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Acts of Terrorism in Pakistan

No need to worry, sooner or later they’ll be in the “attacked” club too


NO, it does not necessarily follow - whether they are attacked or not, owever; the question remains, "what must be done"?

It is the political system of Pakistan that is itself a problem, this Westminster system is a alien in Pakistan and ought to be discarded.
 
NO, it does not necessarily follow - whether they are attacked or not, owever; the question remains, "what must be done"?

It is the political system of Pakistan that is itself a problem, this Westminster system is a alien in Pakistan and ought to be discarded.
So, what do you have in mind?
 

The terrorists have killed at least 40 people and wounded 90 in the Orakzai Tribal Agency from among a jirga gathered on Friday to form a lashkar against the Taliban. The jirga had already burnt the houses of some local Taliban and imposed heavy fines on two others. The gathering was hit by a suicide-bomber driving a double-cabin vehicle. This is not the first time a jirga has been decimated; an earlier gathering was attacked in Darra Adam Khel too. The elders of the Tribal Areas who commanded respect and took collective decisions have been largely eliminated.

This is terror and it is driven by a policy of intimidation in order to affect the decision-making processes of the state. Other coordinated acts meant to mould the thinking of the people in general and certain enclaves of influence in the country in particular also took place on Friday. In Lahore, the heart of Punjab which influences policy-making in Islamabad through the province’s dominant representation in the National Assembly, small bombs aimed at alleged “immorality” are meant to soften the people’s resolve to fight back. Similarly, four bomb hoaxes hit Lahore in one day, with psychological consequences anticipated by the terrorists.

In Bajaur, more elders were beheaded the same day to psychologically dent the courage of the tribes who have taken up arms against the Taliban and their “foreigners” in parallel with the Pakistan Army’s operations. In Swat, even as the Tehreek-e Nifaz-e Shariat-e Muhammadi (TNSM) leader Sufi Muhammad apostasised the terrorists, the Taliban blasted the house of an ANP leader. All the elected members of the ruling party in the NWFP have had to leave Swat for security reasons, their leader Mr Asfandyar Wali Khan having narrowly escapade a suicide-bomber’s attack in Charsadda.

The “selection” of targets is also meant to affect the mind of the attacked and the “not-attacked”. The parliament that heard the in-camera briefing from the Army this week is also not free of the effect of this psychological war. The opposition, composed mostly of the “not-attacked”, questions the war on terrorism and demands investigation into how the last government got Pakistan involved in the war that confronts Pakistan with Al Qaeda and “our own people”. Spiritual leaders say Muslims cannot be involved in killing Muslims, leaving the question of whether that qualifies Al Qaeda and Taliban as non-Muslims unanswered. Those who join the Taliban drive against “obscenity” — read music CD shops — thus indirectly support the terrorists.

The media reflects all this. Unfortunately the tilt is against the government and indirectly against the military operations against the Taliban. The burden of the message is anti-American, reinforced by reports of how the Americans have maltreated their Muslim prisoners, including summaries of the memoir of Mulla Zaeef, ex-Afghan ambassador to Pakistan who spent three years in Guantanamo Bay. One columnist wrote that he told the prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, that “terrorists of the Tribal Areas were making their new hideouts in Multan, Bahawalpur and Muzaffargarh” and “if you attack them there they will go to Karachi; therefore the best thing would be to negotiate with the Taliban!”

Even the Senate standing committee asked ex-ISI chief General (Retd) Hamid Gul for “advice” on the war against terrorism while knowing fully well that he is opposed to the Army’s effort to resist the Taliban. Anti-Americanism and anti-Indianism, recklessly lumped together, are being purveyed from the free media. The latest nugget is politician Sheikh Rashid Ahmad’s boast that he would be proud to have his martyred body brought back from a battlefield inside India. Al Qaeda is winning the media war, first by getting its intimidatory killings publicised in the free media and then by getting politicians and analysts to come on TV and castigate the policy of fighting terrorism.

One recent not-so-popular seminar in Lahore arrived at the conclusion that “the way Pakistani media has glorified the radicals and militants has not only emboldened the radical groups and organisations but has also caused an increase in the trend and level of radicalisation in Pakistani society. The media must not lose sight of the fact that if the radical forces win in the country, their first target can be the media itself”.
 
Intelligence agencies’ dismal performance

M Ashraf Mirza
October 13, 2008

The attack on the headquarters of the Anti-Terrorists Squad building in the federal capital on Thursday is not only an open challenge to the writ of the government but it has also comprehensively exposed the impotence of the vital state intelligence agencies on account of their ability to pre-empt terrorist acts. Incidentally, the target in this case was the agency that was created with the sole purpose of dealing with terrorism itself.

Irrespective of the terrorists’ failure to cause any loss of life in this case, however, the fact that the terrorists were able to penetrate deep into the ATS premises and strike the high profile target in the red security zone despite high alert in the federal capital in the wake of suicide truck bomb that killed 55 people and destroyed the Marriot Hotel last September 20 represents the terrorists’ determination to strike anywhere in the country. They were able to wind their explosives laden vehicle right to the ATS headquarters through the streets of the capital infested with Police check posts every where and then reached their target without detection.

According to eye witnesses, a private car bearing a green number plate entered the ATS premises through Gate No. 3 and exploded as the driver left the vehicle. The explosion destroyed the three storey block of the ATS Headquarters building partially with injuries to eight Policemen. Very few policemen were, in fact, in the building at the time of explosion due to their deployment at the Parliament House, where parliamentarians are being briefed about the security situation in the country.

Police said that the bomber had parked the vehicle outside the building and walked inside with a box of sweets to hand it over to the Muharrar allegedly for delivery to a senior Police official.

This is certainly not the first occasion when the terrorists have targeted the sensitive agencies’ premises. FIA building, Defence College in Lahore, ISI premises in Rawalpindi and even services’ security areas have been attacked in the past. Thursday’s suicide bombing is, however, a classic episode since it represents attack on those who were supposed to fight against the terrorists. And ironically our agencies have been made to swallow this humiliation over and over again. Hardly any pre-emptive measures were seemingly taken to obviate the situation. Only the routine official statements about declaration of high alert were what the people were told after the terrorist act had shaken them again and again. The truth is that the terrorists carrying suicide belts on their bodies are masquerading the high security zones in the country with impunity. There have only been government’s bragging to take on the terrorists only after the suicide bombers had done their job and inflicted human losses on the Pakistani nation.The scenario obviously represents failure of the state agencies designated to deal with the menace of terrorism. And the paradox is that none of those responsible for the country’s security, political or bureaucrat, has deemed it a moral obligation to accept his failure and quit lucrative posts. The performance of Pakistan’s intelligence agencies has undoubtedly been a dismal. These are, in fact, reactive instead of being pro-active as is evident from the ease with which the terrorists have been operating even in the high security zones in different cities and towns.

It seems that our intelligence agencies have not been able to penetrate the ranks of the terrorist outfits and are operating only from their outer rim with second hand information, if any. It’s, therefore, time for them to pause and ponder and draw a strategy that should not only save the people from the scourge of terrorism, but should also display a visible change in their performance. Some heads must, in fact, roll on account of the total insecurity that the people of Pakistan are enduring over the past couple of years. COAS Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kayani has shaken the ISI and its affiliated outfits. It’s hoped that it will help dispel the allegation that certain elements in the country’s prime intelligence agency were sympathetic to the militants and terrorists because of the American brutalization of the Afghan people in the name of terrorism. A greater and deeper shakeup is also needed in the civilian intelligence agencies in order to attune them to the imperatives of their job. Mere statements that the terrorists will be taken to task are not enough. There has to be a concrete strategy and backup plans to fight the menace with resolve and commitment. The government too needs to wake up to the grave situation that has unfortunately overtaken the nation in the recent past. There is every reason to believe that our agencies have the ability and competence to come up to the task of pre-empting the nuisance of terrorism and militancy.

What’s needed is that they have to revive the same spirit that had made Pakistan’s intelligence agencies as one of the top few contemporary outfits internationally. There is no room for lethargy any more. With the moving spectacle of death and destruction due to the suicide bombings all around, the intelligence agencies too need to rise to the occasion and face the challenges staring in their face. It will also help them remove the stigma of lethargy that has unfortunately struck their face due to the unabated wave of suicide bombings. The nation has suffered a lot as a result of terrorism.

Apart from human losses that it has endured as a result of terrorist acts, its economy has fast run down the slide with tremendous financial impact. True that the escalation in oil prices and international financial crunch due to the US economic crisis have created a difficult situation for Pakistan, but the flight of capital and foreign and domestic entrepreneurs’ hesitation to invest here owing to the prevailing insecurity have been the major pressure on the national economy. And insecurity is directly linked with the deterioration in the law and order situation especially the suicide bombings.Resolve on the part of the intelligence agencies to pre-empt suicide bombings is, therefore, not only imperative for the nation’s sovereignty but also for its economic survival. It’s also pertinent that the government should also keep vigil on the performance of the intelligence agencies with particular reference to their pre-emptive response.
 

Monday, October 13, 2008

KARACHI: Police arrested three persons along with 2000 detonators from Surjani Town on Monday.

The police are interrogating the accused who are said to be from Illaka Ghair, according to a Geo News correspondent.

Two of the arrested have been identified as Abdul Samad and Abdul Qudoos.
 
View: Excuses for killing children —Brian Cloughley

I had started today’s article (about the profitable evils of the arms trade — watch this space), when the news came in about bombings in Islamabad, Dir and Quetta. It was appalling to read that “eleven people were killed in Upper Dir district...when a roadside bomb exploded near a police van [and] four schoolchildren in a passing bus were among the dead.”

So I decided to write about other evil people.

The criminals who planned and directed the Dir atrocity would claim, just like the Americans after bombing tribal wedding parties, that innocent people were simply unfortunate to be in the way when they tried to hit the main target. These scum attempt to convince us that in some way women and children are themselves at fault when they are killed by lunatic bombers or almost equally deranged controllers of aerial slaughter-machines. Another line is that it is the responsibility of those whom they target because they permit civilians to be close by.

These contentions are not persuasive enough to let us ignore the innocent children and their weeping families. In fact, they are evidence of hand-washing arrogance.

People who kill children, for whatever reason and no matter in what manner, are disgusting, murderous, cowardly barbarians.

Suicide bombing is not the way to achieve paradise, but alas there appears to be nobody influential enough to make this clear to the world at large. The problem is that rabble-rousing, brutal, religious bigots use their position to persuade poorly educated (and some not-so-poorly-educated), easily-influenced people that those who die for their faith, even if that involves murdering children, are assured of heaven.

It is tragic that the real meaning of the Holy Quran and the Hadith, as well as civilised common sense, decency, and respect for human life, are thrust aside by such as the rabid Egyptian cleric Dr Yusuf Al Qaradawi, who claims that Islam justifies suicide bombings.

In a BBC interview, Al Qaradawi said “I consider this type of martyrdom operation [by suicide bombing] as an indication of the justice of Allah Almighty. Allah is just — through his infinite wisdom he has given the weak what the strong do not possess and that is the ability to turn their bodies into bombs like the Palestinians do. Islamic theologians and jurisprudents have debated this issue, referring to it as a form of Jihad under the title of ‘jeopardising the life of the mujahid’. It is allowed to jeopardise your soul and cross the path of the enemy and be killed if this act of jeopardy affects the enemy, even if it only generates fear in their hearts, shaking their morale, making them fear Muslims.”

A tortuous argument, to put it mildly; and just as poorly constructed and badly delivered as the justification for the US slaughter of innocent men, women and children attending a night-time memorial service in the Afghan village of Azizabad on August 22, 2008. In that case it was at first (and as usual) flatly denied that there had been any civilian deaths.

As the New York Times recorded: “The US hotly disputed the toll [of 90], claiming initially that no civilians were killed, then later revising the number up to 5-7 civilians. They also accused Afghan civilians who claimed a higher toll of spreading ‘outrageous Taliban propaganda’. They were forced to re-examine their findings, however, when video evidence of the toll went public.”

United Nations officials conducted an inquiry immediately and found that 90 civilians had been killed, of whom 60 were children, but the US ignored the report, and when the Afghan government confirmed that there were scores of dead, a US spokesman called the statement “outrageous”.

It was unfortunate — at least for the liars who deliberated concocted falsehoods about the massacre — that “cellphone images that a villager said he took, and seen by this reporter [Carlotta Gall, a marvellous and courageous journalist], showed two lines of about 20 bodies each laid out in the mosque, with the sounds of loud sobbing and villagers’ cries in the background. An Afghan doctor who runs a clinic in a nearby village said he counted 50 to 60 bodies of civilians, most of them women and children and some of them his own patients, laid out in the village mosque on the day of the strike... In a series of statements about the operation, the US military has said that extremists who entered the village after the bombardment encouraged villagers to change their story and inflate the number of dead.”

If there had been no independent reporting of the atrocity it would, like so many others, have been forgotten. But Washington was forced to order an inquiry. Not that there is any intention to take disciplinary action against those responsible for any aspect of the whole horrible affair, even when it was eventually admitted there were “more than 30” civilians killed, because, with indifferent callousness, they pronounced that the strike was against “a legitimate target”.

There is a chilling parallel between the types of child-killers. On the one hand, a formal military organisation is adamant that “legitimate targets” must be blasted even if the deaths of children are inevitable. On the other, the psychotic savages who plan and carry out suicide bombings that slaughter innocent youngsters are convinced their atrocities are justified by a warped interpretation of their faith.

The potential victims of atrocities — the ordinary innocent citizens of Pakistan and Afghanistan — should be protected; but this is impossible given the zeal of both types of attackers. There can be no excuses for killing children, but violence feeds violence, courtesy of trigger-happy foreigners and home-grown monsters. The terrible thing is that they have so much in common.

The writer is a commentator on South Asian political and military affairs. His upcoming book, War, Coups and Terror, will be released on October 16 by Pen & Sword Books (UK)
 
FACTBOX-Security developments in Pakistan,

Oct 18 18 Oct 2008 06:20:04 GMT
Source: Reuters

Oct 18 (Reuters) - Following are security developments in Pakistan at 0600 GMT on Saturday. Estimates of militant casualties from the military cannot be independently verified.

* denotes new or updated items.

* SWAT - Pakistani jet fighters bombed militant hideouts in the norwestern Swat valley on Friday, killing about 60 Islamist militants, according to the military.

BAJAUR - Pakistani warplanes and helicopter gunships killed 12 al Qaeda-linked militants in attacks on their positions in the Bajaur region on the Afghan border, a paramilitary force official said.

The Pakistani military said it has killed about 1,100 militants in Bajaur since August but there has been no independent verification of that casualty estimate.

SWAT - Militants ambushed a military convoy with a roadside bomb in Swat but there were no casualties.

NORTH WAZIRISTAN - Gunmen kidnapped a Pakistani doctor, Mazhar Khan, working with a non-governmental organisation in the North Waziristan region on the Afghan border, a known sanctuary for al Qaeda and Taliban militants, a doctor in the region said. (Reporting by Junaid Khan, Haji Mujtaba and Sahibzada Bahauddin; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
 
From Karachi to Swat
Dawn Editorial


Tuesday, 28 Oct, 2008


A Pakistani Taliban escorts a butcher who was found guilty of selling meat of dead animals instead of slaughtered ones to flog in Ningolai in district Swat valley on September 25, 2008 in Pakistan. — AP

From Karachi to Swat, the Taliban are active. The ‘executions’ in what once was a tourist paradise and a police informer’s abduction in the port city show both, their tentacles in society and the ruthlessness of their philosophy and action. Pakhtun tribal traditions include respect for mediators. But on Sunday militants belonging to Maulana Fazlullah’s camp ambushed tribesmen on the way to a peace jirga and took 12 of them hostage, and when other tribesmen attacked the Taliban the hostages were shot.

Later they were hanged to ‘teach a lesson’ to the non-Taliban. The police informer in Karachi was murdered because he tipped off the authorities about an al-Qaeda-Jundullah cell. How they kidnapped him is immaterial. It is doubtful he was trussed up and taken to Swat all along in that condition. Most probably he was lured into visiting his home district and then trapped. But what is shocking is the Taliban did not confine their wrath to the informer; they beheaded his wife, children and parents — a deed that testifies to their moral depravity.

The murder of the peace jirga members is not the first of its kind. The Taliban have been murdering non-combatants as a matter of policy now for years. In the past they have bombed mosques, Eid congregations, and civilian targets, including girls’ schools and UN relief offices, without any qualms of conscience.

What is shocking, however, is that sections of society friendly to the Taliban keep mum about these barbaric acts and, thus, indirectly encourage terrorism.
The government’s own handling of this menace has been anything but scientifically planned. The crackdown launched on the Swat rebels in November last has no doubt made some headway, but as Sunday’s crime shows Fazlullah’s men are far from vanquished and are still quite capable of making mischief.


In Bajaur the military for the moment seems to have the upper hand, and the militants have shown a desire to negotiate. However, a well-coordinated strategy to crush the rebellion appears to be missing. Notice, for instance, the prime minister’s unhappiness with the FC commander’s remarks — later clarified — that it will take a full year for the authorities to restore peace to Fata. The unanimous parliamentary resolution demonstrated the nation’s will to combat terrorism, but regrettably some religious parties still have a soft corner for the terrorists and condemn suicide bombing and others acts of terrorism only for record’s sake.
 
‘Regional solutions needed to tackle Taliban’

November 06, 2008

By Mahim Maher

LONDON: For the international community and the next US president, regional and not boxed-off solutions, are needed to tackle the Taliban in particular, and extremism in general in Afghanistan and Pakistan, argues Ahmed Rashid, who examines these issues in depth in his latest book ‘’. Rashid was speaking to a packed audience at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) on the invitation of the Pakistani Society on Monday, ironically also the anniversary of the imposition of the state of emergency in Pakistan.

Rashid argued for a new diplomatic initiative and an end to competition in Afghanistan. The new US president should apply pressure on India and Pakistan to find solutions to their long-standing problems, so that Pakistan can confidently take its armed resources away from the border with India and put them to better use fighting the Taliban. Rashid acknowledged that the Pakistani military would not react ‘positively’ to this suggestion, as it still perceives India as the biggest threat. He said he was surprised that General David Petraeus, the newly appointed commander of CENTCOM, who was in charge in Iraq, has been meeting Pakistan’s top military and security chiefs. For anyone wondering about the strategy used in Iraq, Rashid cautioned it would not work in Pakistan.

He said part of the solution is to talk to some members of the Taliban, such as those who are amenable to reconciliation if given jobs and an alternate life. The hardliners would have to be isolated, of course, he said, adding that they are the ones who we will have to fight.

Counter-insurgency: More efforts should be put into counter-insurgency, Rashid stressed. He was critical of the use of paramilitary forces in FATA instead of the army but acknowledged their efforts in Bajaur.

Pashtuns: Rashid said the state had failed the Pashtuns, who have not been protected through all of this. All the elders, who were pro-government, have been eliminated and the population has been abandoned. Plus, there has been a lot of propaganda equating the Pashtun to the Taliban. “There are people who want to unite the extremist and the democratic elements in the Pashtun and that simply cannot be done.” In answer to another question, Rashid pointed out that the similarity between the Taliban of the 1990s and the Taliban of today was that neither of them have an economic policy.

Distrust, mistrust, corruption, a lack of leadership, Rashid agreed that the Pakistani political landscape is plagued with these problems. “We have been dealt really bad cards,” he said. “After 10 years of military rule, no one wants to take part in politics,” he said. “[Martial law] cuts off the limbs of political leadership.” The key is to accept our current constraints and support the civilian government.

One member of the audience asked whether the US would still have any interest in Pakistan. Of course it will, Rashid replied. It is the seventh largest country in the world, it has nuclear weapons, almost all extremist groups are emerging from or receiving training from it. But what about the argument made by some that the US has no business being in Afghanistan and should just leave? “If the US leaves the region there are two things that could happen; the government would fall and the Taliban would take over or there would be a civil war between the Pashtun and the non-Pashtun,” Rashid said. Rashid felt that if the US and NATO forces left Afghanistan there would be a ‘devastating impact’ on Pakistan as the Pakistani Taliban would be given an incredible boost. He warned that it could even lead to civil war in Pakistan.

Daily Times asked Rashid about the perceived threat of the Taliban in Karachi, as often mentioned by Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain. “The bottom line is that it is ethnic propaganda,” Rashid answered, pointing to MQM anxiety.
 
Sorry to say there is an old English saying (biting the hand that feeds you) we knew we were playing with fire, we knew what was happening, we knew that political agents from the NA and NWFP were commenting on this getting worse since 2005 and yet we turned a blind eye. We have to fight our inner demons; no sorry we have to exorcise them once and for all.
 
The blood of innocents

By Irfan Husain
November 22, 2008

AISHA Ibrahim Duhulow was 13 years old when she was buried up to her neck in the Somali port city of Kismayu on Oct 27 and stoned to death by 50 men belonging to the Islamic group Al Shahab.

A truckload of stones was brought to the field where this murder took place. When a few members of the thousand-strong spectators tried to save the girl, Al Shahab gunmen opened fire, accidentally shooting a little boy.

It did not take long to kill Aisha. She had been accused of fornication, although according to her bereft father, she had gone to complain of being raped by three men. Her rapists remain at large, and there has been no attempt to apprehend them.

A fortnight later, outside Mirwais Nika Girls High School in Kandahar, a group of 15 schoolgirls were attacked by two men who threw acid at them, blinding two and injuring the rest. All the girls had been covered in all-enveloping burkas, so they could not have been accused of dressing immodestly. We remember all too well that the Taliban had closed down all schools for girls when they were in power. To date, they have blown up 123 schools in Swat alone. Nor should we forget that our home-grown Taliban have been blowing up educational institutions for girls wherever they can.

Gruesome crimes against women are not uncommon in other countries, but nowhere else do those responsible claim religious sanction for their viciousness. Presumably, both the Somali and the Afghan perpetrators of these cruel attacks claim they acted in the name of their faith. Unfortunately, they get away with this patently absurd argument time after time. No religion condones such hideous acts.

I also mention these crimes here despite the fact that they have been reported around the world simply to identify the enemy. Far too many people here have taken to shrugging off such excesses committed in the name of Islam, while foaming at the mouth about the inequities of the West. For instance, I do not recall any religious group or leader condemning these vile crimes against innocent young girls. Indeed, I would be happy to know if these attacks were even brought up on any of the TV chat shows that feature so many studio warriors who threaten to take up cudgels against the world in defence of our sovereignty.

There is incessant talk in our media about the American drone attacks. Another constant refrain is about the need to ‘talk to the Taliban’. And yet hardly any voices are being raised against these criminals who are killing Pakistanis, disrupting the lives of thousands across the tribal areas as well as elsewhere in Pakistan, and butchering anybody who opposes them.

I mentioned last week that for the first time since 1965, I find myself supporting our army as it fights to protect us from the armed gangs of terrorists on the Afghan border. At the same time, I find it puzzling that those who have always supported the army politically have now turned against our soldiers who are risking their lives against a ruthless foe. Another irony, of course, is that many liberals and leftists are implicitly supporting the Taliban by demanding that western forces quit Afghanistan. Do they seriously think the Taliban would lay down their arms and return to their villages if their demand was met?

So great is the fury of millions of Pakistanis against the West that they are making common cause with the most reactionary forces in the country. While they do not support the Taliban openly, they would rather have these stone-age holy warriors take over large swathes of the country than have Pakistan fight them in concert with western forces in Afghanistan. The reality is that just as the enemy is united in its efforts to take over Kabul and Islamabad, fighting them will take greater coordination and cooperation between our troops and Isaf and American forces in Afghanistan.

The examples of fanaticism I gave above are directly linked to the ideology that drives the Taliban. And while their supporters in Pakistan and elsewhere in the Muslim world would like to distance themselves from such extreme manifestations of religiosity, their refusal to condemn these acts encourages the forces of darkness.

Often, Taliban supporters justify this complete disregard for civilised norms by citing the many (and deplorable) accidental deaths caused by western forces in Afghanistan and, through drone attacks, in Pakistan. But surely, young Aisha in Kismayu, or the schoolgirls in Kandahar, cannot be blamed for collateral damage caused by foreign forces elsewhere.

It is this moral relativism that has come to characterise so much of the thinking in the Muslim world. Thus, the American invasion of Iraq is used to justify atrocities committed by the Taliban and their clones from Turkey to Indonesia. Indeed, as the jihad has gone global, these holy warriors are being cheered on by myopic Muslims around the world.

So where is this conflict headed? Is there any light at the end of the tunnel? Frankly, I can’t see any. A major problem in this kind of war in which one side seeks total victory is that there is very little room for negotiations. In our case, the Taliban do not have territorial claims in the classical sense: they are not demanding the creation of a ‘Greater Pakhtunistan’, for instance.

Had this been their goal, I, for one, would certainly recommend that we consider this option. But what they want is nothing short of the imposition of their benighted version of the Sharia in all of Afghanistan and Pakistan. And their mentors in Al Qaeda have even more extreme demands, none of which are negotiable.

Clearly, we are caught up in a war without any end in sight. And yet, fighting against our own people is always a painful proposition, not that the enemy has any qualms at killing their countrymen in the most brutal ways imaginable. There has been much talk about bringing socio-economic development to the battle zones on both sides of the border. But how do you implement such projects when these terrorists slaughter any aid worker they find?

So whenever somebody supports the Taliban, just remind him about Aisha, and the schoolgirls blinded in Kandahar.
 

KARACHI: Intelligence agencies have warned of a suicide attack at the Karachi airport as well as ministries in Islamabad during the current month, Daily Times learnt on Monday.

The Interior Ministry, after receiving information from intelligence agencies, has informed law enforcement agencies that the month of November would be crucial and terrorists have planned to carry out suicide attacks at Jinnah International Airport Karachi, and also at the offices of various ministries in Islamabad.

No further detail about the modus operandi of the terrorists was disclosed in the intelligence information conveyed to the Interior Ministry. The authorities have directed law enforcement agencies to take immediate action to ensure security at the airport and the ministries’ offices. A source privy to the matter, seeking anonymity, told Daily Times that terrorists have planned to strike in prominent cities of the country in retaliation to the ongoing operation in the Tribal Areas and have dispatched suicide bombers to Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. The source added that intelligence agencies have also sent complete details of two would-be suicide bombers recently dispatched by the leader of defunct TTP, after which law enforcement agencies and the intelligence network have been put on high alert. faraz khan
 
NewsDaily: Bomb in Pakistan's Peshawar kills at least 16

The blast occurred near a Shi'ite assembly hall in a congested part of the city. One building had collapsed in flames, while half a dozen others were badly damaged and on fire.

"It was a bomb. The number of casualties is very high. People are still trapped under the rubble," senior police official Kashif Alam said.

Another senior police officer in the neighborhood Mohammad Gul said at least 16 people were killed

Witnesses said the blast appeared to have been caused by a car bomb. The blast knocked out power supplies in the street, and rescue workers were hampered by a throng of angry and wailing people.

A Reuters witness saw three bodies being brought out of the rubble.
 
Tackling terrorism head-on

Editorial
December 07, 2008

WHILE it is true that terrorism knows no borders, it is equally evident that certain parts of the world serve as terrorism’s points of origin. Only those who either sympathise with the perpetrators or have been blinded by ‘patriotism’ can deny that one such hub of the violence that is wracking the region, and indeed the world, is Pakistan’s largely lawless tribal belt. For myriad reasons — the legacy of the Afghan ‘jihad’, the rising wave of Talibanisation, unemployment, poverty, illiteracy and ignorance, US foreign policy — our tribal areas have become a breeding ground for militancy and terrorism.

There is no shortage of recruits there for those bent on mayhem in Pakistan, Afghanistan and beyond. Note the distinction here between militancy and terrorism, for the two can be distinct phenomena until they overlap. When the Pakistani Taliban hit military targets in their battle against the state, troubling as that is, they can indeed be described as militants or even insurgents. But they become terrorists, and nothing but terrorists, when they target innocent civilians in bazaars or mosques or any other place for that matter. The military’s push into the tribal belt has resulted in civilian casualties and these are naturally decried by all right-thinking people. But those who vociferously demand an end to military operations must see this conflict in its entirety. This applies particularly to those who have a soft spot for the Taliban. Their ‘holy warriors’ are not just taking on trained combatants but killing civilians in the streets. That is terrorism. Period.

This war against the people of Pakistan was brought home, yet again, when a massive blast in Peshawar killed over 20 people and injured nearly 100 on Friday. The same day a suicide attack on a jirga in Orakzai Agency left at least seven tribesmen dead. It needs to be asked why such incidents are on the increase. One reason could be that the upsurge in military operations in Bajaur and elsewhere have hit the Taliban hard and, finding themselves in a tighter corner, they are now opting for softer targets in areas within easy reach. As the military does its job in the theatre of war it is up to the police and the intelligence agencies to provide greater security to the citizens of the state. The short-term costs could be high but there must be no let-up in the fight against terrorism. This is a war we cannot afford to lose.
 
Aslam O Alaykum!

I think Qabailee Brother can hadle them properly you just facilitate them motivate them .

Take care

Allah hafiz
 
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