Emboldened militants set sights on Peshawar

[Flintlock]

Have they put car bombs in marketplaces,attacked masjids,temples and church's......dont think so.

If we class them as terrorist ,where fighting the wrong kind of war and we will never win.
We have to get right what type of war we are fighting or they will be no end.....its a insurgency.........counter insurgency tactics are what are needed.

So who has been suicide bombing, bombing CD shops, extorting money, blowing up girls' schools, etc. etc.?

 

[nitesh]

......NO.....they can be classed as tratiors,insurgents,militants ect.





Have they put car bombs in marketplaces,attacked masjids,temples and church's......dont think so.

If we class them as terrorist ,where fighting the wrong kind of war and we will never win.
We have to get right what type of war we are fighting or they will be no end.....its a insurgency.........counter insurgency tactics are what are needed.

dabong1, then who has occupied the lal masjid?
Can you please tell your definition of terrorists?

 

[muse]

From todays The News International



The Bara Operation is a lie, plain and simple

Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Comment

By Mohammad Malick

PESHAWAR: The so-called grand operation to "protect" Peshawar from the marauding troops of the Lashkar-e-Islami of militant leader Haji Mangal Bagh and others entered its third day today. The government has already claimed victory to the extent of ridding the Khyber Agency of the so -called criminal extremists who ostensibly have been sent scurrying to the farther valley of Tirah.

Security czar Rehman Malik and Prime Minister Gilani are patting themselves on the back for having restored the government's writ. TV audiences are being treated to a steady feed of images of paramilitary convoys whizzing around and security forces blowing up one 'militant hideout' after another.

The government is also crowing about the fact that its measures are so popular with the local tribal population and its power so awesome for the obviously chickened-out militants that not a single bullet has been fired at the security forces. A lot is being made out of the banning of Lashkar-e-Islami (led by Mangal Bagh), Ansar-Ul-Islam (led by Qazi Mehboobul Haq who is Mangal's sworn enemy) and Haji Namdar-led Tanzeem Amar Bil Maroof Wa Nahi Anil Munqar. And if Islamabad's version is to be believed then it is only a matter of time before the rest of the tribal region starts toeing their line as well.

And now the truth: It's all hogwash. It's a drama being staged to placate a nervous public, please the cooperative militias by giving them sufficient advance warning, and confuse the Americans who of late have been displaying the audacity to ask for verifiable deliverables against all the money they have been pumping in for the last eight years. A desperate appeasement attempt for the visiting Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Boucher, if you may.

But we'll come to the causes later. First the happenings on the ground. The government can go blue in the face claiming otherwise but the fact is that the government's real writ does not extend beyond the last settled area police picket at the Peshawar-Bara sub-division border. And in some cases where it may appear to be present in any diluted form a little farther down the road, there too it is only a negotiated concession from the local militias and not the consequence of any so-called restored the government writ.

While enough evidence exists on the ground to back this impression it would not be irrelevant to narrate a pertinent incident which occurred only this afternoon while I along with A Geo TV crew were returning from visiting the site of the partially bombed out fortified Madrassah structure of Haji Namdar group in the area of Bur Qumber Khel which lies about 20kms from Peshawar. (By the way the credit is being given to a missile fired by a US drone and the claim also appears credible as it is the only real hit where seven militants actually got killed, this being the highest casualty in the entire operation). Anyway, in our attempt to take a shorter route back we took the Tirah-Jamrud road back but were stopped midway at a checkpoint manned by a small contingent of the Mehsud Scouts. While we were pleading to be allowed to go through, I managed to have a long chat with one of the officers (whom I shall not name for the obvious reasons) regarding the hollowness of government claims of having forced the militants out of the area as I informed him that I had just spent hours in an area which was teeming with armed members of the Haji Namdar group while dozens of twin-cab vehicles loaded with armed militants were calmly patrolling the entire area as if nothing extraordinary had happened there. And you know what? The officer actually let it slip that even if his own commandant had to go into the area "his security is provided by Namdar's men". So much for one banned outfit and the ongoing operation.

However, there seems to be a general consensus that the Namdar group is not viewed in the same negative vein as Mangal Bagh's and may have been banned only to give the impression of the administration playing even-handed and not singling out the much larger Lashkar-e-Islami of Mangal Bagh.

And if there are still any doubts on this front then let me share another incident which took place on our way in. We had barely entered Namdar territory when suddenly a Toyota twin-cab came after us at bullet speed, the headlights flashing in a signal for us to stop while a blue police light (incidentally mounted on all vehicles of Namdar and other groups operating in the area) for the added official touch I presume. The moment we stopped, six men jumped off the vehicle and surrounded us, their guns aimed at our heads. Their leader, hardly 19 or 20 years of age, demanded an explanation for our presence in "their territory". About 15 minutes and few reasons later we were allowed to move on after strong hand shakes, warm smiles, and the message to tell the world that they are only fighting against the Americans and for Afghan Muslims and not against Pakistan. As if we were going to argue with that logic. By the way, this incident took place barely three kilometers after entering the tribal area from Peshawar. Wasn't it close enough to qualify as falling in the jurisdiction of re-imposed state writ, one wonders?

Now to Mangal Bagh's people. While Mangal himelf had left for Tirah, where incidentally he is engaged in a bitter sectarian feud, his followers were not found lacking in numbers or visibility. The truth is that within minutes of the security forces moving out after blowing out the abandoned and vacated structures, the Lashkar-e-Islami militants could be seem calmly raising their black flags over the damaged structures and casually inspecting the damaged goods. The interesting part is that not a single militant of any group ever seems in a hurry to get away from the scene, or the area, and at least on three occasions I personally saw militant loaded vehicles drive by Levis and others with no reaction from the paramilitary forces. One amazing operation cleanup isn't it?

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

The Bara Operation is a lie, plain and simple

And hence the suspicions that the operation was not going to be sustained.

The success of this operation will be judged by the situation in the areas that militants were rerpotedly cleared out of. If they return and establish themselves as before, as the author is hinting they have already started doing, then it will be interesting to see what the Governments response will be.

On the other hand, Tirah valley, where Mangal Bagh and his militant shave fled, is now the scene of more sectarian fighting, so will this result in the operation moving into Tirah, and an eventual showdown with Bagh and others?

 

[araz]

I agree that the government does not appear sincere in its effforts to curb the fanatics in this region. We have had a discussion about the possibilities and the outcome is that all permutations considered this is something that will come back to haunt pakistan.
There is a basic reluctance in establishing the writ of law in this area, and that seems to continue.whether, it is unintentional, by design, or impractical, steps must be taken to curb violence in this region.
waSalam
Araz

 

[Tiki Tam Tam]

When will these terrorists be stopped (dabong1 - they are terrorists: like it or not!)?

Join the Americans and stop this scourge that is eating into the innards of Pakistan!

Quit fooling yourself that these terrorists are Islamic heroes and not terrorists bent on dismembering Jinnah's ideals!

I say this will all sincerity.

Stop worrying how bad and chaotic the neighbours are as Jana does. At least they are managing their discontent. Save your own country first!

It is suicidal to allow such horrors to flourish in the name of Islam to find that one has no country thereafter!

When will you all awake?

 

[muse]

The Bara operation is a lie and it's Musharraf's fault, from today's The News international:

Operation Sirat-e-Mustaqeem: as straight as a coil!

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

By Mohammad Malick

PESHAWAR: Who is really in charge in the Khyber Agency and who has written the script of the operation Sirat-e-Mustakeem to deal with the Fata situation and are the unfolding events unravelling as per the predetermined script?

One militant commander claimed that an informal arrangement had been reached prior to the beginning of the operation whereby approximately 25 ‘bigger structures’ shall be blown in the Bara region by the security forces and then the process will stop. We will soon know whether this statement is true or was it just a deliberate misleading assertion. I have been counting the structures and approximately nine of the structures blown up so far fall in this category. So the jury is still out on this issue till this blowing up process in Bara division officially comes to an end. Meanwhile, start keeping the count.

What we are seeing is a highly orchestrated charade, designed primarily for the benefit of the visiting US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher (to show that the US money is being spent well) because on the domestic front the government has yet to formulate a coherent strategy and the timing simply does not make any other sense.

On the fourth day of the operation, empty residences and so-called central structures of the three banned outfits of Lashkar-e-Islam, Ansar-ul-Islam and Tanzeem Amar Bil Maroof Wa Nahi Anil Munqar continue to be blown up by the security forces but surprisingly not a single militant foot soldier of any group had been arrested so far, what to talk of their leadership.

And it’s not as if the militants have all melted away in the hills. They are right there, and all the time. Surely it makes sense for the authorities to remove the hideouts and operational bases of the criminals but what is expected to change unless the culprits themselves are apprehended?

Unless, of course to begin with real arrests were never a part of the ‘real plan’! As for blowing up the buildings, it’s hardly an issue for these extremely cash rich outfits to build up new structures in new locations so by glorifying such blowing ups, so who are we fooling here?

The reaction of the targeted militant outfits to the operation continues to be dismissively smug, almost as if they already know the outcome. When I asked about the impact of the ban on his group, Haji Namdar group’s central spokesman, Munsif Ali Khan Afridi simply chuckled and retorted “when we didn’t take their permission to start the party, why should we be worried about any bans imposed by them”. Worried about your security, I asked, and he just grinned as if I had posed an idiotic question. A telling reaction of a man otherwise confined to a wheelchair because of an earlier failed attempt on his life.

There are no two opinions in Fata about the fact that the present chaos is a direct consequence of the Musharraf regime destroying the old administrative order of governance through Political Agent and local Tribal elders and replacing it with direct Army intrusion, with the executors of the new dispensation having no idea whatsoever about how to deal with the tribal people, their issues, or having any understanding of their cultural and political ethos.

It was this destruction of the old order, which was working despite its million flaws, and the absence of a viable working alternative that created a power void ultimately filled by the likes of Mangal Bagh. So to understand how to undo the existing mayhem we need to know more about the likes of Namdar, Mangal Bagh etc: the leaders of the new disorder; not its cause, but its consequence.

The Lashkar-e-Islam Chief, Mangal Bagh, or Amir Mangal Bagh as reverently addressed by his followers, is an interesting phenomenon. He started off as a truck cleaner, like thousands of fellow poor Pashtuns but that’s where the similarity ends. After putting a brief stint in the Awami National Party, he tagged on to the all powerful Mufti Munir Shakir and when the mufti was ousted along with his rival from Bara as a consequence of a long sectarian feud, Mangal moved in quickly to claim the vacated throne of a fast growing militia. And this journey from a cleaner to a commander only took four to five years.

Today, he is a feared commander of his own Islamic Lashkar, with thousands of heavily armed militants serving at his beck and call, and millions of rupees deposited in his Bait-ul-Maal on one phone call. And judging from the size of his religious army involving a fighting force of thousands of highly indoctrinated young men, well kept 4x4 vehicles numbering an estimated minimum of 250 plus, and the immense ammunition stockpiles, a lot of calls must be made by him and his lieutenants. Such fundraising from grudging donors like terrified businessmen, etc, must prove a hassle at times but it surely beats riding as the driver’s sidekick inside a cramped wooden cabin of a Bedford truck.

But Mangal Bagh is not alone in securing funds by any means possible as the revenue raising methods of almost all the main players in various parts of Fata remain the same; extortion from those ‘not walking the path of Siraat-e-Mustakeem; international funding which is mostly on the basis of ideological compatibility or an alliance based on brotherhood of sect; local donations (a significantly small percentage of revenues but far more important in terms of creating a legitimate perception of popularity amongst local population); and kidnapping for ransom of juicy targets from the settled areas.

But one big difference separates him from the other players in the Bara area. Unlike Haji Namdar and Qazi Mehboobul Haq, he is vehemently opposed to allowing any foreigner like Uzbeks or Chechens into ‘his territory’.

While the other two are said to operate on the Taliban pattern of co-opting foreign militants and thereby even al-Qaeda cadres (though both groups deny it), Mangal Bagh essentially remains a Pashtun nationalist at least in terms of the ethnic identity of his Lashkar and his own ‘governance policies’.

The question now arises as to why he alone has been portrayed as the declared public enemy number one by our official Fata handlers, both civil and military even though he is openly known to be opposed to the Taliban and al-Qaeda, both regarded as the serious most threat for Pakistan? Sure, Mangal must be cut in tracks and made accountable for his purported criminal acts but then the others are indulging in the same practices in the same region as well, so why this discretion?

The answer according to some insiders is that while Mangal Bagh may have benefited from certain co-operations and concessions of agencies concerned, he nevertheless did not owe his entire rise to such largess of vested interests who otherwise over the years have both given benefits to and received benefits from select militant leaders involved with one ongoing Jihad or another in and around Afghanistan. And, therefore, Mangal is neither jumping at every given cue nor does he have the right connections at the right level within the right institutional players. Therefore, orchestrating his ultimate downfall (but even this has a big question mark for now) could prove a real winner for our Fata saviours: internationally, the world (read: the United States) gets to savour the crushing of a big warlord and so it’s a case of anti-terrorism funds well spent, while on the local front the only variable element is removed from the tribal power politics of Khyber Agency.

The purpose of this rather detailed dilation upon the goings on in Khyber Agency is not to glorify any Mangal Bagh, Haji Namdar or any other of their ilk but only to show that while the critical situation in Fata warrants a well thought-out macro approach towards conflict resolution, what is happening on ground in Bara sub-division is that the continued micro (mis)management of Fata situation by vested interests, blinded by their myopic short-term financial and influence interests, coupled with a highly ignorant leadership like that of Rehman Malik and Governor Owais Ghani is bound to set the Fata ball rolling in the potentially fatal wrong direction. As an outsider, however, maybe Governor Owais is still a comparative blessing because at one point Asif Zardari had decided to appoint his old buddy and former IB chief Masood Sharif as NWFP governor and had not Asfandyar Wali put his foot down on this appointment, the ongoing Fata circus could have been even more absurd.

The ongoing tribal areas operation, supposedly aimed at restoring the government’s writ has started from Khyber Agency and, therefore, the outcome here may prove a study case of the employed policy and tactical measures.

However, what makes the situation really alarming is that Khyber Agency due to its close proximity to Peshawar has always been relatively the most peaceful of all the tribal agencies and if the government were to get bad results here, then in other agencies, where the situation is far worse, the outcome will be outright disastrous, to say the least.

The ignorance of the planners is evident from the strategy of dealing with one agency at a time. The problems of Fata are not individual agency-oriented, but a common outcome of problems and injustices compounded over the last six decades.

The solution has to be all encompassing and collective in essence, and individual only in terms of implementation. But this simple understanding apparently is too complex for the existing Fata handlers in Islamabad and Peshawar.

 

[maqsad]

From todays The News International



The Bara Operation is a lie, plain and simple

So this is a military version of a rigged WWE fight? I knew there was something really fishy about the way the Peshawar story was unspun, it all sounded too synthetic.

 

[muse]

et tu?


Blame the Pak fauj for this ? Not the "democratic" politicians whose plan this is ??l

 

[Kasrkin]

C'mon dont you guys think we are jumping the gun here a bit? Maybe they are trying their best even if it is not good enough for some people...

 

[maqsad]

I think the point is they are not trying at all, it is one big rigged drama where the moves are decided before the game is even played. And the pak fauj is obviously in on the fiction through the top leadership, if this accusation is true.

 

[araz]

The point is thatin the long run which ever way you look at it, it will leave pakistan in a difficult position. What is being played out is for a very short sightedgain, which could turn into a big loss.
Incidentally, how does this whole thing tie in with Zardaris speech in ATHENS


www.dawn.com.daily

West helped military, not people: Asif

ISLAMABAD, July 1: The West paid a huge price for using Pakistan for achieving short-term objectives and investing more on arming its military than on its people, according to PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari.

“We were exploited under colonialism, manipulated … during the Cold War, made to fight a proxy war against the Soviets in Afghanistan, and when that war was won, Pakistan and Afghanistan were abandoned to the forces of extremism and fanaticism,” he said in his keynote address at the Socialist International Congress in Athens on Tuesday.

He said that Pakistan was now “the Petri dish of international terrorism … that was a product of failed international politics and not our creation”.

The PPP leader said Pakistan could still be converted into a successful model of modernity for 1.3 billion Muslims but it needed international community’s help.

“We can’t do it alone. We need the help of the world. If we succeed, we will contain extremism and terrorism. But if we fail, the world will fail with us”.

Mr Zardari urged the world to convene a South and Central Asia regional conference to coordinate a multi-faceted international programme to not just militarily contain terrorism, but to suffocate the “fire of terrorism by rebuilding economies and infrastructure of our region”.

“A prosperous Pakistan will smash the remnants of terrorism from our frontiers better than the bullets, missiles and tanks of the superpowers,” he said.

He sought help for Pakistan’s socio-economic development and said it would ensure stability in Pakistan in particular and the world in general.

He said Pakistan was resisting terrorism not as “surrogates but as partners” of the civilised world because “we are fighting for the very soul of Pakistan,” adding that Pakistan had suffered more casualties in fighting terrorism than any other nation, including the United States on September 11, 2001.

“Has the UN, or the United States, or the United Kingdom, contributed one cent to the victims of terrorism in our land”?

The PPP leader said the people of Pakistan had confidence in their future and it was imperative to address their long-neglected social, economic and infrastructure needs.

“We will restore law and order to our land and attack fanaticism and terrorism wherever it rears its ugly head.” The PPP co-chairman said that the Pakistani government planned to transform tribal areas – hotbed of terrorist activity – economically, politically and socially, and integrate these areas into mainstream Pakistani society.

He said that Pakistan was also facing a looming energy and water crisis that threatened its progress. He said that to meet the challenge, the government would set up new power generating units, producing 2,200 megawatts this year alone and tackle the water issue on an emergency basis, reducing water consumption by half.

He claimed that education had been made a high priority “not just because it is right, but also because it is in the long-term strategic interests of Pakistan and the world.”

Referring to politics in Madressahs and their educational curriculum, he said: “In Pakistan, political Madressahs have spread hatred and intolerance. We will move to provide a uniform and responsible national curriculum, both for public and seminary education, so that Pakistani children have an opportunity for a future free of intimidation and coercion. And if political Madressahs will not conform … we will shut them down.”

He also paid glowing tribute to Benazir Bhutto.—APP

 

[Always Neutral]

Police swoop in Peshawar; 7 suspected militants held -DAWN - Top Stories; July 02, 2008

Police swoop in Peshawar; 7 suspected militants held




By Ali Hazrat Bacha

PESHAWAR, July 1: Police on Tuesday claimed arresting seven members of an outlawed militant group during an operation in various areas of the metropolis.

They also reported seizing arms and ammunition.

Police personnel, backed by Frontier Constabulary, raided a number of houses in Hayatabad, Peshtakhara, Daudzai, Chamkani, Ormar and Khazana areas and detained 36 people, 29 of them proclaimed offenders, an official said.

He said a Karachi-registered stolen car was found in possession of a man living in the Mathra area. The man was also arrested.

Recovered weapons included nine Kalashnikovs, three rifles, seven pistols and 328 cartridges, the official said.

He said the operation was continuing in the city’s suburbs because criminals had made people’s lives miserable.

The police, he said, were determined to protect people’s lives and property.

He did not identify the suspects who, it is believed, belong to the Bara-based Laskhar-i-Islam militant group.

Meanwhile, a police spokesman said a campaign had been launched against vehicles with tinted glasses to restrict criminals’ movement.

He said 456 people were penalised for driving vehicles without number plates and owners of 381 vehicles with tinted glasses were fined.He said the Capital City Police Officer had appealed to the people to cooperate with police in its drive against militants and all people violating rules.

Syed Irfan Raza adds from Islamabad: The civil armed forces on Tuesday expanded their operation to the settled areas of the NWFP, including Peshawar and its suburbs, and arrested 46 criminals.

The interior ministry said in a statement that criminals had expanded their activities into the settled areas of Peshawar and people were living in fear and insecurity.

It said that besides the civil armed forces working under the interior ministry the provincial government had also initiated action in Peshawar. Police had arrested 46 criminals and seized weapons, ammunition and narcotics during raids.

It said the perilous law and order situation and increasing activities of the criminals and outlaws in Peshawar and adjoining areas had necessitated the action.

It said the Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency had become a sanctuary for criminals who had virtually paralysed the political administration and diminished its writ.

It said the criminal elements were also involved in extortion, kidnapping for ransom and robbery.

The ministry said that extensive consultations had been held at various levels and among the federal government, Fata secretariat and the NWFP government before launching the action in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

It said that the basic objective of the operation was to restore normalcy in Fata with minimum damage and without any collateral losses, adding that it would continue until all the objectives were achieved.

The ministry said the security forces advanced in accordance with their plan and no casualties took place on the third day of the operation.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

This is getting stranger and stranger...

Taliban bitten by a snake in the grass​

By Syed Saleem Shahzad

KARACHI - The Taliban and their al-Qaeda associates, in what they considered a master stroke, this year started to target the Western alliance's supply lines that run through Pakistan into Afghanistan.

Their focal point was Khyber Agency, in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas, a key transit point for as much as 70% of the alliance's supplies needed to maintain its battle against the Afghan insurgency.

The spectacular blowing up on March 20 of 40 gas tankers at Torkham - the border crossing in Khyber Agency into Afghanistan's Nangarhar province - sent shock waves through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization-led (NATO) coalition. So much so that it made a deal for some supplies to transit through Russia, a much more arduous route.

The Torkham success was followed by a number of smaller attacks, and the Taliban's plan appeared to be going better than they could have expected.

Then came this week's incident in which the Taliban seized two members of the World Food Program (WFP) in Khyber Agency, and it became obvious the Taliban had been betrayed, and all for the princely sum of about US$150,000.

Their Khyber dreams are now in tatters.

With friends like this ...

When the Taliban's new tactic emerged, the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) - which Pakistan's intelligence community says maintains its biggest South Asian presence in Pakistan - sprung into action and staged a coup of its own.

But that's getting ahead of the story.

After coming under intense pressure in its traditional strongholds in the North and South Waziristan tribal areas, al-Qaeda and the Taliban staged a joint shura (council). This meeting concluded that they had to be especially careful of local political parties and tribals who were all too ready to sell themselves in the US's quest to find Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri. The council pointed to the example of Iraq, where the US's policy of courting Sunni tribes to turn against al-Qaeda has had marked success.

At this point, the council hit on the idea of taking the initiative and turning Taliban and al-Qaeda attention on Khyber Agency with the aim of bleeding the Western coalition without having to launch major battles.

This was fine in theory, but there were practical difficulties: the agency is the most unlikely place for "Talibanization". The majority of the population is Brelvi-Sufi Muslim, traditionally opposed to the Taliban's Deobandi and al-Qaeda's Salafi ideology. Being an historic route for armies and traders, the population is politically liberal and pragmatist, not easily swayed by idealist and Utopian ideology such as the Taliban's and al-Qaeda's.

So the Taliban sent in its own fighting corps gathered from other tribal areas, and drafted in Ustad Yasir, a heavyweight Afghan commander, from Afghanistan. These predominantly Pashtun fighters consider the Afridi and Shinwari tribes, the natives of Khyber Agency, as materialist and non-ideological, but all the same a local host was essential for their operation.

The Taliban hit on one of the few Salafis in the area, Haji Namdar, as their point man. Namdar is not a traditional tribal, he's a trader who has worked in Saudi Arabia. His Salafi ideology and the fact that he is a practicing Muslim lent him credibility - and trustworthiness - in the eyes of the Taliban.

Namdar came on board, offering to provide the Taliban with sanctuary for their men, arms and supplies along the main road leading to the border area. He gave these assurances to Taliban leaders in his own home.

The Americans were fully aware of the Taliban's designs on Khyber Agency and invested a lot in the tribes to protect the route. In response, the Taliban threatened tribal chieftains, and launched a suicide attack on a jirga (meeting) convened to discuss eradicating the Taliban from the area. Over 40 tribals were killed.

US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte also visited Khyber Agency to meet with chiefs, but out of fear for the Taliban only six tribal elders showed up. It appeared the Americans had been outwitted, but their game was not over.

Anyway, with the Taliban's arrangement with Namdar, the stage was set and they steadily stepped up their attacks on convoys heading for Afghanistan, leading to the capture of the two WFP members and their vehicle on Monday.

Things start to go wrong

Unlike in previous Taliban attacks in the area, local paramilitary forces chased the Taliban after this incident. The Taliban retaliated and five soldiers were killed, but then their ammunition ran out and they surrendered the two workers and tried to flee, but they were blocked.

The Taliban called in reinforcements, but so did the paramilitary troops, and a stalemate was reached. Eventually, the Taliban managed to capture a local political agent (representing the central government) and they used him as a hostage to allow their escape.

They retreated to their various safe houses, but to their horror, paramilitary troops were waiting for them and scores were arrested, and their arms caches seized. A number of Taliban did, however, manage to escape once word got out of what was happening.

The only person aware of the safe houses was Namdar, their supposed protector: they had been sold out.

Their worst suspicions were confirmed when Namdar broke his cover and announced on a local radio station that Taliban commanders, including Ustad Yasir, should surrender or face a "massacre", as happened when local tribes turned against Uzbek fighters in South Waziristan in January 2007.

Namdar said that he had the full weight of the security forces behind him, and he did not fear any suicide attack.

Al-Qaeda and the Taliban immediately called an emergency shura in North Waziristan to review the situation. Al-Qaeda's investigations revealed that the CIA and Pakistani intelligence had got to Namdar and paid him $150,000 in local currency.

The immediate result is that Taliban operations in Khyber Agency have been cut off. This in itself is a major setback, as the attacks on supply lines had hit a raw NATO nerve.

In the broader context, Namdar's betrayal vividly illustrates the dangers of traitors within the ranks of the Taliban and al-Qaeda. The fear is that the various peace deals being signed now between the Islamabad government and selected tribal leaders could lead to a whole new batch of betrayals.

The conclusion, therefore, is to go all-out to stop the government's dialogue process with militants and tribals.

Asia Times Online :: South Asia news, business and economy from India and Pakistan

If true, this would explain why Namdar has been targeted so many times by suicide bombers, and it would explain why he was so cocky in his interview with Muhammed Malick - he has the support of both CIA and the ISI.

I am not sure I am comfortable with this policy however, we are supporting militias against other militias...

 

[t-birds]

Can Pakistani troops make Peshawar safe?

By Abdul Hai Kakar
BBC News, Peshawar

The city of Peshawar in north-west Pakistan is gripped by fear, even though the government has launched a security operation to protect it against threats from Islamist militants.



The reason is obvious.

The government took a very long time responding, and the security operation has yet to liquidate the militant threat.

On Saturday, the government mobilised 5,000 paramilitary troops, equipped with tanks, armoured personnel carriers and artillery pieces, to crush the Islamist groups in neighbouring Khyber tribal district.

The troops have swept through eastern parts of the region. But there have been no significant arrests. Nor has a single militant leader or activist been killed so far.

The militants have simply melted away, offering no resistance to the troops.

What next?

"How long can the troops stay on the city's borders to fight an enemy that is not there?" asks Aijaz Khan, a Peshawar resident.

"And what happens after the troops pull back?"

The action by security forces has apparently come following a growing Taleban presence in Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

The government is trying to deal a final blow to a menace that has taken a quarter of a century to build up to its present proportions.

Peshawar served as the centre of Afghan resistance in 1980s, when the mujahideen groups fighting a guerrilla war against Soviet troops in Afghanistan were based here.

During the 1990s, it continued to serve as the rear base for Afghan warring factions.

Since 2001, the sprawling Afghan refugee camps in and around the city have served as extended sanctuaries for Taleban militants fighting foreign troops and the government of President Karzai in Afghanistan.

In addition, local Taleban groups have sprouted all around this city of three million people, with strong family and ethnic links within the city and in the surrounding towns and villages.

Their bases are not very far from the city.

In the west, less than 10km (six miles) from the city's outskirts, an Islamist group, Lashkar-e-Islam, established its fiefdom in the Bara region of Khyber agency where it has enforced its own version of the Islamic justice system.

This system was disrupted on Saturday when paramilitary troops raided the area and demolished the group's offices and installations.

Some 25km from Peshawar's southern outskirts, another semi-autonomous tribal region, Darra Adamkhel, is being controlled by another set of militant groups that have recently fought pitched battles with the security troops.

In the north, militant groups control the Mohmand tribal territory which stretches to within 20km of the city limits.

Masked gunmen

As one of the four provincial capitals of the country and also home to a provincial garrison, Peshawar has often been the target of these groups who have taken on the Pakistan government which has sided with Washington during the US-led "war on terror" in the region.


A makeshift security bunker in the Khyber agency

Suspected militants have fired rockets at the army headquarters in the city on a number of occasions during the past six years.

There are also instances where these militants have engaged the Peshawar police in gun battles, sometimes for hours.

In recent months, masked gunmen riding in pick-up trucks have been seen patrolling streets in some city outskirts.

These sightings have coincided with bomb attacks that destroyed various music and video stores in and around the city centre.

'Scary'

But nothing moved the government until at least six suspected prostitutes were abducted by the militants from Peshawar's prosperous neighbourhood of Hayatabad.


Police chief Malik Naveed said Peshawar was surrounded by militants

Two weeks ago, militants briefly kidnapped 16 local Christians from the centre of the city too.

"It was scary. We felt the Taleban were finally upon us," says Nasir Khan, who lives close to the hospital.

On top of all this, the mood in Peshawar worsened in the face of a number of gloomy predictions about the future of the city by politicians, officials and journalists, with some predicting it could even fall to the militants.

Talking to journalists in Peshawar two weeks ago, the NWFP police chief, Malik Naveed, said the city had been surrounded by militants on all four sides.

He now says there is no way the militants can capture Peshawar.

"The militants cannot take over Peshawar, but they can endanger the lives of the residents," he told the BBC.

"We have 7,000 additional police in the city, and 700 personnel of the Frontier Corps at our disposal. We have also put in place a quick response force of the police to respond to militants' movement at short notice."

The heavily barricaded check posts that have been erected at the city's main entry points may prevent the militants from conducting forays into the city.

But they also serve as a reminder to the citizens that the militants are still out there, unharmed and undefeated, and biding their time.