in December 2007, her husband, Mr. Zardari, took up the party mantle. Both Mr. Musharraf and Mr. Zardari forged their own alliances with Pakistan’s religious parties. But Mr. Sharif’s ties have raised deeper suspicion. More nationalistic and religiously oriented, he and his party, the Pakistan Muslim League-N, have traditionally found common cause with the religious parties, some of which have run madrasas that have funneled fighters to the Taliban. Those who worry that the insurgency will engulf the country are perplexed by what they see as Mr. Sharif’s failure so far to mobilize a Pakistani public inured to its dangers. “Nawaz Sharif is a reflection of Pakistani society,” said Pervez Hoodbhoy, a physicist and a critic of current government policies. “He is silent on what matters most: the insurgency. What we need is a leader.” Some diplomats and analysts argue, however, that Mr. Sharif’s affinity with the Islamic parties could now be an asset as Washington tries to win Pakistani support to fight the militants. “We, and all sensible Pakistanis, need the support of Saudi Arabia and the more moderate Islamist parties, particularly Jamaat-e-Islami, if we are ever going to tame the jihadis,” said a former American ambassador to Pakistan, Robert B. Oakley. “Nawaz’s good standing with them is very, very important." Maleeha Lodhi, a former Pakistani ambassador to the United States, said Washington’s suspicions of Mr. Sharif might actually be helpful. “He is sufficiently distanced from the United States to be a credible partner in the eyes of Pakistanis,” she said. For his part, Mr. Sharif says the impression in Washington that he is too close to the Islamists is propaganda promoted by his political rivals. Mr. Sharif and his aides point to his close relationship with former President Bill Clinton and recite a litany of decisions Mr. Sharif made as prime minister that were favorable to Washington, like his politically risky decision to support the United States in the Persian Gulf war in 1991. Mr. Sharif, in a recent interview, emphasized the similarities between the approach he would take toward militancy and that currently being discussed in Washington, including separating the Taliban, whose members can be talked to, from Al Qaeda, whose adherents cannot. Some experts are skeptical that Mr. Sharif can distinguish between the militants and the conservative Islamic parties. “There’s no evidence that he understands the difference between these groups,” said Stephen P. Cohen, a scholar at the Brookings Institution in Washington. Mr. Sharif served twice as prime minister, from 1990 to 1993, and then from 1997 to 1999. His second term was marked by a series of misadventures that rankled Washington, including his decision in 1998 to test Pakistan’s nuclear weapons after India tested its arsenal. In 1999, he introduced a parliamentary bill to enforce Islamic law, or Shariah, legislation that eventually failed in the Senate. Some of his supporters stormed the Supreme Court building in 1997. But Mr. Sharif made some remarkable initiatives as well. Previously unheard of for a Pakistani leader, he met with the Indian prime minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, in early 1999. In July 1999, he dashed to Washington in a gamble to avert war with India after the Pakistani Army, led by General Musharraf, made incursions into Indian-held territory in Kashmir. Mr. Sharif agreed to Mr. Clinton’s demands to force the army to withdraw to its original positions. Two months later, General Musharraf ousted Mr. Sharif in a coup and forced him into exile. How much Mr. Sharif has changed is a question many in Pakistan’s elite are asking. Pakistan’s lawyers had agitated on behalf of the chief justice, Mr. Chaudhry, for two years. But it was not until Mr. Sharif backed the protests, bringing Jamaat-e-Islami with him, that the government was forced to cave in. Aitzaz Ahsan, the leader of the lawyers’ movement, said it would not be difficult for the United States to work with Mr. Sharif. On March 15, the Sunday of the protest, Mr. Ahsan accompanied Mr. Sharif in a two-and-a-half-ton, bulletproof Land Cruiser, as the men were swamped by crowds. Their time together, Mr. Ahsan said, revealed an important characteristic about Mr. Sharif that Washington should know. “He’s about personal relationships,” he said. “If you befriend him, you can get him to move mountains.”