Extremism and militancy in Punjab

[Cheetah786]

LAHORE, Sept 22: NWFP Governor Owais Ghani warned Punjab on Monday that militancy was gaining strength in its backyard.

“Militants in the tribal areas of the NWFP have established firm networking (with jihadi groups) in southern Punjab and most fresh recruits for suicide attacks are coming from there. Militant leaders and commanders are also coming from Punjab. The militants’ field commander in Swat too is from Punjab,” Mr Ghani told a briefing arranged for senior journalists on insurgency in tribal areas.

The words of caution from the governor came soon after a number of people were detained in Punjab apparently in connection with the Marriott bombing.

Mr Ghani also warned against treating the insurgency in the tribal areas as a problem of the NWFP. “It will be ill-advised to think that the militancy will remain confined to the NWFP. Militants’ activities have already shifted to the settled areas and Punjab and they have established strong links with south Punjab. It’s a national issue, a question of survival for (entire) Pakistan.”Later talking to Dawn, the governor said he had discussed the matter with Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.(LOL I GUESS PAKISTAN WILL WAIT FOR THE AMERICANS TO ATTACK PUNJAB BEFORE THEY SERIOUSLY COUNTER THIS PROBLEM THIS CLOWN IS BIGGEST SUPPORTER OF THESE TERRORIST AND HE IS INCHARGE OF GOVERNEMNT)xpressed the hope that the Punjab government would effectively handle the situation.

Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani is also said to be aware of the issue of recruitments of suicide bombers from his constituency. “He (prime minister) knows about it,” Mr Ghani said.

He said: “The militants are on the run. But the (military) operation will have to continue for another four to five months before the militancy could be contained.”

He said the issue of militancy could not be resolved without restoration of ‘political peace’ and tranquillity in Afghanistan. “However, we are trying to contain it and lower its intensity.”

In reply to a question, he said there was a political consensus in the NWFP on the counter-insurgency operations. “There is complete harmony between the Governor’s House and the ANP-PPP coalition government. The JUI-Fazl is also supporting the operation,” he said.



I HAVE 1 QUESTION FOR YOU ALL WHY ARE THESE TERRORIST CALLED MILITANTAS.

 

[niaz]

Islamic militant is far more respectable term as it gives the impression that the person is fighting for Allah. With a significant percentage of Pakistani public and majority of the media having deep rooted sympathies for these people, they will never be called simple terrorists.

I am not surprised about the involvement of Southern Punjab. Ahmad East for example was notorious for a long time for having a large number of the sectarian terrorists, who were educated in the seminaries located there. Since the sectarian violence is now more or less confined to Kurram Agency and Quetta and the media has largely forgotten about the Lal Masjid; there is no more focuss on the madrassahs

Regret to say but the fact is that most of the sectarian outfits, jihadi groups and the Taliban are product of the schools belong to the Deobandi maslak. There is complete lack of political will to tackle the madrassah problem which is churning out terrorists by the thousands. IMO, regardless of Shia, Deobandi or Braelvi, all madrassahs should be subject to inspection and regulations of the Education Ministry as all private schools. This policy was declared by Musharraf longtime ago but never implemented because he made Ijazul Haq (son of the bigot Zia) as Minister of religious affairs

Another example of lack of political to tackle the militancy/terrorism at the grass root level is complete apathy of the government in implementing its own policies. What is the point in banning an organization, if it resurfaces intact the next day under another name? Southern Punjab has also been the stronghold of the banned SSP which has now simply changed its name to Jamaat Ahle Sunnat wal Jamaat Pakistan. At a gathering of the “Banned SSP” in Karachi in June, some 8,000 turned up and authorities did nothing what so ever.
This is the root cause of the problem and has to be tackled else for each terrorist killed you will have 10 new ones.

Altaf Hussain is correct in claiming that Karachi is the on target for the militants take over.

 

[AnGrz_Z_K_Jailer]

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani intelligence has directed law enforcement agencies to step up security across Punjab province to avert possible attacks by militants in retaliation of increased US drone strikes in Waziristan tribal belt

The directive was issued as intelligence agencies feared there could be terrorist attacks in Punjab, the country's most populous province, as a result of a recent surge in US drone attacks in South and North Waziristan tribal regions, Geo News quoted unnamed sources as saying.

At least four Arab and Uzbek terrorists have been sent to Punjab to carry out attacks and trigger riots and panic in the province, the channel said, citing the sources.

Punjab's home department has directed law enforcement agencies, including police and paramilitary Pakistan Rangers, to make foolproof security arrangements to thwart any possible attack.

The home department also fears that the terrorists might target oil depots and key bridges in the province.

Law enforcement agencies were alerted that the terrorists might use explosive devices made with fertilisers, oil and ball bearings or explosives-laden cycles and cars for their attacks. Security for bridges across Punjab has been intensified by deploying additional police and Pakistan Rangers contingents.

US drones have carried out 11 strikes in Waziristan this month, killing dozens of militants.

Security officials have claimed that Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Hakimullah Mehsud had a narrow escape during one of these strikes.

Punjab witnessed several audacious attacks by the Taliban last year, including suicide car bombings on offices of the ISI in Multan and provincial capital Lahore.

Scores were killed in these attacks.

Source : Pak intelligence seeks heightened security for Punjab province - dnaindia.com

 

[mr42O]

Also Nabil Gondal from Karachi has been told not travel to much there are som threat against him. Why i dont know

 

[third eye]

A fair summary of events..


Punjab can no longer live in a state of denial

Friday, March 19, 2010
Ayaz Amir

If FATA represents the cutting edge of terrorism in the name of Islam, Punjab, unfortunately, is the hinterland of this phenomenon. Or, to borrow a phrase from the repertoire of military folly, Punjab is the strategic depth of bigotry and extremism masquerading in the colours of Islam.

Religious extremism took root in the soil of Pakistan thanks to the so-called Islamisation policies of Gen Ziaul Haq and his role in pushing the first Afghan 'jihad'. The dragon's teeth of our sorrows were scattered by Zia. We are reaping the harvest.

Next in the line of military saviours, Pervez Musharraf -- may Pakistan for all its faults never have such a saviour again -- could have reversed the trend of the Zia years. But he had only a limited understanding of things. President Asif Zardari is not the first of our accidental leaders. Musharraf was another product of accident and circumstances. Had he not been plucked out of Mangla and made army chief Pakistan would have been spared the misfortunes it had to endure under his star.

He signed on with the Americans in 2001 but despite the two assassination attempts on him, he was never serious about cleansing the Frontier havens where the fleeing Taliban from Afghanistan had taken refuge. Far from eradicating the Taliban, his vacillation and lack of true commitment allowed the problem represented by the Taliban to grow. The Taliban phenomenon in Swat and the Lal Masjid affair -- small problems through neglect assuming a bigger shape -- were testimonies to his limited vision and short-sighted policies.

The extremism Pakistan is now battling is thus a gift whose line of descent can be traced from Zia to Musharraf. The army's predicament can be imagined. The ghost it is trying to lay to rest was conceived and tested in its own laboratories. This is the Pakistani way of doing things. First create a problem and then invoke the power of heaven to eliminate it.

As an aside I can't help adding that one of the key figures instrumental in getting US Congress to fund the Afghan resistance was Congressman Charlie Wilson of Texas. Wilson was fond of a hard drink and fond of good-looking women, tempting qualities that suggested a swashbuckling knight errant. (Most men have Wilson's inclinations. But it is not given to everyone to fulfil them.) The irony is piquant: someone like him emerging as one of the central protagonists in an enterprise hailed by its partisans as a great victory of Islam.

Wilson had all the fun while it lasted. On his frequent visits to Pakistan during that period he was never without one or two striking companions. The Pakistani generals he interacted with were content to make a lot of money, some of which shows in the prospering business enterprises of their lucky offspring. More than in most other places, it helps in Pakistan to have the right kind of father.

But to return to the complex relationship between the Frontier and Punjab in that clash of arms, fought for the greater glory of Islam, the former was the staging post or the launching pad of that 'jihad' while Punjab was what might be called, in military terminology, the concentration area. The nerve centre of that 'jihad' was ISI Hqs in Aabpara, Islamabad. CIA supplies were landed at Chaklala Airbase and then brought for storage to Ojhri Camp next to Faizabad in Rawalpindi. From there they were transported to the frontlines of the Frontier.

Meanwhile Zia's missionary zeal, backed by Saudi money, was beginning to transform the Punjabi landscape. Madressahs or religious schools began cropping up everywhere, including Islamabad. Backed by state patronage, mullah power, hitherto not much of a factor in Pakistani politics, began to show its muscles.

There was a ban on politics in any case. Apart from PTV, there was no other TV channel and even PTV was being conquered by the mullahs. Newspapers lay under a heavy blanket of censorship. The only thing to do under Zia was to either watch Indian movies at home or perform the various rituals of religious hypocrisy in public. The begums of the good and great, never behind their men folk in bowing to the prevailing wings, entered heavily into the business of arranging religious ceremonies (milads) under one pretext or another. Pakistan became a very pious and hypocritical society. Even army promotions began to be affected by one's reputation for religious observance or otherwise.

All the extremist outfits with whose names we are now familiar emerged at that time: the jaish this and that, the lashkar so and so. Most of them were Punjab-based and members from all these organisations acquired battle experience in Afghanistan. My friend Colonel Imam of Afghan 'jihad' fame -- and who, like most good people, is from Chakwal -- takes enormous pride in saying that the most fearless fighters of all were from Punjab. And he should know for he was in the thick of it.

When with the departure of the Soviet army and the victory of the Saudi and Charlie Wilson-funded 'mujahideen', the Afghan war wound down, the fighters who had gained battle experience in Afghanistan were shifted to an entirely different front: Kashmir, where in a protracted struggle they managed to tie down half a million Indian troops.

Their godfathers in the security establishment felt elated. Forgetting the role of hard-drinking Charlie Wilson and the Saudis, they wrote a self-glorifying narrative in which it was claimed that not only had the power of faith defeated the Soviets. It had also hastened the end and break-up of the Soviet empire. If a superpower could be thus defeated, zeal and the spirit of 'jihad' could work similar miracles in Kashmir.

This was the mood then pervading the top ranks of the army and the intelligence agencies. So it is scarcely to be wondered at that when after the fall of Kabul to the 'mujahideen', a Pakistani delegation was on its way to the Afghan capital, no sooner had the aircraft carrying it entered Afghan airspace when those on board, including some Americans, were startled by a loud cry: "Allah-o-Akbar". This from the then ISI chief, the heavily-bearded Lt-Gen Javed Nasir.

Our rendezvous with our present extremist-flowing troubles did not come about from out of the blue. We had ploughed the land and watered it for a long time.

When the Americans attacked Afghanistan post-Sept 11, the theatre of 'jihad' shifted again: back to Afghanistan. The Bush administration of course screwed things up for itself by going on to attack Iraq before finishing the job in Afghanistan, a piece of folly sure to haunt the US for a long time to come. But Afghanistan was bad enough by itself. It reignited the fires of holy war and, given the iron dictates of geography, it was inevitable that Pakistan sooner or later would have its hands burned by another conflict raging in Afghanistan.

Once a change of course in our strategic course was forced upon us by the US -- Musharraf succumbing to American pressure without extracting the kind of bargain that would have better served Pakistan's interests -- logic and necessity demanded a clean break with the playing-with-fire policies of the past. In other words, a clean and definitive break with Zia-minded 'jihad'. But Musharraf played a double game. Even while dancing wildly to America's tune he was never serious, or he lacked the will and capacity, to seriously rethink the past.

But now that under a new sun and a new sky we are finally embarked upon a new course -- which marks a true break with the past -- we have to realise the extent and magnitude of the problem. The terrorism we are now fighting is not a provincial subject. It is not confined to any one province. It is a composite whole, organically tied together, growing not from any isolated virus but from a sickness of the mind and soul which had the whole of Pakistan, or at least its strategic quartermasters, in its grip.

If Pakistan is to become something, realising its dreams and potential, if it has to enter the real world and leave the world of dreams and fantasies behind, then there is no course open to it except to tackle this sickness, no matter what it takes and what sacrifices it entails, without ifs and buts, and without any misconceived appeals to the Taliban.

 

[forcetrip]

I wonder what other people would have done when someone tried to kill them .. twice .. i bet he had no human emotions and slept in a coffin at night.

 

[pak-yes]

Is the writer living in a Cave.

When the Hell Punjab has been living in Denial.Is he Blind???.We have faced most terrorist attacks after NWFP and FATA and he says we are living in Denial.

My own city Rawalpindi.I live near Pakistani Army Headquarter the GHQ.There is a road where there has been at least 10 bomb blasts and that was the same road used for attack on GHQ.

I have seen what happens when terror strikes with my own eyes.

 

[third eye]

He has lucidly tried to trace the origins of the problems faced by the nation.

 

[Creder]

another Punjab hater who likes to speak out of his a$$, you'll find of guys like this everywhere.. We're at war news like this serve little purpose than to spread mayhem and a sense of fear amongst people

 

[qsaark]

On one hand the PM and even the COAS have made it clear that they do not want to open up more fronts until the ones recently won back (Sawat, N-Waziristan) are fully stabilized; on the other hand there are some people who are eager to extend the operation(s) in Punjab. These people are not doing all this propaganda in the love of the country or that Taliban is their concern, but only to undermine the Punjab government. Taliban are even a bigger threat in places where the JUI(F) is under control, for instance Dera Ghazi Khan, Dera Ismail Khan, the entire Pashtoon belt of Balochistan (Loralai, Pishin, Chaman etc). JUI(F) is an open supporter and breeder of the extremism and thousands of so-called Madrassas are running by this party. Why these people don't talk about this more immediate threat? Why are they so obsessed with the PML(N) but totally ignoring the so-called Islamic parties, JI, JUI(F) etc.? Only because unlike the PML(N), Fazal ur Rahman and his party is supporting (and getting its share) the corrupt and incapable Zardari regime.

I am reading Ayaz Amir's columns for years, and boy, I am still unable to understand this man. He has problems with every one, with every thing, every where..... He is Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan (late) of journalism.... Always eager to find a problem, but never able to propose a solution.

 

[SMC]

What exactly is Punjab in denial about?

 

[qsaark]

Those who curse Punjab and declare the PML(N) Taliban closet should have a look at this statement.

 

[iPhone]

Those who curse Punjab and declare the PML(N) Taliban closet should have a look at this statement.

the thing with this guy is that he isn't considered a serious politician or a politician at all. His right-wing views give him a very small yet hardcore public support but he's a big failure in mainstream society. Therefore, probably, people, media and other political parties aren't much concerned with what he says most of the time as it might be giving unnecessary attention to someone who doesn't deserve it. The vast majority doesn't even care to look at this guy but on the other hand if you issue a reactionary statement of disagreement or point a cautionary finger at him you risk a volatile response from his small but dedicated and hardcore support group.

 

[niaz]

On one hand the PM and even the COAS have made it clear that they do not want to open up more fronts until the ones recently won back (Sawat, N-Waziristan) are fully stabilized; on the other hand there are some people who are eager to extend the operation(s) in Punjab. These people are not doing all this propaganda in the love of the country or that Taliban is their concern, but only to undermine the Punjab government. Taliban are even a bigger threat in places where the JUI(F) is under control, for instance Dera Ghazi Khan, Dera Ismail Khan, the entire Pashtoon belt of Balochistan (Loralai, Pishin, Chaman etc). JUI(F) is an open supporter and breeder of the extremism and thousands of so-called Madrassas are running by this party. Why these people don't talk about this more immediate threat? Why are they so obsessed with the PML(N) but totally ignoring the so-called Islamic parties, JI, JUI(F) etc.? Only because unlike the PML(N), Fazal ur Rahman and his party is supporting (and getting its share) the corrupt and incapable Zardari regime.

I am reading Ayaz Amir's columns for years, and boy, I am still unable to understand this man. He has problems with every one, with every thing, every where..... He is Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan (late) of journalism.... Always eager to find a problem, but never able to propose a solution.

Ayaz Amir won the Chakwal MNA seat on PML-N ticket. When he refers to “Denial” he is referring to the appeal for clemency by the pro Taliban Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif. Ayaz Amir is proposing a solution; he implies that extremists should be crushed. He is afraid of openly calling a spade as spade for the fear that the vindictive Nawaz Sharif will kick him out of the party.

It is a great shame when the voice of reason is deride upon by intelligent people and treachery to the State of Pakistan by Shahbaz Sharif is condoned as “out of context”.

 

[devil'sadvocate]

(FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT) ACT, 1998

A bill further to amend the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan:
WHEREAS sovereignty over the entire universe belongs to Almighty Allah alone and the authority which He has delegated to the State of Pakistan through its people for being exercised through their chosen representatives within the limits prescribed by Him is a sacred trust;

AND WHEREAS the Objectives Resolution has been made a substantive part of the Constitution;

AND WHEREAS Islam is the State religion of Pakistan and it is the obligation of the State to enable the Muslims of Pakistan, individually and collectively, to order their lives in accordance with the fundamental principles and basic concepts of Islam as set out in the Holy Quran and Sunnah;

AND WHEREAS Islam enjoins the establishment of a social order based on Islamic values, of prescribing what is right and forbidding what is wrong (amr bil ma'roof wa nahi anil munkar);

AND WHEREAS in order to achieve the aforesaid objective and goal, it is expedient further to amend the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan;

1.
Short title and commencement
(1)
This Act may be called the Constitution (Fifteenth Amendment) Act, 1998.
(2)
It shall come into force at once.
2.
Addition of new Article 2B in the Constitution

In the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, hereinafter referred to as the said Constitution, after Article 2A, the following new Article shall be inserted, namely:-
"2B.
Supremacy of the Quran and Sunnah
(1)
The Holy Quran and Sunnah of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) shall be the supreme law of Pakistan.
Explanation:- In the application of this clause to the personal law of any Muslim sect, the expression "Quran and Sunnah" shall mean the Quran and Sunnah as interpreted by that sect.
(2)
The Federal Government shall be under an obligation to take steps to enforce the Shariah, to establish salat, to administer zakat, to promote amr bil ma'roof and nahi anil munkar (to prescribe what is right and to forbid what is wrong), to eradicate corruption at all levels and to provide substantial socio-economic justice, in accordance with the principles of Islam, as laid down in the Holy Quran and Sunnah.
(3)
Nothing contained in this Article shall affect the personal law, religious freedom, traditions or customs of non-Muslims and their status as citizens.
(4)
The provisions of this Article shall have effect notwithstanding anything contained in the Constitution, any law or judgement of any Court".
Source: Dawn (Internet Edition), 9th October, 1998

Nothing in common with taliban here people.... the Sharifs are really very sharif...