Pakistani Forces against Militants.
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Devil Soul
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Frontier Region Peshawar: Clean-up operation concludes, security forces step back
PESHAWAR: The clean-up operation by security forces in Sambi Khel, Murad Khel and Syed Ghulam areas of Frontier Region (FR) Peshawar concluded on Tuesday.
Consequently, the curfew – put in place shortly after the operation was launched last week on Thursday – was lifted and dozens arrested were also released.
Locals said they were finally able to leave their houses after six days, but the security forces had not withdrawn completely. Instead, they have set up a camp in Pakaha Nekay, a local shrine.
“At around 11 am, security forces lifted the curfew and withdrew from the villages. They have also released all suspects arrested from Bashi Khel, Smabi Khel and Murad Khel,” Malik Rehman, a local elder, told The Express Tribune.
He added houses of various elders who reportedly had links with militants were demolished during the operation. Hideouts of several suspected militant were also destroyed.
The clean-up operation was launched in FR Peshawar after an attack on a Frontier Constabulary (FC) check post in Urmar last Wednesday left six officials dead and seven injured. During the operation, security forces destroyed several caves being used by militants as hideouts as well.
Meanwhile, security forces also withdrew from Mattani Bypass and abandoned all their check posts along the road.
The forces had been deployed in the area following an attack at a convoy of the Pakistan Army which killed two soldiers in May.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 10th, 2013.
PESHAWAR: The clean-up operation by security forces in Sambi Khel, Murad Khel and Syed Ghulam areas of Frontier Region (FR) Peshawar concluded on Tuesday.
Consequently, the curfew – put in place shortly after the operation was launched last week on Thursday – was lifted and dozens arrested were also released.
Locals said they were finally able to leave their houses after six days, but the security forces had not withdrawn completely. Instead, they have set up a camp in Pakaha Nekay, a local shrine.
“At around 11 am, security forces lifted the curfew and withdrew from the villages. They have also released all suspects arrested from Bashi Khel, Smabi Khel and Murad Khel,” Malik Rehman, a local elder, told The Express Tribune.
He added houses of various elders who reportedly had links with militants were demolished during the operation. Hideouts of several suspected militant were also destroyed.
The clean-up operation was launched in FR Peshawar after an attack on a Frontier Constabulary (FC) check post in Urmar last Wednesday left six officials dead and seven injured. During the operation, security forces destroyed several caves being used by militants as hideouts as well.
Meanwhile, security forces also withdrew from Mattani Bypass and abandoned all their check posts along the road.
The forces had been deployed in the area following an attack at a convoy of the Pakistan Army which killed two soldiers in May.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 10th, 2013.
Last Hope
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KHYBER: Fifteen militants were killed and scores of others were injured in Operation Khyber - II which commenced on July 19 and completed on the 20th as security forces cleared key militant transit points. Four soldiers also died during the gunbattles, officials said.
Military sources told Dawn.com that the operation launched in the Kharmatung area, between Frontier Region Kohat and Khyber tribal region’s Bara, had been completed and most of the key areas which served as passage points for insurgents had been cleared.
Sources said Surgar and Shergahr heights were being combed after the clearance of Kharmatung and scores of insurgent hideouts had been secured while two militant bases had been destroyed.
The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) moreover confirmed that four soldiers had died during the clearing operation as security forces made headway in most of these areas.
Khyber is among Pakistan’s seven semi-autonomous tribal districts near the Afghan border, rife with homegrown insurgents and home to religious extremist organisations including the Al Qaeda.
The remote Tirah valley holds strategic significance for militant groups. On one side, it shares a border with Afghanistan. On the other it leads to the plains of Bara, which connect the agency to the outskirts of Peshawar.
Khyber also links several agencies to each other, serving as a north-south route within Fata. The region has been long fought over by a mix of militant organisations, including the TTP, the Ansarul Islam and Mangal Bagh’s Lashkar-i-Islam.
Military sources told Dawn.com that the operation launched in the Kharmatung area, between Frontier Region Kohat and Khyber tribal region’s Bara, had been completed and most of the key areas which served as passage points for insurgents had been cleared.
Sources said Surgar and Shergahr heights were being combed after the clearance of Kharmatung and scores of insurgent hideouts had been secured while two militant bases had been destroyed.
The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) moreover confirmed that four soldiers had died during the clearing operation as security forces made headway in most of these areas.
Khyber is among Pakistan’s seven semi-autonomous tribal districts near the Afghan border, rife with homegrown insurgents and home to religious extremist organisations including the Al Qaeda.
The remote Tirah valley holds strategic significance for militant groups. On one side, it shares a border with Afghanistan. On the other it leads to the plains of Bara, which connect the agency to the outskirts of Peshawar.
Khyber also links several agencies to each other, serving as a north-south route within Fata. The region has been long fought over by a mix of militant organisations, including the TTP, the Ansarul Islam and Mangal Bagh’s Lashkar-i-Islam.
Edevelop
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Bodies of 20 suspected militants found in Bara
KHYBER AGENCY: Bodies of 20 suspected militants were recovered from Bara tehsil of Khyber tribal region on Thursday who officials said were killed during a Pakistan military assault on militants last week.
Assistant Political Agent Bara Tehsil Nasir Khan told Dawn.com that the suspected militants were killed in the Kharmatung area of Bara on the border of Frontier Region Dara Adamkhel.
Codenamed Khyber-2, the operation involving helicopter gunships and Frontier Corps ground troops was launched against Taliban hideouts in Zawa and Khurmatung areas of Akkakhel in Bara on Friday after insurgents bombed a checkpost of the security forces, killing two Frontier Corps personnel.
At least four FC personnel and 15 Taliban were reported to have been killed during in the operation. Other reports had put the militant death toll at 22.
Khan said that two of the dead found Thursday were identified as residents of Kurram Agency, while post-mortem was being conducted to ascertain the identities of the remaining.
The military sources also said the suspected militants had been killed in the military operation in Kharmatung and belonged to various militants groups.
Speaking to reporters on telephone from an undisclosed location, a spokesman for the banned Lahskar-i-Islam, Abdul Rashid Lashary said the men did not belong to the banned militant organisation, but they may belong to the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) or its Dara Adamkhel faction.
Sources said that the majority of these militants belonged to Orakzai, Khyber, South Waziristan tribal regions, while some had joined militant groups from settled districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Khyber is among Pakistans seven semi-autonomous tribal districts near the Afghan border, rife with homegrown insurgents and home to religious extremist organisations including the Al Qaeda.
The plains of Bara hold strategic significance for militant groups as they connect the agency to the outskirts of Peshawar.
The area was being used by militants to put pressure on the provincial capital. In recent weeks, police and military posts in and around Peshawar have come under attack.
The key area also straddles the Nato supply line into Afghanistan, used by US-led troops to evacuate military equipment ahead of their 2014 withdrawal.
Khyber also links several agencies to each other, serving as a north-south route within Fata. The region has been long fought over by a mix of militant organisations, including the TTP, the Ansarul Islam and Mangal Baghs Lashkar-i-Islam.
Bodies of 20 suspected militants found in Bara - DAWN.COM
KHYBER AGENCY: Bodies of 20 suspected militants were recovered from Bara tehsil of Khyber tribal region on Thursday who officials said were killed during a Pakistan military assault on militants last week.
Assistant Political Agent Bara Tehsil Nasir Khan told Dawn.com that the suspected militants were killed in the Kharmatung area of Bara on the border of Frontier Region Dara Adamkhel.
Codenamed Khyber-2, the operation involving helicopter gunships and Frontier Corps ground troops was launched against Taliban hideouts in Zawa and Khurmatung areas of Akkakhel in Bara on Friday after insurgents bombed a checkpost of the security forces, killing two Frontier Corps personnel.
At least four FC personnel and 15 Taliban were reported to have been killed during in the operation. Other reports had put the militant death toll at 22.
Khan said that two of the dead found Thursday were identified as residents of Kurram Agency, while post-mortem was being conducted to ascertain the identities of the remaining.
The military sources also said the suspected militants had been killed in the military operation in Kharmatung and belonged to various militants groups.
Speaking to reporters on telephone from an undisclosed location, a spokesman for the banned Lahskar-i-Islam, Abdul Rashid Lashary said the men did not belong to the banned militant organisation, but they may belong to the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) or its Dara Adamkhel faction.
Sources said that the majority of these militants belonged to Orakzai, Khyber, South Waziristan tribal regions, while some had joined militant groups from settled districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Khyber is among Pakistans seven semi-autonomous tribal districts near the Afghan border, rife with homegrown insurgents and home to religious extremist organisations including the Al Qaeda.
The plains of Bara hold strategic significance for militant groups as they connect the agency to the outskirts of Peshawar.
The area was being used by militants to put pressure on the provincial capital. In recent weeks, police and military posts in and around Peshawar have come under attack.
The key area also straddles the Nato supply line into Afghanistan, used by US-led troops to evacuate military equipment ahead of their 2014 withdrawal.
Khyber also links several agencies to each other, serving as a north-south route within Fata. The region has been long fought over by a mix of militant organisations, including the TTP, the Ansarul Islam and Mangal Baghs Lashkar-i-Islam.
Bodies of 20 suspected militants found in Bara - DAWN.COM
Edevelop
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Hangu: Six militants killed in clash with security forces
HANGU: At least six militants were killed in a clash with security forces here on Friday night, Geo News reported.
According to security sources, dozens of militants stormed check post located in Spin Tal area of Hangu, but the troops retaliated with full force. As a result six extremists were neutralized within no time.
A shootout was still underway between the attackers and the forces, the sources added.
Updates are awaited.
Hangu: Six militants killed in clash with security forces - thenews.com.pk
HANGU: At least six militants were killed in a clash with security forces here on Friday night, Geo News reported.
According to security sources, dozens of militants stormed check post located in Spin Tal area of Hangu, but the troops retaliated with full force. As a result six extremists were neutralized within no time.
A shootout was still underway between the attackers and the forces, the sources added.
Updates are awaited.
Hangu: Six militants killed in clash with security forces - thenews.com.pk
zilahumafazal
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so sad news for pakistan
Edevelop
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Security forces kill 8 militants linked to attacks
QUETTA: Security forces gunned down eight militants linked to attacks that killed 17 people this week in the restive southwestern province of Balochistan on Saturday, officials said.
Provincial home secretary Akbar Durrani said six insurgents were killed while exchanging fire with paramilitary troops in the Mach area of Bolan district, 70 kilometres (44 miles) southeast of the provincial capital Quetta.
Durrani said the troops surrounded the militants’ hide-out and asked them to surrender but the insurgents opened fire.
He said the militants were linked to an attack on Tuesday that killed 14 people including three security personnel after stopping vehicles at a fake checkpoint.
Meerak Baloch, a spokesperson for the Baloch Liberation Army, had earlier claimed responsibility for the killings.
Two militants were shot dead by paramilitaries in the neighbouring Mastung district, Durrani added, where a bomb Wednesday killed a woman and two children at a market thronged by people shopping for Eidul Fitr.
Regional administration official Syed Waheed Shah confirmed the insurgent death toll.
The bodies of six insurgents were brought to Quetta, but so far nobody had claimed them, Durrani said.
On Friday, gunmen opened fire on worshippers leaving a mosque on the outskirts of Quetta after prayers for Eidul Fitr.
The attack outside the mosque came a day after a Taliban suicide bomber killed 38 people at a police funeral in the city. Violence has continued unabated in the country since the new government took office in June.
The United States announced on Thursday that it had evacuated all non-emergency staff from its consulate in Pakistan’s second-biggest city Lahore, citing “specific threats” amid a worldwide alert over Al-Qaeda intercepts.
The US State Department also reiterated a longstanding warning to US citizens to avoid all non-essential travel to Pakistan, in a statement issued late on Thursday by the Washington Times.
Security forces kill 8 militants linked to attacks – The Express Tribune
QUETTA: Security forces gunned down eight militants linked to attacks that killed 17 people this week in the restive southwestern province of Balochistan on Saturday, officials said.
Provincial home secretary Akbar Durrani said six insurgents were killed while exchanging fire with paramilitary troops in the Mach area of Bolan district, 70 kilometres (44 miles) southeast of the provincial capital Quetta.
Durrani said the troops surrounded the militants’ hide-out and asked them to surrender but the insurgents opened fire.
He said the militants were linked to an attack on Tuesday that killed 14 people including three security personnel after stopping vehicles at a fake checkpoint.
Meerak Baloch, a spokesperson for the Baloch Liberation Army, had earlier claimed responsibility for the killings.
Two militants were shot dead by paramilitaries in the neighbouring Mastung district, Durrani added, where a bomb Wednesday killed a woman and two children at a market thronged by people shopping for Eidul Fitr.
Regional administration official Syed Waheed Shah confirmed the insurgent death toll.
The bodies of six insurgents were brought to Quetta, but so far nobody had claimed them, Durrani said.
On Friday, gunmen opened fire on worshippers leaving a mosque on the outskirts of Quetta after prayers for Eidul Fitr.
The attack outside the mosque came a day after a Taliban suicide bomber killed 38 people at a police funeral in the city. Violence has continued unabated in the country since the new government took office in June.
The United States announced on Thursday that it had evacuated all non-emergency staff from its consulate in Pakistan’s second-biggest city Lahore, citing “specific threats” amid a worldwide alert over Al-Qaeda intercepts.
The US State Department also reiterated a longstanding warning to US citizens to avoid all non-essential travel to Pakistan, in a statement issued late on Thursday by the Washington Times.
Security forces kill 8 militants linked to attacks – The Express Tribune
Last Hope
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BOLAN: At least four armed men were killed Monday during a search operation carried out by Frontier Corps (FC) personnel in Balochistan’s Bolan district, DawnNews reported.
Upon receiving information on the whereabouts of suspected militants, FC personnel conducted the operation in Bolan during which 10 men were also arrested.
During the raid, an exchange of fire took place between militants and security personnel. Subsequently, four militants were killed, according to FC sources.
Moreover, 22 kilograms of explosives, ammunition and other weapons were recovered during the operation.
The clash between FC personnel and miscreants was still in progress and the area’s entry and exit points were also sealed.
Meanwhile, additional security men were summoned to the area to tackle the militants.
Earlier last week, separatist militants killed 14 people, including three security officers, after stopping vehicles at a fake checkpoint in the Mach area of Bolan district.
The attack appeared to have targeted mostly people from the central province of Punjab.
Upon receiving information on the whereabouts of suspected militants, FC personnel conducted the operation in Bolan during which 10 men were also arrested.
During the raid, an exchange of fire took place between militants and security personnel. Subsequently, four militants were killed, according to FC sources.
Moreover, 22 kilograms of explosives, ammunition and other weapons were recovered during the operation.
The clash between FC personnel and miscreants was still in progress and the area’s entry and exit points were also sealed.
Meanwhile, additional security men were summoned to the area to tackle the militants.
Earlier last week, separatist militants killed 14 people, including three security officers, after stopping vehicles at a fake checkpoint in the Mach area of Bolan district.
The attack appeared to have targeted mostly people from the central province of Punjab.
niaz
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I heard in Kashif Abbasi TV program that Army as well as the Police, when asked “why did you not stop the jail break?” replied that these people are fighting “KUFR” we cannot fight them!!!
It appears that nation has given up on Pakistan. It is a historical fact that Jamaal Islamic was against creation of Pakistan? Maulana Maudoodi nicknamed the Quaid ‘Kafir Azam’. Mufti Mahmood of JUI when heard of East Pakistan surrender remarked “We were not party to the sin of creation of Pakistan”. Therefore state of Pakistan can go to the dogs for all they care.
We all know that NS was nurtured by the bigot Zia and used to go to his grave each year to renew vow to continue Zia’s policies during his first term. Also with the bigots such as Rana Sana ullah as their senior leaders; expecting PML-N to take strong action against extremism is too much to hope for. PPP for all their secular policies believe in doing nothing and would do nothing.
My deep disappointment is with Imran Khan. I have never doubted his love for Pakistan but his KPK CM refuses to even conmdemn Taliban openly. Imran is suing MQM for the killing Prof Zahra without any real proof but not even a whimper against Taliban even after two of PTI MP’s have been killed by TTP! It appears that every politician is only there for power, no one gives a fig for the country or for the lives of poor Pakistani people.
Even a blind man can see that there can be no economic progress without peace and there can be no peace when the state’s writ is challenged every day by the anti-state elements. Prime Minister is on foreign tours and busy doing probably his 100th Umra. Imran Khan prefers to wine & dine with Prince Charles leaving TTP free kill entire top echelon of Quetta police! Now TTP are threatening GOP if the sentences passed by Pakistan Courts are carried out against the convicted subhuman TTP butchers. Is this not a direct challenge to Pakistan State?
It is left to columnists such as Ayaz Amir and idiots such as me to moan about indifference and apathy of the people in power to the extremist menace. But these days being a liberal tantamount to being a kafir and who cares about Pakistan state?
Naturally neighbours take advantage of the mayhem inside the country and intimidate by indiscriminate firing across the border.Here is a very poignant article
Extremism is what matters all else is secondary
Ayaz Amir
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Extremism is what matters all else is secondary
Islamabad diary
Punjab, heart and soul of Pakistan, will it also now be the death of Pakistan? Dangerous thought but relevant question because the land of the five rivers, now also the land which rules the rest of troubled Pakistan, has its head buried deep in the sand, conscious of every problem under the sun except what is destroying this country: extremism, terrorism and the by-product of these two, sectarianism.
Not theoretical sectarianism… with that most societies can live…but murderous sectarianism, its work accomplished by the bullet and the bomb. So much so that the Shiite community is on the verge of mentally exiting from the ideological confines of a republic confused by nothing so much as its ideology.
Spectacular jailbreaks which reveal as much about Taliban skill and daring as the bankruptcy of our defences, or random killings across the country…but it’s much more than that. Consider the sweep of Taliban strategy. They strike at targets in the Frontier – Bannu, DI Khan – and just when we think the problem is the Frontier, there is an incident across the Line of Control and, overnight, a crisis with India, thus diverting, like nothing else could, the attention of the Pakistan Army.
Not just strategy but grand strategy, Mumbai on a smaller scale: just when the army is engaged in the west, pull its attention to the east.
Yet we are still thinking what to do….still, Allah be praised, trying to stitch together that exercise in metaphysics called our counter-terrorism policy. Pity the strain on our minds because the government of the mini-mandate, in essence a Punjabi government, is still not mentally ready to grasp the true dimensions of this problem.
It is not ready to accept the fact that Taliban terrorism is no longer just about the American presence in Afghanistan or the Emirate of North Waziristan. Its sources, its support bases, are now spread across the country, not least in the sacred land of the five rivers.
But to strike at these madressahs and watering holes in Punjab, to take up this fight in earnest, is to court the hostility of conservative Punjab. And conservative Punjab, retail-bazaar Punjab, middle-class Punjab, is from where the big or small mandate draws its primary strength.
This is a paralysis of politics. It is about evenly matched by a creeping paralysis on the military front. For all practical purposes the army chief is now a lame-duck chief, his over-extended term ending in November. He has done good things including resuscitating army morale after the disasters of the Musharraf years, although one wishes he could have kept some check on the business skills of his brothers.
Of what use present pomp and glory if in years to come what is remembered about him are the exploits of his near and dear ones? Musharraf did a lot of good too. But in today’s climate is anyone willing to say a kindly word about him? In a Republic like ours we never seem to learn. And our paladins never seem to know when to depart.
So there we have it: a government to all appearances with all the authority it needs, a prime minister certainly with more authority than his predecessors or even Musharraf, but heads buried deep in the sand, and an army command ruefully contemplating the evening sun as it is about to set.
This is a vacuum of the deepest sort, government and command at a standstill. Chaudhry Nisar, the interior minister, is an able man but he talks too much, a loudspeaker constantly on. Jaish-e-Muhammad, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Sipah-e-Sahaba, the tentacles of what we have started calling the Punjabi Taliban, are all in Punjab. The frontlines of extremism may be in the Frontier. But the ‘strategic depth’ of this phenomenon is now in Punjab. From the attitude of the Punjab government, which claims infallibility for itself, one wouldn’t suspect this at all.
Forget about formulating a policy on terrorism. That can wait. Mosque loudspeakers in Punjab now defy the Loudspeaker Ordinance, as they defy common sense. If the interior ministry tackles this nuisance first maybe its words come to merit greater credibility.
Surprising thing is that where the government wants to act, and where its heart is, it can act very fast. Look at the circular debt payoffs to power producers. No questions asked and no list of who’s been given what. Nandipur power project, its cost jacked up and up, but government unfazed. When it comes to interests close to the bone, all innocence disappears and alacrity is the watchword. When it comes to extremism and terrorism, probably because there is no immediate profit in this, it is either (for more meditation) a trip to Murree, favourite summer destination, or the way of the ostrich.
The Taliban are inhibited by no such compulsions, minds distracted by no Nandipur adventures. They are focused utterly on the destabilisation of the Pakistani state and the spread of extremist thought. This is what makes this an unequal contest. The Republic has resources and guns and the atom bomb. But it lacks leadership and what leadership there is, gifts of a wayward destiny, is without conviction.
One thing is for sure, and this can be the first commandment of war. Expect no Battle of Stalingrad, no Vietnam, no victories in the mountains, from a leadership which has most of its money parked abroad. This is a contradiction in terms, not resolvable by platitudes. Similarly, an army command infected by that most alluring of fancies, love of real estate, can lead a nation in no life-and-death struggle. Call this the second commandment.
How many houses did Churchill own? Only Chartwell Manor which he bought with his money from his books and journalism. And after the war, imagine this, he couldn’t afford to keep the house and a consortium of businessmen bought it and the arrangement was that as long as he and his wife lived they would pay nominal rent and after their deaths the estate would go to the National Trust. On Churchill’s death in 1965 his wife decided to hand over the house to the National Trust immediately. How many suits did Stalin possess? How extensive was Ho Chi Minh’s wardrobe?
So what are we talking about? In normal times none of this would have mattered. The Sharifs could have doubled their Raiwind estate and army chiefs could have more private homes than they have become accustomed to. But the Taliban are at the gates and they have the initiative and a better sense of strategy, a better sense of the indirect approach, than the Military Operations Directorate.
For most of us this is the only country we are likely to have. We have already made a cult of the ‘internally-displaced person’ (IDP). The greatest Partition of the last century fell to our lot. Dismemberment we have experienced. How many more traumas can we go through, especially when the space for traumas is shrinking? The IDPs of the Khyber Agency can find refuge near Peshawar, those of North Waziristan in Kohat. To which kingdom on the hill will the IDPs of Punjab go?
So the luxury of half-measures is not ours to afford because time is slipping by, and time is not on our side. And please select a proper army chief, a fighting man, not a desk-bound general, or someone keen on remaking his fortune. If the Sharifs fumble this, and they will have their own calculations, then forget about Churchill. Let the spirit of appeasement guide us as we respectfully approach the Taliban, peace-offerings in hand and ingratiating smiles on our lips.
Tailpiece: Two excellent columns on terrorism I have just read, one by Ayesha Siddiqa, the other by Tariq Mahmud, former interior secretary. This means we have people who understand the problem. Why are our bonzes so dumb?
Email: winlust@**********
Extremism is what matters all else is secondary - Ayaz Amir
It appears that nation has given up on Pakistan. It is a historical fact that Jamaal Islamic was against creation of Pakistan? Maulana Maudoodi nicknamed the Quaid ‘Kafir Azam’. Mufti Mahmood of JUI when heard of East Pakistan surrender remarked “We were not party to the sin of creation of Pakistan”. Therefore state of Pakistan can go to the dogs for all they care.
We all know that NS was nurtured by the bigot Zia and used to go to his grave each year to renew vow to continue Zia’s policies during his first term. Also with the bigots such as Rana Sana ullah as their senior leaders; expecting PML-N to take strong action against extremism is too much to hope for. PPP for all their secular policies believe in doing nothing and would do nothing.
My deep disappointment is with Imran Khan. I have never doubted his love for Pakistan but his KPK CM refuses to even conmdemn Taliban openly. Imran is suing MQM for the killing Prof Zahra without any real proof but not even a whimper against Taliban even after two of PTI MP’s have been killed by TTP! It appears that every politician is only there for power, no one gives a fig for the country or for the lives of poor Pakistani people.
Even a blind man can see that there can be no economic progress without peace and there can be no peace when the state’s writ is challenged every day by the anti-state elements. Prime Minister is on foreign tours and busy doing probably his 100th Umra. Imran Khan prefers to wine & dine with Prince Charles leaving TTP free kill entire top echelon of Quetta police! Now TTP are threatening GOP if the sentences passed by Pakistan Courts are carried out against the convicted subhuman TTP butchers. Is this not a direct challenge to Pakistan State?
It is left to columnists such as Ayaz Amir and idiots such as me to moan about indifference and apathy of the people in power to the extremist menace. But these days being a liberal tantamount to being a kafir and who cares about Pakistan state?
Naturally neighbours take advantage of the mayhem inside the country and intimidate by indiscriminate firing across the border.Here is a very poignant article
Extremism is what matters all else is secondary
Ayaz Amir
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Extremism is what matters all else is secondary
Islamabad diary
Punjab, heart and soul of Pakistan, will it also now be the death of Pakistan? Dangerous thought but relevant question because the land of the five rivers, now also the land which rules the rest of troubled Pakistan, has its head buried deep in the sand, conscious of every problem under the sun except what is destroying this country: extremism, terrorism and the by-product of these two, sectarianism.
Not theoretical sectarianism… with that most societies can live…but murderous sectarianism, its work accomplished by the bullet and the bomb. So much so that the Shiite community is on the verge of mentally exiting from the ideological confines of a republic confused by nothing so much as its ideology.
Spectacular jailbreaks which reveal as much about Taliban skill and daring as the bankruptcy of our defences, or random killings across the country…but it’s much more than that. Consider the sweep of Taliban strategy. They strike at targets in the Frontier – Bannu, DI Khan – and just when we think the problem is the Frontier, there is an incident across the Line of Control and, overnight, a crisis with India, thus diverting, like nothing else could, the attention of the Pakistan Army.
Not just strategy but grand strategy, Mumbai on a smaller scale: just when the army is engaged in the west, pull its attention to the east.
Yet we are still thinking what to do….still, Allah be praised, trying to stitch together that exercise in metaphysics called our counter-terrorism policy. Pity the strain on our minds because the government of the mini-mandate, in essence a Punjabi government, is still not mentally ready to grasp the true dimensions of this problem.
It is not ready to accept the fact that Taliban terrorism is no longer just about the American presence in Afghanistan or the Emirate of North Waziristan. Its sources, its support bases, are now spread across the country, not least in the sacred land of the five rivers.
But to strike at these madressahs and watering holes in Punjab, to take up this fight in earnest, is to court the hostility of conservative Punjab. And conservative Punjab, retail-bazaar Punjab, middle-class Punjab, is from where the big or small mandate draws its primary strength.
This is a paralysis of politics. It is about evenly matched by a creeping paralysis on the military front. For all practical purposes the army chief is now a lame-duck chief, his over-extended term ending in November. He has done good things including resuscitating army morale after the disasters of the Musharraf years, although one wishes he could have kept some check on the business skills of his brothers.
Of what use present pomp and glory if in years to come what is remembered about him are the exploits of his near and dear ones? Musharraf did a lot of good too. But in today’s climate is anyone willing to say a kindly word about him? In a Republic like ours we never seem to learn. And our paladins never seem to know when to depart.
So there we have it: a government to all appearances with all the authority it needs, a prime minister certainly with more authority than his predecessors or even Musharraf, but heads buried deep in the sand, and an army command ruefully contemplating the evening sun as it is about to set.
This is a vacuum of the deepest sort, government and command at a standstill. Chaudhry Nisar, the interior minister, is an able man but he talks too much, a loudspeaker constantly on. Jaish-e-Muhammad, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Sipah-e-Sahaba, the tentacles of what we have started calling the Punjabi Taliban, are all in Punjab. The frontlines of extremism may be in the Frontier. But the ‘strategic depth’ of this phenomenon is now in Punjab. From the attitude of the Punjab government, which claims infallibility for itself, one wouldn’t suspect this at all.
Forget about formulating a policy on terrorism. That can wait. Mosque loudspeakers in Punjab now defy the Loudspeaker Ordinance, as they defy common sense. If the interior ministry tackles this nuisance first maybe its words come to merit greater credibility.
Surprising thing is that where the government wants to act, and where its heart is, it can act very fast. Look at the circular debt payoffs to power producers. No questions asked and no list of who’s been given what. Nandipur power project, its cost jacked up and up, but government unfazed. When it comes to interests close to the bone, all innocence disappears and alacrity is the watchword. When it comes to extremism and terrorism, probably because there is no immediate profit in this, it is either (for more meditation) a trip to Murree, favourite summer destination, or the way of the ostrich.
The Taliban are inhibited by no such compulsions, minds distracted by no Nandipur adventures. They are focused utterly on the destabilisation of the Pakistani state and the spread of extremist thought. This is what makes this an unequal contest. The Republic has resources and guns and the atom bomb. But it lacks leadership and what leadership there is, gifts of a wayward destiny, is without conviction.
One thing is for sure, and this can be the first commandment of war. Expect no Battle of Stalingrad, no Vietnam, no victories in the mountains, from a leadership which has most of its money parked abroad. This is a contradiction in terms, not resolvable by platitudes. Similarly, an army command infected by that most alluring of fancies, love of real estate, can lead a nation in no life-and-death struggle. Call this the second commandment.
How many houses did Churchill own? Only Chartwell Manor which he bought with his money from his books and journalism. And after the war, imagine this, he couldn’t afford to keep the house and a consortium of businessmen bought it and the arrangement was that as long as he and his wife lived they would pay nominal rent and after their deaths the estate would go to the National Trust. On Churchill’s death in 1965 his wife decided to hand over the house to the National Trust immediately. How many suits did Stalin possess? How extensive was Ho Chi Minh’s wardrobe?
So what are we talking about? In normal times none of this would have mattered. The Sharifs could have doubled their Raiwind estate and army chiefs could have more private homes than they have become accustomed to. But the Taliban are at the gates and they have the initiative and a better sense of strategy, a better sense of the indirect approach, than the Military Operations Directorate.
For most of us this is the only country we are likely to have. We have already made a cult of the ‘internally-displaced person’ (IDP). The greatest Partition of the last century fell to our lot. Dismemberment we have experienced. How many more traumas can we go through, especially when the space for traumas is shrinking? The IDPs of the Khyber Agency can find refuge near Peshawar, those of North Waziristan in Kohat. To which kingdom on the hill will the IDPs of Punjab go?
So the luxury of half-measures is not ours to afford because time is slipping by, and time is not on our side. And please select a proper army chief, a fighting man, not a desk-bound general, or someone keen on remaking his fortune. If the Sharifs fumble this, and they will have their own calculations, then forget about Churchill. Let the spirit of appeasement guide us as we respectfully approach the Taliban, peace-offerings in hand and ingratiating smiles on our lips.
Tailpiece: Two excellent columns on terrorism I have just read, one by Ayesha Siddiqa, the other by Tariq Mahmud, former interior secretary. This means we have people who understand the problem. Why are our bonzes so dumb?
Email: winlust@**********
Extremism is what matters all else is secondary - Ayaz Amir
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A very rational & cool head comment on KPK police in the Dawn editorial.
In the line of duty: Challenges faced by KP police
2013-08-19 08:34:22
TO fight a battle successfully, one needs more than weapons and body armour. Many a battle has been lost when those on the frontlines are bereft of morale, while history also bears witness to seemingly hopeless encounters in which the weaker side triumphed on the wings of sheer esprit de corps. The KP police today could do with a dose of that vital, intangible quality. The force has been fighting valiantly on the frontlines of the war against terrorism in the province most affected by militant violence. Over 1,000 policemen have lost their lives in the process 65 in the first six months of this year alone both in terrorist attacks and targeted killings. A recent report in this newspaper gave an insight into the evolving, multifaceted nature of their work. The picture that emerged was one of a demoralised force that has to contend with ordinary crime and terrorism without respite, without adequate training or equipment, and without adequate compensation. The lack of resistance to the D.I. Khan jailbreak is stark evidence of the erosion of morale. Ironically, one of the most potent factors undermining the police is the attitude of its own provincial government.
Senior officials, including the chief minister, have on more than one occasion berated it, often in public, for its poor performance and for corruption within its ranks, even though the KP police is recognised as among the more capable and honest of the police forces in the country. Moreover, in contrast to the previous governments unambiguous stance on militancy and support for the campaign against it, the PTI-led governments conciliatory, even timorous, attitude towards the militants wreaking mayhem in KP has sapped its police of a sense of purpose and direction.
In the line of duty: Challenges faced by KP police - DAWN.COM
In the line of duty: Challenges faced by KP police
2013-08-19 08:34:22
TO fight a battle successfully, one needs more than weapons and body armour. Many a battle has been lost when those on the frontlines are bereft of morale, while history also bears witness to seemingly hopeless encounters in which the weaker side triumphed on the wings of sheer esprit de corps. The KP police today could do with a dose of that vital, intangible quality. The force has been fighting valiantly on the frontlines of the war against terrorism in the province most affected by militant violence. Over 1,000 policemen have lost their lives in the process 65 in the first six months of this year alone both in terrorist attacks and targeted killings. A recent report in this newspaper gave an insight into the evolving, multifaceted nature of their work. The picture that emerged was one of a demoralised force that has to contend with ordinary crime and terrorism without respite, without adequate training or equipment, and without adequate compensation. The lack of resistance to the D.I. Khan jailbreak is stark evidence of the erosion of morale. Ironically, one of the most potent factors undermining the police is the attitude of its own provincial government.
Senior officials, including the chief minister, have on more than one occasion berated it, often in public, for its poor performance and for corruption within its ranks, even though the KP police is recognised as among the more capable and honest of the police forces in the country. Moreover, in contrast to the previous governments unambiguous stance on militancy and support for the campaign against it, the PTI-led governments conciliatory, even timorous, attitude towards the militants wreaking mayhem in KP has sapped its police of a sense of purpose and direction.
In the line of duty: Challenges faced by KP police - DAWN.COM
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