Pak scraps peace deal with Taliban

[Tiki Tam Tam]

Good luck.

Hope it lasts.

The point that AM raises is pertinent.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

And we also have this story:

Musharraf ‘allowed CIA base in Fata before polls’​

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

By Umar Cheema

NEW YORK: President Pervez Musharraf allowed a secret CIA base inside Fata in January this year to plan missile strikes by drones on militants, senior journalist Ahmed Rashid reveals in his new book.

Under US pressure for military actions in the tribal areas, Rashid writes, Musharraf allowed a secret CIA base for attacks through predators. “On Jan 9, 2008, Mike McConnell, director of the National intelligence, and Gen Michael Hayden, director of the CIA, visited Islamabad where they discussed a plan to make operational in Fata a secret CIA base that could mount attacks on militants by drones armed with missiles.”
Musharraf ‘allowed CIA base in Fata before polls’

I do hope in the interim sufficient intel is gathered by the PA and NATO to go after these goons full force.

If the US does decide to attack, hopefully they take out a large chunk of the Taliban leadership, especially B Mehsud.

However reports indicate that Pakistan has specifically refused to allow the US to target Pakistani Taliban leaders, while going after Afghan Taliban/AQ targets has been given the green light periodically.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Peace deal with Swat militants not scrapped:​

Interior Ministry ISLAMABAD, June 10 (APP): The Swat peace deal with militants has not been scrapped, a spokesman of the Ministry of Interior said here Tuesday. He refuted a news item attributed to Rehman Malik, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior, that the Swat peace deal had been scrapped. Malik was only referring to the continued violent activities of militants and never said that the peace deal has been annulled, he clarified. (Posted @ 16:10 PST)

Here we go.

It seemed extremely unlikely that the Federal Government would scrap a deal the provincial government negotiated, and that too without any consultation with the ANP or resort to the monitoring mechanism, even if highly flawed, mentioned in the agreement.

I would maintain that if any "deal" needs to be scrapped, it is the the ones allegedly being negotiated in FATA.

My suspicion is that even the violence in Swat is probably being carried out by the TTP. While talks with Mullah FM were ongoing, the TTP wanted them linked with the talks in FATA - indicating that they wanted control over a larger area. There was even a threat issued by the TTP spokesperson that "regional agreements" would not be accepted.

 

[Energon]

^^^ From what I understand, one of the criticisms of the deal in Swat when it was announced (it was not verbal, there was a document that was signed off on by representatives of both parties - there was a separate written agreement with Sufi Mohammed prior to his release as well) was that the monitoring mechanism was found lacking.

I believe it did not involve a neutral third party, but representatives from both the Taliban and the NWFP govt. - so you would essentially have a stalemate between the two sides if accusations of a violation were to be raised by one side.

This is a very interesting topic and I would love to see a thread solely dedicated to this (which IMO is far more important than the usual Indo/Pak banter). Nonetheless its a good sign when the shortcomings of a preliminary plan can be identified. This process undoubtedly is going to be a long and arduous one and I'm glad to see that the peace deal hasn't been scrapped after all. It has to be fixed part by part until the entire puzzle has been put together. However first all the players have to be clearly identified and their responsibilities appropriately assigned.

AM, do you know of any good sources highlighting the different militias/ tribes that are posing a problem? Also, who do you think could serve as a credible independent body to oversee the treaty and penalize the detractors if/when necessary?